Page:Ranjit Singh (Griffin).djvu/211

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LATER CONQUESTS
205

deputies, Budh Singh Sindhanwalia and Raja Ghuláb Singh of Jammu, and, in 1818, their last semblance of authority was swept away. It was reserved for the English Government to restore, in some degree, the fortunes of this ancient race.

The Awáns were a tribe too scattered to make an effective resistance to the Sikhs. Their principal village, Shámsábád, was destroyed by General Mokham Chand in 1813, to punish them for their involuntary hospitality to the Kábul army while investing Attock. But their hereditary holdings in Ráwal Pindi, Jehlam, and Sháhpur were not interfered with, though they had to pay tribute to the Sikh governors of the district. The same remark applies to the Janjoahs, who had a friendly partnership with Mahán Singh, the father of the Mahárájá.

The Chibs, an ancient Rájput tribe, scattered through the low hills bordering the Kángra, Jammu, and Gujrát districts, had, in great part, become Muhammadan, although, in Kángra, they retained their original faith. They had been often attacked by the Bhangi Sirdárs and also by Sirdár Mahán Singh Sukarchakia, but their country was difficult and their reduction was left to the Mahárájá himself. After taking Gujrát from Sirdár Sáhib Singh, in 1810, Ranjít Singh marched against Chúnian and Mangha, the two strong forts of Rájá Umr Khán, the Chib chief, who was compelled to submit, and on his death, a few months later, the whole of his possessions were confiscated.