The Battle of Delhi was fought between the Dal Khalsa and the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

in 1783.

Background and battle

The Sikhs under Baghel Singh, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, and

Jassa Singh Ahluwalia 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 (Sikh Army), Dal Khalsa. He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia (misl), Ahluwalia Mi ...

began raiding and plundering the outskirts of Delhi in 1764. In April 1782, Najaf Khan hitherto the highest commander of the Mughal army died, after which a power struggle ensued allowing the Sikhs to capture Delhi. The Sikhs reappeared in Delhi and plundered its environs and laid waste the country up to Khujra. Some of the Sikhs having ravaged the Gangetic Doab contemplated approaching Ruhilkhand, though they were deterred by the arrival of the Nawab of Oudh's forces as well as some English battalions to the area, forcing them to concentrate solely on the Doab. Some of the rajas reigning over areas dominated by the Sikhs agreed to pay tribute to them. The main body of the Sikhs having plundered

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

and Buland Shahar proceeded towards Delhi where they further set Malka Ganj and Sabzi Mandi on fire. They managed to capture the

Red Fort The Red Fort, also known as Lal Qila () is a historic Mughal Empire, Mughal fort in Delhi, India, that served as the primary residence of the Mughal emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned the construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1639, fo ...

on 11 March after defeating a defence by Prince Mirza Shikoh.

Dispute over throne

Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was placed on the throne of Delhi as Badshah Singh of Delhi but Ramgarhia objected that no one can sit on the throne without the approval of Sarbat Khalsa.

Settlement

A settlement was agreed upon between the Sikhs and the Delhi court which entailed a cash present of three lakh rupees and Baghel Singh staying behind at the head of 4,000 Sikh troops to oversee the construction of gurdwaras in the city. The main body of Sikhs left Delhi on 12 March 1783 following the settlement.

Aftermath

Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia captured the

of Delhi in conjunction with Sardar Baghel Singh. He detached the throne of

Mughal Emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

(on which he likely ordered the death of the 9th Sikh guru Guru Tegh Bahadur) and brought it on elephants and kept it at

Golden Temple The Golden Temple is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the Holy place, holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Kartarpur, Pakistan, ...

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

. Even today it is present at the

, in the Ramgarhia Bunga minaret.

References

Sources

*{{cite book, editor-last=Singha, editor-first=H. S, title=The Encyclopedia of Sikhism , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C , year=2000, publisher=Hemkunt Press, isbn=978-81-7010-301-1

External links

News article on Baghel Singh

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Conflicts in 1783 1783 in India

1780s in the Mughal Empire