Battle of Lahira (Mehraj)
Fought in the Malwa over horses the Sikh Bidhi Chand had recovered from imperial stables, which had originally been gifts for the Guru.
Bhai Bidhi Chand had recovered for Guru Hargobind two famous horses, Dilbagh and Gulbagh, which had been taken for the Mughal stables in Lahore. The governor sent a force under Lalla Beg and Qamar Beg to punish the Guru, who was then in the Malwa, near Mehraj and Lahira in the dry country near Bathinda.
The Guru's men held the only water in the area, a pool, and the Mughals, tormented by thirst in the summer heat, attacked again and again. Lalla Beg and Qamar Beg were both killed, and the Mughal force retreated with heavy losses.
Gurdwara Gurusar at Lahira marks the battlefield. It was the second Sikh victory in a year and established the Guru's reputation in the Malwa.
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.
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.
The Guru's first battle, aged about twenty-two. Pir Budhu Shah of Sadhaura fought for him with his followers and lost two sons.