Tempo:
Consolidation of the Punjab
227
included Chunian, Dipalpur, Sharakpur, and Kamalia, was attached to the state. Sada Kaur's roisl, the Kanhayas, also suffered partial eclipse. Her territories were spared, but those of her brother-in-law along the river Beas were seized.
Shah Shuja and Multan The Maharajah was in the neighbourhood of Khushab when a messenger brought news of the arrival in the Punjab of Shah Shuja. In order to grasp the object of Shuja's mission, it is necessary to understand something of the politics of Afghanistan. The three grandsons of Ahmed Shah Abdali, who aspired to succeed to the Afghan empire, were Shah Zaman, Shah Shuja, and Shah Mahmud. The real power had, however, passed out of the hands of the royal family who belonged to the Saddozai clan to the family of the chief minister, Wazir Fateh Khan, who was a Barakzai. The Barakzais favoured Shah Mahmud over the other two brothers. Shah Zaman, who had made four attempts to conquer India, was overthrown by the Barakzais, who installed Mahmud in his place. Mahmud put out Zaman's eyes, hoping thereby to put him permanently out of the picture. Zaman's place was taken by Shuja, who ousted Mahmud from Kabul. When Lord Minto sent his envoys to make alliances against a possible French invasion, Shuja seemed finnly installed. But hardly had Elphinstone turned his back on Kabul when the Barakzais expelled Shuja and put back their nominee, Mahmud, in power. Shuja came to solicit the Durbar's aid to get back his throne. What transpired at the meeting between the Maharajah and Shah Shuja is not fully known. It appears that Shuja not only expected the Punjabis to help him back on the Kabul throne, but was also anxious to have districts of the Punjab which the Afghans had wrested from the Mughals-particularly Multan. The Maharajah, on the other band, was equally anxious to get the Afghans to relinquish their title to their early conquests in the Punjab before he would commit the Durbar to an adventure in Afghanistan. It was not surprising, then, that Shuja bid a hurried farewell and retraced his steps towards Peshawar.
227
included Chunian, Dipalpur, Sharakpur, and Kamalia, was attached to the state. Sada Kaur's roisl, the Kanhayas, also suffered partial eclipse. Her territories were spared, but those of her brother-in-law along the river Beas were seized.
Shah Shuja and Multan The Maharajah was in the neighbourhood of Khushab when a messenger brought news of the arrival in the Punjab of Shah Shuja. In order to grasp the object of Shuja's mission, it is necessary to understand something of the politics of Afghanistan. The three grandsons of Ahmed Shah Abdali, who aspired to succeed to the Afghan empire, were Shah Zaman, Shah Shuja, and Shah Mahmud. The real power had, however, passed out of the hands of the royal family who belonged to the Saddozai clan to the family of the chief minister, Wazir Fateh Khan, who was a Barakzai. The Barakzais favoured Shah Mahmud over the other two brothers. Shah Zaman, who had made four attempts to conquer India, was overthrown by the Barakzais, who installed Mahmud in his place. Mahmud put out Zaman's eyes, hoping thereby to put him permanently out of the picture. Zaman's place was taken by Shuja, who ousted Mahmud from Kabul. When Lord Minto sent his envoys to make alliances against a possible French invasion, Shuja seemed finnly installed. But hardly had Elphinstone turned his back on Kabul when the Barakzais expelled Shuja and put back their nominee, Mahmud, in power. Shuja came to solicit the Durbar's aid to get back his throne. What transpired at the meeting between the Maharajah and Shah Shuja is not fully known. It appears that Shuja not only expected the Punjabis to help him back on the Kabul throne, but was also anxious to have districts of the Punjab which the Afghans had wrested from the Mughals-particularly Multan. The Maharajah, on the other band, was equally anxious to get the Afghans to relinquish their title to their early conquests in the Punjab before he would commit the Durbar to an adventure in Afghanistan. It was not surprising, then, that Shuja bid a hurried farewell and retraced his steps towards Peshawar.
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