Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c15.s2.6

v1.c15.s2.6

The Sikh enemies of the Mughal empire fell into two classes regionally, each with a different history and line of action, namely, cis-Satlaj and trans-Satlaj,—i.e., those living south-east of the Satlaj, between Ludhiana and Karnal, and those whose homes lay north-west of that river, between Ludhiana and Lahor. The former in time developed into territorial magnates,—the Rajahs of Patiala, Kapurthala, Nabha and Jhind, besides smaller chiefs, by first passing through the stage of robbers of the imperial highway from Delhi to Lahor which ran through their homes. The latter were originally rebels defying the civil administration of the governor of Lahor, and supplementing their assertion of independence with the plunder of their weaker neighbours. In the second stage of Sikh expansion, *i.e.*, after 1761, the cis-Satlaj Sikhs became settled in principalities of their own, while the trans-Satlaj or Manjha Sikhs began to cross the river every year and usually without any co-operation from their local brethren, used to blackmail, rob or burn the villages and unwalled cities of the entire country from Delhi to Mirat, Saharanpur and Hardwar. The third stage began with the new invasion of the cis-Satlaj region by Sikhs from beyond that river under Bedi Singh of Una in 1794 and Ranjit Singh in 1806. But these events would bring us to the British period of Indian history.