SIKH HISTORY-3
War and Peace
(1716-1860)
Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer
Some terms explained
Subedar (Governor) = Chief of administration of a province.
Diwan (Minister) = Chief administrator of revenue.
Mir Aatish = Chief of artillery.
Bakhshi (Commander-in-chief) = Chief of army.
Faujdar = Chief of law and order.
Aamil/Karori = Collector of revenues, junior to Diwan and Subedar. Karori was in charge of a territory which had income of about one crore daam*, i.e. 2.5 lakh rupees, annually.
(*Daam was a currency of those times; and 40 daams made one rupee).
Fautedar (Head of Treasury) = All revenues were deposited with him.
Zamindar = Chief of a village/territory.
Pargana = Like today’s Block (territory of several villages).
Sirkar = Like today’s district.
Mansab = Right to enrol soldiers, whose salary was paid by the State. Do aspa means ‘two horses’; i.e. state will pay expenses for two horses for each horseman.
A mansabdar is duty bound to send his soldiers wherever and whenever the king commands.
Contents
WAR
After Banda Singh’s Martyrdom
Martyrdom of Tara Singh Dall-Waan (9.6.1726)
The Sikhs resolve to attack royal treasures and arsenals
Zakaria Khan becomes the governor of Lahore
The Sikhs are offered Jagir
Organising the Sikh army: Taruna Dal and Buddha Dal
Martyrdom of Veer Haqiqat Singh
Another difficult phase for the Sikhs
The Sikh become de facto rulers
Attack by Nadir Shah
Massacre at Delhi
Martyrdom of Bota Singh Garja Singh
Sukha Singh and Mehtab Singh punish Massa Ranghar
Martyrdom of Bhai Taru Singh (1.7.1745)
Organising the Sikh army
Killing of Jaspat Rai and atrocities committed by Lakhpat
Massacre of the Sikhs (10.3.1746)
Small Carnage (1.5.1746)
Shah Nawaz occupies Lahore
Construction of Ram Rauni fortress at Amritsar
Invasion of Ahmad Shah Durrani
Defeat of Ahmed Shah & his return to Kabul
The Sikhs occupy Nurpur State
The Sikhs occupy Amritsar
Formation of Dal Khalsa and 11 Misls
The Sikhs and Muin-ul-Mulk (Mir Mannu)
Punishment to cruel terrorist Lakhpat Rai
Mir Mannu’s atrocities
Siege of Ram Rauni
The Sikhs help in Multan attack (October 1748)
Second invasion by Ahmad Shah Durrani
The Sikhs attack Lahore
Atrocities committed by Mir Mannu
Third invasion of Ahmed Shah Durrani
Last atrocities by Mir Mannu (March 1752 – October 1753)
Battle of Nadaun (August 1752)
Killings of the Sikhs at Anandpur by Adina Begh (1753)
Death of (Nawab) Kapur Singh (7.10.1753)
Death of Mir Mannu (3-4.11.1753)
Release of the Sikh women from Mir Mannu’s jail
Attacks by Aziz Begh and Bakhshinda Khan
Declaration of Rakhi from Akal Takht Sahib (10.4.1754)
Difference between Sikh Rakhi and Marhatta Chauth
War of succession at Lahore
The Sikhs fool Qasim
The Sikhs establish their power in the Punjab
The Sikhs attack Lahore and Sarhind
The Sikhs and Adina Begh join hands
The Sikhs become real rulers of Riarki-Majha area
Eight Governors of Lahore in two and a half years
Fourth invasion of Ahmed Shah Durrani
Mughlani Beghum takes horrible revenge
Shah plunders Bharatpur, Mathura, Bindraban & Gokul
Attack on Kartarpur (Jalandhar)
Taimur and Jahan Khan stay at Lahore
Taimur occupies Amritsar
(Baba) Deep Singh and thousand of Sikhs embraced martyrdom
Battle of Mahilpur (1.12.1757)
The Sikhs occupy Jalandhar
The Sikhs, Adina Begh & the Marhattas attack Sarhind
The Sikhs, Adina Begh & the Marhattas occupy Lahore
Adina Begh’s offensives against the Sikhs
Death of Adina Begh and the supremacy of the Sikhs
Saddiq Begh attacks the Sikhs
Attack by Bishambhar Das and Raja Bhup Chand
Reconstruction of Darbar Sahib
Fifth invasion by Ahmed Shah Durrani (October 1759)
Battle between the Sikhs and the Shah’s army
The Sikhs arrest Rustam Khan Saddozai
The Sikhs resolve to attack Lahore (November 1760)
Battle between Marhattas and Ahmed Shah at Panipat
The Sikhs get freed 2200 Hindu girls
Battles around Lahore
Khwaja Khan’s attack on Charhat Singh
The Sikhs occupy Lahore
The Sikhs occupy Jalandhar
Sikhs’ resolve to attack Jandiala and the 6th invasion of Ahmed Shah
Greater Holocaust (5.2.1762)
Ahmed Shah again punishes Aala Singh
Ahmed Shah tries to make peace with the Sikhs
Minarets of the heads of the Sikhs
Demolition of Darbar Sahib
History’s greatest resolution of Charhdi Kala (high spirits)
The Sikhs attack Sarhind
Face to face battle with Ahmed Shah
Saving the wife of a Brahmin of Kasur
Reconstruction of Darbar Sahib
The Sikhs attack Jahan Khan
The Sikhs occupy Malerkotla
The Sikhs occupy Morinda
Sarhind falls to the Sikhs
The Lahore chief Kabuli Mall bows before the Sikhs
The Sikhs occupy Rohtas & arrest the uncle of Durrani
Seventh invasion of Durrani and Jehad against the Sikhs
Martyrdom of thirty Sikhs near Akal Takht
The Sikhs defeat Ahmed Shah Durrani
Battle at Jandiala, Battle at Batala, Battle at Adiannagar, Battle on the bank of river Beas, Battle at Rupar
Durrani begins return journey
Durrani dreads the Sikhs
Reconstruction of Darbar Sahib
PEACE
The Sikhs take over Lahore
The Sikhs issue Nanakshahi coin
Attempts to attack by the Generals of Durrani
Eighth invasion by Ahmed Shah Durrani
Patiala Raja adopts ‘Bamzaee’ as family name
Ninth, tenth and eleventh attacks by Durrani
How many Sikh died in battles and holocausts?
The Sikhs become masters of their Homeland
The Sikhs stray away from the Panth of Guru
Taimur expels Bhangis from Multan
The Sikh Misls
Bhangi Misl
Ahluwalia Misl
Ramgarhia Misl
Nakkai Misl
Dallewalia Misl
Nishanwalia Misl
Faizalapuria/Singhpuria Misl
Sukarchakkia Misl
Kanhaiya Misl
Shaheedan Misl (Deep Singh’s Misl)
Karorsinghia Misl
Kalsia State
Kaithal State
Phulkian States:
Nabha State
Patiala State
Jind State
Role of the Sikhs in Delhi, Gang-Doab & Rajasthan
The Sikhs badly beat Najib-ud-Daula
The Sikhs’ ventures in Delhi
The Sikhs hoist Blue Khalsa Flag on Red Fort at Delhi
Mori Gate and the Sikhs
Baghel Singh’s Tees Hazari and Pul Mithaee
Construction of the Sikh Shrines at Delhi
Role of the Marhattas in Delhi
An analysis of the Sikh Misls
(Maharaja) Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh’s occupation of Lahore
Attack on Kasur
Occupation of Amritsar
Ranjit Singh captured Multan
Ranjit Singh crushes the other Sikh Misls too
Appointment of European Generals
Ranjit Singh in the clutches of Dogras and Brahmins
The Dogras & the Brahmins
Truth of the Stories Associated with Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh and the English
Ranjit Singh and the Sikh way of life
Death of Ranjit Singh
EPILOGUE
Kharak Singh crowned and deposed
Murder of Naunihal Singh
Chand Kaur becomes Queen
Sher Singh becomes Maharaja
Murder of Sher Singh & Dhian Sinh Dogra
Daleep Singh becomes Maharaja
Suchet Sinh Dogra killed
Killing of Baba Bir Singh and others
Mass enrolling of Dogras in army
Insulting Rani Jindan
Murder of Hira Sinh and Pandit Jallah
Murder of Jawahar Singh
The English plans to occupy the Punjab
Battle of Mudki
Battle of Pherushahr
Ranjodh Singh’s attack on Ludhiana
Battle of Sabraon
The English crossed Satluj River
Awards and rewards to the Traitors
Treaty of 11.3.1846
Background of the traitors
Treaty of Bharowal
Rani Jindan imprisoned
Rewarding the traitor Teja Sinh
Rani Jindan expelled from Lahore
Revolt at Multan
Chatar Singh Attariwala
Injustice to Sher Singh Attariwala
Battle of Ramnagar
Battle of Chelianwala
Battle of Gujrat
The Attariwalas surrender & the annexation of the Punjab
Bhai Maharaj Singh
Arrest of Bhai Maharaj Singh
Struggle by Rani Jindan
Rani Jindan escapes from prison
Rani Jindan gives up courage
Rani reaches England
Last days of Daleep Singh
Bibliography
Index
Holocausts of the Sikh History (1716-1765)
After Banda Singh’s Martyrdom
Since the first battle by Banda Singh Bahadur, fought on the 26th of September 1709, at Samana, between twenty-five and thirty thousand Sikhs had laid down their lives to expel the tyrant foreign rulers from the Sikh homeland. Between April and December 1716, about two thousand Sikhs had been killed at Gurdas Nangal; in March 1716, more than seven hundred Sikhs had been executed at Chandni Chowk Delhi; and on the 9th of June 1716, Banda Singh was tortured to death; along with him many other prominent Sikhs too had been executed.
On the 10th of December 1710, Bahadur Shah, the Mughal emperor had issued an order saying: Naanak parastaan raa jaa ba-yaband ba katal rasaanand (meaning:
wherever a follower of Guru Nanak is found, he should be killed); as a result of this, thousands of Sikhs were killed. Again, when in April 1715, Banda Singh and his companions were surrounded by a mammoth Mughal army, in the fortress of Gurdas Nangal, Abdus Samad Khan the Governor of Lahore, also issued an order asking for indiscriminate killing of the Sikhs; he too announced awards for killing the Sikhs.
After the martyrdom of Banda Singh and his companions, as well as mass slaughter of the Sikhs in their own homeland, no Sikh could be seen in the public for a long time; in spite of this the Mughal rulers were scared of the Sikhs; so, the Governor of Lahore again announced awards for arresting or killing a Sikh: helping the arrest of a Sikh one would get ten rupees (i.e. about two and a half months’ salary); by bringing head of a Sikh would get twenty-five rupees and the capturing a Sikh alive was prized at rupees one hundred. These awards were very attractive for money-minded as well as anti-Sikh people; so, a very large number of Sikhs were arrested and/or killed during this period; not only the Muslims but also greedy and fanatic Hindus joined this expedition; not only the Sikh soldiers but also ordinary Sikhs working in their fields were got arrested and killed. The Governor of Lahore had also announced that if a Muslim dies, a Sikh should be made to dig his grave and, instead of chamars (cobblers, menials), the Sikhs should be used for unpaid (slavery) jobs.1
In the wake of these awards, several Sikhs were killed; as a result of this the remaining Sikhs left their homes and sought refuse in the hills, jungles and deserts etc; hence no Sikh could be found. Now, the Governor of Lahore further enhanced the awards: ten rupees for simply informing about a Sikh; twenty rupees for showing a Sikh presence; forty rupees for helping arrest of a Sikh; eighty rupees for bringing head of a Sikh. But, even these awards could not become useful in tracing more Sikhs. Having observed this, some English writers said: “Now there was no existence of the word Sikh in the Mughal territories. All the Sikhs had moved towards the
hills. All the Hindus had shaved themselves” 2 in submission to the Mughals.
This was a very difficult time for the Sikh nation; the Sikhs were being hunted like wild animals; and as hunters travel long deep into the forests in search of their game, the Muslims too did the same to find a Sikh in order to get a reward; not only the Muslims but even the extremist as well as greedy Hindus too did the same; but by this time, the Sikhs too had become very cautious and careful; they too used to change their hideouts; they frequently moved between Lakhi Jungle, deserts of Rajputana, Doon and Shivalik hills and like areas.
Almost all the Sikhs had left their homes and moved to safe places; some had even chosen to go away to far off areas and earn their living by working as labour in the fields and doing other menial jobs; some of them would make secret visits to their villages to see their families; and while making such visits, sometimes, some of them would get arrested and killed.
Those who were in hide outs, would try to avail of every opportunity to attack the police stations, treasuries and rich persons; and they would take away money, gold, weapons, horses, food and cattle; while doing this, some of them would get killed; but, in spite of this, the Sikhs were not afraid of death; they had a feeling that instead of suffering death by starvation, it was better to attack and plunder as death would otherwise also come to them; hence they chose to embrace ‘martyrdom’ instead of starvation. During those days if someone would just ask a lady: ‘how many sons do you have’; she would reply: ‘I had three sons, now I have two because one of them has embraced Sikhism (i.e. he has chosen to lay down his life).’
The Sikhs had hard times in their hideouts; they had less, or evening nothing, to eat; jungle vegetation was their food; they had no clothes to change; they had no shelter to sleep; they spent their nights under the sky, in the open fields or under the trees in a jungle; hunger, pain, suffering, problems, diseases, sadness, fear, anxiety, darkness,
sleeplessness were their companions. It was a long, dark, frightening, hopeless night of years long. But, the Sikhs had, in them, courage, bravery, commitment, dedication, faith and charhdi kala (high spirits); faith in Guru was always with them, in their mind; difficulties made them strong and steadfast; sufferings made them hopeful; diseases made them courageous and hopeful; starvation filled them with tolerance and boldness; they never allowed their minds to forget their dreams, hopes and ambitions; freedom, honourable living and faith made them brave difficult and dark paths; it added to their strength, tolerance, sincerity and commitment; difficult times did not weaken them rather turned them into steel; they took obstacles and struggle as their test.
It was a test that even the Jews had not faced during their holocausts of 1939-45. Referring to the days of the bloodshed of the Sikh during the 1710s and 1720s, Khafi Khan writes that “He (Abdus Samad Khan) had dyed the Punjab with the blood of the Sikhs.” The author of Haqiqat-i-Bina-o-uruz-i-firqa-i-Sikhan writes that Abdus Samad Khan was heavily rewarded by the Mughal emperor for the massacre of the Sikhs; Khan got a mansab of six thousand and a large amount of money, gold and other presents as rewards for the killings of the Sikhs.
Farukhsiyar, who had ascended to the throne after killing his uncle and cousins, and who had executed Banda Singh by savagely torturing him, too got the same punishment within just six years of his rule; the Sayyad Brothers of Bara (Abdulla Khan and Hussain Ali Khan), who had helped him to capture the Mughal throne, blinded him of both his eyes, on the 28th of February 1719 and killed him on the 27th of April.
Ajit Sinh (the ruler of Jodhpur), the father-in-law of Farukhsiyar, had also collaborated with the Sayyad Brothers for the killing of his own son-in-law; hence, whenever he came out to pass through the streets of Delhi, people would call him ‘damaad kush’ (the killer of son-in-law); as a result he decided to leave Delhi forever. He got his daughter ‘released’ from the
harem (place of residence for the wives and concubines) of Farukhsiyar and left for Jodhpur in August 1719.3
After the killing of Farukhsiyar, Shams-ud-Din (son of Rafi-us-Shan and grandson of Bahadur Shah) was put on the throne of Delhi by the Sayyad Brothers; he ascended to the throne on the 8th of May 1719; but, after 17 days, on the 25th of May he was removed and his brother Shah Jahan II was given the command of the ‘empire’ on the 27th of May who (Shah Jahan II) died on the 8th of September 1719. During these days Nekusiyar (son of Akbar, the fourth son of Aurangzeb) too declared himself as the emperor but he could not occupy the Delhi throne. Finally, Raushan Akhtar (another grandson of Bahadur Shah, later known as Mohammed Shah ‘Rangila’), was given the reigns of the Mughal Empire; Raushan Akhtar was just a formal (de jure) king and had no real power in his hands; the Empire was in fact (de facto) being run by the two Sayyad Brothers of Bara; it was their will as to who shall be the emperor and for how much duration. When they installed Raushan Akhtar (Mohammed Shah Rangila) as emperor, his mother tried her hard to stop him from getting crowned as emperor but he did not bother for his mother’s advice. In fact Raushan Akhtar had decided that he would always obey the Sayyad Brothers, and, would not object to any action done by them; hence he remained emperor in name only; with this he decided to lead the life of luxury and debauchery, spending his time in the company of women.
During this period, the Sayyad Brothers were the real ruler of the country; they used to dictate orders to the emperor who dared not defy them; they even used to insult the emperor. Once, on the 7th of October 1720, Sayyad Hussain Ali went to this extent that he said: ‘The emperor is under my foot.’ At that time Mohammed Amin Khan (who had led four years’ long campaign against Banda Singh) and Haider Kuli Khan were present there; they were hurt by these remarks. At that time, Mohammed Amin Khan was the Second Bakhshi of the empire; he decided to stop this; he held a secret meeting with the emperor and decided to eliminate both the Sayyad
Brothers. At that time Sayyad Abdulla Khan was present at Sarai Chatth (100 km from Delhi); as per the planning, the very next day, Mohammed Amin Khan created a dramatic situation which led into a scuffle, and, in which Sayyad Hussain Ali Khan was killed.
The news of the murder of his brother reached Sayyad Abdulla Khan through a loyal person Ratan Chand Baniya; hearing this Abdullah Khan declared that he won’t spare the killers of his brother. He even declared that he did not accept Raushan Akhtar (Mohammed Shah Rangila) as an emperor and announced that prince Ibrahim (another descendant of Aurangzeb) will be the new emperor in his place; with this he announced his decision to attack Delhi. When Mohammed Shah Rangila got the news of the planning of Abdullah Khan’s army, he too began making preparations to fight; and with this he announced new enhanced mansabs for Mohammed Amin Khan (eight thousand), his son Qamar-ud-Din (seven thousand), Haider Kuli Khan (six thousand) and Saadat Khan (five thousand).
On the 13th of November 1720, the royal forces began advancing towards the camps of Abdulla Khan; a major battle was fought at Hassanpur village which continued for two days. Abdulla Khan lost the battle and was arrested. He remained in prison for two years; later it was decided that he should be eliminated hence he was killed through slow poisoning. He breathed his last on the 11th of October 1722, and with this came down the final curtain about the role of the Sayyad Brothers.4
The Sayyad Brothers had been actively helped by Ratan Chand Baniya and Churamani Jatt. During this period, when Mohkam (son of Churamani Jatt) was arrested; he submitted apology and offered to embrace Islam if his life was spared; but Mohammed Shah Rangila forgave him and did not press him to become a Muslim.5 Prince Ibrahim, whom Abdulla Khan had declared as the new emperor, too was arrested; he spent the next 26 years in prison till his death which came on the 30th of January 1746, at the age of 55.
Mohammed Shah Rangila and the Sikhs
The Lahore Governor Abdus Samad Khan’s campaign against the Sikhs had the blessing of the Mughal emperor Farukhsiyar; the former had enrolled special forces to annihilate the Sikh nation; the emperor used to pay for the expedition against the Sikhs. By the time Farukhsiyar was killed the threat of Sikh rebellion had almost been over; hence, when Mohammed Shah Rangila sat on the throne, he decided to give up the anti-Sikh expedition, so he stopped funding it. Within a short period, the Delhi rulers began giving more attention to a luxurious life and ignoring the administration. In the Sikh Homeland, the Governor of Lahore, Abdus Samad Khan too stopped all the expeditions against the Sikhs and began giving attention to administrative activities only; he too, like the emperor, began spending his time in luxury. The same attitude was adopted by his juniors. This gave the Sikhs some relief: now they began penetrating into the towns too. Their major targets were the royal treasures, arms and horses besides food and clothing; the Sikhs had adopted a novel strategy; they would not attack the same place twice and their second attack would be about 25 to 30 km away so that the state machinery should not be able to predict the Sikhs’ next move and make arrangements to fight against and/or trap them. During these attacks several Mughal soldiers too had been killed; hence the Mughals soldiers began fearing the Sikhs; they won’t even chase them in fear of being trapped into death.
When the Sikh attacks were not much reacted to, the Sikhs became bolder; they began attacking even during the light of the day and that even in the cities; they would attack, snatch weapons, plunder gold and other ornaments, clothes, food, horses and cattle, and would disappear; this had continued for several months, and gradually the Sikhs began returning to their homes.6
After a few years, the Sikhs began even visiting Guru-da-Chakk (Amritsar). Bhai Mani Singh, who had been performing services at Amritsar since 1698, but had left the
city in 1710 for fear of Mughal attacks, too came back and resumed the charge of Darbar Sahib. According to a tradition he was appointed as the granthi of Darbar Sahib by Mata Sunder Kaur, in 1721; this is not true as there is no evidence for this appointment; Bhai Mani Singh had been appointed by Guru Gobind Singh in 1698,7 and, he had been there since then; he was present there in April 1709 when Har Sahai of Patti attacked the city. Bhai Mani Singh had left the city only when (in 1713) the Governor of Lahore, Abdus Samad Khan, let loose reign of terror against the Sikhs, and, he returned probably in 1719 (after the murder of Farukhsiyar) or around this period. However, there are references to the visit of Kirpal Singh (Mama, maternal uncle of Guru Gobind Singh) when he re-organised the administration of the town; Kirpal Singh (Mama) visited Amritsar and had meetings with Bhai Mani Singh who was already there (so, it is not true that Mata Sunder Kaur had appointed Bhai Mani Singh as the granthi). According to Kesar Singh Chhibber8 Mata Sahib Kaur had sent Mama Kirpal Singh to Amritsar to make arrangements of annual Sikh gatherings (on the first of Visakhi and on Hindu-Diwali day) at Amritsar instead of Delhi. But, here, Chhibber mentions the date as 1784 Bikrami i.e. 1727 (Current/Gregorian calendar); this date given by Chhibber is wrong, and, I think it must be much before than 1727, probably 1721. Chhiber, however, accepts that he did not remember the exact dates.
By this time Ajit Singh Palit (adopted son of Mata Sunder Kaur) had been killed by the Mughals (on fake charges of manslaughter) and common Sikhs of Delhi had been feeling insecure; they had stopped even visiting Mata Sunder Kaur and Sahib Kaur; they (Matas) too left Delhi and began living at Mathura; and their Dilwali Mohalla house was occupied by the Mughals.
According to Chhiber (Mata) Sunder Kaur sent Kirpal Singh to Amritsar to arrange annual Sikh gatherings as well as for making arrangements for sending a share of offerings to Delhi (for Mata Sunder Kaur); Kirpal Singh visited Amritsar
and held deliberations with Bhai Mani Singh, Mani Singh Kamboj, Gulab Singh Sangana, Tara Singh Waan, Bakhsh Singh Maini and others. He appointed four administrators for the city; these four were: Sahij Singh Trehan, Maan Singh Mewra Arora, Diyanat Rai Brahmin and Gurbakhsh Singh Chhibber as daroga. 9
Martyrdom of Tara Singh Dal-Waan (9.6.1726)
Guru de sher 1723 ?
Bhai Tara Singh owned land in two villages Dal and Waan; he was a devoted Sikh. As mentioned earlier, after the murder of Farukhsiyar, the Sikhs felt a sigh of relief; they began visiting Amritsar too. Those who visited Amritsar would sometimes make a stop-over on their way and stay, for a night or so, with Tara Singh at his residence; Tara Singh would serve them with the sincere devotion of a Sikh. Near Dal-Waan, there was a big village, known as Naushehra Dhaala;10 almost all the residents of this village were Muslims; Sahib Rai was the chowdhry (chief) of this village; he was a monster-type person and was a menace to the poor folk in general and Sikhs in particular; he would let his horses loose and these horses would graze and destroy the crops of the peasants; two Sikh peasants Maachhi Singh and Gurbakhsh Singh were among the major victims of the excesses of Sahib Rai; one day they approached him and requested him to stop his horses from damaging their crops; but instead of accepting his fault he stubbornly replied: ‘You want me to tie down these horses to their pegs… I will cut your hair and make a rope with them and then tie these horses with that rope!’
Hearing this, the Sikhs went to village Bhussa (Bhasiowal) and narrated this to Baghel Singh and Amar Singh, two prominent Sikhs of this village; they decided to teach Sahib Rai a lesson. One day, when a mare of Sahib Rai was grazing in the fields of the Sikhs of Bharana village, Baghel Singh and Amar Singh reached there; they took away
the mare and handed it over to Lakhmir Singh of Ghariala village; they also told the whole story to him; Lakhmir Singh took the mare to Jungle Des area and sold it to someone; and he handed over the sale money to Bhai Tara Singh and asked him to use the same for the meals of the Sikhs sojourning with him on their way to Darbar Sahib.11
On the other hand when Sahib Rai came to know about the loss of his mare, he sought the help of the experts of cattle finding. They traced and followed the foot-steps of the mare and finally found it; they also reported as to who had taken away and sold the mare; in the meanwhile Lakhmir Singh, Baghel Singh and Amar Singh too got the news that Sahib Rai had received information about the mare hence he was likely to attack them; they immediately left their village and reached Dal-Waan and sought asylum with Tara Singh. On the other hand Sahib Rai too got news that the three Sikhs wanted by him had reached Dal-Waan, so, he along with some of his security men reached there and asked Bhai Tara Singh to handover the ‘thieves’ to him; Tara Singh replied: ‘you are the person who himself commits excesses and now have come to find thieves here… these Sikhs are not thieves; they have, rather, done justice.’
Having been rebuffed Sahib Rai did not want to fight immediately as Tara Singh had several companions at that time; he went to the Faujdar of Patti and poisoned him against Tara Singh by exaggerating the event. He tried to convince the chief of Patti that Tara Singh was a rebel and a danger to the Mughals; he also told him that between ten and twenty rebel Sikhs were always staying with him and most of them had weapons; hearing this, the chief of Patti asked 25 horsemen and eighty infantry to join Sahib Rai to attack the Sikhs at Dal-Waan; this group was led by the nephew of the chief of Patti. The chief also declared that he himself would soon follow them.
The very next day, before the dawn of the day, this group of soldiers surrounded the villages Dal and Waan. Per chance a Sikh Baghel Singh, who had come out for easing
himself, saw these soldiers and he, instead of going back to alert the Sikhs, aroused a jaikara (war cry) and challenged them. Sahib Rai recognised him and shouted: ‘he is the person who stole my mare;’ hearing this, the soldiers ran towards him. He, instead of running away or trying to defend himself from distance, engaged the group and began fighting; this created confusion and also made it difficult to attack him. In the meanwhile all the other Sikhs too came out and a fight began; in this scuffle a few Mughal soldiers were killed; the nephew of the army chief was also among them. After the death of the leader of the soldiers, Sahib Rai too fled the field; one of the fleeing soldiers fired at the Sikhs wounding Baghel Singh in his thigh. Sahib Rai did not halt until he reached the village Mari Kamboki.
When Sahib Rai was gone, the Sikhs staying with Bhai Tara Singh asked him to leave the village; they told him that Sahib Rai will definitely try to avenge the death of his nephew. Hearing this Tara Singh asked them, ‘I have no option but to embrace martyrdom sooner or later; rather you should leave the village; why should all of us die?” The Sikhs retorted: ‘why should we throw you alone before the ferocious soldiers, we shall also embrace martyrdom along with you;’ those who decided to support him included Wasava Singh, Kuir Singh (a Brahmin of village Jhallianwala (district Lahore), a relative of Sital Singh, a martyr of battle of the 29th of December 1705, held at Muktsar), Soora Singh Tarkhan of Khalra, Samund Singh and Jhab Singh Multani (Parmar Rajputs), Lakhmir Singh Sandhu Ghariala, Maali Singh and Gurbakhsh Singh Bhalla (of village Bharana), Bhim Singh and Badal Singh (of village Rattoke), Megh Singh Gill (of village Madran), Hata Singh Chugh Arora, Bulaka Singh Sekhon (of village Sangana), Jodh Singh Bajwa Narowal, Bhogar Singh and Rasal Singh (of Peshawar), Amar Singh (brother of Baghel Singh of village Bhasiowal) etc; these were the 22 Sikhs who decided to fight against the Mughal army.12
On the other hand, when army chief of Patti got news of the death of his nephew, he despatched nine hundred
soldiers towards Dal-Waan villages (Ratan Singh Bhangu gives the figure of two thousand); this army reached Dall on the 9th of June 1726; Moman Khan Kasuri was the commander of this army; he was riding an elephant and monitoring the battle; during the battle, Taqi Khan, one of his generals, was acting with over enthusiasm; the battle had continued for quite a long time but Tara Singh was not still in their reach; Taqi Khan wanted to come face to face with him; hence he shouted: ‘Where are you, Tara Singh? Come face to face with me.’ Tara Singh, who was not far from him, recognised Taqi Khan (in spite of being covered with an iron coat) and attacked his face with his spear, severely wounding his mouth, Taqi Khan immediately ran away. When Momin Khan saw his face bleeding, he said, ‘Taqi Khan are you chewing paan (beetle-leaf)?’; insulted Taqi Khan retorted: ‘Yes, Tara Singh is distributing beetle-leaves, you too go and get one.’
By this time several Mughal soldiers had been killed. Now Momin Khan ordered that elephants should be brought in the frontline; when an elephant advanced towards the Sikhs, Bhim Singh attacked the elephant driver with his sword; the driver tried to save himself with his goad; the goad was so strong that it broke the Singh’s sword into two pieces; Bhim Singh did not lose heart; he again attacked the driver with his broken sword and severed his head; now, Bhim Singh attacked the elephant and pushed it back; the frightened elephant retreated trampling his own soldiers; this battle continued till it was dark; the next day Momin Khan used only the guns. The Sikhs did not have many guns or ammunition; they tried their hard but all of them fell to the guns by evening; all the 22 Sikhs embraced martyrdom. This event took place on the 9th of June 1726.
The Sikhs resolve to attack royal treasures and arsenals
When the Sikh jathas (units) received the news of the martyrdom of Bhai Tara Singh Dal-Waan, they became very angry; a meeting of different jathas (units) of the Sikh soldiers was held to discuss the situation; in this meeting, they decided
to repay the Mughal regime in the same coin. It was resolved that: 1. the royal treasures should be plundered; 2. arsenals should be attacked to capture arms so that the Sikhs may get good weapons and horses; 3. the informers of the terrorist regime should be punished.
The first action of the Sikhs took place in June-July 1726, when they plundered a royal treasure being taken from Kasur to Lahore; the Sikhs had received information that the royal treasure would pass between Khuddian and Kaachha-Kanha villages (then Lahore district); at this the Sikh units took position near Khuddian, Kaachha Kanha and Chavinda and were able to achieve their goal; the Sikhs took away the money and other valuables as well as arms, ammunition and horses. The amount involved in this action was about five hundred thousand rupees (a big amount in those days).
In September 1726, the Sikhs attacked a caravan of horses, belonging to Murtaza Khan, which was proceeding from Delhi to Peshawar; this attack was organised by Budh Singh Sukarchakkia and Bagh Singh Hallowalia; the Sikhs stopped this caravan at the bank of river Beas, near Goindwal and snatched a large amount of money and gold as well as arms and horses. Again in 1727, another band of the Sikhs attacked a caravan near Ruhila (now Hargobindpur) and captured a big treasure; but when the Sikhs came to know that the wealth and the goods belonged to an individual named Partap Chand of Sialkot, they returned everything to him. Most of these actions took place in 1726-27.
The Sikhs did not commit these plunders with an intention of capturing wealth but in order to weaken the alien Mughal regime; their purpose was to make the regime realize that it was no more invincible and people would end their unjust rule sooner or later.
The Sikhs’ actions shook the Mughal regime; they had thought that the army action on Tara Singh would frighten the Sikhs but, on the other hand, now, it was the Mughals who were on defensive. At that time Lahore was being governed by Abdus Samad Khan, who had executed thousands of the Sikhs
between 1716 and 1724; but, since the crowning of Mohammed Shah Rangila, the Mughal government at Delhi had stopped taking interest in further expeditions against the Sikhs. Now, the Delhi regime, as well as the Lahore rulers, had then engaged themselves in voluptuous, luxurious and hedonistic activities; besides Abdus Samad Khan (the Governor of Lahore) was now amassing wealth; he was under the impression that after Banda Singh’s execution, the Sikhs were no danger to his State and he should not spend money in actions against them; but, the actions of 1726-27, made him again conscious of the Sikhs’ power.
Zakaria Khan becomes the governor of Lahore
By this time the Delhi regime had transferred Abdus Samad Khan from Lahore to Multan (he died there in 1737) and his son Zakaria Khan (the Governor of Jammu from 1713 to 1720 and Governor of Kashmir from 1720 to 1726) took reigns of the Lahore province. Zakaria Khan decided to take action against the Sikhs; he set up a new task force of twenty thousand soldiers, in the name of Gashti Fauj (mobile/patrolling army); he kept ten thousand soldiers with himself and divided the rest into ten battalions of one thousand each; these battalions were given fast running camels and horses, and, were granted guns as well; they were assigned duties to patrol through different zones and arrest/kill the Sikhs. In the beginning several Sikhs were arrested from the villages; those arrested, in fact, had not received information about the new army of Zakaria Khan. Soon, the Sikhs again disappeared from the villages too and sought refuge in the hills, jungles and deserts. When no Sikh was arrested for several weeks, Zakaria Khan announced rewards for arresting/killing a Sikh. This state resulted into shortage of food and other things in the Punjab.13
This expedition continued for several months; when Zakaria Khan realized that the situation was almost under control and the Sikhs were no more a problem, he, with a view to save money, disbanded some of the battalions of the new
recruited forces; when the number of the patrolling soldiers was reduced, the Sikhs too began appearing in the villages; they began organising themselves in small groups. Now, they again resumed attacking the royal treasures and arsenals; during these operations, sometimes, the Sikhs had to face the Mughal forces; in these skirmishes some Sikhs died too; but, in spite of this, the Sikhs continued their actions regularly.
During this period Bhai Darbara Singh (son of Bhai Nanu Singh Dilwali of Delhi) was the Jathedar of the Sikh army; Kapur Singh Faizalapuria (later Nawab) was the deputy chief (he had joined the Sikh army after the martyrdom of Tara Singh Dal-Waan). Kapur Singh was an expert of guerrilla warfare; and due to old age and ill health of Darbara Singh, Kapur Singh had to carry out most of the organizational activities of the Sikh army; Kapur Singh gave a remarkable lead to the Sikhs; his guerrilla tactics failed all the planning of the Lahore Governor; this resulted into heavy losses for the government treasury; besides, Zakaria Khan had also to pay a lot as the salary of the patrolling army.
During this period, the Mughal regime perpetrated unspeakable atrocities on the Sikhs; some Hindus too had to suffer the wrath of the regime; on the other hand, several Hindus collaborated with the Mughal regime and helped in the arrest of several Sikhs; some Hindus had joined the Mughal army too; they too led some expeditions against the Sikhs.
The major battle between the Sikhs and the Mughal army took place in 1732 when a joint force of the Muslim Manjh-Rajputs, the Pathans of Malerkotla (under the command of Jamal Khan) and Sayyad Asad Ali Khan (the Faujdar of Jalandhar) attacked Aala Singh (later ruler of Patiala) at Barnala; the Sikh army, under the command of (Baba) Deep Singh (of Pahuwind) joined Aala Singh and defeated the Mughal forces; this news reached the Delhi regime too.
The Sikhs are offered Jagir
By this time, Zakaria Khan had realized that his campaign against the Sikhs would never come to an end and he
won’t be able to exterminate the Sikhs. His Sikh campaign had cost him a lot of money; hundreds of Mughal soldiers had been killed; the government had been facing financial and administrative problems; the State was engaged more in defence from the Sikh attacks and less in administration; so, he discussed it with his advisors and expressed his desire to use other options; he decided to make peace with the Sikhs. Aslam Khan, the Faujdar, too supported his (Zakaria’s) intention to make peace with the Sikhs. After this, Zakaria Khan sent his emissary to discuss the proposal with the Mughal emperor at Delhi; he too gave his nod.
When this proposal received wide support, Zakaria Khan needed some mediator to approach the Sikhs; he had a Hindu minister named Lakhpat Rai; he asked him to approach the Sikhs; Lakhpat told Zakaria Khan that he himself was involved in the killings of the Sikhs hence he was on their hit-list; and if he tried to approach the Sikhs, they would consider him a spy and kill him. Then, someone suggested him to contact Subeg Singh of village Jambar who had somehow escaped the wrath of the Mughal when most other civilian Sikhs had been killed by the Mughal army. Zakaria Khan invited Subeg Singh to his court at Lahore and told about his proposal. Zakaria Khan told him that he would grant the Sikhs the Jagir (estate) of Guru-da-Chakk (Amritsar) and the parganas around it subject to the condition that they would accept his hand of friendship. According to Ratan Singh Bhangu:
Having given the robe, he said:
Don’t consider this as just a robe;
Along with this is the grant of Jagir.
With this will be administration of country.
This Jagir is semi-governorship.
All will be his (Sikhs’ leader’s) subjects.
Royal letters will be issued through him.
He will distribute everything to people (subjects).14
When Subeg Singh reached Guru-da-Chakk (Amritsar), on the 29th of March 1733, the Sikhs were having a congregation. According to Ratan Singh: ‘food was being
prepared…meat was being cooked…musicians were singing hymns…some were giving massage to the horses…some were hand-fanning.’15
Subeg Singh appeared before the congregation and narrated the whole story. Before the Sikh representatives could discuss the proposal, he was asked to pay a penalty for having dealings with the Mughal administration; after this, the offer of the Mughals was discussed; majority of the Sikh representatives was strictly against accepting this offer. Darbara Singh, the Jathedar of the army, said (as quoted by Ratan Singh Bhangu):
Darbara Singh then said: ‘when did we want Nawabi?’
Satguru has promised us kingship. For us this (Nawabship) is a heap of clay.
We have claim to kingship. We shall achieve it in this world or in other world.
Whatever was told by the Guru to the Sikhs, will surely happen and won’t remain unfulfilled.
Polar star may change its place and the axes of earth may be shaken. Satguru’s blessings can’t remain unfulfilled.
How can we accept Nawabship and give up kingship? There are afflictions in slavery. 16
Some Sikh leaders suggested that they should not accept jagir which would be subordination (hence semi-slavery) of the Mughals; on the other hand some leaders suggested that they should accept the offer for the time being as a strategy; they suggested that they should use this money and time for organising the Sikh army. It was followed by long debate and finally it was accepted that the offer of jagir should be accepted for the time being with a view to re-evaluate it in very near future; then appeared the issue of choosing the representative in whose name the jagir was to be issued; Bhai Mani Singh refused to accept the status; Darbara Singh too declined the designation; when it was realized that no Sikh general would accept it, someone suggested that Kapur Singh (deputy chief of the Sikh army) should be ‘asked’ (in fact ordered) by the congregation not to refuse it; Kapur Singh bowed before the ‘order’ of the congregation and agreed to
accept the designation of Nawab. After this, Subeg Singh presented him the robe, turban and other gifts; at the same time, the Sikh representatives told Subeg Singh to convey Zakaria Khan that the Sikhs won’t send any representative in his court at any time. Sirdar Kapur Singh (in Golden Temple: its Theo-political status) considers this deal as ‘double sovereignty’.
The amount of the jagir improved the financial position of the Sikhs; now, they could hold congregations at Guru-da-Chakk without any hindrance and also stay at their homes; this jagir included revenues for the parganas of Guru-da-Chakk, Chuhanian, Jhabal, Kanganwal and Dipalpur; according to a tradition it was an area of 18 villages and the amount of the revenue was to be about one hundred thousand rupees. During those days, this was a big amount.
Organising the Sikh army: Taruna Dal and Buddha Dal
After having accepted the jagir, the Sikh generals called a meeting of all the (jathas) army units at Guru-Da-Chakk; in this meeting it was decided that the whole of the Sikh army should be divided into two groups: one belonging to the younger ones (Taruna Dal, literally: the Youngers’ Army) and the other of the elders (Buddha Dal, literally: the Elders’ Army i.e. army of the senior citizens). The Buddha Dal comprised of 5 battalions, which were headed by: (1) Deep Singh of Pahuwind (2) Jeewan Singh and Bir Singh (3) Kahan Singh and Binod Singh of Goindwal (4) Dharam Singh and Karam Singh of Guru-da-Chakk i.e. Amritsar (5) Dasaundha Singh of Kot Buddha Wala; these battalions were stationed in and around Darbar Sahib complex at Amritsar. Similarly, the Taruna Dal too had five battalions, which were headed by: (1) Sukha Singh of village Marhi Kambo (2) Gurbakhsh Singh of village Rorhanwali (3) Bagh Singh of village Halowal (4) Gurdial Singh of village Dallewal (5) Sham Singh of village Naroki; these five had their posts at Ramsar, Bibeksar, Lachhmansar, Santokhsar and Kaulsar. The joint command of the Taruna Dal and the Buddha Dal was with Kapur Singh
(Nawab). The Buddha Dal was assigned the duty to look after the Darbar Sahib, the sarovars and missionary activities; and the Taruna Dal was to look after the defence of the Sikhs and their shrines. On this occasion, blue coloured flags were also furled at Akal Takht Sahib.17
With the income from jagir, the Sikhs had purchased a large number of horses and arms; now, they were capable of fighting against an army of middle standard. But, within a couple of months, the Sikhs had begun realizing that by accepting jagir they had committed a mistake; they began feeling as if they had become collaborators of a cruel regime; some considered it as surrender before the Mughals, while others branded it as anti-Sikh ideology.
In such confusion, the Sikhs spent four-five months; this mood (state) of confusion, despondency, anger, repentance compelled the Taruna Dal to break the ice; they began collecting revenues and tribute from the territories beyond the limits of their Jagir; they even attacked the Mughal treasures at a few places; when this news reached Zakaria Khan, he ordered confiscation of the jagir.
But, according to another view, it was Zakaria Khan who created such a situation; he was, in fact, acting cunningly; by offering them easy money he wanted to make the Sikhs lazy and inactive and thus weaken their fighting spirit. When the Sikhs began living at Guru-da-Chakk, peace returned to the Punjab. So, after a few months Zakaria Khan asked the Sikhs to renounce army life and go back to their villages and begin their routine activities. The Sikhs however, did not abandon Guru-da-Chakk; so after some days, he (Zakaria) sent his Hindu minister Lakhpat Rai to occupy the Sikh town. Lakhpat Rai attacked Guru-da-Chakk and compelled the Sikhs to flee from the city; Bhai Mani Singh too left the town and moved to some village of the Majha (probably the village of Kaachha Kanha, where his nephew lived).
Now, Guru-da-Chakk was under the occupation of Lakhpat Rai; it was during this time that Lakhpat Rai built a temple at the present site of Ram Tirath and began preaching
that that was an old shrine of the Hindus; it was, then, just a big pond where he had established his cantonment and hundreds of Hindu and Mughal soldiers were camping there.
In 1733, the Hindus were going to observe their Diwali festival on the 26th of October. Bhai Mani Singh too decided to have a Sikh gathering at Guru-da-Chakk, which was to be observed from the 20th to the 26th of October 1733. The treaty between the Sikhs and the Mughal regime had ended just a couple of months earlier; and the hostilities were still fresh; hence when Bhai Mani Singh contacted Surat Singh and Subeg Singh of Lahore,18 who approached Zakaria Khan, the latter allowed him subject to payment of ten thousand rupees as tax.19 On the other hand Lakhpat Rai planned that all the Sikhs who visit Guru-da-Chakk should be killed by the Mughal army. Lakhpat Rai had already established his camps at the present Ram Tirath site; now he was being helped by Niranjanias, Karma Chhina, Gaba Gill, Nagina Shah, Sahib Rai and Ramu Mall Ohri etc.20
When Bhai Mani Singh came to know about the designs of Lakhpat Rai he sent messages to the Sikhs asking them not to visit Guru-da-Chakk; hence only those Sikhs, who did not get message of Bhai Mani Singh, came to Guru-da-Chakk.21 As a result there were not enough offerings at Darbar Sahib; it was much less that had been agreed to be given to the Lahore regime.
When the Mughal administration asked Bhai Mani Singh to pay the amount, he complained that it was due to the rumours of mass killings of the Sikhs, spread by the administration that people had not turned out to attend congregation, hence less offerings; he promised them that he would pay the amount after celebrations of Visakh (i.e. on the 29th of March 1734). The Mughals agreed but in March they again used the earlier tactics and planned a massacre of the Sikh pilgrims; hence Bhai Mani Singh again sent a message to the Sikhs forbidding them from visiting Guru-da-Chakk:
The informers first gave news.
They had seen wicked intentions of the Governor.
He had sent his minister Lakkhu (Lakhpat Rai).
(He put up at) Ram Tirath near Sudhasar (Darbar Sahib).
He was wicked enemy. Brought Mughal army with him.
Due to this Sikhs did not come. Mani Singh stopped them (from coming).
Bhai Sahib (Mani Singh) said in these words: ‘My time (death) has come’.
I shall have to lay down my life for my faith.
Will not bow before the Turks (Mughals).22
[non italic words are mine – author].
So, this time, in the last week of March 1734 too, there were not enough offerings at Darbar Sahib; hence Bhai Mani Singh could not pay the tax. Lakhpat Rai, the minister of the Mughals came to Guru-da-Chakk, with a huge army, and arrested Bhai Mani Singh along with all other Sikhs present there; these included his brother Jagat Singh, his sons Chitar Singh and Gurbakhsh Singh, his wife Basant Kaur, his companions Gulzar Singh, Bhupat Singh, Ran Singh, Sangat Singh and others. Lakhpat Rai told Zakaria Khan that Bhai Mani Singh was the most important leader of the Sikhs:
Consider Mani Singh like this; as Sayyads are among the Turks (Muslims).
He is the Jathedar (leader) of the Sikhs. We have noticed this several times.
He is the caretaker of Harmandir. All the world (Sikhs) recognizes (respects) him.
He is an elderly person; due to this he is highly honoured.
All the Sikh who come from outside. First greet him.
Since you gave them freedom (permission to hold congregation). The Sikhs have gone extreme.
Sewa Hari (the writer) says: like this the enemies; enraged Khan Bahadur (Zakaria). 191
Marched the army of the Turks; with a huge and cry.
Reaching there they put siege to the darbar of Guru Ram Das. 192.
With Mani Singh were present prominent brave men.
They were arrested and taken to (present before) Khan Bahadur. 193.
All the Sikhs which had been staying with Mani Singh at Ramdaspur (Amritsar).
All of them were arrested and brought (to Lahore); they did not spare even children and elderly.
After this they plundered all the goods of the shrine; they did not see (spare) anyone’s belongings.
From other areas were also arrested; all those who professed them as Sikhs of Guru.
They were put in prison by the Governor Khan Bahadur.
Sewa Hari (the writer says): (due to this) there were lamentations all over the world.194. [non italic words are mine – author]
All the arrested Sikhs were presented before Zakaria Khan; when Zakaria Khan demanded tax from Bhai Mani Singh, the latter replied that Lakhpat Rai was responsible for non-payment of the tax; it was he whose arrival there prevented the Sikhs from visiting Guru-da-Chakk, hence less offerings. Zakaria Khan knew this but he was, in fact, looking for an excuse to execute the Sikhs, and, especially a Sikh like Bhai Mani Singh was his major target.
As planned, Bhai Mani Singh and the other Sikhs were given death sentence but they were given an option to save their lives; they could escape death by embracing Islam; but, not a single Sikh chose life for his faith; on the 24th of June 1734, Bhai Mani Singh was cut limb by limb; Gulzar Singh was skinned alive; Bhupat Singh was blinded and broken on wheels; the rest too were mercilessly tortured to death:
It was Haar Sudi five. The year was seventeen hundred ninety-one23
In the Nakhas Chowk (at Lahore). The mean Governor Khan Bahadur.
First it was Mani Singh’s turn. The Qazi issued a fatwa for him.
He was taken to the executers; they cut him limb by limb.
Next was Gulzar Singh; he was immediately skinned alive.
Bhupat Singh’s eye was pulled out; later he was broken on the toothed-wheel.
The place where this saka (executions) took place.
A large number of people had gone there to see it.
Sewa Hari (the poet) says:
all the remaining Sikhs were also martyred there.20324
[non italic words are mine – author].
A gossip had been popularized by anti-Sikh conspirators about the martyrdom of Bhai Mani Singh, that his execution (not martyrdom) was a result of a curse for his ‘sin’ that he had disallowed inclusion of some poems (falsely claimed to be the writings of the tenth Guru) in the volume of Guru Granth Sahib. It seems that this had been propagated, most probably, by some Muslim writer, in order to exonerate Zakaria Khan and Lakhpat Rai from the crime of execution of Bhai Mani Singh or by some anti-Sikh group which wanted to establish some anti Sikh poems
(later given the name of so-called dasamgranth) as writings of the tenth Guru. Several more such anti-Sikh stories have been concocted by the anti-Sikh forces.
After the execution of Bhai Mani Singh and the other Sikhs, the tank (sarovar) at Darbar Sahib was filled with debris, dunghill, bones and skin of the dead animals:
The rascal Khan Bahadur got Amritsar, the Guru’s tank,
filled with dunghill, skin, bones.25
After the martyrdom of Bhai Mani Singh, it was another era of dark days; during this period, if any Sikh trying to visit Guru-da-Chakk for a dip in Amritsar tank (the city Guru-da-Chakk came to be known as Amritsar in nineteenth century), was seen by the Mughal forces, he was sure to be arrested and/or killed. Besides, the Mughal forces began chasing the Sikhs again; even the householders, tillers, small businessmen and workers were killed; the Sikhs again fled their villages and took refuge in deserts, hills, jungles and ruins. Even in such a scenario, some of them (Sikhs) would try to visit Guru-da-Chakk; and, if they safely reached there, they would have a dip in the Amritsar (sarovar) and make an immediate retreat to their hideouts; sometimes, some of them would become victims of the bullets, arrows or sword of the Mughal forces; some were even arrested and executed.
A dip in Amritsar (sarovar), a look at Darbar Sahib would rejuvenate a Sikh; it would change his being; he would have a feeling that he was a subject of WahGuru (God) and had been blessed by the Gurus. Amritsar sarovar, Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht had become the symbols of the Sikh identity and nationhood; these were the symbolic achieves of the existence of the Sikh religion. When the Sikhs had to pass through dark days, despondency, poverty, scarcity, dangers, fear, uncertainty, battles, then Guru-da-Chakk was a ray of hope, faith, hope, power and the beacon-light for the Sikhs; with the blessings of this centre, the Sikh nation went on marching towards its goal; Akal Takht (monitored their actions; Darbar Sahib granted them spiritual light; a dip in Amritsar sarovar gave them vitality, a new life. For more than half a century,
two generations of the Sikhs struggled for their survival as well as for the freedom of the Sikh Homeland; during these dark decades, they had to face very dangerous situations, battles, expeditions, torture and almost annihilation; during this period, in July-August 1734, Baba Darbara Singh, the Jathedar of the ‘Dal of Khalsa’ (the Sikh army) passed way. He was succeeded by (Nawab) Kapur Singh.
Martyrdom of Veer Haqiqat Singh
Bhai (Veer) Haqiqat Singh was the son of Bhai Bagh Mall and grandson of Nand Lal Puri of Sialkot; according to a tradition, Bagh Mall (father of Haqiqat Singh) was a clerk in the office of Amir Begh, the district chief of Sialkot; this family was a part of the Sikh world since the time of Guru Arjan. In March 1660, when Guru Har Rai visited this area, he spent a few days in the house of Nand Lal Puri; Nand Lal, his sons Bhag Mall and Bagh Mall and daughter Bhagwanti served the Guru with devotion. Even after this, this family continued visiting Guru Sahib at Keeratpur and Anandpur Sahib. Bhai Haqiqat Singh’s mother Bibi Gauran too belonged to a devoted Sikh family; Gauran’s brother Arjan Singh Wadhawan had got Khande-di-Pahul (Sikh initiation) also and was a part of the Sikh army.
Haqiqat Singh got married to Durga Devi (Nand Kaur after initiation) daughter of Kishan Chand Uppal of Batala. Haqiqat Singh too had learnt a lot about Sikhism from his mentor Bhai Budh Singh; soon, he got initiation and became Haqiqat Singh.
Once, some of his Muslim acquaintances made some remarks on fictitious Hindu gods and goddesses. Haqiqat Singh told them: ‘I am a Sikh and I have no faith in these fictitious or mythological Hindu gods or goddesses but we should not make fun of anyone’s faith. Suppose if some non-Muslim makes some adverse comments about Fatima, the daughter of Hazrat Mohammed, the founder of Islam, would you not take it ill.’ Just mention of the name of Fatima enraged some of his fanatic Muslim acquaintances; they spread a rumour that Haqiqat
Singh had made some negative remarks about Fatima; at this the Muslim police arrested him and presented him before Zakaria Khan; Amir Begh (with whom Haqiqat Sing’s father was employed) approached Zakaria Khan, related the truth and asked him to let him (Haqiqat Singh) go; Zakaria Khan agreed but the Muslim clergy created hue and cry and Zakaria surrendered to their pressure; the case of Haqiqat Singh was presented before the clergy; the qazi pronounced his pre-decided fatwa asking Haqiqat Singh to choose between ‘Islam and death’; Haqiqat Singh’s maternal uncle Arjan Singh Wadhawan who too had been arrested alongwith him was also sentenced to death; both of them were executed before a huge Muslim gathering in the Nakhas Chowk at Lahore on the 18th of January 1735 (corresponding to Magh Sudi 5 of 1791 Bikrami calendar); at the time of his martyrdom Haqiqat Singh was father of a son.26
Another difficult phase for the Sikhs
In 1736, Zakaria Khan engaged a ten thousand strong patrolling army, under the command of Lakhpat Rai and Mukhlis Khan (Zakaria’s nephew); this army patrolled even the remotest areas of the State in search of the Sikhs and killed hundreds of them. Whenever Zakaria Khan, Mukhlis Khan or Lakhpat Rai received information about the presence or hideouts of the Sikhs, they sent army to capture arrest and/or kill them.27 This compelled the Sikhs to flee the territory for safe haven/sanctuary.28 During this period this army of Zakaria Khan had to fight a major battle against the Sikhs near the village of Hujra Shah Mukim; in this battle Duni Chand (nephew of Lakhpat Rai), Jamal Khan and Tatar Khan, the three generals of the Mughals were killed. The killing of three generals further enraged Zakaria Khan; he increased vigil against the Sikhs; he established a permanent army post at Darbar Sahib (Guru-da-Chakk) and appointed Qazi Abdul Razak and Mohammed Bakhsh as the in charges of this post; this created a major crisis for the Sikhs visiting Guru-da-Chakk; now they were not able to visit the Sikh city anymore;
an attempt was sure to lead to martyrdom; this compelled the Sikhs to resort to guerrilla warfare.
The Sikh become de facto rulers
This reign of terror against the Sikhs could not last long, probably because Zakaria Khan could not get financial help from the Mughal emperor. When the Sikhs realised that the Mughals had withdrawn their active campaign against the Sikhs, they began visiting their villages; gradually the Sikhs established their de facto regime in the land between Lahore and Guru-da-Chakk; they even built a small fortress in the village of Dallewal. It had been erected with mud bricks (unbaked) and was a temporary resort for the Sikhs. Soon, the Sikhs began attacking the royal convoys, royal treasures and arsenals; sometimes they would block the route on the main route between Lahore and Delhi (the then G. T. Road) and plunder the rich officials and the other Mughals and Pathans; however, they never troubled common man. When the State could not stop them, people began calling it ‘a Sikh State where Lahore or Delhi had no control’.
Attack by Nadir Shah
In 1730, Kabul and Kandhar (Afghanistan) were being ruled by Gilzai tribe. Nadir Shah, who was just a shepherd, was a very active youth of enterprising nature; soon, he formed a band of young workers and within a few years he was able to capture the cities of Kabul and Kandhar; the Gilzai and Abdali tribes tried to wrest power from him but could not succeed in their mission.
Here, in the Punjab, the Mughal regime had become very weak; there were rebellions in several parts of the empire; the Punjab was now under constant attacks of the Sikh battalions. At Delhi, the darbar of the Mughals had become a centre of conspiracies; the ministers and the other elite were always conspiring to use Mohammed Shah, the emperor, as per their needs, interests and plans; besides, most of the courtiers had begun living lives of corrupt and immoral persons; besides
these officials used to harass and exploit common folk; people regarded them as monsters.
In 1738, Asif Shah was the prime minister of Delhi. When he realized that he had no say in the affairs of the regime, he sent a messenger to Afghanistan and asked Nadir Shah to attack Delhi; the latter immediately agreed; as a first step Nadir Shah sent his messenger to Delhi to demand tribute from the emperor; when this messenger presented him before the emperor, he was insulted and dismissed from the court; when Nadir Shah received this news, he immediately began his march towards Delhi; on his way he made a stopover at Lahore; Zakaria Khan, the governor of Lahore, did not resist Nadir Shah’s movement; he surrendered and presented him an amount of 30 lakh (3 million) rupees as tribute and saved his state from plunder and destruction; Nadir Shah was pleased at the gesture of Zakaria and he re-appointed him as the Governor of Lahore on his own behalf.
After a stay of a few days at Lahore, Nadir Shah resumed his march towards Delhi; he also took two royal ‘prisoners’ Hayatullah (later Shah Nawaz, the son of Zakaria Khan) and Dalpat Rai (son of Lakhpat Rai, the minister of Zakaria Khan) as pawn with him. Nadir Shah reached Karnal in the last week of February 1739; here, the Mughal army made a meagre effort to stop him but could not and Nadir Shah continued his march towards Delhi; on the 9th of March he entered the city of Delhi as a victor; he ordered Mohammed Shah, the Mughal emperor to pay rupees 25 crores (250 million) as ‘fine’; the emperor did not say ‘no’ even once and asked his treasurer to present the amount to Nadir Shah.
Massacre at Delhi
On the 10th of March 1739, someone spread a rumour that Nadir Shah had been killed; hearing this news, people began killing soldiers of Nadir Shah; when Nadir Shah came to know about this, he ordered his soldiers to carry out a general massacre the residents of Delhi; within a few hours, one lac and twelve thousand innocent people had been killed. After
this Nadir stopped massacre but asked his soldiers to ransack the city; his soldiers looted a very huge quantity of gold and diamonds as well as elephants, horses and camels; the total booty included gold and diamonds worth seventy crore rupees: twenty crore rupees in coins, more than one thousand elephants, fifteen hundred horses and more than a thousand camels; besides, thousands of artisans, more than ten thousand young and pretty girls, the Takht-e-Taus (the gold and diamond studded throne chair) as well as the precious Kohinoor diamond were also captured. Nadir Shah also ‘married’ (of course forcibly) the daughter of the emperor. With all this booty, Nadir left for Iran on the 25th of may 1739.
On his return journey, he was attacked by the Sikhs who freed a very large number of captured girls from Nadir’s army and made arrangements for their safe return to Delhi; the Sikhs continued attacking the caravan of Nadir right up to Akhnoor (in Kashmir); besides freeing slave girls, they took away some valuables as well as a large number of horses and weapons too; when this news reached Nadir Shah, he summoned Zakaria Khan, the Governor of Lahore (who was accompanying him on his return journey), and asked him:
Nadir: Who are these dacoits?
Zakaria: They are Sikhs; they are neither Hindus nor Muslims. The Mughal regime has declared them rebels and if any one of them gets arrested, he is immediately executed and killed.
Nadir: Where do they live?
Zakaria: The saddles of their horses are their houses.
Nadir: Then a day will come that they will raise their heads and snatch power from you.29
Zakaria Khan and Lakhpat Rai accompanied Nadir Shah up to Akhnoor. Before his departure Nadir granted a mansab of eight thousand to Zakaria Khan (the highest mansab till then was seven thousand); on Zakaria’s request Nadir released all the prisoners too.
After Nadir was gone, Zakaria Khan began pondering over the prediction made by Nadir about the Sikhs; he decided to take strict measures against the Sikhs; his first action was to
dismantle the Sikhs’ improvised fort at Dallewal; he also issued orders to kill all the Sikhs; he announced prices for affecting the arrest of a Sikh, for bringing the head of a Sikh as well as for killing a Sikh; he also announced that anyone found guilty of giving refuge or providing food or anything to a Sikh or concealing information about the whereabouts of a Sikh will be sentenced to death; this led to the massacre of the Sikhs; within a short period not a single Sikh was visible in any town of the Lahore province; fearing being mistaken as Sikhs, all the Hindus of the Punjab shaved their heads and beards.30 Zakaria Khan also assigned Adina Begh (the chief of Doaba), the task of killing Sikhs in his area but he made a secret understanding with Jassa Singh Ramgarhia; as a result, the Sikhs escaped massacre in Doaba.
Martyrdom of Bota Singh Garja Singh
Although Zakaria Khan had ordered massacre of the Sikhs and the latter had disappeared from the scenario, some Sikhs still continued visiting Guru-da-Chakk (Amritsar) off and on. In order to visit their shrine, they would travel only during night time and rest in the forests and like places during day time; once, two such daring Sikhs (Bota Singh and Garja Singh) went to visit Guru-da-Chakk; on their return journey, when they reached near Nurdin village it was dawn of the day; they realised that they could be recognised by the royal soldiers; hence they hid themselves in a cluster of bushes and trees; by that time two passer-byes noticed them; one of them pointed out to the other that he had seen some Sikhs behind the bushes, but his companion reacted by saying: ‘it is not possible as Zakaria Khan has killed all the Sikhs’. When Bota Singh and Garja Singh heard the conversation between these passers-byes, they became emotionally disturbed; they could not tolerate that people should believe that the Sikhs had been annihilated; and they decided to assert their existence.
Bota Singh and Garja Singh did not have any weapon with them except one big sword and a large bamboo stick; in spite of this they walked up to the then Grand Trunk Road
(G.T. Road, which, in those days passed from the village of Nurdin, Goindwal – Lahore road), and put up an improvised barricade; they began charging ‘toll’ from the vehicles crossing the road; people did not protest and began paying them toll; when this continued for some time, they realized that their purpose was not to collect money rather they wanted to assert that the Sikhs had not disappeared from the earth and they still aspired for sovereignty; with this in view, Bota Singh wrote a letter to Zakaria Khan informing him about their action and sent it to Lahore court through some traveller. The letter (in the words of a poet) said:
This letter comes from Bota Singh.
He has a club in his hand and is blocking the road.
He charges one anna toll from a cart and a paisa from a donkey-load.
Go and inform Bhabi Khano (wife of Zakaria Khan),
This letter comes from Bota Singh.
(non-italic words are mine – author)
When this letter reached Zakaria Khan, he became angry and immediately despatched a unit of 100 soldiers towards Nurdin under the command of Jalal Din. These soldiers reached Nurdin and attacked the Sikhs; the two Sikhs killed about thirty soldiers in hand-to-hand fight and they also embraced martyrdom; though both of them were killed, this action of the Sikhs shook Zakaria Khan and made him realize that the Sikhs could not be subdued.
Sukha Singh and Mehtab Singh punish Massa Ranhghar
After the killing of Bota Singh and Garja Singh, Zakaria Khan decided to take another strict action against the Sikhs: he, now, occupied Guru-da-Chakk (Amritsar) and handed over the Sikh shrine to Mir Musa-ul-Khan (known as Massa Ranghar) of Mandiala village; Massa Ranghar began sacrilege of the shrine by using the place for drinking, dancing and immoral activities; somehow this information reached a Sikh named Bulaka Singh; he knew that a major group of the Sikhs had taken refuge in the deserts of Bikaner; he travelled to Bikaner and reported the matter to the Sikhs hiding there; the Sikhs present there asked him: ‘Why have you come here to
report, you should have launched an attack to stop the sacrilege of the shrine’; at this Bulaka Singh answered: ‘Had I gone there alone, I would have been killed and you could not have known this.’
To discuss the situation the Sikhs held a meeting. Everyone wanted to punish Massa Ranghar; but, a march towards Amritsar would have meant fighting at every post on the way and this could possibly have meant martyrdom of all the Sikhs; so, it was decided that a secret action should be launched: Sukha Singh of Marhi Kambo (a village, now a part of Amritsar) and Mehtab Singh of village Miran Kot (a village near Amritsar) knew the area well. It was decided that they should disguise themselves as Muslim officials and kill Massa.
On the 11th of August 1740, both the Sikhs disguised themselves as Mughal officials and rode to Darbar Sahib; when they reached Guru-da-Chakk, they were stopped by the security guards of Massa Ranghar; at this they told them that they had brought money to pay revenue to Massa Ranghar. So they walked unhindered and reached the spot where Massa Ranghar was drinking alcohol. When Mehtab Singh bowed down in the style of emptying ‘money sac’, Sukha Singh immediately cut off Massa’s head and put the same in his sack and beat a hasty return; before the security men could know anything they disappeared; they reached Bikaner and presented the severed head of Massa Rangar before the Sikhs. 31
First the incident at Nurdin and now the murder of Massa Ranghar further infuriated Zakaria Khan; he increased atrocities on the Sikhs and their sympathizers; he again announced rewards for the arrests and killings of the Sikhs. Now, not only the Muslims but also a large number of Hindus began participating in actions against the Sikhs; they affected arrests of several Sikhs and received rewards. This campaign continued for about six years; thousands of innocent Sikhs were captured and killed. Those who contributed most to the campaign against the Sikhs included Aakil Das (Harbhagat Niranjania), Karma Chhina, Rama Randhawa, Dharam Das Jodhpuri, Haibat Mall Dhanesta etc.
During this period, Lakhpat Rai, the Diwan (minister) of Zakaria Khan had established a permanent post near a tank (later known as Ram Tirath) near Amritsar. The staff in this post had just one duty: to keep vigil on the Sikhs secretly visiting Darbar Sahib.
But, in spite of this, Zakaria Khan could not stop the Sikhs from making secret visits to Darbar Sahib; persecution, atrocities, killings could not stop the Sikhs; in their hideouts they (Sikhs) had wild flowers and fruit, grass and (some time) animal meat to eat; and, they had exile, loneliness, nostalgia, hunger, difficulties, pain, martyrdom as their treasure.32 But, still, they were bold and brave; death could not frighten them, scarcity could not dishearten them; they were always in high spirits. They had coined a new language of optimism; for them black grams were almonds; they would address one person as ‘one lakh twenty-five thousand’; for them urinating was ‘letting free a leopard’; they called an onion as silver33; this language of high spirits always gave them courage; they had light of peace and serenity on their faces, always glowing; they were never pessimist; they had the spirit of making sacrifices for each other and their nation; they used to raise slogans of victory, optimism, a better tomorrow. Commenting upon this buoyant optimism, boldness and courage of the Sikhs, Khushwaqt Rai mentions that once Zakaria Khan satirically said: ‘By God, they eat grass and claim kingship’.34 Even during this period of extreme difficulties some Sikhs would make attempt to visit Amritsar; some of them would succeed; the others were arrested and killed.35
Martyrdom of Bhai Taru Singh (1.7.1745)
This dark night of atrocities on the Sikhs continued for more than a decade, from 1734 to 1745. Zakaria Khan’s atrocities created awe and terror in the mind of a common man of the province; he killed about ten thousand Sikhs; he claimed more than once that he had eliminated all the Sikhs; but, he did not know that he was just boasting; none could have annihilated the Sikh nation. Zakaria Khan’s last Sikh victim
was Bhai Tara Singh of Poohla village and Mehtab Singh of Miran Kot. Taru Singh was a young man, of about 25 years age; he was an honest farmer who used to serve those Sikhs who would make a stopover at his place, while on their journey towards Amritsar; he would provide them meals and lodging; sometimes he would send food to the Sikhs in their hideouts too. Harbhagat Niranjania of Jandiala (near Amritsar) informed Zakaria Khan about Taru Singh’s activities; Zakaria Khan immediately despatched some soldiers to arrest Taru Singh; when Taru Singh was presented before Zakaria, the latter ordered that his hair should be clipped; at this Taru Singh objected and shrieked: ‘do not cut my hair, you may in stead chop off my skull’. Zakaria Khan laughed and literally ordered chopping off his skull. On the 25th of June 1745, Taru Singh’s skull was chopped off.
Taru Singh continued suffering for the next six days and embraced martyrdom on the 1st of July 1745. The same day Mehtab Singh Mirankot, who had accompanied Sukha Singh in expedition to kill Massa Ranghar on the 11th of August 1740, who had reached there to have a glance of Taru Singh, too was killed there.36
The same day Zakaria Khan too died. But, it is irony of history that Taru Singh who opted for death and not renunciation of faith is remembered every day by millions of Sikhs in their prayer twice a day; but the one who ordered his execution is hated by a whole nation and his own people don’t remember his name.
Organising the Sikh army
On July the first 1745 Zakaria Khan died; this gave the Sikhs a sigh of relief, but on the other hand, the Hindus and the Muslims felt very sad.37 Zakaria Khan had appointed several Hindus as his personal assistants; their job was to praise and eulogise Zakaria Khan and present him as a noble person, a man of masses, a hero etc; these included Harnam Sinh, a Brahmin from Lucknow, who had written Sa’adat-i-Jaavid, a
book appreciating Zakaria Khan as a great justice-loving ruler; he has praised Zakaria more than even a Muslim could do.
Zakaria had three sons: Yahiya Khan, Hayatullah (whom Nadir had given the title of Shah Nawaz) and Mir Baqi; among these Mir Baqi was nor a very aspirant person and nor had he any wish to capture political power; but, Yahiya Khan and Shah Nawaz both were power and wealth hungry. At that time Qamar-ud-Din, the brother-in-law (wife’s brother) of Yahiya Khan was the prime minister of the Mughal emperor. He succeeded in getting Khawaja Abdullah (brother of Zakaria Khan) appointed as the Governor of Lahore; Khawaja Abdullah was corrupt, dishonest and scoundrel; within a few days he began plundering not only the rich and the elite residents of Lahore but also common folk; this turned many people into paupers; his loot gave birth to a saying: Haqumat Nawab Abdullah. Na rahi chakki naa rihaa chullah (meaning under the regime of Khwaja Abdullah, even grinders and hearths had disappeared from the houses of people); this meant that he had turned people into so poor condition that they could not even have bare meals.38
Khwaja Abdullah had become so much infamous that even Qamar-ud-Din was fed up with his functioning; he advised the emperor to appoint Yahiya Khan (son of Zakaria Khan) as the Governor of Lahore and Shah Nawaz Khan (the second son of Zakaria Khan) as the Governor of Multan; Yahiya Khan was also his own son-in-law. On the other hand both the brothers disliked each other; Shah Nawaz was so much against Yahiya Khan that he even used to pass intelligence to the Sikhs regarding Yahiya’s expedition against them. 39
But, the emperor Mohammed Shah (Rangila) did not want to give both the provinces to this Turrani family; so, he did not appoint any one of the sons of Zakaria Khan, hence Qamar-ud-Din, as the prime minister, remained the official chief of Lahore. After some time, he connived with Yahiya Khan and asked him to take control of Lahore even without any official orders. Though the emperor did not approve off it
but he did not send his army to capture the province because though Yahiya Khan had assumed the charge of administration but he had not rebelled against the authority of the Mughal emperor; besides, he had continued sending all the revenue to Delhi as earlier.
Though Yahiya Khan was not disturbed by Delhi regime but his brother Shah Nawaz would not allow him have firm command on his administration; he demanded his share from the wealth of his father; when Yahiya Khan refused to bother, Shah Nawaz led an army towards Lahore; Yahiya Khan tried to appease him by sending his some diamonds; Shah Nawaz Khan accepted this but declared that he won’t sit silent unless he gets his full share.
On the other hand, the Mughal emperor, who had not appointed any one as the Governor of Lahore, on the 3rd of January 1746, accepted Yahiya Khan as deputy (officiating) Governor (and his father-in-law Qamar-ud-Din as Governor).
During this period of uncertainty at Lahore, the Sikhs had begun reorganising themselves; they had begun visiting Amritsar too; now they had not to face killer squads of Zakaria Khan. On the 14th of August 1745, the Sikhs held a ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ gathering at Amritsar; it was presided over by Kapur Singh (Nawab). This gathering discussed the total scenario; it was decided that all the Sikh Jathas (battalions) should be organised into 30 groups of 100 each; the following were selected as Jathedars (chiefs) of these Jathas:
These jathas had not been formed on the basis of caste, area, families etc; every able leader had been given the command of a jatha; moreover, these jathas had no hierarchy, seniority or rank of official status; anyone who wanted to join the army had no special qualification except capability of horse-riding, sword-wielding and a vow to dedicate life to the Panth. The Sikh soldiers were not to get any salary except the martyrdom (as reward); all the soldiers had equal status and all the decision were to be taken by the system of gurmata (literally counsel of the Guru) i.e. consensus. Whenever any jatha captured wealth, weapons, horses or other goods, these were to be distributed equally between each member of the jatha; all the Sikhs had right to join any jatha. 41
Killing of Jaspat Rai and atrocities committed by Lakhpat
Besides organising the Sikh army, it was also resolved that the royal treasures, arsenals and stables should be attacked and wealth, weapons and horses should be captured so that the Sikh army should have enough sources to fight the Mughal regime. To translate this resolve into action, the Sikhs attacked several royal possessions in the second half of 1745; in January 1746, they made a daring attack right in the city of Lahore and
plundered some shops and houses of the rich and elite and also killed some government officers.42
On the other hand, when Yahiya Khan received partial approval from the Mughal emperor, he decided to take action against the Sikhs; he issued orders for massacre of the Sikhs; he also announced rewards for killing or affecting the arrest of a Sikh. In order to get rewards and appreciation from the Governor, not only the Muslims but also the Hindus began hunting the Sikhs; those who were actively working for this included: Sahib Rai, Rama Randhawa, Karma Chhina, Harbhagat Niranjania, Qazi Fazal Ahmad Khan, Khokhar Shamshir Khan and several others. This situation compelled the Sikhs to disappear from the pains of the Punjab; especially, there was left no Sikh in the parganas of Batala, Majitha, Jandiala, Patti, Naushehra, Talwan, Manjki, Phagwara etc.
After some time Yahiya Khan appointed his Diwan Lakhpat Rai (who had been a minister since 1720) to lead the expedition against the Sikhs. Lakhpat and his brother Jaspat (chief of Eimanabad) began an active campaigned against the Sikhs; one day, in the month of February 1746, a jatha of the Sikhs, under the command of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Sukha Singh of village Mari Kambo was on its way to the Shivalik hills; on their way they stopped in the outskirts of the village of Baddo-ki-Gosaian (near Gondwala village of Eimanabad zone) so that they might have their meals as they had been almost hungry for the past three days. Some Muslim residents of the village Gondwala went to Eimanabad and met Jaspat Rai (the army chief) and reported him that about two thousand Sikhs had put up their camp near their village and were slaughtering goats; hearing this, Jaspat Rai immediately left for Baddo-Ki-Goasaian; he came across the Sikhs near the village of Khokhran; he asked them to leave his area immediately; the Sikh leaders told him that they would be moving immediately after having their meals; but, Jaspat refused to allow them even a single moment; he asked his soldiers to attack the Sikhs from all the sides; the Sikhs too
were ready for any eventuality; there was a full- fledged fight between both the armies.
During the battle a Sikh, named Nibahu Singh, grabbed the tail of the elephant on which Jaspat Rai was sitting, climbed up the elephant and severed his head with one stroke of his sword; when the Mughal soldiers found their chief dead, they began running for their life; soon, all the Mughal soldiers had fled the area. Bawa Kirpa Ram Gosain, who had been a teacher of Jaspat Rai, requested the Sikhs to return the severed head of Jaspat which they did after accepting an offering of rupees five hundreds.43
Massacre of the Sikhs (10.3.1746)
When Lakhpat Rai got the news of the murder of his brother at the hands of the Sikhs he turned mad with rage.44 He went to the extent of declaring: “Sikh religion was started by a Khatri Guru Gobind Singh,45 and until I eliminate the name of Sikhism from history, I shall not call myself a Khatri.” 46
He went to Yahiya Khan, the Governor of Lahore, took off his turban and placed it on the feet of Yahiya Khan and said: ‘I will wear this turban only when I have annihilated the Sikhs’; Yahiya Khan himself was a sworn enemy of the Sikhs; he immediately gave his approval and promised all help; he patted the back of Lakhpat Rai so that he should become more aggressive against the Sikhs. The emperor too gave his approval and promised all possible help.
Lakhpat Rai issued orders for the arrest of each and every Sikh whosoever he might be; within a week, a very large number of Sikh businessmen, employees and farmers were arrested; these included Subeg Singh Jambar and his son Shahbaz Singh too. Lakhpat Rai ordered that mass killing of these Sikhs would be performed on Monday, the 10th of March 1746; this was the day of Somavati Amavas (holy for some Hindus). Hearing this, some prominent Hindus of Lahore went to him and tried to stop him from doing all this; these Hindus included Diwan Kaura Mall, Diwan Surat Sinh, Diwan Des Raj, Chowdhry Jawahar Mall, Kujah Mall, Hari Ram and
Sukhkhu Mall etc; they were led by Gosain Jagat Bhagat, who had been a teacher of Lakhpat Rai. Lakhpat was so mad with rage against the Sikhs that when this group reached his place he refused to oblige them; he even refused to postpone the date of execution; Lakhpat was so aggressive that he pronounced: ‘What to bother for you, even if God comes to stop me I shall not change my decision.’ Hearing this Gosain Jagat Bhagat (his teacher) said: ‘You are mad; you will drown yourself in the ocean of poison of your hatred; and even the name of your family would not remain in existence.’ Even after listening to the curse of his teacher, Lakhpat remained adamant.
As per his plan, he massacred more than one thousand Sikhs on the 10th of March 1746, in Nakhas Chowk of Lahore city. Subeg Singh and Shahbaz Singh were tortured to death on jagged-wheels; on this day a Hindu ruler of a hill state (probably Kangra) too handed over his 15 Sikh employees to Lakhpat; they too were killed.
After the mass killing of the Sikhs, Lakhpat Rai attacked Guru-da-Chakk (Amritsar) and destroyed its building; he burned even the volume of Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh scripture).
Lakhpat was so furious that he banned the use of word gurh for (molasses) because it reminded of GURU and granth (book) as it reminded of Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh scripture). He ordered that in future Gurh should be called ‘Bhel’, and a book should be called with ‘pothi’. Lakhpat ordered that if any one recited the name of Guru, his belly should be ripped off.47
Small48 Carnage (1.5.1746)
In spite of killing more than a thousand Sikhs on one day and hundreds more on different dates, Lakhpat was still far from pacified; his terror compelled the Sikhs flee the territory of Lahore province; jungles, hills, deserts etc were now the dwellings of the Sikhs. Once, in April 1746, about ten thousand Sikhs had taken shelter in the thickets on the bank of Raavi river, near the present town of Kahnuwan; (Nawab) Kapur
Singh, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Sukha Singh Mari Kambo, Gurdial Singh Dallewalia, Charat Singh Sukarchakkia etc were also among them. During those days, it was a dense forest full of wild trees and poisonous shrubs; it was also believed that there were ferocious animals in this jungle so people were afraid of entering any part of this jungle.
When Lakhpat Rai received information about the presence of the Sikhs in this jungle, he approached the Governor of Lahore; both of them led thousands of soldiers to this area and surrounded the jungle from all sides. When the Sikhs found themselves under siege, they began guerrilla fighting; daily skirmishes took lives of several Sikhs on one side and the Mughal and Hindu forces on the other side; these included Harbhaj Rai (son of Lakhpat Rai) and Nahar Khan (son of Yahiya Khan) as well as Karam Bakhsh and Mehmood Khan, the two senior generals of the Yahiya-Lakhpat army.; after the death of his son Lakhpat became almost mad and Yahiya Khan too became more aggressive.
Now, Lakhpat Rai employed about one thousand carpenters and woodcutters and asked them to cut all the trees of the jungle; after about a week, he realised that it would take months and may be a few years to cut this jungle; this would also mean engaging the whole army, administration and themselves in this expedition; so, he stopped cutting of the trees and ordered the jungle be put to fire. As the invading army had put siege to the jungle from all the sides and now it was on fire too, the Sikhs decided to flee the jungle; when they tried to break the siege, they had to face cannons, guns and arrows; as a result a very large number of Sikhs were killed
During this exodus, some Sikhs moved towards hill zone; they marched upwards on the bank of the river Raavi; this group too had to fight a battle against the Mughal army, near Parol village (on the bank of rivulet Baju), about 25 kilometres from Pathankot; here too the Sikhs had to suffer heavily. Similarly, Some Sikhs tried to cross river Raavi downwards towards the area of Riarki; while trying to cross several Sikhs were killed. During those days this area was
known as tatti tawi (hot place) of Raavi because the sand up to about 2-3 kilometres from the bank of the river was so hot during day time that one could not escape being burnt while putting one’s bare foot on sand. But, the Sikhs had no choice; in order to save their lives they had to brave the tatti tawi of Raavi; they took of their shirts, turbans and other clothes and tied them on their feet and continued walking; even in this attempt, the feet of several Sikhs were badly burnt.
This area of Riarki was the territory of Rama Randhawa, who had been a tout of Zakaria Khan (the father of yhiya Khan, the then Governor of Lahore); so, the Sikhs decided not to stop there and they continued their march towards the forest near Gobindpur (now Hargobindpur). These Sikhs had eaten nothing for the past several days; here too they could get nothing to eat; they had to appease their hunger by eating ‘delhas’ a local pickle vegetable (of queer taste, which no one otherwise would eat raw or even as a cooked vegetable).
From here they crossed Beas river and entered territory of Jalandhar-Doab; here too they had to face the attacks by the Pathan Muslims of Alawalpur and Adampur zone; these Pathans, were, however, no match to the Sikhs. By this time, the Sikhs had come to know that Lakhpat Rai’s army was also chasing them, so they decided to avoid battle with the Pathans and continued proceeding towards Satluj river; hence after crossing three river (Raavi, Beas and Satluj) they entered the Malwa are, in the territory of Sarhind and Multan provinces. Those few Sikhs who could save their lives took refuge in Jaito, Kotkapura, Lakkhi Jungle and Tihara etc.
In this holocaust, seven to ten thousand Sikhs were killed and about three thousand were captured; the captured were taken to Lahore and killed at Nakhas Chowk. 49
When Yahiya Khan came to know that some Sikhs had taken refuge in Malwa zone, he despatched his deputy Lakhshami Narayan to chase the Sikhs and finish them; Lakhshami Narayan led forces against the Sikhs; a battle was fought between the Sikhs and his forces; as the Sikhs had no
information about this attack, they were not prepared for a battle, hence they suffered heavy losses.
Lakhpat Rai killed 20 to 30 thousand Sikhs (his campaign against the Sikhs came to an end only when Shah Nawaz Khan wrested control of the State from Yahiya Khan in March 1747, when Yahiya Khan and Lakhpat Rai, both, were arrested).
Shah Nawaz occupies Lahore
When Yahiya Khan became Governor, his brother Hayatullah (whom Nadir Shah had given the title of Shah Nawaz) was in Multan. Though Yahiya Khan had never been appointed as the Governor of Lahore but he had become de facto ruler and even the emperor finally acquiesced. In March 1746, when Yahiya Khan began a campaign against the Sikhs, the Mughal emperor gave him full support. After the success of this campaign, he (Yahiya Khan) began behaving in an aggressive manner; he would mistreat even those pro-Mughal elite who did not join his camp. This compelled most of them to align with Shah Nawaz; Diwan Kaura Mall was also one of them; he went to Multan and extended hand of friendship to him; now, Shah Nawaz made a planning to occupy Lahore; at first Shah Nawaz sent Surat Sinh to see Yahiya Khan as his ambassador; the latter told Yahiya Khan that Shah Nawaz wanted proper division of the property left by his father Zakaria Khan; Yahiya Khan told Diwan Surat Sinh that his father had not left much wealth, hence he had nothing to share; when Shah Nawaz Khan got nothing, he decided to march towards Lahore.
In November 1746, Shah Nawaz, along with his loyal general Hashmatulla Khan and Diwan Kaura Mall, led his army to Lahore; he established his camps near Shalimar Garden (then on the outskirts of Lahore); Adina Begh,50 the chief of Jalandhar-Doab, too joined the camp of Shah Nawaz.
Now, Shah Nawaz sent a message to Yahiya Khan asking him to hand over to him his share of from the wealth of their father. When Yahiya Khan adopted delaying tactics, Shah
Nawaz declared that he would not leave Lahore until he got his share; this tussle continued for the whole of the winter season; Yahiya Khan did not want to give any money nor did he want to fight; finally one day Yahiya Khan sent his loyal officials Momin Khan, Lakhpat Rai, Mir Naymat Khan, and Amir Begh etc to visit Shah Nawaz; they offered six hundred thousand rupees to him; at first Shah Nawaz told them that the amount was too little but later, he took a diplomatic decision: he accepted the amount with an intention of still continuing his action.
Soon after this, Shah Nawaz occupied some territory of Yahiya Khan; he also sent commands to the hill states asking them not to pay tribute to Yahiya Khan and instead deposit the same with him; now, Yahiya Khan realised that he shall have to fight; soon, both the armies put up their camps for a battle; Yahiya Khan’s army was led by Momin Khan and Lakhpat Rai, and, Shah Nawaz’s army was led by Diwan Kaura Mall, Adina Begh and Hashmatulla Khan.
On the first day of fighting, Shah Nawaz defeated the army of Yahiya Khan; besides, some soldiers of Yahiya Khan refused to fight because they had not been given salaries for the past few months; Shah Nawaz offered to pay them their arrears and enrolled them into his own army. Yahiya Khan’s army lost the battle on the second day also.
Finally, on the 13th of March 1747, Shah Nawaz’s army entered the city of Lahore; on that day when the Eid prayers were over, the victorious army attacked Yahiya Khan and his companions; though Yahiya Khan escaped unhurt, several of his companions were killed; Yahiya Khan hid himself in the zanaankhana (the apartments of women). Shah Nawaz did not attack or enter the zanaankhana but he put cordons to this section so that Yahiya Khan may not escape and reorganise army and attack him.
After this, Shah Nawaz occupied the Lahore throne; he ordered arrest of the Yahiya’s loyalists; these included Deputy Mir Momin Khan Kasuria, Diwan Lachhami Ram, and Diwan Lakhpat Rai etc.51 Shah Nawaz wanted to give severe
punishments to all of them; his punishment included pulling of eyes and chopping off hands before finally killing them. Shah Nawaz was more cruel and savage than even Nadir Shah.52 The Sikhs too were victims of the atrocities of Shah Nawaz: “he got the bellies of the Sikhs ripped open, got the iron pegs struck into their heads and got their brains removed in his own presence. If ever a Sikh mother complained of her son’s indifference towards her he would order execution of the son, and in case the mother bewailed the order of execution of her son, both, the son and the mother, were killed.”53
Shah Nawaz appointed Kaura Mall as his Diwan (minister). On the other hand, one night, Yahiya Khan somehow fled Lahore and reached Delhi; but, he was so scared that instead of seeking help from his father-in-law (then the prime minister) and lead an army to attack Lahore, he decided to renounce active political and social life; he became a faqir and began living the life of a recluse; he spent last years of his life at Farukhabad.
Construction of Ram Rauni fortress at Amritsar
When the Sikhs came to know that Lakhpat Rai had been arrested and Kaura Mall had taken charge as Diwan they heaved a sigh of relief; now, they began visiting Amritsar; soon, hundreds, and later thousands, of Sikhs began gathering at Amritsar. On the 30th of March 1747, a big gathering of the Sikhs was held at Amritsar; this gathering resolved to reorganise the Sikh army and fully arm it; it was also decided that a fort should be constructed so that the Sikh army should have at least one defensive post; Jassa Singh of Ichogil (then stationed at village Valla, near Amritsar) was given duty to build a Rauni (literally: four walls) of this fortress. This was in fact, not a fort or fortress, and rather it was just a small area covered by a mud wall on all the four sides in which about 500 persons could stay; there were no rooms to stay but just a couple of thatched sheds; it was, in fact, a defensive enclave; later, this fortress was named as Ram Rauni after the name of Guru Ram Das Sahib, the founder of the city of Amritsar.
(Because it was built and maintained by Jassa Singh and his battalion, hence with the passage of time his Misl came to be known as Ramgarhia Misl). This fortress was not very good even for defence; it could be a resort to resist the enemy for a few days only.
After constructing Ram Rauni, the Sikhs renovated Darbar Sahib; the Sikhs from far and wide began visiting Amritsar; for the next few months the Sikhs had to face no problem; they reorganised themselves and armed all the soldiers; now they had enough weapons and horses and they were able to fight against a medium size army of the Mughals.
When Shah Nawaz was fully in command of the province, he too began paying attention to the Sikhs; he too adopted the policy of his father and brother; he ordered arrests of the Sikhs. In case of the Sikhs, he was no less cruel that his predecessors; he would himself monitor the cutting of stomachs and blowing off the heads of the Sikhs.54
Invasion of Ahmad Shah Durrani
When Yahiya Khan escaped from Lahore, Shah Nawaz got frightened; he feared that Yahiya Khan’s father-in-law (then the prime minister of the emperor Mohammed Shah Rangila) would definitely attack Lahore and arrest/kill or expel him from the province; with this fear, he invited Ahmed Shah Durrani (Nadir Shah had been murdered on the night of 8th and 9th of June 1747 and Ahmed Shah had captured Kabul), the chief of Kabul to attack Delhi. According to the writer of Siyar-ul-Mutakhrin, it was Adina Begh who had suggested Shah Nawaz to invite Ahmed Shah Durrani.
On the other hand Shah Nawaz continued negotiation with the Mughal emperor too; he sent his emissary to Delhi who contacted the emperor on the 3rd of September 1747 and requested him to accept Shah Nawaz as Governor of Lahore; but, this meeting remained inconclusive as Qamar-ud-Din, the prime minster would not accept Shah Nawaz as the Governor.
In November 1747, Ahmad Shah enrolled a very large number of soldiers to attack Delhi. In this situation the Sikhs
too held deliberations to chalk out strategy to deal with Ahmad Shah Durrani. The Sikhs resolved to fight against Ahmed Shah, if need be; so, they sent their families to safe havens in the hills and themselves reached Amritsar.
When Ahmed Shah began his march towards the Punjab in December 1747, Qamar-ud-Din (the prime minister at Delhi) contacted Shah Nawaz and suggested him to remain loyal to Delhi throne and stop Ahmed Shah from advancing towards Delhi; now, Mohammed Shah Rangila, the emperor too accepted him as the Governor of the Punjab.
In the meanwhile, Ahmed Shah reached near Raavi river and put up his camps on the other side of the river; the next day, the army of Lahore state and Ahmed Shah Durrani’s army fought against each other; Shah Nawaz lost the battle, and, after his defeat he fled from Lahore. Now Ahmed Shah occupied Lahore and charged three million rupees from the provincial treasury as penalty for the battle; he spent the next five months at Lahore and after recovering the penalty money he started his march towards Delhi on the 19th of March 1748. Before his departure, he appointed Jolly Khan Kasuria, a Pathan, as the chief of Lahore province; he also appointed Mir Momin Khan as Deputy Chief and Lachhami Ram as Diwan. Like Lakhpat Rai, Lachhmi Ram too was a sworn enemy of the Sikhs.
When Ahmed Shah was on his way to Delhi, the Sikhs, under the command of (Nawab) Kapur Singh, Charat Singh Sukarchakkia, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Khushal Singh Kanhaiya, Karora Singh, Mit Singh Dallewalia and Sham Singh Naroke etc, made several attacks on his caravan; the first of such attacks took place on the night between the 21st and the 22nd of February 1748, near the village of Nur Din. The next day, the Sikhs again attacked near the village of Vairowal; they took away a large number of horses and weapons of the soldiers of Ahmed Shah. The Shah did not take any action against the Sikhs as his plan was to attack Delhi; he did not want to indulge in minor battles.
After two attacks on Shah’s army, most of the Sikhs moved towards Kalanaur whereas some of them took road towards Doaba. Jolly Khan Kasuria, the new Governor of Lahore had received the news of the Sikhs’ attack on Shah’s caravan, so he directed Diwan Lachhmi Ram to march against the Sikhs; Lachhami Ram asked Momin Khan to march towards Kalanaur. When the Sikhs learnt about the movement of the Lahore army, they, under the command of Charat Singh and Sukha Singh, decided not to fight and waste their energy; so, they crossed Satluj river and took refuge in their hideouts.
Defeat of Ahmed Shah & his return to Kabul
When the Mughal emperor received the news of the departure of Ahmed Shah from Lahore for Delhi, he asked Qamar-ud-Din, the prime minster, to lead a big force to stop Ahmed Shah’s advance towards Delhi; the number of his army was more than one hundred fifty thousands. Qamar-ud-Din reached Sarhind on the 25th of February 1748; from here, the Mughal army went to Machhiwara (where armies usually crossed Satluj river), to stop the Shah from crossing the river.
Ahmed Shah had already received intelligence that the Mughal army would try to stop him at Machhiwara, so he changed his route and went towards Ludhiana where he crossed the river; he did not stop there and continued his march towards Delhi; he covered about 65 kilometres distance in one day and reached Sarhind on the 2nd of March 1748; on the other hand, when Ali Mohammed, the Governor of Sarhind, received information that the Ahmed Shah was heading towards Sarhind, he was so terrified that he decided not to fight against him and he fled the city; when Ahmed Shah reached Sarhind there were just a thousand soldiers and other male folk in the city and the fort; the rest were women and children; thus the Shah faced no obstacle to occupy the city and its fort; now, he had a strong fort, a good defensive post, with him.
When prince Ahmed (son of Mohammed Shah Rangila), who was leading the army, got news of Ahmed Shah’s occupation of Sarhind, he asked his army to march
towards Sarhind; the Mughal army covered this distance in a short period and reached Manupur, about 15 km from Sarhind, and put up their camps in the fields; besides the prince Ahmed, Qamar-ud-Din, the prime minster and his son Muin-ud-Din (later famous as Mir Mannu) too were leading the army. When Ahmed Shah came to know about the arrival of the Mughal army near Sarhind, he too advanced towards them and set up his camp at a distance of 8 km from Sarhind.
For some days, both armies had minor skirmishes but there was no major battle; it was on the 11th of March 1748 that Ahmed Shah’s army made a sudden attack on the Mughal army; when Ahmed Shah attacked, Qamar-ud-Din was performing namaz (making prayers); a cannon ball hit him and he died instantly; his son, Muin-ud-Din, who was present nearby, realised that if the Mughal soldiers got this news they will be disheartened; so, he adjusted pillows and cushions with the body of his father and tied the body on the elephant in such a manner that it gave the impression that he was monitoring the battle; after this, the Mughal army made a forceful attack on the Shah’s army; the Mughal army was divided into four sections: the command of the left side was with Ishwari Sinh and the right side with Safdar Jang; the prince Ahmed was in the middle and Muin-ud-Din (later Mir Mannu) was at the front of the battle. Soon, a fierce battle began; during the course of action, a spark from a cannon ball fell on a cart of Ahmed Shah’s caravan which was full of ammunition and gun-powder, which caused arrows shoot in different directions; when these arrows hit other carts and the heaps of ammunition and gun-powder, they too were lit; soon, it looked like a heavy rain of arrows; it also caused several explosions followed by stampede; the soldiers of the Shah began running for safety of their lives.
When the Mughal army saw chaos on the side of the Shah, they made a very forceful attack from all the sides; the Afghan army could not stop the advance of the Mughals, hence they began retreating; Ahmed Shah too ran for his own safety; the Afghans did not stop before they reached Sarhind; there,
Ahmad Shah shut the doors of the fort. As a good luck of the Shah, the Mughals did not chase the losers; in fact they wanted to bury Qamar-ud-Din and other dead soldiers. On the other hand, Ahmad Shah too did not make another attempt; he stayed there for 5 days and then left for his return journey on the 17th of March; he reached Lahore in two days; after spending about a week in Lahore, Shah left for Kabul on the 26th of March 1748.
The Sikhs did not spare the Shah even when he was returning from the plains of the Punjab; they attacked his army and plundered some of his treasure; Charat Singh’s jatha chased him up to river Jhanaan (Chenab) and looted some of his treasures, arms and horses.
The Sikhs occupy Nurpur State
When Ahmed Shah was busy fighting against the Mughals near Manupur, the Sikhs were trying to translate into action their resolve for freedom of their homeland from the Mughals; their first action was to occupy the State of Nurpur;55 in the middle of March 1748, the Sikh army under the command of Charat Singh Sukarchakk, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Hari Singh Bhangi and Jai Singh Kanhaiya etc attacked Nurpur; at that time it was ruled by Gurdit Mall who was a close confident of Lakhpat Rai who had perpetrated unspeakable atrocities on the Sikhs; he had always collaborated with the Mughals in their expeditions against the Sikhs; for the past two years, the Sikhs had been considering an attack on this State. When Raja Gurdit Mall got intelligence about the planning of the Sikhs, he approached Ranjit Dev, the chief of Jammu, as well as the rulers of Jasrota and Mankot; these Hindu rulers assured Gurdit Mall of all possible help and they sent hundreds of soldiers to Nurpur; Gurdit Mall himself had seven thousand horsemen and five thousand infantry; thus, now, he had a big army, which he thought, was strong enough to crush the Sikhs.
Before the Sikh army could reach Nurpur, the State army was ready to attack them from their trenches and other
safe positions in the hills. Between the Sadra and Badra villages, both the armies clashed with each other; the Sikhs, who were in small number as compared to the hill army, entered into the lines of the hill soldiers’ and began aggressive attack; this strategy succeeded and several hundred hill soldiers were killed in just a couple of hours. Soon, it seemed that all the hill soldiers would lose their lives; finding himself in crisis, Gurdit Mall fled the field for his own life and did not stop until he reached Jammu. In this battle, the victorious army of the Sikhs captured a large quantity of arms and ammunition as well as money and gold. Ram Sukh Rao in his work Jassa Singh Binod has given very minute details of the expedition.
In March 1748, when Ahmad Shah Durrani was still at Lahore, he got news of the Sikh adventures but he chose not to open another front. Similarly, in the second half of March 1748, a group of the Sikhs was crossing Doab territory, which was under the reign of Adina Begh, but the latter did not disturb the Sikhs as he did not want to waste his ammunition, men and energy for an unnecessary expedition. This benefitted both, the Sikhs and Adina Begh.
The Sikhs occupy Amritsar
In the last week of March 1748, Ahmed Shah returned to Kabul; and before leaving he had appointed his men as the administrators of Lahore province. The Sikhs knew that the Mughal emperor too will send his own officials who would occupy Lahore again; it also meant that the State won’t bother for the Sikhs during this period; so, the Dal Khalsa (the army of the Sikhs) resolved that Amritsar city should be occupied; (Nawab) Kapur Singh assigned this duty to Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. One day, Jassa Singh, Tara Singh Waan (this was a different Tara Singh and not the martyr) and Chuhar Singh Bhakhian suddenly attacked Amritsar; the city, at that time, was in the possession of Salabat Khan, a Mughal general; he had erected tall towers around Darbar Sahib in order to monitor the movement of the people (the Sikhs) visiting that area; a
Sikh entering that zone was sure to be attacked with bullets from these towers.
Salabat Khan himself was an experienced general; he was known for his bravery and war skill; but, the Sikhs’ attack was so sudden that he could not make preparations; he came out of his fortress and began hand-to-hand fighting; Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Salabat Khan were engaged in one-to-one fight; within a few minutes Jassa Singh severed the head of Salabat Khan. When Najabat Khan, a nephew of Salabat Khan saw his uncle falling, he attacked Jassa Singh with his sword; before Najabat Khan could harm Jassa Singh (Nawab) Kapur Singh shot an arrow at Najabat and killed him; in the meanwhile, the Sikh soldiers had occupied the towers. Having seen their chiefs falling dead, the Mughal soldiers ran away. After the occupation of Amritsar, the Sikhs built a wall around the town; this battle took place just a few days before the first of Visakh (the 29th of March 1748). After occupying Amritsar, the Sikh generals sent messages to all the Sikhs to attend their national congregation at Amritsar, on the 29th of March.56
Formation of Dal Khalsa and 11 Misls
On the 29th of March 1748, all the Sikh jathas attended the Sarbat Khalsa (the national conclave) in front of Akal Takht Sahib at Amritsar. By this time, there were 65 different Jathas of the Sikhs in the field, fighting against the Mughal regime; these Jathas were headed by:
(Nawab) Kapur Singh (son of Nathu, of village Faizalapur)
Jassa Singh (of village Ahlu)
Hari Singh Bhangi
Jai Singh (of village Kanha)
Gulab Singh (of village Dallewal)
Naudh Singh (of village Sukar Chakk)
Karora Singh (of village Panjwar)
Nand Singh (of village Sangana)
Deep Singh (of village Pahuwind)
Hira Singh (of village Baharwal, tehsil Chunia, Nakka area)
Dasaundha Singh (of village Kot Buddha)
Jassa Singh (of village Ichogil & Valla, later Ramgarhia)
Jhanda Singh (of village Panjwar)
Ganda Singh (of village Panjwar)
Mehtab Singh Khakh
Charat Singh (of village Kanha)
Diwan Singh
Garja Singh
Gujjar Singh
Nibahu Singh (son of Lalaan, of village Bhusriwal)
Lehna Singh (of village Mustafabad, near Kartarpur)
Phula Singh (of village Roranwala)
Sanwal Singh Randhawa (of village Bagha)
Gurbakhsh Singh (of village Doda)
Dunba Singh (of village Kalanwala)
Tara Singh (of village Chainpur)
Bagh Singh (of village Kot Sayyad Mohammed)
Haqiqat Singh (son of Chowdhry Baghela, of village Wadala Sandhuan)
Mehtab Singh (son of Chowdhry Baghela, of village Wadala Sandhuan)
Jhanda Singh (of village Kanha)
Tara Singh (son of Harso, of village Kanha)
Manohar Singh (son of Harso, of village Kanha)
Sobha Singh (nephew of Jai Singh, of village Kanha)
Bhim Singh (nephew of Jai Singh, of village Kanha)
Amar Singh (of village Wahga/Wagha)
Sobha Singh (of village Bhika)
Baghel Singh (of village Jhabal)
Hari Singh (of village Dallewal)
Gulab Singh (of village Majithia, he was the father-in-law of Naudh Singh of village Sukarchakk)
Mehtab Singh Julka
Lajja Singh
Haro Singh
Amar Singh (of village Kingra)
Jeewan Singh (of village Qila Jeewan Singh)
Sahib Singh (of Sialkot)
Natha Singh
Mohar Singh (of village Ranian)
Manohar Singh (of village Ranian)
Bagh Singh (of village Lanka Farangian)
Jhanda Singh (of village Sultanwind)
Mirza Singh Kahlon
Sham Singh Maan (of village Bulaki Chakk)
Maala Singh (of village Bulaki Chakk)
Bahal Singh (of Sheikhupura)
Amar Singh (of Sheikhupura)
Ganga Singh
Lal Singh
Tara Singh (of village Mananwala)
Roop Singh
Mehtab Singh
Anoop Singh
Tara Singh Ghaiba
Dharam Singh
Sukha Singh (of village Mari Kambo)
The Sarbat Khalsa gathering resolved that these 65 jathas should be joined and the whole of the Dal Khalsa (the Sikh army) should be organised under a single leader. (Nawab) Kapur Singh was elected the Jathedar (chief) of the Sarbat Khalsa (the Sikh nation as whole) and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was selected as the Jathedar of the Dal Khalsa. It was also resolved that all the Sikh army should be organized into 11 Misls (literally: equal files i.e. units). These 11 Misls57 were named as follows (the name of the chief in parenthesis):
Sarbat Khalsa also resolved that any Sikh could join any Misl; each Misl shall be independent to take its internal decisions but in case of national issues or differences with other Misls, all the Misls shall obey the command of the Jathedar (Supreme Commander) of the Dal Khalsa; it was also agreed that all the Sikhs shall hold two national gatherings each year (on the first of Visakh and the Hindu festival of Diwali, corresponding to March/April and October/ November); the Sikhs chose these dates because, at that time, there were no calendars or diaries and the Hindus of Hindustan
used to celebrate these two days as festivals, hence it was easy to know as to when these days would fall; hence all the Sikhs, wherever they would be in their hideouts or elsewhere, they would know these dates.
This Sarbat Khalsa gathering agreed that all the issues would be resolved by way of gurmata (consensus); the gathering also assigned the Deep Singh’s Misl (later Shaheedan Misl) the duty for care and maintenance of Darbar Sahib and other Gurdwaras.
The Sikhs and Muin-ul-Mulk (Mir Mannu)
When the Sikhs had been re-organising themselves, the Mughal emperor was considering appointment of a new Governor of the Lahore province; the emperor had become impressed by the role of Muin-ul-Mulk during the battle of Manupur (11.3.1748) in which Ahmad Shah Durrani had been defeated; so, he wanted to assign him some good as well as responsible office; with this in his mind, he appointed Muin-ul-Mulk as the new Governor of Lahore province on 11th of April 1748; Muin-ul-Mulk immediately left Delhi for Lahore; after reaching Lahore, his first action there was to arrest Jallo Khan (the Governor appointed by Ahmed Shah Durrani) and Lakhpat Rai, the Diwan of Shah Nawaz; Muin-ul-Mulk imposed a fine of three million rupees (30 lakh rupees) on Lakhpat Rai; the latter’s wealth (money, gold, diamonds, horses, elephants) and other property was confiscated; his total wealth was assessed as worth 1.8 million (eighteen lakh) rupees; his immovable property was assessed at two hundred thousand (2 lakh) rupees; he was ordered to pay another one million rupees to secure his release from prison.
Punishment to cruel terrorist Lakhpat Rai
Diwan Kaura Mall had grudge against Lakhpat Rai: he wanted to take revenge from him; so he offered one million rupees and secured his (Lakhpat’s) release; after this, Diwan Kaura Mall handed over Lakhpat Rai to the Sikhs so that they
should punish him for his atrocities and inhuman crimes; the Sikhs tied the hands and feet of Lakhpat Rai with ropes and threw him in a ditch (used as a toilet); Lakhpat spent several days under the heaps of excreta and urine and finally died there; then this ditch was filled with mud; this was how a cruel tyrant met his end.
Mir Mannu’s atrocities
In the early days of his reign, Mir Mannu did not disturb the Sikhs; but, when he got settled in his office, he too launched a campaign against the Sikhs: he issued orders that if a Sikh is found anywhere his hair should be cut and if he refuses to allow it, he should be killed instantly; he also issued orders to the hill rulers asking them not to allow entry to the Sikhs in their territories; they were also instructed to arrest all the Sikhs and bring them to Lahore; most of the hill rulers obeyed these orders and brought several Sikh prisoners to Mir Mannu’s court; all these Sikhs were killed at Nakhas Chowk, Lahore; during the next six months thousands of Sikhs were killed.58
Siege of Ram Rauni
The atrocities of Mir Mannu came to a halt when he decided to make peace with the Sikhs; he used the offices of Kaura Mall and Adina Begh. The latter offered the Sikhs jobs in his army; Jassa Singh Ichogil (later Ramgarhia) and his brothers Jai Singh, Khushal Singh and Maali Singh) accepted this offer; Tara Singh, the fifth brother did not join service (he remained a part of the Dal Khalsa).
It is possible that Jassa Singh opted for this in order to re-organise his Jatha as well as to get the secrets of the functioning of the Mughal army; the immediate benefit of this action was an end to atrocities on the Sikhs at least in Jalandhar Doaba area (which was the territory of Adina Begh).
Some Sikh leaders did not like this action by Jassa Singh; according to a tradition, the Sikhs excommunicated Jassa Singh for his collaboration with the Mughals; according
to still another tradition, Jassa Singh was excommunicated because he had killed his new-born baby when he found it to be a daughter (in fact, these were just rumours and no source mentions these issues); one thing is however true that the relations between Jassa Singh and the rest of the Sikhs were not very comfortable. On the other hand, although Jassa Singh had prominent place in Adina Begh’s army, the Muslims did not like him because he was a Sikh.
In October 1748, when the Sikhs went to Amritsar for having a gathering, Mir Mannu’s army planned an attack on them: a large Muslim army put siege to the city; at that time, there were a few hundred Sikhs in the city; when the Mughal army entered the city, the Sikhs shut themselves in Ram Rauni; for the next few days, the Sikhs made several attempts to break the siege but could not; about two hundred Sikhs had lost their lives in daily skirmishes. This news reached Jassa Singh Ramgarhia also; either he was on his way to Amritsar of his own or he had been on a mission in that area, he went to Ram Rauni; according to a tradition, he offered help to the Sikhs in Ram Rauni on the condition that his (so called) excommunication would be withdrawn; his offer was accepted and he helped the remaining Sikhs escape safely. According to another tradition, it was Diwan Kaura Mall who had negotiated with the Mughals and Jassa Singh was sent to execute this agreement.
During that period Shah Nawaz had occupied Multan province; besides, there were rumours of another attack by Ahmed Shah Durrani; so, Mir Mannu decided to close the Sikh front. Mannu used the services of Diwan Kaura Mall to seek the help of the Sikhs)59 in combating Shah Nawaz and/or Ahmed Shah Durrani; Kaura Mall ushered a compromise between the Sikhs and Mir Mannu: under this agreement, Mir Mannu granted Sikhs one fourth of the revenue of Patti zone and also a Jagir of about a dozen village around Amritsar.60
The Sikhs help in Multan attack (October 1748)
Qamar-ud-Din, the prime minister of Delhi (father of Mir Mannu) had died in April 1748, in battle against Ahmed Shah Durrani; he was succeeded by Safdar Jang. Safdar Jang did not like Mir Mannu; he did not miss any opportunity to harass Mir Mannu; during his regime, Mir Mannu had appointed Nasir Khan as the chief of Char Mahal area (Sialkot, Pasrur, Gujrat and Aurangabad); this was the second best area of the Lahore province. Safdar Jang had been provoking Nasir Khan also. Besides, it was he (Safdar Jang) who had instigated Shah Nawaz to occupy Multan; he had assured him secret help too; so in the fourth quarter of 1748, Shah Nawaz left Delhi and reached Multan via Jungle Des (also known as Lakhi Jungle, and, now, known as Malwa).
From Here, Shah Nawaz used to send information to the Sikhs too, so that they should save themselves from Mir Mannu and also trouble him instead; Shah Nawaz created several problems for Mir Mannu; the later was fed up with the former’s behaviour and he wanted to take action against him.
In October 1748, Mir Mannu decided to send Kaura Mall in expedition against Shah Nawaz. With the consent of Mir Mannu, Kaura Mall sought help from the Sikhs for his Multan expedition; Jassa Singh Ahluwalia agreed to help him on the condition that the Sikh soldiers will be paid fifteen rupees and the Jathedars (chiefs) will get thirty rupees per month; Kaura Mall agreed to it and paid two months’ salary in advance. It was also agreed that if the Sikh soldiers confiscate any wealth, weapons or horses etc, it will be their property; this too was agreed by Kaura Mall; after this, Jassa Singh and Sukha Singh Mari Kambo headed a ten thousand strong force and began their march towards Multan; at Chiniot61, Kaura Mall himself came forward to welcome to them; he had prepared karah (a Punjabi pudding) to serve the Sikh soldiers; the Sikhs were pleased at Kaura Mall’s gesture.
When the Mughal and the Sikh armies reached near Multan, they came to know that Shah Nawaz too was fully prepared; he came forward to fight; a battle was fought in the fields between the villages of Daurana and Langana; it was an
equal battle on both sides; Khwaja Shah, a general of Shah Nawaz was an experienced general; he caused heavy losses to Kaura Mall’s army; at one time it seemed that Kaura Mall himself would be captured by Khwaja Shah; seeing Kaura Mall in crisis, the Sikh soldiers ran for his help; a group of Sikhs set his gun at Shah Nawaz too; when a Sikh was aiming to shoot Shah Nawaz, he suddenly noticed it and made an immediate retreat for his safety; but, before he could do it, a bullet struck him and he fell down from his horse; before he could get up again, a Sikh, named Bhim Singh chopped off his head with just one stroke of his sword. Kaura Mall rewarded Bhim Singh with a golden shield and a fine horse.
After the death of Shah Nawaz, his army fled the battle field; the Sikh soldiers chased and blocked heir way; after relieving them of their valuables, weapons and horses, they were allowed to leave. In this battle Abdul Aziz Khan and Mirza Asmat Begh, two close confidents of Mir Mannu lost their lives. Diwan Kaura Mall arranged burial of the dead body of Shah Nawaz near the tomb of Shamas Tabrej.
When Kaura Mall returned to Lahore, Mir Mannu honoured him with the title Maharaj Bahadur and also appointed him as the Governor of Multan; Mir Mannu thanked the Sikhs too and granted them Jagir of Chuhanian and Jhabal parganas.62 Diwan Kaura Mall offered rupees eleven thousands for the re-construction of Darbar Sahib and also got built Gurdwara Baal Lila at Nanakana Sahib.
Second invasion by Ahmad Shah Durrani
After his defeat at Manupur in April 1748, Ahmed Shah wanted to make another attempt; so, in November 1749, he left Kabul with a bigger force; in December 1749, he reached Sind river and after crossing the river, he proceeded towards Lahore. Mir Mannu had got information of Ahmed Shah’s march in advance so he contacted Delhi and sought help to fight against him; but as Safdar Jang, the prime minister, was jealous of Mir Mannu, he did not bother for latter’s letter. A weak Mir Mannu was no match against
Durrani; in spite of this, he tried to fight but after a battle of a few hours, he surrendered; later, with the permission from the Mughal emperor, Mir Mannu agreed to pay 1.4 million (14 lakh) rupees annually from the revenues of Char Mahal area (Sialkot, Gujrat, Pasrur and Aurangabad).63
The Sikhs attack Lahore
Like the jagir of 1733, this time too, the Sikhs realised their mistake of accepting jagir from the Mughal regime; many Sikh leaders considered it as collaboration with the tyrants; on one hand, the feeling of guilt, shame, sin and despondency; and on the other hand the Sikhs’ skirmishes with the regime compelled the Sikhs to put it before the Sarbat Khalsa.
In the early days of 1750, a Sarbat Khalsa gathering was held in front of Akal Takht where it was resolved that in order to ‘wash the sin of accepting jagir from the Mughals, the Sikhs should rescind it by attacking Lahore’; to translate this resolution into action, the Sikhs, under the command of (Nawab) Kapur Singh immediately left for Lahore; when the Sikhs entered Lahore, neither Mir Mannu nor Izzat Khan (officiating Governor) was present in the city; (Nawab) Kapur Singh occupied the seat of the chief at Kotwali and collected tribute from the officials, the rich and the elite of the city; this continued for a few hours; before the Governor or officiating Governor could reach the city, the Sikhs left; but, before fleeing the city, they burnt a large area of the town. Commenting on this destruction, Miskin wrote: ‘arrow once shot and the time that has passed cannot return; the city had been destroyed.’64
Atrocities committed by Mir Mannu
After the plunder of Lahore, followed by its destruction by the Sikhs, Mir Mannu decided to take extreme action against the Sikhs: he enrolled a ‘patrolling army’ of the gun-shooting soldiers whose main job was to hunt the Sikhs. According to Miskin (in Tahmasnama): Mir Mannu also announced prices for bringing the heads of the slain Sikhs;
bringing the head of a Sikh was to fetch ten rupees; one who would lose a horse while fighting against the Sikhs would get new horse from the government stable; giving shelter to a Sikh was declared as a grave crime punishable with death.
After this ‘royal’ order, hundreds and thousands of Sikhs were arrested; the killing squads and gun-carrying patrolling army would ride even up to 60 to 65 kilometres in hunt of a Sikh; thus, a very large number of Sikhs were killed; this wave of Sikh-killings continued for about six months; after this Mir Mannu appointed Mir Momin Khan especially for this expedition; he was provided with a large army, ammunition and money to carry out this project; Mir Momin was given the charge on the 3rd of October 1751. Similarly, Amanulla Khan, the chief of Eimanabad, too was assigned a like job. Momin Khan engaged his men for visiting even remote villages and collect information about the possibility of the presence of a Sikh; these men arrested all those who looked like Sikhs, even if they were not Sikh. This time even Kaura Mall could not play any role.65
Third invasion of Ahmed Shah Durrani
In December 1751, Ahmed Shah launched his third attack; before beginning his march he sent a message to Mir Mannu asking him to pay 1.4 million rupees, the revenue of Char Mahal area, as agreed in December 1749; Mannu reported the same to the emperor but Safdar Jang ignored his request. When Haroon Khan reached Lahore to collect the amount, Mir Mannu told him that due to disturbances the revenue could not be collected, hence it has to be postponed. When Haroon Khan returned to Kabul, Mir Mannu sent a message to Kaura Mall, who was in Multan at that time, asking him to reach Lahore and be ready for a possible war.
After a few days, Ahmed Shah sent another messenger Sukhjiwan Mall to Mir Mannu asking him to pay the money or be ready for war; now Mir Mannu paid eight hundred thousand rupees and promised to send the rest to Kabul. Sukhjiwan Mall met Ahmed Shah when the latter was on his way to Lahore and
handed over the money paid by Mir Mannu; Ahmed Shah took the money but decided to continue his march. When Mir Mannu came to know about Ahmed Shah’s march, he again tried to allure the Sikhs into a compromise; now he offered them jagir of Kathua, Basohli and Doon valley. With this Mir Mannu and his ministers sent their families as well as their personal treasures to Jammu under the care and protection of its ruler Ranjit Dev. After this, Mir Mannu himself led about fifty thousand soldiers, four hundred cannons to fight against Ahmad Shah Durrani; he pitched his tents near city of Gujrat; this time too Ahmed Shah played a trick and did not march towards Lahore via Gujrat and rather crossed river Raavi near Lahore and pitched his tents at Shalimar Garden, on the outskirts of Lahore; when Mir Mannu got information, he made a hasty return to Lahore and reached there before Ahmed Shah could make an assault on the city.
Ahmed Shah’s siege of Lahore continued for four months; he plundered all the area around Lahore to this extend that it turned the people into paupers. Due to this, in those days, a saying became popular: khaadhaa peeta lahay daa. Baaki Ahmedshaahay daa (meaning: whatever one consumes is useful; the rest will be usurped by Ahmed Shah).66
Finally, on the 5th of March 1752, war broke between the Mughals and the Afghans, in the village of Mehmood Booti; in the battle a bullet hit Kaura Mall and he was killed instantly; it is widely believed that it was a conspiracy hatched by Adina Begh and Bayzid Khan.67
After the death of Diwan Kaura Mall, Mir Mannu surrendered; he appeared before Ahmed Shah and presented him a large amount of money, garments and horses; Jahan Khan and Shah Wali Khan, the two generals of Ahmed Shah, escorted Mir Mannu to the presence of Ahmed Shah; Ahmed Shah asked Mir Mannu as to how should he be treated; Mir Mannu replied, “If you are a businessman then sell me; if you are a butcher then kill me; if you are a king then take mercy on me”; hearing this Ahmed Shah not only forgave him but also appointed him as Governor of Lahore on his own behalf. On
the 13th of April 1752, Ahmed Shah declared annexation of the provinces of Lahore and Multan to Afghanistan, to be ruled from Kabul.
On the other hand, when Ahmed Shah and Mir Mannu had been busy waiting to fight against each other for about four months of the siege of Lahore, the Sikhs availed this opportunity and attacked the area around Sarhind; they plundered the houses of the government officials and the rich; after this they went towards Jind; when Kamgar Khan, the Governor of Hissar and Sonepat, got news of the arrival of the Sikhs, he led a big force against the Sikhs; though the Sikhs fought bravely but being small in number they did not prolong the battle and moved towards Keertpur-Anandpur.
Last atrocities by Mir Mannu (March 1752 – October 1753)
After having accepted Governorship from Ahmed Shah, Mir Mannu renewed his campaign against the Sikhs; on the 8th of April 1752 (the first of Visakh of Bikrami calendar) the Sikhs were having a gathering at Amritsar; they (Sikhs) were under the impression that due to the invasion of Ahmed Shah Durrani Mir Mannu won’t bother about the Sikhs; but, their hopes proved wrong: Mir Mannu despatched Adina Begh and Saddiq Begh to attack the Sikhs at Amritsar; as the Sikhs were unaware of this attack, several of them were killed; among the killed, most were women and children.
After this attack, Mir Mannu sent Momin Khan in search for the Sikhs in Lakkhi Jungle; he wanted to destroy the Sikhs’ hideouts in this area; but, as this area was inhabited mostly by the Sikh sympathizers, Momin Khan could not achieve any success rather he lost a large number of his soldiers in skirmishes with the Sikhs; this compelled Mir Mannu to abandon this project.
After some days, Mir Mannu got the news of the presence of some Sikhs in the Bet area around river Satluj; he sent Hussain Khan to attack the Sikhs; a battle was fought between the Sikhs and Hussain Khan near the village Kot Buddha Khan resulting into heavy casualties on the Sikh side.
In another expedition, Mir Mannu sent Sayyad Zamin-ud-Din of Batala and Bakhshi Ghazi Begh Khan to chase the Sikhs who were present near Amritsar; this time the attack of the Mughal forces was so fierce that the Sikhs could not brave it; they ran towards Amritsar and took refuge in Ram Rauni; now the Mughal army surrounded Ram Rauni from all the sides; the Sikhs chose to have guerrilla fight; this continued for several days; finally, all the nine hundred Sikhs died while fighting.68
After these successive successes Mir Mannu was in very high spirits; he, now, ordered arrest of the women and children of the Sikhs; he again announced awards for the killings and the arrest of the Sikhs; as a result every day dozens and even hundreds of Sikhs were arrested, brought to Lahore and killed in Nakhas Chowk; on one Eid day, Mir Mannu killed eleven hundred Sikhs at Lahore.69
But, in spite of these killings, torture, atrocities, not a single Sikhs chose to save his life by renouncing Sikh faith; the Sikh females too proved that they won’t bow their heads before the cruel rulers. Seven years earlier, Lala Lakhpat Rai had killed thousands of the Sikhs, now Mir Mannu brought it to its extreme with killings, atrocities and terror; the Sikhs or the Punjabis had never seen such cruelty in history. (Only the terror and atrocities of Beant Sinh, the Punjab chief minister and K.P.Gill, the police D.G.P. of the Punjab, during 1992-95, surpassed the cruelty of Mir Mannu).
In spite of Mir Mannu’s reign of terror, the Sikhs remained in high spirits; not a single Sikh renounced his faith nor gave up struggle for freedom; they could see ray of hope after a long night of years of atrocities; they had faith that God had put them to test and they would surely pass this test; so, the cruelty, torture, killings, prisons could not frighten them; they never considered themselves weak, despondent, inferior, disheartened, helpless or hopeless; this spirit of the Sikhs can be read from their eighteenth century song:
Mannu saadi daatri, asin Mannu de soaay.
Jioon jioon Mannu vaddhadaa asin doon sawaay hoaay.
(Meaning: Manu is our sickle and we are his fodder. More he cuts us; more are we double and quad-rubble).
Mufti Ali-ud-Din writes in Ibratnama: Mir Mannu did everything to annihilate the Sikhs; everyday he killed hundreds of Sikhs; he filled wells with the dead bodies of the Sikhs; not only soldiers, he killed even small shopkeepers and farmers too; he killed women and children also; women prisoners had to grind manually forty kilograms (fifty seer) of wheat everyday and all they were given to eat was a quarter of a roti (loaf); children were snatched from the laps of the women prisoners to be killed in their presence; the bodies of such children were cut into pieces and garlands made from these pieces of flesh were placed around the necks of their mothers. All this was done to create terror in their minds; but, in spite of this they did not renounce their faith; not a single woman renounced her faith.
About 25 to 30 thousand Sikhs were killed by Mir Mannu in Nakhas Chowk Lahore; he built towers of the heads of the Sikhs brought by people for getting awards; when it become almost impossible to find a Sikh, Mir Mannu increased the prizes for killing Sikhs; it was increased from ten rupees to twenty-five rupees.
According to Miskin (who was a slave of Mir Mannu) ‘the atrocities of Mir Mannu boosted the spirits of the Sikhs; his terror made them stronger; from the ashes of their martyrs, they raised their heads with honour and pride; Mannu’s cruelty created unity among them; it added to their courage and commitment; it seemed that the Sikh nation will come out with stronger will and will, one day, take account of Mannu for his atrocities’.
Battle of Nadaun (August 1752)
Mir Mannu’s atrocities compelled Sikhs to flee towards hills and deserts; in these difficult times, the Hindu hill rulers too were collaborating with the Mughal regime; some of them arrested hundreds of Sikhs and handed them over to Mir Mannu and received rewards for this. Still, a few hill rulers
were sympathetic to the Sikhs; these included the rulers of Haripur and Mandi States; both these dynasties had been associated with the Sikhs since the times of Guru Nanak.
In the second half of July 1752, Mir Mannu asked these hill States to pay tribute at a higher rate; when some rulers expressed their helplessness to pay, Mir Mannu sent his army to attack them. In this situation, the ruler of Nadaun approached Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and requested him to help them; Jassa Singh led a big force to Nadaun; here, a day’s battle was fought between the Mughal army on one side and the Sikh and the hill soldiers on the other side; the Mughals suffered heavy losses and beat a retreat after two days.70
Killings of the Sikhs at Anandpur by Adina Begh (1753)
When Mir Mannu received the news of the defeat of his army at Nadaun, he also got information that the Sikhs would be gathering at Anandpur on the 18th and the 19th of February 1753; he sent message to Adina Begh asking him to attack them. The Sikhs could not get intelligence about the movement of the Mughal army; so, when Adina’s army fell upon the Sikhs, the Sikhs could not defend themselves; at that time most of the Sikhs had come along with their families. Though Jassa Singh, Charat Singh and others tried to put a cordon around the females and the children but due to higher number of invading army, they suffered heavy losses; a large number of women and children were killed; even Charat Singh himself was wounded by a bullet.71
Though Adina Begh succeeded in this mission and earned appreciation and rewards from Mir Mannu, he was very much afraid of the Sikhs; he knew that the Sikhs shall surely punish him for this; so, he sent his general Saddiq Begh to the Sikh leaders, offered his apologies and promised that such an action won’t be repeated in future; as the Sikhs were already under pressure due to atrocities of Mir Mannu, they chose to accept Adina Begh’s apology with a hope that they shall have at least Jalandhar Doaba as safe zone to pass through or use Anandpur etc as their hideouts.
Death of (Nawab) Kapur Singh (7.10.1753)
(Nawab) Kapur Singh, the Jathedar of the Sarbat Khalsa, had been wounded in a battle some months earlier; his wound could not get healed; his condition worsened in September 1753; he breathed his last on the 7th of October. With his death, the Sikhs lost their most able general of the day; although Jassa Singh Ahluwalia became de facto in charge of the Dal Khalsa but his formal nomination was confirmed by the Sarbat Khalsa on the 10th of April 1754.
Death of Mir Mannu (3-4.11.1753)
On the 26th of October 1753, the Hindus were observing their Diwali festival; but, the Sikhs were passing through the darkest period of their history; this time they could not visit Amritsar; Mir Mannu had established a permanent post at Malikpur from where the army could keep an eye on the movement of the people passing through the passages around Amritsar; Malikpur was about seven koh (about 25 km) from Lahore and Amritsar. Khwaja Mirza was the in charge of this post; whenever a news came about the movement of the Sikhs, he would despatch his soldiers to attack them; the soldiers would chase the Sikhs even up to 80 to 90 kilometres; those Sikhs who got arrested would be mercilessly killed; their heads were blown up with hammers.72
On the 2nd of November 1753, Mir Mannu too visited Malikpur for casual inspection; here, he received intelligence that a group of Sikhs was present in a nearby cane-field; Mir Mannu at once marched towards that place; when the Sikhs came to know about the arrival of the Mughal army, they began firing at them; Mir Mannu’s horse was frightened by the sound of sudden firing and it began running frantically. Mir Mannu who was not riding the horse very consciously could not control it and fell down; his foot remained trapped in the stirrup of the horse and the horse dragged him up to quite a long distance. Thus Mir Mannu was badly wounded; the hakims (men with knowledge of medicine) tried to manage the
wounds but they could not succeed and Mir Mannu died on the night of 3rd and 4th of November, 1753.73
But, Miskin (who was a servant of Mir Mannu) gives a different version: according to him, on the 3rd of November, Mir Mannu was staying in the fort at village Awan (about 25 km from Lahore); he had his meals during daytimes and rested for some time; then he went out followed by namaz (prayers); after this he wore green robe of imported satin and came out of the fort; here Khwaja Mirza presented severed heads of some Sikhs and got reward. After some time, he rode his horse and went to have a casual inspection of the soldiers in the fields; here, he felt sick; the hakims (doctors) gave him some medicine but his condition went on worsening and he died at midnight.74
Whatever the cause of death of Mir Mannu, the Sikhs were sad because they could not punish him like they did it with Lakhpat Rai; however, Mir Mannu was dead and the darkest period of the persecution of the Sikhs’ in the history had ended. Mir Mannu had killed about 30 thousand Sikhs in a savage manner; in spite of this their (Sikhs’) number went on increasing day by day.75
Release of the Sikh women from Mir Mannu’s jail
When the Sikhs got the news of the death of Mir Mannu, they planned the escape of the Sikh women and children from Mir Mannu’s jail; they disguised themselves as Mughal officials, attacked the jail and released Sikh prisoners; the Mughal officials, who were mourning the death of Mir Mannu, could not foresee it, hence they could not do anything.
With the death of Mir Mannu, common folk too felt relieved because he had enrolled a big army to kill the Sikhs and to meet the expense for this expedition, he used to extort money from people.
Attacks by Aziz Begh and Bakhshinda Khan
The period after the death of Mir Mannu was a period of uncertainty at the Lahore due to struggle to capture the
control of the State; so, the Sikhs had no fears from the Mughal army; they could, now, freely visit Amritsar. But, still, some officials felt concerned about the Sikhs: in March 1754, the Lahore officials received information that the Sikhs would have a gathering at Amritsar on the 10th of April 1754; so, the Lahore officials despatched a big army under the command of Aziz Begh and Bakhshinda Khan to attack the Sikhs; though the Sikhs had no information of this attack but they were prepared to meet any such aggression. When the Mughal army reached Amritsar, the Sikhs, under the command of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia gave a tough fight to the aggressors; both the Mughal generals and hundreds of their soldiers were killed by the Sikhs; after the death of their generals, the remaining Mughal soldiers fled immediately.
Declaration of Rakhi from Akal Takht Sahib (10.4.1754)
The gathering of April 1754 was the first proper gathering of the Sikhs at Amritsar, since 1748 when the Dal Khalsa was formed; this Sarbat Khalsa gathering resolved that the Punjabi farmers and traders should be granted rakhi (protectorate) from the invasions of the Afghans and the plunder by the Mughals; under this scheme of rakhi the traders and the farmers were to pay some revenue to the Sikhs, who would grant the former protection from plunder and loot. Under rakhi the farmers were to pay one-fifth of their crops to the Sikhs whereas earlier they had to pay double revenue (to the Mughals as well Afghans). Earlier, the farmers and the traders had faced plunder of their crops and possessions at the hands of the invaders; which turned them into paupers; hence the Sikhs’ offer for rakhi was a divine gift for them; and they accepted it gladly. In those days, a saying was very popular: “all that is consumed is ours, and all that has been saved will be taken by Ahmed Shah”; in such a situation, an offer of protectorate was a boon for traders and farmers; and within a short period all the people accepted the Sikhs’ offer for rakhi and with this all this area came under the care and protection as well as under de facto administration of the Sikhs.76
Difference between Sikh Rakhi and Marhatta Chauth
During the time of Aurangzeb, Shivaji Marhatta too had imposed Chauth (one fourth) levies for the farmers of some area of present Maharashatra (around Sitara zone); according to Jadu Nath Sarkar, in return for Chauth Shivaji did not promise any protection or help to the farmers in event of Mughal attacks or local disturbances.77 In other words, Marhattas’ levy of Chauth was just like a fine and they did not bother for the plight of the farmers; the Marhattas were concerned with their own benefit and nothing to do with common folk. It was like being plundered by a new dacoit instead of the former. Jadu Nath Sarkar calls it ‘buying of one robber’. On the other hand, under the Sikhs, the amount of Rakhi was one-fifth of the crop, and, in return, the Sikhs had to provide them protection from plunder by the Mughals and Afghans.
War of succession at Lahore
After the death of Mir Mannu, the Mughal emperor appointed Mohammed Amin Khan, three years old son of Mir Mannu as the Governor of Lahore and his mother Mughlani Begum (widow of Mir Mannu) as his ‘guardian’; but, as Mughlani Begum wanted to express her loyalty to Ahmed Shah Durrani, she was not interested in being appointed as Governor by the Mughal emperor; she sent a letter to Ahmed Shah Durrani asking him to make announcement for her appointment (in the name of her son); in January 1754, she received a letter from the Shah and celebrated this appointment with great pomp and show.
The child Governor Mohammed Amin Khan died after, in May 1754, within a few months of his appointment; it was in the air that Bhikahri Khan (alias Raushan-ud-Daula)78, a former general and confident of Mir Mannu, had poisoned Mohammed Amin Khan with the help of a court eunuch.
After the death of the child-Governor Mohammed Amin, Bhikhari Khan declared open rebellion against
Mughlani Begum. Here too Qasim Khan helped her: he managed to arrest Bhikhari Khan (and kill him in April 1755). Due to his help, the Beghum appointed him the Chief of Patti zone and also granted him some cannons, thirty gunmen, one hundred loyal Turk soldiers, thousands of horsemen and thousands of rupees as thanksgiving reward.
The Sikhs fool Qasim Khan
After his appointment as the chief of Patti, Qasim left Lahore for Patti. He made his first stop-over at village Damodaran; here he came to know that some residents of this village were sympathetic to the Sikhs; at this, he ordered the arrest of all the villagers. When the Sikhs came to know about it, they began guerrilla attacks on the caravan of Qasim; the Sikhs would attack almost every night, and sometimes even twice a day. One day, Qasim asked his brother Aalam Begh to chase the Sikhs; he (Qasim) sent one thousand soldiers to join him; but, when the time for a fight against the Sikhs came, he got terrified and fled the battle field leaving his soldiers leader-less; he had no courage to face the Sikhs. When Qasim came to know about this, he himself marched to chase the Sikhs; when he had covered just a small distance, he saw several Mughal soldiers running to save their lives; Miskin writes that only three Sikhs had killed several Mughal soldiers and the rest had fled in fear of being killed.79
After this incident Qasim realised that it was no use fighting the Sikhs; so, he made a compromise with the Sikhs: in their dialogue with Qasim, the Sikhs had realised that he was so ambitious that he could be fooled easily; so they told him that if he wished to become the emperor at Delhi, they would extend him complete help; they assured him that eight thousand Sikhs would join him in his pursuit; at this, Qasim began dreaming of sitting on Delhi throne; and he sent a large quantity of arms, arrows as well as valuables to the Sikhs. Qasim was thinking of first occupying Lahore and then Delhi. Qasim spent so much money for the Sikhs that soon he had no money to pay even salaries to his soldiers; as a result his own
soldiers began quarrelling with him; so much so that one day, a group of soldiers took him into custody and escorted him to Mughlani Beghum; and the Beghum interned him.
After the death of her minor son, the Beghum had declared herself as the Governor of Lahore. On the other hand, when the news of the death of the child-Governor reached Delhi on the 2nd of June 1754, the emperor Ahmed Shah (not Ahmed Shah Durrani) made contacts with Momin Khan, the general of the Beghum and made a secret agreement with him, and on the 25th of October, appointed him (Momin Khan) as the Governor of Lahore on his behalf.
The emperor also provoked general Khwaja Mirza Khan to harass the Beghum; now, Beghum decided to approach Ahmed Shah Durrani; she sent Khwaja Abdulla to Kabul; Ahmed Shah Durrani despatched ten thousand soldiers under the command of Mulla Amir Khan to help the Beghum; this army reached Lahore and helped Beghum consolidate her power in the province; Ahmed Shah also appointed Khwaja Abdulla as Deputy Governor of the province. After some time Khwaja Abdulla began ignoring the Beghum and tried to control the administration; at this the Beghum made contacts with the Delhi emperor; she even offered to marry her daughter with Imad-ul-Mulk, the prime minister of the emperor; at this, the prime minister sent a large number of soldiers to help her; when Khwaja came to know about the arrival of the Delhi army, he fled from Lahore. Though the power of the Beghum had been restored but Imad-ul-Mulk did not want to grant power to the Beghum; she was taken into custody and was escorted to Sarhind (and finally to Delhi); after this Imad-ul-Mulk got Momin Khan appointed as the Governor of Lahore.
Another event too had affected the Lahore scenario: it was in the air that the Beghum had developed an affair with a general Ghazi Begh; there was also a rumour of her affair with Mir Mannu’s slave Miskin; these rumours damaged her reputation; besides, it was believed that the Beghum was running the administration through her eunuch courtiers (Mian Khushfahim, Mian Arzmand, Mian Mahabat Khan etc) and the
ministers, the generals and the treasures, all used to get orders through eunuchs.80
The Sikhs establish their power in the Punjab
This period of uncertainty at Lahore proved a boon to the Sikhs; once again they reorganized themselves. ‘Rakhi’ too had proven to be very useful to them as it had solved their financial problems; with this money they could feed their families and also buy weapons and horses. Now the Sikhs began punishing the cruel officials as well as the touts of the State; soon, most of the touts, except Aakil Das Niranjania of Jandiala, had been killed.
By the end of 1755, the Sikhs had established their supremacy in most of the Punjab because the Mughals were now a weak regime and Ahmed Shah Durrani was not expected to attack soon. Now Amritsar again became the hub of the Sikhs’ activities; they rebuilt and renovated Darbar Sahib, Akal Takht and Amritsar sarovar. Jassa Singh Ramgarhia took charge of Ram Rauni and rebuilt it; all the Sikh soldiers and common folk participated in building this fortress. When it was ready, Jassa Singh gave it a new name Ramgarh (after the name of Guru Ram Das, the founder of the city); this fortress was not like a very powerful fort but it could be used as an inn for a few thousand soldiers and also a temporary defence centre; Jassa Singh remained custodian of the fortress and he came to be known as Jassa Singh Ramgarhia.
As a large area of the Punjab had come under the Sikh protectorate (Rakhi), now the people were not afraid of the Mughals. Jassa Singh Ramgarhia and Jai Singh Kanhaiya were very powerful in the Riarki area (between rivers Raavi and Beas). Faizalapurias and Ahluwalia were supreme in Doaba (between rivers Beas and Satluj); the Nakkais had established their supremacy in the Nakka area (between rivers Raavi and Jehlum); the Sukarchakkias and the Bhangis were masters of most of the area between rivers Raavi, Jehlum and Jhanan (Chenab); the Karorasinghias had taken control of the Puadh and cis-Satluj area; Jungle Des and some other areas were under Deep Singh Pahuwind; the Dallewalias and the
Nishanwalias had in their possession some area of Majha and Doaba.81
The Sikhs attack Lahore and Sarhind
Although the Sikhs had established their supremacy in most of the Punjab by September 1754, but major towns like Lahore, Sarhind, Sultanpur, Jalandhar etc were still not under their control; due to tall and strong city walls around these cities and big and strong forts, it was difficult for the Sikhs to penetrate into these cities. In this situation the Sikhs held a gathering in front of Akal Takht in October 1754; in this meeting it was resolved that the Sikhs should attack Lahore in order to challenge the Mughals; so, the Sikhs, under the command of Chet Singh and Hari Singh Bhangi, immediately marched towards Lahore and attacked the city; the Sikhs captured a big amount of money and a large quantity of weapons and horses. A few weeks later, in the last days of December 1754, the Sikhs attacked Sarhind and Ambala too; there too they captured a big amount of valuables.
The Sikhs and Adina Begh join hands
In March 1755, Adina Begh, the chief of Jalandhar Doab, made attempts to make liaison with the Sikhs; he sought their help to fight against Putel Khan Ruhila; the Sikhs agreed to give conditional support. A battle between Putel Khan Ruhila on one side and Adina Bagh and the Sikhs on the opposite side was fought on the 11th of April 1755; in this battle Ruhila was killed. As agreed, Adina Begh gave a good amount to the Sikhs82 and, in November 1755, he accepted pargana of Fatehabad (on the bank of river Beas) as annexed to the Sikhs.83
Sikhs become real rulers of Riarki-Majha area
In June 1755, a jatha of the Sikhs attacked Narnaul, Karnal and Jaipur also; in April 1756, they again attacked Lahore; these attacks fetched them a big amount of wealth.
In November 1755, the Sikhs had established their rule in the pargana of Fatehabad and by April 1756, they were the masters of Kalanaur, Batala and Amritsar zone. There is evidence of issuance of royal/court orders by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Jai Singh Kanhaiya in the area of Riarki-Majha and Fatehabad parganas (between rives Raavi and Beas). In fact, now, in this scenario, Adina Begh was the chief of Jalandhar-Doab and Mughlani Begum was the Governor of Lahore state (in fact Governor of the city of Lahore only); she too was a representative of Afghans and the Mughals did not accept her; thus, the Mughal rule in the Punjab had come almost to an end; the Sikhs were the true masters of a large area of the Punjab.
Eight Governors of Lahore in two and a half years
Due to Mughlani Beghum’s designs, the Lahore province remained a centre of struggle, conspiracies and uncertainty; sometimes, the Mughal will dispossess Mughlani Beghum and sometimes the Afghans will re-establish her; thus, since the death of Mir Mannu (November 1753 and November 1756, i.e. in three years) , the reign of this province had changed guards nine times:
November 1753 to May 1754= Mohammed Amin Khan (child)
May 1754 to October 1754= Mughlani Beghum
October 1754 to December 1754= Momin Khan
December 1754 to April1755= Khwaja Mirza
April 1755 to July 1755= Mughlani Beghum
July 1755 to September 1755= Khwaja Abdulla
September 1755 to December 1755= Adina Begh
January 1756 to February 1756= Mughlani Beghum
Thus, Mughlani Beghum became Governor (on behalf of Ahmed Shah Durrani) for three times; the rest were the representatives of Mughals.
Fourth invasion of Ahmed Shah Durrani
In February 1756, when Mughlani Beghum realised that no revenue was coming to the Lahore treasury, she sent a
message to Ahmed Shah Durrani to attack Lahore; when the Delhi emperor got this news, he sent a big army under the command of Ghazi-ud-Din and arrested Mughlani Beghum and appointed Adina Begh as the Governor of Lahore; he (Adina Begh) agreed to pay thirty lakh (three million) rupees annually as revenues.
In fact, at that time, Mughlani Beghum had been playing double role; she had exhibited her loyalty to Ahmed Shah Durrani on one hand; and, had betrothed her daughter to Imad-ul-Mulk, the prime minster of Delhi regime on the other hand; she wanted to use her would be son-in-law to preserve her Governorship of Lahore; on the other hand the opponents of Mughlani Beghum spread rumours that she had decided to marry her daughter to the son of Ahmed Shah Durrani; it was this propaganda that became the cause of her arrest.
Mughlani Beghum reached Delhi on the 4th of March 1756; the prime minster ordered to keep her in interment; this action made her very angry; she spent a few months in internment; to secure her release she sent a message to the prime minister to fix date of his marriage with her daughter and sent him valuable pearls and diamonds; he (prime minister) also played a trick; he accepted the marriage and added her (daughter of Mughlani Beghum) to his harem; but in spite of this, he neither restored her Governorship of Lahore nor released her from internment; this further angered the Beghum.
After a few months (in early October 1756), Mughlani Beghum succeeded in sending secret message to Ahmed Shah Durrani informing him about her internment; when Durrani read her letter, he became very aggressive; he wrote a letter to the emperor asking him to release the Beghum immediately; but, when Delhi regime refused to oblige him he decided to launch another attack. In November 1756, he sent an advanced party under the command of Jangbaz Khan; this army reached Lahore in the last week of November 1756 and occupied the city on the 25th of November 1756; Adina Begh had already fled the city. Ahmed Shah too reached Lahore on the 20th of December 1756; he appointed Khwaja Mirza Khan as the
Governor of Lahore; he also appointed Ghummand Chand Katoch of Kangra as the chief of the hill States. After a few days’ stay at Lahore, he left for Delhi.
Ahmed Shah reached Delhi in the third week of 1757; what to talk to fighting against the Afghans, the Mughal officials began behaving as his slaves; the ministers and the umraa of Delhi went to make obeisance of the Shah; on the 28th of January, the Mughal emperor himself went to see Ahmed Shah and escorted him to the Lal Qilla; in the Lal Qilla, the Shah was requested to occupy the throne; the emperor himself occupied a smaller seat; here, the emperor, the ministers and the umraa offered valuable gifts to the Shah.
The next day, Ahmed Shah ordered snatching of wealth from the ministers and the umraa; he took pity on the emperor and spared him but he treated all others alike, with same stick yard.
Mughlani Beghum takes horrible revenge
Due to her arrest and the treatment given by them to her, Mughlani Beghum was so angry and aggressive against the Mughals that she decided to take horrible revenge from them; she gave Ahmed Shah information about the treasures of the rich and elite Mughals; she also reported the Shah about the pretty daughters of the ministers and umraa; the Shah asked his general Jahan Khan to collect all the wealth and take into possession all these pretty girls.
With the help of Mughlani Beghum, the Shah plundered the treasures of former ministers like Itmad-ud-Daula, Qamar-ud-Din, her own father-in-law, also; to unearth the treasures of these officials and umraa, the Shah’s soldiers dug basements and all other places where these treasures could have been concealed; Mughlani Beghum herself supervised these operations. After this, the Shah imposed heavy fines on these officials; to recover these fines, he asked them to bring the ornaments of their wives and daughters; the Shah’s army did not leave any stone unturned to plunder money, ornaments and diamonds; within a few days, the Shah had looted
everything; most of the people were left with just a few clothes, beds and food.84
After this, Mughlani Beghum reported the Shah as to which official or amir had a pretty daughter; the Shah declared that he would keep all those girls into his or his son’s harem; this is how Mughlani Begum avenged her arrest and harassment.
Further, to please the Shah, Mughlani Beghum herself offered platters full of pearls and diamonds; all this pleased Shah to this extent that he declared: ‘from today I will consider you as my daughter, but instead I will call you my son’; he gave her the title of ‘Sultan Mirza’ and declared her appointment as the Governor of Jalandhar-Doab and Jammu-Kashmir. But, soon, the Shah got intelligence that the Beghum had sought help from Imad-ul-Mulk; this was enough to turn the tables; now, the Shah decided to give nothing to the Beghum.
Before his departure from Delhi, the Shah declared annexation of the provinces of Lahore and Sarhind to Afghanistan and he appointed his son Taimur Khan as the chief of these provinces.
Now, Mughlani Beghum had nothing, no power, not much money, and no friend; she was a poor, wretched, helpless woman; she had no status; she spent last 22 years of her life in Jammu as a poor woman.85
Shah plunders Bharatpur, Mathura, Bindraban & Gokul
After plundering Delhi, Ahmed Shah Durrani turned to Bharatpur; the Shah asked its chief Suraj Mall to pay tribute to him; when he refused, the Shah asked his general Jahan Shah to burn the city after plundering it; within days, Bharatpur city was so badly burnt that it gave a dreadful look.
After destroying Bharatpur, the Shah marched towards Mathura. On the 4th of March 1757, the Hindus were celebrating their festival of Holi; about four hundred thousand Hindus had arrived in the city; thousands of Hindu priests too had arrived from far and wide. Having reached the outskirts of
Mathura, Ahmed Shah ordered the siege of the city; after this, he ordered massacre of all the Hindus present there; not a single Hindu survived the massacre; it included thousands of priests too; when the mission was ‘accomplished’ it seemed that the streets of Mathura had been washed with blood. After this, the Shah took out all the idols from the temples; he plundered all the gold and diamond and then ordered that all the temples should be demolished and burnt.
The Shah was so aggressive in his action that now he ordered plundering even the goldsmiths and traders of the area; in this action, Hindus and Muslims were equally treated (for plunder); after two days’ action, the Shah repeated the same at Vrindavan (Bindraban) and Gokul too.
After this plunder, massacres and destruction, Ahmed Shah Durrani returned to Delhi; here, he got his son married to Afroz Bano, the daughter of the Mughal emperor Aalamgir II, on the 14th of February 1757; he himself married Hazrat Beghum, daughter of the deposed emperor Ahmed Shah (emperor 1748-1754); he and his son enjoyed their ‘honey-moons’ for the next two months.
In April 1757, the Shah began his return journey; he took with him two daughters of two emperors, seventeen pretty girls (keeps as well as wives) of the emperor’s harem, more than four hundred pretty female servants and wealth between ten and fifteen crores (one hundred to one hundred fifty million) rupees.
In fact, Ahmed Shah had no planning to return to Kabul; in those days cholera epidemic took lives of about a thousand of his soldiers in just a few days; this compelled him to leave Delhi for Kabul.
Before leaving Delhi, Ahmed Shah despatched all the plundered wealth under the escort of his son Taimur Khan, general Jahan Khan and thousands of his soldiers; all this was carried on more than twenty-eight thousand carts, oxen, donkeys, mules and horses etc; the Shah had snatched all the animals (used for riding or transportation) from the people of Delhi and suburban areas and these animals were laden with
plundered wealth; When he left Delhi, there was not even an ass left there in Delhi; another remarkable feature was this that all the army travelled to Kabul on foot because all the animals were laden with wealth.86
When this wealth carrying caravan reached near Sanaur (now a part of Patiala), the Sikhs attacked it and took away some share of the plundered wealth; the Sikhs again attacked when it reached near Malerkotla; the Sikh actions angered Taimur and he decided to punish them.
Attack on Kartarpur (Jalandhar)
When Taimur and Jahan Khan reached Jalandhar, they tried to get information about the whereabouts of the Sikhs; Nasir Ali, the chief of Jalandhar informed them that one group of the Sikhs lived at Kartarpur. In fact, he did not know that the Kartarpur group had been excommunicated from the Sikh mainstream and was functioning as a Hindu sect. But, having been infuriated by two attacks (at Sanaur and Malerkotla) by the Sikhs at his caravan, Taimur ordered Nasir Ali to attack Kartarpur; Nasir Ali at once began his march towards Kartarpur; at that time, Vadbhag Sinh (fourth in direct descent of Dhir Mall) used to live there; he had also in his possession the first volume of Guru Granth Sahib which had been written in the hand of Bhai Gurdas. Taimur surrounded the city and arrested Vadbhag Sinh; he ordered that every valuable should be plundered; later, he set the city on fire; the fire burnt all the buildings and Guru Granth Sahib was also in one of the buildings).87
The Mughal and Pathan army kept Vadbhag Sinh in custody and tortured him; on one night, some loyal followers of Vadbhag Sinh freed him and took him towards hills. They kept him at village Mauri (now in Himanchal Pradesh)’.88
From Jalandhar, Taimur went to Lahore via Sultanpur and Goindwal (where he crossed river Beas); after some days Ahmed Shah too reached Lahore; he did not spend many days at Lahore and left for Kabul; the jathas of the Sikh army continued attacks on this caravan till it crossed river Chenab.
Taimur and Jahan Khan stay at Lahore
Earlier, at Delhi, Ahmed Shah had declared annexation of Lahore and Sarhind provinces to Afghanistan; he had appointed Taimur Khan as the Governor of Lahore and Jahan Khan as his deputy; now, he appointed Najib-ud-Daula as the Governor of Sarhind; before leaving Ahmed Shah left ten thousand soldiers under the command of Jahan Shah and asked him to enrol more soldiers.
The Shah asked Ranjit Dev, the chief of Jammu, to assist and extend all help to Taimur; for this help, the Shah gave Ranjit Dev the grant of the parganas of Sialkot, Zafarwal, Sankhatia and Aurangabad.
Although Ahmed Shah had appointed Taimur as the Governor of Lahore but he (Taimur) was, in fact, the ruler of the city of Lahore only; the rest of the Punjab was under the de facto control of the Sikhs; when Ahmed Shah was in the Punjab, the Sikhs had left for hills, jungles and deserts but when he left Lahore, the Sikhs occupied their territories again. Taimur could exhibit his Governorship under the escort of his army but this power would exist only till he and his soldiers were present; as soon as they left a place, it was only the Sikhs whose ordered will be carried out by officials and public. Now, Taimur too decided to take action against the Sikhs; he ordered killing of all the Sikhs; a large number of Sikhs were killed; the Sikhs had to once again flee to their hideouts in forests, hills and deserts.
Taimur occupies Amritsar
Taimur’s next action was to occupy Amritsar, the headquarters of the Sikhs; the Afghan army occupied it and demolished Ram Rauni fortress and the building of Darbar Sahib; they filled the Amritsar sarovar (tank) with debris.
(Baba) Deep Singh and thousand of Sikhs embraced martyrdom (11.11.1757)
After demolishing Darbar Sahib, Taimur’s army did not leave Amritsar city; here, a permanent post of army was established; this army committed several acts of sacrilege; this continued for quite a few month. In those days, Deep Singh of Pahuwind, the chief of a Sikh Misl (later known as Misl Shaheedan) had been staying at Talwandi Sabo (in Jungle Des area); when he received the news of sacrilege of Amritsar, he decided to stop it.89
In the last days of October or in the early days of November 1757, (Baba) Deep Singh, along with a few hundred companions, left Talwandi Sabo for Amritsar; on his way, he stopped at Jaga, Bahman, Nahanwala, Banjhoke, Guru Chauntra, Phul, Mehraj, Daraj, Bhucho, Govindpur, Kot Kapura and several other villages; several Sikhs from these villages joined Deep Singh’s Jatha; when they crossed river Satluj at Harike, a few thousands Sikhs were marching along with it; when it reached Tarn Taran (about 25 kilometres from Amritsar), it was more than five thousand strong. [Miskin in Tehmasnama] mentions the number of the Sikh jatha at one thousand. These Sikhs had come with a pledge to free Amritsar from the Afghans or embrace martyrdom. They had come with a spirit of achieving their goal or embrace martyrdom.
The Afghans too had received information about the march of this jatha; they too were prepared to stop them from reaching Amritsar; thousands of Afghan soldiers, under the command of Haji Ataee Khan were waiting on Tarn Taran- Amritsar road; Qasim Khan, the chief of Patti too had joined them along with hundreds of Mughal soldiers.
On the 11th of November, a fierce battle was fought between the Sikhs and the Afghan-Mughal forces;90 it was, perhaps, the fiercest battle of the times; on both sides, the soldiers seemed to be bent upon annihilating the opponents; as the number of the Afghan and Mughal soldiers was much higher than that of the Sikhs and they had a very large number of guns, the Sikh casualties were more than the Afghan-Mughal losses; Deep Singh, the chief of this jatha, was himself badly wounded; when he reached near Darbar Sahib, a heavy
blow of sword made a major cut on his neck; he put his left hand to hold his neck and went on fighting with his right hand; this frightened the Afghan soldiers that a Sikh even after his head was almost severed could still go on fighting; when Deep Singh reached near Amritsar sarovar, he fell down and breathed his last.
In Punjabi there is an idiom ‘jaan/sees tali tay rakh kay larhnaa’ (literally: ‘carrying one’s lives/head on their palms’ while fighting) i.e. not to stop fighting even if one’s head is severed. In other words: to fight till the last breath. It does not mean that if some one’s head is severed, he will carry it on his palm and go on fighting with enemies. Later, some artist painted a picture of Deep Singh carrying his severed head on his palm and still fighting. It was, in fact, personification of the concept of fearless fighting.
Although all the Sikhs had embraced martyrdom, the Afghans were still afraid of them; they had apprehensions that the dead Sikhs might come again in life and began fighting; they had heard the stories of the Sikhs’ valour and also of magical power of Banda Singh Bahadur.
The martyrdom of Deep Singh does not find mention in Ratan Singh Bhangu’s Prachin Panth Parkash; Giani Gian Singh has narrated it in detail (in fifteen pages);91 Giani Gian Singh mentions that several other Sikh generals too embraced martyrdom in this battle. These included Hira Singh, Ganda Singh, Lehna Singh, Gopal Singh, Ran Singh, Bhag Singh, Dyal Singh, Natha Singh Mahal, Nihal Singh, Bal Singh Chahal, Tara Singh Kang, Sudha Singh, Bisala Singh etc.92
It is a matter of co-incidence that when Deep Singh was fighting to stop the sacrilege of Darbar Sahib and the Sikhs were fighting for their sovereignty, the English too were fighting a crucial war to establish their control of the sub-continent; just three days after the martyrdom of Deep Singh, on the 14th of November 1757, a major battle, fought between the English (East India Company) and the French, at Plassey, established the supremacy of the English. Now the sub-continent was waiting for the ascendancy of the Sikhs and the
English; but, there was a major difference between both of them; the Sikhs were fighting to free their land from the yoke of foreign ruler and the English were fighting to establish a foreign rule in the sub-continent. At that time, there was another force too i.e. the Marhattas (Marathas) who intended at capturing power and wealth for themselves; they had no ambition of expelling the Mughal-Afghan or the English power from the sub-continent.
During the invasion of Ahmed Shah Durrani, Adina Begh fled the Punjab because he feared his arrest by Ahmed Shah; he spent his time in the hills. When the Shah left the Punjab, Adina Begh came back and again took control of Jalandhar-Doab zone. From Kabul Ahmed Shah sent him a message (through General Jahan Khan) asking him to become Chief of Jalandhar-Doab on his (Shah’s) behalf. Jahan Khan asked him to visit Lahore but Adina Begh did not go to Lahore as he was afraid that Jahan Khan would arrest him for not presenting himself before the Shah. When Adina Begh refused to visit Lahore, Jahan Khan decided to punish him; he sent his junior Murad Khan, along with five thousand soldiers, to arrest him; the Governor of Sarhind and the Raja of Nahan too sent their armies to assist Murad Khan; when Adina Begh came to know about the march of such a huge army, he fled towards the hills; now, Jahan Khan appointed Sarfraz Khan as the Chief of Jalandhar-Doab. When Adina Begh came to know this he sought help from the Sikhs; the Sikhs were angry with him because he got help from the Sikhs more than once and when this was done he betrayed the Sikhs; once, he had even attacked and killed hundreds of Sikhs at Anandpur; in spite of this the Sikhs decided to help him with the thought that such an action would weaken the Afghans and the Mughals both.93
Adina Begh was a very clever man; to quote the author of Imad-ut-Sadat: “On one hand (Adina) would whisk away the flies from the faces of Afghans and on the other hand he would also blow dust from the beards of the Sikhs.”94
Battle of Mahilpur (1.12.1757)
The first battle between Adina-Sikh front and Afghans was fought at Mahilpur; the Afghan army was led by Buland Khan and Murad Khan; during this battle, as there was a possibility of confusion because Adina Begh’s army and the Afghan both were Muslims and it would not have been possible to differentiate between them; so the Sikhs told the soldiers of Adina Begh’s army to tie leaves of grass or plants on their turbans and caps. This battle did not last long; in the early hours the Afghan general Buland Khan was killed by the Sikh soldiers; when Murad Khan came to know, he secretly fled the field; the leaderless Afghan army did not fight long and fled the field.
After this victory, Adina Begh himself went to the Sikhs’ camp to thank them; the Sikhs told him that they wanted to punish Nasir Ali who had burnt their city of Kartarpur and the first volume of Guru Granth Sahib; Adina Begh told them that Nasir was already dead; the Sikhs smelt that he was playing tactics with them; they (Sikhs) announced that they would attack Jalandhar of their own; Adina Begh did not want to spoil his relationship with the Sikhs so he remained silent.
The Sikhs occupy Jalandhar
The Sikhs did not wait for the reply of Adina Begh; the Sikh army, led by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, marched towards Jalandhar; the Afghan General Sadaat Khan came forward to fight against the Sikhs but was killed soon; after this the Afghan and Mughal soldiers surrendered. After occupying the city, the Sikhs traced the grave of Nasir Ali; they dug his body out and burnt it; thus, he was given punishment for burning Gurdwara Thamm Sahib and Bhai Gurdas’s handwritten Guru Granth Sahib (burning his body is the greatest punishment for a Muslim). Adina Begh offered three hundred and twenty-five thousand rupees and saved Jalandhar from being plundered.
When Taimur Khan got the news of the Sikhs’ occupation of Jalandhar, he despatched twenty-five thousand soldiers, under the command of Khwaja Udeidulla (Ubed) Khan to expel the Sikhs; a battle was fought between the Sikhs
and the Afghans, in which the latter lost and suffered heavy casualties; the Sikhs chased the losers’ army for a few kilometres; it happened in the last days of December 1757 or in the beginning of January 1758; after this the Sikhs crossed the river Beas and again occupied the towns of Batala and Kalanaur; they attacked the outskirts of Lahore too.95
The Sikhs, Adina Begh & the Marhattas attack Sarhind
After the defeat of the Afghans at Mahilpur and the loss of Jalandhar, it was certain that Ahmed Shah shall not spare Adina Begh; so, Adina Begh contacted Ragho Nath Rao, the chief of the Marahttas and sought his help; Rao agreed to join attack on Lahore for the payment of one hundred thousand (one lakh) rupees per day as expenses; the weak Mughal emperor Aalamgir II also supported the action. Back in the Punjab, Adina Begh sought support from the Sikhs too.
In March 1758, the trio (Sikhs, Marhattas and Adina Begh) joined hands for a joint action to expel the Afghans.;the joint army included twenty thousand Marhattas, ten thousand Sikhs and between ten and twelve thousand Mughal soldiers under Adina Begh; this more than 40 thousands strong army was capable of defeating a second class Afghan forces.
To participate in the action of expelling the Afghans from Lahore, Marhatta army began its journey towards the Punjab; this army reached Ambala on the 5th of March 1758; it made a stopover at Rajpura on the 6th and Sarai Banjara on 7th of March; the next day, on 8th of March, the three forces attacked Sarhind. When Abdus Samad, the then Chief of Sarhind, got information about this army, he realised that he was not a match to that big army, so, he shut himself inside the fort; the trio continued its siege of the fort for a few days; on one night, Abdus Samad and his companion general Jangbaz Khan secretly came out of the fort and made their way to Lahore; it came to be known the next day, the 21st of March 1758, and the three armies entered the fort.96
The Sikhs had made a few attacks on Sarhind earlier too, so they knew the city very well. They attacked those
places where they knew about possibility of wealth or treasures; the Sikhs captured a lot of treasure whereas the Marhattas or Adina Begh’s army did not get much; this made the latter angry; they planned to snatch treasure from the Sikhs; but, the Sikh leaders were very wise; they had already sent the treasure away to safe places. It is also believed that Adina Begh had informed the Sikhs about the Marahatta plan to snatch the Sikh possessions, so they sent their treasure to some safe place.97 In fact, the Sikhs felt that the Marhattas too were aliens; hence they (Sikhs) wanted to save the wealth of the Punjab from them too.
After the occupation of Sarhind, the trio (the three armies Sikhs, Marhattas and Adina Begh) took their way to Lahore; when Jahan Khan received news, he came out of the city along with his two thousand soldiers and pitched his tents; from here, he sent his men to get information about the strength of the invading army; when he learnt that three armies which were on their way to Lahore, were much higher in number he decided not to fight; on the ninth of April, he sent his family and his treasure to Shahdara (on the other side of river Raavi); the next day, he himself left Lahore and then left for Kabul. When the Sikhs and the Marhattas came to know about his escape, they chased Jahan Khan; finally they were able to reach near the Afghan army; but as it was dark, Jahan Khan succeeded in escaping in darkness but several of his soldiers were arrested.98
The next day the trio attacked the fort also; in this battle hundreds of Afghan soldiers were killed and about two hundred were arrested. According to Budh Singh, these Afghan prisoners were taken to Amritsar and made to clean debris from Amritsar sarovar (which had been thrown there by these Afghans just one year earlier).99 After a few days, the Sikhs rebuilt and renovated the Darbar Sahib; all the Sikhs, including their generals, Charat Singh Sukarchakkia, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, Tara Singh Ghaiba, Hari Singh-Lehna Singh-Gujjar Singh-Jhanda Singh (the four
Bhangi generals), participated in the voluntary manual service for construction, repair and renovation Darbar Sahib.
The Sikhs, Adina Begh & the Marhattas occupy Lahore
On the eleventh of April 1758, The Sikhs, Adina Begh & the Marhattas occupied Lahore fort too; after establishing their control over the city, there were great jubilations in the city; the trio arranged a special function; a high platform, at the cost of one hundred thousand (one lakh) rupees, was raised in Shalimar Garden; the fountains of this garden were filled with scent; earthen-lamps, in hundreds of thousands, were lighted in the whole of the city; Ragho Nath Rao was treated like a king and was given the seat of throne on this platform.
Though the trio had occupied Lahore and had given the Rao the highest honour but he did not want to stay there for long; he knew that Ahmed Shah will definitely return and attack Lahore; and he was not interested in fighting against him; so, he asked Adina Begh to become the ‘master’ (Governor) of Lahore; it was agreed that Adina Begh will send seventy-five thousand rupees annually to the Marhattas; on the 10th of May 1758, Rao began his return journey.100
Now, although Lahore was under the control of Adina Begh, but he was still not the master of the whole province; at that time three parties claimed themselves to be the masters of the Punjab: the Afghans, the Mughals and the Marhattas; the Afghans had fled, the Mughals had no say in any part of the province, and the Marhattas had left on agreement of payment of annual revenue; in fact, none of them could claim any power in the Punjab; the real rulers were the Sikhs and Adina Begh; but, Adina Begh, though he had been recognized as Governor by the Marhattas, was the master of the city of Lahore only and the Sikhs were supreme in the rest of the Punjab; now, the next step was the struggle between these two for the complete control of the Punjab.
Adina Begh’s offensives against the Sikhs
After the departure of Rao from Lahore, even Adina Begh did not want to live at Lahore; he knew Ahmed Shah shall definitely attack Lahore, so he wanted a safer place from where he could escape towards hills in situation of necessity. He appointed Khwaja Mirza Khan as deputy Governor of Lahore and he himself went to Jalandhar. He also appointed Saddiq Begh as the Governor of Sarhind.
Adina Begh’s next action was against the Sikhs: he knew that most of the revenue of the Lahore Darbar was going to the Sikhs and his treasury would remain empty; but at that time, he had an army of just ten to thousand soldiers; so, he enrolled another fifteen thousand soldiers from amongst Gakhars, Janjuas, Randhawas from the Rachna-Doab (between Raavi and Jhanan/Chenab rivers) area and Jatts and Pathans from Pindi-Gheb area and Dogras from Jammu; this army was assigned duty to kill the Sikhs; and it was to act under the instructions from Diwan Hira Mall (the Hindu minister of Adina Begh) and Aakil Das (Harbhagat) Niranjania (of Jandiala).
The first battle between this army and the Sikhs took place at Qadian in the summer of 1758; in this battle Hira Mall was killed and Aakil Das Niranjania fled the field; besides, the losers left a large quantity of arms and ammunitions for the Sikhs. In August 1758, another battle was fought between the Sikhs and the army of Khwaja Mirza Khan (deputy Governor of Lahore); the Sikh army was led by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Jai Singh Kanhaiya; in this battle, Gulsher Khan, who was leading the Mughal army, was killed; the victorious Sikh army allowed the rest of the royal soldiers a safe exist but took away their arms, ammunition and horses.
When Adina Begh received news of two successive defeats, he issued orders for mass killing of the Sikhs:101 under these orders, several innocent Sikhs were killed; several Hindu and Muslim chiefs carried out and monitored operations for killing of the Sikhs; these (killer leaders) included Ranjit Dev (Jammu), Ghumand Chand Katoch (Kangra), Pir Mohammed Chattha and Izzat Bakhsh (Rachna-Doab, , area between Ravi
and Jhanan/Chenab), Mirza Mohammed (Qadian), Rai Ibrahim (Kapurthala), Rehmat Khan Waraich (Chaj-Doab, area between Chenab and Jehlum), the chiefs of Rahon, Dasuya, Phagwara, Kasur and Sind as well as the clans of Gakharh, Gheb and Janjua Jatts.
Adina Begh also engaged about one thousand carpenters to clear the forest areas so that the Sikhs’ hideouts may be finished forever; he appointed Aziz Bakhshi as the chief of a ten thousand strong army to find, chase and kill the Sikhs.102
According to Ahmed Shah Batalia during this period, the Sikhs had to suffer two defeats; the first was at Amritsar when Aziz Bakhshi’s army surrounded hundreds of Sikhs who were present in Ram Rauni; in this sudden attack, hundreds of Sikhs were killed and some were arrested too.103 The second Sikh defeat took place near Sarhind, when a few hundred Sikhs were surrounded by a huge Mughal army. The Sikhs lost on both these occasions because they were small in number and moreover they did not have enough weapons.
Death of Adina Begh and the supremacy of the Sikhs
Adina Begh’s reign of terror did not last long; he died on the 10th of September 1758; now, there was none to oppose the Sikhs in the whole of the Sikh Homeland; the chiefs or deputy chiefs of Lahore and Sarhind were no match against the Sikhs and, moreover, they were confined just to their forts.
But, even after this some minor skirmishes between the Sikhs and the Mughals/Pathans continued. In this situation, Khwaja Mirza Khan, the deputy Governor of Lahore proclaimed himself as full Governor of Lahore; he appointed his brother Khwaja Mohammed Sayyad as the army-chief as well as deputy Governor of Lahore. Soon, Khwaja Mohammed Sayyad too began perpetrating atrocities on the innocent Sikhs; once, he arrested some Sikhs and brought them to Lahore for execution; when Jassa Singh Ahluwalia received news of these arrests, he led an army to Lahore and pitched his tents in the outskirts of Mujang village (now a part of Lahore); when
Khwaja Mohammed Sayyad got the news of the Sikhs’ arrival, he led army to attack them; a battle was fought between both the armies; Sayyad’s army was badly defeated and he beat a retreat and shut himself in Lahore fort.
During those days Marhatta Sabaji Patil was also present in Lahore; he made an alliance with Kizal Bakhsh Khan, Saleh Khan and Ahmed Khan (old enemies of Khwaja Mirza Khan) and, with their help, he arrested Khwaja Mirza Khan (the Governor); after this, he ordered that the Governor’s brother Khwaja Mohammed Sayyad should be taken into the streets of Lahore, on the back of a donkey; when the Sayyad was being taken in the streets, the people threw garbage on his head and insulted him; after this, Sabaji expelled both from the country; now, Marhattas appointed Kizal Bakhsh Khan as the Governor of Lahore.104 According to Sohan Lal Suri, Mirza Tahir Begh was appointed as the Governor.105
On the 31st of October a Sarbat Khalsa gathering was held in front of Akal Takht Sahib; this gathering resolved that the territory under a Misl’s Rakhi would be considered as its State; this was also agreed that all the Misls shall rule in the name of Akal Takht Sahib; and all the Misls shall be sovereign in their own States but the final leadership shall remain with the Jathedar of the Sarbat Khalsa; it was agreed that Jassa Singh Ahluwalia will be the Jathedar of the Sarbat Khalsa and the Dal Khalsa (the Sikh army as a whole).
During this period, Saddiq Begh, the chief of Sarhind had entered an agreement with the Sikhs: he had agreed to pay tribute to the Sikhs; and this tribute was to be paid biannually and that too in advance. Saddiq Begh paid the first instalment honestly but, when, in March 1759, the Sikhs sent their messenger to collect the amount, he did not pay under the pretext of his economic difficulties; at this, the Sikh army held a meeting at Anandpur and planned an attack on Sarhind; but one day, the Sikhs came across some officials of Saddiq Begh who were collecting revenue; they snatched it from them.
Saddiq Begh attacks the Sikhs
When this news reached Saddiq Begh, he decided to attack the Sikhs. On the 13th and the 14th of March 1759, the Sikhs had gone to Anandpur to observe their festival of Hola Mahalla; they had no apprehensions of any attack of the enemy; but, when Saddiq Begh’s army made a sudden attack, several Sikhs, especially women and children were killed; even Jassa Singh Ahluwalia himself was badly wounded.
Though Saddiq Begh had attacked the Sikhs but he was very much frightened; he knew that the Sikhs will punish him; so, he sent his emissary to Jassa Singh and submitted his apology; he assured that he will be sending the agreed amount of money regularly; the Sikh leaders forgave him and told that another such action would be very costly for him.
Attack by Bishambhar Das and Raja Bhup Chand
Now, though almost the whole of the Punjab was free from the rule of the Mughals and the Afghans but still Bishambhar Das (also known as Shambhu Das), a Hindu feudal of Jalandhar-Doab, was still controlling some area; and, with an intention of becoming the ruler of the whole of the Punjab, he collected an army of more than twenty thousand soldiers, mostly Muslims; once this army came face to face with the Sikh soldiers, led by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, near Tanda Urmur; and in this battle, the soldiers of Bishambhar Das fought very bravely; the Sikh soldiers too fought with their national fervour; when this battle was at its pitch, an arrow shot by Jassa Singh killed Bishambhar Das.106
In spite of the death of Bishambhar Das, his associate Raja Bhup Chand and his soldiers did not lose heart; the Raja wielded his sword like a valiant fighter; during this battle, one time Jassa Singh and the Raja came face to face; Raja Bhup Chand attacked Jassa Singh with his sword; though Jassa Singh could save himself, but the neck of his horse was severely wounded; in reaction, Jassa Singh too attacked the Raja; Jassa Singh’s sword cut Raja’s arm; he fell down from his horse and died; after the death of their leaders, their soldiers fled the
field; the arms and ammunition left by the fleeing army made the Sikhs’ arsenal richer.
Both these enemies had fought so bravely that it very much impressed Jassa Singh Ahluwalia; he praised their bravery and placed dushalas (a scarf signifying respect/honour) on their dead bodies.
After the death of Bishambhar Das and Raja Bhup Chand, not even a minor official was left in the Punjab who would or could challenge the Sikhs; now, the Sikhs were the only rulers of the Punjab.107
Reconstruction of Darbar Sahib
After establishing their supremacy in the Punjab, the Sikhs began reconstruction and renovation of the buildings of the Darbar Sahib, the Akal Takht and Amritsar sarovar; for this purpose all the Sikhs made contributions as per one’s reach and capacity; letters, on behalf of Akal Takht, were issued to the Sikhs in all the towns and the villages asking them to make liberal contribution for the construction of the shrines; these letters (these were no so-called hukamnamas) were issued by the Akal Purkh Ji Da Khalsa (the Khalsa of God, i.e. Sarbat Khalsa); one such letter believed to have been sent from Akal Takht, on the 10th of May 1759, to Sikhs of Patna said:
“It is from the Khalsa of God to Bhai Aaiya, Bhai Mehar Singh, Bhai Mehboob and all other sangat of Patna, we greet you with ‘Waheguruji’s fateh’, convey it to all. Besides, Bhai Dyal Singh has come to you, send rupees 125, in words one hundred and twenty-five; send this through Dyal Singh. The Khalsa of the Guru shall consider you as one with it; the Guru will enrich your earnings. daswandh (tithe), Chaliha (one fortieth), contributions, offerings etc, whatever you (the Sikhs of Patna) collect in the name of Guru, bring the same on the Diwali day. This money will be spent on Harmandir. We shall be pleased. Sammat 1816, Visakh 31st.” (non italic are mine – author)
In response to such letters, the Sikhs made liberal contributions; within a few months the shrines had come again in their proper form and show.
In September 1759, the Marhattas against began their march towards the Punjab; they wanted to collect 7.5 million
(seventy-five lakh) rupees, an annual amount, which had been agreed by Adina Begh (in April 1758) as annual tribute. The Sikhs had nothing to do with this; even the Marhattas did not disturb the Sikhs. Although Adina Begh had already died they (Marhattas) wanted to collect it from the treasury of Lahore; hence they went straight towards Lahore; when they reached near Lahore, they got intelligence that Ahmed Shah Durrani was also on his way to the Punjab; this news frightened the Marhattas, so they immediately began their return journey towards Delhi.
Fifth invasion by Ahmed Shah Durrani (October 1759)
Ahmed Shah was very angry at the expulsion of his son and the Afghan army from Lahore in March 1758, by the Marhattas, the Sikhs and Adina Begh; he wanted to take revenge from all of them. But, Adina Begh was already dead; hence, now, he had two enemies to deal with; so with this in mind he left Kabul for Lahore, in October 1759.
Battle between the Sikhs and the Shah’s army
Ahmed Shah crossed Attock river on the 25th of October 1759; he sent an advanced army to Lahore under the command of Jahan Khan. At that time (on the 20th of October 1759) the Sikhs were having a congregation at Amritsar; Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Charat Singh Sukarchakkia, Jai Singh Kanhaiya, Lehna Singh Bhangi and several others were present in this meeting; they decided to attack the Shah’s forces; and it was decided that a guerrilla attack should be launched as and when he reached Lahore; to translate this resolution into action, in the last week of October or the first week of November, the Sikhs marched towards Lahore; when they reached Shalimar Gardens (on the outskirts of Lahore); they made a sudden attack on the Shah’s forces; the Afghan forces were more than one hundred fifty thousand in number and were putting up their camps on all sides of Lahore; they had never expected an attack by the Sikhs and that even in or near Lahore; so, the confused, startled and frightened Afghan soldiers ran towards
the city; the Sikhs chased them up to Beghumpura area; they (Sikhs) did not want to enter the city of Lahore, so they made a retreat from here and took away all the arms, ammunition, mules and horses left by the fleeing the Afghan soldiers.
When Ahmed Shah got the news of the Sikhs’ attack, he asked his general Jahan Khan to chase the attackers (Sikhs); the Sikhs had expected such an action hence they had planned their special strategy of ‘dhaee fat di laraee’ (attack-run-hide-wait for enemy and attack when it comes in trap); under this strategy, they would run for some distance, then stop and hide themselves; in the meanwhile some ardent general of the enemy army would make fast advance, leaving major part of army much behind; in such a situation, the Sikhs would come out of hiding and attack the advanced party of the enemy and kill most of them. When, the companions of the enemy would know of such an attack, they would get frightened and won’t advance; this meant heavy casualties of the enemy.
The Sikh generals divided their army into two parts; on one side the command was with Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Jai Singh Kanhaiya and on the other side it was with Charat Singh Sukarchakkia, and the Bhangis (Gujjar Singh and Lehna Singh); when the Afghan soldiers reached near the Sikhs, they (Sikhs) attacked them from both sides; when Afghans would advance on one side the Sikhs would attack from the other side, thus causing heavy losses to the Afghan army; in this style of battle, a very large number of Afghan soldiers were killed; the battle continued until it was dark.
In this battle Jahan Khan himself was wounded and more than two thousand Afghan soldiers were killed; several Sikhs too embraced martyrdom. Though the Sikhs were victorious in this battle, they did not stay there for another battle and left for faraway places because they knew that the following morning the Afghans would come with a larger number of forces and arms. Now, the Sikhs planned that they would attack the Shah’s army at Fatehabad or Goindwal where the army was expected to cross Beas river.108
Loss of two thousand soldiers made Ahmed Shah very angry but he did not want to open front with the Sikhs; he wanted first to punish the Marhattas; so he chose not to chase the Sikhs; he appointed Zarchin Karim Dad Khan (brother of his general Shah Wali Khan) as the Governor of Lahore and Hamid Khan as his deputy; and Ghummand Chand Katoch as the chief of Jalandhar-Doab; and resumed his march against the Marhattas; he crossed Beas river on the 20th of November 1759 and took road to Delhi.
On the other hand, Delhi too was a centre of conspiracies; the prime minister Ghazi-ud-Din had got Aalamgir II (the emperor) murdered; as a result, his son Shah Aalam was proclaimed as the new emperor; at that time he was in Bihar; he did not go to Delhi to occupy the throne because he had learnt that Ahmed Shah was on his way to Delhi. Although he was brother-in-law of the Ahmed Shah (Shah had married, in fact forcibly, his sister in 1757), still he dreaded him. On the other hand, the Shah too had received the news of the murder of the emperor when he was on his way to Delhi.
Earlier, Ahmed Shah had appointed Zarchin Karim Dad as the Governor of Lahore; but as he was a great general, Ahmed Shah decided to call him to join him in his expedition against the Marhattas; he (Ahmed Shah) appointed Sarbuland Khan (then the chief of Jalandhar-Doab) as the Governor of Lahore; but Sarbuland Khan was so afraid of the Sikhs that he did not go to Lahore even to assume the charge of governorship and appointed Saadat Khan as his deputy; by this time, the Sikhs had begun collecting revenue from the farmers of the area around Lahore too; Saadat Khan had no courage to stop them; so, instead of facing the Sikhs, he resigned and left Lahore; after this, Sarbuland Khan appointed a Hindu, Surat Sinh, as Deputy Governor of Lahore; he too could not stop the Sikhs. Now, Sarbuland Khan appointed Mir Mohammed Khan (son of Momin Khan Kasuria) as the Deputy Governor of Lahore; he too could not stop the Sikhs from collecting revenue from the farmers. At that time the area of Char Mahal was under the command of Rustam Khan Saddozai, who was
stationed at Sialkot; he too was scared of the Sikhs who would collect revenue from the farmers of his area.
The Sikhs arrest Rustam Khan Saddozai
In October 1760, Rustam Khan got intelligence that about fifty Sikhs were collecting revenue from the farmers near Sialkot; Rustam Khan took about one hundred and fifty soldiers and marched towards that area; at a distance of about ten kilometres from Sialkot, he found those Sikhs and attacked them; the Sikhs gave him a befitting fight; although the Khan’s army was three times bigger in number than the Sikhs, the Afghan soldiers suffered heavy losses; Rustam Khan was so much frightened at the killings of so many companions that he ran for his life and took refuge in a nearby fort; the Sikhs chased him and surrounded the fort; but, as there was no food in the fort, he could not resist for a long time and surrendered; the Sikhs arrested him and his soldiers; Miskin (who, later, wrote Tehmasnama, the history of his times) was one of the arrested soldiers. When Ranjit Dev, the Hindu ruler of Jammu, received news of the arrest of the Khan, he paid twenty thousand rupees for his release.109
The Sikhs resolve to attack Lahore (November 1760)
In November 1760, Mir Mohammed Khan was the deputy Governor of Lahore; the Sikhs knew that he was a coward; they also knew that Ahmed Shah Durrani had gone to Delhi and there was not much force at Lahore; so on the 7th of November, the Sikhs held a Sarbat Khalsa gathering at Amritsar; this gathering resolved to attack Lahore; they immediately acted upon their resolve; Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Chet Singh (Kanhaiya), Hari Singh-Gujjar Singh-Lehna Singh (Bhangis) led ten thousand Sikhs and attacked Lahore. When Mir Mohammed Khan received news of the march by the Sikh army, he closed all the doors of the city; now, the Sikhs put siege to the city and stationed their guards on all the gates of the city; as a result, the city was cut from the rest of the world;
the Sikhs did not allow anything to enter the town; this created food crisis in the city.
The Sikhs continued their siege for eleven days; they realized that the food crisis would make people starve and die of hunger; so, they offered the people that if Mohammed Khan paid thirty thousand rupees as tribute, they would lift the siege of the city; Mohammed Khan did not have this amount with him at that time; but when he learnt that just a few days earlier, revenue from Pasrur had been deposited in the State treasury, he ordered payment of money to the Sikhs from this account; when the Sikhs got money and announced lifting of siege; the residents of Lahore served karah (Punjabi pudding) to the Sikhs as token of their thanks.110 Mufti Ghulam Sarvar believes that this amount was not demanded by the Sikhs, rather Mohammed Khan himself had offered his amount to the Sikhs;111 on the other hand, when Sarbuland Khan came to know about this he ordered the arrest of Mohammed Khan.112
Battle between Marhattas and Ahmed Shah at Panipat
From Panipat, Ahmed Shah did not go to Delhi; rather he went to Kol (now Aligarh) in order to know about the whereabouts of the Marhattas; here he spent several days and collected all possible information about them.
On the other hand, when the Marhattas got information about Ahmed Shah’s plan, they declared dharam yudh (religious/holy war) against the Shah; a very large number of Marhatta youth joined them; when their number had reached about two hundred thousand (two lakh), they decided to fight the Shah; they crossed Chambal river in May 1760 and began marching towards Delhi; on the 22nd of July they occupied Delhi too; (as mentioned earlier) at that time the new Mughal emperor was in Bihar and the leaderless Mughal forces at Delhi did not oppose them (Marhattas). From here the Marhatta forces marched towards Sarhind with an intention of fighting against Ahmed Shah Durrani, on the 17th of October 1760, the Marhattas occupied Kunjpura fort (near Karnal); by that time
Ahmed Shah too had reached Panipat; now, both the armies pitched up their tents around Panipat.
For the next about two and a half months, none of the parties launched an attack; finally, on the 14th of January 1761, Ahmed Shah suddenly attacked the Marhatta army; in this battle, the Shah had an upper hand; in just a few hours, several thousands of Marhatta soldiers were killed; after so many casualties, the new recruits, who had joined in the name of religious war, began fleeing; the Afghan soldiers chased them and killed most of them; the total loss of life on the Marhatta side was about one hundred thousand.
After defeating and killing such a big number of Marhatta soldiers, the Shah went to Delhi; here too, the Shah’s soldiers killed thousands of innocent people; it was followed by large scale plunder and arson.
After crushing and forever breaking the backbone of the ‘mighty’ Marhatta army and plundering wealth worth millions of rupees, the Shah had, now, the feeling and pride of being ‘the greatest and the most powerful victor of his times’; he spent two months in Delhi; and he began his return journey on the 20th of March 1761; he reached Sarhind in the morning of the 29th of March; here, Raja Aala Singh (later Maharaja) appeared before the Shah and presented him very precious gifts; instead of becoming happy, the Shah arrested him because he had helped the Marhattas when they had attacked Sarhind in March 1758; Aala Singh begged his pardon for his previous ‘mistakes’ and promised that he would ever remain loyal to him (the Shah); Ahmed Shah forgave him but levied a fine of three hundred thousand (three lakh) rupees; after receiving this amount, the Shah appointed him (Aala Singh) as the ruler of Patiala and granted him the title of ‘Raja’ on his (Shah’s) behalf; before leaving for Lahore, the Shah also appointed Zain Khan as the Governor of Sarhind.
When Jassa Singh Ahluwalia came to know about the action of Aala Singh, he rebuked him for accepting the slavery of the Shah and penalized him with heavy fine which he (Aala Singh) paid without any hesitation; Aala Singh was such a
character that he would surrender before each and every power or a strong person.
On the other hand, along with plunder of millions of rupees, hundreds of young and pretty girls and a large number of young men as slaves, the Shah’s caravan reached Lahore, on the 26th of April 1761; here, he appointed Udeidulla Khan as the chief of Lahore, Sarbuland Khan as the Governor of Multan, Ghummand Chand Katoch as the chief of Jalandhar-Doab and Khwaja Mirza Khan as the chief of Char Mahal area and left for Kabul.
The Sikhs get freed 2200 Hindu girls
When the Shah was still on his way to Lahore, the Sikhs had held a Sarbat Khalsa congregation at Amritsar; in this meeting a large number of the Hindus from different parts Delhi and the Haryana appeared at Akal Takht and presented a petition to the Sikh leaders, requesting them to get their daughter and sisters freed from the army of the Shah.
This request had become a part of the well known eighteenth century stanza:
Go and free, O Kachhehra113 wearing Sardar!
Our daughter is gone to Basra.
Crush them, O Singh.
The wailings and prayers of these Hindus made the Sikhs sentimental and they promised them to get their girls freed; and having found an opportunity, the Sikhs attacked the Shah’s caravan, freed the girls and also managed to hand them over to their families.114
(It is amazing that the fathers and the brothers of some of these girls refused to accept their daughters and sisters back because they were afraid that when Durrani would come again, he will kill them; this was the love of the brothers whom their sisters had been tying Rakhris (Rakhri is a ceremonial thread and a ceremony in which a Hindu brother promises his sister that he would defend her even at the cost of his life). Many thankful Hindus began calling Jassa Singh and the Sikh soldiers as Bandi Chhorh (those who got released prisoners).115
Though the Shah had appointed Udeid Khan as the chief of Lahore, Sarbuland Khan as the Governor of Multan, Ghummand Chand Katoch as the chief of Jalandhar-Doab and Khwaja Mirza Khan as the chief of Char Mahal area, but these Chiefs were just formal chiefs; their actual territories were just those forts that they had in their possession; they were not capable of even coming out in the open without the help of a big army; the real rules of the Punjab were only the Sikhs.
When Ahmed Shah was on his way to Kabul, about forty thousand Sikhs followed him; they would attack his caravan as and when it was possible; and during these attacks, the Sikhs captured a large number of arms, ammunition and horses; the Sikhs chased the Shah up to Sind river; when the Sikhs began their return journey, they had to face attacks by Khwaja Mirza Khan, the chief of Char Mahal area; the Sikhs gave him a crushing defeat; in this battle Khwaja Mirza himself was killed along with hundreds of his companions; this happened in May-June 1761.
After this important victory, the Sikhs moved towards Jalandhar and occupied the city; their next target was Zain Khan, the Governor of Sarhind; on their way, they were attacked by Bhikhan Khan, the Pathan chief of Malerkotla but, after suffering heavy losses, he fled the field; the next day the Sikhs reached Sarhind; here, they got news that Zain Khan was not present in the city; hence there was not much resistance to the Sikhs’ entry into the city; they plundered the houses of the officials and the rich people and left the city in the evening.
As the chief of Malerkotla had attacked the Sikhs on their way to Sarhind, they (Sikhs) wanted to punish him too; so, the next morning they attacked Malerkotla; the Pathan soldiers tried to stop the Sikhs from entering the city; in this battle, several Pathans were killed; after crushing the Pathan army, the Sikhs plundered the houses of the officials and umraa (the rich elite); before leaving the city, the Sikh army burnt a part of Malerkotla.116
Battles around Lahore
As mentioned earlier, the Sikhs had attacked the caravan of Ahmed Shah several times when he was on his way to Kabul. When he reached Kabul, he decided to punish the Sikhs; and for this purpose, he sent twelve thousand soldiers under the command of Nur-ud Din Bamzai; this army reached near Jhanan/Chenab river in August 1761; on its way, these soldiers had plundered several villages. Charhat Singh Sukarchakkia had already received information about this army; so, he had planned to teach it a lesson; soldiers from other Misls too joined him; when the Afghan army crossed river Chenab, Charhat Singh’s army attacked it; a full-fledged battle was fought near the bank of the river; the Sikhs made such an aggressive attack that the Afghan soldiers could not brave it; they did fight for some hours but then began running for their life; they did not stop before they reached Sialkot and took refuge in the fort there; the Sikhs too chased them and surrounded the city and the fort.
There was not enough food in the fort; and soon the Afghan soldiers began starving; one day, Nur-ud-Din left the fort in the garb of a beggar and left his soldiers alone; after the exit of their leader, the Afghan soldiers surrendered; the Sikhs allowed them safe exist after relieving them of their arms and horses; here too, the Sikhs captured a lot of arms and ammunition; this demoralized other Afghans too.117
Khwaja Khan’s attack on Charhat Singh
When the news of the defeat of Nur-ud-Din Bamzai reached Lahore, the Governor Khwaja Udeidulla Khan, decided to avenge the Afghan defeat; he enrolled about ten thousand soldiers; he enrolled some four to five hundred Sikhs too; they were led by Sahib Singh Korbast; later, he enrolled another one thousand Sikhs from Jalandhar-Doab area.
In September 1761, he decided to launch an attack on Charhat Singh; he left Lahore for Gujranwala, the headquarters of Charhat Singh, along with some cannons and other arms as well as a big force; after reaching Gujranwala he put siege to the fort. When the other Sikh leaders got news of this attack,
they decided to help Charhat Singh; Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Jai Singh Kanhaiya, and four Bhangi leaders (Sobha Singh, Gujjar Singh, Lehna Singh and Hari Singh) led thousands of soldiers to Gujranwala; they had planned to attack the Afghan forces from all the four sides; when Khwaja Udeidulla Khan received intelligence of this attack, he fled the field on the very first night; after this, the leaderless soldiers too began fleeing to save their own lives; they left behind a large quantity of arms and ammunition as well as horses and camels. 118
The Sikhs occupy Lahore
When Khwaja Udeidulla Khan fled the battle-field without fighting, the Sikhs realized that he was a coward and won’t fight even if the Sikhs attacked Lahore; hence they decided to occupy Lahore; with this intension they began chasing Khwaja Udeidulla. When he came to know that the Sikhs were marching towards Lahore, he closed all the doors of the city and shut himself in the fort; soon, the Sikhs too reached there; they surrounded the city from all the sides; due to this siege the residents of Lahore could not get grains, vegetables, milk and other eatables; it was certain that if the siege would have continued for another week, people would begin starving and that may lead to several casualties; the Sikhs did not want to kill innocent people but they knew that the food crisis would compel Khwaja to pay ransom to the Sikhs. The Sikhs had already succeeded in such a strategy in November 1760 when Mir Mohammed Khan paid ransom to the Sikhs to end the siege.
After some days, the residents of Lahore approached Khwaja and asked him either to fight against the Sikhs or pay them some ransom so that food crisis may be averted; as Khwaja was a coward person he was not prepared for a battle nor did he agree to pay ransom to the Sikhs; when he did not bother, several senior residents of the city held a meeting; they reached a consensus that the Sikhs should be given ransom so that they may lift the siege of the city; hence, they opened the doors of the city; when the Sikhs entered the city, people gave
them warm welcome; now, the Sikhs did not talk of getting ransom, rather they occupied the city; after taking full control of the administration of the city, the Sikhs attacked the fort; Khwaja was killed while fighting and the fort too fell to the Sikhs; after the occupation of the city of Lahore, the Sikhs declared Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and the emperor of the Punjab.
It was after seven hundred years that, in September 1761, the city of Lahore had gained freedom from the foreign rules for the first time; this city had remained under the rule of the Ghauris, Khaljis, Tughlaks, Lodhis and the Mughals; all of them were foreigners.
After the occupation of the city, the Sikhs appointed their own officials; according to a hearsay account, Jassa Singh issued a coin, on which it was scribed: Sikka zad dar ba-fazal-i-Akaal. Mulk-e-Ahmad grift Jassa Kalaal; (meaning: coin issued in the name of God, in the country of Ahmed which is in the grip of Jassa, the distiller). Most of the historians don’t believe that any such coin was ever issued; Jassa Singh, as a king, himself would never use the word ‘distiller’ for himself; secondly, he did not consider the Punjab as the land of Ahmed; thirdly, all the Sikh coins had been issued in the names of the Gurus and not in the name of any individual; hence most of the historians believe that it is possible that some fanatic Muslims might have minted a few coins to send them to Ahmed Shah Durrani in order to infuriate him.119
The Sikhs occupy Jalandhar
After capturing Lahore, Jassa Singh marched to Jalandhar and occupied this city without much resistance; the Afghan generals Saadat Khan and Saddiq Begh fled the city to save their lives. To quote Miskin: “The Sikhs had thrown them out of the city like a flea is thrown away from milk.”120
Now, after the killing of Khwaja Udeidullah Khan (the Governor of Lahore) and the fall of Lahore and Jalandhar, there was left no general or agent of Ahmed Shah who would dare fight against the Sikhs. During the same time, Ghummand Chand, the Hindu-Rajput Raja of Kangra, had enrolled four
thousand new soldiers in his army to fight against the Sikhs; he had been paying twenty rupees per month to a horseman and five rupees per month to infantry soldiers; but, when he leant about the defeat of the chiefs of Lahore and Jalandhar, he decided not to fight and quietly returned to Kangra.121
Now, the Sikhs were the rulers of the most of the land of Doaba and Majha zones; besides, Patiala and Barnala zone were already under the control of Aala Singh; and, the Mughals or the Afghans had no power in any area between Raavi to Ghaggar rivers.
The Sikhs’ resolve to attack Jandiala and the 6th invasion of Ahmed Shah
On the 22th of October 1761, a Sarbat Khalsa gathering was held at Amritsar; in this gathering it was resolved that all the touts and informers of the Mughals and the Afghans should be punished;122 although the Sikhs had already punished most of them but Aakil Das (Harbhagat) Niranjania, Kheshgis of Kasur, Pathans of Malerkotla were still active against the Sikhs; besides, the Sikhs wanted to wrest Sarhind from its Governor Zain Khan, a representative of Ahmed Shah Durrani. Though the Sikhs had made a resolution but they could not act for another three months due to cold weather; finally, in the end of January, a big force of the Sikhs gathered at Amritsar and chalked out strategy for action.
Aakil Das of Jandiala was the first to be punished by the Sikhs; Jandiala is just twenty kilometres from Amritsar; Aakil Das too received intelligence of the Sikhs’ action; he immediately despatched his agent to approach Ahmed Shah for his help; as planned, the Sikhs marched towards Jandiala and surrounded it from all sides; Aakil Das was already prepared to face the Sikhs; he closed doors of his fort; Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Jassa Singh Ramgarhia asked Aakil Das to surrender but he refused; the Sikhs continued the siege of his fort but did not try much to break it open; they had expected that long siege would compel Aakil Das to surrender.
But, as it was predestined, something else was to happen; at that time Ahmed Shah Durrani was on his way to Lahore; the agent of Aakil Das met the Shah at Rohtas and delivered his message.123 Ahmed Shah was already in a mood to punish the Sikhs because they had killed Khwaja Udeidulla Khan, the Governor of Lahore, and had occupied the city. Ahmed Shah had already punished Marhattas in 1761; and now it was only the Sikhs whom he wanted to deal with; moreover, Aakil Das was one of his best agents; so, the Shah did not go to Lahore and marched straight towards Jandiala.
The Sikhs too received information about the Shah’s march towards Jandiala; so, they decided to postpone their action against Aakil Das; they crossed rivers Beas and Satluj and moved towards Malwa. When Ahmed Shah reached Jandiala, the Sikhs had already left; Aakil Das told him that the Sikhs had gone towards Malwa area; the Shah wanted to chase the Sikhs but first he wanted to know their exact whereabouts; so, he went to Lahore and sent his men to get intelligence about the position of the Sikhs.
Greater Holocaust (5.2.1762)
On the 3rd of February 1762, Ahmed Shah received information that the Sikhs were present near the villages of Raipur and Gujjarwal, about 15 kilometres from Malerkotla; Ahmed Shah immediately left for Malerkotla; at that time he had more than one hundred thousand soldiers, several guns and a large quantity of other arms and ammunition. Just one year earlier, on the 14th of January 1761, he had defeated Marhattas, who considered themselves as the second biggest army power of Asia; victory over the Marhattas had made the Shah feel himself as the ‘Greatest General of the world’; with this in mind he began proceeding towards the camp of the Sikhs.
Ahmed Shah covered a distance of about 225 kilometres in just one and a half day; he went on marching without stopping; he crossed two rivers (Beas and Satluj) too; in the early hours of the 5th of February, he had reached the outskirts of Malerkotla; here he was told that the Sikhs were
present in the jungle between Kup and Rahira villages (on present day Ludhiana-Dhuri road), at a distance of about ten kilometres from Malerkotla; now he divided his army into three sections and sent them to surround the jungle of Kup-Rahira from three sides.
At that time, the Sikhs had been accompanied by their families too; among those forty to fifty thousand Sikhs there were no less than five thousand women and children; when they came to know that Ahmed Shah’s army had surrounded them, they tried to save their families who were at that time present in Garma village; Zain Khan (Chief of Sarhind) and Qasim Khan (Chief of Patti) came to know about this and they attacked Garma village; here, a pitched battle was fought between the Afghan-Mughals army and the Sikhs; the Sikhs had an upper hand on that side from where Qasim’s soldiers were fighting; in this battle, Qasim’s soldiers suffered heavily so he retired and fled towards Malerkotla; but, Zain Khan’s soldiers continued their aggressive attacks in which the Sikhs suffered a lot.
With the dawn of the day, the Shah’s army made a very fierce attack on the Sikhs from all the three sides; Shah’s army was led by Wali Khan, Jahan Khan, Bhikhan Khan Malerkotla, Murtaza Khan Waraich, Diwan Lachhami Ram etc; Ahmed Shah himself monitored the whole operations; Shah’s forces began advancing towards the jungle; Ahmed Shah had issued orders that no person with Punjabi face should be spared; he had ordered his Punjabi-looking soldiers to tie green leaves and branches on their heads so that they might not be killed like the Sikhs.
In this situation, the Sikhs tried to break the siege of the enemy; they continued fighting and also advancing towards Barnala side with an intension of entering into the deserts of Rajasthan; the Sikh generals cordoned their families inside their terrain and went on fighting and advancing; they tried to use their guerrilla tactics too; the Sikh army was led by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Charat Singh Sukarchakkia and other generals.
On the other hand, Ahmed Shah’s forces continued attacking the Sikhs up to Kutba village, about forty kilometres from Kup-Rahir; on the whole of the passage, there were dead bodies of the Sikhs, mostly their females and children. This holocaust came to an end when it was almost dark and the Afghan army had reached near a dhab (water reservoir) in Kutba village, and the soldiers began drinking water; they had been fighting for the past fifteen hours; earlier they had been sitting on the saddles of their horses continuously for about thirty six hours (on their journey between Lahore and Malerkotla); thus they were hungry, thirsty and deadly tired after an expedition of more than fifty hours; so, when they found water, they began pushing each other in order to get some drinking water; the Sikhs too were thirsty but they did not halt and continued running for their safety; when they had gone several kilometres further, they got news that Ahmed Shah had halted at Barnala, they heaved a sigh of relief.
In this holocaust about 25 to 30 thousand Sikhs lost their lives; this number included five thousand women and children too; this holocaust is known as ‘Vadda Ghallughara’ (big/major/greater carnage/holocaust) as compared to the holocaust of the first of May 1746, which is known as ‘Chhota Ghallughara’ (small carnage) in which about seven thousand Sikhs were killed.
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Charat Singh Sukarchakkia played remarkable role in this holocaust; these two general themselves had been badly wounded; both had between twenty and thirty wounds of swords, spears and arrows on their bodies; the rest of the Sikhs too had between five to seven wound each.
Different sources giver different figures of the Sikh casualties differently: Miskin= 25000124, Ghulam Hussain =20000125, the writer of Twareekh-i-Hussain Shahi= 30000126, the writer of Twareekh-i-Ahmed Shahi= 30000127, Khushwaqt Rai= 30000128, Ali-ud-Din Mufti= 30000129, Forester =25000130, Malcolm= more than 20000131, Baron Hugel=20 to 30000132, Jadu Nath Sarkar= 10000133, Ratan Singh Bhangu=
50000134, Karam Singh Historian= 15 to 20000135, Ganesh Das Wadehra= 30000136; whereas Giani Gian Singh137 puts the number at just 13000; it seems that the number could be between 10 and 20000.
Ahmed Shah again punishes Aala Singh
When Ahmed Shah reached Barnala, Aala Singh was not present there; he had fled to Dhoonda-Dhura village; Ahmed Shah spent night there at Barnala and the next day he ordered demolition and the burning of the fort of Aala Singh at Barnala; the next day, Ahmed Shah left for Dhoonda-Dhura village; Aala Singh too had received information so he had left Dhoonda-Dhura too; now Aala Singh approached Najib-ud-Daula, who escorted him to the presence of Ahmed Shah; when they appeared before the Shah, he ordered that his (Aala Singh’s) hair should be cut; at this Aala Singh begged pardon of the Shah. The Shah took pity on him and he was allowed to keep hair against payment of a penalty of one hundred and twenty-five thousand rupees; besides, he paid another five hundred thousand rupees to the Shah as tribute.
Ahmed Shah tries to make peace with the Sikhs
Although Ahmed Shah had killed thousands of the Sikhs but he was, in his heart of hearts, very much afraid of the Sikhs; he knew that the Sikhs shall give a strong reaction for this massacre; so, he tried to make peace with the Sikhs; he tried to use Aala Singh for mediation; Ahmed Shah offered to leave some areas of the Punjab for the Sikhs subject to agreement that none of the both of them would interfere in the other’s territory; Nanu Singh Grewal, vakil (agent) of Aala Singh met the Sikh generals but they refused to negotiate with Ahmed Shah and sent their reply: “None gets power in a platter, it has to be captured; there is nothing in common between the Sikhs and Ahmed Shah; he is a foreign invader and wants to establish his rule in the Punjab and, on the other hand, the Sikhs are opposed to any foreign rule in their homeland; associating with him is like putting together fire and
gun-powder; sovereignty for the Sikhs will get sanctioned by God and they will achieve it by making sacrifices and not by begging.”138 After getting curt reply from the Sikh, Ahmed Shah was still more frightened and he, fearing the Sikhs’ attacks, began preparations to return to Kabul.
Minarets of the heads of the Sikhs
On the 15th of February, nine days after the massacre of the Sikhs, Ahmed Shah, along with 50 cartloads of the heads of the Sikhs and a few hundred Sikh prisoners, left Sarhind for Lahore; at Lahore, he killed all the Sikh prisoners; and then erected towers with the heads of the slain Sikhs.
Demolition of Darbar Sahib
Even after the killings of the Sikhs, Ahmed Shah was still not appeased; on the 7th of April 1762, he left Lahore for Amritsar and reached there on the 10th of April. It is interesting to note that it took him three days to cover just 50 kilometres as compared to covering of 225 kilometres in just one and a half day on the 3rd and the 4th of February; in fact he was very much scared of the Sikhs and was travelling with utmost care.
At Amritsar, he blew the buildings of Darbar Sahib with gun-powder; after this he filled the Amritsar sarovar (tank) with debris and the bones of the dead bodies of animals and other rubbish;139 he himself monitored all these operations. According to a Sikh tradition, when he was blowing these buildings, a brick flew and hit his nose wounding him very seriously; and this wound could not heal and he died soon after. But, this is not true; Ahmed Shah died in 1772, ten years after blowing these buildings.
History’s greatest resolution of Charhdi Kala (high spirits)
On the 9th of April 1762, about two months after the holocaust, the Sikhs held a Sarbat Khalsa gathering at Khidranay Di Dhab (now Muktsar); this gathering paid world’s most unique tribute to the thousands of the Sikhs killed in the holocaust of the 5th of February; it said: “With the killings of
the Sikhs, fakeness from our minds is gone and now, as pure Khalsa, we shall fight Ahmed Shah face to face.”
This was the world’s greatest historical resolution of high spirits; it s amazing that the Sikhs, even after when about half of their nation had been wiped out, could still express their resolve to continue their struggle; such was the chivalry, the courage and the high spirits of the Sikhs; even a dreadful massacre could not shake their resolve; they were again ready to fight against the greatest terror, the biggest army, the best equipped invader, the unchallenged victor of the day. This proves how great was their spiritual heritage which they had received in inheritance from their founder Guru Nanak, from Gurbani (hymns), from their other Gurus and their martyred brethren.
The Sikhs attack Sarhind
To translate their resolve of the 9th of April 1762, the Sikhs attacked Sarhind in just a few weeks later, in May 1762, i.e. within just three month of their holocaust.140 Zain Khan, the Governor of Sarhind could not fight against the Sikh because it was a sudden attack for which he was not prepared at that time; so he offered peace to the Sikhs and agreed to pay them an amount of fifty thousand rupees. When the Sikhs had left Sarhind, Zain Khan, on the advice of his Hindu general Lachhmi Narayan, sent a big force which attacked the Sikhs when they had gone about twenty-five kilometres from Sarhind; the Sarhind army snatched the money which the Sikhs had got from Zain Khan.
The Sikhs did not expect such a betrayal; hence they decided to punish the Governor for this; they did not postpone it and returned immediately and attacked these Sarhind troops. Now, the Sikhs not only took back their money but also snatched all their arms, horses and other valuables from the Sarhind army; the Sikhs further chased these troops up to Harnaulgarh village where another battle was fought in which Zain Khan and his companions were badly beaten and they fled the field.141
It is remarkable to note that the Sikhs achieved this success when Ahmed Shah Durrani was still present in Lahore; when the Shah received this news, he realised that his leaving Sarhind-Malerkotla-Barnala in February was a right step for him; otherwise he too might have become a victim of the Sikhs.
This victory boosted the courage of the Sikhs; they now restarted even visiting Amritsar. During this period, the Afghan forces had let loose the reign of plunder; they would attack people and take away their grains and other valuables. Earlier, the battles had destroyed crops in several areas especially around Lahore; this led to scarcity of food, followed by a famine; as a result, now, even the Muslim residents of the state began hating the Mughals and the Afghans both; they began praising the days of the Sikhs’ Rakhi (protectorate).
Face to face battle with Ahmed Shah
Though the Sikhs had achieved victory over the Governor of Sarhind but they were not satisfied, the massacre of the 5th of February at Kup-Rahir and the demolition of Darbar Sahib in April 1762 were always fresh in their minds; they wanted to punish Ahmed Shah Durrani for these acts; in fact they were waiting for an opportunity for a face to face battle against the Shah.
On the other hand, the Shah, who was still in the Punjab, could not brave the heat of Lahore and moved to Kalanaur to spend the summer and the rainy season; but, on the other hand, the heat or the rains did not deter the Sikhs; in such a situation, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Tara Singh Ghaiba captured almost whole area of Jalandhar-Doab; similarly, Charat Singh occupied the territory between Lahore and Gujranwala and the Bhangis took over the land between and around Gujranwala and Gujrat; some Sikh troops attacked even Panipat and Karnal and collected tribute.
On the 16th and the 17th of October 1762, when the Hindus were celebrating their festival of Diwali, the Sikhs had gathered at Amritsar; on the 16th of October, about forty
thousand Sikhs were present at Darbar Sahib; here, a Sarbat Khalsa gathering was held and it was resolved that time had come for a face to face fight against Ahmed Shah.
On the other hand, Ahmed Shah received the news of the presence of the Sikhs at Amritsar; he too wanted to take revenge from the Sikhs for their attack on Sarhind; he led his forces to Amritsar and made a stopover at a distance of about six kilometres from Amritsar; from here, he sent his agent to the Sikhs asking them to accept his terms; when these agents approached the Sikhs, they told them to convey Ahmed Shah that “the Sikhs don’t accept slavery or secondary status; if Ahmed Shah wants to test the power of the Sikhs, he should come and fight; we are here to expel him from the Sikh Homeland.”142
When Ahmed Shah received the Sikhs’ curt reply, he ordered his soldiers to march towards Amritsar to attack the Sikhs; a fierce bloody battle was fought between the Sikhs and the Afghans. At that time Ahmed Shah had more than fifty thousand soldiers (half of his army, under the command of Nur-ud-Din Bamzai, had gone to attack Kashmir) and the number of the Sikhs too was between thirty and forty thousand. The Sikhs wanted to punish the Afghans for the massacre of February and demolition of Darbar Sahib, so they were very aggressive; victory or martyrdom was their only ambition at that time; so, they pounced upon the Afghan army and killed thousands of them; by evening Ahmed Shah had realized that he was losing the battle; so when it was dark, Ahmed Shah began retreating and fleeing to Lahore; the Sikhs also arrested hundreds of Afghans.
Ahmed Shah, the greatest terror of the day, the mightiest power of Asia, which had badly crushed the Marhattas, he second most powerful army of South Asia, just less than two years back, was now a defeated, weak, secondary personality; he had been defeated by those Sikhs whose half army had been destroyed by him just eight months ago; it was an unbelievable miracle.
After his defeat, an insulted, weak, despondent Ahmed Shah returned to Lahore and did not dare visit Amritsar where the Sikhs were still expecting and waiting for his return, with an intention to give him still a more aggressive welcome and teach him a lesson; and assure him that the Sikhs can be massacred but couldn’t be defeated.
Baffled, frightened and awe-stricken Ahmed Shah stayed at Lahore for another eight weeks and then quietly left the city for Kabul on the 12th of December 1762; even after this, the Sikhs did not allow him a safe exist; they attacked him several times till he crossed river Chenab; the Sikhs’ attacks were so bold that one night they reached very much near his own tent; and sue to this, sometimes, the simple mention of the Sikhs attacking his tent would make him shudder; now he had developed a feeling that he won’t be able to fight a face to face battle with the combined Sikh forces.
Before leaving for Kabul, Ahmed Shah appointed Kabuli Mall, a Hindu feudal, as the Governor of Lahore; he also appointed Zain Khan as the Governor of Sarhind, Ghummand Chand as the Chief of the hills, Murad Khan as the chief of Bari Doab (Jalandhar-Doab), Jahan Khan as the chief of Rachna-Doab, Nur-ud-Din Bamzai as the Governor of Kashmir; but, the chiefs of Lahore, Sarhind, Bari-Doab and Rachna-Doab were only formal rulers; because, unless escorted by a big army, they were not capable of even having a tour of the land; the real ruler of the Punjab were only the Sikhs.
Imad-us-Saadat, praising the Sikhs wrote: “Durranis were the best soldiers and the second best were the Sikhs; they could kill a person from a distance of 900 steps and could ride a horse up to 200 kos (about 600 kilometres).” To quote H.G. Rowlison: “A Sikh had to be killed twice. In guerrilla war, the Sikhs were better soldiers as compared to the Marhattas.” 143
Saving the wife of a Brahmin of Kasur
Now, the Sikhs were the real masters of the Punjab; and Amritsar had become a regular centre of their activities; there were frequent gatherings in front of Akal Takht where the
leaders would discuss their national issues. On one such occasion, on the 10th of April 1763, the Sikhs were having a Sarbat Khalsa gathering in front of Akal Takht when a Brahmin from Kasur came wailing and requested the Sikhs to help him recover his wife whom Usman Khan, one of the chiefs of Kasur, had forcibly taken away; seeing him desperate Hari Singh Bhangi gave him a word that he would help him. After this, this issue was discussed in the meeting of the Sarbat Khalsa; it was argued that Kasur was a powerful and tough State and even the mighty Mughals and Afghan dared not to disturb it; all the Mughal attempts even to collect revenue from them had failed; but, Hari Singh Bhangi was adamant; he declared: “I have given a word and I shall definitely help him;” at this, the rest of the Sikh leaders deliberated the issue and finally resolved that they won’t abandon Hari Singh alone; so, all of them agreed to attack Kasur. Immediately a prayer was made and after getting sanction from Guru Granth Sahib (by reading Hukam from it), the Sikhs planned a strategy for attack on Kasur.”
At that time, there were twelve big forts in Kasur (Kot Usman Khan, Kot Khwaja Hussain Khan, Kot Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din, Kot Badar-ud-Din Khan, Kot Murad Khan, Kot Rukan-din-Khan, Kot Halim Khan, Kot Aazam Khan, Kot Baha-ud-Din Khan, Kot Pir, Kot Garahi and Kot Kachcha); besides there were a large number of soldiers and a large quantity of arms and ammunition in each fort.
The Sikhs, under the command of Hari Singh Bhangi, Charat Singh Sukarchakkia and Jassa Singh Ramgarhia etc, began a march to Kasur; they also sent an advanced party to get intelligence. This party entered the city in the garb of traders; on their return they reported that none in Kasur was even dreaming of the possibility of a Sikh attack on Kasur; secondly, due to heat of the summer season, most of the chiefs and soldiers spend their daytime in the basements of their mansions and the forts; thirdly, due to Ramzan (when the Muslims observe complete fast for thirty days), being hungry, they would spend most of their day time in taking rest and sleep.
The Sikhs took this scenario as God’s sanction and decided that they should attack at noon hours when all the chiefs and soldiers would be asleep.
By this time the number of the Sikh soldiers had reached about twenty-four thousands; after reaching Kasur, the Sikh generals appointed jathas to occupy and control each gate of the city; after securing these positions, the Sikhs launched a full-fledged attack. The first fort to come under the Sikh attack was the fort of Usman Khan, who had carried away the Brahmin lady; Usman Khan tried to stop the Sikhs but the Sikh attack was so sudden that his resistance could not last long; soon, he himself was killed; now, the Sikhs’ first act was to recover the wife of the Brahmin and restore her to her husband.
After this the Sikhs had to fight a battle against Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din, then the senior most chief of the Pathans of Kasur; after a short battle, he too was killed; and his nephew Hamid Khan did not want to lose life, so he surrendered; he was ordered to pay a fine of four hundred thousand rupees which he paid immediately. When both the main chiefs of Kasur were killed, the rest of the Kasuris surrendered; the Sikh army levied heavy fines on all the chiefs. In this battle thousands of Pathans were killed and hundreds of Sikhs too laid their lives.
After surrender by the Chiefs, the Sikhs turned their attention to the other umraa; they (Sikhs) attacked their mansions and took away all their gold and diamonds. In this campaign, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia’s comrades captured a big treasurer; they put all these diamonds and gold in sacks and tied them on a cot and carried it away. According to an oral tradition, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia took possession of all this treasure for his own Misl and this led to dispute with the other Misls; later, this treasure became an apple of discord which led to enmity among the Misls.
Reconstruction of Darbar Sahib
In November 1763, the Sikhs began the reconstruction of the buildings of Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht; the Amritsar
sarovar was cleared of the debris thrown by Durrani and then the building of Darbar Sahib was built; all the Misls made liberal contributions for the construction of the shrine; this money was deposited with Bhai Des Raj of Sur Singh village; Des Raj supervised the reconstruction of the Sikh shrines very honestly.144
In June 1763, the Sikhs again attacked Jalandhar. Saadat Khan, the chief of Jalandhar-Doab shut himself in the fort; the Sikhs did not try to capture the fort but attacked the mansions of the umraa (the rich and the affluent) and took away their valuables, arms and horses.
The Sikhs attack Jahan Khan
On the 4th of November 1763, the Sikhs had a gathering at Amritsar; here, they came to know that Jahan Khan, the senior-most general of Durrani was on his way to Kabul; the Sikhs decided to punish him for his role in massacre of the Sikhs; as he had already left Lahore, the Sikhs chased him and found his caravan on the other side of river Jhanan/Chenab; the Sikh army too crossed the river and surrounded his caravan near Wazirabad town; when Jahan Khan came to know about the Sikh army, he realized that he should find a safer resort, so he continued his march and did not stop to fight against the Sikhs until he reached Sialkot fort; the Sikhs too chased him and surrounded the fort; now, every day the Sikhs and the Afghans would fight; during one of these battles, Jahan Khan’s horse was hit by a bullet and it died; the dead horse fell down and with it fell Jahan Khan too; The Sikhs thought that Jahan Khan too was dead; when they announced that Jahan Khan was dead, the Afghan soldiers began running for their lives; Jahan Khan was also among them.
The Sikhs captured a large quantity of arms and ammunition left by the Afghan army; besides, about two hundred Afghan soldiers were also arrested by the Sikhs; but the Sikhs let them go to their homes after relieving them of their arms; the family of Jahan Khan was also among those
who had not been able to flee; the Sikhs did not trouble them and gave them a safe exist.145
The Sikhs occupy Malerkotla
In November 1763, the Sikhs held a Sarbat Khalsa gathering at Amritsar; this gathering discussed that the Malerkotla Pathans had joined all the expeditions against the Sikhs but had escaped punishment so far; it was resolved that now Malerkotla should also be punished. In December 1763, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia attacked Malerkotla; Malerkotla army, led by Bhikhan Khan, the chief of the State, came out of the city to fight against the Sikhs.; a pitched battle was fought between both the armies; after a couple of hours’ fighting Bhikhan Khan was killed and the Sikhs occupied the town; however, the Sikhs did not stay long in the city and left with a lot of wealth arms, ammunition and horses belonging to the State and the umraa.
The Sikhs occupy Morinda
After punishing the Maleri Pathans, the Sikhs turned towards Morinda; it was the Chief of Morinda who had arrested Mata Gujri and the younger Sahibzadas (sons) of Guru Gobind Singh; Jani Khan and Mani Khan, the two senior police officials of Morinda had tortured the Mata and the Sahibzadas. Just six kilometres away from Morinda was the village Saheri, where the two masands (Dhumma and Darbari) and their servant Gangu lived; in December 1705, they had stolen their money and had brought Morinda police to get them arrested. The Sikhs wanted to punish Jani Khan and Mani Khan and the ungrateful Saheri traitors too; in January 1764, the Sikhs attacked Saheri village and punished the descendants of Dhumma, Darbari and Gangu; the mansions of these ungrateful traitors were raised to ground.
The Sikhs’ next target was Morinda; besides being the residence of Jani Khan and Mani Khan, this town was the abode of several umraa. When the Sikhs attacked Morinda, the
Ranghars of the town gave a tough fight to the Sikhs; the fighting continued for almost the whole day; thousands of the Ranghars, Mughals and Pathan soldiers were killed; it was a remarkable battle; the Ranghars continued fighting till all of them were killed; finally the Sikhs occupied Morinda too; now, no young male Muslim was left in the town; it was a city of old men, women and children whom the Sikhs did not disturb.
After occupying Morinda, the Sikh forces went to Kurali; this was the town of Lachhmi Ram (a minister of Zain Khan, the Governor of Sarhind); the Sikhs attacked the mansion of Lachhmi Ram and after plundering it burnt it; the Sikhs, however, did not disturb any civilian of this town.
Sarhind falls to the Sikhs
The Sikhs had attacked Sarhind several times but had not occupied it after 1710; now, they decided to take possession of the city; so on the 13th of January 1764, about fifty thousand Sikh soldiers surrounded Sarhind; at that time, Zain Khan, the Afghan Governor of Sarhind was not present in the city; when he came to know about the Sikhs’ attack, he rushed towards the city. At that time, the Sikhs were guarding all the gates of the city; the next day, early in the morning, he (Zain Khan) came from the side of Manhera village and tried to secretly enter the city; however, the main section of the Afghan-Mughal army that had accompanied him remained far away from the city gate so as to give the Sikhs an impression that Zain Khan was somewhere there inside the army; to confuse the Sikhs and to draw their attention towards them, this Afghan army began beating drums of battle; at this, a big section of the Sikh army guarding on Manhera side turned towards the Afghan army. It seemed that the Sikhs had got information about the designs of Zain Khan; so, some of them did not leave their positions; so when Zain Khan reached near the gate of the city, the Sikhs showered a volley of bullets on this party; Zain Khan’s horse was hit by a bullet and it fell down; Tharaj Singh, who had taken position near that spot jumped at once and severed the head of Zain Khan; after this,
the army of Zain Khan surrendered and the Sikhs occupied the city and the fort too.
According to Miskin, the army of Zain Khan did not fight against the Sikhs because they were not happy with him (Zain Khan), and, the common folk too hated him; Zain Khan would not pay the salaries of the soldiers properly; secondly, he would lead the soldiers to villages and supervise plundering of the umraa and the landlords; besides, he would keep all the plundered money and valuables for himself and the soldiers would get just a petty amount which was not more than a quarter of their salary.146
After occupation of Sarhind, the Sikhs divided the pargana of Sarhind among themselves; the city was given to Buddha Singh from whom, later, Aala Singh of Patiala bought it for just twenty-five thousand rupees.
The Lahore chief Kabuli Mall bows before the Sikhs
In February 1764, Sobha Singh of Bhangi Misl put up his camp on the road leading to the city of Lahore; and he began taking possession of everything entering into the city; when Kabuli Mall, the Governor of Lahore (appointed by Durrani) came to know this, he offered the Sikhs the whole of the octroi of Multan-Lahore road; it was like sharing the control of the city; this was the first official surrender of power by the Lahore regime to the Sikhs.
The Sikhs occupy Rohtas & arrest the uncle of Durrani
During the same period, Charat Singh Sukarchakkia attacked Rohtas fort, which was under Sarfraz Khan; Charhat Singh surrounded the fort but Sarfraz Khan refused to surrender. The Sikhs continued their siege for several days but could not get break the strong door of the fort; now, they decided to use their dhaee fatt di larhaee (‘flee-stop-hide-return-attack) tactics; so they lifted the siege and left the place; when the Sikhs had gone away, Sarfraz Khan thought they (Sikhs) had left the place as frustrated persons; so, he thought of attacking them; with this in his mind, he led his army and
chased them; when, he had gone a long way, the Sikhs made a sudden return and attacked the Afghan army; a group of the Sikhs which had hid itself in the hills too came out and attacked the Afghan army from behind; thus, Sarfraz Khan’s army was surrounded from both the sides. Now, he had two options either to die fighting or surrender and he chose to save his life; the Sikhs arrested him and occupied the fort of Rohtas; the Sikhs kept him in custody for some days but when he begged their pardon, they allowed him to go to Kabul.
At that time, Sarbuland Khan, the uncle of Ahmed Shah Durrani, was the Governor of Kashmir; when he got the news of loss of Rohtas fort, he led twelve thousand soldiers to re-occupy Rohtas; when Charat Singh came to know about this, he came out of Rohtas fort and took positions in the hills on the Kashmir-Rohtas passage; when Khan’s army reached near them, the Sikhs made a sudden attack; this attack was so fierce that the Khan’s soldiers got scared and began running for their lives; the Sikhs found the Khan almost alone and surrounded him; having found himself under the shadow of death, he surrendered; the Sikhs arrested him.
One day, Sarbuland Khan requested the Sikhs to forgive him; he said: “If I become emperor, I shall appoint you the Subedar of this State”; at this Charhat Singh laughed and answered: “It is God who has sanctioned kingdom to the Sikhs; we don’t accept power in charity; we want to keep you in custody, so that the world may know that the uncle of Ahmed Shah is in the prison of the Sikhs.” Now Sarbuland Khan requested Charhat Singh: “If you release me, it will be still great for you; people would say Charhat Singh is so great that he arrested Sarbuland Khan and later took pity on him and released him.”147
Seventh invasion of Durrani and Jehad against the Sikhs
Killing of Zain Khan, loss of Jalandhar, defeat of Jahan Khan at Sialkot, surrender by Kabuli Mall and loss of octroi of Lahore, loss of Rohtas fort, arrest of Sarbuland Khan and other actions by the Sikhs, created inferiority complex in Ahmed
Shah Durrani; so, he decided to make another attempt to establish his supremacy; this time, he decided to use the trick of Jehad (holy war) against the Sikhs: in March 1764, Durrani began to act on this project; for the next six months, he contacted various Muslim groups to join his Jehad but he could not win any one except one Baloch chief Nasir Khan; in spite of this Durrani decided to march towards Punjab. In October 1764, Durrani left Kabul with eighteen thousand Afghan soldiers; and at Eimanabad, twelve thousand Baloch soldiers too joined him; from here, this thirty thousand strong army set out for Lahore.
At that time not many Sikh forces were present in the Punjab; Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, along with fifteen thousand soldiers, had gone to Bharatpur to help the Jaat ruler Raja Jawahar Sinh. The only Sikh general available in the Punjab was Charhat Singh Sukarchakkia, who was present in Sialkot; when he came to know about the arrival of the Afghan forces, he left Sialkot for Lahore; in the last week of November 1764, Charhat Singh came across the Afghan-Baloch army; at that time, the Afghan-Baloch army had not expected that they shall have to fight a direct battle with the Sikh army; they had planned an attack on the Sikhs like that of Kup-Rahir (of the 5th of February 1762) massacre of the Sikhs. But, the Sikh army made a sudden attack; so when the Sikhs attacked them, the Afghan-Baloch army could not defend it properly; in this attack, Ahmed Khan Balidi, a general of Durrani, was killed; Nasir Khan Baloch’s horse was killed and he himself was seriously wounded; it was followed by a full-fledged battle of guns, arrows and sword, which continued till until it was dark; Afghan-Baloch army suffered heavy losses in this battle.
Martyrdom of thirty Sikhs near Akal Takht
After suffering heavily, Durrani went towards Amritsar with a view to attack the Sikh city he reached there in the morning of the 1st of December 1764; when he reached near the gate of Darbar Sahib (at that time it was only from the side of Guru Bazar, between Akal Takht and present Gurdwara
Tharha Sahib)148, he did not find the Sikh soldiers there; only thirty Sikhs were present there to look after their shrine; when the Afghan-Baloch army tried to enter the campus, the Sikhs blocked their passage; at this, the invader army attacked them; the thirty Sikhs fought the most unequal battle of the history, against thirty thousand strong Afghan-Baloch forces (i.e. one Sikh fought against one thousand Afghan-Baloch soldiers). The battle continued till each one of the thirty Sikhs, including their leader Gurbakhsh Singh Leel, had embraced martyrdom; hundreds of the Afghan-Baloch soldiers too were killed.
The Sikhs had fought so bravely that even their enemies could not help appreciating their chivalry; a Baloch historian Qazi Nur Mohammed, who was accompanying the Baloch army, has beautifully narrated this battle in his work Jang Namah; he writers:
“They were just thirty but they had not even slight fear…they were ready to sacrifice their lives for their Guru…they would come forward like tigers and retreat like a fox…if someone wishes to learn the art of fighting, he should have face-to-face battle with the Sikhs…each one of them is equal to fifty (of us)…if they retreat in battle, one should not presume that they were fleeing, it is just their strategy…”
After this battle, the Sikhs and the Afghans did not come face to face for the next several days; and, from Amritsar, Durrani went back to Lahore; here, he came to know that his companion Najib-ud-Daula was under the siege of the Sikh-Marhatta-Jaat forces at Delhi;149 so, with a view to help him, Durrani left for Delhi via Sarhind; but, this time he did not choose the main G.T.Road (Lahore- Amanat Khan Saran-Jhabal- Nurdin Saran -Goindwal- Nakodar- Nurmahal- Phillaur) and crossed Beas river at Ruhila (now Hargobindpur) and marched through Bajwara, Gunachaur, Rahon, Rupar), Manimajra, Kunjpura (near Karnal); in fact, he wanted to avoid a battle against the Sikhs; but, though he did not want to face the Sikhs, still he had to defend himself against the attacks by the Sikhs.
The Sikhs defeat Ahmed Shah Durrani
Battle at Jandiala: From Lahore, Durrani went to Jandiala to meet his most loyal informer and an enemy of the Sikhs, Aakil Das (Harbhagat Niranajania); but, before he could reach Jandiala he had to defend himself against an attack by the Sikh army; his army had to suffer heavy losses in this attack; besides several soldiers, he lost Rahim Khan, one of his senior generals too.150
Battle at Batala: After this defeat, Durrani left for Batala; he was already frightened because of Jandiala attack so he was moving slowly and cautiously; he covered this distance of about fifty kilometres in eight days. But, to add to the agony of Durrani, the Sikhs attacked him here too; in this attack his uncle Sarbuland Khan (an old prisoner of the Sikhs) was seriously wounded.
Battle at Adinanagar: Now, instead of marching through plains, Durrani chose hilly roads to go to Delhi; from Batala, he went to Adinanagar; here too he was attacked by the Sikhs; in this battle, the Sikhs too suffered serious losses.151
Now, an angry Durrani, when he could do nothing against the Sikhs, ordered his army to plunder not only the rich and affluent people but also common folk of the area; this area, known as Riarki, was famous for sugarcane and sesame seed crops as well as for molasses; the Afghan and Baloch soldiers looted all the crops and molasses from people and ate all this in the form of sesame-molasses-balls; they also killed almost all the cows and ate them.152
Battle on the bank of river Beas: The Afghan-Baloch forces crossed Beas river near Talwara and entered Doaba; when the Hindus of this area heard about the arrival of Durrani, they, fearing persecution, took away their valuables, left their houses unattended and fled to the hills.
On the 17th of January 1765, Durrani reached Bajwara (at that time Hoshiarpur was not a city, it was a small village founded by Hoshiar Khan); here too, the Sikhs did not allow him peace; the Sikhs made several attacks on the Afghans; here, the Sikhs tried to use their ‘dhaee fat di larhaee’ (attack-
run-hide-wait for enemy and attack when it comes in trap) tactics, but the command of the Afghan army was with Jahan Khan who knew the Sikh tactics, so he did not chase them and continued fighting in his position; the Sikhs made several attempts but failed to trap the Afghans so, they stopped attacks when it was dark.
The Afghans had realized that they shall have to face the Sikh attacks again, so they left Bajwara for Rupar, the following morning; they reached Rupar on the night of the 19th of January. After crossing the river, they were to begin their journey towards Sarhind.
Battle at Rupar: Before crossing Satluj river, Ahmed Shah Durrani had to face another attack of the Sikhs; Durrani had issued strict orders that no one would chase the fleeing Sikh soldiers; so, as the Sikhs they could not woo the Afghan soldiers in their trap, they had to stop their attacks. From here Durrani took the route via Morni Hills and reached Kunjpura in the middle of March 1765; he covered a distance of about 300 kilometres in about two months’ time i.e. about 5-6 kilometres daily.
Durrani begins return journey
At Kujpura, Durrani received news that Najib-ud-Daula and Jawahar Sinh Jaat have made a compromise, hence there was no need of his interference; so, he suggested Nasir Khan Baloch that they should begin return journey; but, Nasir Khan insisted that they should go to Delhi and get tribute from Shah Aalam II, the Mughal emperor; and after this, they should seek the help of the emperor, Najib-ud-Daula, the Ruhilas of Farukhabad, the Jaats and the Marhattas and this joint force should attack the Sikhs; but, the generals of the army of Durrani were not in favour of this action; they did not wish to stay in Delhi during the summer and rainy season; they remembered well the plague of 1757 and the rains of 1760, when a very large number of their soldiers had lost their lives; and o their return journey the Sikhs had attacked them and
plundered their treasures; Durrani agreed with his generals and opted for returning to Kabul.153
Ahmed Shah immediately left Kunjpura for Sarhind (by this time, Sarhind looked like a destroyed and deserted land; though it was under Aala Singh, he too did not inhabitate it); at Sarhind, Aala Singh presented himself before Durrani and presented several valuable gifts; Durrani, who was planning to appoint a new Governor, realized that any Afghan incumbent was sure to be killed by the Sikhs, so he thought of appointing Aala Singh as the Governor of Sarhind also; he had faith in Aala Singh’s loyalty to him; he presented a ‘nagara’ (drum) and a ‘tabal-o-aalam’ (nishan/insignia) to Aala Singh and confirmed him as the chief of Sarhind and Patiala.154
After Ahmed Shah was gone, the Sikhs, under the command of Hari Singh Bhangi, marched to Patiala to attack and punish Aala Singh for accepting slavery of Durrani; but, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia intervened and compelled Aala Singh to submit an unqualified apology to the Khalsa; Aala Singh apologized and also got Khanday-di-Pahul (Sikh initiation) from the jatha of Jassa Singh.
Durrani dreads the Sikhs
Ahmed Shah Durrani had left Sarhind for Kabul under the excuse of weather conditions but, in fact, now, he was afraid of the Sikhs more than the weather; he was so dreadful of the Sikhs that he wanted to choose a safe route for his return; so he crossed Satluj at Machhiwara and moved towards the ancient towns of Mirhota-Sunet (Ludhiana); he had covered just three kilometres that the Sikh army fell upon them.
At that time, the Afghan-Baloch army had been divided into three parts; according to Qazi Noor Mohammed, Ahmed Shah, along with six thousand most loyal troops, was in the middle of the caravan; Shah Wali Khan, Jahan Khan and Shah Pasand Khan, along with twelve thousand soldiers, were on his right side; and Nasir Khan Baloch, with his twelve thousand sliders, was on the left side. On the Sikh side, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, roaring like tigers, were
in the middle of the Sikh caravan; Charhat Singh Sukarchakkia, Jhanda Singh, Lehna Singh Bhangi and Jai Singh Kanhaiya were on the right side; and Hari Singh Lammay, Gulab Singh and Gujjar Singh Bhangi were on the right side of the Sikh caravan.
When Ahmed Shah got intelligence about the number of the Sikh soldiers, he was frightened and he issued orders to all the Afghan and Baloch generals to move cautiously; he told them not to go forward or chase the Sikhs; but, Shah’s orders could not be honoured; soon, a fierce battle between the Sikhs and the Afghans broke out: when Charhat Singh attacked them, Jahan Khan and Shah Wali Khan retaliated; the Sikhs went on fighting as well as retreating; these Afghan forces left a lot of empty space behind them; a group of the Sikhs entered this space and began attacking on the forces fighting against the Sikhs; the Sikh attack from front and back both played havoc in the Afghan army; hundreds of them were killed in a couple of hours.
Nasir Khan Baloch noticed the tragic situation of the Afghan forces: he proceeded towards the Sikhs attacking their forces; Charhat Singh noticed this and he made a forceful attack on the Baloch army; both the sides fought bravely; now, the Sikhs used their old strategy; they began fleeing the field; the Baloch army had no knowledge of the Sikhs’ dhaee fatt di larhaee (attack-run-hide-wait for enemy and attack when it comes in trap); hence they chased the Sikhs; when the Baloch had come a long way, the Sikhs made a quick return and attacked them; this resulted in heavy casualties on the Baloch side; having lost a large number of companions, the Balochis began retreating fast and they did not stop till they reached the caravan of Ahmed Shah; this day’s battle came to an end when it became dark.155
After a rest of just a few hours, when the sun was going to arise, the Afghan-Baloch army re-started their journey; they had covered a distance of just five kilometres that the Sikhs attacked them from three sides; now, Ahmed Shah warned his companions that none should leave his place or chase the
Sikhs; he told them that in such a situation, the Sikhs themselves would come to them to attack; the Afghan-Baloch soldiers had suffered heavy losses a day before, so they were very much conscious.; hence they remained in their positions and stood like Kohkaas (Kohkaaf) Mountain.
When the Sikhs attacked they had expected that some jealous and over-enthusiastic soldiers would dare to come forward and even follow them, but no Afghan-Baloch soldier did so; the Sikhs now understood that the enemy soldiers had learnt the lesson; now, the Sikhs made a forceful attack; the Afghan-Baloch soldiers gave them an equal fight; in this battle both the sides suffered heavy losses; however, even after the retreat of the Sikh forces, Ahmed Shah remained frightened all the time.156
On the third day too, the Sikhs did not allow the Afghan-Baloch soldiers a peaceful return journey though Ahmed Shah had begun journey much before dawn; he had covered about ten kilometres, and was near Nurmahal, that the Sikhs appeared again. The Sikhs made a sudden and quick attack and retreated immediately, thus killing many Afghan-Baloch soldiers; the Afghan-Baloch soldiers thought that the Sikhs had done their action and probably won’t appear again so they heaved a sigh of relief; but, they had not covered more than a few kilometres that the Sikhs attacked again; the whole day, the Sikhs continued their guerrilla actions; they wanted to harass and harm the Afghan-Baloch soldiers as much as they could; and they achieved their goal; now, Ahmed Shah had begun realising that the Sikhs couldn’t be crushed, enslaved or defeated; that day too Ahmed Shah exhibited his fears.
According to Qazi Noor Mohammed, the Sikhs continued their attacks even on the fourth day; when Durrani’s army had just passed Dakhni Saran (five kilometres from Nakodar), the Sikhs attacked it again; in this attack too several soldiers of Durrani’s army were killed.
Qazi Noor Mohammed does not give details of the next two days but narrates the events of the seventh day when Durrani’s soldiers crossed river Beas at Goindwal. According
to the Qazi, Ahmed Shah had got intelligence that on the other side of the river thirty thousand strong Sikh army was ready to attack him; so, he asked his army to cross the river first, so that, if it is necessary, they (Afghan-Baloch soldiers) may engage themselves in fighting against the Sikhs and he would remain safe; Durrani also gave instruction to his army about the tactics of the Sikhs and asked them to fight cautiously.157
After crossing the river the Afghan-Baloch army, as it was expected, had to face another attack of the Sikhs; this time they too were ready for fighting; hence both the armies suffered equally; this made the Sikhs change their tactics; now, they stopped face-to-face fighting and began launching guerrilla attacks; they began attacking the Afghan-Baloch army from different sides thus putting them into defence on several fronts; this led to heavy casualties on the Afghan-Baloch side; now, the Afghan-Baloch army began advancing on a fast speed; the Sikhs, however, continued their guerrilla attacks up to river Chenab (Jhanan).
When the Afghan-Baloch army reached the bank Chenab river, there was a flood in the river; but the Afghan-Baloch army had to cross the river because waiting there would have meant facing continuous attacks by the Sikhs. Qazi Noor Mohammed narrates that the flood in Chenab took more lives than the number of the soldiers killed by the Sikhs; the flood was so furious that nobody could help the others; the fathers did not bother for their sons, mothers discarded their children in waters; husbands did not even try to save their wives.158
Ahmed Shah faced no problem between Chenab and Jhelum (Jehlum); he made his next stop-over at Rohtas; here he rested for some time before marching towards Kabul. Ahmed Shah Durrani thanked Nasir Khan Baloch for his sincere help and granted him sovereignty rights over the western side of Chenab river i.e. Quetta, Multan, Jhang and four Deras (Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Fateh Khan, and Dera Deen Panah). After this Nasir Khan crossed river at Dera Ismail Khan and then proceeded towards Dera Ghazi Khan; and Ahmed Shah went to Kabul via Attock and Peshawar.
Ahmed Shah had thought of launching this attack an attempt to regain his supremacy but instead this venture made him more despondent; now, he began realising that in comparison to the Sikhs he was in inferior position.
Reconstruction of Darbar Sahib
After expelling Ahmed Shah from the Sikh Homeland, the Sikhs held a Sarbat Khalsa gathering at Amritsar on the 10th of April 1765; this gathering resolved to reconstruct the buildings of Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht and renovate Amritsar sarovar (tank); all the Sikh Misls made liberal contributions for this purpose. Earlier, the Sikhs had deposited some money with Bhai Des Raj of Sur Singh village and even after that the Sikhs had been contributing their daswandh (tithe); Bhai Des Raj had also been given the seal of Akal Takht Sahib (he was not spokesman or representative or caretaker of Akal Takht); this seal authorised him only to collect money and issue receipts for the contributions made for the renovation of shrines.
The Sikhs take over Lahore
The Sarbat Khalsa gathering of the 10th of April 1765 made another resolve that Lahore should be taken over and administered by the Sikh army; in this gathering Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Jai Singh Kanhaiya, Sobha Singh Kanhaiya and five Bhangi generals (Gujjar Singh, Lehna Sing, Hari Singh, Jhanda Singh and Ganda Singh) too were present. They resolved that Lahore should be occupied immediately; the Sikhs had received information that Kabuli Mall, Durrani-appointed Governor of Lahore, had gone to Jammu to enrol Dogra soldiers from Jammu and his nephew Bakhshi Amir Sinh was the in charge of Lahore.
The Sikhs did not waste any time; under the command of Jassa Singh, Lehna Singh, Gujjar Singh and other generals, just two thousand Sikhs left Amritsar for Lahore; before they could enter Lahore, Mehar Sultan, Ghulam Rasool, Ashraf Channu and Bakar Araeen too joined them (perhaps with an
intention to plunder); all of them entered Lahore in the early hours of the morning of the16th of May 1765.
On the other hand, Amir Sinh too received information about the entry of the Sikh army into Lahore; he ordered shelling of cannon balls from the towers of Lahore fort; hence the Sikhs had to fight a defensive battle. But, during this battle, Tara Singh Mujang, with the help of just twenty-five Sikhs, cleared one gate of the fort and entered the fort; and on another side, Gujjar Singh Bhangi, along with fifty companions, made his way to the fort through the sewerage drain; he was followed by Lehna Singh Bhangi; with the entry of the Sikh army into the fort, there began a hand-to-hand fighting between the Sikhs and the companions of Kabuli Mall and Amir Sinh; within a short time, the Sikhs were able to capture Amir Sinh and Jagan Nath (son-in-law of Kabuli Mall); thus, the Sikh army took control of the fort and the city within just a few hours and that even without any major loss: the south of Lahore (up to Niaz Begh area) was in the possession of Sobha Singh Bhangi; Kabuli Mall’s mansion was with Gujjar Singh Bhangi; and the fort was in the possession of Lehna Singh Bhangi;159 the next morning, Sobha Singh Kanhaiya too reached Lahore.
When the local folk came to know that the Sikhs have occupied the city, they felt relieved and were pleased; people had already been suffering from the excesses of Kabuli Mall and his men. The very next morning, people were loitering in the streets of Lahore as if they had gained freedom after a long period of confinement; and as if a bird has been freed from its cage; people were congratulating each other; it meant that even common folk approved the Sikhs’ occupation of Lahore; several prominent residents of Lahore went to see the Sikh generals and greeted them and assured them all help.
Now, the Sikhs began administering the city; one day some people found that some Sikhs were plundering shopkeepers; at this some prominent persons approached the Sikh generals; this delegation included persons like Sajjan Sayyad Mir, Nathu Shah, Hafiz Qadir Bakhsh, Mian Mohammed Aashiq, Chowdhry Roopa, Lala Bishan Sinh,
Maharaj Sinh and others; they submitted before the Sikhs that Lahore, being the birth place of Guru Ram Das Sahib, was also the city of Guru Sahib, hence it should not be plundered; hearing this, the Bhangi Sirdars ordered the closure of the gates of the city and announced it with the beat of drum that anyone trying to loot people will be given severe punishment; the Bhangi Sirdars showed another great gesture: they took canes (not guns) in their hands and took a tour of the streets of the town; they sent a message to Sobha Singh too asking him to join as he too was custodian of one third of the city; soon, he too joined the two Bhangi Sirdars; within a short time Lahore was free from looting and other crimes.160
The Sikhs issue Nanakshahi coin
After establishing themselves on the throne of Lahore, the Sikhs issued a new Sikh coin; it was named Nanak Shahi coin and was exactly like that issued by Banda Singh Bahadur in 1710. On one side of the coin, it was written:
Degh-o-tegh-o-fateh-o-nusrat-bedirang.
Yaafat az Nanak Guru – Gobind Singh
(Meaning: political and economic victory achieved from God, without delay, with the blessing of Guru Nanak -Guru Gobind Singh).
On the other side of the coin, it read: “Coined at Lahore, in sammat 1822” (i.e.1765 C.E.)
After the Sikh occupation of Lahore, now the whole of the Punjab was under the reign of the Sikhs. When Durrani came to know about the death of his Governor, he appointed Kabuli Mall as the Governor of Lahore; Kabuli Mall, too came to Lahore with a big army but he was killed in a battle.
When Charhat Singh came to know about the occupation of Lahore by the Bhangis, he, along with two thousand soldiers, marched towards Lahore; he asked the Bhangi Sirdars to give him his share too; the Bhangis offered him the biggest cannon of the day, then known as Zamzama cannon (later known as Bhangian wali toap). This canon was very heavy; the Bhangis had thought that Charhat Singh won’t be able to take it to Gujranwala; but, Charhat Singh put all
efforts in removing the cannon from Lahore and after a lot of struggle he succeeded in dragging that to Gujranwala.
Attempts against the Sikhs by the Generals of Durrani
Between September 1765 and November 1766, Najib-ud-Daula, the prime minister of Delhi, made several attempts to expel the Sikhs from Lahore and other areas but he lost all the battles and suffered heavy losses.
Eighth invasion by Ahmed Shah Durrani
Durrani had left the Punjab for the last time in March 1765; he did not dare to return to the Punjab for about one and a half year; but, finally, he decided to have another trial of strength: in the last week of November 1766, he crossed river Attock and began marching to the Punjab; at that time, Balam Singh was present at Rohtas, but, he did not have more than three thousand soldiers; on the other hand the Durrani army was very big. Balam Singh tried to stop Durrani’s advance but he had a too small force and very little ammunition, so he could not fight for a long time; hence most of his soldiers were either killed or arrested.161
From Rohtas, Ahmed Shah marched towards Sialkot; when he crossed Jehlum river, he had to face an attack by the Sikhs; as it was a sudden guerrilla attack, he lost some soldiers: after crossing Jehlum, Ahmed Shah spent about fifteen days in the village Ghaniayke, about 13 km from Sialkot (on present Sialkot-Daska road); here he summoned the chowdhrys (pargana chiefs) of Char Mahal zone (Sialkot, Pasrur, Gujrat and Aurangabad). When they appeared before him, he accused them of providing refuge to the Sikhs; and he ordered them to pay a fine of one hundred fifty thousand rupees. He left this village on the 15th of December and spent the next two days at Daska; when the umraa and the Zamindars (landlords) came to know about Durrani’s arrival, they left the city, leaving their houses unattended. Durrani ordered to trace and arrest them; when they were brought before him, he asked them why they had fled; they confessed that they were afraid of his anger so
they had run away; after charging fine from them, Durrani left for Lahore.
He made his next stop-over, on 21st of December 1766, at Fazilabad (about 10 kilometres from Lahore); the next day, he reached Lahore; the three Bhangi Sirdars, Sobha Singh, Lehna Singh and Gujjar Singh decided not to fight against him; they knew that he won’t stay there much longer, hence they should not waste their man folk and energy for such a trivial action.162
At Lahore, Ahmed Shah held his court; he summoned senior residents of the city and asked them about the credentials of the Sikhs rulers; almost every one appreciated the Sikhs, especially their justice and impartiality; he was also told that he made no distinction between Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus; and once, when it was the Muslim festival of Id-ul-Zuha; the Sikh rulers had presented turbans to the Muslim Qazis, Muftis, Imaams and other prominent Muslims.163
When the Muslim residents of Lahore praised the Sikh rulers, Ahmed Shah tried to make peace with the Sikhs; he sent an agent to the Lehna Singh offering him the Governorship of Lahore; Ahmed Shah had also sent them some almonds as gift; when this agent met Lehna Singh, he rejected the offer of Governorship and returned the almonds, saying ‘almonds are not our food, we eat just grams;’ in spite of having been rejected by the Sikhs, Ahmed Shah did not choose to launch an expedition against them.164
Ahmed Shah spent another five days at Lahore; he appointed Dadan Khan, brother of Maulvi Abadulla, as the Governor of Lahore and Rehmat Khan as his deputy, and left for Sarhind; he also left fifteen hundred soldiers to help the newly appointed Governor of Lahore.
From Lahore, he took the route of Goindwal; on his way, when he reached Fatehabad, on the right side of river Beas, he found some Sikhs present in the town; the Durrani army attacked them; instead of fleeing, the Sikhs bravely fought against the Durrani army and embraced martyrdom. When he crossed the river, thousands of the Sikh soldiers,
under the leadership of Jassa Singh, Charhat Singh and Lehna Singh, chased him; the number of the Durrani army was between sixty and seventy thousands. Here, the Sikhs came to know that Durrani generals had left his families and valuables at Lahore; the Sikhs resolved to plunder his treasures so they began marching towards Lahore; when Durrani came to know about the Sikhs’ planning, he too began return journey to Lahore.
On the 16th of January 1767, Jahan Khan, general of Ahmed Shah Durrani, received intelligence that a large number of Sikhs were present in Amritsar; he led his fifteen thousand strong force to attack the Sikhs; the Sikhs too were fully prepared for any eventuality; a fierce battle was fought between both the armies; in just one pahir (three hours) more than five thousand Afghan soldiers were killed by the Sikhs. On the other hand, when Durrani received news of Jahan Khan’s march towards Amritsar, he left his women folk at Jalalabad (district Amritsar) and himself led his soldiers towards Amritsar. When the Sikhs came to know that he had left his family and valuables at Jallalabad, some of them turned towards Jallalabad too; here Nasir Khan Baloch proved his loyalty; he gave a tough fighting to the Sikhs and defended the Durrani’s families and his treasures at Jallalabad; this battle resulted into heavy losses on both sides.165
From Nurdin, Ahmed Shah moved towards Nakodar; he did not stop there and went to Nurmahal; here, the Hindu-Rajput rulers of Rajasthan and other areas presented themselves before him and offered him gifts. Machhiwara was the next stop-over of Durrani; from here, he went to Banur and then to Ambala; here he held a meeting with Najib-ud-Daula Ruhila, the Prime Minister of Delhi. Najib-ud-Daula requested Durrani not to attack Delhi; he offered some money to Durrani which the latter accepted; both remained together for two Pahirs (six hours); finally Durrani agreed to spare Delhi.
During this period, on the 15th of January 1767, he was present in Nurdin Saran; from here, Durrani made another attempt to have an understanding with the Sikhs; this time he
sought the help of the ruler of Chamba and Saadat Khan, a relative of Adina Begh; but this time too, the Sikhs refused to negotiate with him.166
Patiala Raja adopts ‘Bamzaee’ as family name
Ahmed Shah Durrani began his return journey on the 17th of March 1767; he reached Sarhind on the 18th of March; here, Amar Singh (grandson of Aala Singh) the new Raja of Patiala, presented himself before Durrani; the latter asked Amar Singh to pay nine hundred thousand rupees as tribute. Durrani also decided to install his son Zabita Khan as the Governor of Sarhind; so, he arrested Amar Singh; when his grandmother Bibi Fatto (wife of Aala Singh) got this news, she approached Shah Wali Khan Bamzai, a companion of Durrani, and requested him to help her; Shah Wali Khan agreed to help her: he (Bamzai) met Durrani and convinced him that no Afghan Governor would be able to control Sarhind; the Sikhs shall definitely kill him sooner or later; only a Sikh can control this province and as Amar Singh Patiala was loyal to him (Durrani), he would be the best suitable person for this office. Durrani realised that Shah Wali Khan was right; so he decided not to place his own son in front of the sword of the Sikhs; he gave his nod and appointed Amar Singh as the Governor of Sarhind on his behalf and also gave him the title ‘Raja-i-Rajgan’ (king of kings). After this Amar Singh (and, later, his successors too) began writing his name as ‘Amar Singh Bamzai’ (Bamzai was an Afghan tribe to which Shah Wali Khan, his saviour, belonged to).167
When Durrani was gone, the Sikhs attacked the territory of Najib-ud-Daula; it was he who had instigated Durrani to attack the Sikhs; the Sikhs plundered Najib’s territory for several days; at this, Najib sent his agent to Durrani seeking his help against the Sikhs; Durrani immediately sent Jahan Khan along with a big force; in the second week of May 1767, Jahan Khan reached Merrut; when Sikhs received information about the arrival of the Afghan forces, they immediately left the area; however, several Sikh
groups could not get this information so they came under the siege of the Afghan and Ruhila armies; these ten thousand Sikhs had to fight against about fifty thousand strong Afghan and Ruhila armies; as the Sikhs had been surrounded from all the sides, they could not escape; about nine thousand of them were killed; the Afghans captured a large number of arms and other valuables from the dead Sikhs.168
After killing the Sikhs, the Afghan soldiers returned to Delhi. Durrani himself could not brave the heat of Delhi and he remained confined to the gardens and the basements of the fort. He spent some days in this situation but decided to begin his return journey as he feared that the weather would kill a large number of his soldiers.
Though the weather was one reason for his return, he was equally afraid of the Sikhs; he knew that the Sikhs would punish him for the killings of thousands of the Sikhs in Ruhilkhand. Lord Clive (the English General at Calcutta) expressed such views in a letter to the Nawab of Oudh. The letter said:
“Lord Clive (the British Governor of Calcutta) is extremely glad to know that the Shah’s progress has been impeded by the Sikhs. If they continue to cut off his supplies and plunder his baggage, he will be ruined without fighting and then he will either return to his country or meet with shame and disgrace. As long as he does not defeat the Sikhs or come to terms with them, he cannot penetrate into India. And neither of these events seems probable since the Sikhs have adopted such effective tactics and since they hate the Shah on account of his destruction of Chakk (Amritsar).” 169
By this time, the English had taken complete control of Bengal and Bihar; Mir Qasim, the former Governor of this province, contacted Durrani requesting him to help him recapture his territory from the English; Mir Qasim sent his agent to Rohtas to see Durrani. The details of this meeting are not known but there are references that during this time, the English and Durrani had developed some relationship; on the 8th of April 1767, Shah Wali Khan, the prime minister of
Ahmed Shah Durrani, wrote a letter to Lord Clive and clarified that ‘the expedition of Ahmed Shah was against the Sikhs and not the English’.170
After the departure of Ahmed Shah, Gujjar Singh, Lehna Singh and Sobha Singh Bhangis again marched towards Lahore; they sent a message to Dadan Khan, the Afghan Governor of Lahore asking him to leave Lahore; Dadan Khan discussed it with his ministers and the umraa of the town; they too suggested him that he should hand over the town to the Sikhs; so, Dadan Khan left the town and the Sikhs occupied the force without any battle.171
Now, Lahore, Gujrat, Dipalpur, Patti, Sultanpur, Kapurthala, Batala, Kalanaur, Jalandhar, Bajwara-Hoshiarpur, Rahon etc i.e. most of the towns of the Punjab had once again been captured by the Sikhs; it meant the Sikh rule in the whole of the Punjab; only Kasur and a few pockets were still not under the Sikhs’ rule.
In 1768, Najib-ud-Daula too fought several small battles against the Sikhs but was badly beaten in all these battles; as a result, he was so depressed that he decided to give up power and go to Mecca and spend the life of a faqir.172
Ninth, tenth and eleventh attacks by Durrani
In December 1768, Durrani attacked the Punjab for the ninth time; but, this time he returned back from Jehlum river because he was not sure of his safety at the hands of the Sikhs; the next year, in December 1769, he tried to test his luck again; but, this time too he did not dare go beyond Peshawar; the fear of the Sikhs’ attacks haunted him; and, he had developed the feeling that he was now inferior to the Sikhs.
In June 1770, he proceeded to the Punjab for the eleventh time; this time he was weaker than ever; even, his General Jahan Khan was not with him (he had died on the 14th of March 1770); further, due to Sikh-phobia, this time too he did not move beyond Peshawar and went back under the pretext of hot climate.
In August 1771, he made a planning to march towards the Punjab for the twelfth time too; but, destiny had something different for him; weak, tired, defeated, despondent, helpless, hopeless, fear-stricken, baffled, bewildered old man left this world on the 23rd of October 1772; after his death, even the minor fear of the Afghan terror was no more.
How many Sikh died in battles and holocausts?
Guru Arjan Sahib (martyrdom 30.5.1606) was the first martyr of the Sikh nation; his son Guru Hargobind had to face five attacks of the enemy armies: Ruhila (27.9.1621 & 3.10.1621), Guru-da-Chakk/Amritsar (13.4.1634), Mehraj (17.12.1634), Kartarpur (26-28.4.1635), and Phagwara (1.5.1635); in these battles many Sikhs embraced martyrdom; this number can be estimated at about 3000; after this Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib and three Sikhs embraced martyrdom at Delhi on the 11th of November1675.
The tenth Guru Gobind Singh had to face his first battle when he was attacked by Fateh Shah, the Garhwal ruler, at Bhangani (on 18.9.1688); further, Guru Gobind Singh fought two battles to save the hill rulers from the attacks by the Mughal army: Nadaun (19.3.1691), Guler (20.2.1696). On the 19th of August 1695, the Lahore army attacked Anandpur but due to flood in rivulet it could not enter the town; this was followed by several attacks by the Bilaspur army: four attacks at Anandpur (29.9.1700 to 1.10.1700), three attacks at Nirmohgarh (8.10.1700 to 14.101700); attack by the Sarhind army at Nirmohgarh (12.10.1700); and, Bhai Jeewan Singh died at Kalmot on 20th of October 1700. The Mughals made another attack on the Guru in 1702 at Chamkaur. At the time of exodus from Anandpur, the hill army attacked the Sikhs on the 6th of December 1705 at Shahi Tibbi and Jhakkhian village on the bank of rivulet Sarsa; the Rangharhs of Malikpur Rangharan also attacked the Sikhs on the 6th of December 1705; at Chamkaur, the Sikhs had to fight the Malerkotla army on the 7th and the 8th of December 1705; at Khidranay-di-Dhab (Muktsar) forty Sikhs embraced martyrdom on the 29th of
December 1705; the last two battle, during the time of Guru Sahib, were fought at Baghaur (March 1707) and Chittaur on the 2nd of April 1708.; and during all these battles, from 1675 to 1708, the total number of the martyrs could be about five thousand.
After Guru Gobind Singh, the first battle fought by the Sikhs was at Amritsar (first on the 6th and the second on the 12th of April1709) in which some Sikhs embraced martyrdom. During the time of Banda Singh Bahadur (1709 to 1716), about 25 to 40 thousand Sikhs embraced martyrdom. Abdus Samad Khan, the Governor of Lahore from 1716-1726, killed around 20 thousand Sikhs; his son Zakaria Khan, the Governor of Lahore from 1726 to 1745, killed more than 20 thousand Sikhs; Yahiya Khan (son of Zakaria Khan), the Governor of Lahore from 1745 to 1747, and his Hindu minister Lakhpat Rai, killed more than 15 thousand Sikhs; Zakaria Khan’s second son Shah Nawaz Khan, Governor of Lahore from 1747 to 1748, too killed about one thousand Sikhs; his successor Mir Mannu (the Governor of Lahore from 1748 to 1753) killed more than 30 thousand Sikhs; Adina Begh, the chief of Jalandhar-Doab, killed about 5 thousand Sikhs between 1753 and 1758; Ahmed Shah Durrani killed between 40 and 50 thousand Sikhs between 1748 and 1765; Ahmed Shah’s deputy Najib-ud-Daula too killed about 5 thousand Sikhs; besides these major killings, about 5 thousand Sikhs had been killed by minor Mughal/Afghan chieftains and generals as well as the Hindu hill rulers. Thus, by 1765, about two hundred thousand Sikhs had been killed. This is not the final toll of the Sikh martyrs; about a million Sikhs have been killed between 1765 and 1849, in 1947, in 1960, and again between 1977 and 1995. But, every death/killing can’t be reckoned as martyrdom.
The Sikhs become masters of their Homeland
On the 16th of May 1765, the Bhangi Sirdars finally occupied Lahore; by this time, most of the area between rivers
Chenab (Jhanan) and Yamuna had come under the control of the Sikhs; the Delhi rulers’ authority was in force in the land beyond river Yamuna and that even on its south-east side only. The terror of Kabul, Ahmed Shah Durrani, was no more a threat to the Sikhs; though Durrani made four attempts to re-establish his supremacy but he could not cross even Peshawar; the feeble Durrani too died in 1772; after his death, the Sikhs were unchallenged masters of the Punjab; the Sikh Misls (a sort of confederacies) were in complete political, fiscal and military control of the most of the Punjab.
The most important cities of Lahore and Amritsar, of the territory between Beas and Raavi rives (Bari-Doab) were under the control of the Bhangi Misl; Sehansara, Chhina, Jagdeo Kalan, Tarn Taran, Rajasansi, Firozki, Kaleki, Rurki, Bajra etc were also being ruled by them; a large tract between the rivers Chenab and Jehlum were under the control of the Bhangis. Gujrat, Bhera, Miani (Char Mahal area), Qadirabad and area around the town of Sahiwal (later Montgomery) too were in their possession; the fort and some villages of Sialkot, including Kalaaswala, Chobra, and Allarh were also in their possession. Jalandhar (under Budh Singh) and Kapurthala (under Jassa Singh) were under the possession of the Ahluwalias. Fatehabad, Sarhali, Jandiala, Sathiala, Jalalabad, Vairowal, Kot Mohammed Khan and Fatehbad173 too were under their control; Riarki area, including Mattewal, Gobindpur (now Hargobindpur), Batala, Miani (Doaba), Tanda and Qadian were with the Ramgarhia Misl. The Kanhaiyas ruled land between Batala and Fatehgarh Churian; Gilwali, Punj Garain, Shaurian too were with them. Ambala and Saharanpur were with Misl Shaheedan; Rahon, Nawanshahr, Phillaur, Nakodar etc were with the Dallewalia Misl; the Nakkais ruled over some land in Nakka area (between rivers Raavi and Jhanan/Chenab) as well as some areas between Raavi and Satluj too.
The land between Raavi and Jhanan/Chenab rivers (Rachna-Doab area) was the territory of the Sukarchakkia Misl. Wazirabad, Hafizabad, Sheikhupura, Naushehra,
Gujranwala towns were under Charhat Singh Sukarchakkia and his companions; the salt hills were also a part of their territory; in this zone, Mittha Tiwana and Rasulnagar (Ramnagar) were not with the Sikhs and the Chattha-Jatt Muslims ruled this area (later Charhat Singh’s son Mahan Singh wrested Rasulnagar too); Charhat Singh had the control of the area around Rawalpindi too. Hoshiarpur, Hariana, Bajwara, Rahon (Karorsinghia Misl), Anandpur, Keeratpur, Rupar, Bharatgarh, Manauli (Singhpuria Misl) too were with the Sikh Misls.174
Similarly, the Malwa zone were being ruled by the Phulkian and Kapur Singh’s (founder of Kotkapura) family; Patiala, Bathinda, Nabha, Sarhind, Samana, Sanaur, Sangrur, Jind, Faridkot were under complete control of the Sikhs; the land between the hills and Yamuna river, including towns like Sadhaura, Thanesar (Kurukashetra), Burhia, Kaithal, Naraingarh, were ruled by the Sikh Misls; this Bangar-Des was fully under the Sikhs. In other words, Bangar-Des, Malwa-Jungle Des, Majha-Riarki, all the Doabs between Jhanan/ Chenab and Yamuna rivers were now under complete control of one or another Misl; all the officials in almost the whole of the Punjab were the Sikhs; it was only the Sikhs whose orders prevailed in administration. A couple of States e.g. Malerkotla, Kasur, Raikot and a few small pockets were still under minor Muslim rulers.
Now, the Sikhs were the sole rulers of the Punjab; the English too accepted the Sikhs as the rulers of the Punjab; there was no other power which could challenge them; once, the English General Barker wrote a letter to Jhanda Singh Bhangi acknowledging the Sikhs as the real rulers of the Punjab; the Sikhs received several such letters and offers from the English, the Afghans and the Mughals but they did not bother for them because they were fighting for the freedom of their homeland with the blessings of God and not under the mercy or association with any other power.
By this time the Sikhs forces were more than seventy thousand in number;175 the number of the soldiers with
different Misls was as follows: Nishanwalias 12000, Karorsinghias 12000, Bhangis 10000, Kanhaiyas 8000, Dallewalias 7500, Ramgarhias 3000, Ahluwalias 3000, Faizalapurias 2500, Sukarchakkias 2500, Nakkais 2000, Nihangs (Shaheedan Misl) 2000. Besides, the Phulkians too had a force of about 5000 soldiers. This figure was not the exact number but an estimate of the strength of the Sikh soldiers. Prinsep (on page 147 of the same book) mentions the number of the soldiers of the army of Ranjit Singh as 82014.
Although having the control of Lahore is considered as ‘ruling the Punjab’, but some areas of the Punjab were under the Sikh rulers, right from 1750 and in these areas, the Sikhs had been issuing royal orders; some such orders of this period, issued by Jai Singh Kanhaiya in the area of Patti, Kanha-Kachha, Sarai Amanat Khan (Lahore-Amritsar zone) and by Hakumat Singh in Riarki area Bari-Doab zone) are available. Besides, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia had occupied the fort and the town of Fatehbad in 1753; except during the days of the presence of Ahmed Shah Durrani, this town had always remained with Jassa Singh; similarly, Eimanabad and Patti too remained with the Sikhs since 1754.
After 1770, almost the whole of the Punjab (Jehlum river to Yamuna river) was under direct and complete control of the Sikhs; the Sikhs had in their possession, some land beyond Yamuna river too; and some area of even Sind Saagar Doab was under Milkha Singh Thehpuria.
To sum up it was the Sikhs (the Khalsa) who had all decision making powers (boal baalay) in their homeland.
The Sikhs stray away from the Panth of Guru
From here begins the history of the Sikhs straying from the path of Guru Sahib; having captured most of the Sikh Homeland, the Misls began fighting against each other to occupy territory under the other Misls; the Ahluwalias, Ramgarhias, Sukarchakkias, Kanhaiyas fought against each other and tried to wrest each others’ possessions; not only this but they collaborated with non-Sikhs, especially Mughals and
Marhattas, and even joined in attacks on the Sikh States; thirdly, now several of them began behaving as ‘rulers’ and not as the caretakers or the custodians of the Guru’s (or Akal Takht’s) rule; hence, they had begun adopting the attitude of the Mughals and other unjust rulers.
Taimur Expels Bhangis from Multan
In 1770s, the Bhangis were the most powerful Misl of the Sikhs; they were in possession of the most of the biggest towns of the Punjab including Lahore, Amritsar, Gujrat, Multan etc. Hari Singh, the founder chief of the Bhangis, had died in 1763; all his four sons had died by 1779 (Jhanda Singh in 1774, Ganda Singh in 1776, Charhat Singh in 1777 and Desu Singh in 1779); their widows and sons were neither intelligent nor capable of administration nor good generals; they even began mistreating the folk thus loosing respect.
In 1780, the Bhangis were in complete control of Multan. (In 1765, Multan and the Deras: Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan etc, had been granted to Nasir Khan Baloch by Durrani; later, the Bhangi Misl had captured it). In 1780, a rumour spread that the Bhangis were going to capture the Deras too. When this rumour reached Kabul, Taimur (son of Ahmed Shah Durrani) began fearing that Kabul might be the next target of the Sikhs; so, he decided to attack Multan to wrest it from them.
When Taimur was preparing to march towards Multan, he got intelligence that Qazi Faizullah was recruiting thousands of men; Faizullah had announced that he would attack the Punjab and exterminate the Sikhs; in fact, he had planned that when Taimur marched to Multan, he (Qazi Faizullah) will occupy Kabul; when this too came to be known to Taimur, he got Faizullah and his companions arrested and eliminated.
After accomplishing this, Taimur despatched eighteen thousand soldiers to expel the Sikhs from Multan; this army, led by Jangi Khan comprised of Yusufzai, Durrani, Kazilbakhshi and Mughal soldiers. This army had been given strict instructions to keep the whole action plan as secret even
from Muslims so that the Sikhs may not get even slightest information about the attack; as a result, this army stopped even the traders and other travellers from overtaking them lest they may leak out any information about the movement of the Kabul army towards Multan; they had also planned that they would not stop anywhere on their way to Multan.
The Afghan plan succeeded fully; they made their first stop-over in the outskirts of Multan; the Sikhs had no apprehension of any attack hence they came under the siege of the Durrani army. The very next day, before it was dawn, the Kabul army attacked Multan; at that time, there were only a small number of Sikhs in the Multan fort; in spite of this, they fought bravely; a very large number of Sikhs were killed while others succeeded in fleeing from Multan. According to the author of ‘Haqiqat’, seven hundred Sikhs were killed in this attack.176 But, the author of Twareekh-i-Ahmed Shahi exaggerates the figure of the Sikh casualties as three thousand dead in battle and two thousand as drowned in the river.177
Taimur died on 20th May 1793; he was succeeded by his son Zaman Shah; Zaman Shah too planned to occupy the Punjab; he launched his first attack on the Punjab in December 1793; he left Kabul on the 15th of December 1793 and marched towards Lahore through Hassan Abdal, Rawalpindi, Rohtas, Shah Daula (Gujrat), Gujranwala, Eimanabad. When the Sikhs came to know about his arrival at Eimanabad, they left Lahore and moved towards the Punjab hills; the Sikhs knew that they could defeat Zaman Shah’s army but, in spite of this, they did not want to waste their men and energy; they knew that Zaman Shah won’t be staying long at Lahore or in the Punjab. In his heart of hearts, Shah Zaman too was afraid of the Sikhs, so he himself did not chase the Sikhs.
He spent some time at Lahore and then went back to Kabul; he returned to the Punjab on the 3rd of June 1795, and again on the 12th of October 1796; but, during these attacks too he stayed in the Punjab for a short durations only.
On the 12th of October 1796, he made another attack on the Punjab; this time he decided to stay at Lahore; so, after
occupying Lahore, Zaman Shah got the fort of Lahore repaired and renovated and began living there; after a couple of months of stay at Lahore, he got news of rebellion in Kabul by Shah Mehmood; at this Zaman Shah appointed Ahmed Khan Shachin as the Chief of the west Punjab and Hassan Khan Kazilbakhshi as the chief of Jalandhar-Doab and left for Kabul; when the Sikhs received information about Zaman Shah’s departure, they returned to the pains and re-occupied all the forts and other positions; the Afghan officials could not resist the Sikhs; the Sikhs had to fight a battle against Ahmed Khan Shahchin also but he, along with his two thousand Afghan soldiers, was killed in this battle.178
On the other hand, Zaman Shah defeated the rebel Shah Mehmood in Afghanistan; after losing the battle, Shah Mehmood fled towards Persia. Zaman Shah spent some months in Kabul and then again he marched towards the Punjab in September 1798 and re-occupied Lahore; after a few months, Shah Mehmood, with he help of the king of Persia, attacked Kabul and occupied it; so, Zaman Shah had to return to Afghanistan. At Kabul, a fierce battle was fought between the armies of Zaman Shah and Shah Mehmood; Zaman Shah lost this battle. He was arrested and blinded. His successor Shah Mehmood never planned any attack on the Punjab.
Now, the Sikhs had no fears of attack from Afghanistan. There was none in the Punjab to challenge them. They were, now, de facto and de jure rulers of the Punjab.
The Sikh Misls
The Bhangi Misl was the most powerful Sikh confederacy between 1765 and 1799; Gurbakhsh Singh was one of its founder leaders. He did not have any son so he had adopted Lehna Singh; in 1765, Lehna Singh, his nephew Gujjar Singh (maternal grandson of Gurbakhsh Singh) and other Bhangi general Sobha Singh had occupied Lahore. These three
were generous persons and good administrators; but, their successors Chet Singh and Mohar Singh were inept and aggressive rulers; the residents of Lahore were not happy with them; in June 1799, they approached Ranjit Singh Sukarchakkia and brought him to take control of the city from the Bhangis; Ranjit Singh occupied Lahore on the 7th of July 1799.
Chhajja Singh, a resident of village Panjwar, was the founder of the Bhangi Misl; he had got initiation from Guru Gobind Singh. He, along with his companion Chanda Singh, fought many battles against the Mughals; Bhima Singh, Natha Singh, Jagat Singh, Mohan Singh and Gulab Singh (of village Dhauns), Karora Singh (of village Chaupal/Jhabal), Gurbakhsh Singh Sandhu (of village Roranwala), Aggar Singh (of village Khanghoora) and Sawan Singh Randhawa etc were among his senior companions.
After the death of Chhajja Singh, Bhima Singh became the chief of the Misl; Bhima Singh had no son so he had adopted Hari Singh Dhillon who, later, succeeded Bhima Singh as the chief of the Misl. Hari Singh Dhillon established his headquarters in the village Gilwali (near Amritsar); he was a great general; Sialkot, Karial and Mirowal were his first possessions; later, he attacked Chiniot and Jhang too; it was followed by an attack on fort Kot Sayyad (in the outskirts of Lahore) where Khwaja Udeidulla Khan, the Afghan Governor of the day, had stocked his arms and ammunition; Hari Singh took away all the arms along with a big cannon, which had been made by Sardar Jahan Khan (later known a Bhangian Wali Toap). After this, Hari Singh occupied area around Bahawalpur, Sandal Baar and Kehalwar too; later, he returned the fort of Kehalwar to its former owners on the condition that he would pay him rupees one hundred thousand annually. Hari Singh’s companions captured Rawalpindi too; he attacked Jammu too and compelled Raja Ranjit Dev to pay tribute; his last action was the battle at Patiala, in 1763, where a bullet took his life.
Hari Singh had two wives and five sons (Jhanda Singh, Ganda Singh, Desu Singh, Diwan Singh and Charhat Singh); after his death Jhanda Singh became the chief of the Misl. Jhanda Singh captured Multan and handed it over to his brother Ganda Singh; he attacked Jammu too and compelled its ruler to pay tribute; the chiefs of Dera Ismail Khan and Pakpattan too submitted before him. In 1767, he built a fort at the present site of Loon Mandi (salt market); it was known as Bhangian da Qila; in 1772, he occupied Bharatpur and appointed Gurbakhsh Singh as its chief; he fought a battle against the army of Taimur on the 25th of December 1772 and wrested Multan from the Afghans; he shared the revenues of Multan with Ganda Singh and Lehna Singh; he attacked the Baloch controlled area of Jhang, Mankera and Kala Bagh and received tribute from their rulers. In 1773, he joined Jassa Singh Ramgarhia for an attack on Kasur; after a series of battles for about three months, he occupied Kasur too; three months after the victory of Kasur, one day he went out for hunting where he was killed by his opponents; people believed that that was a conspiracy by Charhat Singh Sukarchakkia. At the time of the death of Jhanda Singh, the total income of the Bhangi Misl was about ten million (one crore) rupees per year.
After the death of Jhanda Singh, his brother Ganda Singh became the chief of the Misl. During this time, a dispute arose between Bhangi and Kanhaiya Misls; this led to a battle in 1776, in which he was killed. Ganda Singh was succeeded by his brother Charhat Singh; in 1777, he was killed in a battle against Mahan Singh Sukarchakkia; now, his forth brother, Desu Singh became the chief of the Misl. Desu Singh was a weak person; he was killed in a battle in 1779; Desu Singh was succeeded by Karam Singh; in 1792, he (Karam Singh) too was killed in a battle against Mahan Singh Sukarchakkia; now, Karam Singh’s son took over the leadership of the Misl; and after his death his son Jassa Singh succeeded him; but, during this period, Gulab Singh (son of Desu Singh) came to Amritsar and declared himself as the chief of the Misl; Gulab Singh chose Lahore as his headquarters.
In 1799, Gulab Singh was in possession of Lahore; he was a haughty, aggressive and unjust ruler; people from all the three religions considered him unworthy of rule; so, some senior residents of Lahore approached Ranjit Singh, the chief of Sukarchakkia Misl and asked him to take over the administration of Lahore; in July, Ranjit Singh, with the help of local residents as well as his mother-in-law Sada Kaur captured the city.
Some days later, Gulab Singh led an army to re-capture Lahore; but, before he could begin a battle, excessive drinking took his life. After his death, his minor son became the chief of the Misl; in 1804 (another date, the 24th of February 1805 too is mentioned) Ranjit Singh expelled Mai Sukhan (widow of Gulab Singh) and her minor son from Amritsar also; in lieu of this, Ranjit Singh granted them a small Jagir.
Another branch of Bhangi Misl had, in its possession, the small states of Buriha and Jagadhri too; this was headed by the family of Lakhmir Singh of village Chomak (district Amritsar). He had four sons: Bag Singh, Baz Singh, Rai Singh and Parja Singh; when Ahmed Shah Durrani attacked the Punjab, he took Parja Singh to Kabul as a prisoner; there, in order to save his life, he agreed to embrace Islam; later, he came back to the Punjab but he did not re-join the Sikh faith. The rest three brothers had got initiation during the life time of Jhanda Singh Bhangi and had joined his jatha; later, they formed their own jatha which remained a part of Bhangi Misl; they were joined by Nanu Singh of Jhawalmandan village; their jatha captured 204 villages around Buria and Jagadhri and established Buria state. Still another branch of this Misl had its rule over Gujrat too; Sahib Singh (husband of Ranjit Singh’s bhooaa, i.e. father’s sister) was the chief of this State; Sahib Singh died in 1814 and Ranjit Singh occupied this State too; (later, Ranjit Singh married two of three wives, excluding his own aunt, of Sahib Singh).
The Bhangis were also the masters of a small State of 37 villages around the villages of Khai Pheme Ki, Waan, Bajidpur in the present Firozpur district; it was under the
possession of a minor Bhangi chief Jai Singh (of Gharhia village); similarly, Nasbaha Singh and their sons Gurbakhsh Singh and Multan Singh were in possession of Firozpur.
History remembers Bhangis for another venture also; they had captured Zamzama Cannon from the Chatha-Muslim rulers; it was one of the biggest cannons of the day; after it came into their possession it came to be known as Bhangian Wali Toap (nowadays, it is in Lahore).
Sirdar Jassa Singh (son of Badar Singh and grandson of Gopal), born in 1718, was the founder of this Misl; his father died when he was just a small boy; he spent his early years with Mata Sunder Kaur (wife of Guru Gobind Singh) at Delhi; in 1729, (Nawab) Kapur Singh brought him to Amritsar; according to Ratan Singh Bhangu179, Mata Sunder Kaur brought him with her when she visited the city of Amritsar in 1729 and handed over his custody to Kapur Singh; during her visit the Mata performed keertan at Darbar Sahib.180
When Jassa Singh grew up, he formed his own jatha and launched several guerrilla attacks on the Mughals; in 1739, when Nadir Shah attacked the Punjab, it was mainly the jatha of Jassa Singh which troubled the invading army; when Nadir Shah returned to Kabul, Jassa Singh began construction of a fort in the outskirts of village Dallewal, on the bank of Raavi river (in the present district of Amritsar); in 1743, he attacked the royal treasure which was being taken from Eimanabad to Lahore and snatched it from the Mughals; with this money, he purchased a large number of weapons and horses; on the 29th of March 1748, when 65 groups of the Sikh soldiers were organised into 11 Misls, Jassa Singh’s jatha was granted the status of a Misl; it came to be known as Ahluwalia Misl.
Jassa Singh remained chief of this Misl from 1748 to 1783; in 1758, he occupied Lahore; it was the first occupation of Lahore, which lasted only for a short time; he repeated this action in 1761 too.
The first possessions of this Misl were Dallewal (1740) and Fatehbad (on the western side of river Beas) in 1755; in 1758, he established his headquarters at Fatehbad; in 1759, he attacked Kangra and compelled its Katoch Raja to pay him tribute; in 1763, he attacked Handur (now Nalagarh) and Bilaspur; the rulers of these hill states agreed to pay him tribute; soon after this he captured Jalalpur, Goindwal, Butala, Tarn Taran, Khadur, Nadala, and Begowal too; in 1771, he captured even Raipur.
Jassa Singh’s second major victory was that of Kapurthala in 1772; in 1780, he moved his headquarters from Fatehabad to Kapurthala; Jassa Singh had already captured Sultanpur too; Phagwara and Tanda-Urmur were his next possessions; on the other side of Satluj river, he captured Isru and Kot Issa Khan too.
In 1761, he again attacked Lahore too; in 1762, he played marvellous role during the ‘big carnage’; he suffered twenty-two serious wounds in this attack by Durrani; in 1764, he led forces to capture Sarhind; he had joined attack on Kasur too; his last action was furling Khalsa’s blue flag at Red Fort Delhi, in Mach 1783; he died on the 22nd of October 1783.
Jassa Singh had two daughters and no son; after his death, his nephew Bhag Singh (1735-1801) became the chief of the Misl; Bhag Singh did not add anything to Jassa Singh’s State; but, during his time Diwan Lala Burha Mall, whom Jassa Singh had appointed as his minister, twice rebelled against Bhag Singh; during his time, his Misl and Ramgarhia Misl fought several small battles against each other.
Bhag Singh died in 1801; he was succeeded by Fateh Singh (1789-1837); Fateh Singh and (Maharaja) Ranjit Singh became friends and the former joined several expeditions of the latter; Fateh Singh joined Ranjit Singh when the latter attacked Kathua and Naushehra in 1802, Sujanpur in 1803, Kasur in 1804, Amritsar in 1804, Jhang and Sialkot in 1807, Kangra in 1809 and 1818, Jalandhar (against Budh Singh) in 1811, Mandi, Kullu and Hazara in 1813, Multan in 1818-19 and Kashmir in 1819; as a ‘reward’ for all these services, Ranjit
Singh granted Fateh Singh the cis-Satluj areas of Dakha and Talwandi (now Talwandi Bhai).181
In 1825, Fateh Singh’s minister Qadar Bakhsh created differences between him (Fateh Singh) and Ranjit Singh:182 Fateh Singh left Kapurthala and fled to his cis-Satluj territory (where he owed 454 villages) and sought protection from the British; at this Ranjit Singh occupied Kapurthala and other territory of Fateh Singh; but, in 1827, Ranjit Singh sent his messenger to Fateh Singh and assured of his friendship; at this he came back to Kapurthala and spent the last ten years of his life there; he died on the 20th of October 1837.
Fateh Singh was succeeded by his son Nihal Singh (10.3.1817 – 13.9.1852); in early years of his reign he had to face opposition from his brother Amar Singh who wanted to become the king; though this issue was settled after some time but the finale peace prevailed only after the sudden death of Amar Singh (by drowning in the river). Nihal Singh was a weak ruler;183 his children lived debauched life; his daughter Gobind Kaur was a woman of loose morals; she eloped with one of her body-guards and died in miserable conditions; his (Nihal Singh’s) Muslim minister misused his power and indulged in corruption and sinful life; when the English attacked the Lahore territory in 1845-46, Nihal Singh fought for the Lahore Darbar; but, during the second war (1848-49), he sided with the British.184
Nihal Singh died in 1852 and was succeeded by Randhir Singh (March 1831-2.4.1870); during the mutiny of 1857, Randhir Singh gave liberal support to the English; the English awarded him the title of Farzand Diband for his services; on October 17, 1864, he was awarded Star of India title; in March 1870, he left Bombay for England; during this journey he died at Aden.
Randhir Singh was succeeded by Kharak Singh (1850-5.9.1877); he ruled the Kapurthala State for seven years; in 1877, Jagatjit Singh (17.11.1872 – 19.6.1949) sat on throne of Kapurthala; in 1948, he surrendered his State to the Government of India. A member of the Ahluwalia Misl,
Bikram Singh, played a major role during the Singh Sabha Movement (1873-1902); an area Bikrampura, in the heart of the present Jalandhar city, has been named after him (Bikram Singh had his palace in this area).
Jagraon, Barog, Fatehgarh and Narayangarh too were under the rule of this Misl; Jassa Singh had granted this estate of two hundred thousand rupees annual income to Mirza Singh Sultanwind (Fatehgarh), Hakumat Singh (Barog) and Dasaundha Singh (Naraingarh).
Ramgarhia Misl had been founded by Sirdar Nand Singh of Sangana village (district Amritsar). Ahmed Shah Batalvi and Sohan Lal Suri, both, mention Khushal Singh as resident of Gugga village (district Amritsar) as the founder of this Misl;185 but, this Misl is known more for Jassa Singh (1718-20.4.1803), of Ichogil village (district Lahore); Hardas Singh (died 1715), the grandfather of Jassa Singh had moved to Ichogil from Sursingh village (then district Lahore, now a part of Amritsar district); Jassa Singh’s father Giani Bhagwan Singh (death 1739) had died in a battle against Nadir Shah;186 when the Sikhs built Ram Rauni (a sort of fortress) at Amritsar in 1747, Jassa Singh Ichogil played major role in its construction; hence he was appointed it’s in charge; later, he renovated this fortress and named it Ramgarh fort; and due to this name he came to be known as Jassa Singh Ramgarghia.
In 1739, Jassa Singh’s father Bhagwan Singh had fought, as an ally of Zakaria Khan, against Nadir Shah; he died during this action; as a reward Zakaria Khan granted his four sons an estate of four villages; Jassa Singh got village Valla (near Amritsar).
As the chief of Ramgarhia Misl, Jassa Singh’s first victories were in Gurdaspur district where he captured several villages; from here he attacked Kangra and compelled its ruler Sansar Chand to pay him tribute; several other rulers of this Doon area had surrendered to Jassa Singh and paid him tribute.
By 1770s, the Sikh Misls had begun fighting for capturing territories of the other Misls; in 1775, such a battle was fought at Dinanagar, in which the Kanhaiyas, Sukarchakkias and Ahluwalias fought against the Ramgarhias and the Bhangis; the Ramgarhias lost this battle; after this, the Ramgarhia Misl joined hands with Karam Singh (of Shaheedan Misl) and attacked Hansi, Hissar and Saharanpur and plundered a lot of wealth from the umraa, the ministers and the other government officials; in March 1783, it joined Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Baghel Singh (later known as Tees Hazari) and others and furled Blue Khalsa flag at the Red Fort of Delhi; the same year it participated in the construction of the shrines in the memory of the Gurus in Delhi.
Between 1783 and 1785, this Misl captured a large tract of Jalandhar-Doab and Riarki area; it included the area of Batala, Kalanaur, Dasuya, Talwara, Miani, Begowal etc and yielded an annual revenue of seven hundred thousand rupees; the hill rulers of Haripur, Jaswan, Nurpur, Chamba, Mandi and Kangra used to pay him tribute; in all these areas, Jassa Singh built several forts. Hargobindpur was his headquarters.
Jassa Singh had dispute with more than one Misl; he was not on good terms even with Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, the chief of all the Khalsa forces; once he had defeated Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Charhat Singh too; hence the Sukarchakkias were especially angry with him; in 1796, Sada Kaur, the mother-in-law of Ranjit Singh put siege to his fort at Miani; she could have captured the fort had there not been floods.187 Jassa Singh died in 1803; his son Jodh Singh was neither a good general nor a brave person; in 1811, Ranjit Singh occupied all his territory and gave him a minor Jagir;188 Jodh Singh died on 23rd of August 1815.
The successors Jodh Singh were always loyal to the British; hence they had a soft corner for this family; the British had nominated Mangal Singh (1800-1879), son of Jodh Singh, as C.I.S.; Mangal Singh had three sons: Sher Singh, Gurdit Singh and Sant Singh; Sant Singh was in the good books of the British; Sant Singh’s grandson Sunder Singh (son of
Ripudaman Singh) was, later, appointed as the Sarbrah (care-taker) of Darbar Sahib; he died on 7th of April 1926.
The land between the rivers Raavi and Chenab (Jhanan) is known as nakka (literally bank of river) area; and as he leaders of this Misl belonged to this Nakka area; hence the name of the Misl. Sirdar Hira Singh (1706-1767), son of Chowdhry Hem Raj, of village Bahirhwal (of Multan State) was the founder chief of this Misl; Hira Singh had got initiation in 1731; since then he had been leading a jatha of Sikh soldiers.
Hira Singh had participated in the attacks on Kasur (1763) and Sarhind (1764); after this, he captured the villages and towns of Bahirhwal, Dipalpur, Chunian, Khuddian, Jethapur, Faridabad, Shergarh etc; a large tract between the rivers Satluj and Raavi too was under his possession; he had the command of three thousand horses; he died in 1767, in the battle of Pakpattan.
At the time of his death, his son Dal Singh was a small child, so his nephew Nahar Singh (son of Natha Singh) became the chief of the Misl; Nahar Singh too was killed in 1768, in the battle of Kot Kamalia; he was succeeded by his brother Ran Singh; he too died in 1781; now, his son Bhagwan Singh became the chief of Nakkai Misl; he was a very weak person; another general Wazir Singh wrested some of his territory and he could do nothing; in 1789, Bhagwan Singh was killed in a battle against Wazir Singh; after his death his brother Gian Singh became the chief of the Misl; Gian Singh died in 1807; after his death his son Kahan Singh became the chief; but, within a short period Ranjit Singh captured all his territory and granted him a jagir of fifteen thousand rupees per year.
Sirdar Gulab Singh, son of Shardha Ram, of village Dallewal district Kapurthala) was the first chief of this Misl; he
had joined the Sikh Panth in 1726; when Zakaria Khan and Lakhpat Rai committed atrocities on the Sikhs, he fought bravely; he was one of the few who survived the carnage of Kahnuwan (of the first of May 1746); in 1748, when all the Sikh jathas were organised into eleven Misls, he was also selected as the chief of a Misl; due to his native village, his Misl came to be known as Dallewalia Misl; Gulab Singh was a brave general; in 1750, he attacked Jalandhar along with just one hundred and fifty soldiers and killed more than seven hundred Mughal soldiers.
In 1750, his three brothers (Hardial Singh, Gurdial Singh and Jaimal Singh) too got initiation and joined the Sikh Panth; once, this jatha attacked a party carrying royal treasurer and plundered rupees five hundred from them; he divided all this money equally among all his companions; this action of Gulab Singh earned him love and faith of his companions.
Later, Gulab Singh attacked Deoband, Muzzaffarnagar, Saharanpur and collected tribute from the chiefs of these States; in 1757, he attacked a state party carrying royal treasure, between Rawalpindi and Rohtas, and took away all the treasure which was about five hundred thousand rupees; he did not keep this money and purchased weapon and horses; now, he enrolled more members to his Jatha; after this, he attacked Hansi, Hissar, Panipat and Rohtak too; these attacks fetched him a lot of wealth.
Gulab Singh was killed in the battle of Kalanaur in 1759; his brother Hardial Singh and his son (Jaipal Singh) had already died in 1746 during the battle of Basohli; hence his brother Gurdial Singh became the chief of the Misl; he too died in 1760; he was succeeded by Tara Singh Gaiba, of village Kang (district Kapurthala); at this time, the Misl had strength of ten thousand soldiers; Tara Singh was a strong man and a good general of the army; during the battles, he would suddenly disappear in order to confuse the opposing army; hence his name Ghaiba (literally: one who disappears).
In April 1763, when the Sikhs attacked Kasur to get the wife of a Brahmin restored to him, he played marvellous role
(he got four hundred thousand rupees from the booty recovered during this attack); he was one of the generals who attacked Sarhind on the 14th of January 1764; Tara Singh also joined other Misls during their attack on the Gang-Doab areas.
Tara Singh was a generous person; whenever he captured some territory, he did not keep it with him and appointed some senior general as its chief; but, with the passage of time, these chiefs declared themselves independent; the Dallewalia Misl had its rule on Mehatpur, Dakhni Saran (near Nakodar), Nakodar, Kot Badal Khan, Rahon, Phillaur, Kot Sayyad, Kaithal, Pehowa, Ladwa, Indri, Bairara, Ramuwala (Moga) etc; during his life time, Tara Singh had distributed his State among his three wives (Raj Kaur, Ratan Kaur and Rajinder Kaur) as well as his sons Gujjar Singh, Dasaundha Singh and Jhanda Singh; he had kept most of his wealth inside the Dakhni Saran; when he grew old, his son Dasaundha Singh captured this wealth.
Tara Singh continued participating in actions even at the age of 100; in 1807, he joined Ranjit Singh to attack cis-Satluj areas; during this attack, he died in the battle of Naraingarh; when he died, his companions kept it as secret and took his body to Rahon where he was cremated.
(Maharaja) Ranjit Singh went to Rahon on the pretext of condoling the death of Tara Singh and surrounded the fort; Ratan Kaur, the widow of Tara Singh offered Ranjit Singh six hundred thousand rupees, one elephant and five horses; Ranjit Singh took all this but still attacked to capture the fort; the companions of Tara Singh fought bravely and did not allow Ranjit Singh to capture the fort; but, in the middle of the battle, some traitor accepted a big sum of money from Ranjit Singh and opened the door of the fort; thus, Ranjit Singh treacherously occupied the fort; he snatched thirty-five hundred thousand rupees and a lot of gold and diamonds from the widow of Tara Singh.189
The leaders of this Misl were the standard-bearers of the Sikh nation; they used to carry the blue nishans (the flags) of the Sikh army during the battles; hence the name Nishanwalia Misl. Dasaundha Singh, son of Chowdhry Sahib Rai Shergill, of village Mansurwala (near Kot Issa Khan) was the first chief of this Misl; Dasundha Singh and his brother Sangat Singh had got initiation and joined the Sikh Panth in 1730s at the time of Darbara Singh, the chief of the Sikh army (up to 1734). When this Misl was formed, the jathas of Jai Singh (Kairon village), Kaur Singh and Maan Singh (of Dhand-Kasel villages) too became a part of this Misl.
The Nishanwalia Misl had strength of twelve thousand soldiers; by 1765, it had captured Ambala, Shahbad-Markanda, Sarai Lashkari Khan, Doraha, Amloh, Zira, Singhanwala and some area around Sahnewal too; Dasundha Singh died in a battle against Zabita Khan in 1767; he was succeeded by his brother Sangat Singh; Sangat Singh shifted his headquarters from Ambala to Zira where he died in 1774; Sangat Singh had three sons: Kapur Singh, Mohar Singh and Anup Singh; they were very young when he died but they amicably divided the State among themselves: Mohar Singh got Ambala and Zira; Anup Singh got Sarai Lashkari Khan; and Kapur Singh became the master of Singhanwala area; their maternal uncle (Mama) Gurbakhsh Singh became the administrator of their States.
In 1779, Mohar Singh became adult and became the chief of the Misl but he died soon after; his brother Kapur Singh had already died in a battle; hence Anup Singh became the chief of the Misl; he too died in 1797; now, Daya Kaur, the widow of Sangat Singh became the master of the State; Gurbakhsh Singh acted as her administrator; she too died in 1823; after her death, the English confiscated her State.
(Nawab) Kapur Singh (son of Dalip Singh Virk) was the founder chief of this Misl; he belonged to Faizalapur village (district Amritsar); hence the name of the Misl. Faizalapur was later named as Singhpura and the name of the
Misl is known as Singhpuria Misl too; Kapur Singh joined the Sikh army in 1723, after the martyrdom of Tara Singh of Dal-Waan; he proved his worth as a general and Darbara Singh, the chief of the Sikh army, nominated him as the Deputy Chief; in 1733, when Zakaria Khan offered Jagir to the Sikhs, Kapur Singh was given the title of Nawab; in 1734, Darbara Singh died and he was selected as the chief of the Sikh army.
(Nawab) Kapur Singh had captured territory on the eastern and western side of the river Satluj; it included the parganas of Patti Haibatpur and Jalandhar; he also conquered the small states of Jhajjar, Ismail Khan, Dadri, Dujana, Pataudi, Bahadargarh, Faridabad, Balabgarh, Gurgaon etc and received tribute from their chiefs; his annual income from all this territory was about six hundred thousand rupees; this Misl had strength of 2500 horsemen.
Sirdar Kapur Singh died in 1753; he was succeeded by his nephew Khushal Singh (son of Daan Singh); during his time this Misl had captured Jalandhar-Doab, Manauli, Ghanauli, Bharatgarh, Nurpur, Behrampur, Adampur, Banga, Bela, Chhat, Banur, and Abohar too; this area too gave him an annual income of three and a half hundred thousand rupees; out of this two hundred thousand were from Bari-Doab, one hundred thousand from Bist-Doab and fifty thousand from Banur.
Khushal Singh died in 1759; he was succeeded by his son Budh Singh; in October 1811, Ranjit Singh attacked him; at this he crossed the river and fled to his cis-Satluj territory; now, Ranjit Singh annexed all his territory; Budh Singh died in 1816; he had seven sons who divided his territory equally among them.
Bhai Desu (son of Bhag Mall and grandson of Takht Mall) was the forefather of the founders of this Misl; when he had got initiation he was named Buddha Singh; he had two sons: Naudh Singh and Chanda Singh (the descendants of Naudh Singh are known as Sukarchakkias because he lived in village Sukar Chakk and the descendants of Chanda Singh are
known as Sandhawalias because he lived in village Sandhan Wala); in 1718, Buddha Singh died and Naudh Singh took over the command of the jatha; in 1748, this jatha was organised as Sukarchakkia Misl; in 1752, Naudh Singh too died and his son Charhat Singh became the chief of the Misl; after some time, Charhat Singh moved from Sukar Chakk village to Gujranwala and built a fort there; within a short period, he established his supremacy in the area of Wazirabad, Eimanabad, and Rohtas etc; in August 1761, he defeated Nur-ud-Din Bamzai, a General of Ahmed Shah Durrrani; in September 1761, he defeated Khwaja Udeidulla, the Afghan Governor of Lahore; he played remarkable role during the carnage of the 5th of February 1762; he died in the battle of Jammu in 1770.
Charhat Singh was succeeded by his minor son Mahan Singh; he too captured several new villages around Gujranwala; he died in 1790 and was succeeded by his ten-year old son Ranjit Singh.
Ranjit Singh captured Lahore on the 7th of July 1799; from this day, he went on capturing the rest of the Sikh Homeland one-by-one; he captured Amritsar in 1805, followed by victories of Kasur (1807), Jhang, Bahawalpur, Akhnoor, territory of Dallewalia Misl (1807), Kangra (1809), Gujrat, Khushab, Sahiwal, Jammu and Wazirabad (1810), territory of Ramgarhia Misl, territory of Faizalapuria Misl, territory of Nakkai Misl (1811), Attock (1813), Multan (1818), Kashmir (1819), territory of Kanhaiya Misl (1821), Naushehra (1824), Peshawar (1834), Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan (1836).
Ranjit Singh died in 1839; after his death, his conspirator sycophant ministers: the Dogras (Dhian Sinh, Gulab Sinh, Suchet Sinh, and Hira Sinh) and the Brahmins of Hindustan (Misr Khushal Chand, Misr Lal Chand and Misr Tej Ram) destroyed his kingdom; first they killed his eldest son and successor Kharak Singh and his successor Naunihal Singh in 1840; the next successor Sher Singh and his minor son Partab Singh were killed jointly by Dhian Sinh Dogra, Lehna Singh and Ajit Singh Sandhawalia (collaterals of Ranjit Singh);
now minor Daleep Singh was given the crown; two other sons of Ranjit Singh (Pishaura Singh and Kashmir Singh) too were killed in 1845; by this time the Dogras and the Brahmin courtiers had already made contact with the English and had chalked out a planning to let them (English) capture the whole territory of Ranjit Singh; within three years, the English occupied the territory of Ranjit Singh (see detail in the following chapter).
Jai Singh Sandhu (son of Khushal Singh) of the village Kanha (district Lahore) was the founder of this Misl; hence the name Kanhaiya Misl; another founder leader of this Misl was Amar Singh of Kingra village. Jai Singh and his brother Jhanda Singh had got initiation from the jatha of (Nawab) Kapur Singh; when all the Sikh Jathas were organised into 11 Misls, Jai Singh’s jatha was named as Kanhaiya Misl. Haqiqat Singh, Jeewan Singh, Tara Singh and Mehtab Singh (all four from village Julka, about 6 km from village Kanha) too were senior generals of this Misl; this Misl had joined the attack on Lahore in 1754; in 1763, they joined other Misls when they attacked Kasur to get wife of a Brahmin restored to him.
In the battle of 1754, Jhanda Singh (brother of Jai Singh) died; after this Jai Singh married the widow of Jhanda Singh. Jai Singh was an adventurous general; he attacked areas around Pathankot and captured a lot of territory including Pathankot, Hajipur, Datarpur, Sujanpur and Mukerian; in 1770, he captured a large tract of Jammu State.
In 1778, he joined Mahan Singh Sukarchakkia and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and fought against Jassa Singh Ramgarhia and defeated him; in 1784, he captured the fort of Kangra too; to take revenge of his defeat in 1778, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, in collaboration with Mahan Singh and Sansar Chand Katoch (the former ruler of Kangra), attacked him at Achal-Watala, in 1785; in this battle Gurbakhsh Singh (26 years old son of Jai Singh and husband of Sada Kaur) was killed; Jai Singh too died in 1759; he was succeeded by his
daughter-in-law Sada Kaur; by this time, this Misl had its rule on Batala, Kalanaur, Dinanagar, Mukerian, Qadian etc; Sada Kaur was an intelligent lady; she had observed that she won’t be able to survive alone, so she decided to have some male general as her ally; with this in her mind, she got her daughter Mehtab Kaur, married to Ranjit Singh (son of Mahan Singh of Sukarchakkia Misl); in 1799, she joined Ranjit Singh to capture Lahore; when Ranjit Singh became very powerful and captured territory of other Misls, he asked her too to surrender her territory; when she refused, he treacherously imprisoned her in 1821; she died as his prisoner in 1832.
Haqiqat Singh of Julka village was another leader of this Misl; he ruled over Pathankot, Kalanaur and Akalgarh; he died in 1782 and was succeeded by his minor son Jaimal Singh; Jaimal Singh got his daughter Chand Kaur married to Kharak Singh, the eldest son of Ranjit Singh (Maharaja); in 1812, Jaimal Singh died and Ranjit Singh annexed all his territory.
Deep Singh (later Baba Deep Singh), son of Bhagta, of village Pahuwind (now district Amritsar) was the founder of this Misl. Earlier this Misl was known as Deep Singh’s Misl but after the martyrdom of Deep Singh in 1757 and another general Gurbakhsh Singh (of Leel village) in 1764, this Misl came to be known as Misl Shaheedan; Deep Singh had got initiation from Guru Gobind Singh and had spent some time in the company of the Guru; Deep Singh was a brave general; he had participated in several battles including the battles of Banda Singh Bahadur; in 1733, when all the Sikh jathas were organised into Buddha Dal (elders/seniors) and Taruna Dal (youngsters), his Jatha became a part of the Buddha Dal; this jatha was assigned duty to take care of the Gurdwaras.
Around 1750, Deep Singh moved to Talwandi Sabo and established his headquarters there; when, in 1757, the Durranis occupied Darbar Sahib Amritsar and desecrated it, he led a jatha to get Amritsar freed from them; this jatha reached
Amritsar on the 11th of November 1757; a major battle was fought between the Sikhs and the Afghans; by evening, all the Sikhs and thousands of Afghan soldiers were killed; again on the 1st of December 1764, Gurbaksh Singh (of Leel village), another general of this Misl, and his 29 companions fought against a thirty-thousand strong mammoth army of the Durranis and Balochs and embraced martyrdom near Akal Takht Sahib.190
Deep Singh was succeeded by Sudha Singh; he died during the carnage of February 1762; now Karam Singh Sandhu, of village Marakha (district Sheikhupura), became the chief of this Misl; in 1763, he captured Shehzadpur, Majri and Kesri areas of the present Ambala district; in 1773, he joined other jathas and attacked territory of Zabita Khan Ruhila; later, he occupied some territory around Saharanpur too.
Karam Singh died in 1794; he was succeeded by his son Gulab Singh; Gulab Singh was a weak general and he soon lost area around Saharanpur but Ambala remained under his occupation; in 1804, he signed treaty with the English; he died in 1844 and was succeeded by his son Shiv Kirpal Singh; when Shiv Kirpal Singh died in 1871, his son Jeewan Singh became the master of his State; at this time Jeewan Singh had an annual income of forty-eight thousand rupees; Jeewan Singh was married to Bachitar Kaur, the daughter of Maharaja Mohinder Singh of Patiala; the Maharaja gave him a dowry of two million (twenty lakh) rupees; in 1890, Jeewan Singh was given the title of Star of India by the British.
Sirdar Karora Singh Virk, resident of Barki (district Lahore) was the first chief of this Misl; earlier, Karora Singh was the deputy of the jatha led by Sirdar Sham Singh of village Narli (district Lahore); after the death of Sham Singh in 1739, Sirdar Karam Singh Uppal (of village Pechgarh) became the chief of this Jatha; he too died in early days of 1748 and Karora Singh became the chief of the Jatha.
In March 1748, when the Misls were formed, his jatha became a Misl; hence the name of the Misl. Karora Singh had the command of 7-8 thousand horsemen; his first possessions were Hariana and Sham Churasi (in Hoshiarpur district); Karora Singh died in the battle of Taravari in 1761.
Karora Singh was succeeded by Baghel Singh Dhaliwal of Jhabal (district Amritsar); Baghel Singh was fond of adventures; he left the Majha area and launched his actions in Karnal, Saharanpur and other areas of Gang-Doab; he was one of those five generals who unfurled blue Khalsa flag on Red Fort at Delhi on the 11th of March 1783; in 1783-84, he identified the places associated with the visits of the Gurus and built Gurdwaras there; he built shrines at Chandni Chowk, where Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed on 11th of November 1675, and other places where Guru Nanak, Guru Hakrishan and Guru Gobind Singh had spent some days.
After this, he proceeded towards Ruhilkhand and received a tribute of one million and one hundred thousand rupees from the rulers of this area; he defeated the rulers of Aligarh, Khurja, Chandausi, Itawah, Farukhabad, Muradabad, Anupshahr, Bulandshahr, Bijnaur too; he attcked Delhi several time and received tribute; Baghel Singh had developed amicable relations with Shah Aalam, the Mughal king, Beghum Samru and several other rulers and chiefs too.
Baghel Singh had an army of thirty thousand soldiers; the ground where his army used to pitch its tents is still known as Tees Hazari (literally: associated with thirty thousands). Baghel Singh died in 1802; he was succeeded by his wives Ratan Kaur and Ram Kaur; Ratan Kaur lived at Hariana with her husband and Ram Kaur lived at Chhalondi; when Ratan Kaur died Ranjit Singh occupied his territory and when Ram Kaur died in 1848 and the English annexed her territory; the British also confiscated all her property too which included a very large number of invaluable diamonds, golden ornaments, other costly articles and a lot of cash.
Another branch of this Misl was headed by Sirdar Bhanga Singh; he ruled over Thanesar (now Kurukashetra) and
Merrut etc. In 1791, he attacked Anupshahar and captured the town; he arrested Lieutenant Colonel Robert Stuart and kept him in his custody for about 9 months; he was released after receiving ransom; in 1803, Bhanga Singh joined Lord Lake and attacked Delhi.
Bhanga Singh died in 1815 and his son Fateh Singh became the chief of this Misl; Fateh Singh died childless in 1819; after this the English annexed half of his State and the rest was left for the maintenance of his wife Hassan Kaur; after her death this territory too was confiscated by the English; Bhanga Singh had got his daughter Karam Kaur married to Karam Singh (Maharaja of Patiala).
Kalsia State: Another branch of this Misl had established Kalsia State. Rai Singh (son of Mehtab Singh Miran Kot) and Dulcha Singh of this Misl had occupied the territory of Chhachhrauli and Naraingarh etc. Dulcha Singh was succeeded by Gurbakhsh Singh and after the death of Gurbakhsh Singh, his son Jodh Singh became the master of this State; he died in the battle of Multan in 1818; he was succeeded by Sobha Singh, Lehna Singh, Bishan Singh, Ranjit Singh and Ravishwar Singh respectively.
Kaithal State: Bhai Bhagtu (son of Bhai Aadam Brar) was a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan Sahib; he died in 1652. Desu Singh, son of Gurbakhsh Singh, one of Bhai Bhagtu’s descendnts occupied Kaithal in 1765; after his death in 1780, his son Lal Singh became the chief of this small State; Lal Singh died soon after becoming the chief; he was succeeded by his brother Udey Singh; he died child-less in 1843 and the English annexed his territory; it was Udey Singh who made liberal contribution to Santokh Singh poet who authored Gur Patrtap Suraj Granth (completed in 1843).
Phulkian States: This clan is known after (Baba) Phul/Phool, a direct descendant of Raja Jaisal Bhatti of Jaisalmer; seventh in direct line of Raja Jaisal was Sidhu (now a caste of the Jats); and ninth in direct line of Sidhu was Brar (another caste of the Jats); from Brar, Phul was thirteenth in
direct line; Phul had six sons, Tiloka (Tilok Singh after initiation) was the eldest and Rama (Ram Singh after initiation) was next to him; later, Tilok Singh became the founder of the Nabha State and Ram Singh was the founder of the Patiala State.
Nabha State: Tilok Singh was succeeded by his son Gurdit Singh who had the following successors respectively: (his son) Surat Singh, (his son) Hamir Singh, (his son) Jaswant Singh, (his son) Davinder Singh, (his son) Bharpur Singh and (his brother) Bhagwan Singh. Bharpur Singh and his brother Bhagwan Singh, both died issue-less, hence Hira Singh of Badrukhan was crowned as the ruler of Nabha; he was succeeded by his son Ripudaman Singh, who was dethroned on the 9th of July 1923 (Ripudaman Singh was a staunch supporter of Gurdwara Reform Movement of 1920-25) and his minor son Partap Singh was installed as king (later, Partap Singh became an apostate); Nabha State was merged in the newly created province of Pepsu in 1948.
Patiala State was established by Aala Singh (son of Ram Singh). Patiala, Barnala and Bathinda were a part of his State; all the sons of Aala Singh died during his life time, hence his grandson Amar Singh was crowned as the new king of Patiala State; Aala Singh and Amar Singh both accepted titles of Raja from Ahmed Shah Durrani (though they never betrayed the Sikhs); once, when Amar Singh was imprisoned by Durrani, Shah Wali Khan Bamzai, the prime minister of Delhi, got him released and got him the title of Raja from Durrani; due to this, Amar Singh began writing Bamzai (the family name of Shah Wali Khan) as his surname, and his successors too continued this tradition till 1948.
Amar Singh was succeeded by his son Sahib Singh who was most unworthy ruler of Patiala; his State was saved by his sister Sahib Kaur (with whom this ungrateful brother did great injustice); Sahib Singh was succeeded by Karam Singh, who built several Gurdwaras in his state, in the memory of the Guru Sahib; he was succeeded by Narinder Singh; Narinder Singh’s successor son Mahender Singh founded several educational
institutes; Mahender Singh was succeeded by Rajendera Singh, who was further succeeded by Bhupindera Singh, known for his luxurious and fast life; Bhupindera Singh too made serious contribution to the cause of education and research in Sikh studies; in 1938, he died and Yadavindera Singh became the ruler of Patiala State; in 1948, this State was merged into newly created Pepsu province and he was appointed Rajparmukh (Governor). In 1980, Captain Amarinder Singh (son of Maharaja Yadavindera Singh) became an M.P.; he resigned when Indira Gandhi attacked Darbar Sahib in 1984; in 1985, he became an M.L.A.; he again resigned when Surjit Barnala attacked Darbar Sahib in April 1986; in 2002, he became the chief minister of the Punjab.
Bhadaur, Bajidpur, Malaud, Badrukkhan and Laudghariay Sirdars too are the descendants of (Baba) Phul.
The Phulkian family reckons itself as the twelfth Misl of the Sikhs; but, in 1748, when the Sikhs formed Misls, their number was eleven only; moreover, the Phulkian family or its representatives never attended the Sarbat Khalsa gatherings; they were ever ready to salute the rising sun, the victor, and the powerful; that is why, they always bowed before Durranis when they attacked and they surrendered when the Sikh Misls took them to task; there is no doubt that being Sikhs they were generally interested in helping the Sikhs when they were in need.
In this family, only Ripudaman Singh had sincerity for the Sikh cause; and on the other hand Yadavinder Singh was generally on the side of the opponents of the Sikh cause. He got his sister and daughter married to petty Hindu (former) rulers; he was always opposed to the demand of Punjabi Suba; Yadavinder Singh’s son Amarinder Singh did a lot to wash the sins of his father.
Jind State: Sukhchain Singh, another son of Tilok Singh established Jind State with Sangrur as its final headquarters. Sukhchain Singh was succeeded by (his son) Gajpat Singh, his son) Bhag Singh, (his son) Fateh Singh and (his son) Sangat Singh. Sangat Singh died issueless; so after
this Sarup Singh, a descendant of Bhup Singh (second son of Gajpat Singh) became ruler of Jind State in 1837; he was further succeeded by (his son) Raghbir Singh, (his son) Balbir Singh, (his son) Ranbir Singh and (his son) Rajbir Singh.
Role of the Sikhs in Delhi, Gang-Doab & Rajasthan
During the last decades of the eighteenth century, the Sikhs had played an important role in the politics of Delhi, Ruhilkhand and Bharatpur State etc; they influenced several disputes and battles and dictated their terms to the rulers of these areas; and received tribute and other levies.
The Sikhs badly defeat Najib-ud-Daula
Between 1764 and 1770, Najib-ud-Daula was the prime minister of the Mughal emperor Shah Aalam; during the period of absence of the emperor in Delhi, he was like a dictator; he made several attacks on the Sikhs; during all these battles he was badly defeated.
In January 1764, after the final victory of Sarhind, a group of the Sikhs moved towards Saharanpur; they attacked the area of Bara Saadat and plundered the umraa and the government officials of this zone; this fetched the Sikhs a lot of money, gold, pearls and diamonds; Najib-ud-Daula, the Mughal prime minister received reports of the Sikhs’ actions but he could not do anything; at that time Najib-ud-Daula was known as a hard-handed man as he had defeated and killed Suraj Mall Jaat, the chief of Bharatpur State a few months earlier; according to Bakht Mall,191 it was Jawahar Sinh, the son of Suraj Mall, who had brought the Sikhs to help him; Jawahar Sinh had paid a sum of rupees eleven hundred thousand (11 lakh) to the Sikhs to help him; now, Najib-ud-Daula was afraid of the Sikhs’ occupation of Delhi so he himself offered a big amount and requested them to return to the Punjab, but the Sikhs refused to betray Jawahar Sinh.
In January 1765, Jawahar Sinh again approached the Sikhs; this time he had planned to occupy Delhi; Najib-ud-Daula too received intelligence and he too made preparations
to fight; when the Sikhs and the Bharatpur forces reached Delhi put siege to the city but they could not force their entry into the walled city; this siege continued for about one month; by this time, both the parties received news of the departure of Ahmed Shah Durrani for an attack on Delhi, so they made a compromise and the Sikhs had to return to the Punjab.
In April 1766, one group of Sikhs attacked Delhi again; they entered the city from the side of Okhla Ghat and after passing through Sahib Ganj, they put up their camps in the area of Masuri; some Sikhs entered the area of Sheikh Mohammed too; the Sikhs took away all the horses and other animals from this area.192
In 1767, Ahmed Shah Durani attacked the Punjab; Najib-ud-Daula went to ‘welcome’ Durrani and met him near the Beas river; in his absence, the Sikhs attacked Merrut and its suburbs. When Zabita Khan Ruhila (son of Najib-ud-Daula) received this news, he led five thousand soldiers against the Sikhs; on the other hand, the Afghan general Jahan Khan, along with eight thousand soldiers, too marched towards Merrut; when the Sikhs came to know about the advance of these two forces, they crossed Jamuna river and moved towards hills.
The next year, Najib-ud-Daula solemnized the marriage of his son Kalu Khan; when he was busy in marriage celebrations, the Sikhs attacked Panipat and Karnal and plundered the houses of the umraa and other officials; later, the Sikhs attacked Nanauta, occupied its fort and established it as their headquarters.
By this time, Najib-ud-Daula had begun realizing himself as a defeated, weak and tired person; hence he declared that he could not fight against the Sikhs; as a result he relinquished the office (of Prime Minister) and retired to inactive life; within a few months (in1770) he died.
The Sikhs had attacked Delhi and Ruhilkhand (the area of Najib-ud-Daula) several time between 1766 and 1770 and had taken away between two and three million rupees during these attacks as tribute or by way of plunder.
The Sikhs’ ventures in Delhi
The Mughal emperor Shah Aalam II, who had spent several years in Allahabad because he was afraid of coming to Delhi, now, sought the help of the Marhattas to enter Delhi; on the 6th of January 1770, he sat on the throne of Delhi for the first time and held his court; earlier, he had sought the help of the Sikhs too but he had placed a condition that all the Sikh Misls should give a joint understanding to help him in occupying the throne at Delhi; but the Sikhs could not do so, hence the Marhattas availed the opportunity; but, the Marhattas could not achieve any further benefit because of the sudden death of their chief Peshwa Madho Rao, followed by their internal feuds; this was the second phase of the downfall of the Marhattas (the first being the defeat of Panipat and the death of one hundred thousand soldiers in this battle). Grant Gough considers Peshwa Madho Rao’s death as a loss bigger than the defeat of Panipat.193
Now, though Shah Aalam had occupied the throne of Delhi and had taken command of the affairs of the court, but, still, the Delhi court was a centre of the conspiracies of two ministers Najaf Khan and Abdul Ahad Khan against each other; as a result Shah Aalam always remained under stress. This period of uncertainty helped the Sikhs a lot; they (Sikhs) formed a front with Zabita Khan Rohilla and attacked Delhi twice, in December 1773 and January 1774 and plundered the mansions of the umraa and the government officials; the Sikhs plundered even in Shahdara area.
In May 1774, Shah Aalam tried to make peace with the Sikhs; he offered them jagir of Shahbazpur as well as expenses for ten thousand horsemen; he even sent a khillat (robe of honour) to the Sikhs;194 but, the Sikhs did not accept his offer. Now, he decided to enrol an army of eighty thousand soldiers and planned to divest the Sikhs of their possessions; as a part of this planning, the minister Abdul Ahad Khan, convinced prince Farkhunda Bakht to accept the command of these forces and lead an attack on the Sikhs at Sarhind; he (Abdul Ahad)
also got Walter Reihart (Mr. Samru) appointed as the Governor of Sarhind and sent an army, under the command of the prince, to attack Sarhind; this army fought a battle against the Sikhs but lost; Abdul Ahad’s rival Najaf Khan tried to exploit this defeat and sought more powers for him from the emperor.
At this, Abdul Ahad Khan made a secret deal with the Sikhs; under this deal he was not to take any action against the Sikhs and the latter would attack Delhi to plunder and create awe; hence when the Sikhs attacked, Abdul Ahad did not take any action against the Sikhs, and, on the other hand, Najaf Khan had to remain busy in defending Delhi from the Sikhs.195
Now, Zabita Khan made peace with Najaf Khan and got his jagirs restored back to him; this angered the Sikhs; at this, Rai Singh, Tara Singh Gaiba and Baghel Singh made a joint attack on Gungo, Nanauta and Deoband, the territory of Zabita Khan. Zabita Khan did not want to fight against the Sikhs; he sought forgiveness of the Sikhs and presented them an amount of fifty thousand rupees; now, the Sikh army left Rohilkhand area and moved towards Merrut and Sonepat, where they plundered the umraa and the government officials; Saharanpur and Buria were the next targets of the Sikhs.
In 1776, Zabita Khan again sought help from the Sikhs; Now 30 to 40 thousands strong Sikh-Ruhila army marched towards Delhi; on the other hand Najaf Khan sent an equal army under the command of Qasim Ali Khan; Qasim Ali Khan was killed in the battle and the rest of his army ran towards the city and shut the gates; so, the Sikhs could not capture Delhi. From here the Sikhs attacked Aligarh, Merrut, Sikandera and Khurja; from these attacks, especially from Khurja, the Sikhs captured a lot of wealth. During this period, Zabita Khan got so impressed from the Sikhs that he requested for initiation into the Sikh faith; he was given initiation and named as Dharam Singh; at this people use to say: ‘Ikk Guru do chelaa, aadhaa Sikh aadha Ruhila’.
During this period Asif-ud-Daula, the rival of Najaf Khan, too approached the Sikhs; he offered one million rupees if the Sikhs would help him; at first Rai Singh did not give his
consent but when he agreed to say yes, Asif-ud-Daula had already withdrawn his offer.196
By this time, Najaf Khan and Samru had joined hands and, as a follow up, they attacked the territory of Zabita Khan Ruhila; a battle was fought between the towns of Amirgarh and Gausgarh, on the 14th of September 1777; the Rohilas lost this battle and Ghulam Qadir, Afzal Khan, Sultan Khan and other Ruhila generals surrendered but Zabita Khan refused to do so and crossed river Jamuna (perhaps with a view of seeking help from the Sikhs); but, within a short period, Zabita Khan changed his mind and he made peace with Najaf Khan; he offered even to marry his daughter to Najaf Kuli Khan, the adopted son of Najaf Khan; at this Najaf Khan appointed Zabita Khan as the chief of Saharanpur-Buria zone; now it was to be a difficult time for him (Zabita Khan) as he was supposed to fight against the Sikhs too.
In 1778, Abdul Ahd Khan decided to launch an expedition against the Sikhs; he was under the impression that after their defeat at the hands of Najaf Khan, they would have become weak and disheartened; secondly, he wanted to make some such achievement that should obliterate Najaf Khan’s achievements (such as the killing of Suraj Mall, the chief of Bharatpur); with all this in his mind, he planned an attack on Patiala; he asked prince Bakht Khan to lead the army; but, under the pretext of illness, he refused; but when he approached prince Farkhanda Khan who gave his consent.
After making preparations, in October 1779, they began a march to attack Patiala. It is very interesting to note that some Sikh generals too collaborated with the Mughals and joined hands with them; Baghel Singh Karorasinghia and Desu Singh Kaithal personally led their soldiers to help the Mughal army against the Patiala ruler; Gajpat Singh of Jind agreed to pay two hundred thousand rupees to the Mughal as his contribution for this expedition.
When the Patiala Raja Amar Singh got news of the march of the Mughal army, he sent a message to the Dal Khalsa to help him; but, before the Dal Khalsa could reach
Patiala, the Delhi forces had already surrounded Patiala; in such situation, Amar Singh had begun negotiating with the Mughals; in the meanwhile Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, Jai Singh Kanhaiya too reached near Patiala; these Sikh forces surrounded the Mughal army from three sides; at this, Baghel Singh and the other Sikh generals, who were on the side of the Mughals, changed their camps and joined the Dal Khalsa side; some of them began plundering the Mughal camps; this compelled the Mughals to beat a retreat.197
In November 1780, Najaf Khan too planned an attack on the Sikhs; he assigned an army of twelve thousand soldiers to expel them from the lands occupied by them; per chance, during those days Gajpat Singh, the chief of Jind State, had launched an attack on Merrut; Najaf Khan’s army chased him and attacked him; Gajpat Singh was defeated and arrested by the Mughal army; he had to pay a ransom of three hundred thousand rupees to secure his release. Now, Najaf Khan’s army decided to proceed towards other areas of the Punjab.
But, destiny had something different in its designs. Najaf Khan died on the 6th of April 1782; after his death, Mirza Shafi Khan and Afrasiyab Khan began conspiring against each other to capture power in the Mughal emperor’s court; in the course of these conspiracies, Mirza Shafi Khan was killed. Now, Afrasiyab Khan had no major enemy to bock his way; but, he was not a bold person; he had no courage and will to fight against the Sikhs; soon, the Sikhs too realized it; hence they re-launched their operations in the cis-Jamuna zone; they began collecting tribute from Merrut and adjoining States; Afrasiyab Khan or any Mughal force dared not to stop the Sikhs.198 Now, the Sikhs were supreme in the whole of Ruhilkhand, Chandausi, and Hassanpur; though the Sikhs had been invading these areas, still the common folk had their sympathies for the Sikhs because they (Sikhs) would plunder only those who were either rich or umraa or government officials and not any ordinary person.
The Sikhs hoist Blue Khalsa Flag on Red Fort at Delhi
When the Sikhs realised that the Mughal Darbar has become very weak as to fight against the Sikhs, the Dal Khalsa made another attack on Delhi; on the 8th of March 1783, the Sikhs marched from Aligarh and entered the suburbs of Delhi; they put up their camps at Berari; from here, they attacked the houses of the umraa and the government officials of Malik Ganj and Sabzi Mandi area, plundered them and later put their houses to fire; Mughalpura was their next target.199
Mori Gate and the Sikhs
Now, the Sikhs put siege to the Red Fort; thousands of the Sikh soldiers had taken their position on the side of Kashmiri Gate; the Sikhs tried their best to break the gate of fort open but could not do so; the next day, on the 9th of March, the Sikhs used a cannon and blew up a portion of the wall of the Red Fort; it made a big hole (literally: Mori in Punjabi) in the wall and the Sikhs entered the fort from this hole (this area is still known as Mori Gate).
After this, the Sikh forced occupied the Red Fort but they did not enter the area where women folk had been living; on the 11th of March, the Sikhs hoisted the blue Khalsa flag on the fort; after this, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, Baghel Singh, and Rai Singh held the court; at this time, the Sikhs asked Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, the chief of the Dal Khalsa, to sit on the throne but he refused by saying, ‘Gurmat says that there cannot be a single man’s rule; there is no human patshaah in Sikhism as only God is the patshah; hence I would not sit on throne’; the other Sikh generals too expressed the same gestures.
The Sikhs remained in occupation of Delhi for several days; now, the formal Mughal emperor, who had been divested of his fort and court, began negotiation with the Sikhs; he offered the Sikhs a share of 37½% of the octroi of Delhi; the Sikhs accepted this offer and agreed to hand over the Fort to the Mughal emperor.
But, before leaving Jassa Singh Ramgarhia said: ‘as a memorial of our occupation of this throne, we would carry the
seat of throne to the Guru’s town, so that history should record that Delhi too had kissed the feet of the Sikhs’ and he actually removed the big tile on which the Mughals had fixed their throne and took it with him (this big tile is still preserved in the Bunga Ramgarhian, near Darbar Sahib Amritsar).
Baghel Singh’s Tees Hazari and Pul Mithaee
At that time the thirty thousand Sikh forces (under the command of Baghel Singh) had established its camps in a ground; due to the number of his army this place came to be known as Tees Hazari (now the site of the Delhi High Court). Similarly, the bridge where the Sikhs had distributed mithaee (sweets) to celebrate their victory is still known as Pul Mithaee (the bridge where sweets were distributed).
Construction of the Sikh shrines at Delhi
Having made agreement for share in the revenues of Delhi, the Sikhs also acquired the land of those sites which had been associated with the Sikh Gurus; Baghel Singh and Jassa Singh Ramgarhia built Gurdwaras at all these sites; the first to come up was Sees/Sis Ganj, in the Chandni Chowk at the site of the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib; it was followed by construction of Gurdwara Rakab Ganj (where Guru Tegh Bahadur’s body was cremated), Bangla Sahib (where Guru Harkarishan spent about a week and breathed his last), Damdama Sahib and Moti Bagh (where Guru Gobind Singh Sahib had put up his camp), Bala Sahib (where Guru Harkrishan Sahib was cremated), Gurdwara Teliwara (in memory of the wives of Guru Gobind Singh) and others.
Role of the Marhattas in Delhi
In 1785, Afrasiyab Khan, the prime minister of Delhi was murdered; now, Mahadji Sindhia was more power in the court of the Mughal emperor; he appointed Ambaji to monitor the affairs of the city; now, Mahadji wanted to have a compromise with the Sikhs also; he offered them revenues of one million rupees per year; it included seven hundred fifty
thousand rupees from Karnal pargana and two and a half hundred thousands from the Karnal-Delhi territory of Sarkar (literally: government, i.e. the area in the direct control of the emperor); besides, five thousand Sikh soldiers were to remain in Delhi.200
But, this agreement could not be finalized because Dulcha Singh did not agree to it and refused to sign over it; at this, the rest of the Sikh leaders surrounded him and put him under house arrest; this compelled him to make signatures. Although Dulcha Singh had signed under coercion, he considered it as his insult and began thinking of exhibiting his anger; when the other Sikh leaders came to know about the designs of Dulcha Singh, they too ended their relationship with Mahadji.
During this time, the English, under their policy of ‘divide and rule’, too tried to create differences between the Sikhs and the Marhattas;201 as a result of this manoeuvring, in 1787, Ambaji Marhatta planned an attack on Patiala; Baghel Singh too joined him; Ambaji tried to woo Karam Singh Patiala and Gurdit Singh Ladwa too but they did not agree; after this, he (Ambaji) approached Dulcha Singh too and received his consent; Ambaji succeeded in winning over Ghulam Qadir Ruhila too; but, at the eleventh hour Ghulam Qadir changed his mind and retreated. At this, Ambaji accepted an amount of just twenty thousand rupees from the Patiala ruler and went back.
In July 1787, Ghulam Qadir led a big force to attack Delhi; when the Marhattas received news of the march of this big force, they fled Delhi; now, Ghulam Qadir made an agreement with the Mughal General Ismail Begh and attacked the Marhattas and defeated Marhatta Mahadji Sindhia. On the other hand when the Sikhs came to know that Ghulam Qadir had marched towards Delhi, they (Sikhs) attacked his territory and began plundering the umraa; this news compelled him to return to his State; by that time, the Sikhs had completed their action.
Ghulam Qadir once again attacked Delhi; now he occupied the palace, blinded the Mughal emperor and plundered all his wealth; he even ‘insulted’ the women folk of the palace. But, soon, a big Marhatta force reached Delhi; at this Ghulam Qadir fled Delhi; the Marhattas chased him and killed him in a battle.
In 1788-89, the Marhatta and the Mughal forces, under the command of Rane Khan and Ali Bahadur, planned an attack on Patiala; they actually began a march; Nanu Mall Bania, a former minister of Patiala, too joined them; at this juncture Bibi Rajinder Kaur (daughter of Bhumia Singh and grand-daughter of Aala Singh) made contact with the invading generals and offered them a sum of one hundred thousand rupees which they accepted and returned to Delhi.
In 1789, the Sikh forces attacked Anupshahr and arrested an English officer Stuart; later Beghum Samru mediated and got him released after a payment of sixty thousand rupees as fine.
On the third of December 1791, more than seven thousand strong forces, led by Bhanga Singh and others, crossed the river Jamuna and attacked Ghosgarh, Merrut and Antervedi etc and plundered the umraa and the government officials.
In 1794, twelve thousand Marhatta forces, under the command of Nana Rao Marhatta, marched towards the Sikh States; the rulers of Jind and Kaithal sent some valuable gifts to the Marhattas and saved their States from attack; the next target of the Marhattas was Patiala; Sahib Singh was ruling Patiala since 1793; he was a coward and child-like person; in this situation, his sister Sahib Kaur played a remarkable role to save his State from becoming a centre of conspiracies and rebellions; again, in 1794, when the Marhattas marched towards Patiala, Rani Sahib Kaur refused to accept their terms and became ready for a battle; on the other hand when generals Bhanga Singh, Mehta Singh Thanesar and Tara Singh came to know about this attack, they sent their forces to defend Patiala. Armies from both the sides fought in the fields of Mardanpur;
the Sikh forces were led by Sahib Kaur herself; she even went to the front line to encourage and inspire the Sikh soldiers.
Soon, the Marhattas got intelligence that more Sikh forces were on their way to Patiala; this compelled Nana Rao Marhatta to retreat; the Sikh forces chased him up to river Ghaggar. By that time another big Marhatta army, under the command of Madho Rao, too joined Nana Rao’s forces; now, another battle was fought between the Sikh and the Marhatta forces; this battle continued till evening; by this time, the Marhattas were tired of fighting, hence, even in darkness, they began retreating towards Panipat.
In 1794, Mahadji Sindia died; now, the Marhattas did not have any senior leader to organise and unite them for any joint cause; with this the Marhatta role in the Delhi affairs came to an end.202
By this time, the English generals (in the name of East India Company) had begun making their entry in the Mughal court; they had offered to help the Mughal emperor several times; after the exit of the Marhattas, the English had only one rival i.e. the Sikhs. In 1797, George Thomas tried to subjugate the Sikhs; during one attack on Patiala, he defeated the Patiala forces; but he was not in favour of a major battle against the Patiala ruler, so he made compromise with the ruler of Patiala. After this, in March 1800, George Thomas (of Hansi) fought some battles against the Sikhs; when Sahib Singh Bedi attacked Raikot (near Ludhiana), he went to help the Raikot ruler; he (Thomas) fought against the Sikhs at Jind and Kaithal too; here too he entered a compromise; these three agreements fetched him the territory of Badsikri, Jamalpur and Tohana (from Patiala State), Khanauri (from Kaithal State) and Safidon (from Jind State).
But, the rule of George Thomas was short-lived; in December 1801, the English occupied some of his territory; Thomas himself did not want to fight against the powerful English army; so, he accepted voluntary ‘retirement’; on the first of January 1802, the English took control of his capital Hansi too.
By this time, on the other side of Satluj river, Ranjit Singh had become a powerful ruler and was in process of usurping the lands of the other Misls; at this, the English began wooing the cis-Satluj Sikh States; all of them began signing treaties with the English; instead of being swallowed by Ranjit Singh, they chose to seek protection of the English; but, they did not know that under the English ‘protection’ they were going to be just at the mercy of the English; and soon they became secondary States.
An analysis of the Sikh Misls
The Sikh philosophy rejects rule of a person over others; this means that even a Sikh cannot be a ruler; this also implies that he cannot be ruled or enslaved; if, still, a Sikh has a wish to ‘rule’ over others, then he is either ignorant about the Sikh philosophy or is hypocrite and he does not want to practice Sikh philosophy; according to Sikhism, God is the only emperor and giver of justice and everything; however, it does not mean that there is no concept of an administrator; Sikhism approves administrators of Beghumpura (land without suffering) and Halemi Raj (state where everyone will have peaceful co-existence).
The Sikhs’ struggle against the Mughal and Afghans was not for replacing them with the Sikhs, as ‘rulers with beards and turbans’ but it was for bringing an end to tyranny, injustice and foreign rule and also to create real Halemi Raj. Baba Banda Singh Bahadur had established such a regime, based on Sikh philosophy, in 1710, when he captured Samana, Sarhind, Kalanaur and other areas; it was the beginning of the Halemi Raj; but, this rule did not last long; the Sikhs had to wait for another half century to bring an end to slavery, tyranny, injustice, in-humanism and foreign rule.
In 1753, when the Sikhs offered ‘Rakhi’ (protectorate) to all (not only to the Sikhs or the Hindus but also to the Muslims alike) the people of the Punjab, they (Sikhs) did not have any wish to be the ‘rulers’; their aim was imparting justice, peace, humanism and fraternity; their mission was
creation of a socio-spiritual society biased on ‘fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man.’
In 1765, the Bhangi Misl occupied Lahore and became its ‘administrator’, and other Misls tried to administer the territory under their Rakhi in the true sense of the Sikh polity; their management and administration was so popular among folk that when a high-handed man like Ahmed Shah Durrani enquired of the people about their plight under the Sikhs, especially the Muslims told him that the Sikhs were such administrators as they (folk) would wish to have forever; the Sikhs administered, the territory under their hand, as Gurbani (the Sikh hymns) say: ‘only the most capable should sit on throne’; such were the credentials of the Sikhs of those times.
But, as soon as the leaders of these Sikh Misls got settled as ‘chiefs’, they began considering themselves as the ‘owners’, ‘lords’, ‘masters’ of these territories; now, they were not poor farmers or economically weaker but had a lot of wealth, which was much more than their necessities; when the people began giving them special respect, began ‘saluting’ them; and, addressed them as ‘sirdar’ (chief), and even made obeisance to them, they began feeling themselves as ‘superior’ being and behaved in a different manner which was almost like that of the Mughal rulers.
As most of them were totally illiterate, with the passage of time, they began appointing officers to manage the revenues, accounts, records, correspondence etc; most of these employees were Brahmins from Hindustan (present U.P., M.P. zone) and only a few of them were the Punjabi Hindus. These Hindustani Brahmin officials had, earlier, been employed with former Mughal or Rajput rulers, Nawabs, ministers, army-chiefs, deputies or the Mughal of Afghan umraa; they had not only experience of administration but also the ‘culture’ of conspiracies, sinful life, corruption and other habits; the Hindu employees of the former Rajput (allies of the Mughal emperors) had also been tempered with Mughal-Afghan way of life; hence it was a part of their nature to commit excesses, to live life of
luxury, commit excesses on poor folk, practice nepotism, use intoxicants, have a large number of concubines etc; in fact, it had become their way of life. When the Sikh ‘Sirdars’ appointed such persons to manage their ‘states’, they (the Hindu employees) began ‘teaching’ and moulding their ‘masters’ (Sikh Generals) to make feel like kings and emperors. They further inculcated a feeling among them that they (Sikh Sirdars) were not dalit-Jatts of low-caste but were born with blue blood.
Secondly, when Banda Singh had launched a struggle, most of his companions were either those Sikhs who had learnt the Sikh way of life from Guru Gobind Singh, or were the descendants of such persons; and they had adopted the culture of their parents; then too, when Banda Singh capture a lot of territory, several such Hindus (especially Jaats, Gujjars and Rajput) too joined him with the sole purpose of plundering.203 But, when the Mughals began perpetrating atrocities on the Sikhs, these people shaved their heads and beards, declared themselves as Hindus, and again appeared in their original and real form; some of them even joined the Mughals’ expedition against the Sikhs and became their touts.
Again, after the death of Mir Mannu (1753), when the Sikhs became de facto rulers of the Punjab, a very large number of Hindu Jatts, Rajputs and Khatris joined the Sikh army; there were some other too, who were those who had become victims of the Mughal atrocities, or were fed up with their poverty; they had a feeling that in spite of living poor lives or dying of starvation, it is better to join some Sikh jatha and plunder the umraa, the rich and the affluent; and, if such venture brought them wealth, their lives would become better and if they died they would be known as martyrs and not as the victims of starvation.
Among these neo-Sikhs, some were very aspiring and had enterprising nature; they formed their own jathas and, later, became ‘chiefs’; their ambition was not to establish ‘Halemi Raaj’ (rule of peaceful co-existence) but to capture power.
So long as the first generation of the Sikh leadership was alive and had the command of the Sikh movement (especially up to 1780, under the command of leaders like Jassa Singh Ahluwalia), even these neo-Sikhs could not behave in a non-Sikh manner; but, as soon as the second and the third generation began heading these jathas and they captured territories, they began ignoring their leaders and even the Sikh way of life; with the passage of time, some Misls/leaders became very powerful with a command of thousands of horsemen; they were, now, like the leaders of a tribe and not a jatha; here, began the erosion of Sikh ideology from their way of life; even earlier, they did not have enough knowledge of Sikhism as they had joined as soldiers; they might have got formal Khanday Di Pahul (the Sikh initiation) but they had not been tempered with real amrit, i.e. Guru’s teachings. As mentioned earlier, the neo-rulers employed non-Sikh officials, and with this re-began the neo-Mughal pattern in the administration of the Sikh Homeland. With the passage of time, some of the Sikh Sirdars had become ‘turbaned Rajputs/Mughal rulers’, and gradually the ‘Sikh’ in them became replaced with a ‘ruler’ and a ‘Raja/Maharaja’.
Soon, some of them became greedy; they began aspiring for acquiring more territory, wealth and power; now, they began attacking other Sikh territories; some Misls fought fierce battles against other Sikhs, killing hundreds of Sikhs simply to capture the others’ territory or to establish supremacy over the other Misl; soon, the most of the Sikh political world was stinking in the atmosphere of jealousy, hatred, excesses, aggressive and monster mentality; with this came alcoholism, cannabis, opium and other drugs (earlier it was just bhang, hemp) followed by indulgence in carnal pleasure; now quite a few Sikh ‘Sirdars’ had several one wives as well as concubines; some of them had harems (housing several girls) too; this was exactly opposite of Guru’s teachings.
With in just two decades, some Sirdars were living such a life that can justly be called life of debauched Mughals; and such Sikhs could be classifies a Mughalia-Sikhs; it was no
Sikh-rule at all. (It was just like Zail Singh being the president and Manmohan Singh as the prime minister of India; no doubt these turbaned persons headed India for some time but one cannot call it ‘Sikh rule’ in India; similar was the rule of some of the Misls after 1790).
Within a few decades, the Misl leaders began considering them just as the kings and not the chiefs of a jatha; the next step was to make this ‘office’ as hereditary and the territory of the Misls as their ‘family state/kingdom’; the Misls had achieved sovereignty as a result of the sacrifices of all the Sikhs, the Sikh martyrs, common Sikhs; thousands had sacrificed their lives and had suffered unspeakable atrocities; but, now, the chiefs began behaving as tribal leaders and their offices as hereditary; when a leader would become old or die, instead of choosing second in command or the most capable person as the chief of the Misl/Jatha, it was the eldest son (or another son of nephew etc) of the chief who would inherit it as his personal kingdom; it was just opposite of what Guru said: takht bahay takhtay ki laaik (only the ablest should occupy the throne).
This epidemic of straying from Guru’s path went on growing like cancer; soon, battles against other Misls, conspiracies, plunder, greed, criminal attitude, sinful life became a way of life; some leaders of Bhangis, Ramgarhias, Sukarchakkias, Kanhaiyas, and Karorsinghias began living life in tribal style; they were conspiring against each other, fighting, collaborating with others (even non-Sikhs); this negative wave, once, begun, did not stop even for a single day; rather, with the passage of time such activities became a routine of the day; its scope went on widening day by day; the ‘kirpan’ which the Guru had granted to the Sikhs as ‘saviour of justice and humanism’, had turned into a sword which would cut throats even of brethren just for power and wealth; it was exactly opposite of Guru’s teaching.
In 1783, Forester, an English writer, had commented that possible some aspirant chief of one of these Misls would establish a strong kingdom on the trembling walls of the
commonwealth of unruly Mils, by wresting the power of all of them; and this prediction of Forester began to prove true within one year of the publication of his book.204
(Maharaja) Ranjit Singh
On the 23rd of October 1772 Ahmed Shah Durrani died; he was succeeded by his son Taimur; though he (Taimur) lived till the 18th of May 1793, he could never establish himself in the Sikh Homeland; his only victory was recapturing of Multan from the Bhangi Misl in 1780. In 1793, Taimur’s son Shah Zaman became the chief of Kabul; he tried to follow the footsteps of his grandfather, Ahmed Shah Durrani; he attacked the Punjab four time (15.12.1793, 3.11.1795, 12.10.1796 and September 1798); and during these attacks he fought two major battles against the Sikhs in which he suffered heavy losses; he left Amritsar on the 4th of January 1799, never to return again as an aggressor; this was the end of Afghan invaders to the land of the Sikhs.
Ranjit Singh’s occupation of Lahore
Bhangi Mils occupied Lahore in 1765, and from 1765 to 1799, they ruled Lahore; though during this period they vacated the city, for short intervals, in order to avoid battle against Ahmed Shah Durrani and his successors; in 1799, Chet Singh Bhangi was the rule of Lahore; he was born in a ‘ruling’ family; though he had been born in a Sikh family but he had no wish to live the life of a religious person; he always considered himself as a ruler and his subjects like slaves; he was haughty, aggressive, vain and unjust; he would never tolerate anyone disobeying his orders nor would he allow finding faults with him; this went on for some time, but, in June 1799, he took such a step that turned almost all the umraa and the elite of the city into his opponents; due to a minor incident, he became angry with Bada-ud-Din (who was an honest, nice and generous person) and ordered his arrest; some prominent
residents of the city went to Chet Singh and requested him to release him but he did not bother; this compelled the elite of Lahore to ponder over possible replacement of Chet Singh with a suitable administrator; Hakim Hakam Rai, Mian Ashiq Mohammed, Mian Mohkam Din, Mohammed Baqir, Mufti Mohammed, Bhai Gurbakhsh Singh and some others held a meeting and short-listed some names who could be possible rulers of Lahore; finally, the name of Ranjit Singh of Sukarchakkia Misl was agreed upon by all of them as a consensus man. Ranjit Singh was a young man of nineteen years of age and was popular as a capable administrator of his State Gujranwala; the Lahore elite sent a signed request to Ranjit Singh to take over the city of Lahore; the letter assured him that all the ministers, umraa and religious personalities would extend him complete help. Ranjit Singh discussed this letter with his mother-in-law Sada Kaur, the chief of Nakkai Misl; she asked Ranjit Singh to give consent to the offer and assured him of her complete support (and when he marched to Lahore, she herself led her army to fight alongside him).
By this time, the institution of ‘sarbat khalsa‘ was almost dead; after the death of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (1783), the leaders of the Dal Khalsa could not choose their leader; even before 1783, some Misls had begun ignoring the Jathedar of the Dal Khalsa and they were intent upon capturing power even if they had to kill hundreds of Sikhs (of the other Misls); it was the beginning of the disintegration of the nation; it was the starting point of the destruction of the unity, brotherhood and religious cohesion in the Sikh Panth; it could have been stopped had steps been taken before 1783 but, soon, within a few years, almost all the leaders of the first line, who were impeccable, blemish less, true Sikhs began leaving this mortal world; their successors were young boys who were neither well versed in the Sikh philosophy nor had they suffered at the hands of the cruel regime of the Mughals; hence they did not have milk of human kindness, feeling of fraternity and national cohesion; and many of them had the feeling of
being ‘royal’ and blue-blooded and some were still high-headed and haughty; they had a monster in their minds; hence, none could stop this reverse-gear. Invitation to Ranjit Singh to wrest Lahore from the Bhangis was the final blow to the feeling of fraternity, and it was the beginning of civil war, capturing power (and later amassing wealth) and other anti-Sikh environment. Like the days of ashvamedh yagya (taking horse through some area, with a declaration that the territory, through which that horse had passed, would be the kingdom of the owner of the horse), Ranjit Singh was now expected to begin his ‘ashvamedh yagya’ through the territory of the Sikh Misls.
On the 5th of July 1799, Ranjit Singh and his mother-in-law, along with five thousand soldiers, reached the outskirts of Lahore; Ranjit Singh sent a message to those prominent persons who had invited him and had assured of complete help; when they received Ranjit Singh’s message, several Sikh, Muslim and Hindu personalities formed a deputation and visited the camp of Ranjit Singh; they asked Ranjit Singh to march towards the city in the wee hours of the following day and promised that they would assure that the gates of the city are opened to let his army enter; by that time, the leaders of the Bhangi Misl did not have any apprehension of any such action.
As per planning, Ranjit Singh entered the city without any difficulty; he occupied all the key places of the city and besieged the fort; at that time, Chet Singh Bhangi did not have many soldiers inside the fort; in spite of this the tried to resist Ranjit Singh’s army from capturing the fort but this battle could not last long as he (Chet Singh) had realized that he won’t be able to fight for a long time; so, he agreed to surrender the fort too; Ranjit Singh offered him a jagir and gave him farewell. (This pattern of granting Jagirs was not in consonance with the Sikh principles; Banda Singh Bahadur had brought an end to the feudal class but Ranjit Singh revived it again and he promoted this institution to such an extent that it gave a major blow to the Sikh polity).
Though Chet Singh left Lahore but he did not accept it from the core of his heart; he had not accepted this of his own choice, rather he had no other option except loose his life or accept the terms. Now, he contacted other Bhangi leaders (including Gulab Singh Bhangi and Sahib Singh of Gujrat) as well as the leaders of the Ramgarhia Misl and discussed the situation; he even contacted the Muslim chief of the Kasur. All of them agreed to help him; so, in the second half of February 1801, the armies of Bhangis, Ramgarhias and the Chief of Kasur began a march towards Lahore; they put up their camps at village Bhasin, a few kilometres from Lahore; on the other hand, Ranjit Singh too sent his forces to fight against them; for some days, small skirmishes took place but it did not lead to a full-fledged battle; and without a major battle, it was not possible for them to capture Lahore; Chet Singh and his companions remained in bewilderment of the consequences, hence could not decide the course of launching a major action; as a result, they became despondent, and, in this frame of mind Chet Singh and Gujjar Singh Bhangi began drinking alcohol so much that the latter became unconscious and died on the 28th of February 1801, at village Katani; after his death, the invading army became disheartened and began leaving the battle field; thus, this crisis came to an end without the deaths of the hundreds and even thousands of Sikhs on both the sides.
But, this ‘victory further boosted the spirits of Ranjit Singh; now he began thinking of capturing the territory of the other Misls as well. Besides, the 21 years old young Ranjit Singh was so much intoxicated with power that he wished to be crowned as ‘Maharaja’; and to fulfil his ambition, he invited Sahib Singh Bedi (a direct descendant of Guru Nanak Sahib) to Lahore and held a special session in his court, on the first of Visakh month (corresponding to the11th of April 1801 C.E. i.e. current era); during this function, Ranjit Singh performed all the Hindu rituals of the crowning of an emperor; Sahib Singh Bedi performed the priestly role and anointed Ranjit Singh like a Hindu king.205
This was a major blow to the Sikh polity and philosophy; all that had been rejected by Gurus was adopted by Ranjit Singh; Guru Nanak had rejected even minor ceremony of janeo (the so-called sacred thread) but Ranjit Singh chose to establish hegemony of the Hindu rituals and the priesthood (a concept alien to Sikhism); Ranjit Singh was not the first Sikh ruler; the Sikhs had been ruling their homeland right since 1709 when Banda Singh captured Samana and Sarhind in the following year. Leave alone performing of anointing ceremony of crowning as ‘Patshah/Maharaja, Banda Singh Bahadur did not even allow anyone even to address him as Sahib; on the other hand, whenever he captured a territory, he would grant its reigns to that general whosoever had played maximum role in capturing that territory.
Attack on Kasur
After capturing Lahore in July 1799, Ranjit Singh did not march to any State immediately; he wanted to observe the reaction of the other Sikhs Misls; hence, for the next 19-20 months (from July 1799 to February 1801), he administrated Lahore in a nice manner and convinced the people that he was a selfless servant of the people. In February 1801, when the Bhangis led forces to reoccupy Lahore, the Ramgarhia Misl and the Muslim chief of Kasur joined them; even after this abortive mission, Ranjit Singh did not react against the Bhangis and the Ramgarhias; rather, he decided to punish the Muslim chief of Kasur as he knew that no Sikh Misl will join hands with the Muslim army. At this, the chief of Kasur approached the Bhangis but they did not show any interest, as a result the Kasur chief had to make a compromise with Ranjit Singh; he paid tribute to Ranjit Singh and saved his State from plunder and destruction; he, however, paid the tribute only for one year and Ranjit Singh had to march against him the next year too; now, Ranjit Singh charged tribute and penalty both; in 1806, the chief of Kasur again refused to comply and this time Ranjit Singh did not forgive him; at this, Ranjit Singh
occupied Kasur and in stead granted the fort of Mamdot and some estate to the chief of Kasur.
Even after attack on Kasur, Ranjit Singh did not turn to an Sikh territory; and, between 1802 and 1808, Ranjit Singh captured territory of some other minor Muslims chiefs; e.g. in November 1802, he captured Shahjahanpur (now Phagwara), followed by Hoshiarpur, Bajwara, Hujra Shah Mukim (from Sayyads), Kamalia (from Kharals), Pindi Bhattian (from Bhattis), Pindi Ghaib (from Nawab Khan Jodhran), Fateh Jang area (from Mohammed Khan Ghaiba).
Occupation of Amritsar
Having subjugated Kasur and some minor Muslim chieftains, Ranjit Singh turned his attention to Amritsar; this, was his first action against a Sikh state: though Amritsar was no major city at that time but Ranjit Singh wanted to occupy the Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht, the centres of the Sikh psyche; to translate his mind into action, he borrowed a gun from Jai Singh of Kanhaiya Misl and marched to Amritsar in 1804; having reached Amritsar, he did not exhibit his intention to occupy the city; he went to the fort of the Bhangis and sent a message to the son of Gulab Singh Bhangi asking him to lend his cannon (known as Bhangian Wali Top), which the latter refused; on this excuse (of refusal to lend the cannon) Ranjit Singh attacked the fort and occupied it; Gulab Singh’s son was killed in the battle; after this, Ranjit Singh expelled his mother (wife of Gulab Singh Bhangi) from the fort and compelled her to run for shelter; thus, on the 25th of February 1804, Ranjit Singh occupied Amritsar too. Akali Phula Singh, who was present in his camp (in Akalian Di Chhavni) in the city, did not interfere; he did not try to stop Ranjit Singh nor did he play any role to usher a compromise between the Bhangis and Ranjit Singh; none other Sikh Sirdar or general protest Ranjit Singh’s action. The occupation of Amritsar assured Ranjit Singh that he could crush all other Misls as none would come forward to help anyone.
Ranjit Singh captured Multan
After Lahore, Multan was most important state of the Mughal empire; in 1803, Ranjit Singh had made an attempt to capture it but the Pathan occupants gave him a tough fighting to preserve their control; finally, long siege of the city and the fort and scarcity of food compelled Ranjit Singh to lift the siege and postpone his expedition. After this, he made five more attempts (in 1805, 1807, 1810, 1816 and 1817); finally, on 30th of May 1817, with the help of Akali Phula Singh, Ranjit Singh succeeded in capturing Multan; in 1818, Ranjit Singh occupied Sialkot too.
Ranjit Singh crushes the other Sikh Misls too
In 1805, Ranjit Singh had begun capturing territory of the other Sikh states; the first to be grabbed was the territory of Jassa Singh Dullu and Dal Singh in the Rachna Doab area; after this he wrested the control of the territory of Jodh Singh Bajwa in Chajj-Doab area; in 1807, when Tara Singh Ghaiba died, Ranjit Singh went to Rahon to express his condolence and occupied his territory and expelled his widow from the fort of Rahon after snatching all her wealth; later, he occupied his (Tara Singh’s) territory of Nakodar zone too; after some time, he expelled the Kangs from Phillaur and occupied this town and fort too; his next assault was on the territory of Baghel Singh; he expelled the widow of Baghel Singh and occupied Haryana (present Hoshiarpur district); she could not brave this insult and died soon after; then, Ranjit Singh occupied her rest of the territory too.
After this, Ranjit Singh seized Pathankot from Tara Singh Sandhu, Sujanpur from Budh Singh Bagga, Dinanagar from Ghulab Singh Khehra, Chamiari from the Randhawas, and Maruf area from Budh Singh.
Ranjit Singh’s next target was his own mother-in-law, Sada Kaur; he treacherously invited her to Lahore and interned her; after this he occupied her territory; she spent eleven years in Ranjit Singh prison and died there broken-hearted. It was very cruel on the part of Ranjit Singh to insult and torture her
because Sada Kaur did not have any son and after her death, her estate would have been inherited by her maternal grandson Sher Singh (son of Ranjit Singh).
In 1809, before signing a treaty with the British, Ranjit Singh had occupied Sheikhupura and Kangra (on the 20th of August 1808); the treaty with the English stopped his advances towards the eastern side of river Satluj and he began capturing territories towards the west of Satluj: in January 1810, he captured Gujrat and Khushab; in February 1810 he occupied Sahiwal; in June Hallowal, Doda and Wazirabad; and in November Daska too. In 1811, he grabbed the Rachna-Doab territory of the Singhpuria and Nakkai Misls; in 1813, he wrested control of Attock; in September 1815, he grabbed the territory of the Ramgarhia Misl, and in 1818 he captured Jhang.
Among the Muslim territories, he captured Kashmir in July 1819, Mankera in 1821 and Naushehra in 1824; by this time, he was the emperor of the whole territory between Sindh and Satluj rivers, except Kapurthala state (Ahluwalia Misl territory); similarly, the hill states of Jammu, Kangra, Akhnur, Bhimber, Lakhanpur, Nurpur (Dahmala), Guler, Siba, Kotla, Jaswan, Datarpur etc too were a part of his territory; meaning thereby, Ranjit Singh had subjugated most of the Sikh Misls, Mughals, Balochs, Afghan, Dogras and Shivalik hill Rajput states. After 1824, Ranjit Singh captured even Dera Ismail Khan (in 1831), Peshawar (in 1834) and Bannu, Kohat and Dera Ghazi Khan (in 1836).
Appointment of European Generals
Ranjit Singh had conquered all his territory with the help of the Sikh army, and, the Sikh soldiers had sacrificed their lives with the aim of freeing the Sikh homeland from the foreign rulers. He had been exploiting the Sikhs emotions in the name of religion and ‘Khalsa darbar’ and ‘Khalsa sarkar’. His army, which had strength of 5000 in 1799, had swelled to about eighty thousand206 in 1820 (and about one lakh at the time of his death in 1839); he had 300 cannons, twenty
thousand guns and about fifty thousand horses. By this time, he had captured most of his territory and all this was due to sacrifices by the Sikh soldiers; no non-Sikh general or courtier had played ‘major role’ in establishing this empire.
In 1822, when two French generals (Allard and Ventura) visited him and expressed their wish to join his army; he appointed them and offered big salaries; after this, he appointed several more European generals in his army. It is strange that Ranjit Singh was not even aware of the nationality of some of his generals and he had no criteria for their selection; he offered them good salaries simply because they were European/white (firangis/goraas) men;207 Ranjit Singh had appointed 20 English, 4 American, 5 Italian, 24 French, 4 Russian, 4 Greek, 3 Scottish, 2 German, 1 Irish, 1 Austrian, 1 Hungarian, 1 Portuguese and 1 Prussian general; some of them had regular contact with the English and the East India Company; and some of them ‘sold’ secrets to the English army.
Ranjit Singh appointed the Europeans to high offices and also paid them very big salaries, which were even 500 times more than of a Sikh in the same rank/position; Ranjit Singh even changed the uniform of the Sikh soldiers as per the advice of the Europe generals.
Ranjit Singh in the clutches of Dogras and Brahmins
When Ranjit Singh became settled on his throne and had sufficient command of military and economic sources, he began behaving in the fashion of his predecessor (Mughal) rulers: soon, he began enjoying a luxurious life; he began drinking and enjoying carnal pleasure; in 1802, i.e. within three years of capturing Lahore, he married a Muslim dancer; he was so infatuated towards this dancer Moran that he married her in spite of the fact that she refused to convert to Sikhism; he also built a special mosque in the Lahore fort for her prayers. By this time Brahmins like Khushal Chand (later Khushal Singh) and the Dogras too had succeeded in joining his army and administration:208 as soon as they entered jobs, they began observing the weaknesses of Ranjit Singh; they found that he
had a weakness for girls and intoxicants; hence they began arranging for strong whiskey and young pretty girls to please Ranjit Singh; besides Ranjit Singh was fond of flattery too and the Brahmins and the Dogras were expert in this art; as a result, the Dogras and the Brahmins became favourites of Ranjit Singh and he granted them high positions in his court and even in his household; the posts of chamberlain, treasurer, finance officer, scribe etc. all were with the Brahmins of Hindustan or with the Dogras of Jammu.
The Dogras
Among all these, most dangerous were Dogra Kishora Sinh and his three sons (Gulab Sinh, Dhian Sinh and Suchet Sinh); Kishora Sinh was the cousin209 of Raja Jit Sinh (son of Ranjit Dev, who had been one of the major enemies of the Sikhs during the time of Banda Singh Bahadur) from whom Ranjit Singh had wrested the country of Jammu and Kashmir in 1815. The first to enter the service of Ranjit Singh was Kishora Sinh, followed by his sons; Kishora Singh was expert in flattery and Ranjit Singh soon fell into his trap; and, in 1821, he (Ranjit Singh) crowned Kishora Sinh even as Raja of Jammu; it was first major foolish action by Ranjit Singh and as the Dogras immediately began establishing their personal control in the whole of the state.210
In 1822, Kishora Sinh died and Gulab Sinh replaced him; by this time Ranjit Singh had already crowned some others as Raja too but they were not allowed to have their own private army; Gulab Sinh was the first to form his private army;211 after this, within a couple of years Gulab Sinh’s brother Suchet Sinh too became a Raja (of Ramnagar); and by his time Dhian Sinh had been elevated as Raja-Kalan (senior Raja); in 1827, Dhian Sinh’s son Hira Sinh, who was in his teens, too became Raja.212
The Dogras had influenced Ranjit Singh so much that he would go to any extent to help them even when they were utterly wrong and even unjust. In 1828, Raja Anirudh Chand (of Kangra) visited Kapurthala to attend the marriage of Nihal
Singh (son of Fateh Singh Ahluwalia); his mother and two sisters also accompanied him; when the marriage ceremony was over, Dhian Sinh Dogra approached Ranjit Singh and asked him to mediate for the marriage of his son Hira Sinh with one of the princesses from Kangra (sisters of Anirudh Chand and daughters of late Raja Sansar Chand); when Ranjit Singh talked to Anirudh Chand, he dared not refuse, so he avoided the situation by promising to discuss the same with his mother. The Katoch rulers knew that Dhian Sinh Dogra was a descendant of an illegitimate child of a Raja hence almost untouchable for a royal family; so, fearing wrath of Ranjit Singh, Anirudh Chand, his mother and sisters left Kapurthala secretly and escaped to the British territory; when Ranjit Singh received information of the action of Anirudh Chand, he installed one of the illegitimate children of Sansar Chand as the new ruler of Kangra. On the other hand, Anirudh Chand’s mother, who had taken this insult to her heart, could not survive this shock and died within a few days; soon, Anirudh, too followed her. Now, the two sisters had no resort, hence they had to return to Kangra; after this, Ranjit Singh forced both the girls to marry him (Ranjit Singh).213
The Brahmins
Besides the Dogras, the other to grab power in Ranjit Singh’s darbar, were the Brahmins from Hindustan (now known as Uttra Pradesh); among them, Misr Beli Ram was the in charge of the treasure of Ranjit Singh; he was also responsible for issuing religious grants; and he made Ranjit Singh issue lavish grants to the descendants of the Bedis and Sodhis; the Udasis, Nirmalas214 as well as the Hindu temples at Thanesar, Jawala, Kangra, Jammu, Benaras too received large amounts of money; the temples at Tilla Gorakh Nath, Dhianpur, Pandori, Dhamtal also received heavy grants; so much so that Ranjit Singh sent 36 maunds (about 1000 kg) of gold for gold-plating a Hindu temple at Kashi/Benaras (now Varanasi).215 Besides, the Brahmin minister of Ranjit Singh got the land of Darbar Sahib Amritsar granted to the Udasis and
the other non-Sikh and anti-Sikh cults; today, there are several such sites which are, in fact, the property of Darbar Sahib (as the land of the whole of the town had been purchased by Guru Ram Das in 1564 from the owners of the village Tung; and there was no non-Sikh shrine in Amritsar up to 1804.
Under the patronage of the Brahmin minister of Ranjit Singh, the ‘priests’, ‘sarbrahs’ (managers) of Darbar Sahib and other shrines received good salaries, lavish grants, precious gifts; and, besides these people also embezzled offerings of the devotees; however, this made them loyal to the Brahmin minister and the Dogras (and, later, to the British rulers). A look at the daily diaries of Ranjit Singh (in Umdatut Twareekh) shows that more than 75% of the grant of Ranjit Singh went to the Hindu shrines; 10% to the Gurdwaras and 15% to other non-Sikh centres. So much so that Ranjit Singh had appointed a Brahmin, Rulia Ram Misr as the tax collector of Amritsar.216 These centres produced several books to distort Sikhism and Gurbani and preached anti-Sikh worship, rituals and philosophy; it was due to anti-Sikh activities of these Brahmins and Dogras that Akali Phula Singh left Amritsar and moved to Anandpur Sahib.
Ranjit Singh was so inept that he could not understand that the Dogras and the Brahmins had taken de facto control of his court, especially his treasury, army, administration, and finally, his crown too; they achieved great success in keeping Ranjit Singh away from think-tank; no intelligent person was allowed to have access to Ranjit Singh; similarly, all the Sikhs were practically debarred from becoming an advisor to him; hence one could easily presume the future of such a kingdom which was at the mercy of cunning insider enemies.
To fight battles and capture territories Akali Phula Singh, Hukma Singh Chimni, Nidhan Singh Panjhatha, Nihal Singh and Sham Singh Attariwalas, Hari Singh Nalwa, Dhanna Singh Malwai, Majithias, Chhachhi Sirdars and Ahluwalias made great sacrifices; but, none of these were a part of Ranjit Singh’s cabinet; he patronised only Dogras (Gulab Sinh, Dhian Sinh, Suchet Sinh, Hira Sinh etc), Brahmins (Bhiwani Das,
Khushal Chand/Sinh, Ram Sinh Bhaiya, Sukh Raj, Misr Beli Ram, Misr Ganga Ram, Rup Lal, Kishan Lal, Ayudhiya Parshad, Dina Nath, Diwan Chand etc); and both of these groups were non-Sikhs as well as non-Punjabis. Ranjit Singh did have some Punjabis too but all of them were either Hindus (Mohkam Chand, Dhanpat Rai, Moti Ram, Sawan Mall, Kirpa Ram, Sukh Dyal, Sarab Dyal, Athar Mall Chopra etc) or Muslims (Aziz-ud-Din and his two brothers); Gobind Ram and Ram Singh sons of Wasti Ram) too received grants and respect from Ranjit Singh.
If Hari Singh Nalwa, Attariwalas or any other Sikh general got appointed as Governor of some territory for some period, it was only in those lands where there was higher possibility of rebellions and a strong army officer was needed to establish rule of law; but, once there was peace, the Sikh general would be replaced by a non-Sikh governor or administrator.
Having seen the state of affairs in the Lahore Darbar, Akali Phula Singh protested but Ranjit Singh did not mend his ways. In 1837, Hari Singh Nalwa suggested him (Ranjit Singh) that as the empire has been achieved due to sacrifices of thousands of Sikhs, so he should form a council of five senior Sikhs and sign a will that after his departure these five Sikhs shall look after the empire.217 When Dogras came to know about such movement they convinced Ranjit Singh that the empire was his own kingdom and he should appoint his eldest son as his successor; at the same time, the Dogras chalked out a conspiracy to eliminate Hari Singh Nalwa; and within a few weeks they succeeded in removing Nalwa from the scene. This was how Ranjit Singh’s own kitchen cabinet (Brahmins and Dogras) first controlled him, and then eliminated the well wishers of the Sikh land and finally conspired to kill all his successors (and they succeeded in this plan).
Truth of the Stories Associated with Ranjit Singh
Several stories, to establish Ranjit Singh as a very generous king, have been concocted in the past fifty years, apparently to elevate his personality; some of such stories are:
Such stories like that of Akbar and other generous rulers had also been concocted by their admirers, bards, poets etc but most of these are exaggeration. In case of Ranjit Singh, it is a well known fact that due to security reasons he never wandered through streets; hence such intimate contacts were impossible; secondly, his daily diary Umdatut Twareekh has recorded even minute details of his reign but there is no mention of, or even minor or indirect reference to, any of such stories; similarly, Zafarnama Ranjit Singh (by Amar Nath) is almost like a diary of his court and that too does not mention any of such events. It, however, does not mean that Ranjit Singh did not have any positive points: he never condemned any criminal to death, not even his enemies; he did not do injustice to common folk; he charged less revenue as compared to the Mughals and Afghans.218
Ranjit Singh and the English
By 1808, Ranjit Singh had become the most powerful ruler of the Punjab; he was perhaps the most powerful Punjabi ruler of past, present and even, perhaps, future. So far, history has recorded only two remarkable rulers of this zone: Porus and Ranjit Singh (but Porus was a ruler of territory between two rivers- Jehlum and Raavi- only; hence his kingdom was just a tiny part of Ranjit Singh’s territory); Porus, though ruler of a small state had challenged and fought against a mighty power like that of Alexander ‘the Great’ (Sikander); but, on the other hand, Ranjit Singh, in spite of such a big state and might, did not take much time to sign a treaty with the English perhaps because he dreaded them. Ranjit Singh entered two treaties with the British, on the 1st of January 1806219 and on the 25th of April 1809.
Before these treaties, once, in 1802, when Appa Sahib (Appa Rao), the ruler of Nagpur was defeated by the English, he came to Lahore and sought his help; Appa Sahib had, with him, a lot of wealth too; but, Ranjit Singh refused to help him too as a result he moved to Kangra and began living there.
Again, in 1805, when Marhatta leader Jaswant Rao Holkar was being chased by the English forces, he reached the Punjab and sought help from Ranjit Singh; at this, Ranjit Singh called a meeting of the Sarbat Khalsa (the chiefs of the Sikh Misls) and sought their advice regarding helping Holkar; and after deliberation with them, finally, he refused to help Holkar (but through Fateh Singh Ahluwalia he ushered a compromise between the English and the Marhatta leader). This was an unwise step of Ranjit Singh; at that time the Misls were still powerful and the Sikh soldiers could have fought against the English with national spirit; and the Sikhs and the Marhattas as a united force, would have pushed the English away from the north and west side of the India sub continent. It was after this incident that Ranjit Singh signed two treaties with the English and stopped his ventures beyond Satluj river; and after this, he began capturing territory of the Sikh Misls.
Had Ranjit Singh challenged the English in 1802 or 1805, the map of the Punjab and the Sikh Homeland would have been altogether different: in 1845-46 and 1848-49, the Sikhs and the English fought several battles; by this time, the national spirit among the Sikh soldiers had disappeared, and moreover they did not have good weapons, they were almost leader-less, they braved a very high treason; in spite of this they gave at least three crushing defeats220 to the English and they lost only because of treachery. But, in 1802 and 1805, the Sikh soldiers were very powerful; they could have easily pushed the English far beyond Yamuna river and probably up to Ganges.
Ranjit Singh and the Sikh way of life
When, in 1799, Ranjit Singh helped the Lahore folk in getting freedom from unjust rule of the Bhangi rulers, in spite of breaking the tradition of Sarbat Khalsa, he was still following Sikh philosophy; but, when he got established as a ruler of Lahore and captured a vast territory, he began behaving as former rulers. Though he was not unjust to common folk, but he began living his life in contradiction to the Sikh ideology: in 1801, he got himself declared as a Maharaja; it was followed by egocentricity, haughtiness, narcissism, vanity, love for flattery, luxurious and sensuous life, use of alcohol, opium and other intoxicant etc; and this life style was totally un-Sikh like.
In just a few years he had begun living the sensuous life of an average vain Mughal ruler: he had several wives and concubines and a Muslim dancer girl Moran was one of them; and still strange it was that the dancer-wife Moran was his favourite; and he expressed his weakness for this woman openly even before the English officers too. Moran used to accompany him where he would go and when he went for pilgrimage of a Hindu city, only she accompanied him; and so much so that he issued a coin in her name; he was so mad after this dancer girl that once, while sitting in the company of his wives, he declared that Moran was his most pretty wife; this
led to suicide by his prettiest young wife Guddan (daughter of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra, whom he had forcibly married).
Again, at the age of 53 (in 1833), he went mad for another dancer girl Gul Beghum of Amritsar; he went to her parents and requested them to let him marry her; but before allowing this marriage, they passed vulgar comments on Ranjit Singh in the presence of his ministers (this scene has been finely presented in the book Umdatut Twareekh). Ranjit Singh was mad for this dancer girl too; so much so that he erected a bridge on a rivulet (still known as Kanjri Pul / Twaaif Pul, literally ‘bridge for a prostitute’) so that the family of this girl should have no problem to cross the rivulet on their visit to Lahore.
Almost all of the territory of the kingdom of Ranjit Singh had been won by his Sikh generals; most of the difficult battles like that of Kasur, Multan, Kashmir, Peshawar, Bahawalpur, Sind and Attock had been captured by generals like Akali Phula Singh, the Nihangs and such dare-devil Sikh warriors; in spite of this Ranjit Singh did not bother for the Sikh Generals; he always favoured his Dogra, Brahmin and European generals, ministers and officers.
Here, a review of the role of Akali Phula Singh won’t be irrelevant: he was the chief of Shaheedi Misl and was known as Nihang and Akali; he had been taking care of the Gurdwaras at Amritsar, including Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht; and all the Sikh leaders had special regards for him because he was a selfless ‘sewadar’ (one who serves) of the Gurdwaras. Being in this position, he could have called a ‘sarbat Khalsa’ gathering of the Sikhs to discuss the affairs of the Panth, the Sikh rulers and other national interests. Ranjit Singh had called such a gathering in 1804, to discuss the situation, when Holkar had sought help from the Sikhs against the English; this was the last gathering of the leaders of different Sikh groups/sections; it is worth noting that Ranjit Singh was no chief of the Dal Khalsa (the Dal Khalsa did not elect/select any leader after the death of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia in 1783); hence he (Ranjit Singh) called the ‘Sarbat Khalsa’
gathering as a king. There is no concept of the so-called Jathedar Akal Takht, neither in history nor in Sikh philosophy; in fact, even this word did not exist before 1920; however, being custodian and care taker of Akal Takht he (Phula Singh) could have taken initiative to bring the Sikh leaders under one roof or on one platform. History has no answer to Akali Phula Singh’s silence; and all this happened in spite of the fact that the Akali had his own army and his soldiers were daredevils and selfless Khalsa.
When Ranjit Singh became addicted to intoxicants, cupid (women) and also came under strong influence of the Dogras of Jammu and Brahmins of Hindustan, Akali Phula Singh warned Ranjit Singh of several blunders e.g.:
When Ranjit Singh did not bother, Akali Phula Singh became despondent. On the other hand, lost in the realm of women, drugs, flattery etc, Ranjit Singh began ignoring the Sikh generals and well wishers; most of them were, now, not allowed even to enter the court of Ranjit Singh (because a Brahmin Khushal Chand was the chamberlain of Ranjit Singh), and, gradually, they (Sikh Generals) too stopped visiting Ranjit Singh; in this state, in 1814, Akali Phula Singh left Amritsar and moved to Anandpur Sahib.
During this period, Partap Singh, the Sikh ruler of Jind had a dispute with the English, and the latter wanted to punish him. When Partap Singh came to know about the presence of Akali Phula Singh at Anandpur Sahib, he went to him and sought asylum. When the English sent a message to Akali
Phula Singh to hand over Raja Partap Singh to them, he refused; at this, the English summoned army from the rulers of Malerkotla and Patiala and ordered them to march to Anandpur; when the Sikh soldiers came to know that they were being sent on a mission to arrest Raja Partap Singh and Akali Phula Singh, they refused to proceed. At this juncture, Bikram Singh Bedi (son of Sahib Singh Bedi) mediated and affected a compromise between Raja Partap Singh and the English.
After this, Ranjit Singh too sent his emissary to Akali Phula Singh and asked him to return, and promised that he would follow his advice; the Akali returned to Amritsar but Ranjit Singh did not keep his word; but, in spite of this nothing changed and Ranjit Singh continued as usual; rather the Dogras and the Brahmins became more and more stronger and Ranjit Singh became more and more slave of sex, intoxicants and flattery, and, for all this, he was dependent upon them (Dogras and Brahmins). When Ranjit Singh died there were at least 20 formally wedded wives and dozens of concubines in his ‘harem’ (women-house); Ranjit Singh had married about a dozen daughters of Sikh feudal, two of the widows of his uncle (Sahib Singh of Gujrat), a couple of hill girls (including two daughters of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra) and two dancing girls (in fact prostitutes, dancing girls) Moran (married in 1802) and Gul Beghum (married in 1833, when he was 53 years old)221; and, so much so that he had given higher status to the former dancing-girls (Moran and Gul Begum); and it is more interesting to note that his two former prostitute wives did not renounce Islam, and, he (Ranjit Singh) had built a mosque in the fort for their namaz (Muslim’s prayer).222 Ranjit Singh had issued even a coin and medal in the name of Moran.223
The Brahmins and the Dogras were the highest officers of the court of Ranjit Singh: the first among them was Khushal Chand (later Khushal Sinh, played the drama of ‘embracing’ Sikhism); in 1811 he became deodiwala (chamberlain, and without his permission not even sons could meet their father Ranjit Singh); the same year Brahmin Tej Ram (later Teja
Singh) became General and Bhaiya Ram Lal became kumedan (commandant) of the Sikh army. In 1822 Dhian Chand (later Dhian Sinh) Dogra became minister (later prime minister) and his adolescent son Hira Sinh became ‘Raja’; thus, within less than 15 years the whole of the Darbar, the army, the administration and the palace were in the firm grip and command of the Jammu Dogras and the Hindustani Brahmins.
This was the scenario of the empire of Ranjit Singh in which a couple of Muslims (Aziz-ud-Din and his brothers Nur-ud-Din and Waheed-ud-Din) had been given ministerial posts but no Sikh had been assigned any job in the court or administration; the Sikhs had only one duty, to fight, die (embrace martyrdom) and hand over the conquered land to the Maharaja for getting it administered through non-Sikhs.224
Ranjit Singh had captured all the land with the sacrifices of the Sikh army and they (Sikhs) had done the same in the name of Guru; but, when he had his firm grip over the territory and administration, he turned it into his family estate, his personal kingdom and not the Khalsa Raj (the Sikhs’ Rule). Soon, it switched reverse gear to the Sikh revolution; and from Sikh rule to totally anti-Sikh pattern. Under Ranjit Singh, the rulers had been replaced; instead of a Mughal it was a Sikh with turban but the power was with Brahmins and Dogras; with the exception of some generosity (like that of Akbar style) everything was Mughal-like; Sirdar Kapur Singh has analysed this phenomenon in his book Prashar Prashana:
religiosa) leaf minted on his coinage, to give his kingdom and dynasty a truly Brahmanic basis, divorced from the norms of Sikh polity.227
Some people believe that he established a vast and strong kingdom by capturing power from hooligan Misls; such people are either ignorant of the Sikh principles or are unable to analyse its pros and cons. Ranjit Singh’s reign was, in fact, exactly opposite of Sikh fundamentals and a blow to the Sikhs’ rule. To quote Kapur Singh232:
“The antagonism inherent between his policy and his aim, and the true principles and traditions of Sikh polity,
obliged him to debar virtually the employment of the Sikhs to civil posts in his government which were, as a rule, reserved for the Muslims and the Hindus… in fact he (Ranjit Singh) sabotaged the natural development of the whole of the Sikh polity behind which lay the tradition of the people, of many millennial past, and which was purified and sanctified by the Sikh Gurus themselves.”
To sum up, what the Misls had achieved was destroyed by Ranjit Singh; if one goes through his donations to Gurdwaras and gold-plating of Darbar Sahib, one would notice that more than half of the gold of Darbar Sahib had been donated by the Bhangi Misl and the others.233 Ranjit Singh did not stop here; he got this engraved on a golden plate and fixed it on the gate of Darbar Sahib (it can still be seen there; it does not mention that more than half was donated by others.)
Moreover, his grant of gold to Darbar Sahib was just a friction of his donations to the Hindu temples at Jawala temple, Jammu, Katra, Jagan Nath temple Puri, Haridwar, Benaras (Varanasi) etc. The Benaras temple alone was given 36 maunds (more than 1250 kg) of gold which was many times more than that was ‘donated’ to Darbar Sahib.
It was, in fact, misappropriation of the Sikh wealth; all the gold donated by him to the Hindu temples belonged to the Sikh Panth and had been acquired after making about half a million sacrifices. Secondly, gold-plating of Darbar Sahib turned the court of WahGuru (Darbar Sahib) into a golden structure temple) i.e. from religious to tourist attraction; it became a ‘temple’ of ‘gold’ and lost its spiritual status (in fact, it is neither a temple, i.e. place of worship of idols, not it is known due to its gold-plating). Golden Temple name was given by the English due to this gold-plating and was not at all a Sikh name; and the ignorant Sikhs accepted this un-Sikh name. Thirdly, Ranjit Singh began calling himself as ‘Singh Sahib’ which means ‘master of the Singhs (Sikhs)’; this status was/is given to Guru Gobind Singh only (see: Mahan Kosh by Kahan Singh Nabha, entry of ‘Singh Sahib’); throughout the whole of the Sikh history, this term/name has never been used for
anyone else except for Guru Gobind Singh; even the great Sikh general, Banda Singh Bahadur, who brought greatest ever revolution in the post-Guru Sikh history, himself or his companions or the writers of history of his period did not dare use this term (Singh Sahib) for him (now every Tom, Dick and Harry Sikh priest/Granthi calls himself and/or loves to be addressed as Singh Sahib’).
Ranjit Singh never allowed the Sikhs to have military power; most of the non-Sikh (Dogra, Brahmins of Hindustan, Punjabi Hindus, Muslims Europeans, all) had mansabs of thousands but none of the Sikhs had a mansab of more than a few hundreds, e.g. Hari Singh Nalwa (700), Desa Singh Majithia (400), Hukma Singh Chimni (200 and charge of small cannons), Bhag Singh Muralawala (500), Milkha Singh Thehpuria (700), Attar Singh son of Fateh Singh (500), Mit Singh Bhadania (500), Maan Singh (400), Karam Singh Rangharh Nangalia (100), Nihal Singh Attariwala (500), Jodh Singh Saurianwala (300), Garbha Singh (1000). Even a Muslim Gausay Khan, who was in charge of big cannons, had a mansab of 2000 horsemen. Besides having his own force, Ranjit Singh used the armies of the other Misls, the hill rulers and the chiefs of Jalandhar-Doab; and, these chiefs did not have mansabs and had to pay their soldiers from their own estates. A considerable force of the Shaheedan Misl (headed by Akali Phula Singh Nihang) was also at the disposal of Ranjit Singh. In other words, Ranjit Singh used the Sikh Sirdars, chiefs and generals for capturing lands but granted power and benefits to the non-Sikhs only; he did not trust the Sikhs and discriminated against them. (When his empire was lost, there was no Sikh general who could stop it as the army was headed by the Hindus i.e. the Brahmins and the Dogras).
Death of Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh had worse drinking habits and he used to drink very strong alcohol; it had severely damaged his body; so much so that by the age of fifty, he had become a frail body totally dependent upon alcohol and opium. In 1838, when the English general McNaughton visited Lahore and had a feast
with Ranjit Singh, both had a good drinking session. McNaughton had brought with him some bottles of strong whiskey; he offered it to Ranjit Singh; and it is believed that this alcohol was poisonous; and it is widely believed that after drinking this whiskey Ranjit Singh had paralytic attack and could not get up from his bed. He spent last few months in this state; finally, on the 27th of June 1839, he breathed his last; he was cremated the next day and four of his Hindu wives and seven concubines performed sati (immolated themselves in his pyre).
EPILOGUE
Kharak Singh crowned and deposed
After the death of Ranjit Singh, his eldest son Kharak Singh succeeded his father and was crowned as Maharaja. Under Ranjit Singh, whole of his administration was in the hands of the Brahmins (Lal Sinh, Teja Sinh) and the Dogra brothers (Gulab Sinh, Dhian Sinh and Suchet Sinh, and, Dhian Sinh’s son Hira Sinh); Dhian Sinh was the prime minister. When Kharak Singh took over, the ministers and other officers remained in the same positions as before, but, Kharak Singh began seeking advice from Chet Singh Bajwa who was loyal to him and whom he treated as friend. The Dogras did not want anyone else to share power so they decided to eliminate Chet Singh from the scene; they chalked out a plan to establish Chet Singh as a traitor. They prepared fake letters written in the name of Chet Singh to the English rulers of the cis-Satluj land; after this, they played another drama by presenting these letters before a ‘Council’ which had been formed by these conspirators themselves; this 11 member council included three Dogras (Dhian Sinh, Hira Sinh and Kesri Sinh), one Brahmin (Lal Sinh Misr), four Sandhanwlias234 (Atar Singh, Kehar
Singh, Lehna Singh, Sher Singh), Alexander Gardener, Rani Chand Kaur and Kanwar Naunihal Singh; any Sikh general or Faqir Aziz-ud-Din or even the Raja were not the members of this ‘Council’; this ‘Council’ discussed the (fake) letter and resolved that Chet Singh should be executed for this crime and Kharak Singh should be replaced with his son Naunihal Singh.
To translate their plan into action, on the night of the 9th of October 1839, Dhian Sinh Dogra, some other members of the ‘Council’, accompanied by Kanwar Naunihal Singh, entered the chamber of Kharak Singh; when Chet Singh came to know about their entry he hid himself but was captured; he was killed by Dhian Sinh right before the eyes of Kharak Singh; Kharak Singh cried and tried to stop but could not stop them;235 this proves how weak and powerless was Kharak Singh.
After this, they (Council) interned Kharak Singh in his apartment and spread news about illnesses of Kharak Singh and crowned Naunihal Singh as new ‘maharaja’; on the other hand, in internment, Kharak Singh became so despondent that he did not take his meals for several days; now, the Dogras began feeding him with slow poison.
Soon Naunihal Singh too began smelling conspiracies of the Dogras; now, he began involving Faqir Aziz-ud-Din, Khushal Chand (Sinh), Bhaiya Ram Sinh, Lehna Singh and Ajit Singh Sandhawalias in the affairs of Darbar; hence almost an end to the monopoly of the Dogras. Dhian Sinh could not tolerate it; so, he decided to finish Naunihal Singh too. In the meanwhile Kharak Singh died of slow poisoning on the night between the 4th and 5th of November 1840; he was cremated the following day, near the samadh of Ranjit Singh (in between the Shahi Masjid and Gurdwara Dehra Sahib); two Hindu wives of the Raja committed sati (in fact, they were forcibly burnt) in the pyre of Kharak Singh.
Murder of Naunihal Singh
When the royal family and the courtiers were returning from funeral, Naunihal Singh was holding the hand of Mian
Udham Sinh (son of Gulab Sinh Dogra); when they passed near the Raushani Gate, a small wall of the fort fell upon them; Mian Udham Sinh died immediately and Naunihal Singh suffered minor injuries; but in spite of minor injuries he was immediately put into a palanquin (which had already been arranged there as a part of conspiracy) and rushed into the fort; all this was done under a planning by Dhian Sinh Dogra; Dhian Sinh personally led the palanquin to the fort. Lehna Singh also followed him but Dhian Sinh stopped him from joining; even Chand Kaur, the mother of Naunihal Singh was not allowed to enter the fort and the door was immediately shut; she thumped the door with force for several times but she was not allowed to enter. In the meanwhile Dhian Sinh smashed the head of Naunihal Singh with stones and bricks and killed him.236 Henry Gardiner writes that as per plan, just a few minutes earlier, he was sent away from the scene with orders to bring his unit. Two of those who had carried him in palanquin were eliminated the same night and the other two crossed to the English territory.237
Naunihal Singh was killed within a few minutes of taking him into the fort but the news of his death was not reported even to the family for another two days; in the meanwhile, Dhian Sinh had sent message to prince Sher Singh (who was present at Mukerian) to reach Lahore so that he may be crowned.
Naunihal Singh was cremated on the 8th of November and along with him were burnt (in the name of sati i.e. self immolation) his two Hindu wives and four concubines; thus within just 16 months two of the successors of Ranjit Singh had been eliminated by the Dogras.
Chand Kaur becomes Queen
Although Sher Singh had reached Lahore but Dhian Sinh could not succeed in crowning him as Raja; the Sandhanwalias and some other courtiers opposed his coronation; hence the Dogras had no option but to accept
Chand Kaur (mother of Naunihal Singh and widow of Maharaja Kharak Singh) as queen.
Though the Dogras accepted her as queen for the time being but they began planning to remove her from their way; at this time Gulab Sinh Dogra joined the side of the Rani; in fact he had been planted by Dhian Sinh with an intention of spying upon her; though Dhian Sinh Dogra did not oppose the Rani publically but he remained in touch with prince Sher Singh and continued planning for her exit.
For the next two months, Chand Kaur ruled as Rani of the Lahore Empire. During this period, the Dogras got prepared some fake letters in the name of the Rani which were addressed to the English, seeking their help; it was exactly the same as they had done in the case of Chet Singh Bajwa in October 1839. This was a soft target and these letters did affect the Sikh generals and other elite and a large number of them began opposing the Rani; they began joining the camp of prince Sher Singh; even General Ventura joined the side of Sher Singh; now, only Sandhawalias and a few personal loyal soldiers remained on the side of the Rani.
By the end of December 1840, Sher Singh’s army had put siege to the city of Lahore; at that time, the fort was in the occupation of the Rani. In early days of January 1841, Sher Singh sent her a message to surrender the fort and retire with a big pension; when she refused, Sher Singh’s cannons began shelling the fort; this shelling continued for three days; now, the Rani realised that she won’t be able to win the battle or resist the occupation of the fort for a long time; so, she decided to negotiate transfer of power to Sher Singh; it was agreed that she will get nine hundred thousand rupees per year. After this, she sent all her money, jewellery, mohars, gold, silver, ornaments, diamonds, precious clothes and other valuables to Jammu under the escort of Gulab Sinh Dogra; Rani’s belongings were carried on 16 carts and the value of this treasure was between eight and ten million rupees (later, after the murder of the Rani, all this wealth was usurped by Gulab Sinh).238
Sher Singh becomes Maharaja
On the 18th of January 1841, Sher Singh became the Maharaja; and on the 20th and held his court. During the struggle for power Dhian Sinh Dogra had given Sher Singh maximum support, so he was again appointed as the prime minister; soon, he began controlling all the affairs of the State; but, as Rani Chand Kaur was still staying in the fort, he feared that, in near future there would always remain possibility of rebellion; at one time, it was deliberated that Chand Kaur should marry Sher Singh but Rani’s brother Ghanaiya Singh opposed it.
Now, Dhian Sinh planned to eliminate Rani Chand Kaur; he was an expert of such conspiracies; earlier he had effected abortion of the queen of Naunihal Singh so that she may not give birth to another heir of Ranjit Singh. In June 1842, when Sher Singh was away from Lahore, Dhian Sinh bribed maid-servants of the Rani to kill the latter; hence, on the night of 11th of June 1842, the maid-servants tied the Rani with ropes and smashed her head with stones. After this, Dhian Sinh played another drama; he accused Rani’s maid servants of conspiracy, and, in order to silence them he announced severe punishment for them by cutting their tongues; he was so cruel that instead of rewarding these servants he cut their tongues as punishment; in fact, he wanted to silence them so that they may never be able to reveal the truth of the plot to murder the Rani. Dhian Sinh’s next action was to arrest Lehna Singh and Kehar Singh Sandhanwalias, the supporters of the Rani under one or another pretext; somehow Atar Singh and Ajit Singh Sandhawalias got the news and they escaped and secretly crossed river Satluj and took asylum with the English.
During this struggle for power and in the atmosphere of conspiracies, the English were playing double role; they were in league with the Dogras on one hand and were advising the Sandhawalia on the other hand; side by side the English were showing themselves as friendly mediators; hence as a result of the mediation by the English Agent Clark the Sandhanwalias
were allowed to return to Lahore and even their estates were returned to them; Lehna Singh and Kehar Singh too were released from prison. In fact, now, the Sandhanwlias were to work under instructions from the English; it was widely believed that Bikram Singh Bedi (son of late Sahib Singh Bedi) too had played role to mediate between Sher Singh and the Sandhawalias.
For some months, the Sandhawalias behaved very nicely, established their credentials and won faith of Sher Singh. Later, in collaboration with the English, the Sandhawalias began planning to capture power by killing Sher Singh. On the other hand, Dhian Sinh Dogra too had problems with Sher Singh because the latter did not follow instructions or advice of the former’ Dhian Sinh had had his way during the regime of Ranjit Singh; but, when Kharak Singh and, later, Naunihal Singh refused to be instructed by him, he got both of them eliminated; now, he wanted to repeat it with Sher Singh too.239
But, this time, the Sandhanwlias too were acting cleverly; they used Dhian Sinh’s style of conspiracy right on him (Dhian Sinh); they got prepared some fake letters in the name of Dhian Sinh Dogra and began propaganda that Sher Singh had got information about these letters; the Sandhawalias spread another rumour that Sher Singh had decided to execute Dhian Sinh. All this frightened Dhian Sinh and he extended hand of friendship to the Sandhawalias; and now both the parties decided to kill Sher Singh and divide kingdom between them.
On the other hand, some army generals too had begun behaving aggressively; they got some officers eliminated from the scene; one English officer Faulke and Subedar Mian Singh were killed by some unknown soldiers; General Henry Court and Avitable escaped being killed; the army even plundered some affluent persons of Lahore; it was widely believed that the Brahmin generals (Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh) were behind these conspiracies. When this news reached Amritsar, the bankers and other rich persons began preparations for moving
to the English territory. At this juncture, the English Agent General Clark tried to convince Sher Singh that there was a major planning against him; in fact, the English had expected that Sher Singh would seek their help and they would be able to establish their military centre in the Sikh territory; but, Sher Singh did not succumb to their provocations and allurements.240
Murder of Sher Singh & Dhian Sinh Dogra
On the other hand, when the Sandhanwlias realised that Dhian Sinh had fallen in their trap, both the parties planned to kill Sher Singh; they were, now, waiting for a suitable opportunity; so, finding it feasible, on the 15th of September 1843, when there were only a few soldiers in the fort, Ajit Singh Sandhawalia shot point blank at Sher Singh, killed him and chopped off his head; his companion Lehna Singh got hold of Partab Singh (12 years old son of Sher Singh) and killed him. Now, the Sandhawalias established their own soldiers on all the gates of the fort; after this both the Sandhawalias went to Dhian Sinh Dogra and escorted him to the fort on the pretext of discussing sharing of administration of the kingdom; Dhian Sinh could not smell their intentions; when they reached the fort they were fully secure as if in their security zone and they killed Dhian Sinh Dogra too.
The Sandhawalias wished to kill Hira Sinh Dogra and Suchet Sinh Dogra too but before they could trace them; the news of the murder of Dhian Sinh reached them and they secured themselves under the guard of their loyal Dogra soldiers. The first thing Hira Sinh Dogra did was an attempt to win the Sikh army; under advice from his friend and priest Pandit Jallah, he announced hike in the pay of the soldiers and generals; after this, he put up his camp near Budhu Da Aawa (then in the outskirts of Lahore, now a part of the city); increase in salaries won him a very large number of soldiers; besides, Hira Sinh spread rumours that the Sandhawalias were
doing all their actions under instructions from the English; this too affected the sentiments of the army. Having secured enough help from army, Hira Sinh marched to the fort; fighting between the troops of the Sandhawalias and Hira Sinh Dogra continued for one and a half day; about one thousand soldiers died in this battle; among the casualties was also Lehna Singh who was hit by a bullet on the second day. Having realized his weak position, Ajit Singh Sandhawalia tried to flee the fort with the help of a rope but some soldier recognised him; attacked him and severed his head. With this came final end to this battle; now Hira Sinh ordered hanging of the heads of both the Sandhanwlias in front of the main gate of the fort; he also ordered arrest of Gurmukh Singh Giani (son of Sant Singh Granthi, also the co-author of Gurbilas Patsahi Chhevin) and Beli Ram (chief of Toshakhana i.e. treasury), the two companions of the Sandhanwalias and killed them mercilessly; the dead bodies of these persons were thrown into garbage and buried at some unknown place.
Daleep Singh becomes Maharaja
After this bloodshed, 5 years old Daleep Singh, the youngest son of Ranjit Singh, was crowned as Maharaja on the 18th of September 1843; Hira Sinh Dogra himself became the prime minister and he took all the power in his hands; there was none to stop him from having his will; he had already silenced army by increasing their salaries; two of the four most senior Sandhanwalias were already dead and the rest two had escaped to the English territory across river Satluj.
Suchet Sinh Dogra killed
But, now Lahore was to witness more bloodshed; Suchet Sinh Dogra, uncle of Hira Sinh, sent a message to the latter to give him an equal share in the regime but Hira Sinh did not bother for him; at this. In March 1844, Suchet Sinh, accompanied by some 50 loyal soldiers, reached Lahore; here he received a message from Hira Sinh rejecting his demand for share of power and advising him to go back and save his life;
but, as Suchet Sinh was a stubborn person, he decided to fight; on the 16th of March 1844, a battle was fought between Suchet Sinh and Hira Sinh’s soldiers; Suchet, his companion Kesri Sinh and their loyal soldiers fought like valiant heroes and after killing more than one hundred soldiers of Hira Sinh, they too embraced death.
This victory made Hira Sinh more proud and haughty; by this time he came to know that Suchet Sinh had been sent from Jammu by his uncle Gulab Sinh Dogra, who had, later, withdrawn his support; hence, now, Hira Sinh wanted to belittle Gulab Sinh too; with this intention, he (Hira Sinh) sent a royal order (in the name of the Maharaja Daleep Singh) to Gulab Sinh, asking him to deposit his unpaid revenues with the Lahore Darbar; Gulab Sinh had realised the gravity of situation, so he gave some money and also sent his son Sohan Sinh to remain at Lahore as a guarantee for payments of arrears.
During all this series of blood-shed and conspiracies, the role of the army was most strange; the army supported Hira Sinh because he had increased their salaries. Increase in salary does not mean that the murders by the Dogras should have been ignored, condoned and forgotten; the Dogras were the murderers of Kharak Singh, Naunihal Singh and Chand Kaur and they were also a party to killings of Sher Singh.
Killing of Attar Singh Sandhawalia, Baba Bir Singh, Kanwar Kashmira Singh and Jawahar Singh Nalwa
Although Daleep Singh was the ‘Maharaja’ and Rani Jindan was his ‘Guardian’ but the real power was with Hira Sinh Dogra and his minister-cum-advisor Pandit Jallah; at the same time, Gulab Sinh Dogra was the ‘Raja’ of Jammu, the most powerful state. Though tow of the sons and a grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh had been killed, two more sons were still alive; one of them was in Jammu and the second once was in Sialkot; Gulab Sinh Dogra wanted to eliminate these two too. In such a scenario, Mehtab Singh, one of the attendants of the prince Kashmira Singh, was an informer of Gulab Sinh;
when the prince came to know about his treason, he got him killed; when Gulab Sinh Dogra received news of the murder of his informer, he was enraged; now, he decided to give priority to the murder of the prince. Prince Kashmira Singh got intelligence about the designs of Gulab Sinh Dogra; hence, with the help of General Gulab Singh (not Dogra) he secretly left Sialkot and reached Baba Bir Singh’s dera at Naurangabad (between Tarn Taran and Goindwal); by this time Atar Singh Sandhawalia too had returned from Kurukashetra and had sought asylum with Baba Bir Singh. Jawahar Singh (son of Hari Singh Nalwa) too had reached there.
When Hira Sinh Dogra got information about the presence of Kanwar Kashmira Singh and Atar Singh Sandhawalia at the dera of Baba Bir Singh, he ordered the Dogra regiments of the army to march towards Naurangabad and attack the dera; Hira Sinh had issued instructions to kill all those who would oppose them; the army had strict instructions that no one should be arrested but everyone must be killed; on the 6th of May 1845, the Dogra army reached Naurangabad; on reaching there, Dogra General Labh Sinh sent a message to Baba Bir Singh, asking him to hand over Atar Singh Sandhawalia to him; Baba Bir Singh told him that those who seek asylum in a religious shrine, cannot be handed over to his enemies; when the Dogra General heard it, he ordered his army to attack the dera; the soldiers of Labh Sinh Dogra began shelling the dera; most of the building was destroyed in shelling; even Baba Bir Singh was badly wounded. When General Gulab Sinh (another Dogra general) came to know about wounding of Baba Bir Singh, he went inside the dera to know about his condition; after formal conversation about his wounds, Gulab Sinh asked Baba to hand over Atar Singh but the Baba refused; in the meanwhile Atar Singh too reached there; when he saw that Gulab Sinh riding the horse belonging to his nephew Ajit Singh Sandhawalia (who had been killed by Dogra army on the 19th of September 1843, while trying to escape from the fort) he was enraged; and, in a fit of anger he
shot Gulab Sinh Dogra and killed him; at this the soldiers of Gulab Sinh too shot him, severed his head and went away.
After this, the Dogra army began killing all the Sikh present there; several hundred (probably thousands) Sikhs were killed by the Dogra army; those killed included Baba Bir Singh, prince Kashmira Singh, Jawahar Singh Nalwa, Diwan Visakha Singh (minister of Maharaja Sher Singh); before leaving, the Dogra army plundered the dera; after this the Dogra army carried the severed head of Atar Singh and left for Lahore.
During this attack some Sikhs fled Naurangabad and crossed river Beas and entered the territory of the Ahluwalias; some of them were killed by the army of the Kapurthala State.
Mass enrolling of Dogras in army
When the news of murder of Baba Bir Singh, Prince Kashmira Singh and others reached Lahore, the Sikh generals became very angry; when Hira Sinh learnt about the attitude of the Sikh generals, he removed the Sikhs from key positions; besides he dismissed services of several Sikh soldiers. Now, Pandit Jallah advised him to enrol more soldiers from Dogra community, the hill people and the Muslims; he (Hira Sinh) feared that the Sikh soldiers could attack them any time. Though several thousand non-Sikhs had been enrolled by him he still felt himself insecure; he was under constant fear of Sikhs reaction.
Insulting Rani Jindan
On the 12th of December 1844, it was the first day of the Poh month (Sangrand in Bikrami calendar); the Brahmins impressed upon Rani Jindan to make donations so that peace of mind may prevail upon her; at this the Rani arranged langar for the Brahmins, Nihangs, Faqirs and the poor people and also presented (donated) some money to those who joined langar; this function cost five thousand rupees; when the Rani sent message to Pandit Jallah (who was the in charge of the religious donations) to make payments, he refused and told her
that donations could be given only to the Brahmins and not the Nihangs or Faqirs; he even used abusive language for her and he sent just two hundred rupees to her; when the messenger gave this amount to the Rani, she refused to accept it and called a meeting of the Sikh generals and the other elite.
Several senior Sikh elite and generals responded to her call; addressing them, she said: “Khalsa Ji, this Empire has been bestowed upon us by you; Daleep Singh is a child; these Pahari (hill men i.e. Dogra) Rajas and Pandit Jallah want to kill us; they don’t obey our orders. Khalsa Ji241 is our patron; they (Dogras) don’t allow us even to serve them; besides, they make forced entry into our residential quarters and perpetrate excesses upon us. Now, you should either kill us or release us from their confinement.”
Hearing this, the Sikhs became angry, and, they promised her full support; several Sikhs visited her for the next many days; some of them began guarding her.
Murder of Hira Sinh and Pandit Jallah
When Hira Sinh Dogra came to know about the meetings of the Rani and the Sikh generals, he got frightened; now, he began realising that if he stayed at Lahore his murder at the hands of one or another Sikh was imminent; so, he decided to flee to Jammu. On the 21st of December 1844, he collected all his money, gold, diamonds and other precious things; besides, he also picked up everything from the treasury; he placed all this on seven elephants and escorted by four thousand Dogra soldiers, left Lahore in the wee hours; soon, the Sikh generals got news of his plunder of treasury and Hira Sinh’s march towards Jammu; a big Sikh force of six thousand soldiers, led by Sirdar Sham Singh Attari, began chasing the Dogras. The Dogra army had not gone very far, so the Sikhs were able to catch up them in a few hours; when the Sikhs reached near them the Dogras attacked them; while the Dogra army continued fighting the Sikhs, in the meanwhile, Hira Sinh and his treasury continued moving towards Jammu; fighting
continued for 35-40 kilometres; before evening, most of the Dogra soldiers were killed.
Finding the Sikh soldiers nearing them, Hira Sinh, Jallah and other senior Dogras hid themselves in thickets in the outskirts of a village; the Sikhs had been chasing them but did not have a clue whether they had escaped or were hiding somewhere. As it would happen, one of the Dogras felt very thirsty and he came out in search of water; when they reached near a well, some Sikh saw them; at this the Sikhs began firing in that direction; a bullet hit Sohan Sinh Dogra (son of Gulab Sinh), who was sitting on one elephant and he died instantly; Labh Sinh Dogra too was hit by a bullet but he kicked his horse and ran towards Jammu. Some Sikhs chased him and captured him after a race of about seven kilometres; but, the Sikhs did not arrest but killed him; on the other hand, one unit of the Sikhs found Hira Sinh Dogra too; he tried to fight but soon a Sikh soldier threw his spear towards him and he was killed instantly; besides Pandit Jallah could not brave even a single stroke of sword. When all of them were killed, the Sikh soldiers brought back the elephants laden with treasury.
Murder of Jawahar Singh
With the killing of Hira Sinh Dogra, now Lahore was free from the major conspirator Dogras (only Gulab Sinh was alive as he was in Jammu); now Rani Jindan appointed her brother Jawahar Singh as minister and Brahmin Lal Sinh Misr as his advisor. She also formed a Panchayat (a Council) comprising of Jawahar Singh (her brother), Ram Singh (son of Wasti Ram), Diwan Dina Nath, Bakhshi Bhagat Ram and Faqir Nur-ud-Din; although this Panchayat did not have any Dogra in it, but it included just one Sikh i.e. brother of the Rani and three of these were Hindus and one was Muslim; Diwan Dina Nath, one of these five, was having contacts with the English.
During this period, the royal treasury too was passing through a crisis; earlier, in January 1841, Gulab Sinh Dogra had carried away a large amount of money and valuables, belonging to Rani Chand Kaur to Jammu, on the pretext of
safely; and, after her murder he usurped all this treasure. Secondly, in the past five years, about 35 thousand new soldiers had been recruited and the number of the soldiers had crossed one hundred and twenty thousand; their salaries were a major burden on the treasury. Thirdly, a lot of money was being spent on the salaries and activities of the Maharaja and the other ministers as well as donations etc. On the other hand, the Zamindars, Jagirdars, Faujdars, Aamils, Karoris and Subedars (Governors) had not deposited their revenues for the past few years; the defaulters included Gulab Sinh Dogra (Jammu) and Diwan Mool Raj (Multan) also; Gulab Sinh Dogra owed 35 lakh rupees to Lahore Darbar (he had already usurped millions of rupees of Rani Chand Kaur and nobody asked him to return that); the Lahore Darbar had sent several letters to Gulab Sinh to clear his accounts but he did not bother; hence, now, after having issuing final warning in March 1845, the Lahore army marched to Jammu to arrest him and occupy the state: when the army reached Jammu, Gulab Sinh surrendered; he gave twenty-seven lakh rupees and accompanied the army to appear before the Maharaja and submit his apology; when he appeared in the Darbar he promised to send the rest of the money earliest possible and he was allowed to return to his state. After reaching Jammu, Gulab Sinh made contacts with the English authorities; besides he offered incentives to the Kabaeelies (heads of Afghan tribes) and Baloch people and got their assurances for help in case he rebelled against Lahore Darbar.
Though, by that time, Lahore was free from Dogra Dhian Sinh and Hira Sinh and their companions but some agent of Gulab Sinh were still there: one of them was Pirthi Sinh Dogra. By that time Gulab Sinh had got intelligence that Jawahar Singh (brother of the Rani) was his major enemy; so, he chalked out a plan to eliminate him; he bribed the army generals and provoked them against Jawahar Singh.
At that time Prince Pishaura Singh was stationed at Sialkot; Gulab Sinh Dogra incited him too to rebel and capture power; when the news of rebellion reached Lahore, Jawahar
Singh despatched army to quell the rebellion and arrest him (Pishaura Singh); as Pishaura Singh was not in position to fight the army, he surrendered; when he was being taken to Lahore, he was killed by some unknown person. This murdered had been carried out by some informer of Gulab Sinh Dogra; he wanted to incite hatred for Jawahar Singh and the army generals escorting Pishaura Singh, and create civil war among the ruling family; so after this murder he spread rumour that it was Jawahar Singh who had plotted the murder; at Lahore, Pirthi Sinh Dogra provoked the Sikh generals against Jawahar Singh. In such an atmosphere of conspiracies, Jawahar Singh was murdered by a Sikh general on the 21st of September; at that time he was carrying his nephew (Maharaja Daleep Singh) in his arms; the generals snatched the Maharaja from his arms and killed him.
Final action to finish Ranjit Singh’s Empire
On the 8th of November 1845, about six weeks after the murder of Jawahar Singh, Lal Sinh Brahmin was appointed as the Prime Minister and Teja Sinh Brahmin as the chief of the army; although the Dogras had been eliminated from the Lahore Darbar but, now, Rani Jindan and the Khalsa Panchayat handed over all the power to the Brahmins of Hindustan, another group of traitors. Soon, these Brahmins (prime minister and commander-in-chief) began developing contacts with the English; within a few days, both these Brahmins had made liaison with the senior English officials; some European generals of the Sikh army too were in contact with the English.
The English plans to occupy the Punjab
About one and a half years before the death of Ranjit Singh, the English had begun discussing the time and strategy for occupying Ranjit Singh’s country, but Ranjit Singh was totally unaware of the designs of the English; secondly, he had delegated al his power to the Dogras and the Brahmins; thirdly, he had been living the life of a drug and alcohol addict; he was a very heavy drunkard; by 1836 (at the age of 56), he had
realised that he had grown ‘old’; he had already suffered a stroke of paralysis; he had another attack of paralysis in 1837 which badly affected right side of his body; in such a state he did not know what he was doing.
In 1838, when Governor General Lord Auckland visited Lahore, both of them (Lord Auckland and Ranjit Singh) had alcohol sessions twice.242 According to the English, the whiskey offered by Ranjit Singh was very strong; Lord Auckland too offered English whiskey to Ranjit Singh. After these two drinking sessions Ranjit Singh’s speech was affected and he could not utter any word; it was widely believed that the whiskey presented by the English was poisonous and it affected Ranjit Singh’s tongue. Now, Ranjit Singh began expressing himself through signs; he spent the next six months just lying in his bed; he had a painful and torturous end of his life; he died in June 1839.
Though the English wanted to attack and occupy Punjab even in 1809, but they postponed it and went on planning; in 1838, they finally decided to capture it;243 in 1838, Henry Fane presented a plan to the British government, under which the Punjab was to be occupied within two years (by 1840). The English had been collecting sensitive information about the Punjab, its administration, its army, its cantonments, its weapons and arms arsenals, its roads, bridges and boats, its economy etc. Right from 1809, all the official visitors to Lahore, from Metcalfe to Lord Auckland, had been collecting information and the intelligence department would analyse it and ponder over feasibility and strategy to capture the Punjab.
In 1838, when Henry Fane passed through Punjab, on his Sikh-English-Afghan-Mission to help Shah Zaman to capture Kabul, he was thinking more of ‘Punjab Mission’. During this mission, the English had befriended Gulab Sinh Dogra too; and after this, the English had approached Teja Sinh and Lal Sinh, the Brahmin generals and the courtiers of Ranjit Singh.
The planning to capture Punjab was not deliberated only in secret meetings of the senior English generals but it
was openly discussed in the homes of the English officials; the wives and children of the English officers had full knowledge of this mission and this subject was openly talked about in their living rooms. On the 26th of May 1841, the wife of Henry Lawrence, in a letter to one of her friends in England, made clear reference to the English plan to capture the Punjab; the letter said:
“Wars and rumours of wars are on every side and there seems no doubt that next cold weather will decide the long suspended question of occupying the Punjab; Henry, both in his Civil and Military capacity, will probably be called to take part in whatever goes on…”.
Edwardes and Merrivalo, the biographers of Henry Lawrence, write that Gulab Sinh Dogra and Colonel Avitable were in contact with the English; Hugh Cook too claims that Gulab Sinh was fully in touch with the English and he had promised full help to the English in case of a war. In 1842, Henry Lawrence said that “a consideration should be offered to the Dogra Rajas Dhyan Singh and Gulab Singh; for their assistance, they alone in the Punjab being now able to give aid. We need such men as the Rajahs and General Avitable and should bind them to us by the only tie they recognise self-interest. The Rajahs secured in their territory, even with additions, General Avitable guaranteed out aid in retiring with his property, and any other sirdars aiding us cordially, be specially and separately treated for.” He proposed “that on the terms of efficient support we assist Raja Gulab Singh to get possession of the valley of Jalalabad and endeavour to make some arrangement to secure it and Peshawar to his family.”244
It seems that the planning to murder Sher Singh too had blessing of the English. On the 11th of May 1843, Lord Allenborough wrote: “General Ventura is with the Maharaja Sher Singh and it is clear to me that, relying on his support the Maharaja will take the first occasion of cutting of his Minister Dhian Sinh. This Dhian Singh knows, and is prepared for. The breakup of the Punjab will probably begin with murder”.
The English had expected that after the murder of Dhian Sinh, his son Hira Sinh won’t be able to establish his power and he will flee from Lahore; he expressed this view in a letter to Duke of Willington on the 20th of October 1843: “Heera Singh (the son and successor of Dhian Singh) has no real authority. His best adviser has been Ventura, but he is threatened now. Gulab Singh remains in the Hills, either in sickness, in grief, or in policy. He is securing himself there. Heera Singh will probably soon fly to Jummoo. Then a pure Sikh Government will be formed in the plains and a Rajpoot Government in the Hills and Multan may perhaps break loose all connection with the Sikhs. Ventura anticipates a long anarchy, from which the only ultimate refuge will be in our protection. I agree with him.”
Hence; though the English had planned to capture Punjab right in 1838 but it took six years to translate it into action because the English wanted to strengthen their army. On the 11th of February 1844, Lord Allenbrough observed: “I must frankly confess that when I look at the whole condition of our army I had rather, if the contest cannot be further postpones, it were at least postponed to November 1845. It means that the English had even fixed a date for the occupation of the Punjab245
In the beginning of 1845, Lord Hardinge and General Gough ordered manufacture of new boats, apparently with intention of making boat-bridges; boats were important to cross river Satluj. The next step was to appoint Major Broadfoot as British Agent in Ludhiana; Broadfoot wrote to the English government that after the death of Duleep Singh, the Punjab will be our territory; this intention is very much clear from the letters of Broadfoot dated 7.12.1844, 30.1.1845 and 28.2.1845.
By this time, the English had won over the Brahmins Lal Sinh (prime minister) and Teja Sinh (Commander-in-chief) the Gulab Sinh Dogra246, Diwan Mool Raj, General Avitable and several others; and; with this; they began finding/creating excuses for beginning war: this step was initiated by Broadfoot; in March 1845, when a party of Lahore Darbar,
headed by Lal Singh Adalati, crossed Satluj river for a meeting with the English, it was fired at under orders from Broadfoot; one member of this party was killed; it was a wise decision of Lal Singh not to retaliate otherwise the this could have become the beginning of the battle between the English and the Lahore Darbar.247 The English even tried to incite Diwan Mool Raj for a rebellion and promised him full support.
On the other hand, Teja Sinh (commander-in-chief), under instructions from the English, too began inciting the army against the English: he began propagating that the English were ready to attack the Punjab to occupy it; he suggested that they (Lahore army) should attack before the enemy (the English) could do so. To discuss this issue, a meeting of the Sikh generals was held at the Samadh of Ranjit Singh; the issue of war was discussed in this meeting; Rani Jindan and Sham Singh Attariwala were against launching an attack; but, the Dogras and the Brahmins were in favour of an attack. Bypassing the advice of the Rani and Sham Singh Attariwala, Teja Sinh and Lal Sinh got for them all the rights regarding war and aligned issues; and, after this, they stopped even holding of meeting of the Panchayat).
Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh had begun propaganda against the English in order to incite the Sikh Generals; the propaganda included: 1. The English army is establishing its camps on the other side of river Satluj. 2. The English have refused to return sixteen lakh rupees of Suchet Sinh, deposited in a bank in Firozpur. 3. The English have confiscated the property of Suchet Sinh. 4. The English have occupied the cis-Satluj territory (land) of the Lahore Darbar; when this propaganda reached most of the Sikh generals, Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh went further on their plan.248
On the 3rd of December 1845, a representative of the Lahore Darbar was sent to the English Governor General to seek explanation for the actions of Major Broadfoot; as per planning, the Governor General refused to talk to the representative of the Lahore Darbar; in fact, it was planned that as a reaction, it will be propagated that the English have ended
their relations with the Lahore Darbar, and now, the matter was to be resolved by way of war. Now, the Lal Sinh – Teja Sinh duo began talking of war; in fact they had already chalked out planning for war right on 17th of November 1845.249
On the English side, all the planning was the actions and reactions by Major Broadfoot; even, the English writers and officers believe this; according to Cunningham “It was generally held by the English in India that Major Broadfoot’s appointment as Agent in Oct., 1844 greatly increased the probabilities of a war with the Sikhs, and the impression was equally strong, that had Mr. Clark, for instance, remained as agent, there would have been no war.”.250
On the other hand, after getting nod from Lal Sinh – Teja Sinh, on the 17th of November, the English too had begun preparations for war; on the 20th of November 1845, the English army at Ambala and Merrut had got orders to be ready to proceed to the Punjab; they actually left for Firozpur on the 10th of December; at Ludhiana too, Brigadier Wheeler, along with a big army, began marching towards Firozpur; most of the English army had reached Firozpur by the 17th of December 1845; this army comprised of seventeen thousand soldiers and 69 cannons. According to Calcutta Review, the number of the English soldiers was 17727 and, later, on the 31st of December 1845, 16700 soldiers of Lord Harding too joined them, increasing their number to about 32500; the number of the Sikh soldiers was between 35 and 40 thousand.251
Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh were in constant touch with Nicolson and both parties had finalised full details for launching a battle; Nicolson had got even written assurances from Lal Sinh. But, due to untimely death of Nicolson all these details could not be recorded in the official English files.252
Lal Sinh and Teja Singh had very dangerous plans: they did not want only to defeat the Sikh army but destroy it; and after its annihilation become ministers under the English; they thought that the English will always remain grateful to them for being instrumental in capturing the Punjab.253 With this
nefarious design, these traitors were planning for defeat and destruction of the Sikh army.
When everything was pre-planned, on the 24th of November 1845, Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh ordered the Sikh army to march towards river Satluj; on the 12th of December, the Sikh soldiers crossed the river and took positions in the territory of the Lahore Darbar (this land belonged to Ranjit Singh ); the traitor Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh had spread this propaganda among the soldiers that they would defeat the English and then occupy Delhi; and after capturing Delhi, they would proceed towards Calcutta and then to London where the Khalsa shall rule.254
On the 13th of December 1845, Lord Hardinge formally declared war against Lahore Darbar; it is remarkable that the Sikhs had not fired even a single shot so far. Major Carmichael Smyth, in History of the Reigning Family of Lahore (1847), accepted that the Sikhs had not made an unprovoked attack. He wrote, “I am neither of the opinion that the Seiks made an unprovoked attack, nor that we have acted towards them with great forbearance”; Smythe further writes: “Had we not departed from the rules of friendship first? The year before the war broke out, we kept the island between Firozpur and the Punjab, though it belonged to the Seiks, owing to the deep waters between us and the island…For the past several years, in fact since the death of Ranjit Singh, we had been playing the game of ‘Wolf and Shepherd’. The newspapers and politicians had been crying ‘the Sikhs are coming’.255
Battle of Mudki
In December 1845, the English were ready for a battle against the Sikhs; they had an army of 30000 men with 40 guns; on the other hand Lal Sinh (chief of Sikh army) had sanctioned 35000 the Sikh forces with 22 guns. As per his planning with the English generals, Lal Sinh (instead of easily occupying Firozpur) ordered an attack on Mudki; Lal Sinh after crossing river Satluj wrote to Captain Nicholson (who was at Firozpur), “I have crossed the river with the Sikh army;
tell me what to do;” Nicholson told him, “Don’t attack Firozpur; halt as many days as you can…” Lal Sinh involved his soldiers in engagement, and then left them to fight as their undirected valour might prompt.256
In spite of treason, on the 18th of December 1845, the Sikhs257 badly defeated the English army; in this battle, 215 English soldiers were killed, including Sir Robert Sale (known as ‘the defender of Jalalabad’) and Sir Joseph Macgaskill, and 657 English soldiers were wounded. 258
The purpose of this action by the Brahmin Generals of the Lahore Darbar was to get all the Sikh soldiers killed; Cunningham, who was the commander of the English forces against the Sikhs writes259: “The object, indeed, of Lal Singh and Tej Singh was not to compromise themselves with the English by destroying an isolated division, (at Firozepur) but to get their own troops dispersed by the converging forces of their opponents…”260
Battle of Pherushahr
The second battle between the Sikhs and the English was fought on the 21st of December 1845 in the fields of Pherushahr village;:as per planning, Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh did not provide the Sikh soldiers even sufficient arms and ammunition; Teja Sinh also prevented them from attacking that side of the English army which was weak; besides, when Teja Sinh would realise that the Sikh soldiers had upper hand on a particular side, he would order them to withdraw from that front in order to help the English army; after this Lal Sinh, Kanhaiya Lal, Ayudhya Prasad and Amar Nath fled the scene leaving six to seven thousand Sikh soldiers leader-less; but, in spite of this treason, the Sikh soldiers did neither surrender nor ran away from the field.
In the battle of Pherushahr, 694 English soldiers were killed and 1721 were wounded; among the killed, 103 were officers and these included Major Broadfoot who had shot the first bullet of the battle;261 the Sikhs lost 2000 soldiers and 73 pieces of artillery. Although in this battle the traitors Lal Sinh
and Teja Sinh fully collaborated with the English and helped them in every way but in spite of this the losses of the English were heavy and they were badly frightened.262
In this battle, Patiala, Nabha and the other cis-Satluj Sikh states too fought for the English and against the Sikh army of Lahore Darbar.
Ranjodh Singh’s attack on Ludhiana
Besides the Firozpur zone, the Sikhs opened another front at Ludhiana too; on 17th of January 1846, Ranjodh Singh, the Raja of Ladwa, attacked the English cantonment at Baddowal (near Ludhiana) and occupied it; but, Ranjodh Singh, instead of proceeding towards Firozpur or thinking of planning to stop and fight against the English army coming from Delhi, simply stayed at Baddowal. According to Smythe, “Ranjodh Singh ought certainly to have marched direct upon Delhi instead of entrenching himself first at Buddowal and afterwards on the banks of the river; his cavalry might have laid waste the country and his army would have increased like a snowball and easily have got possession of a portion of the siege-train which was on the road without proper ammunition and protection.”263
Ranjodh Singh’s occupation lasted only ten days; on the 28th of January 1846, Henry Smith’s army attacked Ludhiana; a battle was fought at village Aliwal in which Ranjodh Singh lost and was arrested. Cunningham believes that Ranjodh Singh did not have any strategy; he occupied Baddowal but did not move further; he could have proceeded towards Firozpur to join the Lahore army or should have marched towards Delhi to stop the English army from proceeding towards Lahore/Firozpur; further, even when Henry Smith attacked, he (Ranjodh Singh) did not personally lead his army.
Although the English army had re-occupied Ludhiana but they had achieved this success not because of their own strength or strategy; they won because of lack of experience/wisdom of Ranjodh Singh; and even after
occupying Ludhiana, the English officers were still scared, confused and worried; hence, instead of capturing the Punjab, they had begun thinking of returning to West (England). Commenting on the state of mind of the English and the traitors (Lal Sinh Misr, Teja Sinh Misr and Gulab Sinh Dogra) Cunningham observes: “They shrank within themselves with fears, and Gulab Sinh, who had been spontaneously hailed as minister and leader, began to think that the Khalsa army was really formidable…”264
Gulab Sinh Dogra reaches Lahore
In spite of this situation, as per the English planning, Gulab Sinh Dogra reached Lahore on the 27th of January 1846, and took over de facto reigns of the Lahore Darbar; but, still, he was scared of the Sikh soldiers, as he feared that they might treat him a traitor and deal with him in the manner they did with his nephew Hira Sinh Dogra. But, then, news reached Lahore that the English had won Ludhiana again; this suited Gulab Sinh Dogra; now, he began presenting himself as the greatest well-wisher of Lahore Darbar; he scolded the Sikh generals for losing battles.265 Having observed that his words had been successful to present him as a loyal leader, he proceeded further by telling them that they should not have given went to their anger and rage which made them turn against such a big and mighty neighbour; to further show his concern for the Lahore Darbar, he immediately began ‘negotiations’ with the English.
On the other hand, the English Governor General did not like this; he wanted to occupy the whole of the Punjab;266 the Governor General sent a message to Gulab Sinh that he would not mind Sikh rule (in fact Gulab Sinh’s rule) in Lahore subject to the disbanding of the Sikh army; but, Gulab Sinh expressed his helplessness in doing so on the plea that he was afraid of the Sikh army. Cunningham thinks that Gulab Sinh himself was not interested in this (as this would have made him just a tout of the English; on the other hand he would have a higher position in the Lahore Darbar).267
Battle of Sabraon
In such a situation, the English too did not want to prolong the issue; hence they had a deal with the ‘trio’: Gulab Sinh Dogra, Lal Sinh (Prime Minister) and Teja Sinh (Commander-in-chief), the three traitors of the Lahore Darbar; as per the deal: the trio will instigate the Sikh army to attack the English; but they will be put in a position to be beaten by the English army; after this, the Sikh army will be abandoned; hence their defeat and destruction; and with this the English army would easily capture Lahore.
Commenting upon this, Cunningham says: The speedy dictation of a treaty under the walls of Lahore was essential to the British reputation and the views of either party were in some sort met by an understanding that the Sikh army should be attacked by the English and that when beaten, it should be openly abandoned by its own government; and further, that the passage of the Sutlej should be unopposed and the road to the capital laid open to the victors. Under such circumstances of discreet policy and shameless treason was the battle of Sobroan fought.268 Murray believes that there is no example of such a battle of (treason) in ancient or modern history.269
The battle of Sabraon was fought on the 10th of February 1846; Tej Sinh and Lal Sinh re-organised planning to assure perfect victory for the English; hence their army should have clear passage to reach Lahore.
According to Calcutta Review, traitor Lal Sinh Brahmin had sent, in writing, the complete planning for the strategy of battle at Sabraon; this planning reached Captain Nicholson on the 7th of February 1846.270
When the battle for Sabraon began, the Sikh army had an upper hand; they had crushed three attacks by the English army; now, instead of beginning an offensive, Teja Sinh fled the battlefield271 and after crossing Satluj river, he even damaged the bridge so that the Sikh army may not be able to cross it in case of necessity;272 when the English received information about Teja Sinh’s action (of fleeing, destroying the
bridge; and, leaving the Sikh army leader-less, and, not being able to cross the bridge), they began a new offensive: now, most of the leader-less Sikh soldiers had no choice but to either win the battle or embrace martyrdom; hence they fought with religious fervour under the command of Sham Singh Attariwala.
During this period, some soldiers of the Lahore Darbar who considered themselves as mercenaries and had no religious or national commitment, tried to flee; but as the bridge had been damaged by Teja Sinh, they could not cross the river hence many of them drowned; but (as per the author of The Life of Henry Lawrence) those who could swim were greeted by the ten cannons which Gulab Sinh Dogra and Teja Sinh had put up to blow up the returning Sikhs by branding them ‘traitors fleeing battle field’.
On the other hand, in the battlefield, Sham Singh Attariwala273 and his companions continued fighting till their last breath; Cunningham274 has given a fine account of the martyrdom of Sham Singh Attariwala: “The dangers which threatened the Sikh people pressed upon their mind and they saw no escape from foreign subjection. The grey headed chief Sham Singh of Attari, made known his resolution to die in the first conflict with the enemies of his race and so to offer himself as a sacrifice of propitiation to the spirit of Gobind Singh ji and to the genius of his mystic Commonwealth....the ancient Sham Singh remembered his vow, he clothed himself in simple white attire, as one devoted to death, and callings on all around him to fight for the Guru, who had promised everlasting bliss to the brave, he repeatedly rallied his shattered ranks, and at last fell a martyr on a heap of his slain countrymen.”…“No Sikh offered to submit and no disciple of Gobind asked for quarter. They everywhere showed a front to the victor and stalked slowly and sullenly away while many rushed singly forth to meet assured death by contending with a Multitude.”
Griffin has recorded that Sham Singh Attariwala was hit by seven bullets; he had his fifty companions, who were fighting just with swords, embraced martyrdom like chivalrous soldiers.275 In this battle, 320 English soldiers died and 2083 were wounded; Lord Gough assesses the Sikh causalities between 12 and 15 thousands.
The English crossed Satluj River
After winning the battle of Sabraon, there was none to stop the movement of the English army; the ten cannons on the other side of the river were not supposed to attack the English soldiers; the prime minister of Lahore was a traitor; the commander-in-chief was a traitor; and the third leader of the Lahore Darbar, Gulab Sinh Dogra, was a traitor; i.e. the whole administration of Lahore was bent upon shameful treason to hand over the kingdom of Ranjit Singh to the enemy.
On the 12th of February 1846, the English army reached Kasur and occupied the fort without resistance; the Pathan leaders of Kasur held a meeting and went to the chief of the English army to ‘welcome’ them.
As per the command of the English army, on the 14th of February, the traitor Gulab Sinh Dogra reached Kasur to present himself before the English General and presented them with precious gifts; the General refused to have a meeting with him, and ‘ordered’ that Daleep Singh, the child Maharaja, and all the courtiers accompanied by prominent Sikh feudal, should themselves appear before him (General).
On the 18th of February 1846, Daleep Singh and his courtiers appeared before the English; they were not even asked to have seats, the terms of ‘treaty’ (in fact deed of surrender) were read out to them; they were asked to sign it, and were unceremoniously dismissed.276
In fact, the English General wanted not only to insult the Sikhs but also wanted to create terror in their minds; and, now he wanted that, instead of Satluj, Beas should be accepted as their border and they (Sikhs) should have nothing to do with the hill states.277
Awards and Rewards to the Traitors
After getting ‘treaty’ signed, the English had deliberations about giving awards and rewards to those traitors who had helped the English in defeating the Sikh army; but, they had problem that they could not grant equal power to both traitors Gulab Sinh and Lal Sinh; so they decided to hand over
Kashmir and hill territory to Gulab Sinh (the hills on the western side of Beas river); and Lal Sinh Brahmin (prime minister) was given control of the Lahore Darbar.278 Because officially it was not the British but Daleep Singh (in fact Rani Jindan) who was to appoint the prime minister; but they (English) knew that, in spite of all treason, Lal Sinh was the most trusted person for Rani Jinda and she would surely appoint him as her prime minister; this was the state of mind of the Rani on one hand and the successful strategy of the traitor Lal Sinh and his companions.
The whole Lahore machinery (including the army chief, prime minister) were their men and the English could have captured the whole of the Punjab; but, at that time there were 20 thousand Sikh soldiers at Amritsar and 15 thousand at Lahore, and this could have led to a large number of casualties on both sides; hence they decided not to go to this extent;279 but, still they decided to create awe in the mind of the Sikhs. In order to establish this, they decided to exhibit their supremacy in Lahore itself; a large English army, escorted by Maharaja Daleep Singh, marched to Lahore and put up camps in Mian Mir cantonment.
General Huge Cook reports that when the English army was passing through Lahore, the Sikhs were angry but it did not affect the Hindus and the Muslims.280
At Lahore, the first order issued by the English army was to expel all the Sikh soldiers not only from the cantonment but also from the walled city of Lahore; they were ordered to cross the river Raavi and put up their camps in Shahdara area; none of them was allowed to enter Lahore without a permit in writing; hence, now, Lahore city and the cantonment were in the possession of the English.
Treaty of Lahore
On the 9th of March 1846, a 16 point ‘Treaty’ was signed by the Lahore Darbar and the English; on the 11th of March addition were made to this ‘Treaty’; later, on the 16th of
March 1846, another ‘agreement’ was signed for grant of Kashmir to Gulab Sinh Dogra:
Treaty between the British Government and the State of Lahore – 1846
Article 1. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between the British Government on the one part, and Maharajah Dhuleep Sing, his heirs and successors on the other.
Article 2. The Maharajah of Lahore renounces for himself, his heirs and successors, all claim to, or connection with the territories lying to the south of the River Sutlej, and engages never to have any concern with those territories or the inhabitants thereof. Article 3. The Maharajah cedes to the Hon’ble Company, in perpetual sovereignty, all his forts, territories and rights in the Doab or country, hill and plain, situated between the Rivers Beas and Sutlej.
Article 4. The British Government having demanded from the Lahore State, as indemnification for the expenses of the war, in addition to the cession of territory described in Article 3, payment of one and half crore of Rupees, and the Lahore Government being unable to pay the whole of this sum at this time, or to give security satisfactory to the British Government for its eventual payment, the Maharajah cedes to the Honourable Company, in perpetual sovereignty, as equivalent for one crore of Rupees, all his forts, territories, rights and interests in the hill countries, which are situated between the Rivers Beas and Indus, including the Provinces of Cashmere and Hazarah
.Article 5. The Maharajah will pay to the British Government the sum of 60 lakhs of Rupees on or before the ratification of this Treaty.
Article 6. The Maharajah engages to disband the mutinous troops of the Lahore Army, taking from them their arms-and His Highness agrees to reorganize the Regular or Aeen Regiments of Infantry, upon the system, and according to the Regulations as to pay and allowances, observed in the time of the late Maharajah Runjeet Sing. The Maharajah further engages to pay up all arrears to the soldiers that are discharged, under the provisions of this Article.
Article 7. The Regular Army of the Lahore State shall henceforth be limited to 25 Battalions of Infantry, consisting of 800 bayonets each with twelve thousand Cavalry – this number at no time to be exceeded without the concurrence of the British Government. Should it be necessary at any time – for any special cause – that this force should be increased, the cause shall be fully explained to the British Government, and when the special necessity shall have passed, the regular troops shall be again reduced to the standard specified in the former Clause of this Article.
Article 8. The Maharajah will surrender to the British Government all the guns-thirty-six in number-which have been pointed against the British troops-and which, having been placed on the right Bank of the River Sutlej, were not captured at the battle of Subraon.
Article 9. The control of the Rivers Beas and Sutlej, with the continuations of the latter river, commonly called the Gharrah and the Punjnud, to the confluence of the Indus at Mithunkote-and the control of the Indus from Mithunkote to the borders of Beloochistan, shall, in respect to tolls and ferries, rest with the British Government. The provisions of this Article shall not interfere with the passage of boats belonging to the Lahore Government on the said rivers, for the purpose of traffic or the
conveyance of passengers up and down their course. Regarding the ferries between the two countries respectively, at the several ghats of the said rivers, it is agreed that the British Government, after defraying all the expenses of management and establishments, shall account to the Lahore Government for one-half the net profits of the ferry collections. The provisions of this Article have no reference to the ferries on that part of the River Sutlej which forms the boundary of Bhawulpore and Lahore respectively.
Article 10. If the British Government should, at any time, desire to pass troops through the territories of His Highness the Maharajah, for the protection of the British territories, or those of their Allies, the British troops shall, on such special occasion, due notice being given, be allowed to pass through the Lahore territories. In such case the officers of the Lahore State will afford facilities in providing supplies and boats for the passage of rivers, and the British Government wi281ll pay the full price of all such provisions and boats, and will make fair compensation for all private property that may be damaged. The British Government will, moreover, observe all due consideration to the religious feelings of the inhabitants of those tracts through which the army may pass.
Article 11. The Maharajah engages never to take or to retain in his service any British subject-nor the subject of any European or American State-without the consent of the British Government.
Article 12. In consideration of the services rendered by Rajah Golab Sing of Jummoo, to the Lahore State, towards procuring the restoration of the relations of amity between the Lahore and British Governments, the Maharajah hereby agrees to recognize the lndependent sovereignty of Rajah Golab Sing in such territories and districts in the hills as may be made over to the said Rajah Golab Sing, by separate Agreement between himself and the British Government, with the dependencies thereof, which may have been in the Rajah’s possession since the time of the late Maharajah Khurruck Sing, and the British Government, in consideration of the good conduct of Rajah Golab Sing, also agrees to recognize his independence in such territories, and to admit him to the privileges of a separate Treaty with the British Government.
Article 13. In the event of any dispute or difference arising between the Lahore State and Rajah Golab Sing,
the same shall be referred to the arbitration of the British Government, and by its decision the Maharajah engages to abide.
Article 14. The limits of the Lahore territories shall not be, at any time, changed without the concurrence of the British Government.
Article 15. The British Government will not exercise any interference in the internal administration of the Lahore State-but in all cases or questions which may be referred to the British Government, the Governor-General will give the aid of his advice and good offices for the furtherance of the interests of the Lahore Government
.Article 16. The subjects of either State shall, on visiting the territories of the other, be on the footing of the subjects of the most favoured nation.
This Treaty consisting of sixteen articles, has been this day settled by Frederick Currie, Esquire, and Brevet-Major Henry Montgomery Lawrence acting under the directions of the Right Hon’ble Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.B., Governor-General, on the part of the British Government, and by Bhaee Ram Sing, Rajah Lal Sing, Sirdar Tej Sing, Sirdar Chuttur Sing Attareewalla, Sirdar Runjore Sing Majeethia, Dewan
Deena Nath, and Faqueer Noorooddeen, on the part of the Maharajah Dhuleep Sing, and the said Treaty has been this day ratified by the seal of the Right Hon’ble Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.B., Governor-General, and by that of His Highness Maharajah Dhuleep Sing.
Done at Lahore, this ninth day of March, in year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six; corresponding with the,tenth day of Rubbee-ool-awul, 1262 Hijree, and ratified on the same date.
(Sd.) H. Hardinge (L.S.)
(Sd.) Maharajah Dhuleep Sing (L.S.)
Bhaee Ram Sing (L.S.)
Rajah Lal Sing (L.S.)
Sirdar Tej Sing (L.S.)
Sirdar Chuttur Sing Attareewalla (L.S.)
Sirdar Runjore Sing Majeethia (L.S.)
Dewan Deena Nath (L.S.)
Faqueer Noorooddeen (L.S.)
Treaty of 11.3.1846
Article 1. The British Government shall leave at Lahore, till the close of the current year, AD 1846, such force as shall seem to the Governor-General adequate for the purpose of protecting the person of the Maharajah and the inhabitants of the City of Lahore, during the reorganization of the Sikh Army, in accordance with the provisions of Article 6 of the Treaty of Lahore. That force to be withdrawn at any convenient time before the expiration of the year, if the object to be fulfilled shall, in the opinion of the Durbar, have been attained-but the force shall not be detained at Lahore beyond the expiration of the current year.
Article 2. The Lahore Government agrees that the force left at Lahore for the purpose specified in the foregoing Article shall be placed in full possession of the Fort and the City of Lahore, and that the Lahore troops shall be removed from within the City. The Lahore Government engages to furnish convenient quarters for the officers and men of the said force, and to pay to the British Government all the extra expenses, in regard to the said force, which may be incurred by the British Government, in consequence of the troops being employed away from their own Cantonments and in a Foreign Territory.
Article 3. The Lahore Government engages to apply itself immediately and earnestly to the reorganization of its army according to the prescribed conditions, and to communicate fully with the British authorities left at Lahore, as to the progress of such reorganization, and as to the location of the troops.
Article 4. If the Lahore Government fails in the performance of the conditions of the foregoing Article, the British Government shall be at liberty to withdraw the force from Lahore at any time before the expiration of the period specified in Article 1.
Article 5. The British Government agrees to respect the bona fide rights of those jaghiredars, within the territories ceded by Articles 3 and 4 of the Treaty of Lahore, dated 9th instant, who were attached to the families of the late Maharajahs Runjeet Sing, Kurruk Sing and Shere Sing; and the British Government will maintain those jaghiredars in their bona Fide possessions during their lives.
Article 6. The Lahore Government shall receive the assistance of the British Local Authorities in recovering the arrears of revenue justly due to the Lahore Government from the kardars and managers in the territories ceded by the provisions of Articles
3 and 4 of the Treaty of Lahore, to the close of the khureef harvest of the current year, viz. 1902 of the Sumbut Bikramajeet.
Article 7. The Lahore Government shall be at liberty to remove from the forts, in the territories specified in the foregoing Article, all treasure and State property, with the exception of guns. Should, however, the British Government desire to retain any part of the said property, they shall be at liberty to do so, paying for the same at a fair valuation, and the British officers shall give their assistance to the Lahore Government in disposing on the spot of such part of the aforesaid property as the Lahore Government may not wish to remove, and the British Officers may not desire to retain.
Article 8. Commissioners shall be immediately appointed by the two Governments to settle and lay down the boundary between the two States, as defined by Article 4 of the Treaty of Lahore, dated March 9th, 1846.
(Sd.) H. HARDINGE (L.S.)
(Sd.) Maharajah Dhuleep Sing (L.S.)
Bhaee Ram Sing (L.S.)
Rajah Lal Sing (L.S.)
Sirdar Tej Sing (L.S.)
Sirdar Chuttur Sing Attareewalla (L.S.)
Sirdar Runjore Sing Majeethia (L.S.)
Dewan Deena Nath (L.S.)
Faqueer Noorooddeen (L.S.)
After this, the English Governor General and the Commander-in-Chief of the English army and twenty thousand English soliders remained in Lahore for some time; during this period they monitored the disbanding of the Sikh army. Cunningham observed that the dismissed Sikh soldiers showed neither the despondency of mutinous rebels nor the effrontery and indifference of mercenaries, and their manly deportment added lustre to that valour which the victors had dearly felt and generously extolled. The men talked of their defeat as chance of war.282
After this ‘Treaty’, though technically it was the reign of Daleep Singh; and, the fort was with him, and, he had his army too, but in reality it was the English who were the real commanders because Lal Sinh Brahmin (the prime minister) and Tej Sinh Brahmin (the chief of army) were their touts.
The English could not have defeated the army of Lahore Darbar; it was the three traitors (Gulab Sinh, Teja Sinh, and Lal Sinh) who had bestowed ‘victory’ to the English (which had in fact lost battle and had got hundreds of soldiers
killed). As a reward for treason, Gulab Sinh had been crowned as Raja of Jammu; but Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh had still got nothing; Lal Sinh was jealous of Gulab Sinh, and, he had even tried to stall ‘crowning’ of Gulab Sinh. The English did not like his action; as a result he had to leave Punjab; he spent the rest of his time in Dehradun (thus, this traitor got punishment instantly; now he was a powerless person, though he had a lot of money with him). The third traitor Teja Sinh was, however, allowed to continue as the chief of Lahore army (because the English wanted to use him still further); now, Daleep Singh was the formal Maharaja and Rani Jindan was his formal ‘Regent’; but still the real power was with the English only.
Background of the traitors
It is noteworthy that, as mentioned earlier too, Ranjit Singh had handed over almost all of his power to the Dogras of Jammu and the Brahmins of Hindustan; though, there were some offices with Muslims and Punjabi Khatri-Hindus too; but, those who played treason, in December 1845, were only Dogras and Brahmins; no Sikh ever joined hands with the English in handing over the kingdom to them; no Muslim collaborated with the English; not even the Punjabi Hindus joined the English front. The history has recorded several instances of the Brahmins playing treason with their rulers; probably it began with Chanakya (Magadh) and after that there were several Chankyas and Lal Sinhs and Teja Sinhs in the history of South Asia.
‘Treaty’ of Bharowal
After exiling Teja Sinh to Dehradun, the English did not allow appointment of a new prime minister and established a ‘Council of Regency’ to administer the kingdom; it comprised of Teja Sinh Brahmin, Diwan Dina Nath, Faqir Nur-ud-Din and Sher Singh Attariwala (three of the four were non-Sikhs); later four more were added to it: Atar Singh Kalianwala, Shamsher Singh Sandhawalia, Ranjodh Singh Majithia and Bhai Nidhan Singh. Though, technically, this
‘Council’ was ruling the kingdom but, in fact, they were acting as per the wishes of the English Resident Henry Lawrence (later, in March 1848, he was replaced by Frederick Curry).
On the 16th of December 1846, the English got signed a new ‘Treaty’ from this ‘Council’; according to this agreement Rani Jindan was removed as ‘Regent’ of Maharaja Daleep Singh and given an annual pension of rupees one hundred and fifty thousand rupees. Now, Henry Lawrence became the Regent; he was to remain in this office till Daleep Singh reached age of 16; hence he was to rule the kingdom directly for the next eight years (i.e. up to the 4th of September 1854); all this was a drama, in fact, the English were planning to annex the Punjab in stages.
The text of the ‘Treaty’ (names as in original text):
Whereas the Lahore Durbar and the principal Chiefs and Sirdars of the State have in express terms communicated to the British Government their anxious desire that the Governor-General should give his aid and assistance to maintain the administration of the Lahore State during the minority of Maharajah Dulleep Sing, and have declared this measure to be indispensable for the maintenance of the Government; and whereas the Governor-General has, under certain conditions, consented to give the aid and assistance solicited, the following Articles of Agreement, in modification of the Articles of Agreement executed at Lahore on the 11th March last, have been concluded on the part of the British Government by Frederick Currie, Esquire, Secretary to Government of India, and Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Montgomery Lawrence, C.B., Agent to the Governor-General, North-West Frontier, by virtue of full powers to that effect vested in them by the Right Honorable Viscount Hardinge, G.C.B., Governor-General, and on the part of His Highness Maharajah Dulleep Sing, by Sirdar Tej Sing, Sirdar Shere Sing, Dewan Deena Nath, Fukeer Nooroodeen, Rai Kishen Chund, Sirdar Runjore Sing Majethea, Sirdar Utter Sing Kaleewalla, Bhaee Nidhan Sing, Sirdar Khan Singh Majethea, Sirdar Shumshere Sing, Sirdar Lall Sing Morarea, Sirdar Kehr Sing Sindhanwalla, Sirdar Urjun Sing Rungurnungalea, acting with the unanimous consent and concurrence of the Chiefs and Sirdars of the State assembled at Lahore.
Article 1. All and every part of the Treaty of peace between the British Government and the State of Lahore, bearing date the 9th day of March, 1846, except in so far as it may be temporarily modified in respect to Clause 15 of the said Treaty by this engagement, shall remain binding upon the two Governments.
Article 2. A British officer, with an efficient establishment of assistants, shall be appointed by the Governor-General to remain at Lahore, which officer shall have full authority to direct and control all matters in every Department of the State.
Article 3. Every attention shall be paid in conducting the administration to the feelings of the people, to preserving the national institutions and customs, and to maintaining the just rights of all classes.
Article 4. Changes in the mode and details of administration shall not be made, except when found necessary for effecting the objects set forth in the foregoing Clause, and for securing the just dues of the Lahore Government. These details shall be conducted by Native officers as at present, who shall be appointed and superintended by a Council of Regency composed of leading Chiefs and Sirdars acting under the control and guidance of the British Resident.
Article 5. The following persons shall in the first instance constitute the Council of Regency, viz., Sirdar Tej Sing, Sirdar Shere Sing Attareewalla, Dewan Deena Nath, Fukeer Nooroodeen, Sirdar Runjore Sing Majeethea, Bhaee Nidhan Sing, Sirdar Utter Sing Kaleewalla, Sirdar Shumshere Sing Sindhanwalla, and no change shall be made in the persons thus nominated, without the consent of the British Resident, acting under the orders of the Governor-General.
Article 6. The administration of the country shall be conducted by this Council of Regency in such manner as may be determined on by themselves in consultation with the British Resident, who shall have full authority to direct and control the duties of every department.
Article 7. A British Force of such strength and numbers and in such positions as the Governor-General may think fit, shall remain at Lahore for the protection of the Maharajah and the preservation of the peace of the country
Article 8. The Governor-General shall be at liberty to occupy with British soldiers any fort or military post in the Lahore territories, the occupation of which may be deemed necessary by the British Government, for the security of the capital or for maintaining the peace of the country.
Article 9. The Lahore State shall pay to the British Government twenty two lakhs of new Nanuck Shahee Rupees of full tale and weight per annum for the maintenance of this force, and to meet the expenses incurred by the British Government. Such sum to be paid by two instalments, or 13,20,000 in May or June, and 8,80,000 in November or December of each year.
Article 10. Inasmuch as it is fitting that Her Highness the Maharanee, the mother of Maharaja Dulleep Sing, should have a proper provision made for the maintenance of herself and dependants, the sum of one lakh and fifty thousand rupees shall be set apart annually for that purpose, and shall be at Her Highness’ disposal.
Article 11. The provisions of this Engagement shall have effect during the minority of His Highness Maharajah Dulleep Sing, and shall cease and terminate on His Highness attaining the full age of sixteen years or, on the 4th September of the year 1854, but it shall be competent to the Governor-General to cause the arrangement to cease at any period prior to the coming of age of His Highness, at which the Governor-General and the Lahore Durbar may be satisfied that the interposition of the British Government is no longer necessary for maintaining the Government of His Highness the Maharajah.This agreement, consisting of eleven articles, was settled and executed at Lahore by the Officers and Chiefs and Sirdars above named, on the 16th day of December, 1846.
(Sd.) F. CURRIE H.M. LAWRENCE (Sd.)
” Sirdar Tej Sing (L.S.)
” Sirdar Shere Sing (L.S.)
” Dewan Deena Nath (L.S.)
” Fukeer Nooroodeen (L.S.)
” Rai Kishen Chund (L.S.)
” Sirdar Runjore Sing Majethea (L.S.)
” Sirdar Utter Sing Kalewalla (L.S.)
” Bhaee Nidhan Sing (L.S.)
” Sirdar Khan Sing Majethea (L.S.)
” Sirdar Shumshere Sing (L.S.)
” Sirdar Lal Sing Morarea (L.S.)
” Sirdar Kher Sing Sindhanwalla (L.S.)
” Sirdar Urjan Sing Rungurnungalea (L.S.)
” (Sd.) Hardinge (L.S.) & (Sd.) Dulleep Sing (L.S.)Ratified by the Right Honorable the Governor-General, at Bhyrowal Ghat on the left bank of the Beas, twenty-sixth day of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-Six.
(Sd.) F. CURRIE,
Secretary to the Government of India
Rani Jindan imprisoned
After having made firm grip on the Lahore regime, the English started making plans to annex the whole of the Punjab: there was no possible opposition to their designs except Rani Jindan; she was the only person whom the Sikhs respected and were ready to obey her orders; hence Frederick Curry wanted Rani to leave the Punjab but the Governor General was not in favour of separating mother and son (Daleep Singh) as it could have caused anger among the Sikhs.283
In February 1847, an incident changed the whole scenario; during this period Bhai Prema Singh, a loyal official of Lahore Darbar, made a planning to murder Teja Sinh (commander-in-chief), kidnap Maharaja Daleep Singh and launch a movement to expel the English from the Punjab; but, before it could be translated into action, it got leaked and the English arrested Bhai Prema Singh and his companions. Frederick Curry wanted to make this as basis of a case of treason against Rani Jindan too; Curry tried to establish that Bhai Prema Singh had the support of Bhai Maharaj Singh (of Naurangabad) and Rani Jindan; but, he did not have any evidence against the Rani except this that her Munshi Buta Singh (who, later, became a leader of the Singh Sabha movement) had met Prema Singh for two times. The Governor General rejected the recommendation of Curry to launch proceedings against the Rani, on the plea that people won’t digest such vague allegations.284
Rewarding the traitor Teja Sinh
Gulab Sinh traitor had got his award (but Lal Sinh got punishment and exile due to his ambitions); however traitor Teja Sinh Brahmin had remained fully loyal to the British; hence the latter wanted to reward him: and, for this, the Resident arranged for a function; in this function Teja Sinh was to be anointed as ‘Raja’. When the child Maharaja Daleep Singh was asked to dip his finger in saffron and put a mark on the forehead of Teja Sinh (to complete the ceremony of grant of title of ‘Raja’), he (Daleep Singh) held his hands on his back and refused to anoint the traitor; as a result the Resident asked some priest to perform this ceremony. Lord Harding accused Rani Jindan for instructing Daleep Singh for this activity: he alleged that because she was against rewarding the traitors, so she had tutored Daleep Singh; when the ceremony began Rani did not know of the ceremony of anointing Teja Sinh; and when Daleep Singh soaked his finger with saffron paste, at the same time Rani instructed him, by blinking her eyes, not to do so, and he put his hands on his back and sat in an carefree posture.
Now, the Resident made this act as basis of a trial; and as a follow up, five most loyal servants of the Rani (Mangala, Jeewan Singh, Hira Singh, Amir Bakhsh and Hardyal) were dismissed from job, and they were exiled from the town of Lahore; even the Rani was confined to the walls of the fort; now, she was not allowed to meet anyone at her own will.
Rani Jindan expelled from Lahore
Though, the Rani was, now, almost like a prisoner in a big jail (Lahore fort), still the Resident did not stop here; on the 19th of August 1847, she was expelled from Lahore and sent to Sheikhupura; besides her pension amount too was reduced from rupees one hundred fifty thousand to a mere forty-eight thousand rupees (i.e. reduced to less than one third). When this news became public, even Dost Mohammed Khan, the chief of Kabul, condemned this action.285
The English were so much afraid of Rani Jindan that they wanted to give her mental torture by isolating her from people; by harassing her economically and by insulting her in one or another manner; in furtherance of this plan, in May 1848, she was, now, exiled even from Punjab. The orders to exile her were not signed by any Sikh member of the Cabinet of Regency; among the signatories included Teja Singh (traitor) and Gulab Sinh Dogra (he was not even a member of the Cabinet); this ‘order’ was personally executed by Frederick Currie and Fakir Nur-ud-Din.286 Rani Jindan was sent to Hindustan; on the 15th of May 1848, she was taken to Benaras under heavy escort (Fakir Nur-ud-Din287 was one of the leaders of the team which escorted the Rani to Benaras). Evan Bell, commenting on this treatment, says: “Thus was the mother of the Sovereign, and widow of our Alley, hurried away into exile, under imminent terror of execution…”288 Evan Bell further says: “She would probably think she was doomed to the same fate as her confidential vakeel Moonshee Gunga Ram, who had been hanged a few days before.” 289
Not only that she was exiled but her pension too was further reduced to mere twelve thousand rupees per year (on 16.12.1846 it was 125 thousands; on 19.8.1847 reduced to 48 thousands and now just 12 thousands), i.e. less than one tenth of the original.
The English did not stop here; at Benaras too she was treated as most dangerous criminal; on the 14th of July 1848, all her clothes were removed to search her body; besides, her ornaments (which were worth five million rupees) and two hundred thousand rupees cash were also taken away from her forcibly.
Revolt at Multan
In September 1844, Diwan Mool (also spelled as Mul) Raj became the Governor of Multan after the death of his father; Lal Sinh (the prime minister) did not like him but he could not stop his appointment; when the English captured power at Lahore, Lal Sinh, being a favourite of the English,
became aggressive and on the 29th of October 1846, he (Lal Sinh) increased the revenue to be charged from him by 25%, but, he (Mool Raj) did not protest and agreed to pay that too; to further harass him, Lal Sinh withdrew his (Mool Raj’s) judicial rights and several of his other powers; as a result, now he had no authority even to punish those who would not pay revenue to Multan regime; hence a major loss was expected to the treasury of the State; now, Diwan Mool Raj realised that Lal Sinh wanted him to resign; so, in order to save himself from further hardships and harassment, and even possible punishment, he, in December 1847, signed his resignation letter and sent it to Lahore Darbar; the Resident accepted his resignation but asked him to continue until March 1848 when his incumbent would take charge from him.
By that time Frederick Curry had joined as the new Resident; he appointed Kahan Singh as the Governor of Multan with Venus Agnew as his Political Advisor and Lieutenant Anderson as his Assistant; Kahan Singh reached Multan on the 19th of April 1848 and Diwan Mool Raj handed over the charge of Governorship to him.
When Kahan Singh and both the English officials were coming out of the fort after taking charge from Diwan Mool Raj, Godaria Singh, a Mazhabi Sikh, attacked the English officials in anger and killed them. These murders were not a spontaneous reaction or result of simply a local issue; in fact the occupation of Lahore by the English, insult to Rani Jindan and her arrest and exile, disarming the Sikh army, honouring and rewarding the traitors etc had created widespread anger among the Sikhs; of course removing Diwan Mool Raj and appointing Kahan Singh Maan in his place, especially the monitoring Multan affairs by two English officers had aggravated the situation. Godaria Singh was neither a senior officer of army nor did he belong to the ruling Jatt community; he was rather a (so-called) low caste who did not enjoy even the privileges of ruling class; hence it was just an emotional reaction by a religiously zealous person.
When the news of the murder of two English officers reached the English Resident Frederick Curry at Lahore, he ordered English army to march towards Multan but soon he changed his mind and began thinking of putting the blame on the Sikh army and officials in general; and, later, to use it for as an excuse for the annexation of Punjab: with this in mind, he wrote a letter to Herbert Edwardes, who was at Bannu at that time, asking him to tell Kahan Singh Maan to let Mool Raj remain in governance of Multan. In the second half of May 1848, Curry ordered Edwardes to march to Multan; by this time, Bhai Maharaj Singh Naurangabadi too had reached Multan and had begun organising the Sikh soldiers.
Diwan Mool Raj was, in fact, a victim of Currys and Edwardes excesses; according to Evan Bells.290When Diwan Mool Raj got news of departure of Edwardes for Multan, he offered his services to him for a peaceful solution but the latter rejected it and attacked Multan; at first there were minor skirmishes but on the 18th of June 1848, the English army made a massive attack resulting into the latter’s victory. The last battle was fought on the first of July in which the elephant of Mool Raj was killed and with this spread the news of his death too; this discouraged the Sikh soldiers. Now, Diwan Mool Raj was confined to the fort; the English army surrounded the fort from all sides; Mool Raj had been expecting help from Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul but neither he nor the Attariwalas could/did send their forces.
Finally on the 17th of December 1848, the English army made a forceful attack on the gate of the Multan Fort and broke it open; now Diwan Mool Raj surrendered; he was arrested and tried for rebellion, war and treason; he was given death sentence which, later, the Governor General changed to life imprisonment. In January 1850, he was sent to Fort William (Calcutta, now Kolkata); after a few months, he was transferred to Benaras Fort jail due to ill health; in fact he was given slow poisoning in food which led to deterioration of health; and this killed him just at the age of 36 years; he breathed his last on the 11th of August 1851.
Chatar Singh Attariwala
The English and the traitors of the Lahore Darbar (Lal Sinh, Gulab Sinh Dogra etc) had been harassing all those who were still loyal to Maharaja Ranjit Singh; the English had planned to trouble, demoralise, and if possible, to eliminate all of them one by one; those on their hit list included Chatar Singh Attariwala, who was a senior official of the Lahore Darbar, and his daughter had been engaged to Daleep Singh, the child Maharaja; the English had dangerous plans about Daleep Singh so they did not want him to get married to the daughter of Chatar Singh; hence they began troubling Chatar Singh.
In July 1847, Chatar Singh was the Governor of Hazara, and Captain James Abbot had been appointed as his Advisor as well as Assistant Resident. As per planning, Abbot began troubling Chatar Singh: he instigated the Muslim residents to revolt against Chatar Singh; Chatar Singh too had received intelligence about the activities of Abbot; in August 1848, he wrote a long letter to the English Resident giving account of the activities of Abbot; but, instead of inquiring into the allegations of Chatar Singh, he (Resident) asked him (Chatar Singh) to talk to Abbot himself. In the meanwhile, Abbot left Hazara and moved to Sherwan, about 55 kilometres away; when Chatar Singh asked him to return, he refused and said that he did not trust him (Chatar Singh); on the other hand Abbot continued instigating the Muslims. Now, Chatar Singh fully realised that the intentions of the English were not good; hence he asked the Sikh soldiers to remain on extra vigil.
In this state of affairs, one day, a big crowd of the Muslims surrounded the residence of Chatar Singh; in order to scare the crowd, Chatar Singh issued orders to fire a ball from cannon, but the person in charge of the cannon, Canora, an English soldier, refused to obey his orders; when Chatar Singh asked Canora to give up the charge of the cannon, he refused to obey this too; when some Sikhs argued with Canora, he asked his assistant, who happened to be a Sikh, to fire at those Sikhs
who were having argument with him (Canora); when the assistant refused to fire at the Sikhs, he (Canora) shot him (assistant); now Canora tried to fire a cannon ball towards the Sikhs but, per chance, he could not charge it; now when Canora made another trial to charge the cannon, two Sikhs went towards him to stop him from firing; at this Canora killed these two Sikhs too; the killing of three Sikhs created awe in the minds of all those present there and they realised that Canora might become able to charge the cannon and kill Chatar Singh and many other Sikhs; with this fear in mind, a Sikh went forward and shot Canora. After this a ball was fired from cannon which compelled the Muslims run helter skelter; if cannon had not got charged the Muslims would have killed Chatar Singh and all other Sikhs.291
His own safety, disobeying of orders by Canora and murder of three innocent Sikhs were all in favour of Chatar Singh; but, as Abbot wanted to harass and punish Chatar Singh, he tried to declare it as ‘merciless killing’ but he could not prove it. Now Abbot got prepared some fake letters against Chatar Singh; but, still, he could not establish him a rebel; in spite of this, Nicolson dismissed Chatar Singh from Governorship; the English were in fact waiting for an excuse to do it.
This was not only Chatar Singh’s insult but gross injustice too; but it was not first attack on him; his daughter had been betrothed to Maharaja Daleep Singh; he had been requesting for performance of marriage ceremony but the English were not allowing this; besides his sister-in-law (mother of would be son-in-law) had already been arrested, exiled from the Punjab and interned in Benaras Fort jail; thus this was third major shock for him, and, this was enough to make him a rebel.292
Injustice to Sher Singh Attariwala
Chatar Singh Attariwala approached the Resident but the latter did not bother because all actions had been done with his consent or connivance. During all these events Chatar Singh’s son Sher Singh had not reacted; in fact, Sher Singh had always expressed complete loyalty for the State; when Mool Raj of Multan rebelled, he (Sher Singh) helped the English like a loyal official;293 but, in spite of this the English had been doing injustice to him; they even tried to get him killed.294 This is apparent that the English wanted to insult, harass and trouble, and finally remove from the scene, all those who could be potential danger to their designs or those who were loyal to Ranjit Singh family; and, here, the Attariwalas were in a way the Ranjit Singh family itself, as their daughter had been engaged to Daleep Singh. It seems that the English had already secretly planned to convert Daleep Singh to Christianity, and, separating his mother from him, blocking his marriage in a staunch Sikh family etc were steps towards this direction.
As mentioned earlier, insult and gross injustice to Chatar Singh turned him a rebel and he began considering a final battle against the English; when his son Sher Singh came to know about the wish of his father, he too decided to join him; Chatar Singh wrote a letter to his second son Gulab Singh too; it read: “The Farangis (English) have done injustice to the queen of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They have arrested the mother of the people and have exiled her to Hindostan. They have violated the treaty.”295
When Sher Singh finally decided for war, several Sikh leaders, former generals and soldiers expressed their willingness to join him; by that time a very large number of soldiers had been dismissed from service, and they were sitting idle in their villages; and there was not a single village where there was no dismissed Sikh soldier. Besides, treatment with Rani Jindan, injustice to Attariwalas, rewarding the traitors, loss of glory and realisation of mood of slavery had already created the feeling of rebellion among the folk.
But, although a common Sikh was infuriated and in a rebellious mood, the feudal created by Ranjit Singh and the
other nobility, who had been living easy lives of luxury, were not ready for joining struggle; but, it was people’s agony which had created an atmosphere of war, and many Sikhs became ready to join it.296
At that time, the situation in Hazara was precarious as Abbot, the English Deputy, has been provoking the local Muslims against Chatar Singh; hence he (Chatar Singh) had to behave very carefully: had he rebelled immediately, the local Muslims would have sided with the British and he would have to fight on two fronts; so, he contacted Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul through Sultan Mohammed Khan and formed a joint front against the English; as per agreement the son of Dost Mohammed Khan was to lead a force of the Afghan soldiers to join the side of Chatar Singh.297
On the other hand, at the same time, the English Governor General had been planning complete occupation of the Punjab; in one of his notes he wrote: “So long there are Sikhs in the army, and there are Sikh officers, the chances of rebellion would always remain there”.
Battle of Ramnagar
Uneasiness between the Attariwalas and the English continued for two more months; but finally they came face to face against each other; the first battle was fought at Ramnangar (also known as Rasulnagar) on the 22nd of November 1848; in this battle General Gough was the commander of the English army; this one day battle ended in no one’s victory but loss of lives on both sides was very high; among the hundreds of the English casualties included Brigadier General Curton and Lt. Col. Havlock also; the English had not expected such heavy losses; they were now sacred of the Sikhs; they could not decide their next course for several weeks and just waited for the orders of the seniors.
Battle of Chelianwala
After a silence of seven weeks, the English army again became ready for another battle; the next battle was fought at
village Chelianwala (the English writers have wrongly spelled it is Chillianwala) in the present district of Gujrat, in Pakistan. In this battle, for the first time, on the English side, it was an all English army battle, the Hindustani or Muslim soldiers were not a part of it.
In this battle, the Sikh soldiers fought with religious fervour because they were angry over the English occupation of the Punjab; on the other hand, the English had misconceived that they would repeat the results of the battles of Mudki, Pherushahr and Sabraon; but they forgot that they had won those battles not due to their might, bravery or strategy but merely due to treason by the Brahmins Teja Sinh, Lal Sinh, Ayudhiya Prasad, and Kanhaiya Lal and Amar Nath; and they forgot that it was an army of lions fighting for their honour and freedom. This battle badly shattered the English army; they lost 2446 soldiers and 132 officers; they also lost four guns to the Sikhs. General Sir Robert Thackwell (in The Sikh Wars, pp. 61 to 98) has given dtailed account of this battle; according to him: “Few battles of ancient or modern times have presented such a roll of casualties – such an enormous sacrifice of life within short space of time as this.”298 Lord Dalhousie in a letter to Couper, on the 20th Janury 1849, wrote: “We have gained a victory:, he observed ruefully, “like that of the ancients; it is such as one ‘another would ruin us!’”299
It is noteworthy that the reign of Ranjit Singh was, in no way, a Sikh rule; it was the rule of a man who happened to be a Sikh; and due to this an average Sikh had no such feeling which could inspire him to join struggle against the English; Ranjit Singh had given all the power to the Dogras, the Brahmins of Hindustan, the Europeans etc; and, an average Sikh was an ordinary citizen of his kingdom; hence they were not ready to fight for the Lahore Darbar headed by Teja Sinh, Lal Sinh and Gulab Sinh Dogra. But, in 1848, after the exit of most of the Dogras, insult to Rani Jindan, mistreatment with Attariwalas had created sympathy among the Sikhs. They fought for the Attariwalas in the battle of Chelianwala with this fervour.
Commenting on this battle, Calcutta Review wrote: In this sub-continent, Chillianwala battle was the most dangerous for Britain. Griffin calls it like massacre of the British soldiers in Afghanistan. Edwin Arnold wrote: If the Sikhs would have won another such battle, the rule of the British would have ended not only in the Punjab but also in the whole of India. General Thackwell wrote: I think not a single soldier survived in this battle…each Sikh soldier was able to kill three soldiers of ours… The English soldiers were so sacred of the Sikh army that they were fleeing the battle field like sheep run to save their lives.
This battle created such awe among all the English people that even the British Parliament observed condolence for their losses: speaking in the Parliament, Duke of Wellingdon, who had one time defeated the great French General Napoleon Bonaparte, too offered his services to go to the Punjab and fight against the Sikhs. The English woes of Chelianwala battle made the famous poet George Meredith write a sad poem on this battle:
Chillanwallah, Chillanwallah! Where our brothers fought and bled, O thy name is natural music And a dirge above the dead! Though we have not been defeated, Though we can’t be overcome, Still, whene’er thou art repeated, I would fain that grief were dumb. Chillianwallah, Chillianwallah! ‘Tis a name so sad and strange, Like a breeze through midnight harpstrings Ringing many a mournful change; But the wildness and the sorrow Have a meaning of their own – Oh, whereof no glad to-morrow Can relieve the dismal tone! Chillianwallah, Chillianwallah! ‘Tis a village dark and low, By the bloody Jhelum river Bridged by the foreboding foe; And across the wintry water He is ready to retreat, When the carnage and the slaughter Shall have paid for his defeat. Chillianwallah, Chillianwallah! ‘Tis a wild and dreary plain, Strewn with plots of thickest jungle, Matted with the gory stain. There the murder-mouthed artillery, In the deadly ambuscade, Wrought the thunder of its treachery
On the skeleton brigade. Chillianwallah, Chillianwallah! When the night set in with rain, Came the savage plundering devils To their work among the slain; And the wounded and the dying In cold blood did share the doom Of their comrades round them lying, Stiff in the dead skyless gloom. Chillianwallah, Chillianwallah! Thou wilt be a doleful chord, And a mystic note of mourning That will need no chiming word; And that heart will leap with anguish Who may understand thee best; But the hopes of all will languish Till thy memory is at rest.
After the defeat of the English army, General Gough was replaced by Charles Napier.
Battle of Gujrat
Although the Sikhs had won the battle of Chelianwala; they too had suffered heavy loss of life. On the other hand, the English were not alone, they had complete support of all the Hindustani states, Hindu and Muslim rulers; and, even the cis-Satluj Sikh states were collaborating with them; but, on the Sikh side, it was just Attariwalas and a few patriotic Sikhs like Bhai Maharaj Singh; they did not have support of even the Sikh feudal or Sikh aristocracy; thus this was an unequal battle.
But, it is strange on the part of the Sikhs too that even after inflicting crushing defeat to the English, the Attariwalas remained confined to a small zone of western Punjab; they did not march towards Lahore, nor did they organise more soldiers or ammunition; they did not make any offensive, no attack on any English station, cantonment or post; they should have proceeded towards Lahore and possibly it could have become a mass movement and, then, the scenario would have been totally different.
In February 1849, the new General, Charles Napier took command of the English forces in the Punjab, and, soon he began preparations for another battle; the next battle was fought outside the city of Gujrat; by this time, the Afghan forces too had come to join Chatar Singh Attariwala but, before the battle could take place, they returned to Kabul without
participating in it300; now, the Sikhs were alone in the battle field.
In this battle, the English came with all their force; they had 56636 infantry and 11569 cavalry along with 96 field and 67 seige guns; never perhaps had the British used so many guns in a sigle battle.301
When the English came to know that the number of the Sikh forces was very small and they did not have much ammunition, they surrounded the Sikhs from all the sides and began continuous firing from cannons and guns; this massive firing compelled the Sikhs to run for their safety; and they began running helter-skelter on all sides; the English forces, being in great numbers began chasing the fleeing Sikhs; tens of English soldiers were running after a single Sikh; and, they went on attacking such armless Sikhs till each one of them was dead. The English were so angry with their devastating defeat at Chelianwala that they gave went to their anger even by firing at dead bodies of the Sikh soldiers, and by cutting the bodies of the wounded Sikhs; thus, the English forces took revenge of their earlier defeat in an inhuman manner; they killed between three and five thousand Sikh soldiers; this was the ‘bravery’ of the English people.
The Attariwalas surrender
After the defeat of Gujrat, Chatar Singh and Sher Singh tried to flee towards Afghanistan but Abbot blocked their advance compelling them to surrender. On the 14th of March 1849, in a formal ceremony at Rawalpindi, the Sikh army, led by the Attariwalas, surrendered before General Gilbert; Thackwell, narrating the scene of surrender, says that while surrendering his weapons, an old Sikh soldier said, ‘Ajj Ranjit Singh Mar Giya’ and tears began falling from his eyes.302
After surrender, Chatar Singh was arrested and sent to William Fort Calcutta prison where he was given slow poisoning in his food and he died on the 27th of December 1855 (this was the English style of killing eminent prisoners; Diwan Mool Ral, Attariwala and several other were killed by
slow poisoning; this was the English justice and their regards for their enemy prisoners of war; and this was English humanism).
Annexation of the Punjab
Now, after the surrender of the Attariwalas, there was no quarter of power in the Punjab which could oppose the English; hence they were safe, but in spite of this, on the 18th of March 1849 the English declared the annexation of the Punjab to their empire.
Bhai Maharaj Singh
After the defeat at Gujrat, the Attariwalas had decided to surrender but Bhai Maharaj Singh was not in favour of this; he wanted to fight another battle;303 but, with the exception of Col. Rachhpal Singh, no senior leader of the army supported him.304
When Attariwalas formally surrendered arms at Rawalpindi, Bhai Maharaj Singh fled towards Kashmir; there, he spent some days at village Devi Batala; where some companions joined him; later he moved to village Chambi, and from here he made several trips to different places and contacted a large number of Sikhs encouraging them to join struggle against the English. Here, he came to know that the English have formally removed Daleep Singh from Maharaja-ship and annexed the Punjab; at this he planned kidnapping of Daleep Singh and launch struggle in his name; but, those who were assigned this duty got arrested and this plan remained abortive. After this, the English increased security of Daleep Singh, in fact, now, he was like a royal prisoner; and soon, the English decided to remove Daleep Singh from the Punjab to Hindustan, thus, bringing an end to his contact with the Sikhs.
On the other hand, Bhai Maharaj Singh continued his struggle; from June to October 1849, he stayed at village Sujowal (near Batala); as he did not have money, he sent his companions to contact the Sikhs for arms and money; several Sikhs promised help, even Dost Mohammed Khan, the aamir
of Kabul, promised help to him (even earlier too he had promised but backed out).
Bhai Maharaj Singh asked the granthis and the preachers to inspire the Sikhs and prepare them for struggle; he himself personally visited Guleran, Kishanpur, Kurala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and several other places and met several Sikhs; having assessed the situation, he planned an attack on the English cantonments at Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur; he even talked to the Sikh soldiers in these cantonments.
By this time the English too had received some information about the activities of Bhai Maharaj Singh; they had engaged several spies to find out his place of stay and to know about his movements. The English established a network of intelligence to arrest or finish him; one day he luckily escaped being arrested near Multan; on another day, the English received news that he was drowned, and they celebrated this news; but, soon, to their dismay, this turned out to be wrong information.305 In the summer of 1849, the English announced an award of rupees ten thousand for affecting the arrest of Bhai Maharaj Singh; it was the highest amount in the history for the arrest of any person till then.306
All the English, including Lord Dalhousie, dreaded even the mention of the name of Bhai Maharaj Singh; once Dalhousie wrote: ‘If he is arrested I shall hang him.’307
Vansittart, the then Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar wrote: “Bhai is not an ordinary man; to local folk he is like Christ to orthodox Christians…” 308
These were the reasons due to which the English regime was scared of Bhai Maharaj Singh and the whole government machinery was in action in search for him. The English had launched propaganda among the Muslims and the Hindus that the Bhai wanted to establish a pure Sikh rule; and, by doing so the English had established the Bhai as anti-Hindu and anti-Muslim. Partly due to this and partly due to the amount of award for affecting his arrest, a very large number of Muslims and Hindus became ready to help the English in capturing the Bhai.
As per the information available in the then Government records the following were the major companions of Bhai Maharaj Singh: Kharak Singh, Gurmukh Singh, Bahadur Singh, Kahan Singh Bhikhiwindia, Narain Singh, Issar Singh, Nihal Singh, Suba Singh, Kishan Singh, Jaimal Singh, Gulab Singh (a jagirdar of Doaba), Amir Singh, Dharam Singh (Gagarpani), Mohra (of Wazirabad), Bhag/Baj Singh, Tek Singh, Bahadur Singh (of Nanku), Gurdit Singh Ahluwalia (of Fatehbad), Kanh Singh (of Fatehbad), Ishwar Singh (of Aokari Ghata), Maya Singh Saini (of Naushehra), Sobha Singh (of Buchhawari), Gulab Singh (Talwandi, Hoshiarpur), Dharam Singh (of Chitti, Jalandhar), Basawa Singh, Jawahar Singh (of Nurpur Chopra), Hari Singh, Dal Singh, Ram Singh (of Zahura, Hoshiarpur) and Kaura Singh (of Sujowal, Batala).
Arrest of Bhai Maharaj Singh
On the 28th of December 1849, just six days before he was to attack the cantonments of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur, a Muslim saw him (Bhai Maharaj Singh) and his companions hiding in a sugarcane field near Adampur; he immediately went to Jalandhar and informed the Deputy Commissioner who arrived there with a heavy force and surrounded the area; when Bhai Maharaj Singh saw them, he realised that he won’t be able to flee so he surrendered; the English army immediately chained him; all his 21 companions were also arrested.
After his arrest, Bhai Maharaj Singh and his companions were taken to Jalandhar; when he arrived at the gate of the jail, the Sikh security guards bowed their heads to respect him; this further frightened the Deputy Commissioner and when this information reached Lord Dalhousie he too got scared and wanted to get rid of the Bhai Bhai executing him; in his minutes dated the 13th of January 1850, he wrote: “I should myself have desired that so mischievous and so bold a traitor should be atonce brought to trial, and, if convinced, should be subjected to the heaviest penalty which public law can inflict”; however, fearing public rage, he was given life imprisonment
and it was decided that he should be immediately removed from the Punjab.
During this period, the other political prisoners of the Punjab too were being removed to far off jails; these included Chatar Singh Attariwala, his sons Sher Singh and Avtar Singh as well as Lal Singh Moraria, Mehtab Singh Majithia, Dewan Hakim Rai. Krishan Kaur and Arjan Singh (all of them had been, by then, interned in their villages); Diwan Mool Raj too was to be ‘condoned to life imprisonment beyond seas’. They were placed under the charge of General Bidduiph.309
On the 30th of Janaury 1850, Bhai Maharaj Singh and Kharak Singh (one of his companions) were despatched from Jalandhar jail to Ambala from where they were taken to Allahabad and then to Calcutta under heavy escort.310They reached Calcutta on the 19th of April 1850; the English were so frightened that they did not keep him even at Calcutta and exiled him to Singapore.
In Singapore, he was kept in a small cell; even in the cell he remained in chains; and due to this he developed rheumatic pains; further, there was no light in the cell and this affected his eyesight also; and within a short period, he lost his eye-sight, speech and within a short time, he became almost a skeleton of bones. Even in the proven conduct of the prisoner, the recommendations by the Resident Councillor (in July 1853) to allow him fresh air for just two hours a week too were rejected by the Governor General.311 This was the treatment of the English with a political prisoner; they had forgotten all the norms of humanity and even the rules of war; they were behaving as ferocious enemies.
Having remained in this hell-like state for six years, Bhai Maharaj Singh died on the 5th of July 1856.
Along with Bhai Maharaj Singh, all his companions too had been arrested; now there was none to organise or lead the struggle against the English; hence the last struggle against the English proved abortive.
Struggle by Rani Jindan
Once Lord Dalhousie wrote: ‘Only Rani Jindan is the person with manly…’312 it was the reason that the English were dreaded her. As mentioned earlier, she was taken to Benaras on the 16th of May 1848, as a prisoner; even from Benaras Fort she made contacts with Bhai Maharaj Singh and Chatar Singh Attariwala; when the English got intelligence about this, in March 1849, they, instead of increasing security, decided to move her to the most secure prison, the Chinar Fort; when Jindan got news of her transfer to Chinar, she began weeping and refused to go; when she was threatened that they would remove her forcibly, she had no option but to leave. She was moved to Chinar under heavy army escort; when Major McGregor handed over the ‘prisoner’ Rani Jindan to Captain Reese, he instructed him that he should visit her cell everyday personally and confirm her presence; and as she was to remain in veil, he was to recognise her from her voice.
Rani Jindan escapes from prison
From the 5th to the 15th of April 1849, Captain Reese visited Rani’s cell everyday and confirmed her presence; suddenly, on the 15th he realised that her voice was different from before; when he enquired the reason, he was told that she had bad cold; Reese took it as true and went away. In fact, the Rani had left the prison on the very second day, i.e. the 6th of April 1849; the English could not know it until the 19th of April 1849.313
After escaping from Chinar, Rani Jindan first went to Patna and then reached Nepal on the 29th of April 1849; here, she approached the king of Nepal and sought his help against the English; but the ruler of a small state did not have courage nor had he sources to oppose a big power like the English. After this Rani Jindan sent message to Gulab Sinh Dogra but this naive lady did not know that he (Dogra) was one of the three major culprits who had handed over her Empire to the English; on the other hand, Gulab Sinh immediately gave information about this message and about her whereabouts to the English.314
By this time, the English had received almost complete information about the Rani as well as her activities; and, if they wished it they could have captured her very easily; but, they had, by then, known that no Sikh or non-Sikh has agreed to help her, and, she was alone; hence they left her on her own but, they did not give up her surveillance.
Rani Jindan gives up courage
Having lost all her hopes, the Rani finally gave up all her efforts; in 1856, she approached the English and sought permission to join her son in England; but the English did not want her to see her son, which would possibly mean bringing him back to Sikh faith. The very next year, in 1857, some former rulers and feudal began a mutiny against the English; in such a situation, as the English had not given a good response to her request to join her son, she reacted and wrote letters to some Sikhs asking them to help the rebels;315 but, by this time most of the Sikhs had lost hopes of return of the Sikh rule; hence they did not respond to the Rani; secondly, the mutiny of 1857 was led by a Mughal ruler, fanatic Maulavis, the Purabia Hindustani chiefs, feudal and generals (who were responsible for handing over Punjab to the English) this too discouraged the Sikhs to join mutiny. Not only, the Punjabis but also the Maharashtarians, the Rajputs, the Tamils (south Indians) and dozens of other Hindu rulers too did not support the rebels; hence the mutiny did not succeed; and with this, the Rani lost even last resort.
Rani reaches England
In 1860, the Rani made another appeal to the English to allow her to join her son; by this time she was about 40 years old; she was a defeated, helpless and weak woman; and the English knew this; on the other hand Daleep Singh had been living luxurious life of a dull Christian feudal; he had not even the slightest wish to be the ruler of a state; hence the English were sure that the Rani won’t be able to exert any affect on such a Daleep Singh; with all this in their mind, in 1861, the
English regime allowed the Rani to go to England and join her son. After a couple of months, Daleep Singh came to Bombay and met his mother after a period of separation of 13 years; by this time, he was fully clean-shaven; and, when the Rani saw him she began weeping bitterly; but, her cries and wailing did not make even slightest impact on Daleep Singh; he did not make even verbal promise to become a Sikh again.
On the 4th of May 1861, the Rani and Daleep Singh left Bombay for England and reached there in July; but, now, though she was with her son all the time but she was a lonely and despondent lady living like a prisoner of an open jail serving a sort of solitary confinement; most of the time she would weep, sob and remain lost; her tears affected her eye-sight too; and, within a few months she was just like ‘a bag of bones’.
Rani Jindan did not survive long and she died on the first of August 1863, i.e. within two years of her arrival in England; the only ‘manly person’ of the Punjab was now dead.316
And, the English still showed their callousness to the dead Rani; they did not allow Daleep Singh to immerse her ashes in the Punjab waters (though, in Sikhism, it does not matter even if the ashes were immersed in England).
Last days of Daleep Singh
Daleep Singh, who had become the emperor of a big state on the 18th of September 1843; lost his formal crown on the 29th of March 1849; of course the credit goes to the Dogras of Jammu and the Brahmins of Hindustan. On the 29th of December 1849, he was exiled from the Punjab and sent to Fatehgarh (in Hindustan); he was accompanied by a widow of his brother Sher Singh (another Maharaja, killed in 1843) and her son Shivdev Singh as well as Ayudhya Parsad Brahmin, a courtier (and a traitor of his empire). They reached Fatehgarh on the 17th of February 1850; after their arrival there, all his Sikh and Punjabi servants were dismissed; and now, he was being attended by a Christian missionary Dr Login, his wife
Lady login and a Christian-turned Hindu Bhajan Lal and some white servants; all this was a part of the plan to bring Daleep Singh into Christian faith.317
In this Christian scenario and English atmosphere, the eleven and a half year old child Daleep Singh, who had least information about Sikhism, was not expected to know, say or assert anything; and, in these two years he began living as a western and Christian. In the beginning of 1853 (within three years of leaving the Punjab), when he was just fourteen and a half years old, he ‘expressed’ his desire to join Christianity; and, on the 8th of March 1853 he was formally baptized as Christian.318
Soon after this drama, Daleep Singh was taken (in fact driven) to England so that there may not be any commotion; and, moreover, to provide him a luxurious atmosphere where he should not even slightly think of Sikhism, Punjab or his heritage.
In 1861 (seven years after his entry into England), he was allowed to go to Bombay to bring his mother (who died in just two years of her arrival in England); and in 1863, after the death of his mother, he was again alone; by this time he was 25 years old; after the death of his mother he married a German girl Bamba Mueller, who bore him two sons and a daughter.
Daleep Singh used to get a good amount of money as his pension, and, hence led a luxurious life; and, as he had not to think of his income, he went on spending lavishly and carelessly; as a result he came under debt. Instead of thinking of monitoring his expenses, he wanted to get more money from the English government. In 1882, he was forty-four years old; and during all 28 years of his stay in England, he had never thought of the Punjab, his heritage, his father, his kingdom etc (even the Sikhs had forgotten him); and, he had not even the slightest feeling of being even a former ruler; but, when his efforts to get increase in the amount of his pension did not bear fruit, he decided to use his background as pressure tactics. On the 31st of August 1882, he published an advertisement in Daily Times newspaper of London, and presented his case for
‘increase of his pension’ (but not for return of his kingdom); but, his appeal did not make any impact on the people of England, Queen Victoria or the British government.
Now, a dejected Daleep Singh tried to use Sikh card; by this time, he had already made contact with Thakar Singh Sandhawalia (the founder president of the Singh Sabha Movement); Thakar Singh visited England in 1884 and met him (Daleep Singh). Here, both planned to launch a new struggle for regaining the lost kingdom; and, for this purpose Daleep Singh also agreed to return to the Sikh faith; on the 9th of March 1886, he made a formal apology for embracing Christianity and requested the Sikhs to help him in his struggle.
After this, Daleep Singh decided to go to the Punjab; as there was no question of getting state permission to visit the Punjab, he secretly left London in April 1886 and reached Aden; when the English regime came to know about his presence in Aden, on the 15th of April 1886, he was told to go back to England; at this he sent his family back to England but himself did not return. From here, he made contact with Thakar Singh and other Sikhs; soon, some Sikhs arrived there and on the 25th of May 1886, he performed the ritual of Khanday-di-Pahul and declared himself a Sikh;319 when the British officials came to know this, he was forcibly deported to England in the beginning of June 1886.
After reaching England, Daleep Singh did not rest; he secretly reached France and sought permission of the French government to go to Pondicherry, but they did not allow him. However, here, he succeeded in getting a fake passport in the name of an Irish person; from Paris he went to Berlin (Germany) and then entered Russia, where he contacted Tsar (king) of Russia and sought his help against the British; when the Tsar realized that Daleep Singh was not interested in struggle against the British but his main purpose was to get his income increased, he refused to help him.
By this time he had appointed Thakar Singh as his prime minister and the latter had left the Punjab for Pondicherry (which was under France rule at that time) to save
himself from the English regime. Daleep Singh also sent a letter to some Sikhs seeking their help but none agreed to help him; on the other hand, the Sikh feudal expressed their loyalty to the English regime; in fact Daleep Singh could not present his credentials, neither as a Sikh nor as a man who wanted to regain his kingdom; hence no one trusted and helped him, and, finally he returned to England.
In 1887 his German wife Bamba Mueller died; though he had formally ‘embraced’ Sikhism at Aden but he had no faith in Sikhism; he was still living as a Christian and a western man; and soon after the death of his wife he married again, this time Douglas Wetherill, an English woman; she bore him two daughters.
In 1890, Queen Victoria took pity on him and paid all his debt and granted him royal amnesty, but he still continued making minor efforts. In October 1893 he went to Paris and stayed in Grand Hotel, where he died on the 23rd of October; at that time he was just 55 years old; his dead body was brought to England and buried near the grave of his first wife Bamba Mueller (in 1999 some Sikhs erected a statue in Thatford, where he spent most of his life in England).
Though Daleep Singh had two sons and three daughters, none of them could bear a child; hence with this came an end to lineage of Daleep Singh. Though some people still claim Ranjit Singh’s lineage from his lesser known son Pishaura Singh, and a grandson Shivdev Singh (son of Sher Singh) but they have never asserted their heritage; only Beant Singh Sandhawalia (a descendant of Ranjit Singh’s collateral Sandhawalias) and his son Sukhdev Singh do acknowledge their relationship with this former ruling family.
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1Forester, Journey from Bengal to England (1798), vol. I, pp. 312-13; Brown, James, History of the Origin and Progress of the Sikhs, also known as Tracts (1788), vol II, p 13.
2 Forester, ibid.
3Irvine, Later Mughals (1922), vol. II, p 40. Later, in May-June 1724, he had or tried to have sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law; the wife of Bakht Sinh, and the latter killed him while he was in sleep; on the 7th of June 1724, when he was cremated, his 84 wives and concubines were burnt along with him in his pyre (Irvine, op. cit., pp. 115 and 117).
4 Irvine, op.cit., pp 95-96, Khafi Khan, Muntkhabul Lubab (1722), vol. II, p. 941
5 Irvine, op. cit., p 65.
6 Brown, Tracts, vol II, p 13, Khafi Khan, op. cit., pp.767-68, Kanhaiya Lal, Tarikh-i-Punjab (1877), p. 65.
7 Guru Kian Sakhian (1790), sakhi 61, pp 125-26; also Shaheed Bilas (1803), (see text of Shaheed Bilas in : Bhai Mani Singh Tay Unhan Da Parvar by Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer, 2010)
8 Bansavaliama Dasan Patsahian Da (1769), chapter 13.
9Gurbakhsh Singh was the father of the writer Kesar Singh Chhibber, the author of Bansavalinama Dasan Patsahian Da.
10Nau in Persian is Nawan in Punjabi and shahar means town.
11 Ratan Singh Bhangu, Prachin Panth Parkash (1841), pp. 187-89, edition of 1982, edited by Bhai Vir Singh.
12 Ratan Singh Bhangu, op.cit., p 192.
13 Haqiqat-i-Bina-o-uruz-i-firqa-i-Sikhan (written sometimes after 1779), published in the Indian Historical Quarterly, March 1942, p.19.
14 Ratan Singh Bhangu, op. cit., p. 211.
15 Ibid, p. 212.
16 Ibid, p. 213.
17 At the time of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib the colour of the flag of the Sikhs was blue. Saffron/yellow replaced it under the administration of the Dogras, with the blessings of Raja Teja Sinh (Tej Ram) in 1850s. The real Sikh flag of the Guru was with the Nihangs who preserved it, and, still have
Qurashi , Mufti Ghulam Sarvar, Tareekh-i-Makhzan-i-Punjab, 1868.
Rao, Ram Sukh, Fateh Singh Parbhakar (manuscript, P.U. Patiala)
it (for a comprehensive article on colour of flag, see: Nanakshahi Calendar, a book by Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer).
18 Sewa Singh, Shaheed Bilas, stanza 161.
19 Ibid, stanza 180.
20 Ibid, stanza 164.
21 Ibid stanza 170.
22 Ibid, stanza 188.
23 These are the dates of Bikrami calendar. It was the 24th of June 1734 C.E.
24 Sewa Singh, Shaheed Bilas, stanza 203.
25 Ibid, stanza 204.
26 Haqiqat Singh was related to Banda Singh Bahadur too. His real bhooaa (father’s sister) Bhagwanti was the mother-in-law of Banda Singh. Bhagwanti had two children, a daughter Sahib Kaur and a son Sahib Singh; Sahib Kaur was married to Banda Singh on the 20th of June 1710 at Sarhind; she gave birth to a son named Ranjit Singh (Ajay Singh, who was martyred at Delhi on the 9th of June 1716 along with Banda Singh Bahadur, was born to Banda Singh’s second wife, Sushil Kaur, who was the daughter of the ruler of Chamba). In the twentieth century, a fanatic Hindu activist Parma Nand (who had also tried to propagate that Banda Singh was a Bairagi and not a Sikh) propagated that Haqiqat Singh was not a Sikh but a Hindu Haqiqat Rai. This group even began observing Haqiqat Singh’s martyrdom day on the Basant Panchmi day; after 1947 they stopped this.
27Ganesh Das Vadhera, Char Bagh-i-Punjab (1855), 124.
28 Kanhaiya Lal, Tareekh-i-Punjab (1877), p. 71).
29Ahmad Shah Batalia, Zikar-i-Guruan-va-ibtada-i-Singhan-va-Mazahab-i-Inshan (1824), p.13, Forster, A Journey from Bengal to England (1798) Vol I, p 272, Malcolm, A Sketch of the Sikhs (1812), p. 86, McGregor, History of the Sikhs (1846), vol. I, p. 115.
30Kanhaiya Lal, op. cit., 71.
31Since then, any one, who committed sacrilege of Darbar Sahib, has not escaped punishment from the Sikhs; sooner or later, such a person was punished by the Sikhs.
32 Khushwaqt Rai, Twareekh-i-Sikhan (1811), op. cit., p.44, Ganesh Das Badhera, op. cit, p. 124, Sohan Lal Suri, Umdatut Twareekh (1885-89), vol. I, p. 103.
33 Ali-ud-Din Mufti, Ibratnama (1854), Vol I, pp 366-67.
34 Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p. 44.
35 Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., p. 210.
36Ali-ud-Din Mufti, op. cit., p 211, Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p.72.
37Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p.74, Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit., p. 836, Jadu Nath Sarkar, Fall of the Mughal Empire, Vol. I, p. 11.
38 Tahikakiyaat-i- Chishti, p 648.
39 Haqiqat-i-bina-o-uruz-i-firqa-i-Sikhan, p.19.
40These names appear in the books: Lepel Grifin, Rajas of the Punjab (1870), pp. 455, 461, 464; Lepel Grifin and C.F.Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab (1909), pp. 11. 78, 119, 315, 321, 385-86; Attar Singh Bhadaur, Twareekh-i-Sidhu Braran ate Khandan-i-Phul (1934), p 127; Khushwaqt Rai, Twareekh-i-Sikhan (1811), p.81.
41 Bute Shah, Twareekh-i-Punjab, p 308, Ali-ud-Din, op.cit.,, p 158, Malcolm, op.cit., p 89, Griffin, op.cit., p 16.
42 Giani Gian Singh, Panth Parkash, pp 761-62, edition 1987
43Ali-ud-Din Mufti, op. cit., p. 105, Khushwaqt Rai, op.cit., p. 74, Ratan Singh Bhangu, op.cit., pp. 305-319.
44 Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p. 59, Ganesh Das Vadhera, op.cit., p. 124).
45 He was ignorant of the fact that it was Guru Nanak who was the founder of Sikhism and not Guru Gobind Singh.
46 Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p. 59.
47 Ali-ud-Din Mufti, op. cit., vol. I, p. 199, Mohammed Latif, op. cit. p. 213.
48 Though this term is used for this genocide but this is not inappropriate because killings of more than seven thousand Sikhs is no SMALL; small is used in comparison to another bigger genocide of the 5th of Februart 1762 during ehich 15 to 25 thousand Sikhs were killed.
49Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Bhai Mani Singh was built at the site where these Sikhs and thousands others had been executed. Now this site is under the occupation of some shopkeepers and the shrines too have almost disappeared.
50 Adina Begh was the son of Channu of Shakarpur; his father had sent him to Allahabad for his studies; after his return he became a contractor. When Nadir Shah attacked Lahore, Zakaria Khan appointed him chief of Sultanpur. Ahwal-i-Adina Begh, p. 1.
51Irvine, op. cit., Vol I, p 194-95, Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., p 106, Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p 76.
52Haqiqat-i-Bina-o-uruz-i-firqa-i- Sikhan, p 19.
53 Haqiqat-i-Bina-o-uruz-i-firqa-i- Sikhan, p 13.
54 Haqiqat-i-Bina-O-Uruz-i-firqa-i-Sikhan, p. 13.
55Nurpur was the capital of Jalandhar country up to early years of 11th century and then it was known as Dahmala; in early decades of the seventeenth century, Jahangir renamed it Nurpur after his beloved wife Nur Jahan.
56 Ram Sukh Rao, Jassa Singh Binod, p. 69 of the manuscript, Prem Singh Hoti, Nawab Kapur Singh, p 13.
57The descendants of Baba Aala Singh, the founder of Patiala State, too claim themselves as the ‘twelfth’ Misl but this is not true; they were, of course, Sikh but they used to co-operate and collaborate with Mughals and Durranis from time to time; that is why they escaped the wrath and fury of the Mughals and Durranis. Moreover, they never attended any congregation
of the Sarbat Khalsa; however, they did give active help to the Sikhs when the latter entered their territory after escaping invasion or wrath of the Mughals/Afghans.
58 Latif, op. cit., p. 221.
59 Kaura Mall and the Sikhs had mutual understanding and they helped each other on many occasions; also see: Forster, op.cit., vol. I, p. 314, Malcolm, op.cit, pp. 91-92.
60 Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p 76-78, Sohan Lal Suri, op. cit., vol I, p 129.
61 Kaura Mall had his mansion and a fort at Chiniot.
62 Miskin, op. cit., pp. 59-62, Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., p. 109-110, Tareekh-i-Ahmad Shahi (1748-59), pp. 67-68.
63 Miskin, op. cit., p 53, Tareekh-i-Ahmad Shahi, pp. 46-48, Shah Nawaz Khan Shamas-ud-Daula, Ma’sural Umraa (1758), p. 360, Ala-ud-Din, op. cit., p. 111, Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its Historians, vol 8, pp. 114-15.
64 Ala-ud-Din, op. cit., p. 111, Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p.82.
65 Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p. 79, Miskin, op. cit., pp. 80-82, Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., p 111.
66 Miskin, op. cit., p. 75.
67Miskin, op. cit., p 76, Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., p. 111, Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., pp. 85-86, Tareekh-i-Ahmed Shahi, p.91.
68 Miskin, op. cit., p. 91.
69 Maulvi Nur Mohammed Chisti, Tahikak-i-Chisti (1906).
70 Guru Gobind Singh too had also helped the ruler of Nadaun, in 1691.
71 Griffin, op. cit., p. 50, Latif, op. cit., pp 224-25, Malcolm, op. cit., p 92.
72Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., p. 112.
73Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., pp. 211-12, Ghulam Ali Azad Bilgrami, Khazana-i-Amira (1762-63), p. Sohan Lal Suri, op. cit., vol. I, p 136.
74Miskin, op. cit., pp. 87-88.
75 Ghulam Hussain Khan, Siar-ul-Mutakhrin (1782), vol III, pp. 50-51.
76Miskin, op. cit., p. 84, James Browne, Introduction to the History of the Origin and Progress of the Sikhs (1788), p. 16.
77 Jadu Nath Sarkar, History of Aurangzeb, vol IV, p. 186 [1972 edition]): “the payment of Chauth merely saved a place from unwelcome presence of the Maratha soldiers and civil underlings, but did not impose on Shivaji any corresponding obligation to guard the district from foreign invasion or internal disorder. The Marathas only looked to their own gain and not to the fate of their prey after they had left. The chauth was only a means of buying of one robber; and not a subsidiary system for the maintenance of peace and order against all enemies.”
78This Bhikhari Khan had created trouble for Mughlani Beghum earlier too when Bhikhari Khan wanted to bury Mir Mannu’s dead body in Delhi but Beghum wanted it to be buried in Lahore; Bhikhari Khan had secured help
from some general too; at that time, Qasim Khan had helped the Beghum; she bribed some army generals and succeeded in getting the burial arranged in Lahore. (Miskin, op cit., pp. 89-90, Khushwaqt Rai, op cit., p. 88).
*When the Sikhs occupied Lahore, they dug out Mir Mannu’s body from his grave and burnt it. Burning a body is the highest punishment for a Muslim. Later, the Sikhs leveled the ground and eliminated the last possible signs of his gave or burial site (for details Miskin, op. cit., pp. 99-107); thus the Sikhs removed even the least signs of the existence of a cruel ruler.
79 Miskin, op cit., pp. 94-96.
80 Miskin, op cit., pp. 97-99.
81 Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., p. 171, Brown, op. cit., Introduction, p.8.
82 Adina Begh had sought the help of the Sikhs more than once; and betrayed them afterwards: Browne, op. cit., 17 Forster, op. cit., vol I, p. 314; Malcolm, op. cit., p. 92.
83 Later, by April 1756, the Sikhs had occupied several other areas too, including Amritsar, Batala, Kalanaur etc. and this was known as Sikh State (Miskin, op. cit., p 124).
84 Imam-ud-Din Hussaini, Twareekh-i-Hussain Shahi, p 37, Ghulam Hussain Khan, op. cit., vol III, p 54.
85 Miskin, op. cit, .p 138, Imam-ud-Din Hussaini, Tareekh-i-Hussain Shahi, p. 57.
86 Ghulam Hussain Khan, op. cit., Vol.III, p. 53, Selections from Peshwa, Daftar, Vol.11, No. 7, also see: Jadu Nath Sarkar, Later Mughals, Vol.II, pp. 82-136.
87Later, towards the end of the eighteenth century, the Dhirmalliyas procured some old handwritten volumes of Guru Granth Sahib; all these volumes were the copies of Khari Bir (fake volume); none of these was even a copy of the volume prepared by Bhai Gurdas. The occupants of the Gurdwara Sheesh Mahal at Kartarpur, where they claim to have the ‘first volume’ of Guru Granth, have several hand-written copies of the Granth. They have been showing different volumes to different scholars, hence different thesis have been presented about the authenticity of the Granth claimed by them as original.
88He spent the rest of his life in this village; he was so scared that he would not come out of his hiding during day time; a terrified Vadbhag Singh did not survive very long and died there, at Mairi.
89 It is remarkable to note that no old source mentions Deep Singh as a Baba or as the chief of any so-called Damdami Taksal; even the Mahan Kosh, the encyclopedic work, published in 1930, does not mention this term even in indirect reference. The word Damdami Taksal has not been used/ mentioned in any work prior to 1977; the literature, produced by the presently known as Bhindran-Mehta Jatha, up to 1977, metioned it as
Bhindran Taksal, started by Giani Gurbachan Singh at Bhinder Kalan village
90 Miskin, op. cit., pp. 162-65.
91Giani Gian Singh, Panth Parkash, pp. 910 to 925.
92Giani Gian Singh is famous for concocting stories and names; hence many of these names might be his own creation, guess or assumption.
93 Brown, op. cit., p. 17, Malcolm, op. cit., p. 92; Forster, op. cit., vol. I, p. 314.
94 Imad-ut-Sadat, p. 72.
95 Selections from Peshwa, Vol. II, p 83.
96 Selections from the Peshwa, vol. 27, p. 220, Ganesh Das Badhera, op. cit., p. 97, Sohan Lal Suri, op. cit.,, vol. I, p. 144, Budh Singh Arora, Risala-i-Nanak Shah (1783) , p. 26, Cunningham, History of the Sikhs (1849), p. 106.
97 Malcolm, op.cit., p. 95
98 Ahmed Shah Batalia, op.cit., p. 37, Miskin, op.cit., pp. 81-83.
99 Budh Singh, Risala-i-Nanak Shah, p.19, Haqiqat-i-Bina-o-uruz-i-Firqa-i-Sikhan, p. 19.
100 Miskin, op. cit., p 67 and 81-83, Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit., p. 37, Selections From Peshwa, No 36, p. 220.
101Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit., Appendix, Sohan Lal Suri, op. cit., vol. I, p. 18.
102 Miskin, op. cit., p. 167, Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., pp. 118-19.
103 Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit., pp. 981-82.
104 Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., p 221.
105 Sohan Lal Suri. op. cit., vol. II, p 147
106 Ghulam Hussain Khan, op. cit., Vol. III, p. 377.
107 Bakht Mall, Khalsa Namah (1810-14), p. 91, Sohan Lal Suri, op. cit., vol. I, p 149.
108 V. K. Rajvade (editor), Marathancha Itihasichin Sadane (English translation), Vol. VI, p 146.
109 Miskin, op. cit., pp. 92-98.
110 Ali-ud-Din, op.cit Vol I, pp. 226-27, Kanhaiya Lal, op. cit., 83, Sohan Lal Suri, op.cit vol. I, pp. 150-53.
111Mufti Ghulam Sarvar Qurashi, Tareekh-i-Makhzan-i-Punjab, (1868), p. 470.
112Sohan Lal Suri, op.cit, vol II, pp. 150-53.
113 A Sikh’s shorts, a religious dress, cut and stitched in a specific style.
114 Kanhaiya Lal, Twareekh-i-Punjab (1877), p 100.
115But, in November 1984, the descendants of these Hindu turned terrorists and butchered thousands of Sikhs and raped hundreds of Sikh girls in Delhi and more than 100 other places, and thus proved to be ungrateful as well as more inhuman that Ahmed Shah Durrani.
116 Bakht Mall, op. cit., p.97.
117Mufti Ghulam Sarvar, op. cit., p 471, Sohan Lal Suri, op. cit., vol II, pp. 6-7, Kanhaiya Lal, op. cit., p.81.
118 Sohan Lal Suri, op. cit., Vol II, p. 8, Miskin, op. cit., p. 237, Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., p 12, Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., pp. 94-103, Bakht Mall, op. cit., p.82, Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit., pp. 890-91.
119 Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit., p.889, Ghulam Hussain Khan, op. cit., vol. III, p 74.
120 Miskin, op. cit., p. 237.
121 Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p.94.
122Ali-ud-Din Mufti, op. cit., vol. I, p. 229, Sohan Lal Suri, op. cit., vol. I, p 154, Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p. 94.
123 Ali-ud-Din Mufti, op. cit., I, pp 229-30, Kanhaya Lal, op. cit.,, p. 85.
124 Tahmas Nama, p. 106.
125 Siayar-ul-Mutakhrin, vol. III, p. 74.
126 Twareekh-i-Hussain Shahi, p. 83.
127 Twareekh-i-Ahmed Shahi , pp. 16-17.
128 Twareekh-i-Sikhan, p.61.
129 Ibratnama, vol. I, p. 230.
130A Journey from Bengal to England, vol. I, 319.
131 Sketch of the Sikhs, p. 98
132 Travels in Cashmere and Punjab, p. 271.
133 Fall of Mughal Empire, vol. II, p. 486.
134 Prachin Panth Parkash, p. 348. At another place he mentions the figure at 10000.
135 Karam Singh Historian Di Ithasak Khoj, p. 221.
136 Char Bagh Punjab, p. 125.
137 Panth Parkash, p. 206.
138Ratan Singh Bhangu, op. cit., p.473, James Browne, op. cit, p. 25, Sohan Lal Suri, op.cit, vol I, p. 160).
139Ali-ud-Din Mufti, op. cit, p. 232, Ganesh Das Badhera, op. cit., p 125, Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p. 65
140 Brown, op. cit., vol. II, pp. 25-26, Forster, op. cit., vol. I, pp.100-01.
141 Rajwade, op. cit., vol. VI, p. 384, Jadu Nath Sarkar, Fall of the Mughal Empire, p. 491.
142Brown, op. cit., p. 25; this book was written in 1788, just 26 years after the event.
143 H. G. Rowlison, An Account of the Last Battle of Panipat, Introduction.
144Bhai Des Raj was not a Sikh but he was a trusted friend of the Sikhs; later, during the time of Ranjit Singh, his descendants embraced Sikhism.
145 Haqiqat-i-bina-o-uruz-i-firqa-i-Sikhan, p. 33, Delhi Chronicles, entry of the 11th of December 1763.
146 Miskin, op. cit., p. 250.
147 Ganesh Das Vadhera, op. cit., p.113, Sohan Lal, op.cit., p.12).
148Up to 1860, the main, and the only, gate of Darbar Sahib was between Akal Takht and the present Gurdwara Tharha Sahib. Anyone entering the city through Lahori Gate would come to Darbar Sahib via Guru-De-Mahal, Churasti Attari, Darshani Deodi, Guru Bazar and ener the shrine from the main gate. In 1860, the British built Hall Gate and Hall Bazar as well as a clock tower, of the shape of a Church, which was demolished by the Sikhs in 1948. Due to this ‘clock tower’ the new entrance to Darbar Sahib came to be known as Ghanta Ghar (Punjabi version of ‘clock tower’). The British regime built a road connecting Darbar Sahib with the newly built railway station, through this Hall Bazar. Hall Gate was built as the thirteenth gate of the city. Later, in 2004, the SGPC defaced even the memorial of the thirty martyr Sikhs of 1764 by constructing several rooms for holding so-called Akhand Paths, which are not in consonance with Sikh philosophy, of Guru Granth Sahib.
149Najib-ud-Daula’s general Sayyad Mohammed Baloch had killed the Bharatpur ruler Suraj Mall father of Jawahar Sinh) on 25th of December 1763. Jawahar Sinh had sought help from the Sikh and the Marhattas; and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia had agreed to help in spite of the fact that in an earlier expedition the Sikhs had joined hands with Najib-ud-Daula against Suraj Mall. This time, the Sikhs rejected even an offer of three hundred thousand (three lakh) rupees. (see: Ram Sukh Rao, Jassa Singh Binod, folios 150-158).
150 Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit. p.96.
151 Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit. p.97, Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit. p.894.
152Qazi Nur Mohammed, Jang Namah, pp. 108-11, Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit. p.493.
153 Qazi Nur Mohammed, op. cit., pp. 119-122.
154 Qazi Nur Mohammed, op. cit. pp.125-28.
155 Qazi Nur Mohammed, op. cit., pp. 147-58.
156 Qazi Nur Mohammed, op. cit., pp. 161-64.
157 Qazi Nur Mohammed, op. cit., pp. 183-84.
158 Qazi Nur Mohammed, op. cit., pp 170-71.
159 Selections from Peshwa, Vol. 29
160 Ali-ud-Din, Ibratnama, op. cit., pp. 237-39, Sohan Lal Suri, op. cit., vol. I, pp.163-64.
161 Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol. II, p 16.
162 Haqiqat-i-Bina-o-uruz-i-Firqa-i-Sikhan, p. 20.
163 Ali-ud-Din Mufti, op. cit., vol. I, p. 240, Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p.85.
164 Ali-ud-Din Mufti, op. cit., vol. I, p.240.
165 Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol. II, p.65.
166 Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol. II, p.108.
167 Sayyad Imam-ud-Din Husaini, Tareekh-i-Hussain Shahi, p. 85, Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p.168.
168 Miskin, op. cit., pp.267-68.
169 Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol. II, p. 52.
170 Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol. II, pp.11-12, 16, 284.
171 Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., pp 130, 144.
172 Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol. II, p. 847.
173This town was established by Murtaza Khan, who had defeated and arrested Khusrau, on the land granted as award by Jahangir.
174 Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., pp. 133-34, Lepel Griffin, The Punjab Chiefs, p. 373.
175 H.T. Prinsep, Origin of Sikh Power in Punjab and Political Life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, (1834), pp. 29-32.
176 Haqiqat-i-Bina-o-uruz-i-Firqa-i-Sikhan, p. 40.
177Twareekh-i-Ahmed Shahi, p. 21.
178 Foreign Department Political Consultations, 9th June 1797, No.70.
179 Prachin Panth Parkash, p. 204, edition of 1939.
180It is shocking that in 2003, the leadership of the SGPC refused to allow women to perform keertan at Darbar Sahib. It proves that either the Sikh leaders have no knowledge of history of the Sikhs or they reject the Guru’s teachings regarding treatment with the ladies.
181But Ranjit Singh did not want Fateh Singh to have a big army or strong forts; once, when Ranjit Singh came to know that Fateh Singh was constructing a new fort, the former summoned him to Lahore and stopped him (Baron Hugel in Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab containing a particular account of the Government and character of the Sikhs (1845), pp. 74, 397.
182 Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit., p. 28.
183 Griffin, op. cit., p 503.
184 Ali-ud-Din Mufti, op. cit., vol. I, pp.499-500.
185 Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit., Appendix, Sohan Lal Suri, op. cit., vol. I, p.18).
186 Griffin, op. cit., p.170.
187Ahmed Shah Batalia, op. cit., p.20.
188Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p. 7.
189 Khushwaqt Rai, op. cit., p.72.
190It is worth-mentioning here that since 1977, Deep Singh is being mentioned as the chief of the so-called Damdami Taksal; but, there is no reference to existence of any Damdami Taksal in any source written/ published before 1977. Even the Mahan Kosh, published in 1930, does not mention any such so-called Taksal; Deep Singh was a great general and caretaker of the Sikh shrines.
191 Bakht Mall, op. cit., p 34.
192 Delhi Chronicles, 17.4.1766.
193 Grant Gough, History of the Marathas, vol II.
194Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol IV, No 1026, entry related to 18.5.1774.
195Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol. IV, no. 1184, entry relating to 27.7.1774 and also No 1362, of 1.11.1774.
196 Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol. V, an entry for 20.9.1776.
197Calendar of Persian Correspondence, an entry of October 1774, Bakht Mall, op. cit., p.37, Ali-ud-Din, op. cit., vol. II, pp.8-16.
198 G.C.R. Williams, The Sikhs in the Upper Doab, Calcutta Review (1875).
199Delhi Chronicles, entry of 8th March 1783.
200Secret Proceedings, dated 7th of June 1785.
201Secret Proceedings, dated 24th of August 1785.
202Marhattas became a power in 1664 when Shivaji captured Surat and crowned himself as Raja in 1674; but he died in 1680; his son Shambhuji was captured and killed by Aurangzeb in 1689; Shivaji’s second son remained ‘fugitive’ and could not regain his territory; hence an end to the role of this family [Shivaji’s son-in-law, Sahuji, had embraced Islam apparently to save his life (and became Kuli Khan); hence he too disappeared from the Marhatta scenario]. In the first half of the eighteenth century, the Marhatta’s established their rule under the ‘Peshwas’ (Balaji Vishavnath 1714-1720, Baji Rao (1720-40, Balaji Baji Rao 1740-61, and Madhav Rao 1761-62). Marhattas were crushed by Ahmed Shah Durrani in the battle of Panipat (14.1.1761) but their greatest loss was death of Madhav Rao in 1762. Again, from 1771 to 1803, they played some role in the politics of Delhi but when the British captured Delhi in 1803, the Marhattas were confined to their native land. For details see: S. G. Sardesai, A New History of Maratha People (3 volumes, published from Bombay in 1948) also: Jadu Nath Sarkar, Shivaji and his Times (published from Calcutta in 1920s, reprinted in 1952).
203Hari Ram Gupta, History of the Sikhs, vol. II, p. 35.
204 Forester, op. cit., vol. I, p. 295 (first published in 1798).
205Kapur Singh, Prasharprashna.
206Out of this 25000 were disciplined infantry soldiers, 5000 cavalry (ghorcharhas) and 150 guns; the irregular troops which were all cavalry amounted to 50000; and it was well known to the English (see: Burnes, Travels into Bokhara, being the journey from sea to Lahore, vol. II, pp. 286-87; also see: Hugel, Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab containing a particular account of the Government and character of the Sikhs, pp. 305, 368, 404).
207 To know about his criteria and strange style of appointing white officers, see the writings of Alexander Gardnier (Memoirs of a Soldier and
Traveller) and Henry Lawrence (Adventures of an Officer in the Service of Ranjit Singh, 2 volumes, 1845).
208Maharaja Ranjit Singh knew even this that Khushal Chand used to accept bribes from people for getting their jobs done (Umdat-ut Twareekh, vol II, p. 313). In spite of this he was most powerful (but next to Dhian Sinh Dogra) in the court. Khushal Chand died in 1844. His son Ram Dyal too had a high office; and, his nephew Tej Ram (later, Teja Sinh Raja) became the Commander-in-Chief, and, he was one of the three traitors who ‘handed over the Empire to the English.
209According to J. D. Cunningham, Kishora Sinh was an illegitimate child of Ranjit Dev; see: Cunningham, History of the Sikhs, p. 161.
210The Dogras had annual revenue of more than 18 lakh 97 thousands rupees.
211Cunningham, op. cit., p 213.
212Alexander Burnes, (in Travels into Bokhara, being the journey from sea to Lahore, in 3 volumes, vol II, p. 314) had sensed a danger to Ranjit Singh’s empire after the death of the latter because ‘they (Dogras) were busy in filling their coffers and nourishing art of corruption’. The same was sensed by Baron Hugel in Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab containing a particular account of the Government and character of the Sikhs (1845), p. 288 and G.T. Vigne, in Travel Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain course of Indus and the Himalayas, North of the Punjab, in 2 volumes (1842), vol. II, p. 422. Jacquemoent in his Letters from India: Describing a Journey in the British Dominions of India, Tibet, Lahore and Cashmere during the years 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831 under the orders of the French Government (translated from French into English, in 2 volumes, published from London in 1834), in vol. II, p. 166, too predicted the same when he wrote: “He (Dhian Sinh) was fortifying his native home, in the vicinity of Bhimber, which he had strengthened by guns taken from Lahore, a fact which no one had disclosed to the Maharaja. He was jealously preparing himself with an eye on future.”
213Cunningham, op. cit., pp 167-68.
214Most of these had either been propagating against Sikhism or had established their centres which were in contradiction to the teachings of the Gurus
215They did not engrave the contribution made by Ranjit Singh on any wall of this temple because the considered him a Jatt (i.e. Dalit), though he succeeded in getting his name engraved on a plate at Darshani Deodi of Darbar Sahib Amritsar, through Giani Sant Singh Nirmala.
216This Rulia Ram had built a big mansion near Gurdwara Tahli Sahib and his descendants remained stationed in this mansion up to 1947. (Amar Nath, Zafarnama Ranjit Singh, events of 1815).
217Cunningham too refers to such a suggestion by Nalwa, who was not in favour of any son of Ranjit Singh as his successor: History of the Sikhs, p. 173.
218Total income of Ranjit Singh from revenues was three million sterling i.e. 60 lakh rupees (Jaquemont, Letters, vol. II, p. 118); at the same time the East India Company had an income of 26 millions sterling; but, according to Alexander Burnes (Travels into Bokhara, being the journey from sea to Lahore, in 3 volumes, vol. II, p. 288, 297, 316) it was two and half crore rupees including revenue from the lands alienated in jagirs and dharamarth.
219This treaty was signed when the Marhatta Jaswant Rao Holkar, having been defeated by the Lord Lake, the English General, came to the Punjab (he first went to Patiala and when he found that Lord Lake was chasing him, he crossed Beas and reached Amritsar). Ranjit Singh refused to help him but Fateh Singh Ahluwalia mediated a compromise between Holkar and the English. Ranjit Singh and Fateh Singh signed a treaty with the English (East India Company) too; which was as follows (I have not changed even the spellings of the names):
Treaty of Friendship and Amity between the Honorable East India Company and the Sirdars Runjeet Singh and Futteh Sing-1806.
Sirdar Runjeet Sing and Sirdar Futteh Sing have consented to the following Articles of Agreement concluded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Malcolm, under the special authority of the Right Honorable Lord Lake, himself duly authorized by the Honorable Sir George Hilaro Barlow, Baronet, Governor General, and Sirdar Futteh Sing, as principal on the part of himself and plenipotentiary on the part of Runjeet Sing.
Article 1. Sirdar Runjeet Sing and Sirdar Futteh Sing Aloowalia hereby agree that they will cause Jeswunt Rao Holkar to remove with his army to the distance of 30 coss from Amritsar immediately, and will never hereafter hold any further connection with him, or aid or assist him with troops, or in any other manner whatever, and they further agree that they will not in any way molest such of Jeswunt Rao Holkar’s followers or troops as are desirous of returning to their homes in the Deccan, but, on the contrary, will render them every assistance in their power for carrying such intention into execution.
Article 2. The British Government hereby agrees that in case a pacification should not be effected between that Government and Jeswunt Rao Holkar, the British Army shall move from its present encampment on the banks of the River Beas as soon as Jeswunt Rao Holkar aforesaid shall have marched with his army to the distance of 30 coss from Amritsar; and that in any Treaty which may hereafter be concluded between the British Government and Jeswunt Rao Holkar, it shall be stipulated that, immediately after the conclusion of the said Treaty, Holkar shall evacuate the territories of the Sikhs and march towards his own, and that he shall in
no way whatever injure or destroy such parts of the Sikh country as may lie in his route. The British Government further agrees that as long as the said Chieftains Runjeet Sing and Futteh Sing abstain from holding any friendly connection with the enemies of that Government, or from committing any act of hostility on their own parts against the said Government, the British Armies shall never enter the territories of the said Chieftains, nor will the British Government form any plans for the seizure or sequestration of their possessions or property.
Dated 1st January, 1806, corresponding with 10th Shawal, 1220 H.E. Seal of Runjeet Sing Seal of Futteh Sing.
220 The Sikhs had actually won battles at Mudki, Firozshah and Chelianwala.
221 For details about Moran and Gul Beghum, read events of 1802 and 1833, respectively in Zafarnama Ranjit Singh by Amar Nath and Umdatut Twareekh by Sohan Lal Suri.
222 Moran was so religious oriented that she had built a mosque in the city of Lahore, which is still standing and is known as Moran Di Masjid. Moran was so favourite to him that, once, he took her on a tour to the Hindu centre Hardwar and spent more than one hundred thousand rupees (in 1810s, now it could mean more than 10 million rupees) for this tour. This amount was spent out of ‘dharam arth’ (religious fund) account. (Hardwar has nothing to do with Sikhism or Islam, hence it was no pilgrimage; it may be called a ‘honeymoon tour’).
223Cunningham, History of the Sikhs (1849), p. 159, edition of 1915, reprinted 1997.
224 This was a strange ‘Sikh rule’ as it is claimed by some Sikh preachers and some Sikh chauvinists. It is interesting that some Sikh militants had declared establishment of Khalistan on Ranjit Singh’s lines; grand was their role-model. Later, however, Parkash Singh Badal did establish such a rule (during 1997-2002 and 2007-2012) in which the anti-Sikh fanatic Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) controlled the ‘Akali’ government like the Brahmins of Hindustan held their grip on Ranjit Singh’s so-called ‘Khalsa Rule’. Such is the intelligence of the Sikh ‘militants’ and the preachers.
225 Prasharprahsna, p. 359.
226 Ibid, p. 359-60.
227 Ibid, pp. 360-61.
228 Sirdar Kapur Singh, Prasharprashan, pp. 352, 353, 359, 360-61, 365 (1959 edition).
229 Ibid, p. 361.
230 Sirdar Kapur Singh is not right here; Sahib Singh Bedi did not represent Sikh mainstream as he was a Nirmala; hence he could not have played positive role.
231 Ibid, p. 361.
232 Prasharprashna, p. 365 (page numbers from the edition of 1959).
233See the details in Amritsar Di Twareekh, two books of the same name, one by Giani Gian Singh and the other by Karam Singh Historian.
234 The Sandhanwalias were the collaterals of Ranjit Singh. They were the grandsons of the brother of Ranjit Singh’s grandfather. They wanted to eliminate all the male members of Ranjit Singh’s family and then occupy the throne.
235 Cunningham, op. cit., p. 203.
236 Dr Honimberg, Thirtyfive Years in East.
237 Henry Gardiner, Memoirs.
238 Latif, History of the Punjab, Harbans Singh, Heritage of the Sikhs, p. 108.
239According to Sita Ram Kohli (Sunset of the Sikh Empire, p. 41) “Dhian Singh was responsible for a policy whereby the more violent elements in the army, very often Sikhs, were transferred from important military stations to others where scope for making trouble was slighter, and of recruiting new men, mostly non-Sikhs, from Jammu and the other Punjab hills. Between the months of June 1841 and February 1842, some six thousand of these hill men were formed into 8 battalions of infantry and 3 units of light artillery. This, very naturally, aroused suspicion of him, both as disciplinarian and a Dogra”. General Alexander Gardner too confirms this: “This dream was that Hira Singh, the heir of their family, or at least the most promising of its rising generation, might eventually succeed to the throne of Ranjit Singh. Those to be swept away were the male members of the Maharaja’s family, and all those ministers, advisers and chiefs who would not join the Dogra party……All these murders were brought about directly or indirectly by the Dogra brothers, Dhian Singh and Gulab Singh, for the eventual aggrandisement of their family in the person of Hira Singh”. Alexander Gardner, Memoirs, pp. 212-13).
240 Cunningham, op. cit., pp. 213-14.
241She was referring to Nihangs, Sikh faqirs and such like persons.
242Ranjit Singh used to drink and offer very strong whiskey to the visitors; when he held a meeting with Lord William Bentinck at Rupar, on the 26th of October 1831 or when his grandson Naunihal Singh got married in 1837, Ranjit Singh served the English guests with high degree of alcohol.
243 In 1837, when Henry Fane came to attend the marriage of Naunihal Singh, he was, in fact, spying; to quote the English General J. D. Cunningham: “That able Commander (Sir Henry Fane) was ever a careful observer of military means and of soldierly qualities, he formed an estimate of the force which would be required for the complete subjugation of the Punjab… This visit to Lahore was perhaps mainly useful, in enabling Lieutenant Colonel Garden, the indefatigable Quarter-Master General of the Bengal Army to complete a detailed map of that part of the country, and which formed the ground work of all the maps used, when hostilities did at last break out with the Sikhs.” (History of the Sikhs, p. 193).
244 Edvardes and Merrivalo, Biography of Henry Lawrence, Hugh Cook, The Sikh Wars, p. 22.
245 Sita Ram Kohli, Sunset of Sikh Empire, p. 101, Harbans Singh, Heritage of the Sikhs, p. 117.
246 Gulab Sinh had established liaison with the English when the English had sent their army to Afghanistan. Even then, the English had offered him the territory of Jallalabad (Afghanistan) as an independent ruler but he dared not accept it (Cunningham, op. cit, pp. 223-24).
247Robert N. Crust, Oriental and Linguistic Essays, p 43, Sita Ram Kohli, op. cit., p 101, Cunningham, op. cit., p. 253)
248 Cunningham, op. cit., pp 257.
249 Ibid., pp 258-59
250 Ibid., p 255.
251 Calcutta Review, No. 16, p 472.
252 Cunningham, op. cit., p 263, MacGregor, History of the Sikhs, vol.II, p. 80.
253 Ibid.
254 J.H. Gorden, The Sikhs, p. 134.
255 Smythe, Carmichael, History of the Reigning Family of Lahore, Introduction, pp 21-24; Harbans Singh, Heritage of the Sikhs, p. 119. Also see: J.H. Gordon, The Sikhs, p. 134; McGregor, History of the Sikhs, p 107.
256 Cunningham, op. cit., p 265.
257 In the words of Lord Hugh Gough, “the Sikhs fought as if they had everything at stake”.
258 Sita Ram Kohli, Sunset of the Sikh Empire, p. 107; Cunningham, op. cit., p. 265.
259Cunningham, op. cit., p. 267.
260 Cunningham, op. cit., p. 263.
261 Cunningham, op. cit., p 268.
262 Ibid.
263Smythe, Major Carmichael, History of the Reigning Family of Lahore, Introduction, pp 21-24.
264 Cunningham, op. cit., pp. 274-75.
265 Ibid, p. 288.
266 Ibid, p. 278-79
267 Ibid.
268 Cunningham, op. cit, p. 279
269 Quoted by Dr Ganda Singh in Private Correspondence relating to Anglo-Sikh Wars, p.98
270 Calcutta Review, June 1849, p. 549.
271 According to Griffin, Teja Sinh counselled even the valiant warrior Sham Singh Attariwala to run away with him at the first British attack in the battle of Sabhroan. (Griffin, Ranjit Singh, pp. 63-64).
272 Cunningham, op. cit., p 284
273 ‘Sardar Sham Singh, also knowing that 10th February was going to be the day of battle, rose early in the morning, dressed himself in white, and mounting his white mare proceeded to address the Sikh Army. He reminded the assembled Khalsa about their glorious traditions of bravery and sacrifices in the past and begged them, as true sons of the soil, to die rather than turn their backs on the enemy. Since he had himself dedicated his life to the sacred cause, his words had the desired effect’.
274 Ibid, p. 284
275 Griffin, Ranjit Singh, pp 63-64.
276 Huge Cook, The Sikhs Wars, p. 106. In the words of Sita Ram Kohli: “All the ceremonies customary on such occasions was omitted and the Maharaja and his escort were made ‘to put on the mien of humiliation’.” (Kohli, The Sunset of Sikh Empire, p. 117).
277 Cunningham, op. cit., p 286
278 Cunningham, op. cit., p. 288
279 Huge Cook, op. cit., p. 106.
280 Ibid, p 106
281
282 Cunningham, op.cit, p. 289
283Lord Dalhousie’s letter to Curry, dated 16.12.1846.
284Letter of Henry Lawrence to Elliot, dated September 1847.
285 Evan Bell, The Annexation of the Punjab & Maharaja Daleep Singh, p. 10.
286 Ibid, pp.14-15.
287 Ibid, p. 15
288 Ibid, p. 16.
289 Ibid.
290 Evan Bell, op. cit., pp 50-54.
291 Evan Bell, op. cit., pp. 26-27, 32.
292 Ibid, pp. 23-43.
293 Edwardes, An Year on Punjab Frontiers, pp. 420-24.
294 Punjab Papers, 1849, No. 330 and 344.
295 Punjab Papers, No. 359, Edwardes, op.cit., p. 505.
296 Bikramjit Hasrat, Anglo Sikh Relations, p. 311, M.L. Ahluwalia, Punjab’s Pioneer Freedom Fighters, p. 65.
297 Punjab Papers, 1849, No. 661, Secret Consultations, 24 November 1849, No 312.
298 Thackwell, The Sikh Wars, p. 91.
299 Bikramjit Hasrat, Anglo Sikh Relations 1799-1849, p. 337 (1968 edition).
300 To quote Lord Dalhousie: “Dost Mohammed came like a thief and he has run like a coward” quoted by Bikramjit Hasrat in Anglo Sikh Relations 1799-1849, page 342.
301 Thackwell, op. cit., p 91.
302 Sita Ram Kohli, op. cit., p. 179; Dr Ganda Singh, Punjab te Angrezan da Kabza, 124.
303 M.L. Ahluwalia, Punjab’s Pioneer Freedom Fighters, p. 48.
304 Balwant Singh, Army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, p. 73.
305 Punjab Papers, 1849, No. 213.
306 In 1849, ten thousand rupees meant billion rupees of 2011; such a high award was repeated only 2001 when the USA announced an award for the arrest of Osama Bin Laden.
307 Dalhousie Papers, No 87, 15th December 1849.
308 Secret Consultations, dated 31st of January 1850.
309 Secret Consultations, dated 22nd of February 1850, nos 31-36.
310 Ibid, dated 20th of April 1850, nos 91-92.
311 Ibid, dated 26th of August 1859, no 79.
312 Dr Ganda Singh, Private Correspondence Relating to Sikh Wars, p. 167.
313 Secret Consultations, 26th of May 1849, Nos 125, 136.
314 Political Consultations, 22 March 1850.
315 Secret Consultations, 17 June 1859.
316Michael Alexander and Sushila Anand, Queen Victoria’s Daleep Singh, pp 97-101.
317 Michael Alexandera and S. Anand, Queen Victoria’s Daleep Singh, pp. 97-101; for more details see: Lady Login, Sir John Login and Daleep Singh.
318 Daleep Singh and Government, p 83.
319 Queen Victoria’s Daleep Singh, p.222