Battle of Mahilpur

01A faujdar who would not come

Leaving India in 1757, Abdali made his son Timur Shah viceroy of Lahore with Jahan Khan as his deputy. Adina Beg Khan, the shrewd faujdar of the Jalandhar Doab, agreed to pay revenue but refused to attend at Lahore, knowing he might not come back. The Afghans pressed him for more money and arrested his agent Dila Ram. Then they sent troops to seize Adina Beg himself. He withdrew to the Shivalik foothills and called in the Sikh jathas under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, who had their own score to settle with the Afghans.

02Mahilpur and after

The two armies met at Mahilpur, south-east of Hoshiarpur, in December 1757. The Afghans were routed and their commander fell back towards Lahore. The Sikhs followed up by plundering Jalandhar and the towns of the Doab, settling scores for the persecution of earlier years. Adina Beg, now too weak to stand alone against Lahore, invited the Marathas into Punjab. In the spring of 1758 Raghunathrao, Malhar Rao and Adina Beg together drove Timur Shah out of Lahore and across the Indus.