Later Mughals v1.c6.s18.35

v1.c6.s18.35

Next, the Sikhs wrote to Jalal Khan,‡ former *faujdar*, calling upon him to submit. He lived at a town founded by him, and called Jalalabad; it lies about thirty miles south of Saharanpur and about twenty miles west of Deoband. The town is surrounded by a wall, and many Afghan soldiers had their homes there. When the Sikh messengers came before Jalal Khan, he ordered them to be paraded derisively through the streets and ejected from the town. Immediate preparations were made for its defence. Soon word was brought that the Sikhs had surrounded two large villages, dependent on and situated four or five miles from Jalalabad. The chief sent out a strong force to relieve these villages, putting at its head Ghulam Muhammad Khan, his grandson, and Hizbar Khan, his cousin. Encouraged by the arrival of reinforcements, the villagers, four or five hundred men, armed with matchlocks or bows, and a number of their tenantry armed in various ways, many with only slings and stones, came out boldly to disperse the Sikhs. In the fight, Hizbar Khan and a number of both Muhammadans and villagers lost their lives. But, in the end, pressed by repeated onslaughts from the Afghans, the Sikhs gave way.*