Fig. 63. Nao Nihál Singh.
Fig. 64. Mahárája Sher Singh.
(From a picture book said to have been prepared for Mahárája Dalíp Singh.)
The First Sikh War and its results.—In 1845 these intriguers, fearing the Khálsa army which they could not control, yielded to its cry to be led across the Sutlej in the hope that its strength would be broken in its conflict with the Company's forces. The valour displayed by the Sikh soldiery on the fields of Mudkí, Ferozesháh (Pherushahr), and Sobráon was rendered useless by the treachery of its rulers, and Lahore was occupied in February, 1846. By the treaty signed on 9th March, 1846, the Mahárája ceded the territories in the plains between the Sutlej and Biás, and in the hills between the Biás and the Indus. Kashmír and Hazára were made over by the Company to Rája Guláb Singh for a payment of 75 lakhs, but next year he induced the Lahore Darbár to take over Hazára and give him Jammu in exchange. After Rája Lál Singh had been banished for instigating Shekh Imám ud din to resist the occupation of Kashmír by Guláb Singh, an agreement was executed, in December, 1846, between the Government and the chief Sikh Sardárs by which a Council of Regency was appointed to be controlled by a British Resident at Lahore. The office was given to Henry Lawrence.
The Second Sikh War.—These arrangements were destined to be short-lived. Diwán Sáwan Mal's son, Mulráj, mismanaged Multán and was ordered to resign. In April, 1848, two English officers sent to instal his Sikh successor were murdered. Herbert Edwardes, with the help of Muhammadan tribesmen and Baháwalpur troops, shut up Mulráj in Multán, but the fort was too strong for the first British regular force, which arrived in August, and it did not fall till January, 1849. During that winter a formidable Sikh revolt against English domination broke out. Its leader was Sardár Chatar Singh, Governor of Hazára. The troops sent by the Darbár to Multán under Chatar Singh's son, Sher Singh, marched northwards in September to join their co-religionists.
On the 13th of January, 1849, Lord Gough fought a very hardly contested battle at Chilianwála. If this was but a doubtful victory, that won six weeks later at Gujrát was decisive. On 12th March, 1849, the soldiers of the Khálsa in proud dejection laid down their weapons at the feet of the victor, and dispersed to their homes.
