Battle Of Chillianwala 1849, When Sikhs Defeated The British

[Not2Cool2Argue]

Yes, Amarinder Singh is a descendant of the Maharaja Patiala's but Badal isn't. And yes, the Maharaja of Patiala did have a treaty with the British: it was that if Maharaja Ranjit Singh attacked Maharaja Patiala then the British would help the Pataila, and if the British attacked Ranjit Singh, the Patiala's king would not interfere. The treaty was a warning to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, not to try to assimilate Patiala to his kingdom, as Maharaja Ranjit Singh was trying to make one, united Sikh Kingdom under him. He defeated many Sikh misls and Sikh rajas to do this. However all the Sikhs, including Maharaja Ranjit and Maharaja Patiala would unite to fight Abdali and other such invaders. They should've united against the British, but well both wanted to be kings.

[lsingh]

interesting to note cannons used by the Sikh army had frescos of Hanuman on them,,,interesting

Yes sikhs had the premier army in the whole of asia....this was before the rise of japan as a millitary power....The infantry and artillery were up to the standards of the british...but the cavalry was below par....never matched the british...poorly trained and poorly disciplined but still put up a good fight mainly due to the tenacity of the sikh soldier. The biggest weakness we had was our terrible leadership with the exception of a few etc Sham singh attari....we lost because our millitary leadership had been bribed before the war even began...not much has changed

Whata Hanuman got to do with anything? So the artists that came to the Punjab during the Sikh Raj were Hindus originating from Kangra province and they did illustrations on what they new best that was Hindu mythology. The Sikhs were not great art lovers and left them to it. Why by the way are you obessed with Hindu mythology?

The story about the Sikh Cavalry being below par was put around by the British. The traitor Brahmin generals Lal Singh and Tej Singh, who to our misfortune became commanders simply did not engage the cavalry and sent them in the wrong direction in many of the battles in the First Sikh war. These traitors disrupted the Sikh army and asked the British on how best to get the Sikh army defeated. In the Second Sikh war a true Sikh was in command Sher Singh Attariwala and if you read the Chillianwalla account it was the Sikh cavalry that caused the British cavalry to flee in panic an run over their own infantry. The cavalry was commanded by Hari Singh Nalwas son at this battle, and it shows that even when the Sikhs were outnumbered wiith a Sikh as leader they were capable of defeating the British. The British then mustered a huge army from all over their empire and were also helped by most of the Indian rajas to overwhelm the Sikhs in the further battles.

The Badal clan were there in Malwa during during the British invasion ,originally during the Misl period the Sikhs spread out from Amritsar/Lahore area and captured the Punjab. The Malwa chiefs had earlier sought British protection in 1809 with the Sutlej river becoming the border between the Sikh Empire and the British Empire.

From the article;

The Sikh horsemen led by Jawahir Singh Nalwa63 the bold and dashing son of Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa now realising that poor execution and bad terrain had brought Pope’s apology of a cavalry charge to an absolute halt64 now counter charged. Jawahir Singh with his band of horsemen emerged, once again, through the wild Doab jungle, and charged Popes force, in the process of which some Sikh horsemen physically attacked Brigadier Pope, cutting him across the head with his Tulwar, and wounding him 65. At this critical stage of the battle Pope’s brigade which had already halted and was waiting for orders, now became leaderless. An event then occurred which the British historians right from 1849 onwards find hard to explain or account for. HM 14th Light Dragoon turned about and bolted! The native cavalry also panicked and followed HM 14th Light Dragoon rearwards, galloping through at top speed through their own horse artillery batteries backwards! Fortescue states that HM 14th Light Dragoon bolted because Pope gave them a word of command of “Threes Right” which they heard as something like “Threes about” 66 and that’s why the unit bolted! There is no doubt that had a native cavalry unit done so Fortescue’s verdict may have been much more harsh! Jawahir Singh Nalwa pursued Pope’s cavalry brigade with great elan, cutting down many British Horse artillerymen including Major Christie, one of the battery commanders , destroying six guns and carrying four guns intact apart from two ammunition wagons and fifty three horses as war trophies!67 Pope’s cavalry brigade from this moment onwards ceased to be a fighting formation! It was rallied with great difficulty by Gough’s staff and the regimental Chaplain of HM 14 LD, with his pistol! It was said that Gough recommended the Chaplain to be promoted to the rank of Brevet Bishop ,on the battlefield!68

The flight of Pope’s brigade resulted in a serious operational imbalance in the British position . Their right rear flank was now vulnerable to counter attack . Sher Singh Attariwalla immediately ordered a counter attack and Sikh infantry and cavalry west of Rasul immediately advanced down from the heights through the open gap encircling Gilbert’s division from the rear! It was Pope’s good luck that he died soon afterwards from wounds suffered in the battle.

[lsingh]

The Treachery of the the Brahmin Generals Tej and Lal Singh is recorded in the couplet below

The poet historian, Shah Mohammad, immortalised the heroic stand of the men of Sham Singh Attariwala at Sobraon thus :

'They squeezed the blood out of the Whites,

As one squeezes juice out of a lemon;

If only Ranjit Singh were there,

He would have been proud to see,

How the Khalsa wielded their swords.

About the sad result of the compaign, he wrote;

'Oh Shah Mohammad, without Ranjit Singh, such was our plight

We won the battles, but lost the fight.'

The traitors to the Khalsa were not only taken note of by the British or the Khalsa themselves, but were immortalised in doggerel verse punning on their names:

'Lallu dee Lallee gaee, Teju da gia tej

Ran vich pith dikhaike modha aie pher.

'Lallu lost the blush of shame, Teju lost his lustre, by turning their Backs in the field, they turned the tide and battle yield'.

[KhalistaniGunMan]

Whata Hanuman got to do with anything? So the artists that came to the Punjab during the Sikh Raj were Hindus originating from Kangra province and they did illustrations on what they new best that was Hindu mythology. The Sikhs were not great art lovers and left them to it. Why by the way are you obessed with Hindu mythology?

The story about the Sikh Cavalry being below par was put around by the British. The traitor Brahmin generals Lal Singh and Tej Singh, who to our misfortune became commanders simply did not engage the cavalry and sent them in the wrong direction in many of the battles in the First Sikh war. These traitors disrupted the Sikh army and asked the British on how best to get the Sikh army defeated. In the Second Sikh war a true Sikh was in command Sher Singh Attariwala and if you read the Chillianwalla account it was the Sikh cavalry that caused the British cavalry to flee in panic an run over their own infantry. The cavalry was commanded by Hari Singh Nalwas son at this battle, and it shows that even when the Sikhs were outnumbered wiith a Sikh as leader they were capable of defeating the British. The British then mustered a huge army from all over their empire and were also helped by most of the Indian rajas to overwhelm the Sikhs in the further battles.

The Badal clan were there in Malwa during during the British invasion ,originally during the Misl period the Sikhs spread out from Amritsar/Lahore area and captured the Punjab. The Malwa chiefs had earlier sought British protection in 1809 with the Sutlej river becoming the border between the Sikh Empire and the British Empire.

From the article;

The Sikh horsemen led by Jawahir Singh Nalwa63 the bold and dashing son of Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa now realising that poor execution and bad terrain had brought Pope’s apology of a cavalry charge to an absolute halt64 now counter charged. Jawahir Singh with his band of horsemen emerged, once again, through the wild Doab jungle, and charged Popes force, in the process of which some Sikh horsemen physically attacked Brigadier Pope, cutting him across the head with his Tulwar, and wounding him 65. At this critical stage of the battle Pope’s brigade which had already halted and was waiting for orders, now became leaderless. An event then occurred which the British historians right from 1849 onwards find hard to explain or account for. HM 14th Light Dragoon turned about and bolted! The native cavalry also panicked and followed HM 14th Light Dragoon rearwards, galloping through at top speed through their own horse artillery batteries backwards! Fortescue states that HM 14th Light Dragoon bolted because Pope gave them a word of command of “Threes Right” which they heard as something like “Threes about” 66 and that’s why the unit bolted! There is no doubt that had a native cavalry unit done so Fortescue’s verdict may have been much more harsh! Jawahir Singh Nalwa pursued Pope’s cavalry brigade with great elan, cutting down many British Horse artillerymen including Major Christie, one of the battery commanders , destroying six guns and carrying four guns intact apart from two ammunition wagons and fifty three horses as war trophies!67 Pope’s cavalry brigade from this moment onwards ceased to be a fighting formation! It was rallied with great difficulty by Gough’s staff and the regimental Chaplain of HM 14 LD, with his pistol! It was said that Gough recommended the Chaplain to be promoted to the rank of Brevet Bishop ,on the battlefield!68

The flight of Pope’s brigade resulted in a serious operational imbalance in the British position . Their right rear flank was now vulnerable to counter attack . Sher Singh Attariwalla immediately ordered a counter attack and Sikh infantry and cavalry west of Rasul immediately advanced down from the heights through the open gap encircling Gilbert’s division from the rear! It was Pope’s good luck that he died soon afterwards from wounds suffered in the battle.

i am not obcessed with hindu mythology...but i am obcessed with sikh history...i dont like the fact history is being whitewashed just because its distasteful to a segment of the community...

which battle is that account from?...chillianwala? sabroan?.....later battles we had to rely soley on our irregular cavalry who were famed for their gung-ho frontal charges...

[Singh559]

i am not obcessed with hindu mythology...but i am obcessed with sikh history...i dont like the fact history is being whitewashed just because its distasteful to a segment of the community...

which battle is that account from?...chillianwala? sabroan?.....later battles we had to rely soley on our irregular cavalry who were famed for their gung-ho frontal charges...

Don't feel like performing a search, but there is a red battle flag with a devi next to a Nihang Singh in a British museum. Red signifies hindu armies therefore no Akali Singh would EVER be caught carrying such a flag. It's clear that this was from one of the hindu regiments under the Sikh raj. I think GPS said it was probably from a dogra regiment.

If someone didn't have a proper knowledge of history and the rehitnames that say a Khalsa never wears red or green, they would incorrectly think that Akali Singhs would carry such a flag.

[acsap]

Maharaja of Patiala never helped Sikhs when they fought against Abdali. In fact, Raja of Patiala was given a title of "Bandai Abdali" by Abdali.

[KhalistaniGunMan]

Don't feel like performing a search, but there is a red battle flag with a devi next to a Nihang Singh in a British museum. Red signifies hindu armies therefore no Akali Singh would EVER be caught carrying such a flag. It's clear that this was from one of the hindu regiments under the Sikh raj. I think GPS said it was probably from a dogra regiment.

If someone didn't have a proper knowledge of history and the rehitnames that say a Khalsa never wears red or green, they would incorrectly think that Akali Singhs would carry such a flag.

yes your partially right...but general sikh units in lahore army also carried standards with chandi/kalka on them...also Kartikeya (shiv jis son) is also found on many standards as he was the commander of the army of devte....dont mix this up with worship....sikhs dont worship devte..but we used their heroic personalities as inspiration in battle....the akaalis used to carry traditional neela nishan of tegh, katar and shield but the most important standard was the ashtbhuja ...the personal standard of guru gobind singh ji...which is pictured in my display pic...

[Jonny101]

Maharaja of Patiala never helped Sikhs when they fought against Abdali. In fact, Raja of Patiala was given a title of "Bandai Abdali" by Abdali.

They were also given the title "Raja" by abdali.

[Singh559]

yes your partially right...but general sikh units in lahore army also carried standards with chandi/kalka on them...also Kartikeya (shiv jis son) is also found on many standards as he was the commander of the army of devte....dont mix this up with worship....sikhs dont worship devte..but we used their heroic personalities as inspiration in battle....the akaalis used to carry traditional neela nishan of tegh, katar and shield but the most important standard was the ashtbhuja ...the personal standard of guru gobind singh ji...which is pictured in my display pic...

I've seen the astbhuja for quite some time, but have never seen it mentioned in the historical context except for it being claimed to have been coming from Hazur Sahib.

I don't doubt its existence, all i'm saying is to date I haven't seen any account of it. The closest thing I've seen is paintings is shastar on dastaran (like a bigger version of chand tora) that is similar, but not the exact Astbhuja. The tegh, katar and dhaal is indeed the original nishan sahib of the Khalsa.

[KhalistaniGunMan]

I've seen the astbhuja for quite some time, but have never seen it mentioned in the historical context except for it being claimed to have been coming from Hazur Sahib.

I don't doubt its existence, all i'm saying is to date I haven't seen any account of it. The closest thing I've seen is paintings is shastar on dastaran (like a bigger version of chand tora) that is similar, but not the exact Astbhuja. The tegh, katar and dhaal is indeed the original nishan sahib of the Khalsa.

ashtbhuja is not mentioned just like sri sarbloh granth isnt mentioned in historical sources...because they were hidden within the dal...things which were well guarded and never allowed to fall into enemy hands because of their importance...the original ashtbhuja of guruji is still kept at sri hazur sahib like you said