lost temporarily a large slice of territory, and had to sue for forgiveness. This was refused unless he gave up the plunder of Jammu, which the Sukarchakia chief was determined not to do. So he formed a coalition against the Kanheyas, among whom were Sirdár Jassa Singh Rámgarhia, who had been stripped of his estates some years before, and Rájá Sansar Chand, the Katoch Rájá of Kángra. The allies gave battle to the Kanheyas near Batála, their head-quarters, and defeated them with great loss. This was in 1784. Sirdár Jai Singh never recovered this defeat. He restored Kángra to the Katoch Rájá, and to Jassa Singh Rámgarhia all his lost possessions, and to Mahán Singh's son Ranjít Singh he gave in marriage Mahtab Kour, the infant daughter of his son Gurbuksh Singh, who had been slain in the Batála fight.
It would be tedious to relate the intrigues and violence with which Mahán Singh's brief career was filled. He was constantly at war with his neighbours and rivals, chiefly the Bhangis, although one of their most powerful leaders, Sáhib Singh, had married his sister. With this brother-in-law he was in frequent conflict for the two years preceding his death, as he wished to seize Sáhib Singh's town of Gujrát, about thirty miles north of his own capital of Gujránwála. It was while besieging Sáhib Singh in his fort of Sodhran that he fell seriously ill. Karam Singh Dula, a Bhangi chief of Chuniot, had hurried to the assistance of Sáhib Singh, and Mahán Singh at once attacked him; but, during the fight, he fainted away
