1 Constitution of the Khdisa. 69
2 led his forces against Mahan Singh, and defeated
3 him with considerable loss, annexing, at the same
4 time, a large portion of his territory. Realizing that
5 he had more than met his match, Mahan Singh
6 sought and obtained the support of the Ramgharia
7 misl, which had also suffered loss of territory at
8 the hands of the Kanheyas ; and, thus strengthened,
9 he fell upon Jai Singh at Batala, and the allied forces
10 gained a complete victory. The Kanheya chief was
11 forced to restore to the Sukarchakias and the
12 Ramgharias all their lost possessions, and he only
13 escaped further penalties by bestowing on Ranjit
14 Singh the hand of his granddaughter Mahtab Kour,
15 whose father had been killed in the battle of
16 Batala.
17 The remaining eight years of Mahan Singh's
18 brief career (he died in 1792 at the age of twenty-
19 seven) were devoted to the extension of the influence
20 and possessions of the Sukarchakia misl. He waged
21 unceasing war against the Bhangis, and overcame
22 many of the sirdars who held lands in the neighbour-
23 hood of his capital, Gujranwala. His most formid-
24 able opponent was a Bhangi sirdar named Sahib
25 Singh, to whom he had formerly given his sister
26 in marriage. This chieftain he engaged in many
27 conflicts, and finally laid siege to his capital, Gujrat,
28 on the banks of the Chenab. While directing opera-
29 tions he was taken suddenly ill, and his troops, find-
30 ing themselves without their leader, lost heart and
31 abandoned the siege. Mahan Singh was conveyed
32 to Gujranwala, where he died three days later.
33 He left to his son and successor a state beset by