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96 turbans in sign of perpetual brotherhood, and who had fought by his side in the campaigns of twenty years, he endeavoured to despoil of his possessions. Sirdár Harí Singh Nalwa, the Murat of the Khálsa and the most dashing of his generals, had no sooner fallen in battle with the Afgháns in his service, than he seized all his large estates and left his four sons to comparative poverty. He did not approve of hereditary wealth and honour, and, like Tarquinius Superbus, struck down all the tall poppies in his garden. Sirdár Fateh Singh of Kálianwala was one of the most powerful Sikh leaders in the early years of the century. At Wazírabád on one occasion, Ranjít Singh asked him to draw his forces on one side that he might see their numbers. To his disgust the greater part of the troops present followed the banner of Fateh Singh. This was enough for the jealous spirit of the Mahárájá who soon afterwards, in 1807, was besieging the fort of Náráyangarh in company with Fateh Singh, as chief in immediate command. After an ineffectual siege of a fortnight, the Mahárájá reproached the Sirdár for his apathy, saying that he preferred remaining at his side to leading the troops in the field. Fateh Singh, angry at the undeserved sarcasm, at once assaulted the fort by a breach which proved impracticable, and was repulsed and slain. The Mahárájá had got rid of his rival, and made over all his estates to another chief.

The Rámgarhia misl was one of the most powerful of the Sikh confederacies, and when Ranjít Singh