Battle of Gurdas Nangal

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Battle of Gurdas Nangal
Part of Mughal–Sikh Wars
Date 1 April – 7 December 1715 (8 months and 1 week) Location Gurdas Nangal, Punjab Result Mughal Victory[1] Territorial changes Fall of the First Sikh State of Banda Singh and all of his territories are captured by the Mughals.
Belligerents
First Sikh State	Mughal Empire
Commanders and leaders
Banda Singh    Baj Singh    Binod Singh Hakim Nand	Farrukhsiyar Abd al-Samad Khan Zakariya Khan Qamar-ud-din Khan
Strength
1,250[2]	35,000[3]
Casualties and losses
300 dead 750 captured	Unknown

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Prehistoric Madrasian culture Soanian, c. 500,000 BCE Neolithic, c. 7600 – c. 1000 BCE Bhirrana 7570 – 6200 BCE Jhusi 7106 BCE Lahuradewa 7000 BCE Mehrgarh 7000 – 2600 BCE South Indian Neolithic 3000 – 1000 BCE
Ancient Indus Valley Civilization, c. 3300 – c. 1700 BCE Post Indus Valley Period (Cemetery H Culture), c. 1700 – c. 1500 BCE Vedic civilization, c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE Kuru kingdom, c. 1200 – c. 500 BCE Early Vedic period Rise of Śramaṇa movement Later Vedic Period Spread of Jainism – Parshvanatha Spread of Jainism – Mahavira Rise of Buddhism Kingdom of Magadha Brihadratha Dynasty 1700 – 682 BCE Haryanka Dynasty 544 – 413 BCE Shaishunaga Dynasty 413 – 345 BCE Nanda Dynasty, 345 – 322 BCE Mahajanapadas, c. 600 – 345 BCE
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The Battle of Gurdas Nangal took place in April 1715 between the Sikhs, led by Banda Singh Bahadur, and the Mughal Army, led by Abd al-Samad Khan. Banda, at that time was carrying out operations and small raids to the north of Amritsar. During these operations, the Mughal Army confronted the Sikhs. When confronted, the Sikhs moved northward taking shelter in the fort of Gurdaspur. It had been recently extended to accommodate 60,000 horses, and stores of food, grain and fodder had also been collected there. The Mughal Army converged upon the fort from three sides. The Delhi force of 20,000 men under Qamar-ud-din Khan advanced from the east. The Governor of Lahore’s troops, consisting of 10,000 men under Abd al-Samad Khan, marched from the south. Finally, Jammu troops numbering nearly 5,000, under Zakariya Khan, approached from the north. To the west of the fort was the River Ravi, 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 All the boats had been withdrawn to the opposite bank, which was closely guarded by numerous local chiefs and Mughal government officials. The Mughal pursuit made it so the Sikhs could not enter the fort at Gurdaspur. Thus, the Sikh army quickly turned west.^{[citation needed]}

Due to all escape routes being barred, Banda Bahadur and his army rushed into the haveli of Duni Chand, which had a large open compound with a wall around it, at the village of Gurdas Nangal, 6 km to the west of Gurdaspur. In it, Banda accommodated 1,250 men along 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 Mughals also dug trenches all around the enclosure. The battle then commenced at the beginning of April 1715. The news of the battle reached Farrukhsiyar on 17 April 1715. The siege lasted a little over eight months. The whole 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 during the siege, 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, the supplies of foodstuffs and fodder dwindled. All animals perished, and their flesh was eaten. Next, their bones and the bark of trees were powdered and eaten. Many Sikhs died of hunger and the rest were completely famished and reduced to a skeletal appearance. Seeing that resistance had completely ceased, the Mughal Army on 7 December 1715, ventured into the enclosure. About 300 Sikh men, all on the verge of death, were beheaded. Their bodies were then cut up in search of gold coins which the Mughal army believed that they had swallowed. The Sikhs were brought to Delhi in procession with the 780 sikh prisioners, 2000 Sikh heads hung on spears, and 700 cartloads of heads of slaughtered Sikhs used to terrorise the population. They were put in Delhi fort and pressurized to give up their faith and became Muslims, Later Banda Singh Bahadur was executed with his 780 followers.