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the dispersal of the Sikhs a few years after Govind's death they were left without a head to direct them in war. Following on the Persian invasion in 1738, when they again took the field, they organised themselves in bands. Every village produced a sardar or chief with his followers, the boldest and most successful among whom attracted to his banner free-lances from elsewhere to join his party, which gradually grew into a larger one, with greater possessions, by means of raids and plunder under the old simple plan of "let him take who has the power, let him keep who can."

Experience in contending with the