Battle of Manupur explained

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 Indian coalition.

Conflict:Battle of Manupur
Partof:Indian Campaign of Ahmad Shah Durrani
Date:March 1748
Place:Sirhind
Result:Allied victory[1] [2]
Combatant1: Mughal Empire
Sikh Misls
Kingdom of Jaipur[3]
Combatant2: Durrani Empire
Commander1: Ahmad Shah Bahadur
Itimad-ad-Daula, Qamar-ud-Din Khan
Mir Mannu
Adina Beg
Safdar Jang
Ishwari Singh
Charat Singh
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia
Ala Singh
Commander2: Ahmad Shah Durrani
Jahan Khan
Campaignbox:

Background

See main article: Battle of Lahore (1748). Following the assassination of Nader Shah, last Emperor of the Persian Afsharid dynasty, Ahmad Shah Durrani took control of Persian Afghanistan. In late 1747, he began operations against the declining Mughal Empire, taking Kabul, Peshawar, and, on 18 January 1748, Lahore. By February 1748, a Mughal army under Prince Ahmad Shah Bahadur and Qamaruddin Khan, the Subahdar of Lahore province, had assembled and was moving to drive out the Durrani army. On 1 March 1748, Ahmad Shah began searching for the Mughal army, making contact with them on 10 March outside the village of Manupur. On the same time, the Rajput army of Jaipur under Ishwari Singh assembled bear Manupur.

Battle

When the Mughal commander, Qamaruddin Khan, was killed by artillery in an early exchange of fire, his son, Moin-ul-Mulk, also known as Mir Mannu, continued the battle. Ahmad Shah's Afghan troops swept aside the Rajput flank and raided their baggage train but a fire beginning in a captured rocket cart went on to ignite the Durrani artillery store, roasting thousands of soldiers alive and forcing Ahmad Shah Durrani's retreat.

Aftermath

After the retreat of Durrani, the panicked Mughal were unable to pursue, however Sikh bands under Charat Singh, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Ala Singh continued to harass them as they retreated to Kabul. Thus, the first invasion of Shah proved a failure but it gave an opportunity to the Sikhs to organize themselves into Dal Khalsa, an army of Sikh Confederacy, at Amritsar in March 1748.[4] [5]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Grewal, J.S. . 1990 . The Sikhs of the Punjab . Cambridge University Press . 87 . 0-521-63764-3 . 15 April 2014 .
  2. Book: Dictionary of Battles and Sieges. 631. Jacques, Tony. 2006. Greenwood Press. 978-0-313-33536-5. 2015-10-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20150626120848/http://m.friendfeed-media.com/6e9ec7f58014456d2d5fd015cc8af9d2974509c0. 2015-06-26. dead.
  3. Book: Gupta, Hari Ram . History of the Sikhs: Evolution of Sikh Confederacies (1707-1769) . Munshiram Motilal Publishers . 1978 . 978-8121502481 . 3rd . 85 . 1937.
  4. Book: Advanced study in the history of modern India 1707–1813. Mehta. J. L.. 2005. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 978-1-932705-54-6. 251. 2010-09-23.
  5. Book: Gandhi . Rajmohan . Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten . 14 September 2013 . Aleph Book company . 9789383064410 . 125–126 .