Fortunately for the execution of Bundah’s design, about this A H. 1119.
A D. 1707. time, Aurungzebe died in the Deckan, and the succession to the throne being disputed between his sons, (as it is well known to those who are conversant in the history of Hindostan,) great con­fusion arose in all parts of the empire.—Bundah taking advantage of this opportunity, and having collected together a large, though irregular army of Sicks, marched to attack Navab Vizier Khan, who was then at Sirhind, the seat of his government.—Vizier Khan came out to give them battle with all the troops he had, and the armies coming to action near Alwan Siray, the Sicks, inspired by enthusiasm and revenge, gave the Mussulmans a total defeat: Vizier Khan was killed upon the spot, and the greater part of his army was cut in pieces. Proceeding to the town of Sirhind, the Sicks put to death all the family of Vizier Khan, and every dependant and servant belonging to him:—Suchanund the Dewan, by whose advice the children of Gooroo Gobind had been mur­dered, was torn to pieces, with every circumstance of cruelty which savage revenge could dictate. After which, they destroyed all the mosques and tombs belonging to the Mussulmans; and such was the terror which their severity and fury excited, that neither Hindoos nor Mussulmans found any means of safety, but in acknowledging and submitting to their authority, and professing to belong to their sect; which disposition, Bundah, who was a man of great art and address, encouraged by every means, with a view to encrease his force: treating those with the most flatter­tering kindness who came into the sect, and those who refused with unrelenting severity:—so that in a short time, all the dis­tricts from paniput to near Lahore, acknowledged the authority of the Sicks; and Behader Shah being then in the Deckan, with the Imperial army, there was no force in the provinces of Lahore, Dehly or Agra, able to undertake the reduction of the insurgents.