Chapter 20

HISTORY (_continued_). THE SIKH PERIOD, 1764-1849 A.D.

~Rise of Ranjít Singh.~--The Bhangís held Lahore with brief intervals for 25 years. In 1799, Ranjít Singh, basing his claim on a grant from Sháh Zamán, the grandson of Ahmad Sháh, drove them out, and inaugurated the remarkable career which ended with his death in 1839. When he took Lahore the future Mahárája was only nineteen years of age. He was the head of the Sukarchakia _misl_, which had its headquarters at Gujránwála. Mean in appearance, his face marked and one eye closed by the ravages of smallpox, he was the one man of genius the Jat tribe has produced. A splendid horseman, a bold leader, a cool thinker untroubled with scruples, an unerring judge of character, he was bound to rise in such times. He set himself to put down every Sikh rival and to profit by the waning of the Durání power to make himself master of their possessions in the Panjáb. Pluck, patience, and guile broke down all opposition among the Mánjha Sikhs. The Sikh chiefs to the south of the Sutlej were only saved from the same fate by throwing themselves in 1808 on the protection of the English, who six years earlier had occupied Delhi, and by taking under their protection the blind old Emperor, Sháh Álam, had virtually proclaimed themselves the paramount power in India. For 44 years he had been only a piece in the game played by Mahrattas, Rohillas, and the English in alliance with the Nawáb Wazír of Oudh.

~British supremacy established in India.~--In the first years of the nineteenth century the Marquess of Wellesley had made up his mind that the time was ripe to grasp supreme power in India. The motive was largely self-preservation. India was included in Napoleon's vast plans for the overthrow of England, and Sindhia, with his army trained in European methods of warfare by French officers, seemed a likely confederate. Colonel Arthur Wellesley's hard-won battle at Assaye in September, 1803, and Lord Lake's victories on the Hindan and at Laswárí in the same year, decided the fate of India. Delhi was occupied, and Daulat Rao Sindhia ceded to the company territory reaching from Fázilka on the Sutlej to Delhi on the Jamna, and extending along that river northwards to Karnál and southwards to Mewát. Fázilka and a large part of Hissár then formed a wild desert tract called Bhattiána, over which no effective control was exercised till 1818. In 1832 "the Delhi territory" became part of the North-West Provinces, from which it was transferred to the Panjáb after the Mutiny.

~Relations of Ranjít Singh with English.~--In December, 1808, Ranjít Singh was warned that by the issue of the war with Sindhia the Cis-Sutlej chiefs had come under British protection. The Mahárája was within an ace of declaring war, or let the world think so, but his statesmanlike instincts got the better of mortified ambition, and in April, 1809, he signed a treaty pledging himself to make no conquests south and east of the Sutlej. The compact so reluctantly made was faithfully observed. In 1815, as the result of war with the Gurkhas, the Rájput hill states lying to the south of the Sutlej came under British protection.

~Extension of Sikh Kingdom in Panjáb.~--As early as 1806, when he reduced Jhang, Ranjít Singh began his encroachments on the possessions of the Duránís in the Panjáb. Next year, and again in 1810 and 1816, Multán was attacked, but the strong fort was not taken till 1818, when the old Nawáb, Muzaffar Khán, and five of his sons, fell fighting at the gate. Kashmír was first attacked in 1811 and finally annexed in 1819. Called in by the great Katoch Rája of Kángra, Sansár Chand, in 1809, to help him against the Gurkhas, Ranjít Singh duped both parties, and became master of the famous fort. Many years later he annexed the whole of the Kángra hill states. By 1820 the Mahárája was supreme from the Sutlej to the Indus, though his hold on Hazára was weak. Pesháwar became tributary in 1823, but it was kept in subjection with much difficulty. Across the Indus the position of the Sikhs was always precarious, and revenue was only paid when an armed force could be sent to collect it. As late as 1837 the great Sikh leader, Harí Singh Nalwa, fell fighting with the Afgháns at Jamrúd. The Barakzai, Dost Muhammad, had been the ruler of Kábul since 1826. In 1838, when the English launched their ill-starred expedition to restore Sháh Shuja to his throne, Ranjít Singh did not refuse his help in the passage through the Panjáb. But he was worn out by toils and excesses, and next year the weary lion of the Panjáb died. He had known how to use men. He employed Jat blades and Brahman and Muhammadan brains. Khatrís put both at his service. The best of his local governors was Diwán Sáwan Mal, who ruled the South-West Panjáb with much profit to himself and to the people. After 1820 the three Jammu brothers, Rájas Dhián Singh, Suchet Singh, and Guláb Singh, had great power.

~Successors of Ranjít Singh.~--From 1839 till 1846 an orgy of bloodshed and intrigue went on in Lahore. Kharak Singh, the Mahárája's son, died in 1840, and on the same day occurred the death of his son Nao Nihál Singh, compassed probably by the Jammu Rájas. Sher Singh, and then the child, Dalíp Singh, succeeded. In September, 1843, Mahárája Sher Singh, his son Partáb Singh, and Rája Dhián Singh were shot by Ajít Singh and Lehna Singh of the great Sindhanwália house. The death of Dhián Singh was avenged by his son, Híra Singh, who proclaimed Dalíp Singh as Mahárája and made himself chief minister. When he in turn was killed Rání Jindan, the mother of Dalíp Singh, her brother Jowáhir Singh, and her favourite, Lál Singh, took the reins.

~The First Sikh War and its results.~--In 1845 these intriguers, fearing the _Khálsa_ army which they could not control, yielded to its cry to be led across the Sutlej in the hope that its strength would be broken in its conflict with the Company's forces. The valour displayed by the Sikh soldiery on the fields of Mudkí, Ferozesháh (Pherushahr), and Sobráon was rendered useless by the treachery of its rulers, and Lahore was occupied in February, 1846. By the treaty signed on 9th March, 1846, the Mahárája ceded the territories in the plains between the Sutlej and Biás, and in the hills between the Biás and the Indus. Kashmír and Hazára were made over by the Company to Rája Guláb Singh for a payment of 75 lakhs, but next year he induced the Lahore Darbár to take over Hazára and give him Jammu in exchange. After Rája Lál Singh had been banished for instigating Shekh Imám ud din to resist the occupation of Kashmír by Guláb Singh, an agreement was executed, in December, 1846, between the Government and the chief Sikh _Sardárs_ by which a Council of Regency was appointed to be controlled by a British Resident at Lahore. The office was given to Henry Lawrence.

~The Second Sikh War.~--These arrangements were destined to be short-lived. Diwán Sáwan Mal's son, Mulráj, mismanaged Multán and was ordered to resign. In April, 1848, two English officers sent to instal his Sikh successor were murdered. Herbert Edwardes, with the help of Muhammadan tribesmen and Baháwalpur troops, shut up Mulráj in Multán, but the fort was too strong for the first British regular force, which arrived in August, and it did not fall till January, 1849. During that winter a formidable Sikh revolt against English domination broke out. Its leader was _Sardár_ Chatar Singh, Governor of Hazára. The troops sent by the _Darbár_ to Multán under Chatar Singh's son, Sher Singh, marched northwards in September to join their co-religionists.

On the 13th of January, 1849, Lord Gough fought a very hardly contested battle at Chilianwála. If this was but a doubtful victory, that won six weeks later at Gujrát was decisive. On 12th March, 1849, the soldiers of the _Khálsa_ in proud dejection laid down their weapons at the feet of the victor, and dispersed to their homes.

~Annexation.~--The cause they represented was in no sense a national one. The Sikhs were a small minority of the population, the bulk of the people being Muhammadans, to whom the English came as deliverers. On the 30th of March, 1849, the proclamation annexing the Panjáb was read at Lahore.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 6: This gun, known to the readers of _Kim_, stands on the Lahore Mall. Whoever possesses it is supposed to be ruler of the Panjáb.]