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- 12 May 1710 – Sikhs defeated Mughal army at Chappar Chiri
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By Gurmukh Singh (UK)
The Indian Mughal empire never recovered from the defeat inflicted on the Mughal army in the battle of Chappar Chiri near Sirhind, by the people’s Khalsa army led by General Baba Banda Singh Bahadur 300 years ago, on 12 May 1710.The historic battle showed that the well equipped and highly trained Mughal army was not invincible. The foundation for people’s Khalsa raj had been laid by Tenth Nanak, Guru Gobind Singh, who had promised that his “sparrows” i.e. ordinary people armed with the Guru’s egalitarian and liberating ideology, shall hunt and kill the Mughal “hawk”. And so on 12 May 1710, led by one of the greatest generals in human history, the sparrows went for the jugular of the Mughal empire. This was the lifeline of the empire connecting north-west frontier and provincial capital Lahore, with Delhi. Starting with the earlier demise of the significant centre of Mughal aristocracy, Samana (26 November 1709), The Khalsa army held on for nearly six years to end 1715.
- Even in retreat, the Guru showed unmatched military skill at Anandpur, Chamkaur and Muktsar. Despite treachery and false promises of safe passage from Anandpur, the combined forces of the hill rajas and the Mughal army, were unable to capture or kill him in battle.
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