Tempo:
CHAP, VII
THE JAMMU RAJAS
167
by a childless widow, and also all the Ahluwalia dist- i828. ricts, besides others which need not be particularized.^ The claims of the Maharaja over Ferozepore and the ancestral possessions of Fateh Singh Ahluwalia were rejected; but the British title to supremacy over Whadni could no longer, it was found, be maintained. The claims of Lahore to Chamkaur and Anandpur Makhowal were expediently admitted, for the British right did not seem worth maintaining, and the affairs of the priestly class of Sikhs could be best managed by a ruler of their own faith,-
Ranjit Singh disliked the
loss of Ferozepore, which the English long contin;ied to admire as a commanding position;^ but the settlement generally was such as seemed to lessen the chances of future collision between the two govern-
ments. Ranjit Singh's connexion with the English thus Gradual became more and more close, and about the same time ascendancy he began to resign himself in many instances to the g-^gh'^jj^is
views of his new favourites of Jammu. The Maharaja brothers. had begun to notice the boyish promise of Hira Singh, and his son. the son of Dhian Singh, and he may have been equally 1820-8. pleased with the native simplicity, and with the tutored deference, of the child. He gave him the title of Raja, and his father, true to the Indian feeling, was desirous of establishing the purity of his descent by marrying his son into a family of local power and of spotless proposed genealogy. The betrothal of a daughter of the decea- marriage of ^^ingh sed Sansar Chand of Kangra was demanded in the year ^jj^ into the chief, new 1828, and the reluctant consent of the .'amily of Anrudh Chand, was obtained when he unwittingly had Sansar put himself wholly in the power of Dhian Singh by chand, i828. 1 Capt. Wade to the Resident at Delhi, 20th Jan. 1828, and Capt. Murray to the same, 19th Feb. 1828. In the case of Ferozepore, Government subsequently decided (Government to Agent at Delhi, 24th Nov. 1838) that certain collateral heirs (who had put in a claim) could not succeed, as, according to Hindu law and Sikh usage, no right of descent existed after a division had taken place. So uncertain, however, is the practice of the English, that one or more precedents in favour of the Ferozepore claimants might readily be found within the range of cases connected with the
Sikh states.
Government to the Resident at Delhi, 14th Nov. 1828. 1823 Capt. Murray talked of the 'strong and important fortress' of Ferozepore having been recovered by Ranjit Singh, for the widow proprietress from whom it had been seized by a claimant (Capt. Murray to the Agent at Delhi, 20th July 1823), and the supreme authorities similarly talked (Government to Agent at Delhi, 30th Jan. 1824^ of the political and -
3 In
military advantages of Ferozepore over Ludhiana.
THE JAMMU RAJAS
167
by a childless widow, and also all the Ahluwalia dist- i828. ricts, besides others which need not be particularized.^ The claims of the Maharaja over Ferozepore and the ancestral possessions of Fateh Singh Ahluwalia were rejected; but the British title to supremacy over Whadni could no longer, it was found, be maintained. The claims of Lahore to Chamkaur and Anandpur Makhowal were expediently admitted, for the British right did not seem worth maintaining, and the affairs of the priestly class of Sikhs could be best managed by a ruler of their own faith,-
Ranjit Singh disliked the
loss of Ferozepore, which the English long contin;ied to admire as a commanding position;^ but the settlement generally was such as seemed to lessen the chances of future collision between the two govern-
ments. Ranjit Singh's connexion with the English thus Gradual became more and more close, and about the same time ascendancy he began to resign himself in many instances to the g-^gh'^jj^is
views of his new favourites of Jammu. The Maharaja brothers. had begun to notice the boyish promise of Hira Singh, and his son. the son of Dhian Singh, and he may have been equally 1820-8. pleased with the native simplicity, and with the tutored deference, of the child. He gave him the title of Raja, and his father, true to the Indian feeling, was desirous of establishing the purity of his descent by marrying his son into a family of local power and of spotless proposed genealogy. The betrothal of a daughter of the decea- marriage of ^^ingh sed Sansar Chand of Kangra was demanded in the year ^jj^ into the chief, new 1828, and the reluctant consent of the .'amily of Anrudh Chand, was obtained when he unwittingly had Sansar put himself wholly in the power of Dhian Singh by chand, i828. 1 Capt. Wade to the Resident at Delhi, 20th Jan. 1828, and Capt. Murray to the same, 19th Feb. 1828. In the case of Ferozepore, Government subsequently decided (Government to Agent at Delhi, 24th Nov. 1838) that certain collateral heirs (who had put in a claim) could not succeed, as, according to Hindu law and Sikh usage, no right of descent existed after a division had taken place. So uncertain, however, is the practice of the English, that one or more precedents in favour of the Ferozepore claimants might readily be found within the range of cases connected with the
Sikh states.
Government to the Resident at Delhi, 14th Nov. 1828. 1823 Capt. Murray talked of the 'strong and important fortress' of Ferozepore having been recovered by Ranjit Singh, for the widow proprietress from whom it had been seized by a claimant (Capt. Murray to the Agent at Delhi, 20th July 1823), and the supreme authorities similarly talked (Government to Agent at Delhi, 30th Jan. 1824^ of the political and -
3 In
military advantages of Ferozepore over Ludhiana.
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