Indian campaign of Ahmad Shah Durrani

Ahmad Shah Durrani raided India eight times between 1748 and 1767. After the assassination of Nadir Shah, Ahmad Shah Durrani succeeded the throne of Afghanistan and started plundering wealth from nearby regions. In the Chota Ghalughara and Vada Ghalughara Abdali managed to massacre many through ambush, but in the end, Abdali retreated when he encountered the Sikhs on his way to India on the banks of river Chenab. That was his last invasion he would ever do as shortly after he died. After Durrani returned to Afghanistan, the Sikhs rebelled and annexed several cities in the Punjab region. His repeated incursions destroyed the Mughal empire and at Panipat, dealt a major blow to Maratha pretensions in the North and created a power vacuum. His objectives were met through the raids (taking the wealth and destroying sacred places belonging to the Indians) and caused political issues in India.[1]

Objectives of his Indian invasions

Like Mahmud of Ghazni, the object of Durrani's invasions of India was to plunder wealth from India, and likely not to establish an empire, as he was familiar with the weak Mughal administration of Delhi.

First Invasion

Durrani raided India in 1748. His army was defeated at the Battle of Manupur (1748) and he had to return home in failure.[2][3] He lost to the Mughal soldiers and Sikhs of the Phulkian Misl (also known as the Patiala State).

Second Invasion

Ahmad Shah Durrani marched on India the next year to avenge his defeat. This invasion resulted in the Afghans achieving victory and taking control of the territory to the west of Indus. He made an alliance with Nawab Muzaffar Khan of Multan and Ahmed Khan Sial of Jhang. This paved the way for his invasion of Punjab.

Third Invasion

In third invasion, where Sikhs and Adina fought on side from Mir Mannu, against Ahmad Shah Durrani, was more successful and Lahore, Multan was ceded to Ahmad Shah Durrani. This was the first sign of Sikh-Maratha alliance and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia along with Adina Beg won and conquered Lahore.

Fourth Invasion
  • Battle of Sabzevar (1755)

Battle Sabzevar took place near Punjab where Sikh defeated Abdali and his Army. The Sikhs were unhappy with the Mahrattas as they sold the land that the Sikhs and Adina Bag jointly conquered to the Mughals who gave it to the Afghans. After this battle Ahmed Shah Durrani declared Jihad on the Sikhs and the Dal Khalsa and Sarbat Khalsa declared Morcha. At that time all Khalsa Sikhs wore a 3 foot long kirpan so it was easier to fight.

Fifth Invasion

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.[4]

Further the troops of Adina Beg and Sikhs fought together against Afghans at Hoshiarpur. Later troops of 20,000 horsemen of Timur Shah Durrani was defeated and captured by Sikhs. This resulted in insecurity in mind of Adina Beg,[4] who invited the Marathas, who had taken Delhi to come to Punjab and recapture Lahore. Sikhs and Marathas rout Afghans from Lahore by March 1758. Adina became subedar of Punjab, by promising 75 lakh rupees[4] a year to be paid to Marathas. The Chief Qazi of Lahore fearing Hindu domination by Marathas invited Ahmed Shah Abdali to Punjab, causing Third Battle of Panipat.[4]

Baba Deep Singh Ji was the first leader of the Shaheedan Misl and the second leader of the Damdami Taksal.

The battle of Amritsar was fought between the Nihang Sikhs of the Shaheedan Misl and the Afghans. In this battle the Nihang Sikhs of the Shaheedan Misl decisively won., although their leader Baba Deep Singh ji was martyred. His head was cut off although he still kept on fighting. The Sikhs decisively won.

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.[9]

Sixth invasion

The Seventh Invasion was the most crucial of the invasions. In this invasion, the Mahrattas 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 he was less successful and Sikhs became stronger. In the end the Sikhs drove him away from India all the way back to the Indus. Ahmed Shah Durrani also injured his nose after a part of artillery hit him on his face.

Seventh invasion
  • Skirmish of Gokul

The Naga Sadhus were camping in a small village when the Afghan Soldiers were going towards the city of Mathura to loot the temple. They saw them and since the Naga Sadhus were armed with Trishools and daggers they fought the Afghans bravely. Although the Sadhus were outnumbered they inflicted heavy casualties on the Afghans who then retreated.

Eighth invasion

In November 1766 Abdali came to the Punjab for the eight time with the avowed object of "crushing the Sikhs". The Sikhs had recourse to their old game of Dhai-phut('hit, run and turn back to hit again') tactics (later made famous at the Battle of Chillianwala against the British). They vacated Lahore, but faced squarely the Afghan general, Jahan Khan at Amritsar. Inflicting a humiliating defeat, and forcing him to retreat, with five thousand Afghan soldiers killed. Jassa Singh Ahluwalia with an army of about twenty thousand Sikhs roamed in the neighbourhood of the Afghan camp, plundering it.

Later the Afghans had their revenge and they killed off two thirds of the Sikh Population but the Sikhs later went to the Shivalik Hills again and became missionaries. Many people from the Shivaliks converted and came back to fight the Afghans.

Ninth Invasion (1764–1767)

Jassa Singh continued with his campaigns. After Abdali's ninth and last invasion in 1769, Jassa Singh wrested Kapurthala in 1774 from Rao Ibrahim Bhatti and made it his headquarters and capital. This later became the Kapurthala State.

Overview

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, called the Third Battle of Panipat with heavy casualties on both sides. Ahmed shah returned to kabul and after ten years Maratha army recaptured Delhi in 1771 and in 1772 Marathas invaded rohilkhand doab area. Marathas looted and devastated of 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.[23] 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 the Winter capital of the Afghans, Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa is considered one of the best commanders in history and is compared to Napoleon and Genghis Khan and for conquering and controlling the Khyber Pass, the United States of America wanted to build a statue in his praise. Mothers used to say his name to scare children to sleep in Afghanistan saying 'Sleep fast Nalwa is coming'. They also brought the queen's jewel, the Koh-i-noor diamond from Afghanistan and the gates to the Somnath temple.

Hari Singh Nalwa in a military pose

References
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