Tempo:
;
102 1767-8.
Patiala,
and the Rajput chief of
Katotch, appointed to
com-
mand under the Abdali.
Ahmad Shah retires.
Rohtas taken by the Sikhs,
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
CHAP. V
of the Malwa Sikhs. He likewise saw a promising ally in the- Rajput chief of Katotch, and he made him his deputy in the Jullundur Doab and adjoining hills. His
measures were interrupted by the defection of his own troops; twelve thousand men marched back towards Kabul, and the Shah found it prudent to follow them. He was harassed in his retreat, and he had scarcely crossed the Indus before Sher Shah's mountain stronghold of Rohtas was blockaded by the Sukerchukias, under the grandfather of Ranjit Singh, aided by a detachment of the neighbouring Bhangi confederacy. The place fell in 1768, and the Bhangis almost immeafterwards occupied the country as far as Rawalpindi and the vale of Khanpur, the Gakhars showing but little of that ancient hardihood which distinguished them in their contests with invading diately
1768.
Mughals.^
The Sikhs
The Bhangis, under Hari Singh, next marched towards Multan, but they were met by the Muhammadan Daudputras, who had migrated from Sind on learning Nadir Shah's intention of transplanting them to Ghazni, and had established the principality now known as Bhawalpur.- The chief, Mobarik Khan, after a parley with Hari Singh, arranged that the neutral town of Pakpattan, held by a Musalman saint of eminence, should be the common boundary. Hari Singh then swept towards Dera Ghazi Khan a"nd the Indus, and while thus employed, his feudatory of Gujrat, who had recently taken Rawalpindi, made an attempt to penetrate into Kashmir by the ordinary road, but was repulsed with loss. On the Jumna, and in the great Doab, the old Najib-ud-daula was so hard pressed by Rai Singh Bhangi, who emulated him as a paternal
ravage the
Lower Punjab;
and enter into terms with Bhawalpur
threaten
Kashmir,
and press Najib-ud-
1 Forster, Travels, i. 323; Elphinstone, Kabul, ii. 297; Murray, Ranjit Singh, p. 27; Mooi'croft, Travels, i. 127; and manuscript accounts consulted by the author. - When Nadir Shah proceeded to establish his authority in Sindh, he found the ancestor of the Bhawalpur family a man
of reputation
in
his native
district
of Shikarpur.
The Shah
made him the deputy of the upper third of the province: but, becoming suspicious of the whole clan, he resolved on removing it to Ghazni. The tribe then migrated up the Sutlej, and seized lands by force. The Daudputras are so called from Daud (David), the first of the family who acquired a name. They fabulously trace their origin to the Caliph Abbas; but they may be regarded as. Sindian Baluchis, or as Baluchis changed by a long residence in Sind. In establishing themselves on the Sutlej, they reduced the remains of the ancient Langahs and Johiyas further insignificance; but they introduced the Sindian system of canals of irrigation, and both banks of the river below Pakpattan bear witness to their original industry and
to
love of agriculture.
102 1767-8.
Patiala,
and the Rajput chief of
Katotch, appointed to
com-
mand under the Abdali.
Ahmad Shah retires.
Rohtas taken by the Sikhs,
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
CHAP. V
of the Malwa Sikhs. He likewise saw a promising ally in the- Rajput chief of Katotch, and he made him his deputy in the Jullundur Doab and adjoining hills. His
measures were interrupted by the defection of his own troops; twelve thousand men marched back towards Kabul, and the Shah found it prudent to follow them. He was harassed in his retreat, and he had scarcely crossed the Indus before Sher Shah's mountain stronghold of Rohtas was blockaded by the Sukerchukias, under the grandfather of Ranjit Singh, aided by a detachment of the neighbouring Bhangi confederacy. The place fell in 1768, and the Bhangis almost immeafterwards occupied the country as far as Rawalpindi and the vale of Khanpur, the Gakhars showing but little of that ancient hardihood which distinguished them in their contests with invading diately
1768.
Mughals.^
The Sikhs
The Bhangis, under Hari Singh, next marched towards Multan, but they were met by the Muhammadan Daudputras, who had migrated from Sind on learning Nadir Shah's intention of transplanting them to Ghazni, and had established the principality now known as Bhawalpur.- The chief, Mobarik Khan, after a parley with Hari Singh, arranged that the neutral town of Pakpattan, held by a Musalman saint of eminence, should be the common boundary. Hari Singh then swept towards Dera Ghazi Khan a"nd the Indus, and while thus employed, his feudatory of Gujrat, who had recently taken Rawalpindi, made an attempt to penetrate into Kashmir by the ordinary road, but was repulsed with loss. On the Jumna, and in the great Doab, the old Najib-ud-daula was so hard pressed by Rai Singh Bhangi, who emulated him as a paternal
ravage the
Lower Punjab;
and enter into terms with Bhawalpur
threaten
Kashmir,
and press Najib-ud-
1 Forster, Travels, i. 323; Elphinstone, Kabul, ii. 297; Murray, Ranjit Singh, p. 27; Mooi'croft, Travels, i. 127; and manuscript accounts consulted by the author. - When Nadir Shah proceeded to establish his authority in Sindh, he found the ancestor of the Bhawalpur family a man
of reputation
in
his native
district
of Shikarpur.
The Shah
made him the deputy of the upper third of the province: but, becoming suspicious of the whole clan, he resolved on removing it to Ghazni. The tribe then migrated up the Sutlej, and seized lands by force. The Daudputras are so called from Daud (David), the first of the family who acquired a name. They fabulously trace their origin to the Caliph Abbas; but they may be regarded as. Sindian Baluchis, or as Baluchis changed by a long residence in Sind. In establishing themselves on the Sutlej, they reduced the remains of the ancient Langahs and Johiyas further insignificance; but they introduced the Sindian system of canals of irrigation, and both banks of the river below Pakpattan bear witness to their original industry and
to
love of agriculture.
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