Army of the Khalsa.
Henceforth the Sikhs were known as the "Army of God and the Khalsa." The constitution was changed. Guru Govind was taken prisoner by the Moguls and executed, and his successors lost their spiritual prestige. The Sikhs were divided into twelve misls or clans, each having its own chief or Sirdar; but the Sirdars changed with the times. Some took the field at the head of their sons and vassals, zealous only for God and the Khalsa. Others were mere freebooters, who led bodies of irregular horse to devastate and plunder. Others again formed a brotherhood of fanatics known as Akalis, who called themselves soldiers of God, and were distinguished by steel bracelets and dark-blue dresses and turbans.
Runjeet Singh, 1800-39.
Out of these discordant elements Runjeet Singh created his famous army of the Khalsa. By consummate tact he stirred up the old enthusiasm of the Sikh soldiery, whilst employing French officers to drill and command them. He added Cashmere and Peshawar to his dominions, and was known as the "Lion of Lahore." His depravity is indescribable; his court at Lahore was a sink of iniquity, like the cities of the plain; but, knowing the real source of his power, he gloried in the title of "Commander-in-Chief of the Army of God and the Khalsa." When he died, in 1839, four queens and seven slaves were buried alive with his remains.
Hopeless anarchy.
Between 1839 and 1845 the Punjab was sinking into hopeless anarchy. There was a deadly conflict between Sikhs and Rajputs. Plots and murders followed in rapid succession. Princes, ministers, and generals were carried off in turns by assassination or massacre. Meanwhile the treasures of Runjeet Singh were squandered in wild debauchery, or lavished on the army. There was a British envoy at Lahore, but he could do nothing. On one important occasion he reported that every minister of state had been drunk for several days. On another occasion he entered the council-hall unexpectedly, and found the prime minister figuring in the guise of a dancing-girl amidst the applause of his colleagues. An infant, named Dhuleep Singh, said to be the son of Runjeet Singh, was the nominal sovereign; but the queen-mother, a woman of low origin, and her minister and paramour, were the rulers of the country.
Army supreme.
By this time the army of the Khalsa were masters of the state—the prætorian guards of the Punjab. It was dangerous to the Sikh government, and was only kept quiet by money and concessions. It demanded more pay, and got it. The French officers fled for their lives. The Sikh officers were compelled to obey certain little Khalsas, which by this time had come to be elected by the soldiery in every corps, and were supposed to be animated by the invisible but presiding spirit of Guru Govind. The army was bent on sacking the capital and slaughtering all who stood in their way, whilst the Akalis, the fanatical soldiers of God, were burning to purge the court at Lahore of its iniquities.
Non-intervention.
The Sikh rulers implored the British government to protect them against the army of the Khalsa; but non-intervention was still the ruling policy, and the British government refused to interfere. Meanwhile the dangers of Sikh invasion had been minimised by the reduction of the army of Gwalior, and the British government underrated the strength of the Sikh army. Amidst the general lull the crash came. The ministers were afraid of a reign of terror at Lahore, and sent the army of the Khalsa across the river Sutlej to plunder the cities of Hindustan.