1 10 HISTORY OF RUNJEET SING'S FAMILY.
2 Ghurree, in like manner as it had previously been called after
3 his grandfather and father. Ameer Sing and Churut Sing.
4 In the year 1775 the mother of Maha Sing conspiring with
5 Jey Sing, the Chief of the Kunnia Missall, procured the assas-
6 sination of Jodh Sing Bhaungee. Towards the latter end
7 of the same year Maha Sing married the daughter of Jugputh
8 Sing of Jheend, who was commonly called Mai Malwine or
9 the Malwa Mother. Shortly after this he gained great cele-
10 brity by the capture and plunder of the fort and town of Russool-
11 nuggur, subsequently called Ramnuggur, and by his victory
12 over the strong tribe of Mahommedans called Chettas, the
13 original occupants of Russoolnuggur and the district surrounding
14 it. Golam Mahomed Chetta held out against him for some
15 years, but was at length defeated and slain in a pitched battle.
16 His son was taken prisoner and by order of the victor blown
17 from a gun. After this Godjar Gola, the brother of Golam
18 Mahomed, surrendered with his four sons, and received a
19 small jaghire for his maintenance. In his war with the
20 Chettas, Maha Sing had an army of 6,000 men.
21 About ten months after the marriage of his parents, and in the
22 the winter of 1776, Runjeet Sing the son of Maha Sing and the
23 Mai Malwine was born. In 1778 many Chiefs and Sirdars from
24 various other tribes joined the Sukerchuckia Missal now under the
25 sole and personal command of Maha Sing, who was still consider-
26 ably influenced by the counsels of his mother and her favou-
27 rites. In the winter of 1778, however Maha Sing put his
28 mother to death with his own hands. He had long suspected
29 one Hakeekuth Sing, of carrying on a criminal intercourse
30 with her, but had never interfered to put a stop to it or taken any
31 serious notice of the matter. It happened however that one
32 Khodadad Khan, the son of Ramneth Khan, a man of some note
33 at Jelalpore near Gujerat, and who after his father's death had
34 killed his mother for merely attempting to engage in a criminal
35 intrigue fled from his home and joined the Sukerchuckia Missall,