boundary of the Maharaja's dominion, British troops at the same time advancing to that river. By right of conquest the British inherited the power formerly exercised by the Malirattas in this region when in possession of Delhi. Ranjit Singh, seeing that the British were in earnest, prudently concluded a treaty, agreeing to withdraw his claims over the Cis-Sutlej states and to recognise the river as the eastern boundary of his kingdom. He feared that other independent chiefs in the Punjab might claim British protection and defeat his cherished plan of kingship. Thus was preserved the independence of the Sikh states, called the Phulkian, which exists at the present day.
The Phulkian misl, one of the most powerful of the original twelve Sikh confederacies, comprises the states of Patiala, Jhind, and Nabha. The founder was one Phul, a Jat of ancient lineage connected with Jesulmeer in the Rajputana desert, colonised by Jats who in the eleventh century migrated there
