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

his army into six divisions: Prince Rafiushan had the command of thirty-one thousand soldiers; he was assisted by Bakhshi-ul-Mulk Zulfiqar Khan. The other three princes had eleven thousand soldiers each; Khan Khana Munaim Khan too had eleven thousand soldiers; the sixth division, comprising of seven thousand soldiers, was under the command of Mahabat Khan (son of Khan Khanan).38 The forces of Hindu Rajas, under the command of Chhatarsal Bundela and Udit Singh Bundela, too had joined the royal troops. So, it was an army of more than one hundred thousand strong

which marched towards Lohgarh.39

Here he asked Rustam Dil Khan and Rafi-Us-Shan to get information about the details of the Fortification of Lohgarh. According to Muhammed Qasim Aurangabadi Banda Singh had about one and a half hundred thousand, and, almost same was the number of the soldiers of the Mughal army. Here, Bahadur Shah received information that a very large number of the soldiers of the Mughal army had been killed in the battles against the Sikhs. The Emperor was also told that Banda Singh was a “very powerful magician. He could turn a bullet from its course and could work such spell that spears and swords had little effect

 

 

upon his followers, “This disheartened and frightened the Emperor and he issued instructions that no Hindu should be allowed to enter the area around his camp. He was so scared of the Sikhs that he commanded that even Hindu generals, who were a part of his own army, who had always been loyal to him, should not be allowed to come near him. So much so that, now, he was afraid of his own loyal Mughal soldiers. He decided to keep himself away from the battle zone and moved his camp near Qaimpur village, i.e. 12 kos (about 38 kilometres) away from Lohgarh. Hadi Kamvar Khan, who was accompanying the royal caravan, writes:40”I saw that the camel-riding Rajput soldiers were present in the whole area. Thousands of them were there, but the Emperor was accompanied by just four sons and a few courtiers only.” It means that the Rajput rulers were fully ready to react to any untoward incident, and, had Bahadur Shah taken any wrong step, he too would have been eliminated. Certainly the Mughals were demoralized, because of heavy casualties inflicted from the hands of the Sikhs. Banda Singh Bahadur, accompanied by Sikh soldiers, was highly motivated to fight and resist the Mughals. Coming out of the 52 Fortresses with great, enthusiastic and inclination, they raised the cry of “ Fateh Darshan” and “ Sachcha Padshah” and threw themselves upon the fire of artillery of Mughals and frightened them. They launched rank-shaking assaults of the imperial entrenchment, and every day many were killed. A large number of soldiers from both sides were killed daily.

An Imperial officer, Mirza Rukn, came from the van and reported that fighting and killing of the Mughals was going on at the passages leading to the satellite Fortress of Lohgarh. Rustam Dil Khan Bahadur on reaching a Fortress called Sudhawala surrounded it, believing that Banda was inside that building. But the information was wrong as Banda Singh Bahadur was sitting under that tent on that hillock and from there he was watching the actions of his devoted followers. No General of the Mughals could reach near Banda Singh, as he was so swift and moved from one satellite Fortress to another like a light. He was himself monitoring some weak defenses of the Sikhs and accordingly providing them the reinforcement.

 

 

The Mughal Mansabdars, along with their army tried to move forward between the web of 52 Fortresses that had been established by the Sikhs on the passages leading to Khalsa Rajdhani. The Sikhs launched attacks from each Fortress and a fierce battle with cannon and musket took place at regular interval of time, The Sikh soldiers were not bothered by the mighty enemy; with their chivalrous spirit they brought down large Mughal army under the range of their attack. The Sikhs had great advantages of being at higher contours; and they used arrows and musket fire against the Mughals from high ramparts. From the flashing of swords and spears, many of the Mughals died from sword thrusts of the Sikh soldiers. Khan-i-Khanan tried to advance near the Fortress, but did not dare much to achieve the objective. The imperial soldiers were somehow trying to fight against Sikhs, but Mughal Generals were cowards and were trying to save their lives. Much endeavour and effort was put in from both sides in which the ‘trade of giving and taking life’ came briskly. By that time, the Imperial forces, crossing over the plain ground, reached to a distance of a quarter Kous from the wall of the advance Fortress of Lohgarh. Cannon balls, regularly fired from the top of the bastions, were falling on the Imperial army and it killed a large number of Mughal soldiers. Amini’l Umara Bahadur Nusrat Jang never went close to Lohgarh and kept on sending the message to the Emperor from his tent. The Emperor was stationed at Ugala village near Shahbad and was daily monitoring the warfare from quite a far and safe place. This process continued for a month and daily hundreds of Mughal soldiers were being killed at the hands of the Sikhs. There was not even a minor achievement on the side of the Mughal army.

Irvine writes, “The Mughal and Pathan soldiers were very much scared due to the rumours about Banda Singh. They had heard that Banda Singh had magical power with which he could make the spears and swords of the enemy ineffective. They had learnt that Banda Singh had given a ‘blessing’ to the Sikhs that if anyone of them died in the battle, he would be reborn and would get a higher office in life. Due to such rumours the Emperor and the senior generals of the Mughal army had

 

 

become perplexed and disheartened.”

After such a long expedition against the Sikhs at Lohgarh, the Emperor Bahadur Shah realized that capturing of the Fort of Lohgarh was impossible and the only possibility of capturing the Fort was to capture the leader of the Sikhs- Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. After this, the Emperor spent most of his energy, resources and power only to capture Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. According to the Mughal chronicles, in May-June 1711, the Mughal army engaged the Sikhs in pitch battles for a couple of times, but, in spite of inflicting heavy casualties on the Sikhs, it failed to apprehend the Sikh leader (Banda Singh). There was a huge difference between two leaders, i.e. Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and Emperor Bahadur Shah; the Sikh leader was himself participating in the battle and kept the morale of the Sikhs soldiers high, but the Emperor had been watching the battle from a distance of more than 35 kilometers. Moreover Banda Singh’s knowledge of warfare and strategy building was unmatched. The Sikh General (Banda) was in the late thirties and Emperor was 65 years old. After some time Banda Singh realized that the Emperor was a coward and does not want himself to lead the expedition from the front and remained stationed at a safe point near Shahbad. A very large number of soldiers remained with the Emperor Bahadur Shah, to protect him. The Emperor encamped at Ugala village of Shahbad Pargana. On seeing high casualities on his side the Emperor Bahadur Shah frustrated too much, therefore he stopped the entires of any Hindu and Hindu Rajas who were fighting on his side to enter in his imperial camp. The level of insecurity increased to the highest level and the Emperor stopped trusting his loyal soldiers.

The supplies of the Mughal army started getting affected, during this long war, as the Imperials had deployed large army troops for submerging the Sikhs. They needed a lot of food grains, medical facilities, arms/ammunition and horses to deal with the Sikh army. The supplier/ traders of the Mughals army were mainly the Vanjaras, and the Vanjaras were helping the opponents of the Mughals army i.e. the Sikh army. They didn’t only supply food grains and other essential goods, but also supplied arms and ammunitions, or whatsoever was the requirement

 

 

of the Sikh army.

In the guerrilla warfare, the Sikh army was very expert. They were always first to attack the enemy. Their attack was sudden and speedy. They attacked like a leopard and ran too, like a leopard. They never passed through the straight ways. They moved on the arduous wild routes by concealing themselves like leopards. When the enemy came under their blow they pounced upon them. The author of Asrar-I- Samadi, a contemporary writer, describes the movement of Banda Singh Bahadur and his Khalsa colleagues like that of lions and leopards. According to him, “Lion-like they sprang upon the backs of the elephants, and flung on the ground those who were seated in the hawdas. Like leopards they would reach such places, where even the fastest horses would be reluctant to proceed.” The Mughal army made attacks in the day light and the Sikh forces defended the attack. The attack of the Mughal forces was of poor quality, since the natural terrain advantage was on the side of Sikhs. The Sikhs were fully trained to fight in dense jungle and on undulated land. And on the other hand Mughals were new to the conditions and therefore, suffered heavy casualties. The Sikh soldiers used to attack the Mughal army in the dark, due to which there were heavy losses on the side of the Imperial troops. The Sikhs never allowed the enemy to settle down and secure their position even in the nights. At the hillocks, light towers were established at various points. On these light towers a pool was established in which cotton seeds could be filled and these emitted light gradually resulting in sufficient light to guide the Sikh soldiers, who were making guerrilla attacks on the Mughal camps. After plundering the Mughal camps in the night, these light towers guided the Sikhs Soldiers to retreat back to their respective defense post. According to Muhammed Qasim Aurangabadi, “Khan Khanan and the Mughal prince were of the opinion that the occupation of the Fort will not be possible in less than one year.41

Supplies to Sikh Army

Guru Har Rai Sahib, (1645-58 for 13 years), during his stay at Thapal, in

 

 

Lohgarh zone, might have constructed proper ration stores and stores for other goods required for the war. His imagination to originate plans and practical sense and energy to carry them through was remarkable. He was observant, untiringly shrewd, kindly, a watchman, generous and conservative, while constructing the Lohgarh Fort. Guru Har Rai Sahib, had a real knowledge of humanity, the raw materials required for the construction of Lohgarh and most vital of all, of building the fighting spirit among the Sikhs, the will to win. More than the physical and moral make up, he nurtured the mental qualities among the Sikhs i.e. common sense, knowledge of what is and what is not possible. The real sound knowledge of the mechanism of war, i.e. topography, movement and supplies were well known to the Sikh army and this helped the Sikhs to face Mughals at Lohgarh.

The tanda (trade caravan) of Bhai Lakhi Rai Vanjara used to supply food grains and other trading materials and general carriers for the conflicting armies also. He enjoyed a sort of immunity (comparable to the present red cross) during the wars as his tanda was never attacked or harmed by the conflicting armies: whether Mughals, Rajputs or Marathas. These armies used to purchase grains, tents, weapons, horses, goats, sheep etc. and his tanda also acted as transporter for shifting of camps. His tanda had a strong contingent of forty to fifty thousand bullock carts and dogs to safeguard them. His tanda encamped for safety every evening in