and invited the Mahrattas to aid them in this. They promptly responded with a large force, drove out the Afghans, and occupied the country up to the Indus. All order had now vanished in the Punjab, where Afghans, Moghuls, Mahrattas, and Sikhs were contending for power. The successes of the Mahrattas and Sikhs brought back Ahmad Shah with a numerous army. He drove out the Mahrattas, and following them up, disastrously defeated them at Panipat, near Delhi, in 1761 in one of the most sanguinary battles ever fought in India. He returned to Kabul the same year, leaving a governor shut up in Lahore, the Sikhs having continued active in his rear, swarming round Amritsar and the capital. They now grew more daring, their chiefs appropriating lands and building forts in different parts of the country, which added greatly to their power and resources. Again they restored Amritsar, and assembling there in great force proceeded to
