Lehal Library

Maharajah of lhe Punjab 199 Singh,12 who happened to be in Amritsar and had helped him to capture the city. The Maharajah received a tumultuous welcome in Amritsar. He rode through the streets on his elephant, showering coins on the milJing crowds. He bathed in the pool at the Harimandir and made a grant for the temple to be rebuilt in marble and covered with gold leaf. 13 Modernization of the Army The capture of Amritsar brought addiLional lw,Lrc:: Lo the Maharajah's name, and men from all over Hindustan began to flock to his standard. Among them were deserters from the regiments of the East India Company. They were paraded before him and he saw, for the first time, soldiers march in step and make battle formations on simple words of command. He recognized that the secret of British success against larger and better equipped annies lay in their superior discipline. He hired their deserters as driII sergeants and also picked a batch of young Punjabis to go across the border, enlist in the Company's forces, and leam whatever the English had to teach. Until then the backbone of the Sikh armies had been the cavalier am1ed with spear, sword, and musket. The Sikhs looked down upon the foot soldier and were contemptuous of drill: they described marching in step as the ruqs-i-luluan (the fool's ballet). Ranjit Singh ignored these witticisms and raised infantry battalions of Punjabi Mussalmans, Hindustani deseners, and Gurkhas. After 12 Phula Singh was bom in the ,illage of Shinh in 1761. He:- joined an order of niha11gs al an early age and became I he leader of a fanatiC' hand of fighte~ who formed the suicide squads of the Sikh amtles. Ranjit Singh owed many of his victories to the desperate ,·alour of I.he nihangs (also described asAkalis), of whom Lwo. Phula Singh and Sadhu Singh, are most frequenlly mentioned. They were well knmm for their devil-may-care altitude and their freedom in speaking their minds even LO Raajil Singh. Akali Phula ~ingh was killed in the batlle of Naushera in March 1823. 13 The er. ranee co the central shrine bears an inscription to this effect. (See Chapter 3, footnote 20.)