Battle of Bhangani
The Guru's first battle, aged about twenty-two. Pir Budhu Shah of Sadhaura fought for him with his followers and lost two sons.
Guru Gobind Singh spent the years 1685 to 1688 at Paonta, on the Yamuna in the state of Sirmaur, where he wrote poetry and trained his followers. The neighbouring Raja Fateh Shah of Garhwal and the other hill rajas, led by Bhim Chand of Kahlur, saw the Guru's growing power as a threat.
On 18 September 1688 they attacked at Bhangani, a few miles from Paonta. Five hundred Pathans the Guru had taken into service deserted to the enemy, but the Sufi Pir Budhu Shah of Sadhaura, who had recommended them, arrived with his four sons and seven hundred followers. The Guru's cousins, his uncle Kirpal Chand with his club, the masand Mahant Kirpal Das and the Guru himself fought at the front; the Guru killed the hill chief Hari Chand with an arrow.
The hill army broke and fled. Two of Pir Budhu Shah's sons and the Guru's cousin Sango Shah were killed. The Guru, about twenty-two, described the battle in his Bachittar Natak. Soon after, he returned to Anandpur.
Same era
Mughal Punjab, 1526 – 1705
Babur's field guns and cavalry tactics destroyed a much larger Lodi army. Guru Nanak's hymns of the same years speak of the suffering of Babur's invasions.
Battle of MachhiwaraMay 1555 · Mughal victory; Humayun regains HindustanOn the Sutlej at Machhiwara the returning Mughals beat the Afghans of the Sur dynasty, and a month later won again at Sirhind.
Hemu, a Hindu general who had taken Delhi, was winning until an arrow struck his eye; his army broke and the boy Akbar's throne was saved.
The first armed clash of Guru Hargobind's time, fought over the founding of Sri Hargobindpur on the Beas.
Began over a hawk of Shah Jahan's that the Guru's Sikhs would not give back. A Mughal detachment attacked during a wedding in the Guru's family and was beaten off.
Fought in the Malwa over horses the Sikh Bidhi Chand had recovered from imperial stables, which had originally been gifts for the Guru.
Painde Khan, once the Guru's own commander, led a Mughal army against him and was killed. The young Tyag Mal fought so well he was renamed Tegh Bahadur.
A skirmish as the Guru withdrew from Kartarpur towards Kiratpur.