Manupur
Manupur is the site of war of Jats against invader Ahmad Shah Abdali in March-1748. The Battle of Manupur was fought between the Mughal Empire and the Durrani Empire on 11 March 1748.
The Battle of Manupur
The Battle of Manupur was fought between the Mughal Empire and the Durrani Empire on 11 March 1748.[1]
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, Peshawar, and, on 18 January 1748, Lahore. 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.[2]
The Battle: When the Mughal commander, Qamaruddin Khan, was killed by artillery in an early exchange of fire, his son, Moin-ul-Mulk, also known as Mir Mannu, continued the battle. Ahmad Shah's Afghan troops swept aside the Mughal army's left 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.[3]
Aftermath: After the retreat of Durrani, the panicked Mughal were unable to pursue, however Sikh bands under Charat Singh and Maharaja of Patiala Ala Singh 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.[4][5]
Jat in War
G.C. Dwivedi[6] mentions ....As is to be seen the Jats later opposed, to their worth, Nadir Shah (at Karnal) and Ahmad Shah Abdali (at Manupur). These examples suffice to show their tendency of opposing the foreign invaders. K.R. Qanungo rightly remarks:
- They(the Jats) have shown in all periods - whether against Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, or against Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali- the same propensity to fall upon the rear of a retreating army undeterred by the heaviest odds, or the terror-inspiring fame of great conquerors. When encountered they showed the same obstinate and steady courage unmindful of the carnage on the field or of the miseries that were in store for them after defeat.[7]
G.C. Dwivedi[8] mentions ....As in Karnal so in Manupur, a Jat contingent served the Mughal army against another foreign invader, Ahmad Shah. Unfortunately, the part played by the Jats in the battle of Manupur (March, 1748) has not been elucidated by Murtaza Husain, the only historian who has cared to mention this significant and hitherto unknown fact.[9]
External links
References
- ↑ Liebl, Vernie (September 2020). "The Battle of Manupur" (PDF). Strategy & Tactics.
- ↑ Liebl, Vernie (September 2020). "The Battle of Manupur" (PDF). Strategy & Tactics.
- ↑ History of Islam, p. 509, at Google Books
- ↑ Mehta, J. L. (2005). Advanced study in the history of modern India 1707–1813. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-932705-54-6.
- ↑ Gandhi, Rajmohan (14 September 2013). Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. ISBN 9789383064410.
- ↑ The Jats - Their Role in the Mughal Empire/Introduction,p.11
- ↑ Qanungo, Jats, 30.
- ↑ The Jats - Their Role in the Mughal Empire/Chapter VI,p.128
- ↑ Hadiqat, 135.