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Vanjara are found on the ridge and both on back and front plains of the
ridge), on the ridge started from Yamuna river to Ganga River (via
Deradun–Haridwar). Sikh history is necessary to narrate here, as the
militarization of Vanjaras made by different Sikh Gurus to uproot the
Mughals oppressions. With the help of the Srinagar-Garhwal Chiefs and
the Vanjaras, Banda Singh Bahadur marched and aspired to invade as
far as the territory of sarkar Moradabad and Chakla Bareilly in Subha
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Delhi. (This event is of 1712; and, at that time Garhwal Hill chief was
Fateh Shah and he was the same Raja as had attacked Guru Gobind
Singh at Bhangani on 18 September 1688 as a result of some
misunderstanding, but later he sided with Banda Singh because he had
realized that the Guru’s war was against injustice, and, the Mughals
were the oppressors of the people; hence he joined hands with Banda
Singh to uproot the Mughals. There are reports of 40000 Sikhs moving
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about in Garwal hills. Banda Singh had full knowledge about this area
and moved very fast in hills and attacked sarkars and praganas in the
west Uttar Pradesh.
Endnotes
1. Dr. Harjinder Singh Dilgeer, Sikh History, vol 1, p. 265.
2. The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Dehradun, 1909 vol. 11, p. 165.
3. The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Dehradun, 1909 v. 11, p. 212.
4. Dr. Harjinder Singh Dilgeer, Sikh History-1, p. 280.
5. Entries in Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-Mualla.
6. Veena Sachdeva, Article-Historical Geography of Baba Banda Singh
Bahadur, in Revisiting Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and his time, edited by
Amarjeet Singh, p 29.