The siege of Kunjpura was a 14-day siege in April to May 1772 by Sikh forces led by Sahib Singh against the Mughal coalition forces led by Mughal Ali Khan. Siege ended with a Sikh victory against an allied force of Mughals and Marathas.

Background

In 1770,

Najib ad-Dawlah Najib ad-Dawlah (), also known as (), was an Afghan Yousafzai Rohilla who earlier served as a Mughal serviceman but later deserted the cause of the Mughals and joined Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1757 in his attack on Delhi. He was also a House C ...

died and

Zabita Khan Zabita Khan Rohilla (died 21 January 1785) was a Rohilla chieftain in the time of the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Biography Zabita Khan was the eldest son of Najib-ud-Daula, a leader of the Afghan Rohilla and founder of the city of Najibabad ...

became the new chief of Rohilla.Rule of Shah Alam, 1759-1806

The Imperial Gazetteer of India ''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' was a gazetteer of the British Indian Empire, and is now a historical reference work. It was first published in 1881. Sir William Wilson Hunter made the original plans of the book, starting in 1869.< ...

, 1909, v. 2, p. 411. Later in the year, the Sikhs ravaged the neighborhoods of

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 ...

. Mughal Ali Khan was appointed as governor of

Sirhind Sirhind is a Twin cities, twin city of Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab, India, Punjab, India. It is hosts the municipal council of Fatehgarh Sahib district. Demographics In the 2011 census of India, 2011 census Sirhind-Fatehgarh had a population of ...

. The Marathas supplied him with 1,000 troops and the Afghans joined him with 6,000. He thus commanded a force of nearly 19,000 men. He crossed the Jamuna and halted on the other side of the river for 2 days. He was attacked by 600 Sikhs who later fled away. He was joined by 500 soldiers from

Kunjpura Kunjpura is a village in the Karnal district of the Indian state of Haryana, about 10 km northeast of Karnal city and about 130 km north of the national capital, Delhi. It is on the right bank (west bank) of the Yamuna River, off the ...

under Daler Khan.

Siege

Near Kunjpura, Mughal Ali Khan was attacked by

Baghel Singh Baghel Singh (c. 1730s – c. 1800s) was a Sikh warrior and leader in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. He rose to prominence in the area around Sutlej and Yamuna. He joined the Singh K ...

, Sahib Singh, Dyal Singh, Dana Singh and Laja Singh with 6,000 horsemen. Fierce fighting continued for the whole day and 500 men were killed on both sides. In the darkness of the night, Mughal Ali Khan and Daler Khan repaired the fort. The Sikhs immediately besieged them. Hostilities continued for 13 days. On the 14th day, the Sikhs defeated the enemy.

Aftermath

Daler Khan advised Mughal Ali Khan to retire to Delhi. In a few days, he managed to reach Delhi safely. This siege sent shivers down the spine of the Mughal emperor

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar, or Ali Gauhar, was the seventeenth Mughal emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal Empire. His power w ...

and the

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

chief Janko Rao. Janko quickly moved towards

Panipat Panipat () is an industrial , located 95 km north of Delhi and 169 km south of Chandigarh on NH-44 in Panipat district, Haryana, India. It is famous for three major battles fought in 1526, 1556 and 1761. The city is also known as ...

and

Karnal Karnal () is a city located in the state of Haryana, India and is the administrative headquarters of Karnal District. The city is well connected as it lies on National Highway 01, in the south of the city lies the cities of Panipat and Sonipa ...

to fight the Sikhs.

Background

Siege

Aftermath

References

See also