The military genius of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was not so much shown in his generalship, for in this he was surpassed by many of his officers and Sirdars, as in the skill with which he formed a powerful, disciplined, and well equipped army out of the raw Sikh levies, turbulent and independent, who had been accustomed to carry their swords from one leader to another as they saw the best chance of plunder, and who changed their masters as often as it suited their inclination or convenience.

When his grandfather, Charrat Singh, and his father, Mahan Singh, had command of the Sukar-chakia confederacy, the Sikhs were a thoroughly republican body. Chiefs and leaders arose with more or less authority, as was inevitable in anarchic days, when every man owned what he could take by force and hold against all comers, but this leadership gave no man a more intrinsically honourable position in the eyes of the people. The Sikh theocracy had