determined to break it up, he feigned a warm affection for its leader Sirdár Jodh Singh. He had a contract of friendship between himself and the Rámgarhia family drawn up, and in the temple of Amritsar, before the Sikh Scriptures, he stamped the paper, in his royal and illiterate way, with his open palm dyed with saffron. For some years he allowed the contract to have effect, for Jodh Singh had become a devoted adherent and his forces were useful in many a campaign. But, in 1816, when the Sirdár died, the opportunity of the Mahárájá came. Having summoned the heirs to meet him at Nádaun to arrange for the succession, he surrounded the reception tent with troops, took them prisoners, and then marched a strong force against Amritsar and seized all the Rámgarhia estates.
With another Jodh Singh, a famous fighting-man, chief of Wazírábád, he acted in a somewhat similar manner. The Mahárájá, thinking him too powerful to attack, invited him to Lahore on a friendly visit. Suspecting Ranjít Singh's intentions, he brought a large force with him which he was asked to send back, a request with which he was too proud to refuse compliance. He attended the Darbár the next day with only twenty-five followers, whom he left outside. He was received by the Mahárájá with the utmost cordiality, but suddenly, Ranjít Singh, rising, made a sign to his people to seize the Sirdár. He, drawing his sword, called on them to come on as he would not be taken alive and had never learned to turn
