हिंदीOn this day

Battle of Hasan Abdal (1813)

VictorDurrani Afghans of KabulWazir Fateh Khan Barakzai
1813vs
Sikh outpostBhayya Ram Singh

A prelude to the Battle of Attock. Fateh Khan’s Afghans fell on the Sikh detachment at Hasan Abdal, on the road between Rawalpindi and the Indus, and took its horses and arms.

Date: June 1813Where: Hasan Abdal, Attock district (now in Pakistan)Type: Battle
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
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Cite

MLA

“Battle of Hasan Abdal (1813).” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-hasan-abdal-1813/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Hasan Abdal (1813). Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-hasan-abdal-1813/

Result

The Afghans overran the Sikh post at Hasan Abdal, but a month later were beaten near Attock.

01The race for Attock

In 1813 Ranjit Singh and the Kabul wazir Fateh Khan had agreed to campaign together in Kashmir, and fell out over the spoils. Ranjit Singh then bought Attock fort on the Indus from its Afghan governor. Fateh Khan turned back to retake it. Hasan Abdal, a small town west of Rawalpindi known for the Panja Sahib shrine, was held by a Sikh outpost under Bhayya Ram Singh.

02The post overrun

In June the Afghans attacked the Sikh post at Hasan Abdal. Accounts are thin, but they agree that the Sikhs were beaten and lost their horses, camels and arms to Fateh Khan. The Afghans then blockaded Attock and cut its supplies. The Sikh relief force under Dewan Mokham Chand came up, and on 13 July 1813 it defeated Fateh Khan at Haidaru near Attock.

The Sikh Empire (Sarkar-i-Khalsa)
Dynasty · 1799–1849 CEThe Sikh Empire (Sarkar-i-Khalsa)Ranjit Singh took Lahore in 1799 and was proclaimed Maharaja of the Punjab in 1801. He united the Sikh misls into one state, pushed the Afghans back beyond the Khyber, and built the last great Indian army to face the British; ten years after his death the empire was annexed in 1849.Read →
Why it matters

A small loss before a decisive win: Attock stayed Sikh, and the Indus became the frontier of Ranjit Singh’s kingdom.

People 1

Maharaja Ranjit SinghRuler
1780–1839 CE; Maharaja 1801–1839

Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Founder of the Sikh empire

Places near the battlefield 4

Takshashila (Taxila)Excavated
Janapadas and the Rise of Magadha

Takshashila (Taxila)

The great city of learning of Gandhara, where Chanakya taught, Jivaka studied medicine and, says the Mahabharata, Vaishampayana first recited the Bharata to Janamejaya. Its three excavated cities, Bhir Mound, Sirkap and Sirsukh, lie outside Rawalpindi.

HaripurStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Haripur

The town Hari Singh Nalwa founded in 1822 when Ranjit Singh made him governor of Hazara, with a fort to hold the hill country between the Indus and Kashmir. It was the headquarters of Hazara until the British took the Punjab.

Waihind (Udabhandapura, Hund)Ruined
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Waihind (Udabhandapura, Hund)

Udabhandapura, the Waihind of the Arab writers, on the right bank of the Indus above Attock, was the capital of the Hindu Shahi kings Jayapala and Anandapala. Near it in 1008–09 Anandapala’s allied army fought Mahmud of Ghazni and lost.

Attock FortStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Attock Fort

The fort over the Indus crossing where Maratha horsemen watered their horses in 1758 and the Sikh army beat the Afghans in 1813. To say a thing ‘reached Attock’ became a Marathi way of saying it reached the farthest frontier.