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

his mind. However, his order was translated into action and within two days all the dogs had been killed and only those escaped which had fled the town.

For the next two weeks Bahadur Shah’s illness went on increasing; on the 25th of February 1712 he held his court for the last time. But even in this ceremonial gathering he did not say anything. For the next three days, he did not leave his bed; he had spleen and swelling on his face and forehead; three haqims (physicians) attended on him all this time but there was no change in his condition; he died on the night between the 27th and the 28th of February 1712.

Bahadur Shah’s dead-body was wrapped in a coffin and it was decided that it should be buried at Delhi. The body was given in the custody of Maulvi Muradullah, Abdul Qadir and Mehfooz Khan. But, it could not be taken to Delhi due to war of succession among the sons of

 

 

Bahadur Shah. Finally, after a period of 43 days, on the 12th of April 1712, the dead- body of the Emperor was taken to Delhi under the escort of his widow Mehar Parvar and one Mohammed Khan.11 It reached Delhi on the 16th of May, and, after decay and ‘insult’ of 67 days, it was buried in the compound of a mosque built by Aurangzeb, near the mausoleum of Bakhtiar Kaki, close to Qutub Minar.

Battle For Succession

After the death of Bahadur Shah, all the generals of the royal army, including Mohammed Amin Khan, who had been engaged in the expedition against the Sikhs, returned to Lahore. This gave some relief to the Sikhs.

At Lahore, all the four sons of Bahadur Shah fought a bloody battle for the throne of Delhi. On the 3rd of March 1712, a fierce battle was fought between the forces of Jahandar Shah and Azimushan on the banks of river Raavi.12 The first royal casualty of this battle was prince Azimushan (father of Farukhsiyar) who was killed by Abdus Samad Khan (father of Zakaria Khan, later the Governor of Lahore). Abdus Samad Khan was fully loyal to prince Jahandar Shah. When Azimushan was dead, Abdus Samad Khan carried his dead-body and threw it in front of Jahandar Shah.

The second battle was fought between the armies of Jahandar Shah on one hand and the armies of Rafiushan (Rafi-ul-Qadir) and Jahan Shah (Khuzishta Akhtar) on the other hand. At first, Jahan Shah had an upper hand; his companions Rustam Dil Khan, Jani Khan and Mukhlis Khan defeated the forces of Jahandar Shah and they also arrested Azz-ud- Din (son of Jahandar Shah). The next day, when Jahan Shah, accompanied by his son Farkhanda Akhtar, was going to his camp, Abdus Samad Khan fired a ball from cannon and killed both of them. After this, the companions of Jahan Shah surrendered and also released Azz- Ud-Din (son of Jahandar Shah).

After the death of Azimushan and Jahan Shah, now, Jahandar Shah and Rafiushan fought against each other. In the wee hours of the next morning, Rafiushan made a forceful attack on the army of Jahandar

 

 

Shah. But, the newly recruited soldiers of Rafiushan could not face the well-trained soldiers of Jahandar Shah and began fleeing the battle- field. When Rafiushan saw this, he himself came forward to encourage his soldiers and manage the battle; soon, he too was killed. Thus, now three of the four sons of Bahadur Shah were dead. Even after this, the enmity between the princes did not come to an end; Jahandar Shah or his companions did not bother even for the dead bodies of his brothers. The dead bodies of the princes remained unattended on the tavi (hot sand burning like a tava, i.e. hot plate for baking loaves) of river Raavi for three days and on the fourth day Jahandar Shah ordered the burial of the dead-bodies.13

After finishing his brothers and nephews, Jahandar Shah’s first action was to punish his enemies i.e. the officers, generals, helpers and collaborators of his dead brothers. Jahandar Shah also decided to honour his loyal companions. Amir-ul-Umraa Bahadur Kokaltash Khan, Khwaja Hassan Khan, Shakar-ulla-Khan and some other umraa had been the most faithful to Jahandar Shah; he bestowed liberal gifts upon them and offered them high offices in his government.

On the 20th of March 1712, he ordered the execution of Mohammed Rustam Khan (Ghaznafar Khan alias Ghazi Khan, the former Governor of Sarhind) and Mukhlis Khan (both of them were the associates of the prince Khuzishta Akhtar);14 Besides, Hamid-Ud-Din Khan Bahadur Aalamgiri, Sarfraz Khan Bahadur (Behroz Khan) and his sons, Saif-ulla- Khan, Rehman Yaar Khan, Musharaff Khan gurj-bardar and Fakirullah Khan were also given death sentences. Seventeen persons, including Hamid-Ud-Din Khan, Mahabat Khan (son of Khan Khana), Ahtiman Khan and his son Lutfullah Khan (deputy of Khuzishta Akhtar), Rehman Yaar Khan, Attaullah Khan, Fatehullah Khan, Mohtam Khan, Rai Raiyan, Jani Khan, Fidvi Khan, Abdul Karir Khan, Aqidat Khan (son of Amir Khan), Mohammed Ali Khan etc were immediately arrested and imprisoned in Lahore Fort. Properties of all these seventeen persons were confiscated. But, the very next day, Jahandar Shah announced amnesty for Lutfullah Khan, Rai Raiyan and Jani Khan. On the 21st of March 1712, Jahandar Shah ordered that Mukhlis Khan and Hakim Moitmad-Ul-Mulk be

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10

 

Banda Singh Bahadur’s Return to Sadhaura and Lohgarh

 

 

 

When Banda Singh received the news of the death of Bahadur Shah, he was at Rajauri. Considering this as a useful opportunity, he decided to return to the Punjab. Islam Khan, the Governor of Lahore, tried to block his way but failed. Banda Singh reached Sadhaura and Lohgarh in the early days of March 1712. He had four to five thousand soldiers with him.1After a few days, a deputy of Sarhind attacked Lohgarh but was defeated badly. In spite of his defeat he did not return to Sarhind and established his camp in between Sadhura and Sarhind. One night a group of Sikhs put siege to his camp, entered his tent and chopped off his head.

When the Sikhs received information about Banda Singh’s return to Lohgarh, they began reaching there. Not only between Sadhaura and Lohgarh, there lived many Vanjaras and the other Sikhs in many villages in this zone. All the young men flocked to Sadhaura and Lohgarh to join Banda Singh’s army. When this news reached Mohammed Amin Khan he ordered his soldiers to march towards Sadhaura.2

By that time the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah died, Mohammed Amin Khan had to return to Lahore. Due to war of succession to the Mughal Empire, the expedition against the Sikhs had come to a halt.

In the battle of succession, Mohammed Amin Khan did not side with any one of the princes and remained totally neutral. When the new Emperor Jahandar Shah became free from battle (as all his brothers had been killed and there was no one to challenge him), when Mohammed Amin Khan realized that Jahandar Shah was in full control of the Empire, on 21 March 1712, he presented himself in Jahandar

 

 

Shah’s court and expressed his complete loyalty for the new head of the Empire.3 Jahandar Shah increased his mansab4 to seven thousand zaat and seventh thousand cavalry; out of which five thousand were do-aspa (double horse). At that time, this was the highest mansab of the Mughals. He was also given the title of “Chain Muhammed, Mohammed Amin Khan, and Firoz Jang”. The same day, Jahandar Shah told Mohammed Amin Khan to go on expedition against the Sikhs, and, also granted him command of nine thousand soldiers and asked Muaraff Khan too to join him. On 29 March, the new Emperor sanctioned a force of 9000 soldiers, to be led by Mohammed Amin Khan, for the expedition against the Sikhs. On 5April Mohammed Amin Khan met Jahandar Shah and requested him to sanction ten thousand soldiers. On 9 April Mohammed Amin Khan sent Muaraff Khan on the expedition against Banda Singh.5 He gave him a good number of soldiers as well as a lot of ammunition.

On 23 April 1712 Mohammed Amin Khan again met the Emperor and told him that he had prepared two thousand soldiers for expedition against the Sikhs. He demanded another two thousand cavalry and three thousand foot soldiers. At this the Emperor allowed him to enrol fifteen hundred cavalry at a salary of Rs 25 per month and two thousand foot soldiers at a salary of Rs 4 per month.

In the early days of May 1712, Jahandar Shah (the new Mughal Emperor) left Lahore for Delhi. He reached Sultanpur Lodhi on the 7th of May 1712. Having rested for a day, he left for Delhi via Sarhind. He had made stop-overs at Dakhani Saran (near Nakodar), Nurmahal, Phillaur, Sunet (Ludhiana), Doraha and Khera; he reached Sarhind on the 20th of May 1712. Here, he received reports that Banda Singh was present in Lohgarh. People told him that the soldiers of Banda Singh’s army had committed oppression and atrocities on them during the reign of Bahadur Shah (in 1710). When the Emperor would return to Akbarabad (Agra), the rebels would wander in the district of Sarhind; thus there was no security for the people there. If due care was paid to them, they would show firmness in staying on; otherwise they would like to move away from that place along with the Emperor. The Emperor

 

 

told them that they should rest assured that due attention would be paid to their security.6 On 22 May, the Emperor ordered Zain-Ud-Din Ahmed Khan, the Faujdar of Sarhind, to lead an army of eight thousand soldiers to Lohgarh to crush the Sikhs.7

On 29 May, the Emperor was in Thanesar (Kurukshetra). Here the noble persons of the town told him that when Banda Singh attacked this town, most of the vagabonds, who had joined the Sikhs, supplied all sorts of provisions to them. They had pulled down most of the mosques, mausoleums and mansions. They were still present in the town. When the Emperor went to Akbarabad, they would settle score with the people. At this the Emperor became angry and ordered his attendant Rai Mann to accompany Sarbrah Khan Kotwal along with a contingent of soldiers. The Emperor asked them that who called themselves Nanak-worshippers (Sikhs) be captured and produced before him. If they embraced Islam well and good, otherwise they should be murdered, so that they were no more a source of trouble. Seventeen persons were made captives. Fourteen of them chose to be Muslims. Three persons who were servants of Chowdhry of Thanesar did not accept Islam. At this the Emperor presented robes of honour to those who accepted to be Muslims, and for the three ‘rebels’ he issued orders that they should be killed and their bodies be cut into pieces and hung in the vicinity of the minar (tower on the highway near the city. The imperial orders were complied with.8

The Emperor reached Delhi on 8 June 1712. He entered the Red Fort on 11 June and sat on the throne. On 12 June he was told that Banda Singh has established his police post at Sarhind.9

On the 13th of June 1712, he (Jahandar Shah) was told that the hill chief Jagat Chand of Kumaon had played a remarkable role in the expedition against Banda Singh; but Fateh Shah of Gharhwal10 had helped Banda Singh. At this the Emperor ordered that Jagat Chand of Kumaon be sent an order of appreciation, a valuable robe of honour and a sword studded with pearls. The Emperor also issued orders that Fateh Shah should be punished for his rebellious act.

 

 

On the 12th of July Zain-ud-Din Ahmed Khan, the Faujdar of Sarhind, was given the charge of