Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c36.s7.1

v3.c36.s7.1

Besides these founders of ruling houses, the Sikh captains who took the title of sardar were beyond count, because any one of them might "command not more than 20 or 30 horsemen" and still be called a sardar. They combined only on the occasion of forays, and even their *misls* were not patriarchally ruled clans, but merely confederacies formed for joint enterprises of profit without any affinity of blood. The Sikh sardars, when not engaged in foreign wars and raids, spent all their energy and resources in ceaseless mutual hostility. As Captain Francklin noted in 1793, the Sikh forces, "from want of union among themselves, are not much to be dreaded by their neighbours. Divided into distinct districts, each chief rules over the portion appropriated to him with uncontrolled sway; and tenacious of his authority, and jealous of his brethren, it seldom happens that this nation makes an united effort . . . The discordant and clashing interests of the respective Sikh chiefs prevent almost the possibility of a general union.” But Warren Hastings in 1784 had predicted the rise of a Ranjit Singh to unite the sect. [Forrest, iii. 1124.]