हिंदीOn this day
Ruined

Lohgarh, Banda Singh Bahadur’s fort

The hill fort near Sadhaura that Banda Singh Bahadur made the capital of the first Sikh state in 1710, where he struck coins in the names of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh. Bahadur Shah’s army stormed it in December 1710.

Built: 1710, Banda Singh BahadurWhere: Haryana (Yamunanagar district), in the Shivalik foothills30.42° N, 77.30° E
  1. May 1710
  2. 1710
  3. December 1710
Photo: Gaganddpo · CC BY-SA 4.0

01The Khalsa’s capital

Sent north by Guru Gobind Singh from Nanded in 1708, Banda Singh gathered the Sikhs of the Punjab, took Samana and Sadhaura, and in May 1710 defeated and killed Wazir Khan of Sirhind, who had walled up the Guru’s younger sons. He then made the old fort of Mukhlisgarh, in the forested Shivalik hills above Sadhaura, his seat and renamed it Lohgarh, the iron fort. From here he issued a seal and coins naming Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh rather than any king, and gave land to the peasants who tilled it, breaking the hold of the zamindars across the Sirhind country.

02The siege of December 1710

The emperor Bahadur Shah, who had been in the Deccan, hurried north and led a great army against Lohgarh himself. In December 1710 the fort was invested and stormed, but Banda Singh broke out by night and escaped into the hills of Nahan, and the war went on for five more years until his capture at Gurdas Nangal in 1715. Ruins of walls and gateways are scattered over the ridges, and the Haryana government has begun a memorial and heritage project at the site.

The life of this place

  1. May 1710Banda Singh defeats Wazir Khan at Chappar Chiri and takes Sirhind.
  2. 1710Lohgarh becomes the Sikh capital; coins struck in the Gurus’ names.
  3. December 1710Bahadur Shah’s army storms Lohgarh; Banda Singh escapes.

People

Banda Singh BahadurWarrior
1670–1716 CE

Banda Singh Bahadur

Khalsa commander who took Sirhind

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