Tempo:
The Himalayas to Tibet
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in the ruling family and moved into the state. He put one of the aspirants in possession on his undertaking to pay Rs 30,000 per annum to the Lahore Durbar, and occupied some of the strategically placed forts. In the winter of 1836, Zorawar Singh presented the Maharajah with the nazarana he had brought from Ladakh and asked for permission to advance further westwards to Iskardu to make a common frontier with China. The Maharajah advised him to hold his hand for the time being. The British Agent at Ludhiana was indignant over the extension of the Punjab frontier and lent a sympathetic ear to the complaints of the members of the dispossessed family. The Durbar reminded him that the temtory in question was on its side of Sutlej. The Agent ignored the argument and wrote to his government of the danger of allowing the Punjabis to have a common frontier with the Chinese and continued to express sympathy for the Ladakhi exiles.
The Western Frontier While Zorawar Singh was carrying the Punjab's standard northwards, the Maharajah was extending its frontiers at the expense of the Afghans. The Durbar had offered to put Shuja back on the throne but on terms that no self-respecting Afghan could have accepted. He was asked to renounce forever his title to Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Mankera, and Peshawar (which were in Punjabi hands and which Shuja was willing to concede), and also to agree to send gifts of horses, fruit, etc. in the nature of tribute. In addition there were clauses demanding a ban on the slaughter of kine, and the surrender of the sandalwood portals of the temple of Somnath which the iconoclast Mahmud had taken to Ghazni eight hundred years before. Shuja did not turn down these conditions but decided to make another attempt to gain power by himself. Shuja received some support from the Amirs of Sindh and was assured that there would be a general rising of the tribes in hls favour as soon as he entered Afghanistan. When he crossed the Indus many tribal Sardars reiterated their promise
271
in the ruling family and moved into the state. He put one of the aspirants in possession on his undertaking to pay Rs 30,000 per annum to the Lahore Durbar, and occupied some of the strategically placed forts. In the winter of 1836, Zorawar Singh presented the Maharajah with the nazarana he had brought from Ladakh and asked for permission to advance further westwards to Iskardu to make a common frontier with China. The Maharajah advised him to hold his hand for the time being. The British Agent at Ludhiana was indignant over the extension of the Punjab frontier and lent a sympathetic ear to the complaints of the members of the dispossessed family. The Durbar reminded him that the temtory in question was on its side of Sutlej. The Agent ignored the argument and wrote to his government of the danger of allowing the Punjabis to have a common frontier with the Chinese and continued to express sympathy for the Ladakhi exiles.
The Western Frontier While Zorawar Singh was carrying the Punjab's standard northwards, the Maharajah was extending its frontiers at the expense of the Afghans. The Durbar had offered to put Shuja back on the throne but on terms that no self-respecting Afghan could have accepted. He was asked to renounce forever his title to Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Mankera, and Peshawar (which were in Punjabi hands and which Shuja was willing to concede), and also to agree to send gifts of horses, fruit, etc. in the nature of tribute. In addition there were clauses demanding a ban on the slaughter of kine, and the surrender of the sandalwood portals of the temple of Somnath which the iconoclast Mahmud had taken to Ghazni eight hundred years before. Shuja did not turn down these conditions but decided to make another attempt to gain power by himself. Shuja received some support from the Amirs of Sindh and was assured that there would be a general rising of the tribes in hls favour as soon as he entered Afghanistan. When he crossed the Indus many tribal Sardars reiterated their promise
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