Tempo:
CHAP. VI
EXPEDITION AGAINST KASHMIR
141
(the confederate of the Maharaja's father) were seized isie-is. '~ and annexed to the territories of the Lahore government. Sansar Chand was honoured and alarmed by a visit from his old ally, and the year 1816 terminated with the Maharaja's triumphant return to Amritsar.* The northern plains and lower hills of the Punjab Ranjit had been fairly reduced to obedience and order, and ^ingh capRanjit Singh's territories were bounded on the south tan^^j^g^" and west by the real or nominal dependencies of Kabul, but the Maharaja's meditated attacks upon them were postponed for a year by impaired health. His first object was Multan, and early in 1818 an army marched to attack it, under the nominal command of his son, ,
Kharak Singh, the titular reducer of Jammu. To ask what were the Maharaja's reasons for attacking Multan would be futile; he thought the Sikhs had as good a right as the Afghans to take what they could, and the actual possessor of Multan had rather asserted his own independence than faithfully served the heirs of Ahrnad Shah. A large sum of money was demanded and refused. In the course of February, the city was in possession of he Sikhs, but the fort held out until the beginning of June, and chance had then some share in its capture. An Akali, named Sadhu Singh, went forth to do battle for the 'Khalsa', and the very suddenness of the onset of his small band led to success. The Sikhs, seeing the impression thus strangely
made, arose together, carried the outwork, and found an easy entry through the breaches of a four months' batter. Muzaffar Khan, the governor, and two of his sons, were slain in the assault, and two others were made prisoners. A considerable booty fell to the share of the soldiery, but when the army reached Lahore, the Maharaja directed that the plunder should be restored. He may have felt some pride that his commands were not altogether unheeded, but he complained that they were not so productive as he had expected.^ ^
Cf.
Murray, Rayijit Singh, pp.
108, 111.
The place fell on the 2nd June, 1818. See Murray, Ranjit Singh, p. 114, &c. The Maharaja told Mr. Moorcroft that he -
got very little of the booty he attempted to recover. (Moorcroft, Travels, i. 102.) Muhammad Muzaffar Khan, the governor, had held Multan from the time of the expulsion of the Sikhs of the Bhangi 'Misal', in 1779. In 1807 he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and, although he returned in two years, he left the nominal control of affairs with his son. Sarafraz Khan. On the last approach of Ranjit Singh, the old man refused, according to the Bahawalpur annals, to send his family to the south of the Sutlej, as on other occasions of siege; but whether he did so in the confidence, or in the despair, of a successful resistance is not clear.
"
EXPEDITION AGAINST KASHMIR
141
(the confederate of the Maharaja's father) were seized isie-is. '~ and annexed to the territories of the Lahore government. Sansar Chand was honoured and alarmed by a visit from his old ally, and the year 1816 terminated with the Maharaja's triumphant return to Amritsar.* The northern plains and lower hills of the Punjab Ranjit had been fairly reduced to obedience and order, and ^ingh capRanjit Singh's territories were bounded on the south tan^^j^g^" and west by the real or nominal dependencies of Kabul, but the Maharaja's meditated attacks upon them were postponed for a year by impaired health. His first object was Multan, and early in 1818 an army marched to attack it, under the nominal command of his son, ,
Kharak Singh, the titular reducer of Jammu. To ask what were the Maharaja's reasons for attacking Multan would be futile; he thought the Sikhs had as good a right as the Afghans to take what they could, and the actual possessor of Multan had rather asserted his own independence than faithfully served the heirs of Ahrnad Shah. A large sum of money was demanded and refused. In the course of February, the city was in possession of he Sikhs, but the fort held out until the beginning of June, and chance had then some share in its capture. An Akali, named Sadhu Singh, went forth to do battle for the 'Khalsa', and the very suddenness of the onset of his small band led to success. The Sikhs, seeing the impression thus strangely
made, arose together, carried the outwork, and found an easy entry through the breaches of a four months' batter. Muzaffar Khan, the governor, and two of his sons, were slain in the assault, and two others were made prisoners. A considerable booty fell to the share of the soldiery, but when the army reached Lahore, the Maharaja directed that the plunder should be restored. He may have felt some pride that his commands were not altogether unheeded, but he complained that they were not so productive as he had expected.^ ^
Cf.
Murray, Rayijit Singh, pp.
108, 111.
The place fell on the 2nd June, 1818. See Murray, Ranjit Singh, p. 114, &c. The Maharaja told Mr. Moorcroft that he -
got very little of the booty he attempted to recover. (Moorcroft, Travels, i. 102.) Muhammad Muzaffar Khan, the governor, had held Multan from the time of the expulsion of the Sikhs of the Bhangi 'Misal', in 1779. In 1807 he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and, although he returned in two years, he left the nominal control of affairs with his son. Sarafraz Khan. On the last approach of Ranjit Singh, the old man refused, according to the Bahawalpur annals, to send his family to the south of the Sutlej, as on other occasions of siege; but whether he did so in the confidence, or in the despair, of a successful resistance is not clear.
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