Tempo:
Extinction of Afghan Power
249
directions. One division consisting of fifteen thousand men under the command of Dal Singh Bharania andjemadar Khushal Singh was ordered to Dera Ismail Khan. The Nawab's officers put up a nominal resistance before surrendering. The other force under Misr Dewan Chand passed through Leiah, and then the three armies converged and marched on to Mankera. Mank.era was in the midst of a sandy desen with no stream or water tank for miles around. The Nawab's only hope was to hold out until the water supply of the besiegers ran out. [n three days the Durbar troops dug enough wells to provide themselves with drinking water. The siege lasted only a fonnight. The Nawab accepted the Durbar's offer of ajagir and safe residence at Dera Ismail Khan, and handed over the fort with its arsenal intact. Wrth the fall of Mankera, the huge tract of land between the Jhelum and the Indus, the Sind-Sagar Doab, was added to the Punjab.12
12 The victories in Kashmir, Peshawar, and Multan were celebrated by naming three new-born princes after them. Princes Kashmira Singh and (later) Peshaura Singh were born to Daya Kaur and Prince Multana Singh to Ratan Kaur. Both women were widows of the Bhangi chiefof Gujarat and had been taken into the Maharajah's harem on the death of their husband in 1811.
249
directions. One division consisting of fifteen thousand men under the command of Dal Singh Bharania andjemadar Khushal Singh was ordered to Dera Ismail Khan. The Nawab's officers put up a nominal resistance before surrendering. The other force under Misr Dewan Chand passed through Leiah, and then the three armies converged and marched on to Mankera. Mank.era was in the midst of a sandy desen with no stream or water tank for miles around. The Nawab's only hope was to hold out until the water supply of the besiegers ran out. [n three days the Durbar troops dug enough wells to provide themselves with drinking water. The siege lasted only a fonnight. The Nawab accepted the Durbar's offer of ajagir and safe residence at Dera Ismail Khan, and handed over the fort with its arsenal intact. Wrth the fall of Mankera, the huge tract of land between the Jhelum and the Indus, the Sind-Sagar Doab, was added to the Punjab.12
12 The victories in Kashmir, Peshawar, and Multan were celebrated by naming three new-born princes after them. Princes Kashmira Singh and (later) Peshaura Singh were born to Daya Kaur and Prince Multana Singh to Ratan Kaur. Both women were widows of the Bhangi chiefof Gujarat and had been taken into the Maharajah's harem on the death of their husband in 1811.
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