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

CHAP. V

SINDHIA TAKES DELHI

121

firm and lasting basis. He mastered Agra in 1785, and was 1785-97.
made deputy vicegerent of the empire by the titular emperor, Sindhia in
Shah Alam. He entered at the same time into an engage- Upper
ment with the confederate Sikh chiefs, to the effect that of all India,1785.
their joint conquests on either side of the Jumna, he should Sindhia's
alliance
have two-thirds and the ' Khalsa' the remainder.1 This with the
alliance was considered to clearly point at the kingdom of Sikhs.
Oudh, which the English were bound to defend, and perhaps
to affect the authority of Delhi, which they wished to see
strong; but the schemes of the Maratha were for a time
interrupted by the Rohilla Ghulam Kadir. This chief succeeded his father, Zabita Khan, in 1785, and had contrived,
by an adventurous step, to become the master of the
emperor's person a little more than a year afterwards.
He was led on from one excess to another, till at last, in Ghulam
Kddir
1'88, he put out the eyes of his unfortunate sovereign, blinds
plundered the palace in search of imaginary treasures, and Shah Alam,
declared an unheeded youth to be the successor of Akbar 1788.
and Aurangzeb. These proceedings facilitated Sindhia's Sindhia
views, nor was his supremacy unwelcome in Delhi after the masters
Delhi and
atrocities of Ghulam Kadir and the savage Afghans. His curbs the
regular administration soon curbed the predatory Sikhs, Sikhs,
1788.
and instead of being received as allies they found that they
would merely be tolerated as dependants or as servants.
Rai Singh, the patriarchal chief of Jagadhri, was retained for
the time as farmer of considerable districts in the Doab, and,
during ten years, three expeditions of exaction were directed
against Patiala and other states in the province of Sirhind.
Patiala was managed with some degree of prudence by
Nanu Mal, the Hindu Diwan of the deceased Amar Singh;
but he seems to have trusted for military support to Baghel
Singh, the leader of the Krora Singhias, who contrived to
maintain a large body of horse, partly as a judicious mediator, and partly by helping Patiala in levying contributions
on weaker brethren, in aid of the Mughal and Maratha
demands, which could neither be readily met nor prudently
resisted.2
General Perron succeeded his countryman, De Boigne, in
1 Browne, India Tracts, ii. 29.
2 Manuscript accounts. Cf. Francklin, Shah Alam, pp. 179-85.