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.

Objectives of his Indian invasions

The reasons for his invasions to India were:

1) the primary object of his invasion was to plunder India's wealth. India, at that time, was known for its wealth. 2) Like Muhammad of Ghor, the object of his invasions was to establish political hegemony in India as he was quite familiar with the weak Mughal administration of Delhi.

Both objectives were met through the raids (taking the wealth and destroying sacred places belonging to the Indians) and causing political issues in India.[1]

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]

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.

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.

Prelude to the fourth invasion
  • Battle of Sabzavar (1755)

Fourth 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 ransacked and plundered cities of Lahore, Sirhind, Delhi, Mathura, Vrinadavan. 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].

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].

Prelude to the fifth invasion

Fifth invasion

Sixth invasion

Seventh Invasion (1764–1767)

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 Hari Mandir at Amritsar, and restored it to its original shape after defilement by Durrani.

References
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  2. Gandhi, Rajmohan (14 September 2013). Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. ISBN 9789383064410.
  3. Mehta, J. L. (2005). Advanced study in the history of modern India 1707–1813. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-932705-54-6. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  4. Mehta, Jaswant Lal (1 January 2005). Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707–1813. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 978-1-932705-54-6 – via Google Books.
  5. Deol, Harnik (2000). Religion and Nationalism in India. London and New York: Routledge. The case of Punjab; 189. ISBN 978-0-415-20108-7.
  6. Brief History of the Sikh Misls. Jalandhar: Sikh Missionary College.
  7. Grewal, J.S. (1990). The Sikhs of the Punjab. Cambridge University Press. p. 91. ISBN 0-521-63764-3. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  8. Alikuzai, Hamid Wahed (October 2013). A Concise History of Afghanistan in 25 Volumes, Volume 14. ISBN 978-1-4907-1441-7. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  9. Bhagata, Siṅgha (1993). A History of the Sikh Misals. Publication Bureau, Punjabi University. p. 181. ...
  10. John Clark Marshman (1863). "Nadir Shah". The History of India. Serampore Press. p. 199.
  11. Kakshi, S.R.; Pathak, Rashmi; Pathak, S.R.Bakshi R. (1 January 2007). Punjab Through the Ages. Sarup & Sons. p. 15. ISBN 978-81-7625-738-1. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  12. Singh, Khushwant (11 October 2004). A History of the Sikhs: 1469–1838 (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-19-567308-1. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  13. Singh, Khushwant (27 September 2008). Ranjit Singh- Maharaja of the Punjab. New Delhi. ISBN 978-0-14-306543-2.
  14. Grewal, J.S. (1990). The Sikhs of the Punjab. Cambridge University Press. p. 91. ISBN 0-521-63764-3. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  15. Kakshi, S.R.; Rashmi Pathak; S.R.Bakshi; R. Pathak (2007). Punjab Through the Ages. New Delhi: Sarup and Son. ISBN 978-81-7625-738-1.
  16. Raj Pal Singh (2004). The Sikhs : Their Journey Of Five Hundred Years. Pentagon Press. p. 116. ISBN 9788186505465.
  17. Hari Ram Gupta, History of the Sikhs: Sikh Domination of the Mughal Empire, 1764–1803, second ed., Munshiram Manoharlal (2000) ISBN 978-8121502139
  18. Ram Gupta, History of the Sikhs: The Sikh Commonwealth or Rise and Fall of the Misls, rev. ed., Munshiram Manoharlal (2001) ISBN 978-8121501651
  19. Jacques, Tony (2006). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges. Greenwood Press. p. 939. ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015.
  20. Raj Pal Singh (2004). The Sikhs : Their Journey Of Five Hundred Years. Pentagon Press. p. 116. ISBN 9788186505465.
  21. Ganḍā, Singh (1959). Ahmad Shah Durrani: Father of Modern Afghanistan. Asia Pub. House. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-4021-7278-6. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  22. Lansford, Tom (16 February 2017). Afghanistan at War: From the 18th-Century Durrani Dynasty to the 21st Century. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598847604.
  23. P Dhavan (2011). When Sparrows Became Hawks: The Making of the Sikh Warrior Tradition, 1699–1799. Oxford University Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-19-975655-1.
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