1894.] W. Irvine —Guru Gobind Siygh and Bandah. 125 
the false Guru and assumed tlie name of Dlhdar Siijgh; while Mir 
Naslru-d-din, the imperial news-writer of Sirhind, became known as 
Mir Naslr Si^gh, a curious and incongruous combination of titles. 
From Sirhind as a centre, Bandah sent out parties to occupy 
the country to the south, the east, and the west. 1 In the first 
two directions nearly the whole of Sirkar Sirhind (of Subah Dihli) 
was occupied. Every mosque was thrown down. Samana, Sunam, 
Mustafabad, Kaithal, Kuhram, Buriya, Sadhaura, Chath, Ambala, 
Sliahabad, Thanesar, Pael, Supar, Phalvalpur, Machivara, Ludhiana, 
all parganahs in the north of the Sirhind Sirkar , between the Satlaj 
(popularly called the river of Ludhiana) and the Jamuna, fell into the 
possession of the Sikhs. The Lakhi jungle, 2 was the only country 
not taken. Their further progress southwards from Thanesar was 
opposed by Sardar Khan, a Muhammadan Rajput zamindar. If it had 
not been for his exertions, there was nothing really to stop their ad¬ 
vancing against Dihli. It is true that Asad Khan, the wahU-i-mutlaq, 
or Vice-Gerent, was there, and as governor of the province in which 
Sirhind was included, it was his duty to have taken active measures to 
restore order. But he was very old and probably indifferent: in any 
case, he did nothing. 
In all the parganahs occupied by the Sikhs, the reversal of previous 
customs was striking aud complete. A low scavenger or leather-dresser, 
the lowest of the low in Indian estimation, had only to leave home and 
join the Guru, when in a short space of time he would return to his 
birth-place as its ruler, with his order of appointment in his hand. 
As soon as he set foot within the boundaries, the well-born and wealthy 
went out to greet him and escort him home. Arrived there, they stood 
before him with joined palms, awaiting his orders. A scavenger, from 
the nature of his duties, is intimately acquainted with the condition of 
every household. Thus, the new ruler had no difficulty in exacting 
from every one their best and most valuable belongings, which were 
confiscated for the use of the Guru, or for his treasury. Not a soul 
dared to disobey an order, and men, who had often risked themselves 
in battle-fields, became so cowed that they were afraid even to re¬ 
monstrate. Hindus who had not joined the sect were not exempt from 
these oppressions. 
One party of Sikhs was sent across the Satlaj to take Sultanpur 
1 Khafi Khan, II, 662, MIrza Muhammad, 215, Warid, 118, a. 
2 On the map between pp. 64 and 65, in J. Rennell’s “ Memoir of a Map of 
Hindoostan” (London, 1793), this tract is shown as directly south of Firuzpur, 
between it and Bhatner. To the south of this, again, was the desert country of 
Bhattl. 
