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RANJÍT SINGH

The Dulelwala confederacy took its name from the village of Sirdár Tára Singh, who was its principal leader, and who, with his followers, held a great portion of the upper Jálandhar Doáb and the northern portions of Ambála and Ludhiána, with some estates in Firozpur. The Nakkais inhabited what is known as the Nakka country lying between Lahore and Gogaira in the direction of Múltan. It was never a powerful confederacy, but could bring into the field some two thousand horsemen with camel-swivels and a few guns. But the Játs of this part of the Punjab are notoriously brave, and under Sirdár Hira Singh and Rám Singh they acquired territory worth nine lakhs of rupees per annum, in Gogaira, Kasúr, and Sharakpur.

The Shahíds, the last of the confederacies, were rather a religious than a military body, though the priests fought in those days as well as the laymen. The Khálsa was the true embodiment of the church militant. The founder of the Shahíd misl was Sudda Singh, the muhant or head of the shrine at Talwandi, where Guru Govind Singh had made his resting-place (Damdama). He was killed fighting against the Muhammadan governor of Jálandhar, and his head having been struck off he is reported to have ridden some distance and killed several of the enemy before he fell from his horse. Hence he was known as the martyr (shahíd), and his followers took his name. This confederacy, which used to join itself to others rather than fight on its own account,, obtained estates about Ránia, Khari