Tempo:
CHAP. IV
CONFEDERACIES OF THE SIKHS
97
from the village in which Jassa, who first proclaimed ^_!^f: the existence of the army of the new theocracy, had helped his father .to distil spirits; (7) the Ghanais or Kanhayas; (8) the Feizulapurias or Singhpurias ; (9) the Sukerchukias, and (10), perhaps, the Dallehwalas, were similarly so denominated from the villages of their chiefs; (II)- the Krora Singhias took the name of their third leader, but they were sometimes called Punjgurhias, from the village of their first chief; and (12) the Phulkias went back to the common ancestor of Alha Singh and other Sirdars of his family.' Of the Misals, all save that of Phulkia arose in the The reiap'"^" Punjab or to the north of the Sutlej, and they were **^^ country the name of the Singhs, from Manjha termed ^h^'^^^a^is" around Lahore, and in contradistinction to the Malwa qj. confeSinghs, so called from the general appellation of the deracies. districts lying between Sirhind and Sirsa. The Feizulapurias, the Ahluwalias, and the Ramgarhias, were the who arose to distinction in Manjha, but the first Bhangis soon became so predominant as almost to be supreme; they were succeeded to some extent in this pre-eminence by the Ghanais, an offshoot of the Feizulapurias, until all fell before Ranjit Singh and the Sukerchukias. In Malwa the Phulkias always admitted the superior merit of the Patiala branch; this dignity
was confirmed by Ahmad Shah's bestowal of a title on Alha Singh, and the real strength of the confederacy made it perhaps inferior to the Bhangis alone. The Nishanias and Shahids scarcely formed Misals in the conventional meaning of the term, but complementary bodies set apart and honoured by all for particular reasons.^ The Nakkais never achieved a high power or 1 Capt. Murray {Ranjit Singh, pp. 29, &c.) seems to have been the first who perceived and pointed out the Sikh system of 'Misals'. Neither the organization nor the term is mentioned specifically by Forster, or Browne, or Malcolm, and at first Sir David Ochterlony considered and acted as if 'misal' meant tribe or race, instead of party or confederacy. (Sir D. Ochterlony to
the
Government of India, December 30, 1809.) The succession may be men-
to the leadership of the I^rora Singhia confederacy
tioned as an instance of the uncertainty and irregularity natural to the system of 'Misals', and indeed 'to all powers in process of change or development. The founder was succeeded by his nephew, but that nephew left his authority to Krora Singh, a petty personal follower, who again bequeathed the command The reader wall' reto Baghel Singh, his own menial servant. m.ember the parallel instance of Alfteghin and Sebekteghin, and it is curious that Mr. Macaulay notices a similar kind of descent among the English admirals of the seventeenth century, viz. from chief to cabin-boy, in the cases of Myngs, Narborough, and Shovel {History of England, i. 306). - Perhaps Capt. Murray is scarcely warranted in making 7
CONFEDERACIES OF THE SIKHS
97
from the village in which Jassa, who first proclaimed ^_!^f: the existence of the army of the new theocracy, had helped his father .to distil spirits; (7) the Ghanais or Kanhayas; (8) the Feizulapurias or Singhpurias ; (9) the Sukerchukias, and (10), perhaps, the Dallehwalas, were similarly so denominated from the villages of their chiefs; (II)- the Krora Singhias took the name of their third leader, but they were sometimes called Punjgurhias, from the village of their first chief; and (12) the Phulkias went back to the common ancestor of Alha Singh and other Sirdars of his family.' Of the Misals, all save that of Phulkia arose in the The reiap'"^" Punjab or to the north of the Sutlej, and they were **^^ country the name of the Singhs, from Manjha termed ^h^'^^^a^is" around Lahore, and in contradistinction to the Malwa qj. confeSinghs, so called from the general appellation of the deracies. districts lying between Sirhind and Sirsa. The Feizulapurias, the Ahluwalias, and the Ramgarhias, were the who arose to distinction in Manjha, but the first Bhangis soon became so predominant as almost to be supreme; they were succeeded to some extent in this pre-eminence by the Ghanais, an offshoot of the Feizulapurias, until all fell before Ranjit Singh and the Sukerchukias. In Malwa the Phulkias always admitted the superior merit of the Patiala branch; this dignity
was confirmed by Ahmad Shah's bestowal of a title on Alha Singh, and the real strength of the confederacy made it perhaps inferior to the Bhangis alone. The Nishanias and Shahids scarcely formed Misals in the conventional meaning of the term, but complementary bodies set apart and honoured by all for particular reasons.^ The Nakkais never achieved a high power or 1 Capt. Murray {Ranjit Singh, pp. 29, &c.) seems to have been the first who perceived and pointed out the Sikh system of 'Misals'. Neither the organization nor the term is mentioned specifically by Forster, or Browne, or Malcolm, and at first Sir David Ochterlony considered and acted as if 'misal' meant tribe or race, instead of party or confederacy. (Sir D. Ochterlony to
the
Government of India, December 30, 1809.) The succession may be men-
to the leadership of the I^rora Singhia confederacy
tioned as an instance of the uncertainty and irregularity natural to the system of 'Misals', and indeed 'to all powers in process of change or development. The founder was succeeded by his nephew, but that nephew left his authority to Krora Singh, a petty personal follower, who again bequeathed the command The reader wall' reto Baghel Singh, his own menial servant. m.ember the parallel instance of Alfteghin and Sebekteghin, and it is curious that Mr. Macaulay notices a similar kind of descent among the English admirals of the seventeenth century, viz. from chief to cabin-boy, in the cases of Myngs, Narborough, and Shovel {History of England, i. 306). - Perhaps Capt. Murray is scarcely warranted in making 7
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