The battle of Chappar Chiri, also called Battle of Sirhind, was fought between Mughal Empire and the Sikhs on 12 May 1710 at

Chappar Chiri Chapar Chiri ( pa, ਚੱਪੜ ਚਿੜੀ) is a small village located in Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district, Punjab, India. It is near Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar city and is 14 km west of Chandigarh. The village is famous due to Fateh ...

, located 20 kilometers from

Sirhind Sirhind-Fategarh is a town and a municipal council in the Fatehgarh Sahib district in the Indian state of Punjab. Demographics In the 2011 census Sirhind-Fatehgarh had a population of 60852. Males constituted 54% of the population and fema ...

Background

The Sikhs were planning to crusade against the city of

, its governor Wazir Khan and

dewan ''Dewan'' (also known as ''diwan'', sometimes spelled ''devan'' or ''divan'') designated a powerful government official, minister, or ruler. A ''dewan'' was the head of a state institution of the same name (see Divan). Diwans belonged to the el ...

Sucha Nand, to avenge Mughal oppression and the execution of the two young children of

Guru Gobind Singh Guru Gobind Singh (; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), born Gobind Das or Gobind Rai the tenth Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was executed by Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Sing ...

. Some prominent towns on the way to Sirhind were captured and plundered including

Sonepat Sonipat is a city, municipal corporation and administrative headquarter in Sonipat district of Haryana state of India. It comes under the National Capital Region and is around from New Delhi. It is also around 214 km (128 miles) southwest o ...

Kaithal Kaithal () is a city and municipal council in the Kaithal district of the Indian state of Haryana. Kaithal was previously a part of Karnal district and later, Kurukshetra district until 1 November 1989, when it became the headquarters of the K ...

, Samana, Shahabad, Mustafabad and

Sadhaura Sadhaura is a city, near Yamunanagar city with Municipal Committee in Yamunanagar district in the Indian state of Haryana. A city of Yamunanagar, it is of great historic significance. Sadhaura is very old town many historical temples/Dargah ar ...

by Baba Banda Singh Bahadur's troops as they could provide military assistance to the Mughal government of Sirhind. The number of plunderers also amassed, who were looking forward to prey upon the riches within the walls of Sirhind and followed Baba Banda Singh and his troops on the march to Sirhind. Both the troops of Baba Banda Singh and Wazir Khan faced each other at a village called

Pre-Battle maneuvers

Before the battle began, Wazir Khan and Sucha Nand sent Sucha Nand's nephew with 1000 men to Baba Banda Singh Bahadur in a plot to deceive the Sikhs, by falsely claiming to have deserted the Mughals and have come joined the Sikhs for their cause. Wazir Khan had a large well-armed army, which included the Ghazis, along with a number of artillery, muskets, and elephants. On the other hand, Banda Singh's army was ill-equipped with long spears, arrows, swords, without artillery and elephants and insufficient amount of horses. According to

Ganda Singh Ganda Singh, whose home town was Ferozepur in India, was a prominent member of the Ghadar Party. He spent some time in Hankou, China, where he met Chiang Kai-shek. in 1926, and M. N. Roy, in 1927. On the occasion of the visit of the former, he w ...

, Banda's army consisted of three classes of men where the first class were the devoted Sikhs imbued to crusade against the enemies of their country and religion, the second being the paid recruited soldiers sent by the chieftains of the Phul family, who sympathized with Banda Singh's cause. The third were the irregulars who were professional robbers and dacoits, eager to seize the opportunity to plunder the city. They were also the most unreliable allies as they would desert when fearing a sign of defeat.

Hari Ram Gupta Hari Ram Gupta (5 February 1902 – 28 March 1992) was an Indian historian. The main focus of his work was the Sikh history of 18th century. During 1957 to 1963, he was head of Panjab University's History department. Following his retirement, ...

writes that Banda's army consisted of three groups, the first being Sikhs fighting purely to punish Wazir Khan, the second being Sikhs intent on plundering and punishing enemies of their faith. The third being Hindu

Jats The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subse ...

Gujars Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...

and

Rajputs Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

intent on plunder alone.

The Battle

Upon the firing of artillery by the Mughal army, the third class of Banda's army, consisting of robbers and irregulars fled, and soon after Sucha Nand's nephew along with his 1000 men took to flight as well. To encourage his army, Banda Singh himself rushed into the battle, severely attacking the imperial army, leading to many Mughal soldiers being killed, including Sher Muhammad Khan and Khwaja Ali of Malerkotla. Wazir Khan was also killed which led to the defeat and retreat of his army to Sirhind, where many were killed during Banda's pursuit of them.

Aftermath

After the defeat of the Mughal army at the battle of Chappar Chiri, the

siege of Sirhind The siege of Sirhind was fought between the Mughal Empire and Sikh forces in 1710. The Sikhs besieged, stormed, captured, plundered and razed the city of Sirhind after defeating and beheading Wazir Khan in the battle of Chappar Chiri. Backgro ...

took place where the Sikhs besieged, stormed, plundered and razed the city of

Popular culture

* A Punjabi animated film Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise of Banda Singh Bahadur which was released on 11 November 2016 depicts the battle of Chappar Chiri. *

Fateh Burj The Fateh Burj ( en, The Victory Tower; pa, ਫਤਿਹ ਬੁਰਜ), the tallest minar in India, is situated in the historical village of Chappar Chiri in the SAS Nagar district (Mohali district) of Punjab state. It was completed in 1890. ...

is the highest victory tower constructed in remembrance of this battle.

References