Indian Antiquary Vol 17

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 96

86
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
Maharani Chandan, unknown to the dominant faction, despatched a message with great secrecy to the Raja Suchet Singh, brother of the late Dhyan Singh, informing him that the whole government had fallen into disorder, that as the sovereign was a child and his wazir young, Jallâ had usurped the supreme power and extorted untold sums of money, and that therefore she invited the Râjâ to introduce order into the administration by once more accepting the post of plenipotentiary wasir, and becoming the lientenant of the Mahârâjâ. Suchêt Singh immediately started with his troops from Jammûn in compliance with the invitation, and hastily advanced towards Lâhôr till he reached the banks of the Ravi, where he left his troops and crossed the river with an escort of only a hundred men, marching till he reached the tomb of Shekh Kallan at a distance of three miles from Lâhôr, where he encamped, and hoped his nephew Hira Singh together with Pandit Jalla would meet and welcome him. His expectations, however, proved futile, because Hirâ Singh, now fully aware for what purpose his uncle had so quickly arrived from Jammún, was determined to repel him, and, on being informed of his approach, forthwith harangued the Sikh Khålså troops, promising a gold batkiss to every man who would follow him to attack his uncle. Suchêt Singh had been encamped only one day when the Khâlsâ troops arrived, surrounded the tomb, and at once not only destroyed it and the adjoining buildings and their tenants the faqirs with their artillery, but exterminated to a man the whole escort of Suchêt Singh, as well as himself.
After this action Hira Singh manifested grief for the loss of his uncle, but afterwards honestly paid the golden batki he had promised to each soldier, although the sum was so large that the government treasury suffered very considerably. When a month had elapsed after this affair, one of the Sindhânwâliâ chiefs and malcontents, 'Atar Singh by name, who had not been slain with the others-when the Khâlså troops avenged upon them the murder of Shêr Singh, and placed Dalip Singh on the throne,-but had escaped to the British territory, being determined to wrest from Raja Hira Singh the power he enjoyed, and to take vengeance, had
Shekh Isma'il, known as Mian Kallan 3 Name of a gold coin five rupees in value.
[MARCH, 1888.
4
recourse for this purpose to Bir Singh faqir who dwelt on the Satluj, and enjoyed great reputation for sanctity as a guru, as well as considerable influence with the army; and induced him to address it, in order to obtain its aid to overthrow the government of the Rájah. When Hîrâ Singh was informed of these machinations, he summoned a panch (panchayat) of petty officers commanding a company of soldiers, to his presence-because they were able to influence the privates much more than the higher officers could, whom they also greatly exceeded in numbers-distributed money among them, and thereby so alienated them from the guru, that they attacked his domicile with musketry. He was killed by a stray bullet and Atar Singh was also routed with his adherents. Some months afterwards, the uncle of the Maharajâ, Jawahir Singh, whose imprisonment does not appear to have been very strict, found opportunity to bribe a number of the officers of the army, by promising to each of them a necklace of jewellery, and holding forth to each trooper the reward of a nám, to win them over to his cause. He succeeded so well that the officers despatched a memorandum to Hira Singh, promising to remain loyal to him if he agreed to deprive his counsellor Jalla of power, who had by his tyranny incurred universal reprobation, but threatening him with death in the contrary case. When Hira Singh became aware of his danger, he swore that he would never betray his friend, and would remain faithful to him even at the risk of his own life, but when he perceived that it was actually in peril, he mounted an elephant, and fled from Lâhôr with a few trusty followers intending to take refuge in Jammûn. The news of his flight spread quickly, and he had just reached the Ravi when he was overtaken by thousands of Sikhs, who at once attacked him; whereon he alighted from his elephant, and defending himself with his handful of trusty mountaineers, fell sword in hand. On the same occasion also Jallâ was slain with Sohan, the young son of the Mahârâjá Gulab Singh of Jammûn, whereon the Sikhs returned victorious to Lâhôr.
44. Jawahir Singh, the maternal uncle of Dalip Singh, now assumed the reins of
3 The nám is, according to a marginal note, a gold jewel and ornament, called also jangú.