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The Cis-Sutlej states were a group of Sikh states in modern Punjab and Haryana states of northwestern India, lying between the Sutlej River on the north, the Himalayas on the east, the Yamuna River and Delhi District on the south, and Sirsa District on the west.
During the Second Anglo-Maratha War of 1803-1805, some of the states in the region gave their allegiance to General Gerard Lake. At the conclusion of the war, the frontier of British India was extended to the Yamuna, and an 1809 agreement with Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sikh Empire west of the Sutlej, brought the states under formal British protection. The Cis-Sutlej states included Kaithal, Patiala, Jind, Thanesar, Maler Kotla, and Faridkot. Before 1846 the greater part of this territory was independent, the chiefs being subject to supervision from a political officer stationed at Umballa, and styled the agent of the Governor-General of India for the Cis-Sutlej states. A number of states were confiscated, or acquired by Britain under the Doctrine of Lapse. After the First Anglo-Sikh War the full administration of the territory became vested in this officer. In 1849 the Punjab was annexed to British India, when the Cis-Sutlej states commissionership, comprising the districts of Umballa, Ferozepore, Ludhiana, Thanesar and Simla, was incorporated with the new Punjab Province. The name continued to be applied to this division until 1862, when, owing to Ferozepore having been transferred to Lahore Division, and a part of Thanesar to Delhi Division, it ceased to be appropriate. The remaining tract became known as the Umballa Division. The princely states of Patiala, Jind, and Nabha were appointed a separate political agency in 1901. Excluding Bahawalpur, for which there was no political agent, and Chamba, the other states were grouped under the commissioners of Jullunder and Delhi, and the superintendent of the Simla Hill States.
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