1 58 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 over the province, seizing estates, and establishing
3 themselves as joint proprietors of the domain of the
4 Khalsa.
5 The life of Ahmad Shah Abdali, statesman, warrior,
6 and brigand, terminated in what was in his day
7 a very unusual manner.. He died in his bed.
8 Cancer in the cheek is said to have caused his death,
9 which took place in the year 1773. He was suc-
10 ceeded by his son Timur, who, after an unsuccessful
11 attack on the lower Punjab, made no further effort to
12 regain his father's Indian possessions. He reigned
13 for twenty years, during which the Sikhs were left
14 unmolested. At the end of this period the sirdars
15 had developed into influential chiefs, each with a
16 considerable military force at his command ; and
17 only their mutual jealousies and impatience of control
18 hindered the fulfilment of Govind Singh's prophecy.
19 The Khalsa had attained independence, but it still
20 awaited the master hand that was to subdue and
21 weld into a nation the turbulent elements of which
22 it was composed.