Lehal Library

174 The Agrarian Uprising onslaughts but even pushed them back into their Malwa homeland. General Perron, who commanded Maratba armies in the north, was able to dictate his terms to the Malwais; and the Malwais became so disunited that an English adventurer, George Thomas, who had set up a kingdom at Hansi, was with considerable difficulty ejected from Sikh territory. The success of Perron and George Thomas showed the impotence to which the Cis-Sucl~j Sardars had reduced themselves. rn Breakup of the Misls In Majha as in Malwa the chief cause of discord between the mists was the relaxation of external pressure and the love of loot. 17 The mountainous regions in the north had escaped Abdali's attention. Tradesmen had shifted their depots from the plains to the hills and caravans had begun to pass along the foot of the Himalayas. The richest among the hill states was Jam.mu; it was the riches ofJammu that proved the undoing of the Sikh chiefs of Majha. In 1774 theJammu Raja, Ranjit Dev, fell out with his son, Braj Raj Dev. The Sukerchakias and the Kanhayas espoused the cause of the son; the Bhangis, that of the father. In the skirmishes that followed, Charhat Singh Sukerchakia was killed in an accident; Jhanda Singh Bhangi was murdered by an assassin paid by Jai Singh Kanhaya. I (i One of the wm·st instances of b1igandage was in the spting of 1796, when the troops of Sahib Singh of Patiala, Rai Singh, and Sher Singh were involved in a serious riot at Hardwar on I.be occasion of the Kumbh Mela. They slew over five hundred Gosain and other priestS and mulcted the pilgrims. 17 'In the country of the Punjab from the Indus to the banks oftbeJumna there are thousands of chjefs in the Sikh community. None obeys the other. If a person owns cwo or three horses he boasts of being a chief, and gets ready to fight against thousands. When a village is besieged by the Sikhs to realise tribute which the zamindars cannot afford, they intrigue with ocher Sikhs and the Sikhs begin to fight between themselves. Whoever wins receives money according to the capacity of the villagers.' (lmamuddin, Husain Shahi, 242-3; H. R Gupta, n, 19-20.)