Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
86 1748.
the 'DaJ' or army of the Khalsa.
Mannu disperses the Sikhs, and
comes to terms with
Ahmad Shah, who had again crossed the Indus, end of 1748.
Mir Mannu breaks with Delhi by resisting
his supercession in
Multan;
CHAP. IV
as Mir Mannu had established his authority, he marched against the insurgents, captured their fort, dispersed their troops, and took measures for the general preservation of good order.^ His plans were interrupted by the rumoured approach of a second Afghan invasion; he marched to the Chenab to repel the danger, and he dispatched agents to the Durrani camp to avert it by promises and concessions. Ahmad Shah's own rule was scarcely consolidated, he respected the ability of the youth who had checked him at Sirhind, and he retired across the Indus on the stipulation that the revenues of four fruitful districts should be paid to him as they had been paid to Nadir Shah, from whom he pretended to derive his title.-
Mir Mannu gained applause at Delhi for the sucbut his ambition was justly dreaded by the Wazir Safdar Jang, who knew his own designs on Oudh, and felt that the example would not be lost on the son of his predecessor. It was proposed to reduce his power by conferring the province of Multan on Shah Nawaz Khan, whom Mir Mannu himself had supplanted in Lahore; ^ but Mannu had an accurate knowledge of the imperial power and of his own resources, and he sent his deputy, Kaura Mai, to resist the new governor. Shah Nawaz Khan was defeated and slain, and the elated viceroy conferred the title of Maharaja on his successful follower."* This virtual independence of Delhi, and the suppression of Sikh disturbances, emboldened Mannu to persevere in his probably original design, and to withhold the process of his measures,
Tuka Singh, and Kirwar Singh,
as the confederates of Jassa
Kalal. 1 Both Kaura Mai and Adina Beg, but especially the former, the one from predilection, and the other frorn policy, are understood to have dissuaded Mir Mannu from proceeding to extremities against the Sikhs. Cf. Browne, Tracts, ii. 16, and Forster, Travels, i. 314, 315, 327, 328, which latter, however, justly observes that Mannu had objects in view of greater moment to himself than the suppression of an infant sect.
2 The Afghans state that Mir Mannu also became the Shah's tributary for the whole of the Punjab and, doubtless, he promised anything to get the invader away and to be left alone. (Cf. Elphinstone, Kabul, ii. 286, and Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp. 910.) 3 Hayatulla Khan, the younger son of Zakariya Khan, is stated in local Multan chronicles to have held that province when Nadir Shah entered Sind, in 1739-40, to fairly settle and subdue it, and to have then tendered his allegiance to the Persian conqueror, from whom he received the title of Shah
Nawaz Khan. 4
Cf.
Murray's Ranjit Singh, p. 10.
86 1748.
the 'DaJ' or army of the Khalsa.
Mannu disperses the Sikhs, and
comes to terms with
Ahmad Shah, who had again crossed the Indus, end of 1748.
Mir Mannu breaks with Delhi by resisting
his supercession in
Multan;
CHAP. IV
as Mir Mannu had established his authority, he marched against the insurgents, captured their fort, dispersed their troops, and took measures for the general preservation of good order.^ His plans were interrupted by the rumoured approach of a second Afghan invasion; he marched to the Chenab to repel the danger, and he dispatched agents to the Durrani camp to avert it by promises and concessions. Ahmad Shah's own rule was scarcely consolidated, he respected the ability of the youth who had checked him at Sirhind, and he retired across the Indus on the stipulation that the revenues of four fruitful districts should be paid to him as they had been paid to Nadir Shah, from whom he pretended to derive his title.-
Mir Mannu gained applause at Delhi for the sucbut his ambition was justly dreaded by the Wazir Safdar Jang, who knew his own designs on Oudh, and felt that the example would not be lost on the son of his predecessor. It was proposed to reduce his power by conferring the province of Multan on Shah Nawaz Khan, whom Mir Mannu himself had supplanted in Lahore; ^ but Mannu had an accurate knowledge of the imperial power and of his own resources, and he sent his deputy, Kaura Mai, to resist the new governor. Shah Nawaz Khan was defeated and slain, and the elated viceroy conferred the title of Maharaja on his successful follower."* This virtual independence of Delhi, and the suppression of Sikh disturbances, emboldened Mannu to persevere in his probably original design, and to withhold the process of his measures,
Tuka Singh, and Kirwar Singh,
as the confederates of Jassa
Kalal. 1 Both Kaura Mai and Adina Beg, but especially the former, the one from predilection, and the other frorn policy, are understood to have dissuaded Mir Mannu from proceeding to extremities against the Sikhs. Cf. Browne, Tracts, ii. 16, and Forster, Travels, i. 314, 315, 327, 328, which latter, however, justly observes that Mannu had objects in view of greater moment to himself than the suppression of an infant sect.
2 The Afghans state that Mir Mannu also became the Shah's tributary for the whole of the Punjab and, doubtless, he promised anything to get the invader away and to be left alone. (Cf. Elphinstone, Kabul, ii. 286, and Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp. 910.) 3 Hayatulla Khan, the younger son of Zakariya Khan, is stated in local Multan chronicles to have held that province when Nadir Shah entered Sind, in 1739-40, to fairly settle and subdue it, and to have then tendered his allegiance to the Persian conqueror, from whom he received the title of Shah
Nawaz Khan. 4
Cf.
Murray's Ranjit Singh, p. 10.
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