Afghan soldiers of the Durrani Empire

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Between the years 1747 to 1769, the Emperor of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali of the Durrani
dynasty invaded India nine times, majority of the time entering through the Punjab. A member of
Abdalis entourage was the Qazi (Muslim religious judge) Nur Muhammad.

Qazi Nur Muhammad has documented the invasions of Abdali in the Jangnama. During one of
the war councils of the Shahs, a member of the Baluchistan troops rode on horse back to report a
surprise attack by the Sikhs. Qazi Nur Muhammad has written this about the war tactics of the
Sikhs A troop advances and, firing a shot from some distance, retires to reload their muskets
while another troop starts firing from another point. Thus, while they can relax somewhat by
turns, they do not allow any respite to their enemy.

Jathedar Baba Gurbakhsh Singh Ji Shaheed

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After one days rest, a group of thirty Sikhs surprised the invaders again, as Qazi Nur Muhammad
has written These dogs (as the author has called the Sikhs) were only thirty in number. They
were not in the least afraid. They had neither the fear of slaughter nor the dread of death. They
grappled with the ghazis (Muslim suicide squads) and, in the engagement, spilt their blood and
sacrificed their lives for their Guru ( This attack was headed by Baba Gurbakhsh Singh Ji of
the Tarna Dal and his jatha). Ahmad Shah returned to Lahore where he held another council of
war at which Mir Muhammad Nasir Khan expressed the opinion that they should advance to
Sirhind where they should stay awaiting further news from Najb ud Daulah, who had been
besieged in Delhi by Raja Jawahar Singh of Bharatpur and his Sikh allies of the Budha Dal
under Jathedar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. Ahmad Shah Durrani resumed his march but,
conscious as he was of the might of the roving Sikh bands, he followed a circuitous route
through Batala, Hoshiarpur and Ropar and, avoiding Sirhind altogether, proceeded via
Pirijore, Naraingarh and Jagadhri reaching Kurijpura, near Karnal, by the middle of February
1765 after meeting with stiff resistance at many places en route.

After this attack Abdali decided to return back to Afghanistan, but the Sikhs were not ready to let
the invaders off so easily. The Dal Khalsa blocked the passage of the Shah and his army at
Phillaur. Abdali tried to bypass the Sikhs and tried crossing the river Satluj, the Khalsa caught up
to Abdali and his men quite quickly.

A seven day battle ensued between the Dal Khalsa (Budha Dal & Tarna Dal) and the army of
Ahmad Shah. Abdalis army suffered heavy losses of men, materials and animals. Qazi Nur
Muhammad has written When I recall that day, I tremble with the fear of the Doomsday.

The Qazi has further written about the Sikhs that he encountered Do not call the dogs (the
Sikhs) dogs, because they are lions (and) are courageous like lions in the battlefield. How can a
hero, who roars like a lion be called a dog? (Moreover) like lions they spread terror in the field of
battle. If you wish to learn the art of war, come face to face with them in the battlefield. They will
demonstrate it (art of war) to you in such a way that one and all will shower praise on them.

If you wish to learn the science of war, O swordsman, learn from them. They advance at the
enemy boldly and come back safely after action. Understand, Singh is their title, a form of
address for them. It is not justice to call them dogs; if you do not know Hindustani language, then
understand that the word Singh means a lion.Truly, they are lion in battle, and at times of
peace, they surpass Hatim (in generosity ).
When they take the Indian sword in their hands they traverse the country from Hind to Sind.
None can stand against them in battle, howsoever strong he may be. When they handle the spear,
they shatter the ranks of the enemy. When they raise the heads of their spears towa-rds the sky,
they would pierce even through the Caucasus (in the process). When they adjust the strings of the
bows, place in them the enemy killing arrows (and) pull the strings to their ears, the body of the
enemy begins to shiver with fear. When their battle axes fall upon the armour of their opponents,
their armour becomes their coffin.

The body of every one of them is like a piece of rock and in physical grandeur everyone of them
is more than fifty men. It is said that Behram Gore killed wild asses and lions. But if he were to
come face to face with them even he would bow before them (Singhs). Besides usual arms, they
take their guns in hand (and) come into the field of action jumping (and) roaring like lions and
raise slogans. They tear asunder the chests of many and shed blood of several (of their enemy) in
the dust. You say that musket is a weapon of ancient times, it appears to be a creation of these
dogs rather than Socrates. Who else than these (dogs) can be adept in the use of muskets. They
do not bother (even if) there are innumerable muskets. To the right and the left, in front and
towards the back, they go on operating hundreds of muskets angrily and regularly.

If you do not believe in what I say, you may enquire of the brave swordsmen who would tell you
more than myself and would praise them for their fighting. This bears witness to (my statement)
that they faced thirty thousand heroes in the battlefield. If their armies take to flight, it is a war
tactics of theirs. They resort to this deception in order to make the angry army grow bold and run
in their pursuit. When they find them separated from the main body and away from help and
reinforcement, they at once turn back and fight more ferociously (literal translation they set fire
even to water).

Did you not see that while fighting the Pathans, they took to flight which was deceptive. A world
famous wrestler wielding high esteem and respect alight-ed from his horse and showed his great
style as if he were Tuhmatan ( a great warrior of Iran). O valiant fighter, do justice to their (act of
) war. One of their armies invaded Multan and put the city to plunder and devastation and killed
many of its inhabitants and carried away an immense booty. I am not sufficiently strong in mind
to express what the dogs did there. But as God willed it, each of us has to submit to His Will.

Besides their fighting, listen to one more thing in which they excell all other warriors. They never
kill a coward who is running away from the battlefield. They do not rob a woman of her wealth or
ornaments whether she is rich or a servant (Kaneez). There is no adultry among these dogs, nor
are they mischieveous people. A woman, whether young or old, they call a Burhi. The word
Burhi, means in Indian language, an old lady. There is no thief amongst these dogs, nor is there
amongst them any mean people. They do not keep company with adulters and house thiefs
though all their acts may not be commendable.

If you are not acquainted with their religion, I tell you that the Sikhs are the disciples of the Guru
that pious Guru lived at Chak (Amritsar). The ways and manners of these people were laid
down by Nanak who showed these Sikhs a separate path. He was succeeded by Guru Gobind
Singh from whom they received the title of Singh. They are not part of the Hindus, who have a
separate religion of their own. Now that you have familiarised yourself with the behaviour of the
Sikhs, you may also know something about their country. They have divided the Punjab amongst
themselves and have bestowed it upon every young and old.

Painting of an armed Sikh chief from the Misl period (late 1700's)

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Into the Lions mouth Accounts of the Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845-1849)

Painting depicting the battle of Aliwal between the Sikh army and British invaders in 1846

The Seikh Artillery, with whom we contended, were picked men, both for valour
and size; the were indeed gigantic, their usual stature being from six feet to six
feet three inches, muscular and active in proportion. We were only like
Lilliputians in comparison with those huge monsters, and I marvel they did not
kill us all and swallow us slick out the way. Had they been without tasting food
for a while, I am sure we would have been but a scanty meal for their numerous
army, but fortunately they had been well fed, or possibly we might have become
their prey..

We lost lots of men before we got to the enemys principal battery, for we were
pushed, as it were, into the lions mouth; when we did reach it, the gunners
resorted to their tolwols (giant swords) and we our bayonets, then came the tug of
war with clashing steel in earnest. In describing, to the best of my ability, the
most desperate conflict which took place, I might present to your imagination
such scenes of horror as were never witnessed in this country. What a picture of
horror I beheld when we and the Seikhs were straining every nerve to deeds of
barbarity, wholly bent on mutual destruction, wielding sanguinary weapons,
swords and bayonets. The ground in a few minutes was sprinkled with the blood
of hundreds of brave men.

Those overgrown brutes of artillery men had great advantage over us, and they
fought with unusual courage, many of their lives being bought at the price of ours,
i.e, when some of our men plunged their bayonets into the Seikhs, they held them
fast by the sockets with their left hands, and cut our mens heads off with their
massive tolwols, with deep regret I saw several of my comrades thus killed.

J.W. Baldwin, A Narrative of Four Months Campaign in India Between the Years 1845-1846.

Our English cavalry with their blunt swords were most unequally matched
against the Sikhs with tulwars so keen of edge that they would split a hair

I remember reading of a regiment of British cavalry charging a regiment of Sikh

calvary. The latter wore voluminous thick puggries round their heads, which our
blunt swords were powerless to cut through, and each horsemen had also a
buffalo hide shield on his back. They evidently knew that the British sword was
blunt and useless, so they kept their horses still and met the British charge by
laying flat on their horses necks, with their heads protected by their thick
turbans and their backs by their shields; and immediately the British soldiers
passed through their ranks, the Sikhs swooped round on them and struck back-
handed with their sharp, curved swords, in several instances cutting our cavalry
men in two.

Sgt. William Forbes Mitchell (93rd Sutherland Highlanders) writing on the Anglo-Sikh Wars.

For more quotes by the British from the 1800's please visit:

http://www.nihangsingh.org/blog/?cat=53&paged=2
"A tall conical turban provided convenient transportation for
a number of sharp steel quoits - edged weapons hurled to
lethal effect by the practised hand of the Akalis."
http://theinfolist.com/php/SummaryGet.php?FindGo=Chakram

And they carry seven or eight of these, put on the left arm; and the take one and put it on the
finger of the right hand, and make it spin around many times, and so they would hurl it at their
enemies, and if they hit one on the arm or leg or neck, it cuts through all
A B Duarte Barbosa
(1970). A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar

Just thought these were kind of cool, wanted to share them...I wish ancient Sikhs
kept better records of their own battles prior to this Raj as well.

The Seikh Artillery, with whom we contended, were picked men, both for valour and
size; the were indeed gigantic, their usual stature being from six feet to six feet
three inches, muscular and active in proportion. We were only like Lilliputians in
comparison with those huge monsters, and I marvel they did not kill us all and
swallow us slick out the way. Had they been without tasting food for a while, I am
sure we would have been but a scanty meal for their numerous army, but
fortunately they had been well fed, or possibly we might have become their prey..
We lost lots of men before we got to the enemys principal battery, for we were
pushed, as it were, into the lions mouth; when we did reach it, the gunners resorted
to their tolwols (giant swords) and we our bayonets, then came the tug of war with
clashing steel in earnest. In describing, to the best of my ability, the most desperate
conflict which took place, I might present to your imagination such scenes of horror
as were never witnessed in this country. What a picture of horror I beheld when we
and the Seikhs were straining every nerve to deeds of barbarity, wholly bent on
mutual destruction, wielding sanguinary weapons, swords and bayonets. The ground
in a few minutes was sprinkled with the blood of hundreds of brave men. Those
overgrown brutes of artillery men had great advantage over us, and they fought
with unusual courage, many of their lives being bought at the price of ours, i.e,
when some of our men plunged their bayonets into the Seikhs, they held them fast
by the sockets with their left hands, and cut our mens heads off with their massive
tolwols, with deep regret I saw several of my comrades thus killed.

J.W. Baldwin, A Narrative of Four Months Campaign in India Between the Years
1845-1846.

Our English cavalry with their blunt swords were most unequally matched against
the Sikhs with tulwars so keen of edge that they would split a hair I remember
reading of a regiment of British cavalry charging a regiment of Sikh calvary. The
latter wore voluminous thick puggries round their heads, which our blunt swords
were powerless to cut through, and each horsemen had also a buffalo hide shield on
his back. They evidently knew that the British sword was blunt and useless, so they
kept their horses still and met the British charge by laying flat on their horses
necks, with their heads protected by their thick turbans and their backs by their
shields; and immediately the British soldiers passed through their ranks, the Sikhs
swooped round on them and struck back-handed with their sharp, curved swords, in
several instances cutting our cavalry men in two.

Sgt. William Forbes Mitchell (93rd Sutherland Highlanders) writing on the Anglo-Sikh
Wars.

Guru Gobind Singh would rename some of the smaller or weaker Singhs in the ranks of the
Khalsa army. He would bestow them with lofty titles such as Dharti-Hallaa Singh'
(literally, the Earth-shaker). This would not only send fear and doubt deep within the ranks
of the enemy soldiers, but encouraged the Singhs in the Khalsa army to fight heroically
with courage and confidence and honour the names given to them by the Guru'.
Martial language of the sikks
https://sikhchic.com/history/thundering_words_the_martial_language_of_nihangs

C. R. Wilson, the author of the 'Early Annals of the English in Bengal', has given in the
volume II, part II, pp. xlii-xliii, the following description of the entry of Banda Singh and his
fellow captives into Delhi on February 27, 1716, based on the articles of William Irwine on
the 'Political History of the Sikhs' (Asiatic Quarterly, January 1894, pp. 420-31 ) and'Guru
Gobind Singh and Bandah' (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1894, part I, pp. 112-
43). He says:

The ceremonial on this occasion was copied from that observed after the capture of the
Maratha Sambhaji. Malice did its utmost to cover the vanquished with ridicule and shame.
First came the heads of the executed Sikhs, stuffed with straw, and stuck on bamboos, their
long hair streaming in the wind like a veil, and along with them to show that every living
creature in Gurdaspore had perished, a dead cat on a pole.

The teacher himself dressed out of mockery in a turban of red cloth, embroidered with gold,
and a heavy robe of brocade, flowered with pomegranates, sat in an iron cage, placed on the
back: of an elephant. Behind him stood a mail-clad officer, with a drawn sword. After him
came the other prisoners, seven hundred and forty in number, seated two and two upon
camels without saddles. Each wore a high fool's cap of sheepskin and had one hand pinned to
his neck, between two pieces of wood. Many were also dressed in sheep skins with wooly
side turned outwards. At the end of the procession rode three great nobles, Muhammad Amin
Khan, sent by the emperor to bring in the prisoners, (From Agharabad to the Lahori gate of
the palace] Kamr-ud-Din, his son, and Zakariya Khan, his son-in-law, who being also the son
of Abd-us-Samad Khan had been deputed to represent his father at the ceremony.

The road to the palace, for several miles, was lined with troops and filled with exultant
crowds, who mocked at the teacher and laughed at the grotesque appearance of his followers.
They wagged their heads and pointed the finger of scorn at the poor wretched as they passed.
'Hu! Hu!, infidel dog-worshippers, your day has come. Truly retribution follows on
transgression, as wheat springs from wheat, and barley from barley.' Yet the triumph could
not have seemed complete. Not all the insults that their enemies had invented could rob the
teacher and his followers of their dignity. Without any sign of dejection or shame, they rode
on, calm, cheerful, even anxious to die the death of martyrs.

Life was promised to any who would renounce their faith, but they would not prove false to
their Guru, and at the place of suffering their constancy was wonderful to look at. 'Me,
deliverer, kill me first' was the prayer which constantly rang in the ears of the executioner.

One there was, a young man, an only son, whose widow mother had made many applications
to the Mughal officers, declaring that her son was a Sikh prisoner, and no follower of the
Guru. A release was granted and she hastened to the prison-house to claim her son. But the
boy turned from her to meet his doom crying, 'I know not this woman. What does she want
with me? I am a true and loyal follower of the Guru.' For a whole week the sword of the
executioner did its butcher's work. Every day a hundred brave men perished and at night the
headless bodies were loaded into carts, taken out of the city, and hung upon trees.

It was not till June 19 [Sunday, the 29th Jamadi-ul-Akhir, 1128 A.H., June 9, 1716 O.S.] that
Banda himself was led out to execution, all efforts having failed to buy him off. They dressed
him, as on the day of his entry, set him again on an elephant, and took him away to the old
city, where the red Qutb Minar lifts its proud head of white marble over the crumbling walls
of the Hindu fortress. Here they paraded him round the tomb of the late emperor Bahadur
Shah, and put him to a barbarous death. First they made him dismount, placed his child in his
arms and bade him kill it. Then, as he shrank with horror from the act, they ripped open the
child before its father's eyes, thrust its quivering flesh into his mouth and hacked him to
pieces limb by limb.

The authors of the despatch John Surman and Edward Stephenson (and the Secretary, Hugh
Barker) were, evidently, eyewitnesses of the dreadful massacre of the Sikhs at Delhi in March
recorded by them. The executions began on March 5, five days before the date of the
despatch, March 10, when a few hundred Sikhs had yet to be executed. This paragraph of the
despatch, therefore, is of great historical value to the students and scholars of history. The last
sentence regarding the unflinching devotion of the Sikhs to their faith under the severest of
trials is very significant. Except for the number of the Sikh prisoners, which Muhammad
Hadi Kamwar Khan gives as 694 in his 'Tazkirat-us-Salatin', the despatch of the English
ambassadors is in full agreement with the writings of the other eye-witnesses and
contemporaries. The reader interested in futher study of the exploits and achievements of
Banda Singh is referred to 'Life of Banda Singh Bahadur' published in 1935, and the
bibliography appended to it.