Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
122 in the
1807.
CHAP. V
communications which he then held with the
Nawab of Bahawalpur, the ready improver of opportunities endeavoured to impress that chief with the belief that a regard for him alone had caused the Afghan governor to be left in possession of his stronghold. ^
Ran jit Singh employs
Mokham Chand. 1807.
Crosses the Sutlej
for
the second time;
and returns to seize
the
territories
of the
deceased Dallehwala chief.
The Sikhs of Sirhind
become apprehensive of Ranjit Singh.
British
protection asked, 1808;
During the same year, 1807, Ranjit Singh took into employ a Kshattriya, named Mohkam Chand, an able man, who fully justified the confidence reposed in him. With this new servant in his train he proceeded to interfere in the dissensions between the Raja of Patiala and his intriguing wife, which were as lucrative to the master of Lahore as they had before been to Holkar and Amir Khan. The Rani wished to force from the weak husband a large assignment for the support of her infant son, and she tempted Ranjit Singh, by the offer of a necklace of diamonds and a his
piece lit brass ordnance, to espouse her cause. He crossed the Sutlej, and decreed to the boy a maintenance of 50,000 rupees per annum. He then attacked Naraingarh, between Ambala and the hills, and held by a family of Rajputs, but he only secured it after a repulse and a heavy, loss. Tara Singh, the old chief of the Dallehwala confederacy, who was with the Lahore force on this occasion, died before N-araingarh, and Ranjit Singh hastened back to secure his possessions in the Jullundur Doab. The widow of the aged leader equalled^ the sister of the Raja of Patiala in spirit, and she is described to have girded up her garments, and to have fought, sword in hand, on the battered walls of the fort of Rahon.^
In the beginning
of 1808
various
places
in
the
Upper Punjab were taken from their independent Sikh proprietors, and brought under the direct management of the new kingdom of Lahore, and Mohkam Chand was at the same time employed in effecting a settlement of the territories which had been seized on the left bank of the Sutlej. But Ranjit Singh's systematic aggressions had begun to excite fear in the minds of the Sikhs of Sirhind, and a formal deputation, consisting of the chiefs of Jind and Kaithal, and the Diwan, or minister, of Patiala, proceeded to Delhi, in March 1808, to ask for British protection. The communiCatiojis 1 Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp. 60, memoirs of the Bahawalpur family.
61,
and the manuscript
2 Cf. Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp. 61, 63. The gun obtained by Ranjit Singh from Patiala on this occasion was named Karri Khan, and was captured by the English during the campaign
Qf 1845r6.
122 in the
1807.
CHAP. V
communications which he then held with the
Nawab of Bahawalpur, the ready improver of opportunities endeavoured to impress that chief with the belief that a regard for him alone had caused the Afghan governor to be left in possession of his stronghold. ^
Ran jit Singh employs
Mokham Chand. 1807.
Crosses the Sutlej
for
the second time;
and returns to seize
the
territories
of the
deceased Dallehwala chief.
The Sikhs of Sirhind
become apprehensive of Ranjit Singh.
British
protection asked, 1808;
During the same year, 1807, Ranjit Singh took into employ a Kshattriya, named Mohkam Chand, an able man, who fully justified the confidence reposed in him. With this new servant in his train he proceeded to interfere in the dissensions between the Raja of Patiala and his intriguing wife, which were as lucrative to the master of Lahore as they had before been to Holkar and Amir Khan. The Rani wished to force from the weak husband a large assignment for the support of her infant son, and she tempted Ranjit Singh, by the offer of a necklace of diamonds and a his
piece lit brass ordnance, to espouse her cause. He crossed the Sutlej, and decreed to the boy a maintenance of 50,000 rupees per annum. He then attacked Naraingarh, between Ambala and the hills, and held by a family of Rajputs, but he only secured it after a repulse and a heavy, loss. Tara Singh, the old chief of the Dallehwala confederacy, who was with the Lahore force on this occasion, died before N-araingarh, and Ranjit Singh hastened back to secure his possessions in the Jullundur Doab. The widow of the aged leader equalled^ the sister of the Raja of Patiala in spirit, and she is described to have girded up her garments, and to have fought, sword in hand, on the battered walls of the fort of Rahon.^
In the beginning
of 1808
various
places
in
the
Upper Punjab were taken from their independent Sikh proprietors, and brought under the direct management of the new kingdom of Lahore, and Mohkam Chand was at the same time employed in effecting a settlement of the territories which had been seized on the left bank of the Sutlej. But Ranjit Singh's systematic aggressions had begun to excite fear in the minds of the Sikhs of Sirhind, and a formal deputation, consisting of the chiefs of Jind and Kaithal, and the Diwan, or minister, of Patiala, proceeded to Delhi, in March 1808, to ask for British protection. The communiCatiojis 1 Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp. 60, memoirs of the Bahawalpur family.
61,
and the manuscript
2 Cf. Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp. 61, 63. The gun obtained by Ranjit Singh from Patiala on this occasion was named Karri Khan, and was captured by the English during the campaign
Qf 1845r6.
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