A history of the Sikhs, from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej.

CHAP. IV ARMY OF THE KHALSA

95

for the times with the insurrectionary Sikhs, who continued 1748.
to press themselves more and more on the attention of their
unloyal governors.1 During the invasion of Ahmad Shah But the
they had thrown up a fort close to Amritsar, called the rSikhs re
Ram Rauni, and one of their most able leaders had arisen, JassaSingh
Jassa Singh Kalal, a brewer or distiller, who boldly pro- Kalal proclaimed the birth of a new power in the state-the 'Dal' existence of
of the ' Khalsa ', or army of the theocracy of ' Singhs '2 the' Dal'
or army of
As soon as Mir Mannu had established his authority, he the Khalsa.
marched against the insurgents, captured their fort, dis- Mannu disperses the
persed their troops, and took measures for the general Sikhs, and
preservation of good order.3 His plans were interrupted by comes to
terms with
the rumoured approach of a second Afghan invasion; he Ahmsad
marched to the Chenab to repel the danger, and he dispatched Shah, who
agents to the Durrani camp to avert it by promises and crossd the
concessions. Ahmad Shah's own rule was scarcely consoli- Indus, end
dated, he respected the ability of the youth who. had of 1748.
checked him at Sirhind, and he retired across the Indus on
the stipulation that the revenues of four fruitful districts
should be paid to him as they had been paid to Nadir Shah,
from whom he pretended to derive his title.4
Mir Mannu gained applause at Delhi for the success of his Mir Mannu
breaks with
measures, but his ambition was justly dreaded by the Wazir Delhi by
Safdar Jang, who knew his own designs on Oudh, and felt resisting
that the example would not be lost on the son of his pre- eissioupe
1 Kaura Mal was himself a follower of Nanak, without having MultSn;
adopted the tenets of Gobind. (Forster, Travels, i. 314.) Adina Beg
Khan was appointed manager of the Jullundur Doab by Zakariya
Khan, with orders to coerce the Sikhs after Nadir Shah's retirement.
(Browne, India Tracts, ii. 14.)
2 Cf. Browne, India Tracts, ii. 16, who gives Charsa Singh, Tuka
Singh, and Kirwar Singh, as the confederates of Jassa Kalal.
3 Both Kaura Mal and Adina Beg, but especially the former, the
one from predilection, and the other from policy, are understood to
have dissuaded Mir Mannu from proceeding to extremities against the
Sikhs. Cf. Browne, Tracts, ii. 16, and Forster, Travels, i. 314, 315,
327, 328, which latter, however, justly observes, that Mannu had
objects in view of greater moment to himself than the suppression of
an infant sect.
4 The Afghans state that Mir Mannu also became the Shah's tributary for the whole of the Punjab, and, doubtless, he promised anything
to get the invader away and to be left alone. (Cf. Elphinstone, Kabul,
ii. 286, and Murray, Ranjit Singh, pp. 9, 10.)