Lohgarh - Khalsa Rajdhani, Lohgarh fort - Lohgarh Trust - S. Daljeet Singh Bajwa (the kiss of deception read online .TXT) 📗

On the 14th of September, Bahadur Shah got news that Banda Singh had already crossed Satluj river along with four thousand Sikh soldiers on the 7th of September 1711. The Emperor sent a message to Mohammed Amin Khan to march towards Keeratpur. The Emperor also dispatched two thousand additional soldiers to join Mohammed Amin; but due to flooding in the river Mohammed Amin had to wait on the bank of the river, which he finally crossed on the 5th of October 1713. When Banda Singh got this news, he rushed towards the hills and entered the territory of Kullu State.

On the 2nd of November 1711, Bahadur Shah appointed Hoshiar Khan (son of Iradat Khan) as the army chief for Jalandhar-Doab and despatched him on an expedition against the Sikhs. On the 5th of November, the Emperor received a letter from Mohammed Amin Khan in which he had written: ‘the Sikhs attack our camps at night, please send five thousand horsemen to chase the Sikhs’; the very next day, Bahadur Shah ordered five thousand soldiers and three hundred trained gunmen to march towards Rupar, under the command of Hoshiar Khan, the army-chief of Jalandhar.3

On the 12th of November 1711 Zain-ud-Din Ahmad Khan, the new Governor of Sarhind, along with one thousand of his best-trained soldiers, too joined Mohammed Amin Khan, in the expedition against the Sikhs. On the 14th of November, the Emperor received reports that royal soldiers had fought a four-hour long, fierce battle against the Sikhs near Hari Jungle; several royal soldiers had lost their lives in this battle.

Killing of Forty Sikhs (Vanjaras and others)

As mentioned earlier, in December 1710, the Mughal Emperor had issued an order for the annihilation of the Sikhs. The Muslim officials, clergy and feudals, and even the Hindu elite too, acted to translate this order into action. In the execution of this order, the chief of Multan arrested Forty Sikhs (most of them Vanjaras and Bhatts) from different parts of the province and sent them to Lahore to be presented before the Emperor. On the 11th of October 1711, the Emperor ordered that they should be converted to Islam, and, if they refuse they should be buried alive; but, none of them agreed to renounce his faith; hence they were buried alive near the camp of the Emperor, in the village of Alowal.4 These Sikhs included: Sahij Singh Chauhan, Dogar Singh, Hira Singh, Dyal Singh, Keso Singh Bhatt, Desa Singh Bhatt, Narbud Singh Bhatt, Tara Singh Bhatt, Sewa Singh Bhatt, Deva Singh Bhatt, Jetha Singh Chauhan, Jetha Singh Parmar, Hari Singh, Rup Singh, Parsan Singh Rathore, Anup Singh, Kehar Singh, Channan Singh, Dharam Singh etc.5

Battle of Bilaspur

In December 1711, the Sikh army entered the territory of Bilaspur State; Banda Singh was not among them. Mohammed Amin Khan got the information about the presence of the Sikhs and he led a big force towards Bilaspur. On the 27th of December, they reached near the river Barsana and put up their camps on the bank of the river.

The next day, the Sikhs made a sudden attack on them; a fierce battle of guns and arrows was fought between the Sikhs and the royal forces. Several Mughals and about 500 Sikhs were killed in this battle. These included Keso Singh (son of Chitar Singh) and Bagh Singh (son of Udey Singh), both the grandsons of Bhai Mani Singh. After the sunset, the Sikhs crossed the river and moved towards Bilaspur.

In this battle, both the parties suffered almost equal losses but the Mughal messengers and reporters informed the Emperor that they (the Mughals) had won the battle; Mohammed Amin Khan got heads of the 500 Sikhs severed from their dead-bodies so that the same may be presented before the Emperor in order to earn his appreciations. On

the 12th of January, Bahadur Shah inspected these severed heads and ordered that they should be exhibited in the open so that it might create a terror among the sympathisers of the Sikhs.

On the 18th of January 1712, the Emperor ordered the erection of minarets of these heads; the same day he ordered mujra (dance of the prostitutes) to celebrate the ‘victory’ over the Sikhs. Bahadur Shah, on the advice of the astrologers, donated a horse, a wild ox, a slave and a few embroidered and golden articles for charity. He also gave awards to the officials involved in the above mentioned battle. But, in spite of this, Bahadur Shah was still frightened and was living under the awe of the Sikh army. All this made him sick (and finally confined to bed).6

On the 22nd of January 1712, the Emperor was told that Banda Singh was on his way from Keeratpur to Bilaspur. The informers of the Mughal court told that they had seen him in the village of Bassi Afghana, about 25 km from Keeratpur. Bahadur Shah was further told that the ruler of Bilaspur had given safe haven to the Sikhs. He was also informed that the Mughal general Firoz Jang Khan had burnt the villages of Keeratpur and Kalyanpur to ashes, for their residents’ ‘crime’ of helping the Sikh army. The Emperor was, in addition, told that Firoz Jang Khan had stationed himself at the top of a strategic hill near the village of Nirmoh (about 5 km from Keeratpur) and was monitoring expedition against the Sikhs.7

Killing of Hatim Khan

During these days, the Hindu rulers of Jodhpur and Jaipur too had left for their States. On the 25th of December 1711, Banda Singh received the information about their return journey. When they were gone, Bahadur Shah thought of honouring them for their assistance in his expedition against the Sikhs; so he ordered grant of robes of honour and issuance of letters mentioning increase in their mansabs, to four and three and half thousands, respectively, for both the rulers. Prince Azimushan sent a very senior officer Hatim Khan to go after the rulers and personally deliver the robes and the letters of authority to them. Hatim Khan met the Hindu rulers when they had almost reached near

the Rajput zone and delivered the royal letters and presents. When he (Hatim Khan) was on his return journey to Lahore to report it back to the Emperor, the Sikhs seized him near Jhajjar town and killed him; Bahadur Shah received the report of his death on the first of February1712.8

In January 1712, Banda Singh was present in Bilaspur State. A band of Sikh soldiers attacked the army of Hoshiar Khan at Jindbari (which was one of the major parganas at that time), about 14 km from Anandpur Sahib. Several Mughal soldiers lost their lives in the Sikhs’ action.

On the 23rd of January 1712, Bahadur Shah despatched Firoz Khan, the Faujdar of Jammu province, against the Sikhs.9 Already, Mohammed Amin Khan and Hoshiar Khan were chasing the Sikhs with a big force. Mohammed Amin Khan, with a force of twenty thousand soldiers, had established his camps at village Bhilowal and Hoshiar Khan’s camps were at Jaijon (then a major town); besides, there were Mughal camps at Jhajjar and Jindbari too. All these generals, with forces at four camps, were keeping an eye on Banda Singh’s activates, who was, then, staying at Bilaspur, but, the Mughal forces did not move towards Bilaspur; they were waiting for Banda Singh’s descent into the plains. Thus, it was a period without any success for the Mughals; in spite of this, Bahadur Shah bestowed an award of Ghazi-ud-Din Khan Bahadur for Mohammed Amin Khan.

Not only Mohammed Amin Khan but other ten senior and dozens of junior generals of the Mughal army were engaged in operations against the Sikhs. They had fought several battles against the Sikhs, in which both sides had suffered heavy losses.

Bahadur Shah had spent hundreds of thousands of rupees and used a large quantity of ammunition and arms to quell the Sikh rebellion but had not been able to achieve any major success. Eliminating Banda Singh and crushing the Sikhs, was a matter of life and death for him. Whereas, earlier, he had succeeded in defeating and killing all his brothers; he had suppressed rebellion in Deccan; he had compelled the Hindu Rajput rulers to submit to his authority; and all these enemies of the king had

large armies, arsenals and a lot of sources of wealth, power and man- force; whereas, the Sikhs were small in number, they did not have money, horses, ammunition, Forts etc, but Banda Singh was still out of his reach. When Bahadur Shah had launched action against the Sikhs, he knew well about the number, their strength and position; hence, he had a feeling that he would annihilate the Sikhs in a very short time; but he was shocked at his miscalculation.

Bahadur Shah’s euphoria and his hopes were soon belied; he could not even reach near Banda Singh, leave alone killing or capturing him. Thousands of Sikhs had been killed in dozens of battles and a large number of skirmishes, but, in spite of this, their number had not diminished as yet; almost all the major leaders of the Sikhs were still in action. All this made Bahadur Shah despondent and almost psychic. He began mumbling and murmuring about the Sikhs in half insanity. Occasionally, he would utter the name of Banda Singh and get frightened. Bahadur Shah’s insanity went on deteriorating. Soon, he went fully out of his wits.

Now, he began making strange statements and issuing queer orders. One day someone complained that the jogis and ascetics, who roamed around the army camps, had probably been sending information to Banda Singh; Bahadur Shah immediately ordered that all the ascetics should be exiled from Lahore and if, still, any ascetic was found in or around the town, he should be immediately put to sword (Bahadur Shah had issued an a similar order, earlier, on the 28th of October 1711 too).

Bahadur Shah’s Death

During those days, Bahadur Shah had issued an order: ‘if a Sikh was found anywhere, he should immediately be put to death’; he had issued orders to the Hindus to shave their beards and heads in order to save their lives; he had killed several Sikhs in and around Lahore; but, all this could not finish off the Sikhs; their terror was ever present in his mind; this made Bahadur Shah totally mad.

Now, he began behaving in a strange manner; he would behave as

an angry man, make strange statements, utter queer words and issue foolish and mad orders. In fact, Banda Singh and Sikh factors had begun affecting him right from the 30th of November 1710, when he (Banda Singh) had escaped from the siege of mammoth Mughal army at Lohgarh. Reacting to Banda Singh’s escape, he misbehaved even towards his most loyal man Munaim Khan Khan Khanan, by indirectly calling him a dog. He had granted earlier this Munaim Khan the titles of Khan Khana Bahadur, Jafar Jang, Wafadar and Wazir-i-Aalah, and, had presented him several robes of honour; Khan Khana could not bear this insult and fell ill (and died).10 Bahadur Shah’s second strange command was that of the 22nd of August 1711, when he ordered to chain and imprison Ghazi Khan (the former Governor of Sarhind), and, his further declaration that if any one tried to seek mercy for Ghazi Khan would also be imprisoned immediately. Bahadur Shah, lately, had made several such decisions and had issued queer orders.

Soon, Bahadur Shah was confined to bed; by January 1712, he had become totally insane; he issued his last order on the 12th of February 1712, asking the army to kill all the dogs of the city of Lahore; in fact, he used to call the Sikhs sagg (Persian word for dog) and by issuing such an order perhaps he meant ‘kill all the Sikhs’; such was the fear of the Sikhs in