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52-469: During the early-to-mid 18th century, the term was used to refer to a leader of a Jatha . However, it began to be replaced by titles, such as Sardar , due to Afghan influence from the mid-18th century onwards. The terms "jatha" and "jathedar" were revived during the Singh Sabha Movement to refer to "bands of preachers and choirs", an association which survives until the present-day. However, during

104-502: A battle against Durrani forces. In the Sikh tradition, a Jatha refers to a group of Sikh volunteers working together for a common cause, whether that cause is violent or peaceful. The term was already in use by the first half of the 18th century amongst the Sikhs but its exact point of origin has not been traced as of yet. The aftermath of the execution of Banda Singh Bahadur and persecution of

156-466: A humble and docile disciple of Guru Gobind Singh. In the person of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, the Guru actually made a sparrow kill hawks. Jassa Singh was a great warrior, mighty general and eminent organiser. He bore thirty-two scars of sword cuts and bullet marks on the front part of his body and none on his back. He was a giant in body. ... Qazi Nur Muhammad who saw him fighting against Ahmad Shah Durrani called him

208-734: A hundred thousand trees located in Central Punjab) and Abdali behind the walled safety of Lahore. In June 1763, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia marched towards Jalandhar , Sadat Yar-Khan, the Governor of Jalandhar so much terrified he did not stir out of his capital, Jassa Singh sacked Jalandhar , In December 1763, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia defeated and Killed Bhikhan Khan, the Nawab of Malerkotla , and plundered Morinda, In January 1764, Dal Khalsa under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia attacked Sirhind , Zain Khan Sirhindi ,

260-443: A mountain. He was a great warrior, mighty general and eminent organiser. He bore thirty-two scars of sword cuts and bullet marks on the front of his body and none on his back. He was a giant in body. His breakfast consisted of one kilogram of flour, one half kilogram of butter, one quarter kilogram of crystalline sugar slabs ( misri ), and one bucketful of butter-milk (lassi). One he-goat sufficed him for two meals…. These were

312-737: A natural leader. In a 1748 meeting of the Sarbat Khalsa , Nawab Kapur Singh appointed him as his successor. His followers awarded him the title Sultan-ul-Qaum (King of the Nation). Ahmad Shah Durrani , Nader Shah 's seniormost general, succeeded to the throne of Afghanistan when Shah was murdered in June 1747. He established his own dynasty, the Sadozai , which was the name of the Pashtun khel to which he belonged. Starting from December 1747 till 1769, Abdali made

364-504: A new grouping called misls , with 11 Misls forming out of the various pre-existing Jathas and a unified army known as the Dal Khalsa Ji . Ultimate command over the Misls was bestowed to Jassa Singh Ahluwalia . The words Jatha and Jathedar began to fall into disuse after this point, as leaders of Misls preferred the term ' Sardar ' to refer to themselves, due to Afghan influence. After

416-462: A resolution that Nadir shah had plundered the city of Delhi and now he is taking Indian women as slaves to his country. Sikhs made a plan to free all the slaves. Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was 21 years old at that time, he planned raids to free all slaves. He along with other Sikh bands attacked Nadir shah forces, freed all slaves and sent those slaves back to their families safely. Ahluwalia participated in many battles as well where he proved himself to be

468-616: A total of nine incursions into the north India . His repeated invasions weakened the Mughal administration of North India . At the Third Battle of Panipat , he along with Nawab of Oudh and Rohillas , defeated the Marathas , who after a treaty signed in 1752 became the protector of the Mughal throne at Delhi and were controlling much of North India, and Kashmir . However they were never able to subdue

520-473: A treaty of peace. The Sikhs were in no mood for peace and insulted the emissary. Abdali did not waste any time and turned up at the outskirts of Amritsar. The Battle of Pipli Sahib was fought in the grey light of a sun in total eclipse. It ended when the sunless day was blacked out by a moonless night with the adversaries retiring from the field: The Sikhs to the fastness of the jungles of the Lakhi (the forests of

572-677: The British Raj in the Punjab , northern India. During this time, the British imprisoned many Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, and many villages and towns being raided by the British colonial police . During these difficult times, Sikhs began forming jathas and new armed squads in British India, and many villages and towns relied on the protection of the Sikh jathas. Sikhs carried out many attacks and assassinations on

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624-745: The Harmandir Sahib . After discussion at a Sarbat Khalsa , Kapur Singh was elected leader of the Sikhs and took the title of Nawab. He combined the various Sikh militias into two groups; the Taruna Dal and the Budda Dal , which would collectively be known as the Dal Khalsa . Sikh militias over 40 years of age would be part of the Budda Dal and Sikh militias under 40 years were part of the Taruna Dal. The Taruna Dal

676-520: The Marathas , Abdali captured thousands of prisoners, totaling around 22,000 captives in total, who were being taken to Afghanistan as slaves, including Hindu women destined for the Afghan harems. When Jassa Singh learned of it, he attacked the Afghan army at Goindval on the Sutlej river , rescued over 2,000 of the captured women, and sent them back to their families. Thereafter, he was known as Bandi chhor , or

728-651: The Simon Commission from the British Parliament. There was also a bombing targeting the British courts. Bhagat Singh was said to have been behind most of the actions carried out against the British and was later hanged. Some Sikh jathas such as the Babbar Akali Movement , formed in 1921, rejected non-violence and gave stiff resistance to the British, which led to small battles and assassinations, and eventually by 1939 were down to large shootouts. During

780-479: The partition of Punjab in 1947, many Sikhs began to form armed Jatha squads for both defensive and offensive purposes against Muslims . When British rule came to an end in India, it had to make the crucial decision of determining the borders of the new country of Pakistan. Some historians say the biggest mistake the British made before they left India was splitting the Sikh main land of Punjab in two, giving one half to

832-417: The 18th century's context for the word. The group of Sikhs protesting and fighting for the freedom of Sikh shrines and places of worship from the control of hereditary mahants were termed Akali Jathas . The term Jatha began to refer to a "band of [Sikh] volunteers going forward to press a demand or to defy an unjust fiat of the government". This semantic of the word is still used. Jathas existed during

884-457: The Afghan army was hardly gone 3 km from the western bank of the Satluj , when they attacked by the Sikhs, The Afghans immediately stopped marching and got into regular formation of battle, Ahmad Shah Durrani was in the center with 6,000 choice soldiers, Shah Vali Khan, Jahan Khan, Shah Pasand Khan, Anzala Khan and others at the head of 12,000 troops were on the right Nasir Khan with 12,000 Baluchis

936-522: The Afghans moved onward but right after 5 km, they again came across the Sikhs who attacked the Durranis from all sides. The formation of the Sikhs was reversed whereas Ahmad Shah applied same formation as previous day. Ahmad Shah told Nasir Khan and the whole army to not move a step without his order as he was aware of tactics of the Sikhs, and after waiting for some time, Ahmad Shah ordered an assault but

988-574: The Ahlu village near Lahore , Punjab . Originally known as Jassa Singh Kalal, he styled himself as Ahluwalia after his ancestral village. Jassa Singh is described as a member of the Kalal or wine distiller caste. During the period of Kharak Singh (r. 1870-1877) a Bhatti Rajput origin story was also created. According to this tradition, one of the Bhatti Rajputs Rana Har Rai had to leave

1040-472: The British, resulting in many Sikhs arrested and executed. The Sikhs played an influential role in the Indian independence movement . Prominent figures include Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh , who traveled to London and hunted down people who got away with the killings in India. Most Sikh prison inmates were executed after the assassination of the high ranking British officer John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon , head of

1092-532: The Governor of Sirhind was killed, Sikhs captured Sirhind and divide Province between themselves, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia captured the territories of Jagaon, Bharog, Fatehgarh , In February 1764, the Sikhs crossed Jamuna under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Khushal Singh , Sardar Tara Singh Ghaiba , Baghel Singh , and Gurbaksh Singh, at the head of strong force. They plundered Saharanpur , Shamli , Kandhla , Miranpur , Deoband , Jawalapur , Chandausi , Muzaffarnagar , and Najibabad . Najib ad-Dawlah made peace with

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1144-557: The Islamic government of Pakistan and the other half to be run by a Hindu government. This led to non-stop bloodshed between many Sikhs and Muslims. Thousands of Muslims fled the East Punjab for Pakistan and thousands of Sikhs left Pakistan to go to "New" Punjab, but this journey resulted in thousands of lives lost due to massacres committed by both sides. Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (3 May 1718 – 23 October 1783)

1196-564: The Jathas submitted to the authority of the Sarbat Khalsa and attended the annual Diwali convening in Amritsar. If a Gurmata was passed by the Sarbat Khalsa, the Jathas obeyed it. The Mughal government made peace with the Sikhs for a short sliver of time between 1733 and 1735 and allowed the Jathas to reside in Amritsar without being harassed. During this period, Nawab Kapur Singh, leader of

1248-524: The Liberator of captives. In early 1762, Ahmad Shah Durrani invaded India to crush Sikhs power Ahmad Shah Durrani with his Soldiers reached Malerkotla, west of Sirhind, then attacked a 20,000 Sikh army escorting 40,000 women and children, along with the elderly. In one of their worst defeats—known as Vadda Ghalughara —the Sikhs lost perhaps 5–10,000+ soldiers and had 20,000 civilians massacred. The Afghan forces of Ahmad Shah Durrani came out victorious with

1300-514: The Rajput Raja of Jaipur in the Battle of Maonda and Mandholi and the Battle of Kama and was defeated in both. An account appearing in the 19th century texts, Munshi Kanhaiyya Lal's Tareekh-e-Punjab and Gian Singh's Shamsher Khalsa , credits Jassa Singh with rescuing Hindu women captured by Ahmad Shah Durrani after the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761. According to this account, after defeating

1352-521: The Sikhs at that time, decided to organize the various Jathas into two groups (' Dals ', referring to a "branch" or "section"): the Budha Dal (army of the old) and the Taruna Dal (army of the young). The Taruna Dal itself was further split into five sub-sections. Each sub-section of the Taruna Dal flew its own banner. However, state oppression of the Sikhs shortly after began again and the jathas started dividing themselves into more and more groups. Then on

1404-460: The Sikhs by offering them 11 lakhs of rupees tribute. In 1765, Ahmad Shah Durrani invaded India for seventh time in the winter of 1764–1765, During this campaign he constantly harassed by Sikhs , Qazi Nur Muhammad who was present in the Afghan army describes the numbers of engagements between Sikhs and Afghans, a battle was fought on the western bank of the Satluj opposite Rupar, it was morning and

1456-455: The Sikhs by the Mughal authorities led to the Sikhs gathering in armed nomadic groups, termed Jathas. Each Jatha was headed by a local leader, known as a Jathedar . The Jathedar was chosen based on merit alone, as only the most daring and courageous warrior of a particular band was selected for the honour. Devout Sikhs of the Khalsa joined the various Jathas, which appealed to them to advance

1508-472: The Sikhs in the Punjab . Suraj Mal (1707–63) was the founder of Jat State of Bharatpur. He was killed on 25 December 1763 near Delhi by Najib ul Daulah , the Ruhilaa chief who had been appointed Mir Bakshi and Regent at Delhi by Ahmed Shah Durrani. Suraj Mal’s son Jawahar Singh sought help from Sikhs who responded with a Sikh force of 40,000 under the command of Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. The Sikhs crossed

1560-500: The Sikhs of this era, such as zamburaks (camel-mounted swivel cannons) and a long-range musket known as a janjail . The terms "jatha" and "jathedar" were revived during the Singh Sabha movement to refer to "bands of preachers and choirs", an association which survives until the present-day. However, during the later Gurdwara reform movement , the terms began to take on a martial tone once again, resuscitating and harking back to

1612-487: The Sikhs overpowering the right wing of the Durrani army after applying their usual tactic where Hari Singh dashed upon Shah Vali Khan and Jahan Khan and then retired to draw the Afghans to pursue them, where the Sikhs would then return and ambush the Afghans. Ahmad Shah who was quite aware of the usual tactics of the Sikhs of hit and retiring and then returning to attack again, called and warned Nasir Khan about this stratagem of

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1664-400: The Sikhs resorted back to their tactics and retired, only for Afghans to pursue them for next 3 miles when the Sikhs returned, circled them and attacked them from all sides after scattering themselves. Upset Ahmad Shah shouted at Nasir Khan to stick to his spot and attack the Sikhs only when they come closer to him and he advised all the remaining soldiers the same. Again with the nightfall,

1716-404: The Sikhs. But despite the warning, Nasir Khan and his soldiers rushed in pursue only for another contingent of Sikh soldiers to rush to position themselves in between, cutting off both Ahmad Shah and Nasir Khan and then circling the retreating Baluchis army where a close bloody combat took place. The whole battle ended due to nightfall with both parties retiring. Next morning, with sunrise,

1768-542: The Taruna Dal, while the Taruna Dal would act as combat troops. However, in 1735, the agreement between Zakariya Khan and Nawab Kapur Singh broke down and the Dal Khalsa retreated to the Sivalik Hills to regroup. Later the command of Dal Khalsa was taken by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia who was an able and powerful administrator, even displaced & brought Mughal’s centre of power at the time ( Red Fort ) under Khalsa flag. He made

1820-712: The Yamuna on 20 February 1764 and attacked the surrounding areas. Najib ul Daulah rushed back to Delhi thereby relieving the pressure on Bharatpur. Najib ul Daulah suffered another defeat at hands of Sikhs under Ahluwalia after a battle that lasted 20 days in the trans-Yamuna area at Barari Ghat, 20 km north of Delhi. He retired to Red Fort on 9 January 1765 and within a month Sikhs defeated Najib ul Daulah again in Nakhas (horse market) and in Sabzi Mandi. Jawahar Singh also engaged 25,000 Sikh forces under command of Sardar Jassa Singh against

1872-448: The annual Diwali convening of the Sarbat Khalsa in 1745, a Gurmata was passed that reorganized the Jathas into 25 groups. Yet the number of Jathas kept on ballooning until around 65 Jathas had begun to be known, as recorded by the contemporary Ali ud-Din Mufti in his Ibrat Namah . Finally, on the annual Diwali meeting of the Sarbat Khalsa in Amritsar in 1748, the Jathas were reorganized into

1924-541: The battle came to a close. Throughout the march through the Jullundur Doab from the bank of Sutlej to river Chenab , the Durranis were harassed and assaulted for seven days where the Sikhs returned again and again only to retire in same prevalence, as this was their war tactic. In March 1783, Dal Khalsa under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Baghel Singh was advancing upon Delhi , Jassa Singh Ramgarhia Joined Dal Khalsa at March 10, 1783, On 11 March, Dal Khalsa entered in

1976-578: The beginning of the Khalsa (Sikh martial order). A Jatha basically means a group of people. The word derives from the Sanskrit word yūtha , meaning a "herd, flock, multitude, troop, band, or host". After the creation of the Khalsa, Guru Gobind Singh is said to have created the Damdami Taksal in 1706. Its first Jathedar (leader) was Baba Deep Singh who died at the age of 83 by having his head severed in

2028-537: The cause of their religion and fight oppression. An important selection criterion for joining a Jatha was skill in horsemanship, as cavalry tactics and guerilla warfare was vital to the fighting style of the Jathas against the far more numerous Mughal and Afghan forces. Therefore, agility and maneuverability were the most critical skills that a Sikh had to master to succeed in a Jatha. The Jathas were in ordinary times independent of one another and had to depend on itself to survive, but they co-operated on missions. All of

2080-416: The days of physical prowess, and only men possessed of indomitable will power could compete with ferocious Afghans on better footing. He was wheatish in colour, tall, fat, with a broad forehead, wide chest, loud and sonorous voice which could be clearly heard by an assemblage of 50,000 men….. The horses under him must have been the size of an elephant. This is why he could be clearly seen by Qazi Nur Muhammad in

2132-675: The foundation of Khalsa firm for future generations to lead. In 1739, Nadir Shah , the Persian ruler, invaded much of Northern India, including Punjab, defeating the Mughals at the Battle of Karnal in 1739, he plundered the city of Delhi ( Shahjahanabad ) robbing it of treasures like the Peacock throne, the Kohinoor diamond and the Darya-i-Noor diamond. Meanwhile, all the Khalsa bands got together and passed

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2184-658: The great privilege of conquering Lahore and issuing his own coin ... [and] sitting on the throne of the Mughal Emperors in the Red Fort at Delhi [after conquering it]. He fought a number of times face to face with Ahmad Shah Durrani, the greatest Asian general of his days. The invader tried to win him over in vain. The Maharajas of Patiala and Jind stood before him in all reverence and humility. The Rajas of Nalagarh, Bilaspur, Kangra Hills and Jammu touched his knees. The Nawabs of Malerkotla and Kunjpura paid him homage. And yet he remained

2236-518: The later Gurdwara Reform Movement , the terms began to take on a martial tone once again, resuscitating and harking back to the 18th century's context for the word. Usurped by Minas from 1640 to 1698 Usurped by Sarbarahs appointed by the British Indian Government from 1859 to 1920 Jatha A Jatha ( Punjabi : ਜੱਥਾ [sg] ; ਜਥੇ [pl] ( Gurmukhi ) ) is an armed body of Sikhs that has existed in Sikh tradition since 1699,

2288-479: The night ambush on the large convoy. Despite the Ghalughara disaster, by the month of May, the Sikhs were up in arms again. Under Jassa Singh, they defeated the Afghan faujdar of Sirhind in the Battle of Harnaulgarh . By autumn, the Sikhs had regained enough confidence to foregather in large numbers at Amritsar to celebrate Diwali . Abdali made a mild effort to win over them and sent an envoy with proposals for

2340-486: The rise of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the establishment of the Sikh Empire , various aspects of 18th century Sikhism, including Jatha formations, were abolished. 18th century warriors of a jatha were equipped at-first with knobbed clubs , spears , battle axes , bow and arrows , and matchlocks . As mandatory for a Khalsa, all the warriors were equipped with a long-sword and dagger ( kirpan ). Some but not all of

2392-728: The royal palaces in the red fort, In the Diwan-e-Am Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was placed on the throne of Delhi as Badshah Singh of Delhi by Sikhs, Through Ramgarhia was in minority, yet he challenged the Ahluwalia and called upon him to get down immediately. Both sides drew out swords and were about to pounce upon each other when Jassa Singh Ahluwalia at once renounced the honour,. Mughals agreed to construct 7 Sikh Gurudwaras in Delhi for Sikh Gurus. Jassa Singh Ahluwalia died on 23 October 1783 in Amritsar. He (Jassa Singh Ahluwalia) had

2444-449: The rulers of Punjab, dismissed this tradition as fictitious. According to the dynasty's account, Sadhu's Singh's great-grandson Badar Singh and his wife remained childless for a long time, and sought blessings from Guru Gobind Singh . As a result, Jassa Singh was born to them. In 1733, Zakariya Khan Bahadur attempted to negotiate peace with the Sikhs by offering them a jagir , the title Nawab to their leader, and unimpeded access to

2496-533: The throne of Jaisalmer for refusing to marry his niece to the Mughal emperor Akbar . However, there is virtually no evidence of this account. According to this account, Har Rai migrated to Punjab, where his descendants married with the Jats , and gradually they became Jats. Starting with Sadhu Singh (also called Sadho or Sadda Singh), they married with Kalals , and the family came to be known as "Ahluwalia Kalal" . British administrator Lepel Griffin , who wrote an account of

2548-578: The warriors wore body armour, excluding helmets. Horses were incredibly valued and mounts of high-quality were targeted during raids on the enemy transport convoys (columns and baggage trains). Later-on as the Jathas succeeded in capturing hostile resources, they came into the possession of more firearms in the form of matchlocks to equip their ranks with. The Sikhs avoided the use of heavy-artillery pieces as it impeded their military strategy of being quick and mobile. As per Rattan Singh Bhangu in his Panth Prakash , some light-artillery pieces were used by

2600-584: Was a Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy , being the supreme leader of the Dal Khalsa . He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia Misl . This period was an interlude, lasting roughly from the time of the death of Banda Bahadur in 1716 to the founding of the Sikh Empire in 1801. He founded the Kapurthala State in 1772. Jassa Singh was born on 3 May 1718 CE in a Kalal Sikh family in

2652-417: Was further divided in five jathas , each with 1300 to 2000 men and a separate drum and banner. The area of operations of each Dal , or army, was Hari ke Pattan , where the Sutlej river and Beas River meet; the Taruna Dal would control the area east of Hari ke Pattan while the Budha Dal would control the area west of it. The purpose of the Budda Dal, the veteran group, was to protect Gurdwaras and train

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2704-443: Was on the left, The Dal Khalsa also organised themselves in regular battle army Jassa Singh Ahluwalia fearlessly stood like a mountain in the center close by him was Jassa Singh Thokah , looking like a lion in stature, Charat Singh , Jhanda Singh , Lahna Singh and Jai Singh positioned themselves on the right, and Hari Singh Bhangi , Ram Das, Gulab Singh and Gujar Singh positioned on the left. furious battle took place with

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