Battle of Gurusar

From SikhiWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

under cons(Lucky 21:48, 4 August 2009 (UTC))

Gurdwara Gurusar where last rights of martyers were performed
Battle of Gurusar

Date: 1631
Location : Mehraj & lahira,Bathinda
Reason : Horses Snatched by Bhai Bidhi Chand.

Combatants/Commanders
Guru Hargobind, Bhai Rai Jodh with 4000 Soldiers Qamar Beg & Lala beg with 35 Thousand Soldeirs

Results
Guru Sahib lost 1200 Saint Soldiers including Kirt Bhatt Ji and Bhai Jetha Ji. Sameer Beg and his two sons Shams Beg and Qasim Beg were also killed. The Mughal forces fled to Lahore leaving behind the dead and wounded

Battle of Gurusar was third battle fought by Guru Har Gobind ji near Mehraj with Qamar Beig and Lala Beg in 1688. The battle was fought during winter season and guru ji's were 4000 in number whereas mughals were 35 thousand in number. Guru ji pre-planned everything and was ready for battle.

Reason of Conflict

Snatching horses

Guru Hargobind Sahib retired to the semi desert wastelands of Bhatinda. (While leaving Amritsar for the Malwa region, Guru Sahib took Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji with him but after making a halt for sometime at Daroli he sent Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji to Kartarpur along with his family). Soon after this, an incident occured involving two horses, between Guru Sahib and the Subedar of Lahore.

Once the Sangat from Kabul and Peshawar was coming to meet guru sahib, Bhai Bakhat Mall, Bhai Tara Chand, Bhai Dyal Chand were leading the congregation with other masands. Acc. to Twarikh Guru Khalsa, their counting was One thousand to twelve hundred.

There was a Famous Horse Trader and Devotee of Guru Sahib in the congregation named Seth Karhorhi Mall who was a dedicated devotee of the Guru in the Afgan territory. He had raised and trained two magnificent horses which he intended to give to the Guru. The horses, on their journey to the Guru's Darbar had drawn many admirers on their trip across the Punjab and many wealthy men had tried to convince Karorhi mall to part with the horses by offering offering him a princely sum, but Karorhi mall always replied that these were not his horses but guru's horses.

Before reaching Lahore, rumours of their beauty had reached the Mughal Govenor's ears. An avid collector of horses he too offered the young Sikh a small fortune for each horse-only to be turned down. So before the sangat left Lahore the Subedar's henchmen forcibly snatched the magnificent horses and took them to the Govenor's stable area, in the upper courtyard of Lahore Fort. The Governer also gave a cheque of rs. 5 thousand.

Seth became very sad and with his sad face the congregation went to amritsar, tarn taran, goindwal, khadoor, etc.; crossing harike they reached village Sidhar (Gurusar Sidhar today) where guru sahib ji was residing. After meeting guru sahib the whole congregation was delighted but Seth Karhorhi Mall was sad, he kept the cheque given by Qamas Beig and cried that the horses which had belonged to his guru had been snatched by the mughal governer in lahore. Guru Sahib said they will teach a lesson to such people who have high authorities and they do dhakkashahi with poor people. Guru ji said seth not to worry his donation had been accepted and the horses would be here soon.

Sending Bidhi Chand

When the matter came to the attention of Guru Sahib he asked if their were any among his Court who could think of a way to recover the horses. Bhai Bidhi Chand a daring disciple, who before becoming a Sikh was a noted thief, managed to recover the horses one by one from the royal stable. He offered his services and asked for Guru’s grace. It was a long planned action without bloodshed. Some people question the wisdom of this action. But perhaps this was the right way to deal with the wrongful actions of the mighty chieftains of Mugals, without harming anybody. Bhai Bidhi Chand, under the guise of a grass cutter, went to Lahore. Offered his services at the stable. After about 3 to 4 months he was employed specially to serve these two horses. When he was well mixed up with whole staff, he offered a party to the whole staff of the fort. By the night, when all were completely drunk, he took away one horse and reached Amritsar.

Shortly after this, the Nawaab and other officials of the fort sought help of fortune tellers. This time in the guise of a fortune teller, Bhai Bidhi Chand offered his services. He convinced the authorities that he could give correct information, provided similar situation is created at the fort. The baffled officials created similar situation to that at the time of the theft of first horse. Bhai Bidhi Chand took the second horse, announcing loudly to the officials locked up in a room, that he himself was the grass cutter and now the fortune teller. These horses belonged to Guru Har Gobind Sahib Ji, the first one had reached there and the second one he was taking. And thus along with the horse he jumped into the river Ravi and came back to Amritsar. The officials could not do any thing except to laugh at their folly.

Bhai Bidhi Chand's best known exploit, however, was the recovery of the two now famous horses, Dilbagh and Gulbagh, from the stables of the governor at Lahore's Fort

Prepration Of Battle

Bhai Rai Jodh Knew that area very well. Guru sahib asked Bhai Rai Jodh to suggest the place, where their small force would able to fought with large troops and would win. Rai Jodh suggested to fight through his fort but guru ji denied and said he want to act in battlefeild.

Then Bhai Rai Jodh suggested that "From here 5 km there's village Nathana and Mehraj is 3 KM from that Nathan and on it's south eastern side, there's a forest and there are two water resorviors nearby(out of which one was known as KaluNath Di Ganga) and so it would be apropriate to camp there as there's no water for around 20 - 30 KM's. There was very dense and thick forest with wild trees. The Gurus Soldiers were 2400 in number, joined by 500 pongos of Rai Jodh, with his uncle Chacha Ugarsein and 500 Soldiers of Salem Shah who was also devotee of guru. The whole counting was around 4000 Soldeirs. Bhai Rai Jodh, Bhai Salem shah and Chacha Ugarsen were ready to participate and they had control over two resorviors.

Some name of sikhs mentioned in historical accounts who participated in the battle were Bhai Jetha, Bhai Manjh, Bai Meetoo, Bhai Bhoma, Bhai Katara, Bhai Bhagoo, Bhai Bhaga, bhai Bidhi Chand, Bhai Jaita etc. Mughal would take four days to reach the place and before that sikhs were almost ready. The Sangat of Malwa were supplying, the required things including meals and things which help to keep them warm in cool season. The Sikh forces under the command of Rai Jodh and Kirt Bhatt camped near a water reservoir.

The Subedar of Kabul, Lala Beg and his brother Qamar Beig was ready with 35 thousand forces. Some generals whose names comes in historical accounts were Kabuli Beig, Ismaiyali Khan, Nahar Khan, Zalam Khan, Shamash beig, etc. It's Said Shah Jahan ordered these generals to attack on guru. The Mughal fauj was also joied by Rajputs of Raikot and Rangarhs of Aandru and Halwara.

Hassan Khan

Hassan Khan was secret agent of Lala beig who was keeping eyes on positions and places of guru sahib, He atttired himself as a sikh and entered in guru's fauj. Bhai Rai jodh recognize that Hassan was sent from enemy side, he arrested him and present before Guru Sahib.

Guru sahib did not punish him but sent him back telling him to pass message to Lala beig about that they are ready and also tell him about our locations, positions and places. Hassan Khan told Lala beig all the locations and preprations of guru's army and also said that Guru Sahib is fearless warrior and were ready to bear our attack. After Hearing Praise of Guru Sahib, lala beig and his volunteers and hit him with hunters and throwed him out of the force by calling him infeidal. Hassan khan came to guru sahib with sad face and guru sahib gave him blessing that he would be subedar of Kabul instead of Lala Beig.

Arrival to Mehraj

The fauj was coming toward mehrajcrossed satluj moga, gill but they were not getting food, from villages they got some food of millet pudding, millet chapatis etc. the water was saline in the area, so maximum soldeirs were fall ill and moreover it was winter season so soldeirs were getting down. The interception took place near Mehraj and Lahira villages.

The Scene

The Battle

According to some chronicle (on 16th December 1634) the Sikhs waged a guerilla attack on the Mughal forces at night, which resulted in heavy causalities in the Mughal camp. The Sikhs routed and defeated the enemy. Guru Sahib lost 1200 Saint Soldiers including Kirt Bhatt Ji and Bhai Jetha Ji. On the other side Sameer Beg and his two sons Shams Beg and Qasim Beg were also killed. The Mughal forces fled to Lahore leaving behind the dead and wounded. The Sikhs did not intercept the fleeing enemy. Guru Sahib built a tank called Gurusar commemorating the victory. Near the village of Nathane Guru Sahib defeated another encounter with a Mughal force.

Aftermath

Memorials

Also See

References

  • Sri Gurpartap Suraj Granth, Bhai Santokh Singh
  • History Board at Gurdwara Gurusar Sahib clicked by Jarnail Singh
  • History Book by Bhai Veer Singh, Head Granthi
  • Santsipahee.com
Battles By Guru Har Gobind

Battle of Amritsar || Battle Of Hargobindpur || Battle Of Gurusar || Battle Of Kartarpur || Battle Of Kiratpur

Battles By Sikh Gurus

Battle of Amritsar || Battle Of Hargobindpur || Battle Of Gurusar || Battle Of Kartarpur || Battle Of Kiratpur || Battle of Bhangani || Battle of Nadaun || Battle of Anandpur || Battle of Chamkaur || Battle of Muktsar