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

a strong Fortress, under the name of Pawagarh. It was left unfinished at his death, and, fell into ruins, part of which still remains. Banda Singh restored and extended these ruins.”12

(See the location in the map and the pictures):

In fact there is not (nor ever was) any Fort named Mukhlisgarh. This name was given to a palace which had been built as a holiday and pleasure resort for the kings and senior generals and governors, etc.13 It is about 40 kilometers away from Lohgarh and is situated on the eastern side of Yamuna river. It is not far from the Hathni Kund barrage. It has an area of 45 acres of land and the building of the palace covers an area of one acre and a half. Being in the foothills and on the bank of a river, it is a beautiful resort. The Mughal Emperors used this palace for pleasure and hunting.

This palace has not a single feature of a Fort; hence it is wrong to consider it as such. This area is known a Badshahi Bagh (royal garden) and the building is also known as Rang Mahal (place for pleasure). Irvine refers to this palace as “hunt-lodge, now called Badshahi Mahal, built by Shah Jahan, close to Jamuna Canals”. In 2017, the Archaeological Survey of India spent 20 million rupees to repair and renovate this building.

Birth of Ram Rai, Rup Kaur and Guru Harkrishan Sahab ji

Guru Har Rai had spent about 13 years in the Thapal village (in the old state of Nahan/Sirmaur, in Lohgarh zone), his children Ram Rai

 

 

(24-2-1646), Rup Kaur 9-4-1649) and Guru Harkishan (20-7-1652) must have been born here.14

In 1657 Guru Har Rai visited Keeratpur, Goindval, Sialkot and Kashmir, etc. he spent the next two years at Keeratpur where he breathed his last in 1661. Guru Harkishan could not visit Thapal or Lohgarh because he remained Guru only for three years. Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib founded the town of Chakk Nanaki (now a part of a Greater Anandpur Sahib) in 1665. He spent about four years (1666 to 1670) in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal and Assam and preached his mission in these areas. During this time Lakhi Rai Vanjara and his sons monitored the construction of Lohgarh Fort.

Guru Tegh Bahadur embraced martyrdom in 1675. Guru Gobind Singh spent 10 years (up to 1685) at Chakk Nanaki. He visited Nahan in April 1685 and founded the town of Paonta Sahib. He spent the next three years and a half at Paonta. During this period he gave the last touches to the Lohgarh Fort. Bhai Lakhi Rai Vanjara had died in 1680 but his sons remained with the Guru. They were a part of the Guru’s army and they participated in all the battles of the Guru.

In November 1688, Guru Gobind Singh returned to Chakk Nanaki and began the work of construction of five Forts at Chakk Nanaki (Fatehgarh), Anandpur Sahib (Anandgarh), Sahota (Lohgarh), Tirgarh (Tirgarh) and Agamgarh (Holgarh/ Agamgarh).

 

 

Endnotes

The rulers of the Nahan or Sirmaur State had good relations with the Sikhs right from the time of Guru Hargobind (1590-1644). According to a tradition this State was established by Sobha Rawal (Subans Parkash) in 1095. The city of Nahan (which eventually became capital) was founded by Karam Parkash (ruler 1616-1630). Karam Parkash was an admirer of Guru He friended the Guru sometimes after 1619, when he came to know that the Guru had got 52 Hindu rulers, princes and ministers States released from Gwalior Fort prison. There royal prisoners were mostly from hill and Rajputana. In October 1621, the Guru had defeated

 

 

forces led by a Hindu feudal and a Mughal general of Doaba zone. Karam Chand was succeeded by Mandhata Parkash (ruled 1630-1654). He had friendly relations with Guru Hargobind and his successor Guru Har Rai (1631- 1661). In 1645, when Tara Chand, the ruler of Kehloor State stopped paying tax to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, the latter ordered his arrest. The Guru tried to convince Tara Chand to negotiate but he remained adamant; hence the Guru left Keeratpur and moved to Thapal (in the old state of Nahan/Sirmaur, in Lohgarh zone). According to Maubad Zulfiqar Ardastani, Guru Har Rai stayed in this village from 1645 to 1656-57 (about 13 years). Mandhata Parkash was succeeded by Saubhag Parkash (ruled 1654-1664) and Budh Parkash (ruled 1664-1684). Budh Parkash was very friendly with Guru Tegh Bahadur. In 1684, he died and Mat Parkash (ruled 1684-1704) became the ruler of Sirmaur State. In Sikh sources, he is mentioned as Medni Parkash. It was Medni Parkash, who, in 1685, invited Guru Gobind Singh and requested him to establish his headquarters in his state. Eventually Guru Gobind Singh founded the city of Paonta Sahib and stayed there from April 1685 to 27 October 1688.

Mat Parkash (Medni Parkash) was succeeded by his minor son Bijay Parkash (Mughal records mention his name as Bhup Parkash). He joined Banda Singh in his fight against the Mughals, as a result, he was arrested and imprisoned in Salimgarh Fort at Delhi from 1710 to 1711. After this he secured his release by joining the Mughal authorities in their struggle against the Sikhs.

There are three village by the name of Machchrouli in Haryana , one in Tahsil Samalkha, Tahsil Bilaspur and Tahsil Jajjar, all making referencess and relationship with Bhai Lakhi Rai A Manji was also established by 3rd Guru Amar Das Ji, at Nahan, the name of the Manji was Gangushahi This area is just 50 kms from Yamuna Nagar. It is very clear that the present district of Sirmaur (old Nahan estate) and the district Yamuna Nagar ( pargana of Khizrabad and Mustafabad) was a great Sikhism influenced area. Lakhi Rai Vanjara is also known as Lakhi Shah (Rai in Hindustani and Shah in Persian, both mean ‘king’). The place is now situated in the district of Rampur, division Muradabad (Uttar Pradesh). Some part of this place is in the state of Moti Lal Rathore, Vanjara Community (Hindi), 121. Johnson Gordon, Bayly, A. (editors). The Mughal Empire. The New Cambridge History of India: 1.5. I. The Mughals and their Contemporaries.

 

 

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Vol 1, p. 190.

G. Deogaonkar : Caste and Tribes of India-3,The Vanjara, Chapter 2. The Fort at Agra too is known as Red It covers an area of 94 acres. A brick Fortal ready existed here and was known as Badalgarh. It was renovated and new additions too were made, between 1568 and 1573, during Akbar’s time. Akbar commissioned sand stone (red stone) from Barauli Rajasthan and built an outer wall with these stones; hence this came to be known as Lal Qila. Dhaula Kuan, about 20 km from Nahan on Nahan-Paonta Road, too was built by Lakhi Balwant Singh, Persian Sources on Banda Singh Bahadur, p Irvine, Later Mughals, 1, p 109. In February 1711, even the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah stayed there and spent some time hunting in the This has been referred to by Pancholi Jagjivan Das in his letter to the ruler of Jaipur. In his ‘History of the Sikh Gurus’, Har Ram Gupta says that, “in Shikasta Persian with a slight change of dots and curves Nahan was written by the scribe as Thapal is no place in the territory of Raja Karam Parkash. It is undoubtedly Nahan, capital of Sirmaur state. In fact Hari Ram Gupta could not find Thapal; hence he made this statement. Several writers including Indu Bhushan Bannerjee (Evolution of the Khalsa, II, 48) Ganda Singh (Makhiz-e-Twarikh-e-Sikhism, I, 45); Chunnigham (A History of the Sikhs, 55) have accepted it as Thapal. Khushwant Simgh (A History of the Sikhs, I, 6) read it as Taksal or Tangral near Kasauli. Tarlochan Singh refutes Har Ram Gupta’s contention that Nahan is the birthplace of Ram Rai and Har Karishan. In support of his statement, Singh argues that, “There is no historical place commemorating the visit of Guru Har Rai in Nahan, but there are historical shrines commemorating the visit of Guru Gobind Singh in Nahan and other places in Sirmaur.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Structure and Location of the Lohgarh Fort

 

 

Fortification of the Lohgarh Fort was made in a huge area to deal with the mammoth army of the Mughals and a strategic planning of the defense was made keeping in view the Mughal warfare. The epicenter of the Fort is spread in almost 7000 acres which is situated in the old State of Nahan, in the present Yamuna Nagar District of Haryana and Sirmaur District of Himachal Pradesh. The archaeological evidence, along with time and motion study of Lohgarh Fort shows that it must have taken about 70 to 80 years for completion of the Fortification work of such a large area. The Lohgarh Trust Yamuna Nagar has collected the evidences from Archaeologists and Engineers of Time and Motion study experts.1 The area of the Fort is spread in revenue estates of Lohgarh, Haripur, Chile, Mehtawali, Palori, Sukron, Maharonwala in Himachal Pradesh, and, Bhagwanpur Nathori, Dhanaura, Nagli and Mohindinpur revenue estates of Haryana State; and, the circumference of this Fort is about 50 km. The Fortification of the bastions of the Fort Lohgarh existed right on the hills known as Dabar Hills and it is holistically an arc shaped ridge starting from the river Yamuna to river Markanda. The overall Fortification of the hills in the said area is extended about 60000 acres. For research work the Fort is divided into 32 sectors. The defense established before the Lohgarh Fort in plains, to check the advance of Mughal Army, was extended up to Ladwa & Indri (districts of Kurukashetra and Karnal). After the Archaeological survey and after the intervention of Persian records, it has clearly come out that the Fortification/chowkies were established in the Shivalik Hills, in the present districts of Yamuna Nagar, Ambala (Toka Sahib area) and

 

 

Panchkula (chowki village near Nada Sahib); (Forts still exist in Mansoorpur & Bavana). The last Fortification made by the Sikhs and Banda Singh Bahadur, are found near Pinjore. Banda Singh Bahadur striked at the Mughals over a very wide area ,extending from Jalandhar Doab in Punjab to Bareilly in Suba Delhi.2 So it is quite obvious that the Fortification were made on the shivalik hills from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh. At various points, nature was very skillfully used for defense purposes and the hills were cut for the generation of narrow passages, so that, in case the enemy army reaches a particular bastion of Lohgarh, the large Mughals army cannot enter all together in the bastions. As a part of strategy of defense through this narrow passage only a single soldier could enter inside the bastions one at a time. It was always easy to handle single moving soldier and the Sikh army even in less number always remained heavy on the Mughal forces due to their strategic defense positions and caused heavy casualties to the Mughal troops advancing towards Fort Lohgarh. Lohgarh Fort was constructed by common men, i.e. by Vanjara Sikhs and the Sikligars, who lived near the vicinity of Lohgarh Fort. This is the largest Fort of the world having defense comprising 200 hills on which strong ramparts of Fortification were made. This makes Lohgarh Fort the largest Fortification of the world, constructed so far. This is also the first time in the world history that the Fort was constructed by the people and not by any monarch.

The contour of first Fortification of the Fort commences at the height of 1200 feet above sea level and the last rampart of the Fort is found on the hilltop 1900 feet height. Each hill has an independent and separate defense system which also acts as a supporting protective system of other defensive posts. Such a unique Fort was built to deal with the world’s strongest army of Mughals. The Mughals had a