Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
170
CHAP. VII
from the youthful convert, and he proceeded through the desert to Khairpur in Sind, where he was well received by Mir Rustam Khan, and where he awaited
1827-9.
the junction of the 'Ghazis', or fighters for the faith,
who were following him. Ahmad marched to KandaRouses the Usufzais to a religious
war.
Saiyid
Ah-
mad Shah fails
against the at
Sikhs Akora,
1827.
har, but his projects were mistrusted or misunderstood; he received no encouragement from the Barakzai brothers in possession, and he proceeded northward through the Ghilzai country, and in the beginning of 1827 he crossed the Kabul river to Panjtar in the Usufzai hills, between Peshawar and the Indus.^
The Panjtar family is of some consequence among the warlike Usufzais, and as the tribe had become apprehensive of the designs of Yar Muhammad Khan, whose dependence on Ranjit Singh secured him from danger on the side of Kabul, the Saiyid and his 'Ghazis' were hailed as deliverers, and the authority or supremacy of Ahmad was generally admitted. He led his ill-equipped host to attack a detachment of Sikhs, which had been moved forward to Akora, a few miles above Attock, under the command of Budh Singh Sindhanwala, of the same family as the Maharaja. The Sikh commander entrenched his position, and repulsed the tumultuous assault of the mountaineers with considerable loss, but as he could not follow up his success, the fame and the strength of the Saiyid continued to increase, and Yar Muhammad deemed it prudent to enter into an agreement obliging him to respect the territories of the Usufzais. The curbed governor of Peshawar is accused of a base attempt to remove Ahmad by poison, and, in the year 1829, the fact or the report was made use of by the Saiyid as a reason for appealing to arms. Yar Muhammad was defeated and
mortally wounded, and Peshawar was perhaps saved 1
Cf.
Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp.
145,
146.
About Saiyid
Ahmad, the author has learnt much from the 'Ghazi's' brotherin-law, and from a respectable Mauli, who likewise followed his fortunes, and both of whom are now in honourable employ in the chiefship of Tonk. He has likewise learnt many particulars from Munshi Shahamat Ali, and especially from Pir Ibrahim Khan, a straightforward and intelligent Pathan of Kasur, in the British service, who thinks Ahmad right, notwithstanding the holy neighbourhood of Pakpattan, Multan, Indeed, most educated Muhammadans admit the and Utch reasonableness of his doctrines, and the able Regent-Begum of Bhopal is not indisposed to emulate the strictness of the Chief of Tonk, as an abhorrer of vain ceremonies. Among humbler people the Saiyid likewise obtained many admirers, and it is said that his exhortations generally were so efficacious, that even the tailors of Delhi were moved to scrupulously return remnants of cloth to their employers !
I
170
CHAP. VII
from the youthful convert, and he proceeded through the desert to Khairpur in Sind, where he was well received by Mir Rustam Khan, and where he awaited
1827-9.
the junction of the 'Ghazis', or fighters for the faith,
who were following him. Ahmad marched to KandaRouses the Usufzais to a religious
war.
Saiyid
Ah-
mad Shah fails
against the at
Sikhs Akora,
1827.
har, but his projects were mistrusted or misunderstood; he received no encouragement from the Barakzai brothers in possession, and he proceeded northward through the Ghilzai country, and in the beginning of 1827 he crossed the Kabul river to Panjtar in the Usufzai hills, between Peshawar and the Indus.^
The Panjtar family is of some consequence among the warlike Usufzais, and as the tribe had become apprehensive of the designs of Yar Muhammad Khan, whose dependence on Ranjit Singh secured him from danger on the side of Kabul, the Saiyid and his 'Ghazis' were hailed as deliverers, and the authority or supremacy of Ahmad was generally admitted. He led his ill-equipped host to attack a detachment of Sikhs, which had been moved forward to Akora, a few miles above Attock, under the command of Budh Singh Sindhanwala, of the same family as the Maharaja. The Sikh commander entrenched his position, and repulsed the tumultuous assault of the mountaineers with considerable loss, but as he could not follow up his success, the fame and the strength of the Saiyid continued to increase, and Yar Muhammad deemed it prudent to enter into an agreement obliging him to respect the territories of the Usufzais. The curbed governor of Peshawar is accused of a base attempt to remove Ahmad by poison, and, in the year 1829, the fact or the report was made use of by the Saiyid as a reason for appealing to arms. Yar Muhammad was defeated and
mortally wounded, and Peshawar was perhaps saved 1
Cf.
Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp.
145,
146.
About Saiyid
Ahmad, the author has learnt much from the 'Ghazi's' brotherin-law, and from a respectable Mauli, who likewise followed his fortunes, and both of whom are now in honourable employ in the chiefship of Tonk. He has likewise learnt many particulars from Munshi Shahamat Ali, and especially from Pir Ibrahim Khan, a straightforward and intelligent Pathan of Kasur, in the British service, who thinks Ahmad right, notwithstanding the holy neighbourhood of Pakpattan, Multan, Indeed, most educated Muhammadans admit the and Utch reasonableness of his doctrines, and the able Regent-Begum of Bhopal is not indisposed to emulate the strictness of the Chief of Tonk, as an abhorrer of vain ceremonies. Among humbler people the Saiyid likewise obtained many admirers, and it is said that his exhortations generally were so efficacious, that even the tailors of Delhi were moved to scrupulously return remnants of cloth to their employers !
I
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