Overview

Banda Singh Bahadur led an armed Sikh uprising against Mughal authority in Punjab from 1708 to 1716. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism identifies imperial news bulletins as one source for this period and cautions that their reports can contain prejudice or misunderstandings. The sections below follow particular episodes in the campaigns and their aftermath.[4]

Chappar Chiri and Sirhind

Chappar Chiri provides a specific point in the campaign chronology. Major Gurmukh Singh’s reference entry dates the battle between Banda Singh Bahadur’s forces and Wazir Khan, the imperial faujdar of Sirhind, to 12 May 1710. Wazir Khan was killed, and the entry places the occupation of Sirhind two days later. It distinguishes this action from the much later commemorative landscape: the twin villages jointly established a gurdwara in the 1950s and added a hall in the 1970s. The site’s religious and educational uses belong to that later history, rather than proving that a surviving shrine was Banda’s battlefield headquarters.[2]

Campaigns and support

The publisher’s summary of Muzaffar Alam’s study places the Sikhs among several groups involved in changes to power in Punjab after Aurangzeb. It also identifies agrarian uprisings, landholding and provincial politics as part of the book’s wider subject. These themes are a reminder to read a military campaign in its political and social setting. A sequence of battles alone does not establish the motives of every participant or explain all changes in local authority. Alam compares Punjab with Awadh; that comparison is a research framework, not evidence that both provinces followed an identical course.[1]

Counter-campaign and blockade

Bhagat Singh’s entry on Abd us-Samad Khan traces the opposing campaign after his appointment as Lahore governor in 1713. It describes pressure on Sadhaura and Lohgarh, retreat into the hills and renewed operations when Banda returned to the plains. The final enclosure was at Gurdas-Nangal, where an extended blockade ended with Banda and his companions captured in December 1715. This was a different situation from an open-field battle at Chappar Chiri. Capture, transfer to Delhi and execution must also remain separate events: 1715 is the capture year, not a substitute date for the later execution described in Banda’s biography.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Muzaffar Alam; Oxford University Press. The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India: Awadh and Punjab, 1707–48 ↗Authored scholarly research · Source date: 2013 second edition; 1986 first edition · Locator: Publisher’s book abstract and chapter list; second edition. Accessed 2026-11-04.The publisher’s abstract and bibliographic record were inspected. The full book and its underlying primary records were not newly reviewed in this check. The earlier third-party copy has been removed.Return to Campaigns and support, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Major Gurmukh Singh (Retd.); Punjabi University, Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Chappar Chiri (30º-45′N,76º-40′E) ↗Signed scholarly reference entry · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Complete short signed entry; battle/occupation dates;1950 s gurdwara and 1970 s hall/school/library paragraph; author footer. Accessed 2026-11-02.Actual source body inspected at the stated locators. Older administrative boundaries should not be assumed to match current districts, and header coordinates do not identify a precise battle location.Return to Chappar Chiri and Sirhind, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Bhagat Singh; Punjabi University, Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Abd us-Samad Khan (d.1737) ↗Signed scholarly reference entry · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Complete signed entry;1713 appointment and son’s Jammu posting; Sadhaura/Lohgarh, Batala and Gurdas-Nangal campaign paragraphs;1726 transfer/succession; author footer. Accessed 2026-11-02.Actual source body inspected at the stated locators. Army, prisoner and execution counts and a precise calendar conversion are not asserted; the original Akhbar-i-Darbar and Irvine were not independently read.Return to Counter-campaign and blockade, paragraph 1 ↑
  4. Bhagat Siṅgh; Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, Punjabi University. Akhbar-i-Darbar-i-Mualla ↗reference entry on historical records · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Opening paragraphs on imperial bulletins, Banda Singh and interpretive cautions. Accessed 2026-11-05.Reference entry inspected; manuscript bulletins were not independently examined. The encyclopedia entry’s author signature was rechecked.Return to Overview, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-HIS-0060 · English edition · human review not performed