Afghan–Maratha War: Difference between revisions

=== Battle of Delhi (1757) ===

The Mughal emperor and the imperial grand vizier alarmed by this foreign occupation, secretly sent for his vassal, the Peshwa. The Maratha Peshwa [[Balaji Baji Rao]] sent his brother [[Raghunath Rao]] along with [[Shamsher Bahadur]], Ramsingha, Gangadhar Tatya, [[Sakharam Bapu Bokil]], Naroshankar Rajebahadur, Sidhojiraje Gharge-Desai-Deshmukh, Mankojiraje Gharge-Desai-Deshmukh, Maujiram Bania and a large army towards Delhi. They were accompanied by [[Malhar Rao Holkar]] of [[Malwa]] who had much experience in [[North India]] and with its rulers. The Marathas [[Battle of Delhi (1757)|captured Delhi]] in August 1757. They decisively defeated the Rohillas near Delhi in 1758.<ref name="War" />

{{Main|Maratha conquest of North-west India}}

In the [[Punjab]], [[Adina Beg|Adina Beg Khan]], along with the [[Sikhs]] revolted against the oppressive Afghans. He decided to request the Maratha support as a large Afghan army was expected to reinforce and Adina needed more alliance to battle the invaders. On 7 March, [[Raghunathrao]] had encamped at [[Rajpura]] where he received Adina Beg Khan's envoys, and was informed that the latter, accompanied by 15,000 Sikh fighters, belonging to the bands (the jathas) of [[Jassa Singh Ahluwalia]] and Baba [[Ala Singh]] of [[Patiala]] had closed upon [[Sirhind-Fategarh|Sirhind]] from the other side of the [[Satluj]]. A concerted attack on the fort of Sirhind was made by the Marathas and the Sikhs on 8 March 1758. Ahmad Samad Khan, with his 15,000 Afghan troops, held out for about two weeks before his capitulation on 21 March. After the victory, the town was thoroughly sacked by the victors. Therefore, the victorious allies marched up to [[Lahore]] and the city fell after some initial fighting. Then, the allies forced the Afghans into the [[Khyber Pass]].<ref name="Advance">[https://books.google.com/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC&dq=Advanced+Study+in+the+History+of+Modern+India+1707-1813++while+encamped+in+karnal&pg=PA234 Advanced Study in the History of Modern India]</ref> The captured [[Uzbeks|Uzbek]], [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] and [[Khorasani Turkic|Khorasani]] soldiers were brutally tortured and forced to clean up the holy temples desecrated by them.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kulkarni |first=Uday S. |date=21 October 2019 |title=How the Marathas captured ATTOCK in modern day Pakistan |url=https://www.esamskriti.com/e/History/Indian-History/How-the-Marathas-captured-ATTOCK-in-modern-day-Pakistan-1.aspx |website=esamskriti}}</ref>

Adina Beg's sudden death threw Punjab into turmoil. Many of his soldiers, particularly Afghan mercenaries deserted his army camp and added to the number of freebooters, thus creating chaos and anarchy everywhere. Sikhs started again to revolt against Muslim ruling elite, which had caused Punjab to go into political and economic turmoil. Khawaja Mirza who was now the Maratha governor of Haryana-Delhi could not cope with the situation. He sent an express appeal to the [[Peshwa]] for reinforcements, alerted all the junior Maratha officers to help him restore law and order in the state and he also recalled Maratha detachments from Peshawar and Attock to safeguard his position in [[Karnal]]. [[Tukoji Rao Holkar|Tukojirao Holkar]] and Narsoji Pandit, the Maratha commanders of Peshawar and Attock had to withdraw their troops from the frontier posts. Sabaji Scindia was now given the charge of Peshawar.<ref name="Advance"/>

==Reference==

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