Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c29.14

v2.c29.14

After a short halt, the victor proceeded to Sarhind and encamped in the imperial Shalimar garden outside the city. From this centre he raided Ala Singh’s country. The Patiala chief’s tribute had evidently fallen into arrears,—or he might have assisted his Manjha brethren in their late attack on Zain Khan,—but he now deemed it politic to seek refuge in his fort of Bhawanigarh (21 miles west of Patiala.) Rajah Lachhmi Narayan, the diwan of Sarhind, assured Abdali that if Ala Singh were captured, a ransom of 50 lakhs could be easily secured from him. Guided by the diwan’s local knowledge, Abdali made a forced march of 80 *kos* in the course of 36 hours and suddenly appeared before Bhawanigarh. Ala Singh gave him the slip by evacuating the fort just in time, but he felt further struggle to be useless, and submitted to the Shah through the mediation of Najib-ud-daulah, who had come to the Shah’s camp on the Satlaj at his call. He secured peace by promising a large tribute and making a part payment immediately. Leaving Sarhind on 15th Feb., Abdali arrived at Lahor on 3rd March, carrying Ala Singh in his train. On the way, he razed to the ground the Sikh temple called Har Mandir built by Guru Arjun at Amritsar, and desecrated the “pool of immortality” by killing cows on its bank and throwing their bones and the debris of the temples around it into the water.*