immediately set out in pursuit. He covered a distance of 150 miles in two days and caught up with the Sikhs at the village of Kup. It was an unequal fight. Most of the 30,000 Sikhs were non-combatants, old men and women and children. Sikh horsemen could not indulge in their favourite hit and run tactics and had to engage Afghans, who outnumbered them, in hand-to-hand fight. Sikh soldiers put their women and children in the centre and moved down like a living fortress from Kup to Barnala where they expected Ala Singh of Patiala to come to their rescue. Afghans took a heavy toll of life, inflicted a crushing defeat and killed over 20000 Sikhs near Kup Rorian which is known as Wada Ghallughara or Major Holocaust. Later, during the uprising of 1857 which has now come to be known as First War of Independence, the situation in the Punjab was different from that which prevailed in the rest of India. As soon as news of the rising in Meerut and Delhi spread, "a season of open violent crime" set in the cis-Satluj states and in some towns of the Punjab. With a few exceptions, the Sikhs of both the Cis-Satluj and the trans-Satluj, princes and peasants expressed unreserved support to the British. The chiefs of Malaudh along with the Rajas of Jind, Patiala, Nabha, Kalsia and Kapurthala, the chiefs of Kheri, Bhadaur and Ladhran, the Singhpurias and the Sodhis of Kartarpur volunteered for service. Malaudh is also connected with the Namdhari attack on Malerkotla. In 1872 a batch of hundred and fifty Namdharis went to Payal in Patiala territory and re-appeared next day at Malaudh, the seat of Sirdar Badan Singh and attacked the Fort in a sudden onset with the idea, probably, of getting arms and money, they are said to have wanted the Chief to lead them. In this attack two men were killed on each side and a few wounded. The attack on the Fort took place on 15 January 1872 and was repulsed. The Namdharis succeeded only in securing three horses, one gun and one sword and attacked the palace and treasury of the Nawab of Malerkotla but were driven off when the Kotla guards had recovered from their surprise and were pursued to Rurr in Patiala territory (Patiala District). The Kuka warriors could not fight for long as they were already exhausted and