| Conflict: | Indian campaigns of Ahmad Shah Abdali |
| Place: | Northern Indian subcontinent |
| Date: | 11 January 1748 - 17 January 1767 |
| Combatant1: | Durrani Empire |
| Combatant2: | Mughal Empire |
| Combatant3: | Sikh Confederacy |
| Combatant4: | Maratha Empire |
| Combatant5: | Jaipur |
| Partof: | Decline of the Mughal Empire and Campaigns of Ahmad Shah Durrani |
Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of the Durrani Empire, invaded Indian subcontinent for eight times between 1748 and 1767, following the collapse of Mughal Empire in the mid-18th century. His objectives were met through the raids (taking the wealth and destroying sacred places belonging to the Indians) and deepened the political crisis in India.[1] [2] [3] [4]
Ahmed Shah Abdali invaded India eight times from 1748 to 1767. The frequency of his repeated invasions reflected his "tireless energy, ambition" and purpose. It was "necessary" for Abdali to invade a "rich but poorly defended neighbouring country" India to plunder and exploit her resources. He also wanted to establish "political hegemony" in India. During his time, the Mughal empire was disintegrating and he was "eager to step into the shoes of the decadent Mughal authority" to fill up the "political vacuum without any loss of time".
Following the death of Zakariya Khan the governor of Lahore in July 1745, the Mughal Wazier Qamaruddin Khan would appoint the two sons of Zakariya Khan as the governors of Lahore and Multan.Yahya Khan the son of Zakariya Khan was appointed governor of Lahore,and Shah Nawaz was appointed governor of Multan.[5] [6] Yahya Khan's administration over Lahore would soon be challenged by his brother Shah Nawaz,who soon arrived in Lahore on November 1746.[7] Shah Nawaz demanded a complete division of their dead father's property.This dispute over Zakariya Khan's estate resulted in a war between the two brothers and their armies which lasted from November 1746 to March 1747.
On 17 March 1747, Shah Nawaz was able to defeat Yahya Khan and had held him in captivity. Shah Nawaz usurped the governorship over Lahore and appointed Kaura Mal as his diwan and recognized Adina Beg Khan as faujdar of the Jalandhar Doaba.[8] Shah Nawaz began negotiating with the Delhi government to recognize his governorship over the province,and used his captive brother as a bargaining tool. However instead the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah threatened direct military action against Shah Nawaz. Yahya Khan was also able to escape from Shah Nawaz's captivity and fled towards Delhi. Shah Nawaz soon began looking for foreign help. Shah Nawaz had heard of the military exploits of Ahmad Shah Durrani who had just taken Kabul and Peshawar from the Mughal governor Nasir Khan.[9] After being advised by Adina Beg Khan,Shah Nawaz decided to invite Ahmed Shah for Military help. Ahmed Shah agreed to the request on the condition that Shah Nawaz accept Afghan suzerainty, and he soon began his invasion from Peshawar in December 1747.[10]
See main article: Battle of Lahore (1748). Adina Beg soon informed the Delhi government of Shah Nawaz's treachery.[11] Qamaruddin Khan was disappointed at hearing the news and soon wrote a letter to Shah Nawaz. In this letter Qamaruddin Khan agreed to recognize Shah Nawaz's control over Lahore on the condition that he oppose Ahmad Shah's forces.Shah Nawaz agreed to the wazir's request and he now turned hostile towards the Afghans. Jahan Khan had crossed the Indus river with 8,000 of his men.[12] Shah Nawaz fought the Afghan force and forced Jahan Khan to retreat towards Peshawar,where Jahan Khan waited for Ahmad Shah's forces to arrive. Ahmad Shah entered the Punjab and occupied the fort of Rohtas.[13] When he heard news of Shah Nawaz changing his allegiance to the Mughals, he sent Sabir Shah and Muhammad Yar Khan to Lahore. However Shah Nawaz felt insulted by the remarks made by Sabir Shah and ordered him to be executed, while Muhammad Yar Khan was let go. Hearing news of Sabir Shah's execution,Ahmad Shah began his march towards the city of Lahore. He also confirmed the holdings of Rawalpindi to Muqarrab Khan a Gakkhar chief during Ahmad Shah's journey towards Gujrat
Ahmad Shah Durrani had around 18,000 Afghan soldiers under his command,one third of which where from his own tribe.[14] [15] Durrani's army however lacked any artillery and was much smaller compared to the Mughals.[16] Shah Nawaz had around 70,000 Soldiers under his command along with artillery. On 10 January 1748, Durrani and his army camped near the Shalamar gardens.[17] The Afghan and Mughal Forces would fight one another on 11 January 1748.
Khwajah Asmatullah Khan, one of the Mughal commanders, had around 10,000 cavalry and 5,000 Musketeers, while Lachin beg another commander had around 5,000 soldiers. According to Historian Sir Jadhunath Sarkar, Asmatullah and Lachin Beg had around 16,000 soldiers under their command. Shah Nawaz sent Jalhe Khan,a Pashtun commander from Kasur,to oppose Durrani's forces. However instead Jalhe Khan defected to the Afghan side and Joined Ahmad Shah Durrani. Ahmad Shah sent 1,000 of his musketeers to fire upon the Mughal forces and to retreat beyond the enemies range. Shah Nawaz soon consulted a astrologer to know the result of the battle.The astrologer told Shah Nawaz that there should not be any fighting that day and to instead attack the Afghans the next day. Shah Nawaz agreed to this advice and told his officers Adina Beg and Diwan Kaura mal not to move out and oppose the Afghan forces and to only fight the Afghans within the Mughal entrenchments.
Ahmad Shah was able to overpower the Qizilbash soldiers of the Mughal army and began pursuing them into their entrenchments. Asmatullah Khan began calling in for reinforcements.Adina Beg failed in properly reinforcing Asmatullah and Adina Beg soon fled towards Lahore. Some of the Mughal soldiers took this as a sign of a ceasefire, and retreated to their trenches in complete disorder. The Afghans now launched a full-scale attack on the Mughal forces which forced Asmatullah Khan to retreat. The various guns and artillery that was stored in the fort of Hazrat Ishan fell in the hands of the Afghan forces. Adina Beg fired cannons and rockets onto the Afghan forces, however the Afghans were able to overpower the resistance offered by the Mughals. Shah Nawaz escaped Lahore and fled towards Delhi. Asmatullah Khan was killed during the battle.
Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Afghan forces entered Lahore on 12 January 1748. The previous members of the Lahore government that had been imprisoned by Shah Nawaz were released by the Afghans. Mir Momin Khan, Lakhpath Rai and Surat Singh all pleaded to Durrani to spare the city from plunder and paid a ransom to the Afghans.[18] Ahmad Shah accepted the ransom and ordered his officers to make sure the Afghan soldiers wouldn't subject the city to plunder. Despite this, some parts of the city were looted by the Afghan forces. Various Guns, artillery, treasure and other goods all fell in the hands of the Afghan forces following their conquest of Lahore. Coins were also minted in the name of Ahmad Shah Durrani. Thousands of Women and Children were enslaved by the Afghans after their conquest of Lahore. The Afghans also conscripted thousands of Punjabis into the Afghan army. Ahmad Shah appointed Jalhe Khan of Kasur as the new governor of Lahore,with Mir Momin Khan as his deputy and Lakhpath Rai as his Diwan. Ahmad Shah stayed in the city of Lahore for 5 weeks and began his plans to advance towards Delhi.
See main article: Battle of Manupur (1748). Durrani attacked India in 1748. He had faced Mughal, Rajput and Sikh coalitions in Sirhind, Ahmad Shah's Afghan troops swept aside the Mughal army's left flank (of Rajput stock[19]) 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. After the retreat of Durrani, Sikh bands under Charat Singh continued to harass them as they retreated to Kabul.[20] he had to return home in failure.[21] He lost to the Mughal soldiers, Rajput force's and Sikhs of the Phulkian Misl (also known as the Patiala State).
Seeking to avenge his defeat in the first invasion, Ahmad Shah launched his second invasion in December 1749, crossing the Indus River. Moin-ul-Mulk, the Mughal governor of the Punjab, urgently requested aid from Delhi. Ahmad Shah had demanded the revenues of Chahar Mahal, Gujrat, Aurangabad, Pasrur, and Sialkot.[22] Moin-ul-Mulk forwarded the demands to the Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur. Instead of receiving reinforcements, Alamgir authorized the revenues to be given to Ahmad Shah. Helpless, Moin-ul-Mulk had no choice but to accept. The second invasion's relative ease bolstered Ahmad Shah's ambitions in future invasions.[23] [24]
See main article: Battle of Lahore (1752). In the winter of 1751, he invaded India for the third time on the pretext that Mir Mannu, the Mughal governor of the province of Punjab, had refused to pay him tax which he had promised to give on a monthly basis. Abdali started the battle by successfully besieging Mannu in the Lahore Fort. Though Mannu wrote to the Mughal emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur for help, he received no reinforcements from Delhi. Failing to put up a fight, he surrendered to Abdali on 6 March 1752. After signing the instrument of surrender, Abdali's forces looted and plundered the city. On his orders, nine hundred Sikhs who were trapped in the fort of Ram Rauni were killed. But Abdali was impressed by the "heroic fight" put up by the Mughal governor; so he appointed him as the province's governor on his own behalf. Abdali also conferred him the title "Farzand Khan Bahadur Rustam-e-Hind".
Consequently, Mannu held a reception at Lahore in honour of Abdali. He also signed a peace treaty under which the two territories of Punjab – Multan and Lahore - were to be ceded to Abdali's Afghan empire. Once the treaty was signed, Abdali sent his troops to Multan to take possession of the city and some of his men to Delhi to confirm the treaty with the Mughal emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur. Bahadur, with advice from the royal advisor Javed Khan, put his seal on the treaty on 3 April, which cut Punjab from the Mughal empire. At that time, the wazir of Delhi Safdar Jang was in Awadh to suppress a rebellion. He returned at the end of the month with fresh recruits to confront Abdali, but learned of the treaty and retreated.
See main article: Sack of Delhi (1757), Battle of Amritsar (1757) and Battle of Mahilpur (1757). Ahmed Shah Durrani invaded again along with his son Timur Shah Durrani in 1756 on the invitation of Mughlani Begum, the wife of Mir Mannu, late subedar of Punjab under Mughal Empire. They conquered the Mughal cities of Lahore, Sirhind, Delhi, Mathura, Vrindavan. And they were able to take women slaves including daughters of late emperor Muhammad Shah and Alamgir II along with of other Hindu women from towns of Mathura, Vrindavan and Agra.
Furthermore, the troops of Adina Beg fought together against Afghans at Hoshiarpur known as the Battle of Mahilpur.[25] Later 20,000 horsemen of Timur Shah Durrani were defeated and captured by Sikhs. This resulted in insecurity in mind of Adina Beg, who invited the Marathas, who had taken Delhi in the Battle of Delhi (1757) to come to Punjab and recapture Lahore, resulting in the Maratha conquest of North-west India. The Marathas routed the Afghans from Lahore by March 1758. Adina became the subedar of Punjab, by promising 75 lakh rupees a year to be paid to Marathas. The Chief Qazi of Lahore fearing Hindu domination by Marathas, invited Ahmed Shah Abdali to Punjab, causing his sixth invasion.
It was fought between Jats and Abdali's forces. Maharaja Surajmal's troops fought against him in Ballabgarh, Chaumunha, Gokul, Kumher and in Bharatpur. At last Abdali had to leave the war and retreat. During this he ruined and looted the holy places of Mathura and Vrindavan.
The battle was fought between the Nihang Sikhs of the Shaheedan Misl and the Afghans. The Afghans killed the Sikh leader, Baba Deep Singh and the outcome of the battle is disputed.
The Fifth Invasion was the most crucial of the invasions. In this invasion, the Marathas lost the battle of Panipat and lost Delhi, Punjab, Lahore, Multan and Attock. They lost many civilians and soldiers and Ahmed Shah Durrani freely plundered them. Later, in all his next invasions, he fought against the Sikhs on every occasion, where he was less successful and the Sikhs became stronger. In the end the Sikhs drove him away from India all the way back to the Indus.
When Ahmad Shah Durrani returned for his sixth campaign of conquest (his fifth being in 1759–1761), Sikh fighters were residing in the town of Jandiala, 18km (11miles) east of Amritsar. The place was the home of Aqil, the head of the Nirinjania sect, a friend of the Afghans, and an inveterate enemy of the Sikhs.[41]
Aqil sent messengers to Durrani pleading for his help against the Sikhs. The Afghan forces hurried to Jandiala, but by the time they arrived the siege had been lifted and the besiegers were gone.[41]
The Sikh fighters had retreated with the view of taking their families to safety in the Haryana desert east of their location before returning to confront the invader. When the Afghan leader came to know of the whereabouts of the Sikhs he sent word ahead to his allies in Malerkotla and Sirhind to stop their advance. Durrani then in less than 48 hours set about on a rapid march, covering the distance of 240km (150miles) and including two river crossings.[41] In twilight Durrani and his allies surprised the Sikhs who numbered about 30,000[42] with most of them noncombatants. With the Durrani forces outnumbering the Sikhs, the Sikh fighters decided that they would form a cordon around the slow-moving baggage train consisting of women, children and old men. Then they would make their way to the desert in the south-west by the town of Barnala, where they expected their ally Alha Singh of Patiala to come to their rescue.[43] Several Durrani fighters were killed by the Sikhs while trying to protect the cordon where Qasim Khan fled the battle with his troops to Malerkotla.[44] Many non-combatants upon reaching the village of Gahal, pleaded for shelter but the villagers in fear of the repercussion from the Durranis, did not open their door and so the non-combatants rushed to the villages of Qutba and Bahmani to seek shelter but the occupants of these villages were the hostile Malerkotla Afghans.[45] On the order of their leader, the Ranghar villagers surrounded and attacked the non-combatants, plundering and massacring them and then moved on to attack the non-combatants outside of their villages but Charat Singh immediately rushed back to protect the remaining non-combatants and drive away the Ranghars.
A secondhand account by the son and nephew of two eyewitnesses describes the Sikhs. "Fighting while moving and moving while fighting, they kept the baggage train marching, covering it as a hen covers its chicks under its wings."[41] More than once, the troops of the invader broke the cordon and mercilessly butchered the women, children and elderly inside, but each time the Sikh warriors regrouped and managed to push back the attackers.[41]
By early afternoon, the fighting cavalcade reached a large pond, the first they had come across since morning. Suddenly the bloodshed ceased as the two forces went to the water to quench their thirst and relax their tired limbs.[41]
The Sikhs assembled in May 1762 and plundered the baggage of the Mughal governor of Sirhind, Zain Khan Sirhindi.[46] [30] The Sikh forces then marched and fought a severe battle with the Durranis at Harnaulgarh, a place 30 miles from Sirhind. The Sikhs secured a decisive victory at Harnaulgarh by driving away the Afghans and the defeated governor of Sirhind, Zain Khan Sirhindi, was forced to pay tribute of Rs. 50,000 to the Sikhs as a penalty for his loss.[47]
After the Battle of Kup, the Sikhs made up their minds to wash away the defeat.[48] Ahmad Shah Abdali had returned to Lahore.[49] He sent a person to the Sikh leaders in quality of ambassador to negotiate peace with them and prevent that effusion of blood which their desperate determination threatened to produce. However, when this ambassador arrived at the Sikh camps, instead of listening to his proposals, the Sikhs plundered him and his followers and drove them away.[50] He did not waste any time and arrived at the outskirts of Amritsar.
In October 1762, The Sikhs had gathered Amritsar to celebrate Diwali. The Sikhs attacked the Afghans so vehemently and didn't care about their own lives at all. The battle was fought under the grey light of a total solar eclipse. The battle raged furiously from early morning till late night. They both decided to stop for the night and fight the next day. During the night Ahmad Shah Abdali and his forces had retreated to Lahore.[50]
The Sikhs finally got their revenge from the Ghalaghura. The Shah left Lahore on 12 December 1762, and Kabuli Mal was appointed governor of Lahore. As for the Sikhs, they had left Amritsar, crossed the Sutlej River and slipped into the Lakhi Jungle.
In 1765, Ahmad Shah Durrani invaded India for seventh time in the winter of 1764–1765, During this campaign he constantly harassed by Sikhs, Qazi Nur Muhammad who was present in the Afghan army describes the numbers of engagements between Sikhs and Afghans, a battle was fought on the western bank of the Satluj opposite Rupar, it was morning and the Afghan army was hardly gone 3 km from the western bank of the Satluj, when they attacked by the Sikhs, The Afghans immediately stopped marching and got into regular formation of battle, Ahmad Shah Durrani was in the center with 6,000 choice soldiers, Shah Vali Khan, Jahan Khan, Shah Pasand Khan, Anzala Khan and others at the head of 12,000 troops were on the right Nasir Khan with 12,000 Baluchis was on the left, The Dal Khalsa also organised themselves in regular battle army Jassa Singh Ahluwalia fearlessly stood like a mountain in the center close by him was Jassa Singh Thokah, looking like a lion in stature, the Qazi says that Ramgarhia has his own flag and war drum. During the seventh invasion, the Sikhs kept away from the main routes and camped in the Lakhi Jungle as a hideout.[52] Abdali himself travelled to Chak Guru (Amritsar) to punish the Sikhs only to find they had deserted the city aside from 30 Sikhs who were left in-charge of the Akal Takht. All of these outnumbered Sikhs were martyred defending the site from the Afghan forces.
In 1767, Ahmad Shah Durrani Invaded India for the eight time, while Ahamed Shah was crossing the river Beas, his passage was obstructed by Sikhs, On January 1767, Ahmad Shah Durrani wrote letters to the Sardars, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Khushal Singh Singhpuria, Jhanda Singh Dhillon to the effect that if they were desirous of entering his service they should come and join him, but if they had any hostile intentions they should meet him in the field and fight him.[53]
On 17 January 1767, Jahan Khan who had already faced many setbacks because of the Sikhs, marched towards Amritsar with 15,000 Afghans soldiers, where he was met by the Sikhs who were alerted of his movements. Battle took place where the Sikhs fell upon Jahan Khan and his forces.[54] When Jahan Khan and his soldiers came across the Sikhs, a battle took place for 3 hours which resulted in Jahan Khan's retreat and 5000 to 6000 Afghan soldiers killed and wounded. Upon hearing reports of Jahan Khan's defeat by the Sikhs, Ahmed Shah Abdali left his baggage on the bank of the Beas at Jalalabad and rushed to assist Jahan Khan, but the Sikhs ended up carrying most of Ahmad Shah's goods. The British were pleased and relieved with the news of Sikh victory as they suspected that Ahmad Shah Abdali's aim for this latest campaign into India, was to assist Mir Qasim against the British. Lord Clive stated that if the Sikhs kept the ongoing of plunder of Abdali's baggage and cutting of his supplies, then Abdali would be ruined and return to his country.[55]
Abdali died at Toba Mar (or Toba Maruf; present-day Maruf, Afghanistan) in the Suleiman Mountains on 16 October 1772 as a result of the injury he sustained while horse-riding in Kabul or demolishing the Golden Temple in Amritsar.[56] [57] [58] [59] [60]
Ahmad Shah Abdali had accompanied Nadir Shah to Delhi in 1739, and had seen the weakness of the ruler there. To pay for the maintenance of the army, he had to conquer new lands.
In 1747, Ahmad Shah then began his career as head of the Abdali tribe by capturing Ghazni from the Ghilzai Pashtuns, and then wresting Kabul from the local ruler, and thus strengthened his hold over most of present-day Afghanistan. Leadership of the various Afghan tribes rested mainly on the ability to provide booty for the clan, and Ahmed Shah proved remarkably successful in providing both booty and occupation for his followers. Apart from invading the Punjab three times between the years 1747–1753, he captured territory to the west as well.
In December 1747, Ahmed Shah set out from Peshawar and arrived at the Indus river-crossing at Attock. From there, he sent his messenger to Lahore but reception from Shah Nawaz was frosty. When Ahmed Shah reached the bank of the Ravi on 8 January 1748, the Lahore army of 70,000 prepared to oppose the invader. The Pashtun army crossed over on 10 January and the battle was joined on the 11th. Ahmed Shah had only 30,000 horsemen, and no artillery. But during the Battle of Manupur (1748), a force of 5,000 Pathans of Qasoor under Jamal Khan defected to his side, and he was able to crush the poorly trained forces of Lahore. Shah Nawaz fled to Delhi, and Adina Beg was equally fast in running away to the Jalandhar area.
Ahmed Shah entered the city on 12 January 1748, and set free Moman Khan and Lakhpat Rai. He then ordered a general massacre. Towards evening, the prominent leaders of the city including Moman Khan, Lakhpat Rai and Surat Singh collected a sum of three million rupees and offered it as expenses to Abdali, requesting him to halt the looting and slaughter. Ahmed Shah appointed Jamal Khan of Qasoor Governor of Lahore, and Lakhpat Rai his minister, and restoring law and order around the town by 18 February, he set out towards Delhi.
Meanwhile, in the preceding three years, the Sikhs had occupied the city of Lahore, and Ahmed Shah had to return in 1751 to oust them.
Then in 1756/57, in what was his fourth invasion of India, Ahmed Shah sacked Delhi looting every corner of that city and enriching himself with what remained of that city's wealth after Nadir Shah's invasion in 1739. However, he did not displace the Mughal dynasty, which remained in nominal control as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad's suzerainty over the Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir. He installed a puppet Emperor, Alamgir II, on the Mughal throne, and arranged marriages for himself and his son Timur into the Imperial family that same year. Leaving his second son Timur Shah (who was wed to the daughter of Alamgir II) to safeguard his interests, Ahmad finally left India to return to Afghanistan. On his way back, Ahmed Shah captured Amritsar (1757), and sacked the Sikhs' holy temple of Golden Temple.In 1761, Ahmad Shah and Marathas were at war, a pivotal battle called the Third Battle of Panipat ended the war with heavy casualties on both sides. Ahmed Shah returned to Kabul, and after ten years the Maratha army recaptured Delhi in 1771, and in 1772 they invaded the Rohilkhand Doab area.The Marathas looted and devastated the lands of the Rohilas and Pathans in Rohilkhand.
As early as by the end of 1761, the Sikhs had begun to occupy much of Punjab. In 1762, Ahmad Shah crossed the passes from Afghanistan for the sixth time to crush the Sikhs. He assaulted Lahore and Amritsar (the holy city of the Sikhs), massacred thousands of Sikh inhabitants, destroyed their temples and again desecrated their holy places.
Within two years, the Sikhs rebelled again, and he launched another campaign against them in December 1764. However, he soon had to depart from India and hastened westward to quell an insurrection in Afghanistan.
After the departure of Ahmad Shah Durrani, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia attacked Sirhind and in the Battle of Sirhind (1764), the Afghan Governor Zain Khan Sirhindi was killed.[61] Jassa Singh also paid a visit to Darbar Sahib at Amritsar, and restored it to its original shape after defilement by Durrani.
Later the Sikhs under Hari Singh Nalwa Campaigned against the Afghans in the third phase of the Afghan Sikh wars and they took even the Winter capital of the Afghans Peshawar, Decisively defeating Afghans in Battle of Nowshera which led to their occupation of the Peshawar Valley.[62]
Following their victory, the Sikhs destroyed the Afghan royal court and the fort of Bala Hissar, Peshawar.[63] However, Hari Singh Nalwa soon commenced the reconstruction of the fort.[64]