Lohgarh - Khalsa Rajdhani, Lohgarh fort - Lohgarh Trust, S. Daljeet Singh Bajwa [early reader books .txt] 📗

Khan declared a ‘holy war’ against the Sikhs and enrolled a large number of Muslims from Sultanpur and surrounding areas. Before attacking the Sikhs at Sarhind, he wanted to get Rahon freed from the Sikhs. He left Sultanpur for Rahon in the first week of October 1710. Khafi Khan mentions the figure of Shamas Khan’s forces as one hundred thousand. According to Khafi Khan there were 4-5 thousand horsemen, and thirty thousand infantry and the rest were ordinary Muslims, most of whom were julaahas (weavers). Khafi Khan gives the figure of the Sikh army as seventy thousands. Both figures seem to be exaggerated.29

When Shamas Khan’s army reached Rahon, there were only a few hundred Sikhs in the Fort; but they came out of the Fort and fell upon Shamas Khan’s army. A pitched battle was fought outside the walls of the town. The Sikhs gave such a fierce fight that at one time it seemed that Shamas Khan would flee or at least give up fighting; but, in the meanwhile Shamas Khan’s uncle Bayzid Khan (Qutub-ud-Din Khaishgi), the Governor of Jammu, also reached there with a big force; and, almost at the same time, Umar Khan, the chief of Kasur, and his soldiers too arrived. This compelled the Sikhs to retreat and take refuge in the Fort. Now, a mammoth army put a siege to the Fort from all the sides. The Sikhs, though very small in number, continued fighting for three days, but when their ammunition as well as ration was exhausted, they decided to leave the Fort; so, at midnight they made an attempt to flee; while doing so several Sikhs were killed and only a few managed to save their lives. This victory added to the pride of Shamas Khan and Bayzid Khan and they, now, decided to repeat this action at Sarhind too. They crossed the river Satluj at Machhiwara and spent a night there in the Pakki Saran.30

The news of Shamas Khan’s victory reached Bahadur Shah on

 

 

15 October, but, the report wrongly mentioned the venue of battle as Machhiwara and the figures of the Sikh casualties as two thousand.31

Battle of Travadi

Although the occupation of Rahon was the first Mughal victory over the Sikhs, but, the first action by the army sent by Bahadur Shah himself, took place on 16-17 October 1710 at Amingarh (Khera Amin), about 24 km from Karnal. The Sikhs, under the command of Binod Singh, were not many in number, and, had a small quantity of ammunition, but, still, they gave a tough fight to the 60 thousand soldiers’ strong royal army. At first Mahabat Khan began retreating, but then Firoz Khan Mewati came forward and inspired the soldiers, who made a massive attack on the Sikhs, putting them into the defensive. Now, the Sikhs began fleeing, as a couple of thousand of Sikhs were no match to such a huge and fully armed royal army; hence it was an unequal battle. Even while fleeing, several Sikhs lost their lives; Firoz Khan Mewati severed the heads of three hundred Sikhs killed in this battle and dispatched them to Bahadur Shah to earn his favour. The Sikhs had erected a huge Minar (Satun-I-Jung) near the city of Thanesar, marking undisputed right of ownership and the implication of their claim. The Sikhs erected Minar to demarcate their territories which was a practice among the warriors. 32

After this victory, Firoz Khan Mewati attacked the Sikhs at Taravari and Thanesar on the 19th of October. The Sikhs had to abandon these two stations too. Shahbad was next to fall to the Mughal forces. From all these four places the Sikhs fled to Sadhaura and then moved to Lohgarh. When the Emperor got this news on 20th October, he bestowed precious gifts on Firoz Khan Mewati. It included one hundred thousand rupees and the Governorship of Sarhind (Zain-ud-Din Ahmad Khan was removed from governorship).33

Emperor Reaches Near First Fortress of Lohgarh (Ugala, Tehsil Barara)

Passing through Karnal (20th Ramzan, 11th November 1710), Alamgirpur (2nd Ramzan, 13th November 1710), Thanesar (28 Ramzan 19 November)

 

 

and Shahabad the Emperor encamped at villages Okala (now Ugala, Tehsil Barara) on 27 November 1710.34 The Mughal forces took a month time to capture these Forts and clearing the route for the Mughal Emperor to reach near Sadhaura. The reason why the Mughal Emperor did not adopt the shorter route is very clear that this route was on the bank of river Yamuna, covered with dense forest near the route. Moreover, the Sikhs had captured all the Parganas in the route, therefore coming by this route could have endangered their lives. On the other hand the route adopted by the Mughal Emperor was on the bank of dry rivulet Markanda having a plain area, so the advance forces sent by the Mughals preferred the longer route via Shahabad, ensuring proper security to the Mughal Emperor. Bahadur Shah never reached Sadhaura and made this camping ground a few miles from Sadhaura and when Vanjara Sikhs and Sikhligarh army attacked the camp of Bahadur Shah, the Emperor, and his accompanying nobles immediately shifted their camp back to Shahbad 12 kos (about 48 km) From the Sarai of Shahabad, the Emperor Bahadur Shah monitored the battle of Lohgarh. Banda Singh Bahadur assaulted the Mughals over a very wide area, extending from Jalandhar Doab in Punjab to Bareilly in Delhi.35 The Sikhs had established themselves in the Fortress spread in present district of Karnal, Kurukshetra, Yamuana Nagar, Ambala and Pinjaur.

First Battle of Lohgarh 1710 to 1712

Misreported in history, during their regime of 246 years, the battle of Lohgarh is one of the largest and longest expeditions undertaken by the Mughals against any opponent (and after the battles of Lohgarh, the Mughal Empire began declining).

Emperor Bahadur Shah reached Lohgarh with four princes (Prince Rafi-us-Shah, Prince Azimushan, Prince Jahandar Shah and Prince Khuzishta), more than fifty high-rank mansabdars (having mansabs of 1000 or above) and more than one hundred low-rank nobility and a mammoth army of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Besides, the army of allied Hindu Rajas like Chhatrasal Bundela and Churimani Jat (and later Raja Jai Singh Swai of Jaipur, Raja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur, Raja Amar

 

 

Singh of Ajmer) were also invited by the Emperor to fight against Banda Singh Bahadur. The Mughal army used extremely heavy artillery to control the Sikhs. Elephants were widely used for lifting and pushing the artillery to Lohgarh. The Mughal cavalrymen mainly depended upon the short arms (kotah-yaraq) for close quarter combat at Lohgarh. They were classified into five categories: swords and shields, maces, battle- axes, spears and daggers. Weapons used for long range attacks were the bows and arrows (kaman and tir), the matchlock (bandooq/tufang) and the pistols. Rockets were also used by the artillerymen in the battle. Similarly, camel artillery men (zumbouruckchee), a piece of ordinance of small calibre, too were intensively used against Sikhs.

On 29 November 1710, the imperial troops, under the Prince Jahandar Shah, reached the foot of the hills and Fort of Lohgarh was closely investigated by large Mughal troops.36 Prince Jahandar Shah got prepared the map of Lohgarh (also known as Dabar).37 It took a lot of time to prepare the map of Lohgarh and its 52 Fortresses. In fact, the Mughals were unaware of this Fort. Such a resistance and Fortification had never been faced by the imperial forces; hence the Mughals failed to prepare the plan for capturing such a huge Fortification which was spread in hundreds of miles; hence it demoralized the Mughal generals and the Emperor.

In the month of January 1711, the Emperor planned to siege the area between Markanda to Yamuna, and he divided his army into six groups; but, the Mughal army had no clue how to break the web of 52 bastions built on the way to Lohgarh. Experienced generals of the Mughal army failed to perform in these difficult conditions as the preparation and principles of war adopted by Sikh army were very complicated and invincible. No siezure plan could be prepared; in fact, the map prepared by the Prince was inaccurate, as it was only confined to the situation of the first hill of Lohgarh Fort. The Sikhs had established chowkies/thanas (posts) and Fortification right from river Beas to Bareilly; and, they operated all this in a co-ordinated manner by providing reinforcement to one and another. High contours of the Shivalik hills were chosen for the construction of ramparts and the hill

 

 

chieftains of Nalagarh, Nahan, Garhwal, Jammu, Chamba, Nurpur etc. The Mughal army remained stationed near Lohgarh while other contingents of the Sikhs continued to make parallel attacks on most of the parganas of the provinces of Lahore and Delhi. The Mughal army was only trying to capture Lohgarh, situated in the present district of Yamuna Nagar, but the Sikhs had established bastions/Fortresses everywhere in the present districts of Ambala and Panchkula (of these Fortresses and bastions, the Mansoorpur & Bavana Fortresses of the Sikhs still exist). The battle-field, which was on the south side of Fort of Lohgarh, had undulated contours; and, the cover of dense forest over; and, on the passage leading to Lohgarh Fort, 52 Fortresses, had been built on which muskets and rahkalas had been installed. Due to this, even, the siezure of Sadhaura was not possible for the Mughals; and what to talk about Lohgarh. The Mughals failed to execute their important strategy of siezure of Lohgarh. The strategy of checking supplies of the Sikhs could not be implemented in such a vast area. The Sikh army had regular supplies of the required goods; therefore the question of the Sikh army’s surrender before the Mughal army at Lohgarh never arose. There was ample amount of amenities and food grains stuff in the Lohgarh Fort and in the depots, which had been established long back in anticipation of big war. Moreover, there was a continuous supply of required materials through the secret route to Lohgarh from the northern side of the Fort. It can be safety presumed that during the construction of Fort Lohgarh, the Sikh Gurus and Bhai Lakhi Rai Vanjara had kept in mind the siezure strategy of the Mughal warfare. Despite being large in number, the Mughal Army had no planning and strategy to attack the Sikh forces and their defences. In this dense forest area, it was very difficult to advance, and, moreover, the Sikhs were good guerrilla fighters and even nature gave advantage to the Sikh forces which rendered the world’s strongest force of that time helpless. The Mughal Emperor failed to understand the situation

and gradually started losing his confidence.

The royal army, under the command of Firoz Khan Mewati and Rustam Dil Khan moved towards Sadhaura and surrounded the Fort.

 

 

On the 24th of November, a fierce battle was fought outside the Fort between the Sikhs and the royal forces.

According to Kamvar Khan, who claimed having seen the battle with his own eyes: “This humble man was present in the army units of prince Rafiushan. I Saw with my own eyes: from among those wicked people, each one would jump in the field and fight with the royal forces; and after attempting show of great bravery, would become a good (would die) of the merciless sword of the holy warriors. At this time the royal army and the armies of the famous umraa attacked them from all sides and surpassed the acts (of bravery) of Rustam and Isfandyaar (the two warriors who fought so bravely that they are quoted as the greatest fighters in the history). About two and a half thousand persons of that unprincipled occult (Sikhs), along with their leaders became food of the swords of the brave men (Muslims). Among the victorious forces nephew of Firoz Shah Mewati was killed and his (Mewati’s) son was wounded” At that time, the Emperor had divided all