The Battle of Manupur was fought between the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

and the Durrani Empire in March 1748 near Sirhind which ended in victory for the

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

Background

Following the assassination of Nader Shah, last Emperor of the Persian Afsharid dynasty, Ahmad Shah Durrani took control of Persian Afghanistan. In late 1747, he began operations against the declining Mughal Empire, taking

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

, and, on 18 January 1748,

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. By February 1748, a Mughal army under Prince Ahmad Shah Bahadur and Qamaruddin Khan, the Subahdar of Lahore province, had assembled and was moving to drive out the Durrani army. On 1 March 1748, Ahmad Shah began searching for the Mughal army, making contact with them on 10 March outside the village of Manupur. On the same time, the

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

army of Jaipur under

Ishvari Singh Ishvari Singh (1721 – 12 December 1750) was the Raja of Amber Kingdom (1743 – 1750). He was a son of Jai Singh II, Raja of Jaipur. Biography After the death of Jai Singh, his 25-year-old son Ishwari Singh ascended the throne. Madho Singh ...

assembled near Manupur.

Battle

When the Mughal commander, Qamaruddin Khan, was killed by artillery in an early exchange of fire, his son,

Moin-ul-Mulk Mian-Moin-ul-Mulk also known by his title Mir Mannu (died 1753) was the Mughal and later Durrani governor of the Punjab between 1748 and 1753. Early life Moin-ul-Mulk was the son of Qamar-ud-Din Khan, Grand Vizier of the Mughal Empire, and youn ...

, also known as Mir Mannu, continued the battle. Ahmad Shah's Afghan troops swept aside the Rajput flank and raided their baggage train but a fire beginning in a captured rocket cart went on to ignite the Durrani artillery store, roasting thousands of soldiers alive and forcing Ahmad Shah Durrani's retreat.

Aftermath

After the retreat of Durrani, the panicked Mughal were unable to pursue, however Sikh bands under

Charat Singh Sardar Charat Singh (1721–1770 or 1733—1774), also romanised as Charhat Singh, was the father of Mahan Singh, and the grandfather of Ranjit Singh. He distinguished himself at an early age in campaigns against Ahmad Shah Abdali and along w ...

Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Sultan-ul-Qaum Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (3 May 1718 – 23 October 1783) was a Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy, being the Supreme Leader of the Dal Khalsa. He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia Misl. This period ...

and

Ala Singh Ala Singh Sidhu-Brar (1691–1765) was the first king of the princely state of Patiala. He was born in 1691 at Phul, in present-day Bathinda district of the Punjab, in Jat sikh family to Chaudhary Ram Singh of Phulkian Misl. His father had six c ...

continued to harass them as they retreated to Kabul. Thus, the first invasion of Shah proved a failure but it gave an opportunity to the Sikhs to organize themselves into Dal Khalsa, an army of Sikh Confederacy, at Amritsar in March 1748.

References

{{Reflist Manupur 1748 Manupur 1748 1748 in Asia Manupur 1748 1740s in the Durrani Empire