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Battle of Sialkot (1763)

VictorSikh mislsCharat Singh Sukerchakia, with Jhanda Singh and Gujjar Singh Bhangi
1763vs
Durrani armyJahan Khan

Abdali’s veteran general Jahan Khan came into the Rachna Doab to punish the Sikhs and was beaten near Sialkot so badly that he left even his family behind.

Date: November 1763Where: Sialkot, Punjab (now in Pakistan)Type: Battle
Photo: Unknown scribe and artist · Public domain
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Cite

MLA

“Battle of Sialkot (1763).” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-sialkot-1763/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Sialkot (1763). Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-sialkot-1763/

Result

Jahan Khan was routed and fled, leaving his camp and his family in Sikh hands.

01Jahan Khan’s expedition

In 1763 the misls were everywhere in Punjab. The Buddha Dal under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia overran the Jalandhar Doab, and other jathas sacked Kasur. Abdali sent Jahan Khan, who had fought the Marathas and Sikhs for years, to restore Afghan authority. He crossed into the Rachna Doab in November 1763 and made straight for Sialkot. Charat Singh, at Gujranwala, called on the Bhangi sardars Jhanda Singh and Gujjar Singh, and together they fell on the Afghans by surprise.

02The rout

In the fighting at Sialkot Jahan Khan’s horse was shot from under him and he fell. His men lost heart and fled, and he escaped with them, leaving his camp, his baggage and the women of his household behind. The Sikh sardars sent the Afghan women safely to Jammu. The Dal Khalsa then turned south, besieged Malerkotla and killed its chief Bhikhan Khan for his part in the Ghallughara, and early in 1764 took Sirhind and killed Zain Khan.

Why it matters

Sialkot broke the last Afghan field army west of the Sutlej, and in the next year the misls became masters of most of Punjab.

Places near the battlefield 4

Raghunath Temple, JammuStanding
Company rule and the war of 1857

Raghunath Temple, Jammu

A complex of seven shrines in the heart of Jammu, raised by the first two Dogra Maharajas, whose gilded spires gave Jammu the name City of Temples. Its library of Sanskrit manuscripts is one of the great collections of the north.

JammuStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Jammu

The city of temples on the Tawi, seat of the Dogra rajas from whom Gulab Singh built a Himalayan state reaching Ladakh, Baltistan and Kashmir. Its Raghunath temple, begun in 1835, holds one of the great Sanskrit manuscript libraries of the north.

Bawe Wali Mata (Mahakali), Bahu Fort, JammuStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Bawe Wali Mata (Mahakali), Bahu Fort, Jammu

The Kali temple inside Bahu Fort, on the cliff above the Tawi, is the guardian goddess of Jammu. Jammu people call her Bawe Wali Mata, and after Vaishno Devi she draws the largest crowds in the region.

GujranwalaStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Gujranwala

The town north of Lahore where the Sukerchakia chiefs built their fort, where Maharaja Ranjit Singh was born on 13 November 1780 and Hari Singh Nalwa in 1791. Its Hindu and Sikh people left at Partition in 1947.