Page 142 - Lohgarh

142 w Lohgarh : The World’s Largest Fort

On the 7 th of June 1711, Bahadur Shah received the report that
Raja Dhruv Dev of Jammu and Sayyad Azmatulla Khan of Rajauri was
chasing the Sikhs. Mohammed Amin Khan and Ghazi Khan too were
with them. All these four armies had surrounded the Sikh soldiers from
three sides. The Emperor was given the hope that Banda Singh would
be captured very soon. But, Bahadur Shah’s hopes and joy were
shattered when he learnt that the Sikhs had once more escaped and
moved towards Wazirabad. Here. Azhar Khan, the Chief of Wazirabad
attacked the Sikhs with all his forces and compelled the Sikhs to flee
from that area too; when Bahadur Shah received the news of the action
of Azhar Khan, he sent him a robe of honour. 9
At that time Bahadur Shah was proceeding towards Lahore. On the
th
9 of June he was in the Fort of Bajwara (at that time Hoshiarpur was a
small village and Bajwara was a major town). He spent a couple of days
at Bajwara and then again began his journey to Lahore. On the 13 th
1711 of June, Bahadur Shah ordered enrollment of two thousand
infantry at a salary of four rupees per month, and two thousand
horsemen at a salary of twenty-five rupees per month, and, ordered
that these four thousand soldiers would chase the Sikhs.
th
On the 16 of June 1711, Bahadur Shah received the reports that
the Sikhs were moving towards Sadhaura and their goal was to recapture
Lohgarh Fort. The Sikhs had taken the route via the hills, he had been
told. Bahadur Shah sent an order to prince Jahandar Khan and Isa Khan
(Deputy Army Chief of Bist Doab Jalandhar) to march towards Sadhaura
and crush the Sikhs. Both the groups of the royal soldiers reached
Sadhaura but found no Sikh there. At that time, the Sikhs were still
camping in the hills; Banda Singh too was with them. The Sikhs had in
fact themselves spread the rumour as Banda Singh wished to divide
the strength of the Mughal army rumour.
When Bahadur Shah received the news of the failure of Sadhaura
mission, he became desperate. He decided to stay in Lahore and
personally monitor the anti-Sikh campaign. When the soldiers found
that Bahadur Shah was scared of Banda Singh and the Sikh army, they
too got disheartened. The rumours and whispers that ‘Banda Singh has