1 Decline of the Sikh Monarchy. 151
2 Lehna Singh being amongst the slain. Of the
3 Sindhanwalia brothers, Attar Singh alone remained
4 alive. He was on his way to Lahore when the siege
5 took place, and on learning its disastrous results, he
6 made his way across the borders into British territory.
7 On the day following the siege, Dhulip Singh was
8 proclaimed Maharaja, with Hira Singh as minister.
9 The estates of the Sindhanwalias were confiscated,
10 and their dwellings destroyed. The troops received
11 the promised increment to their pay, and in addition
12 each soldier received a gratuity of a month's pay as
13 a recompense for his services.
14 The army of the Khalsa was now, to all intents
15 and purposes, a self-governing body. Its affairs were
16 conducted by panchayats, or councils of " five," repre-
17 senting each company, and elected by the soldiers
18 themselves. To these panchayats the men looked for
19 the redress of all their grievances, and to them they
20 made their demands for increased pay, or the dismissal
21 of obnoxious officers. The system originated in the
22 reign of Sher Singh, and so rapidly did the power
23 of the councils grow that they soon acquired the
24 complete control, not only of the army, but of almost
25 every branch of the administration. The head of
26 each council, with whom the chief power rested, was
27 known as the Panch ; the others were styled Kar
28 Panches, and were looked on as the " assistants or
29 tools of their principals, and their business was
30 chiefly to go among the soldiery and to stir them up
31 to anything that their chiefs might desire." On
32 important occasions the councils met in a general
33 assembly, whose decrees were regarded as the voice