Battle of Gujranwala
The Afghan governor besieged Charat Singh's new fort at Gujranwala and was routed when the Dal Khalsa came to relieve it.
After Panipat, Abdali left Khwaja Abed Khan as governor of Lahore. In September 1761, Charat Singh, chief of the Sukerchakia misl, was fortifying his new base at Gujranwala.
Abed Khan marched with a large army to destroy the fort and besieged it. The other Sikh misls rushed to Charat Singh's aid, attacked the besiegers from outside, and the Afghan army broke and fled, abandoning its guns and baggage.
The Sikhs followed up by taking Lahore, where they struck coins in the name of the Guru and proclaimed Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Sultan-ul-Qaum. Abdali would return in fury the next year.
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.
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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.