When Ranjit Singh heard that Wa’fa Begum and the other women had made their escape, “he bit the finger of astonishment with the teeth of regret” and increased the number of guards to 4,000, “infesting every alley in the city, guarding all gates, all the mansions, even kitchens and lavatories, and especially our sleeping quarters … The soldiers would heat up oil and threaten torture, saying: ‘Give us your jewels, or else you’ll feel the heat of this boiling oil!’
