Lehal Library

Ahmed Shah Abdali 129 of support from the government at Delhi, where the new wazir, SafdarJang, was doing his best to undermine the growing power of the Turanis (Turks) of whom Mir Mannu was the leader. Mir Mannu instructed Adina Beg Khan to curb the Sikh leaders while Kaura Mal, with a force ofTuranis and Sikh mercenaries, ejected the Afghans from Multan. Adina Beg Khan~ won over Jassa Singh Ramgarhia and proceeded to Amritsar, where the Sikhs had foregathered to celebrate Divali. Mir Mannu and Kaura Mal came down from Lahore and joined Adina in besieging Ram Rauni. Aft.er two months of desultory fighting, Mir Mannu offered to raise the siege and give the Sikhs a jagir if they agreed to remain peaceful Jassa Singh Ahluwalia accepted the offer of one-fourth of the revenue of Pacti. The real reason for Mannu's placating Lhe Sikhs in this manner was the news that Ahmed Shah Abdali had again assembled an army to invade India. 3 Adina 1kg Khan is an excellent example of lhe amoral Machiavellian 'prince' produced by 1msetlled Limes. The author of Siyar-ul-Mutiikherfa desctibes him as 'lhe very devil lU1der t.he appearance of a man' . He had no loyally save LO himsdf. I le was eminently successtill in making use of others by convincing them t.hat tJ1c course he advocated was in their interest. And he was a past master ac lhe game of plaving his enemies against each other. He persuaded Shah Nawaz to invite lhe Afghans and. at the same cime, informed lhe Ddhi Wa✓ir of Shah Nawaz's u·eacbery. He proclaimed a holy war against the Sikh~ one day, and pledged eternal friendship wilh I.hem on the next. ('Adina Beg Khan would chive away flies from the face oft.he Durrani~ al one time and brush the dust from the beards oflhe Sikhs at another," lmMw, Snatlat.) He incited the Marathas againSt the Afghans, and the Afghans and Sikhs against lhe Marath.as, and never did he let his falsehoods catch up with him. Diwan Bakht Mal Y.Tites: 'Adina Beg was a greedy man. He did not. crush the Sikhs. lf he had intended to do so. ic was not a difficult task. But he had tJiis idea in his mind thiu if he quelled the Sikhs some other contractor might be entmsted with the government of the doab for a higher sum and he might be dismissed. He, therefore, treated the Sikhs well and settled tenns witJi them. For tJiis reason the Sikhs grew stronger and they gradually occupied many villages as jagir' (Folios 58-9, Khiilsa Namn1