Page 147 - Lohgarh

Banda Singh After Leaving Lohgarh w 147

him into an iron cage with an intention of presenting him before Bahadur
Shah. There are two popular narrations as to how he achieved freedom.
According to one view, when the ruler of Mandi came to know about
Banda Singh’s arrest, he sent his army to attack Kullu; but before it
could reach there, the Sikh army had already got Banda Singh released.
And, according to another story, Banda Singh had magical power and
2
he, along with his cage, flew from Kullu. There is no mention of any
such arrest or any such event in the Persian sources or the Mughal
records. It was such an important news that it must have been celebrated
by the Mughals (even if it was not a success). The records ‘Akhbarat-i-
Darbar-i-Mualla’ don’t refer to it even slightly or indirectly).

Marriage of Banda Singh at Chamba
After vanquishing Kullu, Banda Singh compelled Jaswan Siba and Nurpur
to pay him tribute. His next major action was an attack on Chamba.
Raja Udey Singh of Chamba did not oppose him and accepted him as
his ‘master’. Udey Singh was so impressed by the charismatic personality
of Banda Singh that he requested him to marry his daughter. (When
Banda Singh was arrested in December 1715 at Gurdas Nangal, this
Rajput wife Sushil Kaur was with him. She had given birth to Ajay Singh,
th
who was butchered before the eyes of Banda Singh on the 9 of June
1716, at Delhi).

Killing of the Chiefs of Jammu and Sultanpur Lodhi

Banda Singh left Lohgarh on 1st December 1710. By March 1711, he
had again re-organized the Sikh army; he spent some days at Riasi
(Kashmir) and planned for further action. In the first week of March
1711, he reached near Raipur, a border town of Jammu province. The
Sikh army rested on the hills between Raipur and Rasulpur. During those
days, Shamas Khan, the former Faujdar of Sultanpur Lodhi too was on a
visit to his uncle Bayzid Khan (Faujdar of Jammu). When they received
the information that the Sikh army was moving into the territory of
Jammu province, they decided to attack it. They were in high spirits
and hoped to defeat the Sikhs because they were proud for having