The Afghan-Maratha conflict and Haryana | HPSC Preparation: All subjects - HPSC (Haryana) PDF Download

The Rise of Ahmad Shah and his Expeditions into India

• During the middle of the eighteenth century, the anarchical conditions in India, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, made it easier for Ahmad Shah, an Afghan chief of the Abdali clan, to carry out his ambitious plan. 
• Ahmad Shah had risen to power in Afghanistan after the assassination of Nadir Shah in 1747, and he was styled by the darvish Shah Muhammad Sabir as Durrani Padishah or the "Pearl among kings." Ahmad Shah had witnessed the weakness and ineffectiveness of the central administration of the Mughals while accompanying Nadir Shah to India.
• After consolidating his position at home, Ahmad Shah planned a series of expeditions into India. These expeditions were not mere predatory raids but a signal of the revival of the Afghans as formidable rivals to the Hindu forces, especially to the Marathas, who were making a fresh bid for supremacy on the ruins of the Mughal Empire.
• In 1748, Ahmad Shah led his first invasion of India with a force of 12,000 horsemen after conquering Qandhar, Kabul, and Peshawar. Muhammad Shah, the Mughal Emperor, sent an army led by Qamruddin Khan, Safdar Jang (Subahdar of Oudh), Iswari Singh (Raja of Jaipur), and Nasir Khan (former Governor of Kabul) to oppose him. The imperial army received news of Lahore's fall at Narela and was overtaken by Prince Ahmad at Sonepat, who then took command. The desertion of Ali Muhammad Ruhela, the Sarhind faujdar, was known at Karnal.
• The imperial army marched northwards from Sarhind on 27th February and reached Sarhind on March 2. Ahmad Shah Abdali was able to capture Sarhind on the same day. Even after the fall of Lahore and Sarhind, the imperial army continued its advance. During the struggle, Qamruddin lost his life, but his son Muin-ul-mulk continued the fight. In a significant encounter at Manupur, Muin defeated the Afghans and compelled Ahmad Shah Abdali to retreat. 
• Consequently, Muin was appointed as the governor of Punjab, but before he could establish his authority, Ahmad Shah invaded Punjab again in 1750 and occupied it. Unsupported by the Delhi court, the Punjab governor found all resistance futile and surrendered to the invader. Abdali made his third invasion of India in 1751, defeated Muin again, conquered Kashmir, and compelled Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah to cede him the subahs of Lahore and Multan. 
• Muin was then left as Abdali's governor in Lahore with the promise to send the surplus revenue of Punjab to the victor and not to take significant actions without his final orders. During the Abdali invasion, the Sikhs took advantage of the situation between December 1751 to March 1752 and resumed their looting activities. 
• Adina Beg, the cunning governor of Jullundhur Doaby, sought their assistance and gathered a large number of them to carry out extensive raids in the neighboring regions of Punjab and Haryana. This period saw the concept of "Might is Right" being brutally enforced as the Mughal authority was crumbling. Despite efforts by Alamgir II and his wazir Imad-ul-mulk to restore government authority, they were unsuccessful.

The Attack on Qutb Shah

• Qutb Shah, who had received an imperial grant for some lands in the Saharanpur and Mirat districts, was the first rebel to be attacked. The wazir, Imad, transferred these grants to the Marathas, which forced Qutb to seek his fortune elsewhere. He crossed the Jamuna, entered the Sarhind district, and began seizing villages. 
• In response, the wazir's Sindagh regiment was sent to drive him away but, in the course of their advance, they began plundering innocent people in Panipat and other towns. They eventually attacked Qutb near Kamal on March 11, 1755, and were close to victory due to their numerical advantage when a sudden sand-storm erupted, causing confusion in the Turk army, which fled in panic to Sonipat, abandoning their baggage and tents to be plundered. 
• Qutb Shah, who had emerged victorious from his battle with the wazir's Sindagh regiment, marched towards Thanesar with his spoils. He left a strong garrison in Karnal and collected tributes from wealthy villages on his way to Sarhind. Sadiq Beg Khan, the faujdar, abandoned the city along with his Afghan troops and sought refuge with Adina Beg in Punjab. Qutb Shah took control of Sarhind and the surrounding districts and ruled them justly. 
• He punished the powerful troublemakers and made the roads safe for the poor, ensuring that his followers did not oppress them. Qutb Shah then crossed the Satlej river and attacked Adina Beg, but he suffered a crushing defeat. Adina Beg now had the upper hand. 
• Adina Beg advanced to the east of the Sutlej and assumed control over the administration of the Sarhind district, which included areas such as Thanesar, Mustafabad, and Ghuram. He established his rule in this region and demanded tribute from the people. It is unclear how much tribute was imposed on the poor and downtrodden population residing in this area.

The Wazir's Cowardice

• The wazir received news of the defeat of his troops against Qutb in Delhi, causing him to urge the Emperor to join him immediately in fighting the rebels. However, being essentially a coward, the wazir only discussed plans for recovering lost territories without resorting to actual fighting. Despite advice from Kamgar Khan and Najib Khan to demonstrate force against the rebels, their pleas were ignored. When the wazir reached Fakhru garden outside Sonipat, he was informed of Qutb's defeat by Adina Beg. 
• The wazir then moved on with the Emperor to Panipat to deal with a rebellion from his unpaid soldiers, who had mutinied. The wazir ordered his Badakhashi captains to bring their troops to the muster and receive payment according to their actual number. However, they resisted, as they wanted to continue their dishonest gains. They mobbed the wazir, insulted and abused him, and paraded him through the streets. 
• They demanded immediate payment of their salaries and did not listen to the Emperor's advice. The wazir somehow escaped from the mutineers and, with the help of Najib and Bahadur Khan Baluch, severely punished the Badakhshis, confiscating their officers as well. In late 1755, Imad led a march towards Punjab through Luni, Shamli, Kairana, and Ramraghat. 
• While at the last location, he sent orders demanding tribute from Najabat Khan, the zamindar of Kunjpura. Imad, accompanied by Ali Gauhar, crossed the Jamuna and passed through Panipat and Ambala before reaching Sarhind on February 7, 1756. During this time, his ally Adina Beg had taken over Lahore by driving out Abdali's agents. Imad was successful in his Punjab expedition, and he returned to Delhi at the end of June 1756.

Imad-ul-mulk’s conquest of Punjab

• Following the death of Muin in November 1753 and his infant son and successor Muhammad Amin Khan in May 1754, the province of Punjab fell into a state of chaos and lawlessness due to the regent mother Mughlani Begam's arbitrary behavior. 
• To restore order, Imad-ul-mulk marched to Punjab and established his authority over the province. He appointed Mir Mumin Khan, the prominent nobleman of Lahore, as the subahdar of the province.

Ahmad Shah Abdali's Fourth Invasion of India

• In November 1756, Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded India for the fourth time after being enraged by the change in the administrative set up made by Imad-ul-mulk. With greater determination, he arrived before Delhi on January 23, 1757. 
• The fact that Abdali marched from Attock to Delhi without any resistance only highlights the extent of the degradation of the imperial authority. The first opposition he encountered came from Antaji Manakeshwar, the commander of a Maratha contingent of 5000 troops, who had been summoned by the emperor to check the progress of the invader. Antaji marched along the road to Karnal. An Afghan advance guard, led by Jahan Khan, was moving towards the capital city from different directions in several groups. 
• One of these groups clashed with Antaji's troops at Narcla, resulting in the loss of about a hundred men and horses. On his way back, Antaji was attacked by Najib. Finally, he took refuge in a fortified place called Faridabad, which belonged to Surajmal. A Durrani force was sent to besiege the town, but it was defeated by the combined army of Marathas and Jats. In response, Abdali sent Jahan Khan with a force of 20,000 soldiers. 
• Abdali’s forces engaged in a battle with the Jats and Marathas, resulting in the Jats and Marathas retreating first to Mathura, and then to Kumbher fort. Faridabad was burned down in retaliation by the Afghan army, and Surajmal submitted diplomatically, while his son Jawahar Singh attacked and captured almost 150 Afghan horses. 
• Abdali then appointed Abdus Samad to deal with the Jat problem, which resulted in a massacre of Jat towns including Bulandshahr, Mathura, Ballabhgarh, Brindaban, Gokul and Agra. The government failed to perform their duty and nature came to the rescue of the people as the Jamuna river became filled with dead bodies, polluting the water and leading to a cholera outbreak in the Afghan army with a high death toll.
• Abdali made the decision to leave, after having looted the city and causing suffering to its inhabitants once again. He managed to obtain from the Mughal Emperor the formal transfer of Panjab, Kashmir, Sind and Sarhind. This gave Abdali's kingdom control over the eastern boundary that now extended to the Jamuna river up to the vicinity of Panipat, which was assigned to Abdus Samad Khan for its administration.
• Abdali was able to obtain a sum of 20 lakhs from Najabat Khan, the zamindar of Kunjapura, before leaving India in April 1757 with a lot of booty and prisoners. He left his son Timur Shah and Jahan Khan, an able Afghan general, as the viceroy and wazir respectively in Lahore. 
• Ahmad Shah Abdali had confirmed Alamgir II in his office and had earlier appointed Ali Gauhar, his son, as Chancellor of the Empire. Ali Gauhar, who was the ablest son of the emperor, could have restored the dignity of his house if he had an army and treasury of his own and the freedom to reform the administration. 
• However, the disloyal and selfish wazir did not provide him with any of these and instead pursued him with deadly hostility, ultimately driving him out of Delhi. In this context, we will only discuss Gauhar's wanderings in southeast Haryana, which are relevant to our subject.

Ali Gauhar's Visit to Baluch Settlements in Southeast Haryana

• In May 1757, Ali Gauhar traveled to the Baluch settlements located in the southeast Haryana to collect revenue from his jagirs there. At first, Hasan Ali Khan, the zamindar of Jhajjar, who was the nephew of Kamgar, avoided paying tribute to him. However, later he agreed to pay after Satbhami, the widow of the late Sitararn Khazanchij of Kalina, set an example. 
• Despite Ali Gauhar's efforts, his further advance to the Hissar district did not produce any results as the villagers fled to the hills due to the lack of provisions for the troops. The prince then proceeded to Kanod, where he established a small garrison. From there, he went to Narnaul, which was deserted by the officers of the Jaipur Raja. 
• Ali Gauhar traveled to the Baluch settlements in southeast Haryana to obtain his jagirs there in May 1757. Hasan Ali Khan initially avoided paying tribute to him, but later agreed to pay following Satbhami's example. However, when the prince moved to the Hissar district, the villagers fled to the hills, and there were no provisions for the troops. 
• He then went to Kanod, left a small garrison there, and proceeded to Narnaul, which was vacated by the Jaipur Raja’s officers. But the plunder of the innocent people led to the anger of the Jaipur troops, who put an end to the prince’s outpost at Kanod and forced him to flee to Rewari and Farm-khnagar. Next, he attacked Auliya Khan Baluch of Dadri, secured a promise of 50 lakhs as tribute, and went to Jhajjar to restore his outpost there. 
• However, the news of these events reached the court, and the wazir forced the Emperor to issue orders for recalling the prince. The Baluchs, emboldened by this, robbed the prince of his baggage outside Jhajjar, while his soldiers plundered the surrounding villages. In the meantime, Ali Gauhar bribed Vithal Shivdev, Raghunath Rao’s lieutenant, to support his cause. 
• The wazir, on the other hand, promised a reward of six lakhs to Vithal Shivdev for abandoning Ali Gauhar's cause. However, Vithal Shivdev did not abandon Ali Gauhar, and after facing war's attack in Delhi, the prince escaped to the Maratha camp, where full protection was provided.

The Prince's Rebellion and Journey to Oudh

• After the wazir declared the prince a rebel, the prince and his Maratha ally Vithal Shivdev decided to march to the Baluch settlements in southwest Haryana. They fought and obtained a promise of Rs. 2,60,000 from Mirza Khan and other relatives of the zamindar Musavi Khan Baluch in Farrukhnagar, and received gifts and provisions sent by Suraj Mai with his son Ratan Singh in Pataiidi.  
• Throughout the first half of June 1758, the prince and Vithal Shivdev roamed in Haryana, including Farrukhnagar, Rewari, Nahra, and Dadri, pillaging villages and collecting contributions whenever possible. However, Vithal Shivdeo, who had received orders from his chief Raghunath Rao (who had already sided with the wazir) to bring the prince along with him, did not follow through. 
• Instead, he left a small escort for the prince under his own son and departed from Dadri on June 16. By this time, most of the prince's followers had abandoned him. He then went to Hissar, where the Raja of Bikaner initially refused to provide him with asylum but later relented. The prince then gathered a small force, reached Kunjapura on July 31, and eventually received the hospitality of Najib before finally traveling to Oudh.  
• Upon hearing of Vithal Shivdev's departure, the wazir decided to oppose the prince and also convinced the Emperor to join him. The Emperor made his way to Kot Kalan, near Jahjjar, while the wazir went to Bahadurgarh. After discovering that the prince had already moved beyond Jamiina, the wazir began to extract tributes from the villages and engage in fights if the villagers refused to comply. He attacked Jhajjar, Dadri Kalina, and other places on the Rohtak-Gurgaon border, collecting over two lakhs of rupees until they reached Hissar. 
• There, the wazir faced strong resistance from the villagers who defended themselves behind mud walls, which could only be overcome by artillery fire. Taking advantage of the separation of the Emperor and his wazir, the people of Bhiwani refused to let the sovereign enter their villages, and the local population looted the baggage of the imperial army. On November 22, 1758, the Bhattis from the Ghaggar region attacked the Delhi camp, causing great suffering to the imperialists and forcing them to abandon their project and return to the capital. 
• During Timur's one-year administration, from May 1757 to April 1758, there was complete lawlessness and disorder. The Sikhs rebelled from all sides after their saint Sodhi Barbhag Singh of Kartarpur was mistreated and their holy shrine was destroyed. These fanatical outrages, committed by Jahan Khan, led to retaliatory actions by the Sikhs, who then joined Adina Beg Khan. Adina Beg Khan offered them a heavy tribute and a share in the loot. 
• Adina Beg Khan was already suspicious of Jahan Khan and avoided attending his court, but he was willing to undertake the administration of the Juliundhar doab. Together with his Sikh allies, he decided to take a strong stance against the Afghans. Adina Beg was a skilled diplomat who anticipated a new Durrani invasion to regain control of Punjab. 
• He realized that the only power capable of meeting this challenge was the Marathas, who had a contingent under Raghunath Rao in Delhi at the time, planning to conquer Punjab to secure their hold on the capital. In the first week of January 1757, Adina Beg contacted Malhar Rao, who was touring in the Karnal district, and repeatedly requested Raghunath Rao to extend the Maratha dominions to the Khaibar Pass. 
• He promised to pay one lakh rupees for every day of marching and fifty thousand rupees for halting. Raghunath Rao accepted Adina Beg's offer. It is worth reviewing the circumstances that led to the Marathas' entry into Delhi's politics and their subsequent appearance in Haryana.