1 A. D. 1793. RLNJEET SINGH's FIRST MEASURES, 49
2 Upon attaining- the age of 17 years, Runjeet Singh,
3 in imitation of his father, assamed in person the conduct
4 of affairs, and dismissed the Dewan : it is further stated
5 that, under the guidance of Dul. Singh, his father's
6 maternal uncle, who had long borne ill-will to the Dewan,
7 Ll KHOO was dispatched on an expedition to Kitas,
8 where he was slain in an aff'ray with the Zameendars, not
9 without suspicions of contrivance. His father's example
10 gave sanction to an act of further cruelty in Runjeet
11 Singh. The regent mother was accused of having led
12 a life of profligate indulgence, the late Dewan being not
13 the only paramour admitted to her favors. Upon receiving
14 evidence to this, it is said, that RuNJEET Singh gave
15 his sanction to, or at least connived at, her being put to
16 death, and the old chief, DuL Singh, is designated as the
17 perpetrator of the act by means of poison.* Runjeet
18 Singh, with the advice of Suda Koonwur, carried
19 on now in person all the affairs of his Sirdaree, and the
20 difficulties he experienced, with the means by which he
21 extricated himself, and made every circumstance contribute
22 to his further rise, will form the subject of the Chapters
23 which follow.
24 * The above particulars are from Captain Wade's Report. Captain
25 MiRRAY merely states, that " he dismissed the Dewan, and caused his
26 mother to be assassinated." Captain Uade assigns the year 1787 for the
27 decease of Maha Singh, and states him to have been born in 17.57, as
28 before remarked, which are discrepancies of date with Captain Mi rray,
29 for which I am unable to account; the latter is the authority followed.