Lehal Library

142 The Agrarian Uprising Lahore, Sikh and Maratha cavalry went in pursuit of the Afghan prince and his commander-in-chief. Taimur and Jahan Khan barely escaped with their lives when crossing the Chenab near Wazirabad, Their rearguard and heavy baggage were captured and brought back to Lahore. The Sikhs took the Afghan prisoners to Amritsar and made them clean up the pool around I.he Harimandir. The Marathas retnrned to Delhi the richer by several crores. Adina Beg Khan got what he wanted: the subediiri of the Punjab at seventy-five lacs of rupees a year to be paid to the Marathas. On paper the Punjab now had three masters: the Mugbals, the Afghans, and the Marathas. In fact, it had only two: Adina Beg Khan and the Sikhs. And of those two each tried to convince the other that he was the overlord and the other the tenant. The Sikhs had some reason to think that way because Adina Beg Khan had, in fact, sought their protection and paid them riikh1 money. But Adina was unpredictable. He recmited a great many soldiers and hired a thousand woodollters to back down the foresl in which the Sikhs were wont to seek shelter in times of trouble. Then he besieged the Sikh fort of Ram Rauni (now renamed Ramgarh). Adina Beg's volte face took the Sikhs by surprise. Nevertheless, once they understood his game, they gave him no respite. They first punished the Randhawas and the Niranjanias of Jandiala who had sided with Adina and then turned on the Beg. Before they could teach the merrnrial siibedii.r a lesson, he succumbed LO an attack of colic in September 1758. The Punjab still bad its three claimants, but now only one master, the Sikhs. A month and a half aft.er Adina Beg Khan's death the Sarbat Khalsa reviewed the situation at their annual Divali meeting. The Mughals, Afghans, Maratbas, and a nominee of Adina Beg Khan had staked their claims on the Punjab. The two questions before the Khalsa were whether or not they should occupy Lahore; and, if they did, would they be strong enough to repel the Afghans or the Marathas, or both? A large Maratha army was already on its way up from Delhi; the Afghans had made another attempt to