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

get killed after a good deal of fighting; a large number of royal soldiers too were getting killed. 55

Finding Khan Khanan resolute, prince Rafi-ud-Shah and Rustam Dil Khan too made an assault at Lohgarh Fort. They acted so with an intention of stopping Khan Khanan getting the credit/laurels of victory. The action of Khan Khanan, and others following him, was in violation

 

 

of the orders of the Emperor because he (Emperor) had given instructions that the siege should be prolonged; and, when the ammunition and the ration of the Sikhs is exhausted, they will be captured. Now, when they had moved forward in violation of the orders of the Emperor, they had only one option, i.e., either capture the Fort or die; because a defeat would earn them the wrath of the Emperor along with punishment for disobeying his orders.

On the other hand, the Sikhs were firing from cannons after long intervals. This made the royal generals realise that the Sikhs did not have much gun powder; by the evening the Sikhs’ cannons stopped firing; they came out of their trenches and attacked the royal forces with swords. Several Sikhs were killed in this fighting.

At that time Banda Singh was sitting in Sitargarh Fort, on the top of another hill adjacent to Lohgarh hill. By this time, the royal forces had closely surrounded Lohgarh Fort and could enter it any time. The Sikhs had realised that they had no option except to die fighting or make an attempt to escape. So, at night, they filled all the gun powder in the improvised tamarind-stem cannon and fired it towards the royal army. It resulted into a great explosion which shook the earth. This frightened the royal forces and they hid themselves in their trenches. The Sikhs availed of the opportunity and fled towards the Shivalik hills; Banda Singh too was a part of this group which escaped.

The next morning, Udit Singh Bundela and Rustam Dil Khan made a major assault on the Fort and entered it without any major fighting; there they found not more than thirty Sikhs including Gulab Singh Bakhshi who was wearing Banda Singh’s clothes. Khafi Khan, commenting on the escape of Banda Singh and arrest of his look-like Gulab Singh, says: ‘the falcon had escaped and an owl had been captured.’56

When Bahadur Shah came to know that Banda Singh had escaped, he became very much angry and said: ‘How could a jackal escape from the siege of so many dogs? The Emperor was especially angry at Khan Khanan who had disobeyed the Emperor and attacked the Fort of his own.”57

 

 

But, Muhammed Qasim Aurangabadi gives another account. He says that after ‘capturing’ the Lohgarh Fort, the elder prince and Khan Khanan sent a messenger to deliver a letter to the Emperor about their victory; reading this the Emperor was elated and he made sajda (prostration to God in the direction of the Kaaba at Mecca) to thank God for that victory. But learning about the escape of Banda Singh, he began guessing as to from which side he had escaped. In the meanwhile the prince and Khan Khanan reached there and they narrated that Banda Singh had escaped through the territory of the Nahan ruler. At this, the Emperor ordered summoning of the ruler of Nahan in his court. Accordig to Muhammed Qasim Aurangabadi, the Emperor did not become angry with Munaim Khan (Khan Khanan).58 It is possible that Muhammed Qasim Aurangabadi had soft corner for Khan Khanan.

Earlier, when the news of the entry of the royal forces into the Fort had reached the Emperor, he had ordered beating of drums, and, all his soldiers were dancing. But, when he came to know about the escape of Banda Singh, he stopped all jubilations and became sorrowful. He was not happy even at the capture of the Fort or the killings of the Sikh soldiers whose number was about 1500.59

When the Fort had been occupied by the royal forces, a very large number of soldiers rushed towards it. Kamvar, who was present there, reports:

“We deliberated and entered the Fort. We observed the looting by the soldiers. Scoundrel and high-handed Afghan and Baloch soldiers were scuffling with each other to snatch women and children as well as valuables from each other. During their scuffle a spark fell on gun powder lying there which resulted into the death of several persons; these included the son of Sucha Nand of Sarhind and several Muslim men and women who had been held captive by the Sikhs; their bodies were buried under the debris (caused by the fire and explosion).” (The non-Italic text is mine- Author).

 

Could Lohgarh Fort Be Capured ?

The capture of Lohgarh Fort, as narrated above is based on the writings

 

 

of the Mughals or the Akhbarat-I-Darbar-Mualla (letters of the Jaipur rulers’ agents in the Mughal court; and, this information were based on what they learnt from the Mughal court). It seems that all this was written or narrated to please the Emperor or to boast of the might of the Mughal army or to prove that the Sikh army was weak and powerless.

We have seen that the Lohgarh Fort is 40 to 50 kilometers in length and 10 to 15 kilometers in width. The periphery of this Fort is 50 km which surrounded by 52 Fortresses and dozens of hills. Could this Fort be captured in just one or two days? This is impossible. In one day, even one Fortress cannot be captured. There are dozens of hills, some of them very hazardous to enemy having towers, bastions, trenches and walls on each hill.

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.60

Propaganda about Occupation of Lohgarh Fort ?

To claim that the Mughal army attacked and captured the Fort in just a few hours or a couple of days is just a joke. The truth is that the Mughals captured only one or two hills of the Fort of Lohgarh. To please the Emperor, they spread the news that they had captured the Lohgarh Fort. Kamwar Khan, Khafi Khan and Muhammed Qasim Khan, who claimed to be eyewitnesses to the battle, had said all this to propagate that the soldiers of the Mughal army were ‘great fighters’, the Mughal generals were ‘great planners’ and the Sikhs were ‘no force against these mighty Mughals’. In fact, this Fort was so vast (in length and width), and surrounded with so many hazardous hills, that it could not have been fully captured even in 6-7 years.

What to talk of capturing the Lohgarh Fort, even the path between Sadhaura and Lohgarh could not have been covered by the Mughal army in this short time. There were 52 Fortresses between Sadhaura and Lohgarh, and, these were very strong posts; there were soldiers and cannons and other ammunition in each bastion and trench; hence

 

 

the Mughals were supposed to fight 52 battles before reaching just the foothills of Lohgarh Fort.

Why Did Banda Singh leave Lohgarh?

After months of struggle made by the Mughals, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur realized that Mughal forces are confused and now they were trying to achieve only one objective i.e capturing of Sikh leaders and that they were no more interested in capturing Lohgarh. Moreover, like a game of chess, as a part of the strategy the players try to make the opponent concentrate the power at a particular point and once the power is concentrated at one point, the better player shifts the attack on the opponent’s king from the other side. The same thing happened at Lohgarh Fort. When the Mughal forces got accumulated at Lohgarh Fort, under the banner of Emperor Bahadur Shah, and the forces failed to control and capture the Lohgarh Fort, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur very tactfully shifted the theatre of war from Lohgarh to Lahore. Understanding as stated above, we may conclude that within one or two days the Mughals forces could not have reached even near the advance fortress of Lohgarh. After his escape through the territory of Nahan (as stated by Mohammed Qasim Aurangabadi) Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, along with his 20 Sikh generals and army of 40000 armed horsemen, planned to attack Lahore, report 22 March 1711.61

Situation following the (so-called) ‘Capturing’ of the One or Two Hills of Lohgarh

In this false “victory”, the royal army captured five elephants, three big cannons, seventeen small cannons, seven carriage vehicles (on which guns are carried), one tent and a few silver poles from Lohgarh Fort, and about eight lakh rupees and a few ashrafis were recovered from Kundan, the zamindar of Lohgarh.62 On the first of December all these things were brought to the Kampo village to be presented before the Emperor.63

The Emperor appreciated the role of Jamadat-ul-Mulk and Zulfiqar Khan Bakhshi-ul-Mulk in this battle; similarly, Zorawar Khan, Ranbaz

 

 

Khan and Sher Khan were also presented robes of honour.

On Sunday, the 3rd of December 1710, the Emperor held his court and gave awards to those who had played a special role in the battle against the Sikhs.64 These awards included: robe of honor and a turban to Jamadat-ul-Mulk and Bakhshi-ul-Mumalak; special robe of honor to Mahabat Khan, Islam Khan Bahadur and Raja Udit Singh; Raja Chhatarsal was presented an aigrette and an elephant was given to Churamani Jatt.65

On the 6th of December, the Emperor issued an order strictly banning the Hindu officials of the Darbar from buying slaves or women or looting property of the rebels (this right was confined to the Muslims only); the Emperor further ordered that if any Hindu was already holding any slave or a woman, he must release them. It is very interesting that those who played major role in the battle of Lohgarh included a very large number of Hindus, but the Emperor was still inimical to the non-Muslims in spite of their contribution.

On the same day, the Emperor was told that the soldiers had dug out five hundred thousand rupees and three thousand four hundred ashrafis from Lohgarh Fort.66

Bahadur Shah Orders Massacre Of the Sikhs

On the 10th of December 171067, Bahadur Shah issued a blanket order of the massacre of the Sikhs. In his order, issued to Mahabat Khan (Bakhshi-ul-Mumalik), he asked him to issue commands to the governors of Shahjahanabad and the other provinces that if they find any Nanak- prast (Sikh) anywhere, should kill him instantly. Later, on the 26th of March 1711, he issued orders that a Sikh should not be mentioned as Sikh but as ‘Sikh-Chor (thief)’.68

The Fate Of the Ruler Of Nahan

On Sunday, the 3rd of December 1710, the Emperor sent orders to Gian Chand (the ruler of Kumaon), Fateh Shah (the ruler of Garhwal) and Bhup Parkash (the ruler of Nahan) informing them about the escape of Banda Singh and commanding them to arrest and present him before

 

 

the Emperor Bahadur Shah. Bahadur Shah also dispatched Hamid Khan to chase Banda Singh; he also commanded him to arrest the ruler of Nahan in case Banda Singh is not captured by him (because Banda Singh had entered the territory of Nahan State).

When Hamid Khan reached Nahan, the ruler did not meet him as he knew about the wrath of the Emperor. At this Hamid Khan assured them that Mahabat Khan has given word that nothing will happen to Bhup Parkash (the ruler of Nahan).

On the 12th of December 1710, Hamid Khan presented Bhup Parkash, the minor king of Nahan, before Bahadur Shah. He was accompanied by Khwaja Kutub-Ud-Din, Dianat Rao and Uma Pandit. Bhup Parkash presented one hundred one mohars and several birds of prey, including four falcons,