Page 122 - Lohgarh

122 w Lohgarh : The World’s Largest Fort

Vanjaras, who use to supply the food grains and other items to them,
withdrew their supplies and became Sikh warriors. The rise in the prices
of the food grains had affected the Vanjaras and the people in the hills,
therefore the Vanjaras were inclined towards Baba Banda Singh
42
Bahadur. Diwan Bhikhari Das to Maharaja Jai Singh, informs about the
incessant rain, shortage of ration in the royal camp, large scale casualties
of horses and beasts of burden; epidemic type situation on the
43
battlefield . These Vanjaras who were true the Sikhs and the Sikh
movement in the Punjab, always tried to maintain the supply of
provisions to the Sikhs even when they were besieged in the Fort. The
besieged threw of pieces of cloth from the top of the Fort wall and the
Vanjaras packed the grain, tied them up and then through the ropes
the same were drawn up and taken inside the Fort. 44 We may also
presume that the inflated rates of ijara leading to the exorbitant rise in
the prices of food grains hit both the Vanjaras and the people in the
hills.
There are very significant entries in the Akhbar-i-Darbar-i-Mualla
regarding these facts. We have, in the fifth year (1710) of Bahadur Shah’s
reign, a report presented to him by Jagjiwan Dass, reads: “Some people
purchased horses and ammunition to be delivered to the Sikh rebels,
and they carried the same through the Kohistan (hills). If somebody
obstructed them, they pretended that they were taking the same for
the Zamindars of that district. The Emperor ordered the investigation
and the necessary action. 45

Water Management at Lohgarh and its Bastions

Water was the most important requirement during warfare and only
source of water were wells and the wells were situated inside the
Fortress of Sikhs, therefore Mughals soldiers had no access to water.
The wells outside the Fortress were made poisonous, so that the Mughal
army has no access to the water. The residence of the village in the
neighborhood of Sadhaura left the place after throwing poison into
the wells. Bahadur Shah ordered that no one should use the water. 46
Since each bastion was working in coordination with other, therefore