SIKH WARS, two brief but desperate contests waged between the British power in India and the Sikhs in 1845-46, 1848-49, which resulted in the destruction of the latter as an independent nation. The first had its origin in the dissensions which convulsed the Sikh country after the death of Runjeet Singh (q.v.), and which necessitated the exercise of a wary regard on the part of the Calcutta authorities. At length an army of Sikhs, flushed with their triumph over all lawful authority in their own country, crossed the Sutlej, and extended their ravages over British territory; but their advanced guard was met by sir Henry Hardinge, the governor-general, at the head of four regi ments of infantry and one of dragoons, and routed at Mudki (q.v.) with heavy loss. Three days after, their main body, which had meantime crossed the river, and intrenched itself at 1:'eroze-Shah (q:v.), was attacked by a larger force of British under Gough and Hardinge, and after a bloody conflict, which lasted two days, also routed. Still undis mayed by these reverses, they again intrenched themselves at Sobraon; hut a fresh body which had just crossed the Sutlej,at Aliwal (q.v.), 19,000 strong, with 68 pieces of cannon, was wholly routed and driven across the river by sir Harry Smith, at the head of 7,000 men, with 32 gun's; and their main body was soon after similarly dis persed at Sobraon (q.v.). The British then crossed the river, took Lahore, and restored the authority of the from whom they took the territory between the Betts and the Sutlej, the treaty confirming this settlement being made at Lahore, Mar. 9, 1846. But the internal disturbances in the kingdom of Lahore soon became as active as before, and induced the maharajah's prime-minister to put the country under the company's protection; and a residency with a guard of regular troops was then estab lished in time capital. On April 20. 1848, two British officers were murdered by a Sikh
chief, the dewan Moolraj of Milian; and as this was found to be but a premonitory symptom of a general outbreak, a small force of British under lieut. Edwardes, aided by a body of Sikhs, under the rajah of Bhawalpfir, gallantly attacked the army of 3lool raj, which, after a desperate conflict of 9 hours, they defeated on June 18, and both sides in the mean time having received-re-enforeements, again on July 1. Multan was then laid siege to. but the defection of 5,000 auxiliary Sikhs under Shere Singh (the son of the sirdar Cbuttur Singh, the governor of Hazara, who bad been for some time in revolt, and had driven the British from his district) compelled the British to retreat. For some time the British authorities in the Punjab were hampered by a want of mili tary force, and though the maharajah and much of his army still opposed the Sikh rebels, little reliance could be placed upon most of it. Shere now succeeded in raising his army to 40,000, hut was defeated by lord Gough at Ramnugger (Nov. 22). The inconsiderate haste of Gough at Chillianwalla (Jan. 13) really lost him that great battle, which was saved only by the extreme valor of his soldiers; but amends for this fault was made at Guzerat (q.v.), where the power of Shere Singh and his allies was completely broken. Meanwhile, the fortress of Multan had, after a protracted born bardment, been captured; and the Company, seeing no other mode of protecting their territories from annoyance by these warlike, fanatics, annexed the Punjab, Mar. 24k 1349, thus terminating the existence of the Sihs as an independent nation.