1 HISTORY OF RUNJEET SING'S FAMILY. 9
2 forces sought for safety in an immediate and precipitate flight,
3 and the chiefs themselves narrowly escaped with their lives,
4 leaving their camp and all its stores to become a spoil to the
5 victorious Missall. By this feat Churut Sing extended his fame
6 and established his power as head of the Sukerchuckia Missall.
7 In 1762, when Ahmed Shah Abdallie with his Aflghans
8 made his appearance in the Punjaub, Churut Sing, too prudent to
9 come in contact with the main body of the invaders, secreted
10 his family and property in the hills about Jummoo, while he
11 with his band prowled about the skirts of the Affghan host,
12 harassing their march, cutting off stragglers, and plundering
13 their baggage. The only satisfaction the invaders obtained was
14 in the destruction of the fort of Gujerawalla which they level-
15 led to the ground.
16 It was at this time that Churut Sing-, whose family had been
17 removed for safety to the hills, became acquainted with the
18 Jummoo family. Chiefly, it is supposed, at his instigation Bejerei
19 Dehu, the son of the Rajah of Jummoo, rebelled against his father,
20 Runjeet Dehu. It is certain, at least, that in 1774, he, with other
21 Seiks, went to assist the son against the father ; and it was in
22 the winter of the same year that he met his death from
23 the bursting of a matchlock in the hands of one of his
24 own followers, during a skirmish at Thillo ke Tallao, a tank
25 lying about one and a half, or two coss, to the south-west of
26 Jummoo.
27 Churut Sing left a son named Maha Sing, born about the
28 end of 1759 or the beginning of 1760; and who consequently
29 at the time of his father's death was about fourteen years of
30 age. Too young to take any part in the government of the
31 Missall, this task fell to the lot of his mother, the widow of Churut
32 Sing. She, aided by the counsels of her paramour, a Brahmin
33 named Jey Ram Misser, rebuilt the fort of Gujerawalla des-
34 troyed by Ahmed Shah's army, and which now began to be
35 known after the name of the young chief as Maha Sing ka
36 c