unpleasing features in his character. Diwán Mokham Chand, the founder of the Diwán family, was his best and most successful general, and it was in great measure owing to his military ability that the Mahárájá established himself as sole ruler of the Punjab. But this did not save his son Moti Rám or his grandson Kirpa Rám from constant slights, fines, confiscation and eventual ruin.
The conquest of Kángra with the surrounding hill districts had been completed by the Mahárájá in 1809, and was signalised by one of his usual acts of treachery. Rájá Sansar Chand Katoch was the head of the noblest Rájput house, and was generally respected for his abilities as much as for his ancient family. During the last quarter of the eighteenth century, when everything was in confusion, he extended his rule over all the neighbouring Rájput States, and successfully withstood many combinations made against him. In 1784, he obtained from Sirdár Jai Singh Kanheya the famous Kángra fort, a place impregnable by the arms and artillery of those times, and the possession of which gave the control of the neighbouring country. The Mahárájá had long determined to oust him from this point of vantage, and the opportunity came when the Gúrkhas, on the invitation of the Kehlor Rájá, Mahán Singh, invaded Kángra and invested the fortress. The siege was protracted for years and Sansar Chand might at last have wearied out his persistent enemy, had he not, in an evil hour, asked for the assistance of Ranjit Singh,
