Battle of Anandpur Sahib: Difference between revisions

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Hindu Rajas led by Ajmer Chand of Kahlir and his father Bhim Chand personally went to Aurangzeb and stirred up the wrath of the Emperor by telling him that Guru Gobiñd Singh claimed to be Sachä Patshãh: True King, sat on a raised platform; a prerogative of the Emperor only, and was corrupting both Hinduism and Islam. Aurangzeb ordered a large army under Amir Khan of Sarhand and Zabardast Khan of Lahore to proceed against the Guru. All the Chiefs except the Raja of Nahan joined the Imperial forces. Guru Gobind Singh divided the army into five commands, each of which was posted in a fort. His eighteen years old son Ajit Siñgh, was stationed in the Kesgarh fort with five hundred soldiers under him. Sher Singh and Nãhar Singh commanded the Lohgarh fort. Udai Singh and Alam Singh commanded the division of Agampura, while Mohkam Singh was posted with 400 men in Holgarh. Daya Singh commanded the northern ramparts, while the Guru remained in the Anandpur fort. Seeing the Imperial armies approaching in countless numbers, Guru Gobind Singh ordered his artillery men to light their fuses : and discharge their cannons. The battle raged with fearful violence. Daya Singh and Udai Siñgh came out of their forts and gave a terrific fight to the Imperial army who lost about nine hundred soldiers. Unable to fight the Sikh armies in the open, the Imperialists laid a siege to the city and stopped all ingress and egress. The Sikhs planned night attacks. They sallied forth from their defensive positions and attacked the enemy unawares. The Mughal Generals tried to storm the citadel in utter distress and desperation, but the Sikhs brought forth their bigger guns, named Baghan: Tigress and Bjai Gosh: Roaring Victory, and fired at the enemy, killing many in the enemy ranks. As the supplies were constantly failing, the Sikhs resorted to desultory sallies to seize the supplies from the enemy. The siege lasted for about seven months Jeth 1762 Bk/May 1705 to Rh Sudi 1, 1762 Bk/December 5-6, 1705 when the Guru’s army lived on starvation level. But Guru Gobiñd Singh refused to surrender. Some Sikhs of Majha found life in the fort extremely miserable. They could not endure the hardships. When they made up their mind to desert the Guru, they were asked to sign a disclaimer (be-däwä), which they did and left the fort.   
Hindu Rajas led by Ajmer Chand of Kahlir and his father Bhim Chand personally went to Aurangzeb and stirred up the wrath of the Emperor by telling him that Guru Gobiñd Singh claimed to be Sachä Patshãh: True King, sat on a raised platform; a prerogative of the Emperor only, and was corrupting both Hinduism and Islam. Aurangzeb ordered a large army under Amir Khan of Sarhand and Zabardast Khan of Lahore to proceed against the Guru. All the Chiefs except the Raja of Nahan joined the Imperial forces. Guru Gobind Singh divided the army into five commands, each of which was posted in a fort. His eighteen years old son Ajit Siñgh, was stationed in the Kesgarh fort with five hundred soldiers under him. Sher Singh and Nãhar Singh commanded the Lohgarh fort. Udai Singh and Alam Singh commanded the division of Agampura, while Mohkam Singh was posted with 400 men in Holgarh. Daya Singh commanded the northern ramparts, while the Guru remained in the Anandpur fort. Seeing the Imperial armies approaching in countless numbers, Guru Gobind Singh ordered his artillery men to light their fuses : and discharge their cannons. The battle raged with fearful violence. Daya Singh and Udai Siñgh came out of their forts and gave a terrific fight to the Imperial army who lost about nine hundred soldiers. Unable to fight the Sikh armies in the open, the Imperialists laid a siege to the city and stopped all ingress and egress. The Sikhs planned night attacks. They sallied forth from their defensive positions and attacked the enemy unawares. The Mughal Generals tried to storm the citadel in utter distress and desperation, but the Sikhs brought forth their bigger guns, named Baghan: Tigress and Bjai Gosh: Roaring Victory, and fired at the enemy, killing many in the enemy ranks. As the supplies were constantly failing, the Sikhs resorted to desultory sallies to seize the supplies from the enemy. The siege lasted for about seven months Jeth 1762 Bk/May 1705 to Rh Sudi 1, 1762 Bk/December 5-6, 1705 when the Guru’s army lived on starvation level. But Guru Gobiñd Singh refused to surrender. Some Sikhs of Majha found life in the fort extremely miserable. They could not endure the hardships. When they made up their mind to desert the Guru, they were asked to sign a disclaimer (be-däwä), which they did and left the fort.   


 
=Other Battles=
There were 3 other battles which continued until 1705. The mughal armies became disheartened at their losses and eventually gave up, for now.


[[Category:Battle]]
[[Category:Battle]]

Revision as of 10:33, 28 February 2007

Anandpur

The 1st Battle

Guru Ji had just created the Khalsa, a society based on equality and dutiful devotion to God. This was too much for the Rajput hill chiefs. They laid siege to Guru Ji and his newly created Khalsa with 10,000 men. During the siege, the mughals asked Guru Ji to surrender and come out of the fort with their belongings and that they would not be harmed. They swore on the qu'ran that the Sikhs would not be harmed. The Sikhs pleaded with Guru Ji to listen to the mughals but Guru Ji wanted to show his Sikhs that the mughals were not to be trusted. Guru Ji sent out beautiful sacks of what seemed like gold and wealthy possessions. The mughals fell upon the belongings and raided them only to discover there was hay and other materials in them. After this Guru Ji declared that the mughals were untrustworthy. After several months, the Sikhs were getting on top due to effective night attacks and eventually chased the mughal enemies away after killing their two leaders. The Sikhs gained a large booty in horses, arms and war equipment which the Mughals left behind in their rush

The 2nd Battle

In July-August 1699, the second battle of Anandpur began. The hill chiefs formed a coalition under Raja Bhim Chand and decided to attack Guru Ji together. The asked Guru Ji to leave the fort, Guru Ji replied that they had paid for this land. There were two forts within Anandpur Sahib, Fatehgarh and Lohgarh. Sher Singh and Nahr singh each commanding 500 men were given orders to defend Lohgarh. The defense of Fatehgarh was given to Bhai Uday Singh, who has 500 men. The siege began, the allied forces fell upon the Sikh strongholds. After several months, the Sikhs were on top, many hill chieftains were dead and so were their men but Sikh resources were low because the Hill chiefs had cut off their supplies. However, seeing the fortitude of the Sikh soldiers the Mughals planned to withdraw but not before trying one last thing - to intoxicate an elephant and send it towards the Sikh Forts. The job of dealing with this elephant was entrusted to Duni Chand, but he fled out of fear. Bhai Bachittar SIngh was given the job, he rode out with his Nagani (spear) and struck the elephant. The elephant ran back and trampled hundreds of its own men.

The 3rd Battle

Hindu Rajas led by Ajmer Chand of Kahlir and his father Bhim Chand personally went to Aurangzeb and stirred up the wrath of the Emperor by telling him that Guru Gobiñd Singh claimed to be Sachä Patshãh: True King, sat on a raised platform; a prerogative of the Emperor only, and was corrupting both Hinduism and Islam. Aurangzeb ordered a large army under Amir Khan of Sarhand and Zabardast Khan of Lahore to proceed against the Guru. All the Chiefs except the Raja of Nahan joined the Imperial forces. Guru Gobind Singh divided the army into five commands, each of which was posted in a fort. His eighteen years old son Ajit Siñgh, was stationed in the Kesgarh fort with five hundred soldiers under him. Sher Singh and Nãhar Singh commanded the Lohgarh fort. Udai Singh and Alam Singh commanded the division of Agampura, while Mohkam Singh was posted with 400 men in Holgarh. Daya Singh commanded the northern ramparts, while the Guru remained in the Anandpur fort. Seeing the Imperial armies approaching in countless numbers, Guru Gobind Singh ordered his artillery men to light their fuses : and discharge their cannons. The battle raged with fearful violence. Daya Singh and Udai Siñgh came out of their forts and gave a terrific fight to the Imperial army who lost about nine hundred soldiers. Unable to fight the Sikh armies in the open, the Imperialists laid a siege to the city and stopped all ingress and egress. The Sikhs planned night attacks. They sallied forth from their defensive positions and attacked the enemy unawares. The Mughal Generals tried to storm the citadel in utter distress and desperation, but the Sikhs brought forth their bigger guns, named Baghan: Tigress and Bjai Gosh: Roaring Victory, and fired at the enemy, killing many in the enemy ranks. As the supplies were constantly failing, the Sikhs resorted to desultory sallies to seize the supplies from the enemy. The siege lasted for about seven months Jeth 1762 Bk/May 1705 to Rh Sudi 1, 1762 Bk/December 5-6, 1705 when the Guru’s army lived on starvation level. But Guru Gobiñd Singh refused to surrender. Some Sikhs of Majha found life in the fort extremely miserable. They could not endure the hardships. When they made up their mind to desert the Guru, they were asked to sign a disclaimer (be-däwä), which they did and left the fort.

Other Battles

There were 3 other battles which continued until 1705. The mughal armies became disheartened at their losses and eventually gave up, for now.