1 SHER SINGH. 509
2 cherished idea of securing her hand by the custom of chadar-andéet.
3 The Rdni might have accepted Shér Singh’s protection and become one of
4 his wives ; but she was secretly assured by Guldb Singh that the Maharaja
5 only desired it in order to work her destruction. The frail and confiding
6 woman, therefore, left the fort and retired to the private house of her late
7 son in the city. Shér Singh, burning with rage at her conduct, lost all
8 command over his temper when he was further assured by Dhidn Singh
9 that the R&ni despised him as the reputed son of Ranjit Singh, while she
10 considered herself, as the daughter of Jaymal Singh, the great chief of the
11 Kanhia mist, to be the descendant of a noble house. Enraged at these
12 repeated misrepresentations, Shér Singh secretly resolved to put an end to
13 the life of the widowed Mahardnf. Having bribed the slave-girls of Chand
14 Kour to murder their mistress, he suddenly left for Wazirdbdd with his
15 darbdér. He promised a jdgir of 5,000 rupees to each of four of the slave-
16 girls, on condition of their carrying out his scheme. One day, while Sher
17 Singh was absent from Ldhore, these disloyal maid-servants, as they were
18 dressing the hair of their royal mistress, smashed in her skull and dashed
19 her brains out with bricks. The murder was perpetrated in June, 1842,
20 in the house built by her son, Nau Nehal Singh, in the town where
21 she was living at the time through fear of Shér Singh. Dhidn Singh, in
22 the absence of the Mahardjd, proceeded to punish the assassins, and had
23 their noses, ears and hands cut off publicly before the kotwdli, or chief police
24 office in the town. Their tongues, however, were not mutilated, and they
25 related the circumstances under which they had been tempted to perpetrate
26 the horrible crime at the instance of both the Mahardjdé and his minister.
27 What they uttered was, however, treated as the ravings of mad persons in
28 extreme mental affliction, and they were banished to the other side ef the
29 river Ravi and were never heard of afterwards. The news of the death of
30 this unfortunate princess was received with feelings of joy by both Shér Singh
31 and Gulab Singh, inasmuch as by her death a claimant to the Léhore throne
32 had been quietly removed, while to Guldb Singh it secured the peaceful and
33 undisturbed possession of the whole of her immense property.
34 After the successful conclusion of the Kabul campaign, in which the
35 British Government was assisted by the Mahardjd of the Panjdb, a grand
36 review of the two armies took place at Ferozepur. Prince Partéb Singh, heir-
37 apparent to the Léhore throne, attended by the Minister R4jé Dhidn Singh,
38 had an interview with the Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough, which
39 resulted in more friendly relations being established between the Indian
40 Government and the Lahore Darbar.
41 In February 1843, Dost Muhammad Khan, the released Amir of Kabul,
42 was received with distinction at Léhore; and a formal treaty of friendship
43 was entered into between him and the darbar.
44 The cordial relations that existed between the Mahardj4 and his Prime
45 Minister, Rajé Dhidn Singh, were now drawing toaclose. They began to
46 hate each other in the most acrimonious manner. The Sindhianwdlds,
47 as our readers know, were descendants of the same stock as Ranjit
48 Singh, and supporters of the claims of the late Mai Chand Kour. They
49 were deadly foes of both Shér Singh and Dhidn Singh, and, with their
50 troops, fought against Shér Singh on the side of the Mai. There was a
51 family of the Sikh spiritual leaders, known as the Bhdis, who, on account
52 of their religious sanctity, exercised considerable influence both at Court and
53 in the king’s zendnd. Foremost among these were Bhdis Ram Singh and
54 Gurmukh Singh, who were rivals for the favour of their sovereign and
55 Her tragic death,
56 June 1842.
57 Lord Ellenborough
58 meets the heir-
59 apparent at Ferozepur,
60 B42,
61 Dost Muhammad
62 Khan at Lahore, 1843,
63 Distrust between the
64 Mahardj4 and his
65 Minister,
66 Bhais Ram Singh
67 and Gurmukh Singh.
68 attached tocparting PURPA SIGH PPLE BAIR mutually opneseay h arene Bail com