Lehal Library

130 The Agrarian Uprising Second Afghan Invasion, 1748-9: Sikh Collaboration with Kaura Mal In December 1748, Abdali left Peshawar for the Punjab. Mannu sent frantic appeals to Delhi for help, but Wazir SafdarJang, who was more anxious to see Mannu out of power than to repel the foreigner, prevaricated and Mannu had to face the Afghans with whatever forces he couJd muster. Mannu stopped the invading army oo the banks of the Chenab four miles east of Wazirabad. Abdali hesitated to open hostilities with the man who had beaten him only nine months earlier. Then he realized that if he let the winter days go by, the summer's heat would turn the odds against his mountaineers. He kept the bulk of his army with him, facing Mir Mannu, while a column under General Jahan Khan bypassed Mannu's forces and made for Lahore. The Sikhs got information that while Mir Mannu was facing Abdali on the Chenab, Mannu's deputy in Lahore had left the city unguarded to check the advance ofJahan Khan. They swooped down on Lahore and for some hours Nawab Kapur Singh had the pleasure of having the capital at his mercy. He evacuated the city when be heard of the return of the governor. 4 The impasse on the Chenab was resolved by the willingness of both parties to come to terms. Jahan Khan having been unsuccessful at Lahore, the Afghans wanted to return home with whatever they could lay their hands on. Mannu had not received any assistance from Delhi and decided to 'shake the chain of friendship and accommodation in Abdali's ears and smother the fire that had not yet broken out into a flame.•~ The Afghan was given all territory west of the Indus (as had been ceded to the Persian Nadir Shah) and the revenue of four districts of the Punjab: Sialkot, Aurangabad, Gujarat, and Pasrur, yielding an annual revenue of fourteen lacs of rupees. In sho1i, Mir Mannu became a feudatory of the Afghan king as well as of the Mughal emperor. 4 Kbushwaqt Rai, Kitiib+TawariM-i-Punjiih, 82. 5 Siyiir-,ul-Mutii/Lherir1, Ill , 288.