Indian Campaign of Ahmad Shah Durrani

Objectives of his Indian invasions

The reasons for his invasions to India are -

1) Like Muhammad of Ghazni the primary object of his invasion was to plunder India's wealth. India, at that time, was known for his wealth, gold, precious diamonds etc and also to enslave women, men and children to sell them in the markets of Central Asia.

2) Like Muhammad of Ghor, the object of his invasions was to establish political hegemony in India as he was quite familiar with the weak Mughal administration of Delhi.

First Invasion

Durrani raided India in 1748. His army was defeated at the Battle of Manupur (1748) and he had to return home in failure.

Second invasion

Ahmad Shah Durrani was defeated in his first raid of India. Therefore, he marched on India the next year to avenge his defeat. Second invasion resulted in Afghans having control of territory to the west of Indus

Third Invasion

In third invasion, where Sikhs and Adina fought on side from Mir Mannu, against Ahmad Shah Durrani, was more successful and Lahore, Multan was ceded to Ahmad Shah Durrani

Prelude to the fourth invasion

Fourth invasion

Ahmed Shah durrani along with his son Taimur Shah , on invitation by Mughlani Begum -wife of Mir Mannu, late subedar of Punjab Region under Mughal Empire - invaded India in 1756. They ransacked and plundered cities of Lahore, Sirhind, Delhi, Mathura, Vrinadavan. And they were able to take women slaves including daughters of late emperor Muhammad Shah and Alamgir II As the Ahmed Shah durrani and his son resumed their journey homewards, after their attack, Dal Khalsa attacked and robbed them of their treasures and freed hindu women at Sirhind.

Further the troops of Adina Beg and Sikhs fought together against Afghans at Hoshiarpur. Later troops of 20,000 horsemen of Timur Shah Durrani was defeated and captured by Sikhs. This resulted in insecurity in mind of Adina Beg , who invited Marathas, who had taken Delhi to come to Punjab and recapture Lahore. Sikhs and Marathas rout Afghans from Lahore by March 1758. Adina became subedar of Punjab , by promising 75 lacs a year to be paid to Marathas.

Fifth invasion

Sixth invasion

Seventh Invasion (1764-1767)

Ahmed Shah had accompanied Nadir Shah to Delhi in 1739, and had seen the weakness of the ruler there. To pay for the maintenance of the army, he had to conquer new lands. In 1947, Ahmad Shah then began his career as head of the Abdali tribe by capturing Ghazni from the Ghilzai Pashtuns, and then wresting Kabul from the local ruler, and thus strengthened his hold over most of present-day Afghanistan. Leadership of the various Afghan tribes rested mainly on the ability to provide booty for the clan, and Ahmed Shah proved remarkably successful in providing both booty and occupation for his followers. Apart from invading the Punjab three times between the years 1747-1753, he captured territory to the west as well.

In December 1747, Ahmed Shah set out from Peshawar and arrived at the Indus river-crossing at Attock. From there, he sent his messenger to Lahore but reception from Shah Nawaz was frosty. When Ahmed Shah reached the bank of the Ravi on 8th January, 1748, the Lahore army of 70,000 prepared to oppose the invader. The Pashtun army crossed over on the 10th of January and the battle was joined on the 11th. Ahmed Shah had only 30,000 horsemen, and no artillery. But during the battle, a force of 5,000 Pathans of Qasoor under Jamal Khan defected to his side, and he was able to crush the poorly trained forces of Lahore. Shah Nawaz fled to Delhi, and Adina Beg was equally fast in running away to the Jalandhar area.

Ahmed Shah entered the city on the 12th January 1748, and set free Moman Khan and Lakhpat Rai. He then ordered a general massacre. Towards evening, the prominent leaders of the city including Moman Khan, Lakhpat Rai and Surat Singh collected a sum of three million rupees and offered it as expenses to Abdali, requesting him to halt the looting and slaughter. Ahmed Shah appointed Jamal Khan of Qasoor Governor of Lahore, and Lakhpat Rai his minister, and restoring law and order around the town by February 18, he set out towards Delhi. Meanwhile, in the preceding three years, the Sikhs had occupied the city of Lahore, and Ahmed Shah had to return in 1751 to oust them.

Then in 1756/57, in what was his fourth invasion of India, Ahmed Shah sacked Delhi looting every corner of that city and enriching himself with what remained of that city's wealth after Nadir Shah's invasion in 1739. However, he did not displace the Mughal dynasty, which remained in nominal control as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad's suzerainty over the Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir. He installed a puppet Emperor, Alamgir II, on the Mughal throne, and arranged marriages for himself and his son Timur into the Imperial family that same year. Leaving his second son Timur Shah (who was wed to the daughter of Alamgir II) to safeguard his interests, Ahmad finally left India to return to Afghanistan. On his way back, Ahmed Shah captured Amritsar (1757), and sacked the sikhs holy temple of Golden Temple.

As early as by the end of 1761, the Sikhs had begun to occupy much of Punjab. In 1762, Ahmad Shah crossed the passes from Afghanistan for the sixth time to crush the Sikhs. He assaulted Lahore and Amritsar (the holy city of the Sikhs), massacred thousands of Sikh inhabitants, destroyed their temples and again desecrated their holy places. (Citation needed) Within two years, the Sikhs rebelled again, and he launched another campaign against them in December, 1764 resulting in a severe Sikh defeat. However, he was unable to hold his ground and soon had to departed from Punjab and hasten westward to quell an insurrection in Afghanistan.

After the departure of Ahmad Shah Abdali, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia attacked Sirhind and it was razed to ground. The Afghan Governor Zen Khan was killed. This was a great victory for the Sikhs who were rulers of all the area around the Sirhind. Jassa Singh also paid a visit to Hari Mandir at Amritsar, and restored it to original shape after defilement by Ahmad Shah.