Battle of Shaidu

01The tribes gather

After Akora Khattak, Syed Ahmad’s call brought in Yusufzai and Khattak tribesmen in great numbers, and the Barakzai brothers who ruled Peshawar as tributaries of Lahore joined him too. The Sikh commander Budh Singh Sandhanwalia, holding Hazro and the road to Attock, dug in and waited for reinforcements. Gulab Singh and Suchet Singh, the Dogra brothers, came up with fresh troops, along with the Attariwala sardars. For some days the tribesmen pressed the Sikh entrenchments.

02The break at Shaidu

When battle was joined in March 1827, Yar Muhammad Khan of Peshawar pulled his men out and left the field, and his withdrawal opened the tribal line. The disciplined Sikh infantry and guns pushed forward, and the host broke and scattered into the hills with heavy loss. Syed Ahmad, who his own letters say was ill that day, was carried from the field. Lahore was lit up in celebration. Never again could Syed Ahmad bring such a gathering into the open against the Sikhs.

Dynasty · 1822–1952 CE (Maharajas of Jammu and Kashmir from 1846)Dogras of Jammu and KashmirGulab Singh, a Dogra Rajput in Ranjit Singh’s service, was made Raja of Jammu in 1822 and Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir by the treaty of Amritsar in 1846. His general Zorawar Singh carried the Dogra flag across Ladakh to the edge of Tibet, and his great-grandson Hari Singh signed the state into India in October 1947.Read →