Descrizione

About The Book -: The work is based mainly on the official records and papers of Delhi, Ambala and Ludhiana political agencies as well as on the despatches of Malcolm, Ochterlony, Matcalfc, Murray, Wade, Macnaghten and Prinscp, and official correspondence emanating from Port William, Calcutta, with regard to the relations of the British government with the protected states. The hook is divided into eight chapters, each dealing with an individual Sikh state. The book opens with the history of the Patiala state, the largest in the Malva region. Its founder, Ala Singh (1691-1765) became as a result of his conquests “the most distinguished” among the Sikh chiefs of his day in that region. He allied himself with the Dal Khalsa to take possession of the Sirhind subdivision. He made Patiala his capital in 1752. In 1761 he was invested by Ahmad Shah Durrani with the title of Raja. Griffin considers him a “gallant and at the same time prudent” leader of men who “laid strongly the foundations of the most important of the cis Sutlej states.”