The Battle of Gurdas Nangal was a battle that took place in April 1715 between the

Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ...

, led by

Banda Singh Bahadur Banda Singh Bahadur (born Lachman Dev) (27 October 1670 – 9 June 1716), was a Sikh warrior and a commander of Khalsa army. At age 15, he left home to become an Asceticism, ascetic, and was given the name Madho Das Bairagi. He established a ...

, and the

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

, led by

Abd al-Samad Khan Abd al-Samad Khan (died 1737) was the Mughal Empire's subahdar of Lahore Subah from 1713 to 1726. He was appointed by the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar. He was descended from the Ansari family of Panipat. He was succeeded as governor of Punjab by ...

. Banda at that time was carrying out operations and small raids to the north of

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

. During these operations, the

Mughal Army The Army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the Mughal emperors established their empire in the 15th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselves, ...

confronted the Sikhs. When confronted, the Sikhs quickly retired northwards to take shelter in the fort of

Gurdaspur Gurdaspur is a city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, between the rivers Beas River, Beas and Ravi River, Ravi. It houses the administrative headquarters of Gurdaspur District and is in the geographical centre of the distr ...

. It had been recently extended to accommodate 60,000 horses and food. Large stores of grain and fodder had also been collected there. The Mughal Army converged upon the fort from three sides. The

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

force of 20.000 men under

Qamar-ud-din Khan Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan Siddiqi Bayafandi (11 August 16711 June 1748) also known as Chin Qilich qamaruddin Khan, Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah and Nizam I, was the 1st Nizam of Hyderabad. He was married to the daughter of a Syed nobleman of Gulbarga. H ...

advanced from the east. The

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

troops consisting of 10,000 men under

marched from the south. And the

Jammu Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi Ri ...

troops numbering nearly 5,000, under Zakariya Khan, moved from the north. To the west of the fort was the

River Ravi The Ravi River () is a transboundary river crossing northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of five rivers associated with the Punjab region. Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the waters of the Ravi and two other rivers were ...

, which had no bridge over it. All the boats had been withdrawn to the opposite bank which was closely guarded by numerous local chiefs and government officials. The pursuit made it so the Sikhs could not enter the fort at

. Thus, the army quickly turned west. Due to all escape paths being barred, Banda and his army rushed into the haveli of Duni Chand which had a large open compound with a wall around it at village Gurdas Nangal, 6 km to the west of Gurdaspur. In it, Banda accommodated 1,250 men with a small number of horses. The Sikhs dug a ditch around the enclosure and filled it with water from the canal flowing nearby. The

also dug trenches all around the enclosure. The battle then took place at the beginning of April 1715. The news of the battle reached

Farrukhsiyar Farrukhsiyar or Farrukh Siyar () (20 August 16839 April 1719) was the tenth emperor of the Mughal Empire from 1713 to 1719. He rose to the throne after assassinating his uncle, Emperor Jahandar Shah. Reportedly a handsome man who was easily sw ...

on 17 April 1715. The siege lasted a little over eight months. The full summer from April to June, the entire rainy season from July to September, and half of winter from October to the beginning of December passed in this condition with frequent sorties and occasional skirmishes. Muhammad Qasim, a Mughal soldier who fought against the Sikhs, in this campaign wrote:

The brave and daring deeds of the infernal Sikhs was wonderful. Twice or thrice everyday some forty or fifty of the black-faced Sikhs came out of their enclosure to gather grass for their cattle, and, when the combined forces of the Mughals went to oppose them, they made an end of the Mughals with arrows, muskets and small swords, and disappeared. Such was the terror of the Sikhs and the fear of the sorceries of the Sikh Chief that the commanders of this army prayed that God might so ordain things that Banda should seek his safety in flight from the Garhi.

Eventually all supplies of foodstuff and fodder dwindled. All animals perished, and their flesh was eaten. Then their bones and bark of trees were powdered and eaten. Many Sikhs died of hunger and the rest were completely famished and reduced to skeletons. Seeing that resistance had completely ceased, the Mughal Army on 7 December 1715, ventured into the enclosure. About 300 Sikh men, almost on the verge of death, were beheaded. Their bodies were then cut up in search of gold coins which the Mughals believed that they had swallowed. Banda was then, along with his 740 followers, captured.

References

{{reflist Gurdas Nangal Gurdas Nangal 1715 in Asia Gurdas Nangal