| Battle of Amritsar | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Afghan-Sikh wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Durrani Empire |  Sikh Misls | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Zaman Shah Durrani | Ranjit Singh | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 80,000 70 Guns [3] | 50,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 20,000 (exaggerated) | 15,000 (exaggerated) | ||||||
The Battle of Amritsar took place on 12 January 1797 between the Durranis and the Sikh Misls as part of the Afghan-Sikh wars which ended with Sikh victory and retreat of Zaman Shah Durrani. [4] [5] [6] [7]
On 11 January 1797, Amritsar was raided by a group of light cavalry of Durrani Empire, but they were defeated by the body of Sikhs in hand-to-hand combat with swords and spears. [4] [8] The Durrani soldiers fled and the Sikhs pursued them to a faraway distance. [4] [8] Upon the news of defeat of his army, Zaman Shah Durrani felt deeply insulted and marched towards Amritsar with the biggest share of his army. The Sikhs also prepared themselves by gathering an army of 50,000 soldiers. [4]
On 12 January 1797, Zaman Shah Durrani and his army reached Amritsar where the Sikhs were readily awaiting for him, following which a furious battle took place which began at 8 in the morning with intense firing from the Durrani's camel artillery whereas the Sikhs returned fire with just their matchlocks. [4] After the relentless battle continued till 2 in the afternoon, the Sikhs felt that they hadn't made an impact on the Durranis, therefore decided to lead the onslaught by charging directly at their opponents, as they were known to be much more effective in a close combat and so sped directly into the Durrani army with nothing but swords where the battle continued for about 4 more hours when the Durrani army started fleeing with Sikhs in their pursuit, all the way to the entrance of Lahore. [4] [9] [10] The casualties on both sides were great but the following numbers seem to be exaggerated according to historians which states that about 20,000 Durrani soldiers were killed while the Sikh casualties were 15,000 killed, an overall 35,000 casualties in the battle. [4] [11] [10]
After Zaman Shah Durrani and his soldiers fled back, reaching Lahore at night, the Sikhs carefully patrolled Amritsar and mounted 7000 horsemen and 10,000 infantry within the fort. [4] According to the Delhi chronicle, after the defeat and retreat of Zaman Shah Durrani back to Lahore, the people of Lahore rebelled against the Durranis for their bloody battle in Amritsar, which led Sher Muhammad Khan Wazir and two other Durrani chiefs to kill several people and plunder one street of Lahore for such defiance. [12] Sometime after 15 January, a Durrani army contingent was sent to get intelligence on Amritsar but soon after they left Lahore, they were attacked by the body of Sikhs, causing the Durranis to flee back into the walls of Lahore, where about 300 were killed and wounded on both sides in this battle. [4]
Guru Nanak founded the Sikh faith in the Punjab region of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and present-day Pakistan, in the end of fifteenth century. He was first of the ten Sikh Gurus. The tenth, Guru Gobind Singh, formalised its practices on 13 April 1699. He baptised five Sikh people from different parts of India, with different social backgrounds, to form Khalsa fauj. Those five Beloved Ones, the Pañj Piārē, then baptised him into the Khalsa fold. This gives the order of Khalsa a history of around 500 years. Historical theory and analysis suggests that Sikhism came into existence during the early Medieval period of the Bhakti movement and also after repeated invasions by Muslim rulers upon the Hindu community during Mughal rule, which lasted between especially in the region of North India.
Jassa Singh Ramgarhia (1723–1803) was a prominent Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy. He was the founder of the Ramgarhia Misl.
Sultan-ul-Qaum Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was a Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy, being the Supreme Leader of the Dal Khalsa. He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia Misl. This period was an interlude, lasting roughly from the time of the death of Banda Bahadur in 1716 to the founding of the Sikh Empire in 1801. He founded the Kapurthala State in 1772.
Chhota Ghallughara was a massacre of a significant proportion of the Sikh population by the Mughal Empire in 1746. Mughal army killed an estimated 7,000 Sikhs in these attacks while an additional 3,000 Sikhs were taken captive. Chhōtā Ghallūghārā is distinguished from the Vaddā Ghallūghārā, the greater massacre of 1762.
Wadda Ghalughara was the mass murder of unarmed Sikhs by the Afghan forces of the Durrani Empire during the years of Afghan influence in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent owing to the repeated incursions of Ahmad Shah Durrani in February 1762. It is distinguished from the Chhota Ghalughara. Mostly non-combatants were killed in the event, and an estimated that 10,000 to 30,000 Sikhs were killed on 5 February 1762.
The Afghan–Sikh Wars spanned from 1748 to 1839 in the Indian subcontinent, and saw multiple phases of fighting between the Durrani Empire and the Sikh Empire, mainly in and around Punjab region. The conflict's origins stemmed from the days of the Dal Khalsa, and continued after the Emirate of Kabul succeeded the Durrani Empire.
Adina Mirza Beg Khan was a Punjabi general and administrator who served as the last governor of the Punjab region of Mughal Empire, including the provinces of Lahore and Multan.
The Battle of Kup was fought on 5 February 1762, between the Afghan forces of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Sikhs, under the command of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Charat Singh. Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Afghan forces reached Malerkotla, west of Sirhind, where nearly 30,000 Sikh men, women, children, and elderly laid encamped. According to Hari Ram Gupta, 50,000 Sikh soldiers laid encamped at Kup while 5,000 non combatants laid encamped at Pind Garma.Abdali's forces outnumbered the Sikhs in hand to hand combat and the Sikhs couldn't use their usual tactics of hit and run, but had to engage in battle while protecting the civilians at the same time. With surprise attack, the Sikhs threw a human shield around civilians as protection and fought the battle killing several thousand Afghans. Abdali was able to break the ring and carried out a full scale massacre of the Sikh civilians. Ahmad Shah's forces killed several thousand Sikhs, and the surviving Sikhs fled to Barnala. According to various different estimates, as many as 5,000 to 30,000 Sikh men, women, elderly and children were killed in what is known as the second Sikh holocaust.
The Battle of Sialkot took place on 12 November 1763, between the Durrani Empire, led by Jahan Khan, and the Sukerchakia Misl, led by Charat Singh, as part of the Afghan-Sikh wars which concluded with Sikh victory.
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The Battle of Manupur was fought between the Mughal Empire and the Durrani Empire in March 1748 near Sirhind which ended in victory for the Mughals.
The Battle of Amritsar, also known as the Battle of Gohalwar, was fought between the Durrani Empire and Shaheedan Misl of the Dal Khalsa on 11 November 1757. Following the 4th invasion of Ahmad Shah Durrani, his army was attacked by Sikh bands under the command of Ala Singh and Baba Deep Singh.Following the attacks,Ahmad Shah desecrated the Sikh holy site known as the Shri Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar.The news of the desecration reached Baba Deep Singh who vowed to liberate the holy site from the Afghans.This resulted in a pitched battle being fought in the village of Gohalwar near Amritsar.The Battle resulted in Baba Deep Singh being killed.The exact result of the battle is disputed among historians.
The Battle of Mahilpur was fought between the Sikh Misls and Adina Beg Khan against the Durrani Empire in December 1757.Following the 4th invasion of Ahmad Shah Durrani,he would appoint Timur Shah as the viceroy of Punjab with Jahan Khan as his deputy.The Afghans would appoint Adina Beg Khan as the faujdar of the Jalandhar Doaba and exempting him from attending court at lahore, on the condition that Adina Beg pay revenue to the Afghan government.Soon a dispute regarding the payment of revenue occurred between Adina Beg and the Afghans.This dispute soon escalated which resulted in Jahan Khan sending an Afghan force to arrest Adina Beg.Adina Beg formed a military alliance with the Sikhs under the command of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Vadbhag Singh Sodhi.Adina Beg also gained the support of Sadiq Beg Khan,Khwaja Mirza Khan,and Raja Bhup Singh.Adina Beg along with the Sikh forces fought the Afghans at Mahilpur.The battle resulted in a victory for Adina Beg and the Sikhs and resulted in the entire Jalandhar Doaba being occupied and sacked by the Sikh forces.
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page 23:Shah Zman invaded India as soon as he had made sure of his competence for victory. He commanded an army, eighty thousand strong, equipped with sixty-three big and seven small guns. page 24:Shah Zaman attacket Amritsar the following day, at the head of his entire army.