History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c44.s5: §5. Mughal victories over Yusufzais.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c44.s5
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§5. Mughal victories over Yusufzais.
v3.c44.s5.1
The Emperor took measures of defence. His plan was to invade the enemy's country in three divisions. The *faujdar* of Attock, Kamil Khan, was ordered to march against the rebels with the available forces in his neighbourhood, the governor of Kabul to send 13,000 men of his contingent, and Muhammad Amin Khan to go there from the Court with 10,000 picked troops. The last two divisions took time to arrive on the scene, and therefore Kamil Khan, the energetic man on the spot, without waiting for them left Attock with the loyal Khatak and Khokhar levies under their own chiefs, and marched towards the ferry of Harun wishing to cross the Indus there and enter the Yusufzai country. The enemy anticipated the invasion by coming over to the south side of the river in full force and holding the ferry of Harun against the imperialists. On 1st April, Kamil Khan was reinforced by a detachment of Khokhars and Rajputs sent by the deputy governor of Peshawar. The small Mughal army marched north-eastwards, the Indus protecting their Left flank, their Van being led by the Khokhar chieftain and their Right by Rajah Maha Singh of the Bhadauriya clan of Rajputs. They boldly attacked the ten thousand men who formed the Yusufzai front ranks, and behind whom stood 15,000 others. After a stubborn fight, the enemy broke and were driven into the river; two thousand of them were slain, many wounded, and many more drowned; but the remnant of their army found a ford and escaped. Forty prisoners were taken, and a pyramid was built with the heads of the slain. The imperial territory on this side of the Indus was cleared of the enemy. (A. N. 1042-'44.)
v3.c44.s5.2
∗ A.N. 1042; *Akhbarat*, year 10, sheets 3 and 4.
v3.c44.s5.3
But the Mughal force was not yet strong enough to attempt an invasion of the north bank. So, Kamil Khan made a long halt at Harun. Throughout April reinforcements continued to pour in, and on 2nd May Shamshir Khan, at the head of a large detachment from Afghanistan, reached Attock, took over the supreme command, and crossed the Indus into the Yusufzai country. The enemy took post at Ohind, 16 miles above Attock, at "the mouth of their hilly country."
v3.c44.s5.4
Shamshir fought many a battle with them and gained many a success. Entrenching his camp at Ohind, he occupied the level country of Mandaur where the Yusufzais used to grow their food crops, and destroyed all their farms and homestead in the lowlands. On 4th June, he marched out of Ohind to attack Bhagu in his present position. The villages of Panjpir, Chand, Mansur, and four unnamed hamlets 10 miles from Murghiz, were taken after hard fighting against heavy odds and with considerable losses; the houses were burnt down, the property looted and no vestige of cultivation left. The unrest had spread to other frontier tribes, and now the Akuzais and Malizais of Swat and Tirah came to the help of the Yusufzais. The vast numbers and excellent marksmanship of the hillmen at one time threatened a reverse to the Mughal arms, but in the end the imperial artillery triumphed, and the enemy were pushed back to their trenches at Mansur on the Panjshir river, which the Mughals carried at the gallop. (28th June, 1667.) A hilltop where the remnant of the enemy made a last stand, was stormed. The victory was complete; three hundred prisoners including several headmen (*maliks*) were taken, and many Afghans were slain or drowned in the river.¹
v3.c44.s5.5
¹ A.N. 1044-'45, 1052-'56. Life of Shamshir Khan, (Haiyat, of the Tarin clan), M.U. ii. 677-679.
v3.c44.s5.6
Meantime, a force of 9,000 men, with a large staff of Rajput and Muslim officers carefully selected by the Emperor himself, and including 500 gentlemen-troopers (*ahadis*), had been sent from the Court on 2nd May, under the Pay-master General Muhammad Amin Khan, one of the highest grandees of the realm. He crossed the Kabul river at Nari (22nd August), reached Lakhi, and took over the supreme command from Shamshir. That able officer had already brought the Utmanzai clan over to the imperial side, and the alliance was now cemented with gifts. After a three days' halt at Lakhi, Muhammad Amin Khan set out against the Shipa sept near Shahbazgarhi, and sent out strong detachments against the tribes of Bajaur. The Mughal advanced guards under Mir Khan, after plundering the villages near Shahbazgarhi and penetrating to the valley of Karahmar, lifted 6,000 heads of cattle, and fell back on the main army. The Commander-in-Chief himself entered the Swat valley, destroyed the village of Hijaz, and returned to Ohind on 6th October. Here he received orders recalling him to Court. Shamshir was left in command with an addition of 2,000 men to his contingent.*
v3.c44.s5.7
For a time the Yusufzais seem to have been quieted by these hard blows or weakened by internal quarrels; at all events there was no general rising of the frontier tribes before 1672. In the middle of 1671 Maharajah Jaswant Singh with his brave Rathors was appointed to hold the outpost of Jamrud. The strong Mughal garrisons succeeded in keeping the country under control.
v3.c44.s5.8
∗ A.N., 1046, 1058-1060. Akhbarat, year 10, sheets 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. (useful details).