1 140 PUNJAB.
2 jabad, and several others, especially noticed under their names in
3 the alphabetical arrangement.
4 The Punjab was, in remote antiquity, the scene of some of
5 Alexander’s most arduous exploits. At the beginning of the
6 tenth century of the Christian era, it was ravaged, widely and
7 i Eorshts, ny sweepingly, by Mahmood 3 of Ghiznee, “ the Destroyer.”’ Lahore,
8 ii.518; Price, for about a century remained in possession of the successors of
9 hereon Mahmood, and was frequently the seat of their government, until
10 ‘ Porishta, 1.159. 1186,4 when the Ghaznevide dynasty was uprooted by Mahomed,
11 Sultan of Ghore. Subsequently to this event, the Punjab became
12 the prey of a succession of weak, licentious, and turbulent rulers,
13 among whom the Afghans generally predominated, until, in
14 ee Lape 1526,5 Baber gained the victory of Paniput, and, ascending the
15 fe throne, established the sovereignty of the Timurian family. In
16 1748, Ahmed Shah Durani, finding the power of the Moguls
17 broken by the invasion of Nadir Shah, overran the Punjab with
18 SEiph, Acc.of an Afghan army, and made himself master of Lahore 3° and in
19 eee 1756 the Mogul emperor of India ceded to him these conquests.
20 Soon after this, the power of the Sikhs began to assume a
21 7 Elph. 586, formidable aspect, and in 17687 they overran the country east of
22 the Jailum, and, crossing that river, took the celebrated fortress,
23 ® Id. 570. Rotas. In 17978 Shah Zeman Durani invaded the Punjab and
24 took Lahore, but being immediately recalled by an insurrection at
25 home, left the country in greater confusion than he found it.
26 . The expulsion of Shah Shooja in 1809, and consequent sub-
27 version of the Afghan monarchy, facilitated the rise of Runjeet
28 Singh, a Sikh of the caste of Jats, one of the humblest but most
29 numerous among the Rajpoots. In 1799, this adventurer had
30 ee Life of obtained from Zeman Shah Durania grant of Lahore, and in the
31 LF von hea same year! succeeded in expelling three rival Sikh chieftains,
32 Kaschmir, lv. 141. who had maintained. themselves there. In 1809, having extended
33 his power over the greater part of the Punjab, and some of the
34 petty hill states, he carried his arms across the Sutlej, and
35 attacked the Sikh chieftains under British protection. Nego-
36 tiations ensued, and were brought to an amicable conclusion
37 by a treaty providing “that the British government will have no
38 concern with the territories and subjects of the Raja to the north-
39 ward of the river Sutlej,” and that Runjeet Singh would not
40 commit or suffer any encroachment on the possessions or rights
41 *prinsep, ut of the chiefs on the left bank of that river? In 1818, Runjeet
42 supra, 59.