History of Sirhind
Encyclopedia
Sirhind is the older and more popular name of Fatehgarh Sahib
. It is situated on the Delhi to Lahore Highway. It has a population of about 60,852. It is now a district headquarters in the state of Punjab; the name of the district is Fatehgarh Sahib
.
after the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan. It was refounded by Emperor Firuz Shah Tughlaq in 1361 AD at the behest of Sayyid Jalaluddin Bukhari, the spiritual guide of that King. He made it a new pargana
by dividing the old fief of Samana
. Firuz Shah dug a canal from the Sutlej. It was an important stronghold of Delhi Sultanate
. In 1415 Khizr Khan the first Sayyid
ruler of Delhi, nominated his son Malik Mubarak as a governor of Sirhind. in 1420 Khizr khan defeated insurgent Sarang Khan at Sirhind. In 1451 here, Bahlul Khan Lodhi
assumed the title of Sultan under the governorship of Malik Sultan Shah Lodhi.
However it reached the zenith of its glory under the Mughal Empire in the seventeenth century. This city was a home of sixteenth century saint Ahmad Sirhindi
, popularly known as Mujadid Alif Sani which means 'Revivor of the Faith in the Second Millennium'. The mausoleum of this saint is still there. Under Akbar it had turned the highest yielding sarkar. Under Sirhind sarkar there were 28 parganas. Due to its prosperity during the Mughal Empire
it was known as Sirhind Bāvani which means Sirhind Fifty-two because it yielded a revenue of 52 lakh Rs, i.e. 5 million 20 thousand Rs per year. Emperor Shah jahan built a famous garden known as Aam khas Bagh.
Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and His Sikh Army In 1710 Destroyed the City of Sirhind Completely,and Wazir Khan the Governor Was Killed The Sikhs Occupied Sirhind and Made Bhai Baj Singh the Governor.
According to Sikh tradition, they were enclosed alive in a wall in Sirhind and executed as the masonry rose up to their necks. Sirhind was for this reason the accurst city in the eyes of the Sikhs. Mobilized under the flag of Banda Singh Bahadur after the death of Guru Gobind Singh in November 1708, they made a fierce attack upon Sirhind. The Mughal army was routed and Wazir Khan killed in the battle of Chappar Chiri fought on 12 May 1710. Sirhind was occupied by the Sikhs two days later, and Bhai Baj Singh was appointed governor. The town was, however, taken again by the imperial forces.
In March 1748, Sirhind was seized, but only temporarily, byAhmad Shah Durrani, the Afghan general of Nadir Shah who succeeded his master in the possession of the eastern part of his dominions. But the Durrani was defeated by the Mughal rulers of Delhi who reoccupied the town, although the invader reconquerred it during his fourth invasion during 1756-57. Early in 1758, the Sikhs, in collaboration with the Marathas, sacked Sirhind, drove Prince Taimur, son ofAhmad Shah and his viceroy at Lahore, out of the Punjab.
Ahmad Shah defeated the Marathas at Panipat in January 1761. and struck the Sikhs a severe blow in what is known as Vadda Ghallughara, the Great Massacre, that took place on 5 February 1762. Sikhs rallied and attacked Sirhind on 17 May 1762. defeating its faujdar, Zain Khan, who purchased peace by paying Rs 50,000 as tribute to the Dal Khalsa. A more decisive battle took place on 14 January 1764 when Dal Khalsa. under Jassa Singh Ahluvalia, made another assault upon Sirhind. Zain Khan was killed in action and Sirhind was occupied and subjected to plunder and destruction.
The booty was donated for the repair and reconstruction of the sacred shrines at Amritsar demolished by Ahmad Shah. The territories of the Sirhind sarkar were divided among the leaders of the Dal Khalsa, but no one was willing to lake the town of Sirhind where Guru Gobind Singh`s younger sons were subjected to a cruel fate. By a unanimous will it was made over to Buddha Singh, descendant of Bhai Bhagatu, wlio soon after (2 August 1764) transferred possession to Sardar Ala Singh, founder of the Patiala family. Sirhind thereafter remained part of the Patiala territory until the state lapsed in 1948.
Maharaja Karam Singh of Patiala (1813-45) had gurdwaras constructed in Sirhind in memory of the young martyrs and their grandmother, Mata Gujari. He changed the name of the nizamat or district from Sirhind to Fatehgarh Sahib, after the name of the principal gurdwara. Besides the Sikh shrines, Sirhind has an important Muslim monumentRauzaSharifMujjadidAlfSani, the mausoleum of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1569-1624),.the fundamentalist leader of the orthodox; Naqshbandi school of Sufism. There are a number of other tombs in the compound mostly of the members of Shaikh Ahmad`s house. See FATEHGARH SAHIB, GURDWARA
Fatehgarh Sahib
Fatehgarh Sahib is headquarters of Fatehgarh Sahib district, one of the twenty districts in the state of Punjab in North-West India.-History:The city is an historically important town north of Patiala, especially for the Sikh faith...
. It is situated on the Delhi to Lahore Highway. It has a population of about 60,852. It is now a district headquarters in the state of Punjab; the name of the district is Fatehgarh Sahib
Fatehgarh Sahib district
Fatehgarh Sahib district , is one of the twenty two districts in the state of Punjab in North-West Republic of India, with its headquarters in the city of Fatehgarh Sahib....
.
Pre-Mughal Empire History
The antiquity of the city is traceable to the beginning of the Christian era. It was a military outpost of Prithviraj Chauhan against Muhammad Ghori. In 1192 it became a part of Ghauri SultanateGhurids
The Ghurids or Ghorids were a medieval Muslim dynasty of Iranian origin that ruled during the 12th and 13th centuries in Khorasan. At its zenith, their empire, centred at Ghōr , stretched over an area that included the whole of modern Afghanistan, the eastern parts of Iran and the northern section...
after the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan. It was refounded by Emperor Firuz Shah Tughlaq in 1361 AD at the behest of Sayyid Jalaluddin Bukhari, the spiritual guide of that King. He made it a new pargana
Pargana
A pargana is a former administrative unit of the Indian subcontinent, used primarily, but not exclusively, by the Muslim kingdoms.Parganas were introduced by the Delhi Sultanate, and the word is of Persian origin. As a revenue unit, a pargana consists of several mouzas, which are the smallest...
by dividing the old fief of Samana
Samana
-Dominican Republic:*Samaná Province*Samaná, Dominican Republic, or Santa Bárbara de Samaná, the capital of Samaná Province*Samaná Peninsula*Cape Samana on Samaná Peninsula*Samaná Bay, a body of water in the Atlantic next to the Samaná Peninsula...
. Firuz Shah dug a canal from the Sutlej. It was an important stronghold of Delhi Sultanate
Delhi Sultanate
The Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
. In 1415 Khizr Khan the first Sayyid
Sayyid dynasty
The Sayyid dynasty ruled Delhi sultanate in India from 1414 to 1451. They succeeded the Tughlaq dynasty and ruled that sultanate until they were displaced by the Lodi dynasty.This family claimed to be Sayyids, or descendants of Prophet Muhammad...
ruler of Delhi, nominated his son Malik Mubarak as a governor of Sirhind. in 1420 Khizr khan defeated insurgent Sarang Khan at Sirhind. In 1451 here, Bahlul Khan Lodhi
Bahlul Khan Lodhi
Bahlul Khan Lodi was the founder of the Afghan Lodi Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate in India upon the abdication of the last claimant from the previous Sayyid rule. He was born into an Pashtun family of traders, and became a renowned warrior and governor of Sirhind . He became the first sultan of...
assumed the title of Sultan under the governorship of Malik Sultan Shah Lodhi.
Under The Mughal Empire
Ahmad Sirhindi
Imām Rabbānī Shaykh Ahmad al-Farūqī al-Sirhindī was an Indian Islamic scholar from Punjab, a Hanafi jurist, and a prominent member of the Naqshbandī Sufi order. He is described as Mujaddid Alf Thānī, meaning the "reviver of the second millennium", for his work in rejuvenating Islam and opposing...
, popularly known as Mujadid Alif Sani which means 'Revivor of the Faith in the Second Millennium'. The mausoleum of this saint is still there. Under Akbar it had turned the highest yielding sarkar. Under Sirhind sarkar there were 28 parganas. Due to its prosperity during the Mughal Empire
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
it was known as Sirhind Bāvani which means Sirhind Fifty-two because it yielded a revenue of 52 lakh Rs, i.e. 5 million 20 thousand Rs per year. Emperor Shah jahan built a famous garden known as Aam khas Bagh.
Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and His Sikh Army In 1710 Destroyed the City of Sirhind Completely,and Wazir Khan the Governor Was Killed The Sikhs Occupied Sirhind and Made Bhai Baj Singh the Governor.
Sirhind and Sikhs
. Under the orders of the faujdar, Nawab Wazir Khan, Guru Gobind Singh`s two younger sons, aged nine and seven, were cruelly done to death.According to Sikh tradition, they were enclosed alive in a wall in Sirhind and executed as the masonry rose up to their necks. Sirhind was for this reason the accurst city in the eyes of the Sikhs. Mobilized under the flag of Banda Singh Bahadur after the death of Guru Gobind Singh in November 1708, they made a fierce attack upon Sirhind. The Mughal army was routed and Wazir Khan killed in the battle of Chappar Chiri fought on 12 May 1710. Sirhind was occupied by the Sikhs two days later, and Bhai Baj Singh was appointed governor. The town was, however, taken again by the imperial forces.
In March 1748, Sirhind was seized, but only temporarily, byAhmad Shah Durrani, the Afghan general of Nadir Shah who succeeded his master in the possession of the eastern part of his dominions. But the Durrani was defeated by the Mughal rulers of Delhi who reoccupied the town, although the invader reconquerred it during his fourth invasion during 1756-57. Early in 1758, the Sikhs, in collaboration with the Marathas, sacked Sirhind, drove Prince Taimur, son ofAhmad Shah and his viceroy at Lahore, out of the Punjab.
Ahmad Shah defeated the Marathas at Panipat in January 1761. and struck the Sikhs a severe blow in what is known as Vadda Ghallughara, the Great Massacre, that took place on 5 February 1762. Sikhs rallied and attacked Sirhind on 17 May 1762. defeating its faujdar, Zain Khan, who purchased peace by paying Rs 50,000 as tribute to the Dal Khalsa. A more decisive battle took place on 14 January 1764 when Dal Khalsa. under Jassa Singh Ahluvalia, made another assault upon Sirhind. Zain Khan was killed in action and Sirhind was occupied and subjected to plunder and destruction.
The booty was donated for the repair and reconstruction of the sacred shrines at Amritsar demolished by Ahmad Shah. The territories of the Sirhind sarkar were divided among the leaders of the Dal Khalsa, but no one was willing to lake the town of Sirhind where Guru Gobind Singh`s younger sons were subjected to a cruel fate. By a unanimous will it was made over to Buddha Singh, descendant of Bhai Bhagatu, wlio soon after (2 August 1764) transferred possession to Sardar Ala Singh, founder of the Patiala family. Sirhind thereafter remained part of the Patiala territory until the state lapsed in 1948.
Maharaja Karam Singh of Patiala (1813-45) had gurdwaras constructed in Sirhind in memory of the young martyrs and their grandmother, Mata Gujari. He changed the name of the nizamat or district from Sirhind to Fatehgarh Sahib, after the name of the principal gurdwara. Besides the Sikh shrines, Sirhind has an important Muslim monumentRauzaSharifMujjadidAlfSani, the mausoleum of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1569-1624),.the fundamentalist leader of the orthodox; Naqshbandi school of Sufism. There are a number of other tombs in the compound mostly of the members of Shaikh Ahmad`s house. See FATEHGARH SAHIB, GURDWARA