1 CHAPTER IV.
2 CONSTITUTION OF THE KHALSA.
3 Before proceeding to an account of the greatest of
4 Sikh leaders, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, it is necessary
5 that we should understand something of the form
6 of government which prevailed among the Sikhs at
7 this time, and the principles on which it was based.
8 Their political organization was of a very primitive
9 character. It consisted of a federation of clans, each
10 under the leadership of a sirdar or military chief.
11 The cause which gave unity to the whole was two-'
12 fold : the preservation of the Sikh faith, and the
13 promotion of the welfare of the Khalsa. As far
14 as their attachment to this cause was concerned,
15 the Sikhs were one people ; but in all other respects
16 the clans were as independent of one another as the
17 several states of Rajputana or Central India. As
18 they would brook no interference from the outside
19 world in matters touching the interests of their
20 community as a whole, so they would brook none
21 from one another in the management of their several
22 domains.
23 The administration of the Khalsa, as well as of
24 the individual clans, was democratic — that is to say,