Lohgarh - Khalsa Rajdhani, Lohgarh fort - Lohgarh Trust by S. Daljeet Singh Bajwa (books that read to you .TXT) 📕

Chand was too haughty to bother about this; instead, he contacted the Governors of Kangra and Jammu. They sent some soldiers and ammunition to help him. Further, Ajmer Chand Fortified his capital. When Banda Singh came to know about the Ajmer Chand’s preparations he (Banda Singh) decided to teach him a lesson. The Bilaspur city, then1, was surrounded by a lake on one side and high hills on the other sides; but, still, it was not stronger than Sadhaura, Sarhind, and Samana etc., which had fallen to the Sikhs; secondly, the Sikhs were not mercenaries; they had been fighting for the sake of their Guru and righteousness.

 

 

When the Sikh army reached near Bilaspur, the hill soldiers attacked them with guns and arrows from the tops of the hills, but, the Sikhs braved all this, and, gave a befitting reply. Soon, the Bilaspur soldiers realized that they were no match to the brave Sikhs, hence they decided to surrender. Thirteen hundred hill soldiers had died in this battle. Instead of cremating them, they were buried in a big ditch. Some Sikhs too lost their lives in this battle.

Some scholars question the decision of Banda Singh in accepting the apology of Ajmer Chand and forgiving him; they assert that the crimes and sins of Ajmer Chand were no less than that of Wazir Khan, and, he deserved death as the minimum punishment. Some others believe that though Ajmer Chand had attacked Anandpur to get the city vacated, he was not responsible for the killing of any member of Guru Family; whereas Wazir Khan had killed two younger sons and the mother of Guru Gobind Singh.

Robe of Honour For the Ruler of Mandi

After defeating Kehlur State, Banda Singh sent messages to the other hill States asking them to declare their loyalty to the Sikhs and send their tributes; all the hill rulers, one by one, surrendered. Raja Sidh Sen of Mandi was the first to surrender; in fact, this State had been a part of the Sikh world since the time of Guru Nanak. When Banda Singh visited Mandi he was given a royal welcome; in return, he presented a robe of honour to the ruler of Mandi and assured him of complete assistance in the situation of a crisis in his state.

Similarly, the rulers of Haripur and Guler too immediately accept the subordination of Banda Singh. The Nahan ruler was already helping the Sikhs, and, it was due to his sympathy with the Sikhs that Bahadur Shah had arrested him. (Later, Nahan ruler had changed sides and became an associate of the Mughals).

‘Arrest’ of Banda Singh at Kullu

Kullu was the next target of Banda Singh. According to a popular story, he was hoodwinked and arrested by Raja Maan Singh of Kullu who put

 

 

him into an iron cage with an intention of presenting him before Bahadur Shah. There are two popular narrations as to how he achieved freedom. According to one view, when the ruler of Mandi came to know about Banda Singh’s arrest, he sent his army to attack Kullu; but before it could reach there, the Sikh army had already got Banda Singh released. And, according to another story, Banda Singh had magical power and he, along with his cage, flew from Kullu.2 There is no mention of any such arrest or any such event in the Persian sources or the Mughal records. It was such an important news that it must have been celebrated by the Mughals (even if it was not a success). The records ‘Akhbarat-i- Darbar-i-Mualla’ don’t refer to it even slightly or indirectly).

Marriage of Banda Singh at Chamba

After vanquishing Kullu, Banda Singh compelled Jaswan Siba and Nurpur to pay him tribute. His next major action was an attack on Chamba. Raja Udey Singh of Chamba did not oppose him and accepted him as his ‘master’. Udey Singh was so impressed by the charismatic personality of Banda Singh that he requested him to marry his daughter. (When Banda Singh was arrested in December 1715 at Gurdas Nangal, this Rajput wife Sushil Kaur was with him. She had given birth to Ajay Singh, who was butchered before the eyes of Banda Singh on the 9th of June 1716, at Delhi).

Killing of the Chiefs of Jammu and Sultanpur Lodhi

Banda Singh left Lohgarh on 1st December 1710. By March 1711, he had again re-organized the Sikh army; he spent some days at Riasi (Kashmir) and planned for further action. In the first week of March 1711, he reached near Raipur, a border town of Jammu province. The Sikh army rested on the hills between Raipur and Rasulpur. During those days, Shamas Khan, the former Faujdar of Sultanpur Lodhi too was on a visit to his uncle Bayzid Khan (Faujdar of Jammu). When they received the information that the Sikh army was moving into the territory of Jammu province, they decided to attack it. They were in high spirits and hoped to defeat the Sikhs because they were proud for having

 

 

defeated the Sikhs at Rahon and Sarhind in 1710; and because of their earlier victory over the Sikhs, they led their army and set out in search of the Sikhs. Soon they reached the place where the Sikhs were taking a rest and made a sudden attack. The Sikhs had not expected an attack and hence they were not prepared for this; so, they did not waste their power for a combat and fled the place. Soon, the Sikhs found a new shelter and a better strategic place. On the other hand, Shamas Khan and Bayzid Khan decided to chase the Sikhs in the hills because they were well familiar with that area. When they had gone deep into the hills, the Sikhs found that Shamas Khan and Bayzid Khan were not having much force with them; so, they made a sudden attack and put the chasers on defence. In this battle, Shamas Khan was killed and Bayzid Khan3 was badly wounded (he too died after three days). Their dead bodies were taken to Kasur for burial. In this battle, the Sikhs captured a large number of weapons and horses. News of this incident reached the Emperor on the 23rd of April 1711, when he was near Rupar.4

Bahadur Shah was so much serious about his campaign against the Sikhs that he began encouraging and alluring the generals, officials, chowdhrys (village aristocracy) and others to participate in war against the Sikhs. He began distributing awards, robes of honour, mansabs and jagirs to those who would make even minor contribution in war against the Sikhs. On the 20th of March, he granted robes of honour to the Hindu feudal Churamani Jatt and Kishan Singh Naroka and asked them to join Mahabat Khan in hunting down the Sikhs. On the 2nd of April, he appointed Saif Khan as the chief of Sultanpur Lodhi and increased his mansab by six hundred horses. He gave the charge of Lakkhi Jungle area to Sultan Khan and also increased his mansab to fourteen hundred horsemen; he was also given a grant of rupees eight hundred thousand daams (i.e. two hundred thousand rupees) to fight against the Sikhs.5 On the 6th of April 1711, Bahadur Shah received an intelligence that

the Sikh army, led by Banda Singh, was moving towards Lahore; Bahadur Shah ordered Mahabat Khan to rush after the Sikhs. He (Mahabat Khan) led an army of fourteen thousand soldiers to chase the Sikhs. Almost at the same time, Bahadur Shah was informed that the number of the

 

 

Sikh soldiers swelled to twenty-five thousands.

On the 7th of April 1711, when Bahadur Shah reached near Banur, he was told that ‘the Sikhs have taken shelter near Beas river, about 40- 45 km from Lahore, and they have built a new Fort too. The Sikhs have established their police posts in a belt of about 25 km long and 10 km wide area around river Beas and the landowners are fully co-operating with them.’ 6

On the 15th of April, Bahadur Shah was told that the Bilaspur ruler had become a friend of the Sikhs and he had assured the Sikhs that if the Mughal forces chased the Sikhs, he would grant them safe heaven and would stop the Mughals from entering his territory.7

Sikhs Army again Captures Batala and Kalanaur

In March 1711, after the killings of the army chiefs of Jammu and Sultanpur, the Sikhs marched towards Kalanaur and Batala. Batala was a major trade centre and Kalanaur too was a town of the rich and the affluent. When the elite Muslims heard about the Banda Singh’s march towards Batala, they took away their valuables and fled to Lahore along with their families.

During those days, two prominent Muslim personalities, Sayyad Mohammed Fazal Qadri and Sheikh Ahmed (also known as Sheikh-Ul- Hind), had their residence in Batala. Sayyad Mohammed Fazal Qadri, who had established a big Muslim religious institute in the town, was not in favour of fighting against the Sikh army because it would have harmed the activities of his institute; but, on the other hand Sheikh Ahmed wanted to give a fight to Banda Singh.

Banda Singh reached the village Achal, about 6 km, from Batala, on one evening and rested there for a few hours. The next morning, before it was dawn, the Sikh soldiers reached Hathi gate, the main entrance of the city of Batala. Sheikh Ahmed, along with a big force of soldiers as well as some ordinary young Muslims, in the name of holy war, was already present outside the walls of the city. A fierce battle was fought between both armies, but within a couple of hours Sheikh Ahmed was killed and all his followers fled from the field. After this, the Sikhs broke

 

 

open the gate of the city and entered it. The Sikh army plundered the treasury, the government offices, the houses of the government officials and other affluent pro-government men. The Sikh soldiers also plundered the house of the corrupt and unjust Qazi Abdul Haq and later burnt the whole street to ashes. Banda Singh established a Sikh post in the city and appointed new officials to the government positions.

After capturing Batala, the Sikh army marched to Kalanaur. When the Sikhs reached near the town, Kalanaur’s chief Sohrab Khan and Kanungo Santokh Rai realized that they would not be able to face them and fled from the town without fighting. Ankh Rai, the brother of Santokh Rai, fought for a short while and he too fled from the battlefield. After the occupation of the town by the Sikhs, most of the Muslim elite too fled to Lahore.

After capturing the town, Banda Singh appointed Sikhs as officials. He did not disturb any ordinary resident of the town and declared: ‘My war is against injustice and cruelty. No innocent or common person shall have any problem.’ This declaration gave a sigh of relief to the people and they began sympathizing and co-operating with the Sikhs. Banda Singh also offered the Muslims jobs in his army. He assured them that they would have full freedom to practise their religion (Namaz and Azaan) during their duties. Within a few days about five thousand Muslims joined the army of Banda Singh.

On the other hand, on the 25th of April 1711, Bahadur Shah appointed Ashraf Khan as army-chief of Hariana (now a part of district Hoshiarpur) and ordered him to chase Banda Singh. The same day, he also appointed Aatish Khan as the in charge of cannons, and, sent him to cis-Satluj area, on an expedition against the Sikhs.8

On the 28th of April 1711, Bahadur Shah reached Rupar and he stopped here for some time before crossing Satluj river. There, he received a report about the condition of Kalanaur from Bhagwati Das news reporter. It said:

“On the 19th (of Islamic month, i.e. 26.4.1711),