Battle of Mahilpur (1757)
The Battle of Mahilpur was fought between the Sikh Misls and Adina Beg Khan against the Durrani Empire in December of 1757.[1] 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.[1][2][3]
| Battle of Mahilpur | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Indian campaign of Ahmad Shah Durrani Afghan-Sikh wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Durrani Empire | Adina Beg | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Murad KhanBuland Khan †Sarfraz Khan |
 Jassa Singh AhluwaliaWadhbhag Singh SodhiShyam SinghKaram SinghAdina Beg Khwaja Mirza Khan Sadiq Beg Khan Raja Bhup Singh | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 25,000 | Unknown | ||||||
Background
After Ahmad Shah Durrani's fourth invasion of India, he appointed his son Timur Shah Durrani as viceroy of Punjab and Jahan Khan as his deputy on May of 1757.[4] The Afghans sent a letter to Adina Beg Khan demanding that he present himself to the Afghan court in Lahore, and saying that if he did not comply, the entire Doaba would be laid to waste.[4][5] Adina Beg agreed to pay revenue to the Afghans as long as he was exempt from attending court at Lahore.[5] Adina Beg was soon appointed Faujdar of the Jalandhar Doaba by the Afghan government and had to pay an annual tribute to the Afghans.[4][5] Adina Beg also sent his Hindu agent Dila Ram to Lahore on his behalf.[4] However, tensions and distrust between Jahan Khan and Adina Beg gradually increased. The Afghans again demanded that Adina Beg attend court. Failing to receive a satisfactory reply, and growing impatient regarding the payment of tribute, Jahan Khan ordered Dila Ram to be imprisoned. However, Mughlani Begum was able to successfully free Dila Ram from the Afghans. When Jahan Khan learned of this, he proceeded to beat the Begum and her residence was ransacked.[6][5] Jahan Khan then began military preparations to arrest Adina Beg. Hearing news of the military preparations, Adina Beg fled towards the Shivalik hills.[6][5]
Battle
Adina Beg Khan was able to make a military alliance with the Sikhs in the Shivalik Hills under the leadership of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Wadbhag Singh Sodhi.[2] The Sikhs were angry towards the Afghans due to their destruction of Shri Harmandir Sahib in 1757 as well as the massacre of the Hindu and Sikh population in the town of Kartarpur.[1][2] Khwaja Mirza Khan had also had a falling out with the Afghan government, and also joined Adina Beg.[6] Raja Bhup Singh, who commanded a force numbering 5,000 men joined Adina Beg, along with Sadiq Beg Khan, the deputy governor of Sirhind.[2][1]Jahan Khan sent an Afghan force under the command of Murad Khan. He, along with Sarfraz Khan and Buland Khan, commanded an army numbering 25,000.[2] The Afghans fought Adina Beg's forces at Mahilpur, close to Hoshiarpur.[2] Adina Beg ordered his Muslim soldiers to put blades of grass on their heads to distinguish themselves from the Afghans.[2]Karam Singh who belonged to the battalion of Shyam Singh,showed great bravery in the battle against the Afghan forces.[2]Despite the Afghans having light artillery, the Afghan forces were routed by the Sikhs and Adina Beg's forces and the Afghan camp was plundered.[2][1][3] Buland Khan, one of the Afghan commanders, was killed during the battle.[2]
Aftermath
After defeating the Afghan forces in Mahilpur, the Sikhs and Adina Beg's forces attacked the city of Jalandhar.Sa'adat Khan Afridi was defeated at Jalandhar and forced to flee.[2][1] The city of Jalandhar was home to Nasir Ali, who had previously ordered the Afghan forces to destroy Kartarpur. Wadhbhag Singh Sodhi, who was previously the local leader of Kartarpur, ordered the entire city of Jalandhar to be destroyed, with most of its Muslim inhabitants being massacred and the tomb of Nasir Ali was defiled with pork flesh.[2][1] The Sikhs soon started extracting tribute in the Doaba and another Afghan force numbering 20,000 to 25,000 under the leadership of Khwajah Abed Khan was defeated by the Sikhs.[2][1] Adina Beg however would invite the Marathas under the command of Raghunath Rao to invade Punjab and to expand Maratha influence further into Northwestern India.[7][8]
See Also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Gupta, Hari (2007). History of the Sikhs volume II Evolution of the Sikh confederacies (1707-1769). Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. pp. 137–140. ISBN 81-215-0248-9.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Singh, Ganda (1959). Ahmad Shah Durrani father of modern Afghanistan. Asia Publishing House. pp. 196–198.
- ^ a b Gandhi, Rajmohan (2013). Punjab:A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. Aleph Book Company. pp. 198–199. ISBN 978-93-83064-4 1-0.
- ^ a b c d Singh, Ganda. Ahmad Shah Durrani Father of Modern Afghanistan. pp. 190–191.
- ^ a b c d e Gandhi, Rajmohan. Punjab:A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. pp. 196–197.
- ^ a b c Singh, Ganda. Ahmad Shah Durrani Father of Modern Afghanistan. pp. 193–195.
- ^ Singh, Ganda. Ahmad Shah Durrani Father of Modern Afghanistan. pp. 199–200.
- ^ Gupta, Hari. History of the Sikhs Volume II. p. 141.