Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c29.s1: § 5. Sikhs begin to dominate entire Panjab, occupy Lahor : 1763-1765
Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c29.s1
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§ 5. Sikhs begin to dominate entire Panjab, occupy Lahor : 1763-1765
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In the meantime, Sikh activities in Lahor and further west had called up Jahan Khan from his master’s side to the Panjab. But only a small force could be spared for him, and after he had crossed the Indus at Attock he was easily defeated (on the eastern bank of the Chinab) and driven back to Afghanistan (middle of November 1763.) Then the Sikhs attacked Lahor.†
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∗ Miskin, 250-263. SPD. xxix. 55. Cunningham 102. Nur. 72a. Williams in Calcutta Review, 1875, vol. 50, p. 26.
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† Kanhaiya Lal, 33-34. DC. CPC. i. 2174. SPD. xxix. 58,55 (says that the Sikhs est. their post in Lahor, Apr. 1764), 73 (Sikh sardars have gone to Amritsar, Oct. 1764 ; for Chelaguru read Chakguru=Amritsar.) xxxviii. 128.
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Its Durrani governor Khwājah Abid was slain in battle, his deputy Kābuli Mal conducted the defence of the capital. The besieging Sikh army howled for the surrender of all the cow-killing butchers of Lahor to put them to death. The governor hesitated, the Sikhs broke the Delhi Gate and entered the city plundering, and then Kabuli Mal secured peace by cutting off the noses and ears of some of the butchers and turning them out of the city and also paying a large contribution to the Sikhs. This happened in February 1764, for we find Ahmad Shah back in Lahor in March next. But he could stop there for a fortnight only, and had to return to his own country in consequence of a civil war there, mutiny among his own troops, and dearth of grain. Kābuli Mal marched out for some distance to see his master off. Immediately after he had started, the three Sikh leaders Lehna Singh, Gujar Singh and Sobha Singh attacked Lahor. The masterless city capitulated on the promise of life and property being spared; the gates were thrown open. Some amount of plunder, however, took place on the first day, but the three chiefs divided the city between them and each ruled over and administered his portion as its master. Thus, peace at last returned to Lahor, but not prosperity. The city continued in desolation and misery till its revival under Ranjit Singh.
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"The whole country, from the Jhilam to the Satlaj, was partitioned among the Sikh chiefs and their followers, as the plains of Sarhind had been in the year previous." Ahmad Shah's atrocity on their holy city was now avenged in his own manner: "numerous mosques were demolished, and Afghans in chains were made to wash the foundations with the blood of hogs.* The chiefs then assembled at Amritsar, and proclaimed their own sway and the prevalence of their faith, by striking a coin with an inscription to the effect that Guru Govind had received, from Nanak, grace, power, and rapid victory—
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Deg wa tegh wa fath wa nusrat-i-bedirang
Yaft āz Nānak Guru Govind Sing,
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The Sikhs were not interfered with for [the next] two years." [Cunningham, 103.]
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In January 1765, while Jawahir Singh, with Malhar Holkar, Imad-ul-mullk and a vast force of Sikh mercenaries, was attacking Najib Khan in Delhi, that Ruhela chief sent urgent appeals for help to Ahmad Shah. The Shah, by a rapid march,—along the southern skirt of the hills,—arrived at Mustafabad (end of February.) Here he learnt that Najib had made peace already without waiting for him, and so he in high anger at once hurried back to Afghanistan, on hearing of which Najib, then on his way to Abdali's camp, returned from Ismailabad. [Nur, 92b. Ghulam Ali, ii. 230.]
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∗ Taken from Forster (i. 279), who adds, "The Afghans in chains were also compelled to excavate the reservoir at Amritsar, which in the preceding year they had filled up...Though the Afghan massacre and persecution must have been deeply imprinted on their minds, the Sikhs did not, it is said, destroy one prisoner in cold blood." Husain Shahi, 45. gives wrong year.
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§ 6. Ahmad Shah's last invasion, 1767; Sarhind faujdari given to Patiala Rajah.
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Ahmad Shah's last expedition took place in 1767.* He reached the Bias, after overcoming the Sikh opposition on the way; Mayā Singh submitted and paid him a visit, Charsā Singh (?) fled away to the hills, while Jassa Singh was wounded and routed (c. 20 January, 1767.) Internal dissension among the Sikh chiefs made Abdali's path of advance very smooth. He now sent a message to Najib Khan, ordering him to present himself with the tribute of India, now in arrears for seven years, and amounting to two *krores* and 80 *lakhs*! Najib did not know where to find even a tenth of this vast sum. So, he sent some of his troops across the Jamuna at Ramraghat (near Karnal) and himself halted there trying to collect some revenue, and reporting to Ahmad Shah that he was soon coming (c. 1 Feb.)
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When the Shah arrived at Ismailabad, 20 miles south of Ambala, Najib Khan waited on him, on 9th March. So, also, did the envoys of Jawahir Singh and the trans-Ganges Ruhelas; but not one of these chiefs had the courtesy to come in person, though they owed their deliverance from the Marathas to Abdali's unselfish exertions. Ahmad Bangash did not even care to send an envoy. The Shah, therefore, treated Najib with every mark of honour and personal favour. "At the Court held for receiving the Indian chiefs' agents, Ahmad Shah repeatedly inquired about Najib's health. The latter replied that in his war with Jawahir Singh, when his enemies numbered more than a hundred thousand, he had undergone much hardship and gained the victory only through this Emperor's grace, but illness and fatigue had left him very weak. Ahmad Shah asked, 'How are you now?' Najib replied, 'The sight of the Shahan-shah has made all my illness melt away' . . . Najib and Yaqub Ali used to be frequently admitted to the private audience of Ahmad Shah."
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∗ CPC. ii. 12A—415 (minute and useful details.) Nur. 110a-112b. SPD. xxix. 165, 119. Chahar Gulz. 474a. Husain Shahi, 84-85.
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The Durrani king was at first asked to make Zabita his faujdar of Sarhind, but he was induced by his grand wazir, who had been heavily bribed by Fattu, the widow of Ala Singh, to entrust that district to Amar Singh, the grandson of Ala, with the superlative title of *Rājā-i-Rājgān*, as the only man capable of keeping the trans-Satlaj Sikhs out, on his agreeing to an annual tribute.
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§ 7. *Durranis repress the Sikhs in Mani Majra; defeat Sikh raid into Mirat, 1767.*
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Leaving Ismailabad on 17th March, 1767, Abdali marched back through Sarhind and Machhiwara to the northern foot hills of the Jalandar Doab, carrying Najib in his train. "He set himself earnestly to root out and destroy the Sikhs. His vanguard used to march two or three days' journey ahead. The Sikhs in terror of his troops fled far away like crows. Whenever he got a chance, he used to seize the Sikhs who had taken refuge in places hard of access . . . His own soldiers, accompanied by a contingent of Najib's Ruhelas under Afzal Khan, penetrated into the Mani Majra hills, and brought away large numbers of captive men and women from the region, but the Sikh leader escaped. Much plundered property was sold cheap in the Durrani camp, and captives also." [Nur. 110b.] On 11th May, Abdali from the bank of the Satlaj gave Najib leave to return to Delhi. Some days before news had reached his army that the Sikh raiders had slipped past the Durrani camp, and after fording the Jamuna at Buria-ghat had poured into Najib's jagirs in the upper Doab, and sacked Nanouta and Mirat. On account of Najib's attendance in the Abdali camp, with his brothers, sons and troops, this region had been left entirely defenceless, and Najib in bewilderment appealed to the Shah to save him, and the latter promised a considered reply at night.* "The Shah, overcome by the jackal-tricks of the Sikhs, himself stopped there. When three hours of the night had passed, suddenly the noise of horses' hoofs and the tramp of soldiery was heard in the Ruhela camp. It was ascertained that sardar Jahān Khan had arrived, with 8,000 troopers by hard riding. Entering the tent of Najib, he said, ‘The Shah has ordered me to take one of your sons or brothers with me and make a lightning raid into your estates. Tell me where the Sikhs are.’ Najib immediately deputed Zabita Khan to accompany him. The sardar said to Zabita, ‘Your head and body seem to be very soft. You have been habitually used to sitting in *palkis* and on carpets ; how will you be able to keep pace with us?’ Zabita replied, ‘I too am an Afghan’s son’ . . . Jahān Khan asked him, ‘Why are you taking an elephant with you?’ He answered, ‘Wherever there is a river on the way, the sardar will cross it on this elephant’s back. At midnight Jahān Khan started from that place with 5,000 horse of Zabita Khan, and in three days reached the Mirat pargana, 120 *kos* away. The Sikhs got news of it four *gharis* beforehand and decamped across the Jamuna. Those that remained behind were all slaughtered [9,000 men, according to Miskin, who was present], and much plunder was also taken. The chief of the Sikhs was slain and Baghel Singh wounded. The party returned to Abdali’s halting place (on the west bank of the Satlaj) in the course of seven days.” [Nur. 111-112 ; Miskin, 268.]
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∗ It was an invariable practice with Ahmad Shah to keep the spies and idle babblers in his camp entirely in the dark about the departure and destination of his detachments, by issuing marching orders to their captains only during a hunting excursion or in the secret audience at night. This Sikh raid is best described in CPC. ii. and Williams, *Calcutta Review*, 1875, vol. 50, p. 27-28. *Chahar Gulz.* 475a. *CPC.* ii. 269, 310 (tribute paid.)
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§ 8. Ahmad Shah's ultimate failure; his political arrangements in Panjab.
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This long contest with a nation in arms, while no dependable ally or lieutenant could be found by him in India, at last wore Abdali out: his illness too now proved to be hopelessly intractable; his soldiers became rowdy through his frequent failure to pay them, and a large contingent of them mutinied and left for Afghanistan in open mutiny. This was destined to be the last of Ahmad Shah's Indian campaigns. He realized the limits of his power, and like a true statesman confined his ambition to the attainable. He left a contented and grateful Phulkian Sikh chieftain, with largely extended territory, in hereditary charge of the Ambala district (Sarhind-Patiala), as an agent most likely to keep order and pay the annual tribute. He himself retained hold of Peshawar * and the country west of Attock, while he abandoned the Manjha districts and central Panjab including Lahor to the Sikhs; but the Sindh-Sagar and Jech Doabs in western Panjab remained a debatable land which finally came into Sikh possession in the days of his unworthy successors.
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It was recognized throughout India that after his experience in 1767, Abdali would be in no haste to visit India again. The wildest exultation filled the Marathas at the news of his internal troubles and hurried retreat. One of their agents now planned to revive their old dream of controlling the Delhi Government as the Emperor's keeper after escorting Shah Alam II to his capital, this time in coalition with the invincible English troops stationed at Allahabad and the Jat Rajah. [*SPD.* xxix. 192.] But the moral canker that was eating into the vitals of the Puna Court put off the pursuit of this policy in the North.
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∗ In the geography of the Mughal empire, Peshawar was a part of the subah of Kabul (and not of the Panjab as now), Sarhind was attached to the Delhi subah, and the Panjab was bounded by the Indus on the west and the Satlaj on the east. See my *India of Aurangzib: Statistics Topography and Roads*.
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The historian of Delhi is no further concerned with the internal history of the Panjab province after this date, as it now ceased to be a jumping-off ground for Afghan invasions of Northern India, though the fear of such invasions continued to haunt the Indian rulers for a generation after, even down to Lord Wellesley's time. No doubt, trans-Satlaj Panjab continued to send Sikh raiders almost every year into the Doab and the Delhi-Hariana country, but they should be treated as private bands of forayers and not the organised forces of a State engaged in regular warfare with the empire of Delhi.
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§ 9. *The repercussion of Panipat upon the Rajput States, 1761.*
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In December 1759, Malhar Rao Holkar had wrested the fort of Barwādā from the usurper Ratan Singh Kachhwa (the son of Fath Mal Kusalath) and restored it to its original owner Jagat Singh Rathor, and then left Rajputana to encounter Abdali near Delhi, [Ch. 18 § 10.] On the way his men looted Chatsu and some other places in the Jaipur kingdom [Vam. Bh. 3667.] Thereafter a full year had passed without any Maratha general being free to visit Rajputana. Panipat saw the annihilation of the Maratha armies of the North in January 1761, and the repercussion of it* was a revolt against Deccani domination everywhere in Hindustan,—in the Gangetic Doab, Bundelkhand, Rajputana and Malwa alike. Everywhere the dispossessed or humbled original chieftains, and even petty landlords, raised their heads and talked of shutting the southern invaders out of their country in future. But it all ended in talk; union was impossible among the countless separate caste and tribal chiefs of these regions, and no great leader arose to unite the ancient Hindu baronage of the North and win their freedom.
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∗ Ahmad Shah after his victory entered Delhi and sent off letters to the Rajput Rajahs calling upon them to join him with tribute and troops for driving the Marathas out of the empire. [Original farman preserved in Jodhpur.] Madho S. of Jaipur was ordered to present himself with one Kror of Rupees. On receiving this summons, he in alarm appealed to the Peshwa, then in Malwa to come to Bundi, where Madho promised to unite with him after assembling all the other Rajputs. The Peshwa’s reply was a stern rebuke for Madho S’s coquetting with the anti-Maratha Muslim powers in the past: “You first come to Ajmir taking Bijay S. with you. The Bhau assured you of the possession of, Ranthambhor; he pardoned all your offences at Malhar’s intercession. Let bygones be bygone. You are a leading Hindu. In the past you were kindly favoured by us. [But] you relied on him [Najib or Abdali.] Well, ultimately you Rajput Hindus ought to take heed. If the foreigners defeat us, we retire beyond the Narmada; I do not now fear Abdali, [but Rajputana has no escape from him.]” Pur. Daf. i. 402 (23 Feb. 1761.)
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For three or four months after Panipat the situation was most critical for the Marathas north of the Vindhyas; everywhere they were pushed to the wall, without a single friend or dependant. Though by April next some 40,000 soldiers had been assembled in the Gwalior region and further south, out of the wreck of their northern army and local garrisons, these were beaten leaderless troops and their prospect was darkened by the approach-ing dissolution of Balaji Rao Peshwa, the insolvent Puna Government's attempt to escheat the property of the generals who had fallen at Panipat (in order to recover the collections made by them in their late North Indian campaigns on behalf of Government and the advances from the State Treasury they had taken for equipment), and the family quarrels, delay and vacillation which took place in appointing a successor to Jankoji as the head of the Sindhias. These serious difficulties of the Marathas ought to have been the Rajputs' opportunity, but Rajah Madho Singh's lack of character, quarrels with his feudal barons, and above all his chronic antagonism to Bijay Singh of Marwar, the only other Rajput prince that counted for anything,—prevented him from taking advantage of this situation, and within less then twelve months of Panipat the tables were completely turned against the Rajputs. This was the achievement of Malhar Rao Holkar, the sole "elder general" of Baji Rao's time now left.
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§ 10. Anti-Maratha movements in Rajputana, 1761.
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As a Maratha agent in Rajputana reported to the Peshwa in May 1761, "All the Rajahs and Rajwadas have turned against us . . . The Rajputs are showing too much cheek." [SPD. xxix. 81.] But Malhar on return from Panipat, recouped himself at Gwalior for a short while, rallied other bands of fugitives from that fatal field, and then came to his capital Indor. He found it necessary to set out immediately for restoring his authority in the border tract between Malwa and Rajputana. A Chandrawat baron had seized Rāmpurā, which was in Malhar's jagir; but early in May, before Malhar's arrival, Krishnaji Tandev (an officer of Shantaji Wagh and revenue collector of Mahantpur) had defeated the Chandrawat and retaken Rāmpurā, slaying six or seven hundred Rajputs and capturing there the Rajput's diwan as well as Mir Baqā (a son of Qamr-ud-din Khan of Delhi, whom the Chandrawat had been holding to ransom in that fort.) Three days after this success, Malhar reached Gahukhedi in the Hada country, and then advanced to Ganguri (120 miles north of Indor) where Abhay Singh Rathor, an officer of the Rao of Kota, had seized the fortalice, driven out the Maratha collectors and was causing disturbances. Malhar at once invested the place; but twenty days passed away without any result, and then he received the artillery he had sent for from Indor, bombarded the place, and took it promptly (early in June.) These rapid successes had the immediate effect of overawing the whole province of Malwa, and Malhar moved on to Kakdā in Mewar territory in order to put pressure on the Maharana and secure payment of the old tribute of 1½ lakhs a year that he had repudiated.*
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All this time Madho Singh of Jaipur had been intriguing how to overthrow Maratha predominance in Rajputana. He sent envoys to Najib Khan, Yaqub Ali, and Shah Alam II to negotiate for an anti-Maratha coalition. Then, under the advice of his favourite minister Shāmrām Trivedi, he sent two forces of 4000 and 5,000 men under Raj Singh Chauhan and Nandlal diwan respectively to raid the villages of his refractory vassal Sardar Singh of Uniara (a Nārokā.) Madho himself issued from his capital, and after marrying at Ratlam (on 14 May), went towards Uniara to terrorize his vassal into paying tribute. Many other Rajput chiefs joined him, or promised to do so, such as the lords of Sopar (Indra Singh), Bundi, Kota, Kerauli and Khichi. He took up an attitude of open defiance to the Marathas: "The Rajah is determined to oppose us strongly. All the Shekhawats are coming . . . All the Rajahs and Rajwadas have planned to assemble at one place and form a grand political coalition." The approach of the rainy season compelled Malhar to put off his punishment till the next autumn, when the contest was fought to a quick decision. [SPD. xxix. 81. xxi. 91.]
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∗ Marathas in Rajputana, first half of 1761,—SPD. xxvii. 114, 267, 269, 271. xxix. 81. Oct-Nov,—SPD. xxvii. 276. xxix. 16-22. Raj. VI. 563. Ganguri or Gagroni, 9 m. w. of Khilchipur.
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§ 11. Malhar Holkar defeats Jaipur army at Mangrol, 29 November, 1761.
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Late in October 1761, Madho Singh assumed the offensive by sending a force, 10,000 strong, to besiege Nenvé (held by a Maratha garrison under Sadashiv Gopal), while another detachment led by Keshav Rao crossed the Chambal and penetrated to Patan (Keshorai Patan, 12 miles north-east of Kota city), raiding the neighbouring district (early November.) Malhar, hearing of it, marched from Indor to the Mukandara pass (13 Nov.) with 6,000 men (partly his own contingent and partly the Sindhia family force led by Khanaji Jadav and Chinto Krishna). At Bāriyā, in the Kota territory, he was joined by 3,000 Rajput allies under Akheram Pancholi the diwan of Kota, the youthful Zalim Singh, and the Rao Rajah's foster-brother. The Kachhwa army besieging Nenvé fell upon their main body at Patan, raising it to a strong force of 10,000 men with an abundant supply of artillery, rockets and camel-swivels; their leaders were Raj Singh Ghorchara, the two diwans Kaniram and Nandlal, and Surat Singh Shiva-Brahma-potā. Before this imposing array, the Maratha outposts in the Hada country were evacuated in terror aud their tenants were helplessly abandoned to plunder.
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Malhar promptly marched up and offered them battle between Mangrol and Bhātwara. The two armies came into touch in the afternoon of 28th November and immediately began an exchange of fire which lasted till three hours after sunset. All that night the Maratha soldiers lay with their arms at their sides and their horses saddled ready, surrounding the Jaipur army. Next day the battle raged from the morning and ended near sunset in the total destruction of the Jaipur army. Most of their high officers, including the supreme commander, fled away wounded, Saligram Shah fell, and all their guns with two elephants, many horses and camels, and their entire camp and baggage were abandoned to plunder. Large numbers of prisoners were taken, and out of that army of 10,000 men only 400 fled away, if we can take the Maratha figures. The Sindhia family contingent fought well and boasted of their feat here as if it could wipe out the disgrace of their flight from Panipat. Malhar's skin was grazed by a bullet.*
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The victory was decisive; it at once destroyed all chance of forming an anti-Maratha coalition, and restored Maratha prestige, which had been eclipsed as the result of Panipat, throughout Hindustan. Madho Singh, who had gone to Ranthambhor after sending his army to the fight, now fled to Jaipur. His favourite Shāmram Trivedi, who had evaded the campaign by frankly confessing, "My business is not war; the diwan is going," now set himself earnestly to the defence of the capital. The garrison of Amber fort was strengthened; Guru Shah (bakhshi) himself took post below that ancient capital to hold the way leading up to it.
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∗ *SPD.* ii. 5,6. xxi. 92-94. xxix. 27. Tod repeats the Rajput tradition that this battle (named by him after *Batwara*) was won solely by Zalim Singh and the Kota contingent, while Malhar merely looted the Kachhwa camp! The detailed and absolutely contemporary Marathi despatches disprove this story. The Kota contingent of 2,500 men could not have routed the Kachhwa army of over 10,000 horse, equipped with artillery shutarnals, jizails and rockets borne on camels, and flushed with their recent success in the trans-Chambal region. The severe contest waged for nine hours by Malhar and the Sindhia family contingent than under his banners, shows that the Marathas bore the brunt of the fight and that Zalim Singh played a very minor part. That there was no ewift panic flight of the Jaipur army is proved by their exceptionally large proportion of casualties.
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Mangrol, 35 miles n. e. e. of Kota, on the east bank of the Banganga, while *Bhatwara* (*Tod's Butwarro*) stands four miles south of Mangrol, but on the west bank.
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Block-houses were set up in Amber and Jaipur alike, with strong bands of musketeers; outlying detachments were hurriedly recalled to the capital. The royal family was removed to Amber for safety, while Madho Singh continued at Jaipur with light equipment, in the deepest anxiety. This sudden failure of all his plans almost unhinged his mind, and his temper "went out of control." The wise old diwan Kanirām immediately reopened negotiations with the Maratha general to settle the dispute about the outstanding tribute. After a few days' halt at Mangrol, Malhar pursued the fugitives to Khopra (? Kāpran) and then halted at Manoharpur (40 miles north of Jaipur), to enforce his demand for tribute. Agents of Jodhpur Kota and Bundi also reached his camp.
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While these negotiations were dragging their customary slow length along and the Maratha horse was subsisting by raids on the Jaipur villages, an unexpected diversion came to the relief of Madho Singh in the form of the invasion of Bundelkhand by the Emperor Shah Alam II and his new wazir Shuja-ud-daulah, their prompt capture of Kalpi (January 1762) and Jhansi (1 Feb.), the uprising of all the Bundela chieftains against Maratha rule, and the treason of three Maratha local agents who went over to the Muslim invaders. Holkar was compelled to turn away from Rajputana to the eastern side from which frantic calls for help were reaching him. He left Jaipur territory, by way of Nandgaon, Sākore and Pataudi (17 Feb.) for Jhansi. But that fort had already been lost to the Marathas. So, he turned back via Sanganer (27 Feb.) to Indor, as his wound had festered, making him very weak and reduced in health, with the result that he was given no bath for three months. His retreat disheartened all the Maratha officers and partisans in that country.*
Linked texts (4)
- Farmana
- Selections from the Peshwa Daftar — Marathi
- Vaṃśabhāskar — Sūryamall Miśraṇ 1840, raj
- Aitihāsika lekha-saṅgraha — Marathi