Page 91 - Lohgarh

Banda Singh Bahadur’s Actions from the Lohgarh Fort w 91

(also known as Jalal Khan) had stationed his army, and there was also
stored most of his arsenal and treasury; the Sikhs wanted to capture it.
On the other hand, Jalal-ud-Din Khan too knew of the Sikhs’
intentions, and, he himself was fully prepared for the battle. Besides,
he had raised bogey of jehad (holy war) and recruited several more
young Muslim boys into his army. He had also stocked a lot of food in
the Fortress, which could last for months. The Sikhs put siege to this
Fortress, which continued for more than 20 days, but they (Sikhs) could
not achieve their goal because it was the rainy season; hence, they had
to temporarily abandon the idea of capturing this Fort.

Attack on Ambaheta

After an unsuccessful expedition to Jalalabad, the Sikhs returned to
Saharanpur. On their way they attacked Ambaheta (a town between
Gangoh and Nakur). It was being guarded by Pir Khan, a close confidant
of Jalal Khan. He was killed during the Sikhs’ attack. The Sikhs captured
th
a good number of arms in this battle too. But, on the 20 of June, the
Sikhs had to fight a battle in the fields of village Kehra, near Rarh. Here,
the Afghans of Dehrana and Mukad joined Ghulam Mohammed Baniara
(grandson of Jalal Khan) and Pir Mohammed, and they gave a tough
fight to the Sikhs. As the number of the opposing forces was too big,
the Sikhs had to retreat; several Sikhs were killed in this battle. The
Sikhs also lost two cannons, five guns, several rifles, one thousand
arrows, four tents and several other things. Banda Singh himself was
not with this unit and it was led by Amar Singh. In fact, the Sikhs lost
this battle due to the treason by Lal Kanwar Gujjar.

Buria Becomes Gulab Nagar
29 30
By this time, some Sikh units had occupied Buria , too. Valiant Gulab
Singh Bakhshi had played a major role in capturing this state; hence
Banda Singh named this town as Gulabnagar. He appointed Gurbakhsh
Singh as the chief administrator of the town.
Shah Mohammed, the Qazi of Buria, was an impudent person who
oppressed the common people and they were fed up with his excesses.