The image of Ahmad Shah Durrani has been largely shaped and dominated by 20th-century Indian writings. Indian authors portrayed the Sikh misls as dauntless heroes and Ahmad Shah Abdali as a hideous villain. One historical event that they have distorted is a battle referred to as the "Vadda Ghallughara" by the Sikhs. The Indian editors of Wikipedia describe it as follows: "Vadda Ghalughara was the mass murder of unarmed Sikhs by the Afghan forces of the Durrani Empire."

Upon examining the original 18th-century sources, I found that the Sikh portrayal of the Vadda Ghallughara, repeated by their Indian countrymen, is nothing more than a falsification of the facts. What is claimed to have been a massacre or genocide of unarmed innocents was, in reality, a battle between two armies on a battlefield. The so-called "foreign invasion," as described by Indian and Sikh historians, was in fact a military expedition by Ahmad Shah Durrani to one of the provinces of his empire in 1762, undertaken to restore law and order disrupted by Sikh marauders.

The war of Panipat (1759–1761) and the growth of Sikh marauders

In March–April 1758, the Marathas expelled the Afghans from Punjab and appointed Adina Beg Khan—who had invited them against the Afghans—as their governor. The Khalsa Sikhs, as a result of their conflict with the Mughals, had turned into roving bands of marauders surviving on looting and pillaging. Adina Beg, commonly viewed as a Mughal but in fact a Punjabi Muslim from the Arain caste, developed relations with the Sikhs and allowed them to grow and prosper in the Jalandhar Doab, a territory assigned to him by his Mughal overlords. His aim was to undermine and erode Mughal authority in the region through the anarchy caused by the Sikh marauders.

Although raised in a Mughal household and in service to the Mughals, Adina Beg secretly worked against them. His schemes were disrupted when a much more powerful force—the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani—took over Punjab. Adina Beg continued to support the Sikh marauders to weaken Afghan rule. However, realizing that he and his Sikh allies were insufficient to dislodge the Afghans, he invited the Marathas to invade Punjab. The Marathas appointed him governor of Punjab. Having no further use for the Sikh marauders, he then resolved to exterminate them. The seventy-five lakh rupees he was required to collect from Punjab for his Maratha overlords could not be realized while the Sikh marauders, disruptors of peace and economy, remained active.

He therefore launched a massive operation against the Khalsa Sikhs, but within a few months he died of dysentery, and the Khalsa Sikhs remained active. In October 1759, Ahmad Shah Durrani re-took Punjab from the Marathas and engaged in war with them for the next fifteen months. The absence of both Afghans and Marathas from Punjab during this period gave the Sikhs a great opportunity to recover from their losses and gain further strength. Since Sikhs were strongly associated with loot and plunder, a large number of highway robbers, thieves, and other criminal elements of Punjab joined their ranks and adopted Sikhism merely for the sake of plunder. Thus, their numbers grew exponentially.

When Ahmad Shah Durrani won the Battle of Panipat and returned to Punjab, the Sikhs hid in the Shiwalik hills and the Malwa desert. Once Durrani returned to Afghanistan, the Sikhs emerged from their hiding places and resumed bloodshed and plunder in Punjab.

Sikh marauders besiege Jindiala

In January 1762, about eighty thousand Sikh warriors besieged the fortified town of Jandiala, located twelve miles east of Amritsar. The majority of the town’s population was Muslim, and cow meat was consumed by the townspeople—something that greatly infuriated the Sikhs. The chief of the fortified town was Guru Aqil Das, who belonged to the Niranjani sect. Since this sect advocated peace and friendship with Muslims, and permitted the slaughter of cows for food in Jindiala, the town incurred the wrath and enmity of the Khalsa Sikhs. Guru Aqil Das had pledged allegiance to Ahmad Shah Durrani, and the Khalsa Sikhs regarded him as an enemy for these various reasons. According to the author of Tarikh-i-Husain Shahi, the number of Sikhs besieging Jandiala was around 80,000.

Ahmad Shah Durrani responds to Sikh disturbances

Ahmad Shah Durrani set out from Afghanistan after receiving news of the disturbances created by the Sikhs and the defeat of some of his officers at their hands in Punjab. Upon entering Punjab, he learned about the situation in Jandiala. Since the Muslim inhabitants were likely to be burnt alive by the Sikhs as punishment for cow slaughter if the town fell, Ahmad Shah Durrani hastened his march toward Jandiala. When the Sikhs received word of his arrival near Lahore, they lifted the siege of Jandiala and fled. By the time Ahmad Shah Durrani reached the town, the Sikhs had already abandoned it. From Jandiala, he dispatched his spies to gather intelligence about the destination and movements of the large Sikh force. He remained in Jandiala for three days.

Meanwhile, the fleeing Sikh marauders reached the vicinity of Malerkotla and began pillaging the surrounding villages. The author of Tahmas-nama, who was present in Sirhind at the time, records that the number of Sikhs and their supporters had swelled to 150,000 cavalry and infantry. When Zain Khan Mohmand, the governor of Sirhind, was informed that the Sikhs were engaged in plunder and bloodshed near Malerkotla, he set out from Sirhind with ten to fifteen thousand cavalry and infantry to confront them. Bhikhan Khan, the Nawab of Malerkotla (a Pashtun descendant), also joined Zain Khan. They encamped at Malerkotla, while the Sikhs established their camp at a distance of seven kos from them.

18th-century Punjab map showing Jindiala

The Battle of Green Leaves (1762): Ahmad Shah Durrani vs Sikh Forces

Ahmad Shah Durrani was informed by his spies that the Sikh marauders who had fled from Jandiala had gathered at the village of Kup in Malerkotla, where they had besieged Zain Khan Mohmand, Bhikhan Khan, Murtaza Khan Barech, and other chieftains. The Sikhs had always avoided engaging in a pitched battle with Ahmad Shah Durrani and would turn tail at his approach. The Sikh army near Malerkotla was confident that Ahmad Shah would either return to Afghanistan from Jandiala or, if he advanced toward Sirhind, they would learn of his movements in time and escape, as they had done in the past. But this time, Ahmad Shah was determined not to let them get away. He resolved to launch a surprise attack.

In just 36 hours, he covered a distance of 240 kilometers and crossed two rivers, catching the Sikh army at Malerkotla completely off guard. Before the attack, Ahmad Shah sent messengers to Zain Khan, instructing him to launch an assault on the Sikhs the following morning and keep them engaged until his arrival. Furthermore, Zain Khan’s Punjabi soldiers were ordered to place green leaves or grass on their heads so that Ahmad Shah’s Uzbek soldiers could distinguish them from the Sikhs and avoid killing them by mistake. Because of this, the battle came to be known among Pashtuns as Da Shne Panray Jagra—“the Battle of the Green Leaf.”

Ahmad Shah’s sudden appearance on the battlefield struck fear into the hearts of the Sikhs, who immediately fled. Despite being exhausted from their forced march of 240 kilometers without rest, the Afghans pursued and attacked them relentlessly. The author of Tahmas-nama, an eyewitness to these events, records that the Sikhs were either attempting to escape or reciting the Kalima of Islam and begging for their lives. The Afghans pursued them as far as the fort of Barnala, killing about thirty thousand Sikh warriors. However, as evening fell and darkness spread, the Afghans did not advance beyond Barnala, allowing the majority of the Sikh force to escape with their lives.

"Vadda Ghallughara": Sikh army or civilians?

Sikhs refer to this battle as Vadda Ghallughara, meaning “the Great Massacre.” Modern Sikh writers have begun to claim that the thirty thousand Sikhs killed in this battle were mostly women, children, and unarmed elderly men. This claim, however, is false. None of the 18th- or early 19th-century sources mention the presence of Sikh women or children on the battlefield.

Tahmas Khan, the author of Tahmas-nama—who personally participated in the battle—records only the presence of Sikh cavalry and infantry. His account makes no mention of Sikh women or children.

Similarly, the author of Siyar al-Mutakhireen (written in 1780) describes only Sikh cavalry and infantry taking part in the battle. He writes:

"But as the territory of Lahor was known to be the spot where the Abdalies, first of all, landed in their expeditions towards Hindostan, the Syks thought proper to evacuate it entirely; and repairing to the country of Rohy, a district of very difficult access, they took possession of a very strong fort in it, and assembled there from all parts, to the number of two lacs of men, cavalry and infantry. But this did not deter the Abdali-king. Informed of their retreat, as well as of their But are numbers, he measured ninety cosses of ground in two days, and falling upon those free-booters the moment he was least expected, he drew smoke from their breasts". [Ghulam Hussain Khan, Siyar al-Mutakhireen, English trans. Haji Mutafa, Vol. 4, p. 3]

In 1787, James Browne translated a Persian manuscript written in 1784; that work also refers solely to the presence of a Sikh army on the battlefield. It states:

"The Durrany Shah sent thirty thousand horse under his conduct, who marching seventy crores (one hundred and forty miles) almost without (L) intermission, surprized the army of the Sicks, at a place called Barnala, and put great numbers to the sword55 ; the rest as usual, dispersed for atime; after which, the Shah proceeded to Sirhind." [James Browne, History of the Origin and Progress of the Sikhs, p. 38]

To support their claims, Sikh writers often cite Panth Prakash, a poetic work written in 1841 by the Sikh author Ratan Singh. However, Panth Prakash is filled with fictitious and exaggerated details and is not considered an authentic or reliable source for 18th-century events. Moreover, Panth Prakash itself clearly states that the Sikhs had left their families in Malwa before confronting Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1762. [Sr Guru Panth Prakash, English translation by Kulwant Singh, Vol. 2, p. 483]

The confusion arises from its reference to the Afghan attack on the Sikh baheer (بہیر)—a term meaning baggage-train. In military usage, the baggage-train contained weapons, equipment, provisions, loot, servants, and artisans, not families. Sikh writers have misinterpreted baheer as meaning “families,” which is a distortion of the text. As Panth Prakash itself states, Sikh families were left behind in Malwa.

It is important to remember that Sikh warfare against the Afghans in the 18th century was based on swift, hit-and-run tactics. Their women and children never accompanied them into areas that could turn into battlefields. The speed with which the Sikhs fled from Jandiala to Malerkotla also demonstrates that they were not encumbered by families. Moreover, the Sikhs knew that Afghans would not slaughter women and children but would enslave them, taking them to Afghanistan and Turkistan for sale. For this reason, Sikh families were always left in the Shiwalik Hills or Malwa desert when the warriors went out to fight.

If Sikh women and children had been present on the battlefield near Malerkotla, the Afghans would certainly have enslaved them, and contemporary historians of the 18th century would have recorded it—just as some, such as the author of Siyar al-Mutakhireen, documented the enslavement of Maratha women after the Battle of Panipat.

Artistic depiction of Vadda Ghallughara
Vadda Ghallughara imagined by a modern Sikh artist
Battlefield depiction of Vadda Ghallughara

References

  • Sikh History from Persian Sources, edited by J.S. Grewal & Irfan Habib
  • The Siyar-ul-Mutakherin, history of the Mahomedan power in India
  • Fall of the Mughal Empire, Vol.2 by Jadunath Sarkar
  • Panth Prakash by Rattan Singh Bhangu
  • History of the Origin and Progress of the Sikhs by James Browne
  • Waqiat-i-Durrani (Urdu translation of Tarikh Hussain Shahi)
  • Tahmas Namah