Page 114 - Lohgarh

114 w Lohgarh : The World’s Largest Fort

Singh of Ajmer) were also invited by the Emperor to fight against Banda
Singh Bahadur. The Mughal army used extremely heavy artillery to
control the Sikhs. Elephants were widely used for lifting and pushing
the artillery to Lohgarh. The Mughal cavalrymen mainly depended upon
the short arms (kotah-yaraq) for close quarter combat at Lohgarh. They
were classified into five categories: swords and shields, maces, battle-
axes, spears and daggers. Weapons used for long range attacks were
the bows and arrows (kaman and tir), the matchlock (bandooq/tufang)
and the pistols. Rockets were also used by the artillerymen in the battle.
Similarly, camel artillery men (zumbouruckchee), a piece of ordinance
of small calibre, too were intensively used against Sikhs.
On 29 November 1710, the imperial troops, under the Prince
Jahandar Shah, reached the foot of the hills and Fort of Lohgarh was
closely investigated by large Mughal troops. 36 Prince Jahandar Shah
37
got prepared the map of Lohgarh (also known as Dabar). It took a lot
of time to prepare the map of Lohgarh and its 52 Fortresses. In fact, the
Mughals were unaware of this Fort. Such a resistance and Fortification
had never been faced by the imperial forces; hence the Mughals failed
to prepare the plan for capturing such a huge Fortification which was
spread in hundreds of miles; hence it demoralized the Mughal generals
and the Emperor.
In the month of January 1711, the Emperor planned to siege the
area between Markanda to Yamuna, and he divided his army into six
groups; but, the Mughal army had no clue how to break the web of 52
bastions built on the way to Lohgarh. Experienced generals of the
Mughal army failed to perform in these difficult conditions as the
preparation and principles of war adopted by Sikh army were very
complicated and invincible. No siezure plan could be prepared; in fact,
the map prepared by the Prince was inaccurate, as it was only confined
to the situation of the first hill of Lohgarh Fort. The Sikhs had established
chowkies/thanas (posts) and Fortification right from river Beas to
Bareilly; and, they operated all this in a co-ordinated manner by
providing reinforcement to one and another. High contours of the
Shivalik hills were chosen for the construction of ramparts and the hill