In addition there was a large force of light troops in the form of irregular cavalry and infantry which certain chiefs had to furnish on requisition, all armed after their own fashion, the cavalry wearing chain-armour and steel helmets, round which they wound turbans—the helmets similar to those worn by the Parthians who overwhelmed the legions of Crassus, and by the soldiers of Saladin and Tymur.
Ranjit Singh's reign was one long campaign in consolidating his power. By 1831, after repeated attempts, he had at last brought into subjection the Mahomedan provinces of Multan, Kashmir, and Peshawar, the Rajput hill states, and all other independent chiefs. His supremacy extended to the foothills beyond the Indus, to Ladakh in Thibet beyond Kashmir, and to the snowy Himalayas in the north.
Shah Suja, the last of the Durrani dynasty, was driven out of Afghanistan in 1822, and the country was divided among the Barakzai chiefs (the present ruling house in
