Cite
MLA
“Battle of Kalat.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-kalat-1839/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Kalat. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-kalat-1839/
The citadel was stormed and Mehrab Khan was killed defending it; the British set up a rival claimant as Khan.
01The road through the Bolan
In 1839 the Company’s Army of the Indus marched from Sindh through the Bolan pass and Quetta to put Shah Shuja on the throne of Kabul. The route ran through the lands of Mehrab Khan, the Brahui Khan of Kalat. The British accused him of failing to supply them and of encouraging the tribes who plundered their convoys. When part of the army returned towards India in the autumn, Willshire’s division was ordered to punish him.
02The storm of the citadel
Willshire reached Kalat on 13 November 1839. His infantry drove the Khan’s men off the hills outside the town, and his guns battered the main gate until it gave way. The troops rushed in close behind the retreating defenders, and there was hard fighting through the streets up to the citadel. Mehrab Khan died sword in hand with many of his chiefs. The British put Shah Nawaz Khan, of a rival branch, in his place, but within a year Mehrab Khan’s son Nasir Khan had retaken Kalat.
Kalat secured the Bolan route for a time but stirred up the Baloch country against the British, and showed how thinly the Afghan venture was held together.