Battle of Amritsar (1797)
The last great Afghan invasion. The misls defeated an Afghan force near Amritsar and Zaman Shah left Lahore. On his next attempt he made the young Ranjit Singh his governor there.
Zaman Shah, grandson of Ahmad Shah Abdali, invaded the Punjab several times in the 1790s, hoping to restore Afghan rule. In 1797 he took Lahore.
The Sikh misls, including the young Ranjit Singh, then seventeen, gathered against him. In January 1797 they defeated an Afghan force near Amritsar. Zaman Shah, hearing of trouble at home, returned to Afghanistan.
He came again in 1798 and took Lahore, but again had to leave; in his retreat he lost some guns in the Jhelum, and Ranjit Singh recovered them and returned them to him, winning his favour. Zaman Shah's invasions were the last Afghan attempts to rule the Punjab.
Same era
Misls, Mughals and Afghans, 1709 – 1799
Banda Singh's first great strike, on a wealthy town that was home to the executioners of Guru Tegh Bahadur and the younger Sahibzade.
Banda Singh avenged Pir Budhu Shah, who had been killed by Sadhaura's governor for helping Guru Gobind Singh.
The peasant army of Banda Singh routed the Sirhind army and killed Wazir Khan, the man who had executed the Guru's younger sons. Sirhind fell two days later.
The emperor himself marched against the Sikh capital. A Sikh named Gulab Singh put on Banda Singh's clothes and was captured in his place while Banda slipped away.
Banda Singh and his followers held out in a walled compound for eight months, eating grass and bark, before surrendering. They were marched to Delhi and executed.
Nadir Shah crushed the Mughal army in a few hours, then sacked Delhi and carried off the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor.
Chhota GhallugharaMay – June 1746 · About 7,000 Sikhs killed and 3,000 executed (traditional figures)The 'Lesser Holocaust'. To avenge his brother's death, Lakhpat Rai hunted down Sikhs in the Kahnuwan swamps. Thousands were killed and captives were beheaded in Lahore.
The only time Abdali was beaten in a pitched battle in India. Sikh bands attacked his retreating columns.