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212 and the Attári Sirdárs, the whole force amounting to 10,000 men with twelve guns. Their entrenchments were soon surrounded by the large but undisciplined army of the Syad, composed of Kábulis, Yusafzais and Afgháns. For some days the Sikhs remained in their entrenchments, exposed to the incessant assaults of the enemy, till, at length, the supplies and patience of Budh Singh being exhausted, he led his men against the enemy, and after a severe fight defeated them with great slaughter. The Syad took refuge in the Yusafzai hills, and it was two years before he recovered his strength sufficiently to again take the field.

The Mahárájá and Harí Singh Nalwa had both advanced to the relief of Budh Singh, but, finding their assistance was not needed, they marched to Pesháwar to punish the Afghán governor for the encouragement which he had uniformly given the Syad. The city was pillaged, the palace of the Bála Hissár burnt, the mosque defiled, and many of the trees, for which the Pesháwar valley is famous, were cut down. The tribute was increased, and the Mahárájá carried away with him as a hostage the son of governor Yár Muhammad Khán.

Continual fighting, raids and insurrections marked the Sikh connection with Pesháwar and the frontier till 1833, when Sháh Shujá, whose real power was nominal, but who still maintained the style of kingship, ceded to Ranjít Singh, Múltán, the Deraját and Pesháwar. But the gift had to be taken by fraud or force, and Prince Nao Nihál Singh and Sirdár Harí