| Battle of Sialkot | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Afghan-Sikh Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Dal Khalsa |
 Durrani Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Natha Singh |
Timur Shah Durrani Ataullah Khan † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 120,000[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown |
| ||||||
The Battle of Sialkot was fought in January 1789 by the Sikh forces led by Natha Singh and Afghan forces led by Timur Shah Durrani.
Background[edit]
In 1788, Timur Shah Durrani attempted to annex parts of Punjab to his empire. His army numbered 120,000 and he started his campaign in Punjab during the winter of 1788.[1] He marched towards Bahawalpur, trying to avoid the Sikhs at all costs.[2] During the campaign, the Shah was supported by Jodhpur and Jaipur.[3]
Battle[edit]
Hari Ram Gupta says that the Shah with his army never penetrated as far as Lahore during this campaign.[1] However, Giani Gian Singh is against this claim. He says that there were many skirmishes between the Sikhs and the Shah, one of them being near Sialkot. Here the two parties fought and the Afghan commander Ataullah Khan was slain by Natha Singh.[4]
Aftermath[edit]
The Afghans had looted 6,000,000 rupees in this campaign. The Shah realized that his brother-in-law Shah Alam II was blinded by Ghulam Qadir, who had been plundering Delhi for a long time.[5] Therefore, he prepared an operation in order to return Shah Alam II to the throne. He was however informed that the Marathas had already crowned him the emperor, which made him retreat.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Hari Ram Gupta (1982). History Of The Sikhs Vol. IV The Sikh Commonwealth Or Rise And Fall Of Sikh Misls. p. 445.
- ^ Shahāmat Álī (1848). The History of Bahawalpur. p. 189.
- ^ Patwant Singh (2000). The Sikhs. p. 97. ISBN 9780375407284.
- ^ Singh, Giani Gian (1898). Panth Prakash. pp. 914–925.
- ^ Varma, Birendra (1969). "Afghan Ambassadors in India (1773–1800)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 31: 335–343. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44138392.
- ^ Gandhi, Rajmohan (14 September 2013). Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. Aleph Book Company. ISBN 9789383064410.[permanent dead link]