1 RUNJEET SINGH TO NOO NEHAL SIM6H. 19
2 shawls. The Maharajah Kurruck Singh then
3 taking a lighted torch in his hand, pronounced
4 a short prayer, set fire to the pile, and in an
5 instant the whole mass, being composed of very
6 ignitible material, was in flames. The noise
7 from the torn toms (drums) and shouts of the
8 spectators immediately drowned any exclamation
9 from the wretched victims. It was with some
10 difliculty that the Rajah Dhyan Singh (Runjeet's
11 minister), under strong excitement, was pre-
12 vented from throwing himself into the flames.
13 Considerable doubt has been thrown over the
14 sincerity of this intended act of self-devotion;
15 but the general opinion was that he fully in-
16 tended it from the apparent absence of any
17 motive for hypocrisy. The ashes of the founder of
18 the Sikh dynasty were afterwards collected to-
19 gether and thrown into the Ganges, in conformity
20 with the religious custom of the country.
21 It has been already stated the Maharajah Kur-
22 ruck Singh ascended the throne of the Punjaub
23 without obstacle ; his son, the Prince Noo Nehal
24 Singh, a brave but dissolute young man, from
25 whom much opposition was expected, having been
26 absent at the time at Peshawur; but notwith-
27 standing the powerful auxiliaries of a well-filled
28 treasury, a numerous and well-appointed army,
29 and the able advisers of his late father, it is
30 doubtful whether an individual could have been