Page:Ranjit Singh (Griffin).djvu/131

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HIS COURT
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yet his portraits taken later in life present him as a coarse, vulgar looking man, far inferior to the handsome Sikh Sirdárs. He was unpopular at court, and always showed himself something of a tyrant.

His nephew, Tej Singh, who followed him to Lahore, also rose to favour and was made a Rájá. He was commander-in-chief of the Sikh army during the first campaign with the English, and was accused both of treachery and cowardice. But the temper of the Sikh army was so suspicious, and the circumstances under which he held command were so difficult, that those who have most carefully examined the action of Tej Singh at the time are inclined to acquit him of anything beyond vacillation and weakness.

The most famous of the fighting chiefs, and the one to whom the Mahárájá was most attached, was Harí Singh Nalwa, who was born, like Ranjít Singh himself, at the town of Gujránwála. He was not only the bravest, but the most skilful of all the Mahárájá's generals, and was employed to command all expeditions of exceptional difficulty. He was chiefly instrumental in the capture of Múltán in 1818, and in the following year he commanded a division of the army invading Kashmír, of which country he was afterwards appointed governor; but his talents did not lie in the direction of administration, and he became so unpopular that the Mahárájá was compelled to recall him. After this he was chiefly employed on the Punjab frontier as governor of Hazára, and subsequently