1 162 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 on Jowahir Singh, whose installation took place on
3 May 14. Ghulab remained at Lahore till the middle
4 of August, when he returned to Jammu, poorer in
5 lands and money, but with his influence firmly estab-
6 lished over the troops of the Khalsa.
7 Had Ghulab Singh accepted the ministerial office,
8 with his disappointed enemy, Jowahir Singh, nursing
9 his resentment in the background, his life would not
10 have been worth one month's purchase. Jowahir' s life,
11 on that 14th of May, was worth just four. Only two
12 events in his brief ministry call for notice — namely,
13 the rebellion of Mulraj and of Peshora Singh. The
14 former of these, whose treachery afterwards became
15 the principal cause of the second Sikh war, had, in
16 September 1844, succeeded his father, Diwan Sawan
17 Mall, as Governor of Multan. Sawan Mall had been
18 appointed by Ranjit Singh. He was the most able
19 of all the Maharaja's provincial administrators, and
20 under him Multan reached a high state of prosperity,
21 yielding in revenue nearly forty lakhs of rupees.
22 Mulraj was likewise a capable man of affairs, and in
23 repressing a mutiny among his Sikh troops had dis-
24 played both vigour and resource. But he was cruel
25 and despotic, and the people hated him as much
26 as they had loved his father. On his elevation to
27 the governorship, Mulraj had refused to pay the
28 customary nazar1 to the government, and he now
29 resisted the latter's decision to increase the " rent " of
30 his province. It was, therefore, decided to dispatch
31 a force for the reduction of Multan. The troops,
32 1 Nazar (Arabic), a ceremonial gift ; a fee paid to government on
33 succeeding to an office or to property.