
Battle of Rohilla
The first armed clash of Guru Hargobind's time, fought over the founding of Sri Hargobindpur on the Beas.
Guru Hargobind, after his father's martyrdom, began to arm the Sikhs. He founded the town of Sri Hargobindpur on the Beas on land claimed by a local chief, Bhagwan Das Gherar, who was backed by the Mughal authorities.
When Bhagwan Das and his men attacked the Sikh settlers, they were defeated and Bhagwan Das was killed. His son Ratan Chand and the Mughal faujdar of Jalandhar, Abdulla Khan, came with a larger force to Rohilla on the Beas. In the battle that followed, the Sikhs again won, and Abdulla Khan and his sons were killed.
The date of the battle is disputed, and some Sikh sources place it later. It was the first of Guru Hargobind's battles, and the first time the Sikhs fought as an armed body.
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.

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.

The Guru's first battle, aged about twenty-two. Pir Budhu Shah of Sadhaura fought for him with his followers and lost two sons.