be attempted, and, after two months passed in hunting and feasting, he returned to Lahore. But he was aware of the designs against him on the part of the Bhangis, and resolved to anticipate them. In 1802 he sent to their head-quarters at Amritsar to demand the surrender of the famous Zamzama gun[1] which had been assigned to his grandfather Sirdár Charrat Singh as his share of the plunder when Lahore was captured in 1764. The Bhangis refused its surrender, on which Ranjít Singh attacked their fort at Amritsar, drove them to take refuge with the Rámgarhias, with whom they had divided the city of Amritsar, and annexed all their possessions.
By this bold and successful measure, Ranjít Singh became possessed of the two Sikh capitals, political and religious, and had little more to fear in his career of conquest, for the great Kanheya confederacy was already in his hand, and the famous Rámgarhia baron, Jassa Singh, was old and feeble, and Ranjít Singh knew that he had not long to wait before he should obtain his estates. He died the following year, and his eldest son and successor, Jodh Singh, who was a simple creature, though a brave soldier, became so devoted a follower of the Mahárájá (as we may now call Ranjít Singh) that it would have been superfluous villainy to have seized his territory. He swore eternal friendship with Ranjít
- ↑ This famous gun, of which a complete history is given at pp. 387-8 Punjab Chiefs, was cast at Lahore by Ahmad Sháh in 1761. It now stands in front of the Lahore Museum.
