Battle of Amritsar (Baba Deep Singh)
Baba Deep Singh, in his seventies, marched from Damdama to free the desecrated Harmandir Sahib and was killed near its precinct.
In 1757, during Ahmad Shah Abdali's fourth invasion, his son Timur Shah and general Jahan Khan, ruling the Punjab for him, desecrated the Harmandir Sahib, filled the sacred pool with rubble and set up a garrison at Amritsar.
At Damdama Sahib in the Malwa, Baba Deep Singh, then seventy-five, swore he would free the Harmandir or die on its precincts. He drew a line with his khanda and called on those willing to die to cross it. Thousands gathered on the march towards Amritsar.
On 11 November 1757 they met Jahan Khan's army at Gohalwar near Amritsar. In the battle, tradition says, Baba Deep Singh's head was struck off and he fought on, holding his head on his palm, until he reached the parikrama of the Harmandir Sahib. The Sikhs were defeated, but the memory of the battle became a fire in the Panth. Gurdwara Shaheedan marks the place where he fell.
Same era
Misls, Mughals and Afghans, 1709 – 1799
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