74 
C. J. Rodgers— The Goins of Ahmad Shah Abdallt. [No. 1, 
They troubled the governor of Sarhind. They laid siege to the town 
of Jandiala, 11 miles from Amritsar. It was this last matter which 
brought Ahmad Shah again on the scene. 
They say that one night Ahmad Shah was in a quiet sleep, all at 
once in the middle of the night he woke up, and ordering his body-guard 
of 300 horse to attend him, he took his way towards India. He ordered 
his Aid-de-Camps to tell the prime-minister of his departure, and to get 
the whole army ready and follow him with the greatest expedition. 
Ahmad making double marches was soon in the neighbourhood of 
Lahore, but with him were only 10 or 12 horsemen. Meeting with a 
peasant he asked him where the Sikhs were. He was told that to the 
number of 70,000 they were encamped before Jandiala. Hearing this 
he departed at once for Jandiala. The besiegers when they heard of 
Ahmad Shah’s arrival at once fled. The besieged could not understand 
it. They sent out spies to see if it were a trick of the Sikhs to draw 
them out of their fortifications. The spies reported that they could see 
nothing of the enemy. But under a tree about two kos away, they 
found a man sitting under a canopy. Some ten or twelve armed atten¬ 
dants were with him and were treating him with the profoundest re¬ 
spect. When the governor of Jandiala heard this, he at once knew that 
it was Ahmad Shah who had come to his relief. He went out to 
thank his Sovereign and was received with kindness. Soon after the 
general arrived with the Afghan army. The general biding his time 
as Easterns always have done and do still, asked Ahmad Shah why he 
had left Kabul so suddenly. He answered that as he was sleeping 
Muhammad had appeared to him, and told him of the siege of Jandiala 
and the distress of the besieged, and had ordered him to start at once 
to relieve the town. So trusting in God he had started leaving orders' 
for the army to follow him. 
After staying a few days at Jandiala, Ahmad Shah crossed the 
Bias and Sutlaj, and defeated the main body of the Sikhs who were 
just about to commence an action with his governor of Sarhind. This 
action known as the Ghuloo Ghara, or great disaster, took place about 20 
miles south of Ludiana. The founder of the present Pattiala family 
was among the prisoners. “ He was declared a raja of the State and 
dismissed with honour.”* I shall refer to this further on. Ahmad 
Shah “the very ideal of the Afghan genius, fitted for conquest, yet 
incapable of empire ” immediately returned to Kandahar. He never 
attempted to improve a victory or govern a country he had conquered. 
This incursion took place in the year 1176 A. H. The Sarhind coin 
I have mentioned above, seems to illustrate this period. It is of his 
* Cunningham’s History of the Sikhs, p. 101. 
