Lehal Library

196 Punjab Monarchy and Imperialism water and powder and making merry, often in a manner quite unbecoming to a monarch. On Basant he paid homage at the tombs of the Muslim divines, Madho Lal and Hussain. On Amavas and Baisakh he joined his co-religionists in bathing at Amritsar or Taran Taran. Campaign Against the Pathans of Kasur and the R.ajputs of Kangra First priority was given to the reduction of two of the leading collaborators of the Afghans: Nizamuddin Khan and Sansar Chand. Fateh Singh Kalianwala10 made short work of the Pathan resistance at Kasur. He compeUed Nizamuddin Khan to pay a heavy indemnity and recognize Ranjit Singh as his sovereign. Sansar Chand brought trouble on his own head by seizing some villages in the estates of Sada Kaur. Ranjit Singh proceeded to Batala, took back the occupied villages and also captured a portion ofKangra territory, including two prosperous towns, Nurpur and Naushera. On his way back to Lahore, Ranjit Singh stopped at Taran Taran, where he and Fateh Singh Ahluwalia exchanged turbans as a gesture of having become brothers in the faith ( dharam bhai). They signed a pledge that thereafter their friends and enemies would be common, and in every conquest made by their joint efforts, Ranjit Singh would give over at lease one district to be administered by Fateh Singh. The alliance made the two the strongest united force in the Punjab. The policy adopted towards the chieftains who were dispos-sessed was humane. Although their forts and cannon were taken away and their militias incorporated in the army of the state, they were given jagirs for the maintenance of their families, and their sons were offered service in the army. There is little doubt that the motive was to unify the Punjab, not personal enrichment, 10 Fateh Singh Kalianwala was a Sandhu Jat chieftain who joined Ranjit Singh very early in his career, and was with him in the capture of Lahore. H e served his master in many campaigns with great zeal and fell fighting at Naraingarh on 25 October 1807.