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.
[Illustration: Fig. 61. Mahárája Ranjít Singh.
(_From a picture book said to have been prepared for Mahárája Dalíp
Singh._)]
~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.
[Illustration: Fig. 62. Mahárája Kharak Singh.]
[Illustration: Fig. 63. Nao Nihál Singh.]
[Illustration: Fig. 64. Mahárája Sher Singh.
(_From a picture book said to have been prepared for Mahárája Dalíp
Singh._)]
~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.
[Illustration: Fig. 65. Zamzama Gun[6].]
~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.]