Tempo:
1
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
106 1784-92.
AD.
1785.
The Rajputs
of
the
Lower Himalayas rendered tributary.
CHAP. V
ness of the Oudh troops on the opposite bank. The destructive famine already alluded to seems to have compelled Jassa Singh to move into the Doab, and, in 1785, Rohilkhand was entered by the confederates and plundered as far as Chandosi, which is within forty miles of Bareilly. At this period Zabita Khan was almost confined to the walls of his fort of Ghausgarh, and the hill raja of Garhwal, whose ancestor had received Dara as a refugee in defiance of Aurangzeb, had been rendered tributary, equally with all his brother Rajputs, in the lower hills westward to the Chenab. The Sikhs were predominant from the frontiers of Oudh to the Indus, and the traveller Forster amusingly describes the alarm caused to a little chief and his people by the appearance of two Sikh horsemen under the walls of their fort, and the assiduous services aftd respectful attention which the like number of troopers met with from the local authorities of Garhwal, and from the assembled wayfarers at a place of public reception.
Jai Singh
Kanhaya pre-eminent, 1784-5.
Rise of
Mahan Singh Sukerchukia.
The Kanhayas r.educed, 1785-6.
Jassa the
Carpenter restored,
and Kangra
In the Punjab itself Jai Singh Kanhaya continued to retain a paramount influence. He had taken Mahan Singh, the son of Charat Singh Sukerchukia, under his protection, and he aided the young chief in capturing
Russulnaggar on the Chenab, from a Muhammadan family. Mahan Singh's reputation continued to increase, and, about 1784-5, he so far threw off his dependence upon Jai Singh as to interfere in the affairs of Jair.mu on his own account. His interference is understood to have ended in the plunder of the place; but the wealth he had obtained and the independence he had shown both roused the anger of Jai Singh, who rudely repelled Mahan Singh's apologies and offers of atonement, and the spirit of the young chief being fired, he went away resolved to appeal to arms. He sent to Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, and that leader was glad of an opportunity of recovering his lost possessions. He joined Mahan Singh, and easily procured the aid of Sansar Chand, the grandson of Ghamand Chand of Katotch. The Kanhayas were attacked and defeated: Gurbakhsh Singh, the eldest son of Jai Singh, was killed, and the spirit of the old man was effectually humbled by this double sorrow. Jassa Singh was restored to his territories, and Sansar Chand obtained the fort'of Kangra, which his father and grandfather had been so desirous of possessing. Mahan Singh now Forster, Travels, i. 228, 229, 262, 326 and note. Cf. also Francklin. Shah Alam, pp. 93, 94, and the Persian epitome Mirrit-i-Aftah Numa. '
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
106 1784-92.
AD.
1785.
The Rajputs
of
the
Lower Himalayas rendered tributary.
CHAP. V
ness of the Oudh troops on the opposite bank. The destructive famine already alluded to seems to have compelled Jassa Singh to move into the Doab, and, in 1785, Rohilkhand was entered by the confederates and plundered as far as Chandosi, which is within forty miles of Bareilly. At this period Zabita Khan was almost confined to the walls of his fort of Ghausgarh, and the hill raja of Garhwal, whose ancestor had received Dara as a refugee in defiance of Aurangzeb, had been rendered tributary, equally with all his brother Rajputs, in the lower hills westward to the Chenab. The Sikhs were predominant from the frontiers of Oudh to the Indus, and the traveller Forster amusingly describes the alarm caused to a little chief and his people by the appearance of two Sikh horsemen under the walls of their fort, and the assiduous services aftd respectful attention which the like number of troopers met with from the local authorities of Garhwal, and from the assembled wayfarers at a place of public reception.
Jai Singh
Kanhaya pre-eminent, 1784-5.
Rise of
Mahan Singh Sukerchukia.
The Kanhayas r.educed, 1785-6.
Jassa the
Carpenter restored,
and Kangra
In the Punjab itself Jai Singh Kanhaya continued to retain a paramount influence. He had taken Mahan Singh, the son of Charat Singh Sukerchukia, under his protection, and he aided the young chief in capturing
Russulnaggar on the Chenab, from a Muhammadan family. Mahan Singh's reputation continued to increase, and, about 1784-5, he so far threw off his dependence upon Jai Singh as to interfere in the affairs of Jair.mu on his own account. His interference is understood to have ended in the plunder of the place; but the wealth he had obtained and the independence he had shown both roused the anger of Jai Singh, who rudely repelled Mahan Singh's apologies and offers of atonement, and the spirit of the young chief being fired, he went away resolved to appeal to arms. He sent to Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, and that leader was glad of an opportunity of recovering his lost possessions. He joined Mahan Singh, and easily procured the aid of Sansar Chand, the grandson of Ghamand Chand of Katotch. The Kanhayas were attacked and defeated: Gurbakhsh Singh, the eldest son of Jai Singh, was killed, and the spirit of the old man was effectually humbled by this double sorrow. Jassa Singh was restored to his territories, and Sansar Chand obtained the fort'of Kangra, which his father and grandfather had been so desirous of possessing. Mahan Singh now Forster, Travels, i. 228, 229, 262, 326 and note. Cf. also Francklin. Shah Alam, pp. 93, 94, and the Persian epitome Mirrit-i-Aftah Numa. '
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