Almost 777 years of foreign rule, starting from the Turkish invader Mahmud of Ghazni in 1022 after ousting the Hindu Shahi ruler Raja Tarnochalpal, until the time Maharajah Ranjit Singh entered the gates of Lahore on July 7, 1799; Punjabis had not ruled their land.
Mahmud, the ruler of Ghazni, attacked Punjab 17 times. However, the Ghaznavids were uprooted by the Ghauris. Then, there were subsequent short-term rules of the Mamluk’s, Khilji’s, Tughluq’s, Sayyid’s, and Lodhi’s.
In 1160, Muhammad Ghori, a Turkic ruler, conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznavids and became its governor in 1173. In 1186–87, he conquered Punjab, bringing the last of Ghaznavid territory under his control and ending the Ghaznavid Empire.
Muhammad Ghori's successors established the Delhi Sultanate. The Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived kingdoms or sultanates of Turkic origin rules from Delhi between 1206 and 1526 when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty.
The five Turkic dynasties ruled their empires from Delhi;
The Mamluk (1211–1290),
The Khalji (1290–1320),
The Tughlaq (1320–1413),
The Sayyid (1414–1451)
The Lodhi (1451–1526).
The Turkic origin Mamluk Dynasty, (Mamluk means "Owned" and referred to the Turkic youths bought and trained as soldiers who became rulers throughout the Islamic world), seized the throne of the Sultanate in 1211.
The sultans eventually lost Afghanistan, Punjab, and Delhi to the Mongols. The Sultanate declined after the invasion of Emperor Timur, who founded the Timurid Dynasty and was eventually conquered in 1526 by the Mughal king Babar.
Before the last invasions of Ahmad Shah Abdali and his successors Timur Shah and Shah Zaman, the Mughals were the invaders of Punjab.
Punjabi tribes, castes, and the inhabitants of Punjab revolted against the invaders of Punjab, but in a personal capacity and without uniting by the natural affinity of Punjabi people. However, Punjabi Sufi Saints were in a struggle to awaken the consciousness of the people of Punjab.
Baba Farid - 12th-13th century, Damodar - 15th century, Guru Nanak Dev -15th - 16th century, Guru Angad - 16th century, Guru Amar Das - 15th - 16th century, Guru Ram Das - 16th century, Shah Hussain - 16th century, Guru Arjun Dev - 16th - 17th century, Bhai Gurdas - 16th - 17th century, Sultan Bahu - 16th-17th century, Guru Tegh Bahadur - 17th century, Guru Gobind Singh - 17th century, Saleh Muhammad Safoori - 17th century, Bulleh Shah - 17th-18th century, Waris Shah - 18th century, along with spiritual grooming and moral character building of Punjabi people, provided the ideological atmosphere to the Punjabi nation to liberate themselves from the slavery of foreign Muslim invaders to defend their land, to protect their wealth, to save their culture and retain their respect by ruling their land and governing the people of their nation by their self.
Baba Farid - 12th - 13th century is considered as the first spiritual poet of the Punjabi language.
Guru Nanak Dev -15th - 16th century, the founder of Sikh Religion condemned the theocracy of Mughal rulers, and was arrested for challenging the acts of the barbarity of the Mughal emperor Babar.
Shah Hussain - 16th century approved Dulla Bhatti’s revolt against Akbar as; Kahay Hussain Faqeer Sain Da - Takht Na Milday Mungay.
Baba Waris Shah - 18th century said of the barbaric and brutal invasions of Punjab by the Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Abdali that; "Khada Peeta Lahy Da, Baqi Ahmad Shahy Da" ("We Have Nothing With Us Except What We Eat And Wear, All Other Things Are For Ahmad Shah").
The spiritual grooming and moral character building of Punjabi people by the Punjabi Saints and Punjabi poets stimulated the natural affinity of Punjabi people, taught the lesson to the various tribes, castes, and the inhabitants of Punjab, and forced them to unite into a broader common "Punjabi" identity. Therefore, Punjabi nationalism started to initiate in the people of the land of five rivers to defend their land, to protect their wealth, to save their culture, and retain their respect by ruling their land and governing the people of their nation by themselves own self.
From 1752 to 1770, the Sikh Misal continued to rise to a position of supremacy in Punjab. To liberate their land from the Afghan powers, they fought several times with Ahmed Shah Abdali and his successors Timur Shah and Zaman Shah.
Ahmed Shah Abdali invasions of Punjab continued eight times from 1748 to 1767-68 and in the year 1798, Zaman Shah invaded Punjab for the last time. In nearly most of their expeditions, they were attacked by the Sikhs and they looted the baggage of Afghans. Therefore, the last three invasions of Punjab from 1762 to 1767 by Ahmed Shah Abdali were carried out clearly to annihilate the Sikhs.
Hari Singh Bhangi the Chief leader of the Bhangi Misal had fought with Afghans several times. In November 1756, Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded Punjab for the fourth time and captured Lahore but soon he returned to Afghanistan leaving behind Timur Shah at Lahore.
During Taimur Shah governorship (1757-58), Adina Beg Khan began to look around for allies to expel the Afghans from Jalandhar Doab. The Sikhs and Adina Beg Khan troops joined hands and defeated the Afghans at Mahalpur, in the Hoshiarpur district.
Adina Beg Khan expressed his gratitude to the Sikhs by presenting a sum of a thousand rupees as a homage to the Guru Granth Sahib and a lakh and a quarter as protection money for the Jalandhar Doab. Keeping up appearances with the Sikh Sardars, Adina Beg Khan wished to weaken the power of Afghans in Punjab.
By 1758, Adina Beg Khan met the Sikhs and requested their help to throw out the Afghan's representative from Lahore. Soon Hari Singh Bhangi along with his son Jhanda Singh, Gujjar Singh, Lehna Singh built a combined front with Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, Jai Singh Kanahiya, Charat Singh Sukerchakia, and other Sikh Sardars.
Adina Beg Khan decided to decimate Afghan power to secure Lahore for himself and invited the Marathas to Punjab pointing to the rich harvest of spoils and promising them one lakh rupees for each day of fighting and Rs 50,000 for each day of march/halt. He also persuaded Sikhs to help the Marathas against the Afghans.
The Maratha's lure of Punjab’s riches made the first attack on Sirhind at end of December 1757. The Afghan governor, Abdus Samad Khan, patched up an ongoing conflict with Ala Singh of Patiala and entrenched himself at Sirhind. However, he managed to avoid battle by paying a tribute of five lakh rupees and Marathas returned to the east bank of the Yamuna.
Not adequately satisfied the Marathas returned in January 1758 with a large army under Raghunathrao.
An unusual alliance under Adina Beg Khan, of the Marathas and the Dal Khalsa (Sikh confederation) under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia attacked and captured Sirhind on 21 March 1758. The city was thoroughly plundered which also led to bad blood between Sikhs and Marathas as the Sikhs garnered the lion’s share.
The allies then marched to Lahore. The Marathas led by Raghunathrao and accompanied by the forces of the Sikhs and those of Adina Beg Khan entered Lahore in April 1758 and captured the city of Lahore without any great effort. The city was abandoned by the Afghans. The Afghan escapees were waylaid at Wazirabad on the Chenab. While Taimur and Jahan Khan escaped across the river, the entire treasury which was still east of the river was captured by the victors. Large-scale slaughter of Afghan troops took place.
Surprisingly despite having an army of 2,00,000 and supported by Adina Beg Khan and the Sikhs, the Marathas did not pursue the Afghans across the Indus to deal with the coup de grace. They were content to enforce “Chauth” (one-fourth of revenue) and “sardeshmukhi” (one-tenth of revenue for King/Governor).
The frontiers of Punjab were left to be guarded by 15000 – 20000 troops in widely separated forts at Multan, Peshawar, and Attock. There was no unified command. The bulk of the army under Raghunathrao and his deputy Malharrao Holkar made its way back to Delhi and central India.
The Marathas gave the Adina Beg Khan the title of Nawab and made him the overlord of Lahore and Sirhind, virtually pacing the entire Punjab under him for an annual payment of rupees seventy-five lakhs.
Now Punjab had three masters: the Mughals, the Afghans, and the Marathas, but in reality only two Adina Beg Khan and the Sikhs.
The reasons for the Marathas abandoning the subjugated Punjab were many.
1. The region was too far away from their court in Pune and the Maratha bases in Central India.
2. There were many powerful leaders in the Maratha army. In central India, these leaders had established their fiefdoms.
3. Maratha empire was functioning as a confederacy. These leaders felt that being in Punjab would make them lose control over their central India fiefdoms.
Adina Beg Khan succumbed to an attack of colic in Batala on 10 September 1758. He died at the age of 48. His dead body was buried, honoring his will, at Khanpur, 2 km Northwest of Hoshiarpur. If Adina Beg Khan had not died at the age of 48 and had a life for a decade or two then the Secular Empire of Punjab was presumed in the 1760s under the Kingship of Adina Beg Khan and liberated Punjab from Mughal invasion would not have been plundered by the Afghans and due to Muslim Punjabi and Sikh Punjabi harmony with political strategies and political maneuvering skills of Adina Beg Khan along with physical power of Sikh armed forces Punjab would have been a powerful state of South Asia.
Adina Beg Khan was a bridging and binding force to unite the Muslim Punjabis and Sikh Punjabis to liberate Punjab from Mughal invaders, to control the Afghans, to maneuver the Marathas by smartly managing the Afghans to deteriorate the Mughal invaders in Punjab and handling the Marathas to throw out Afghans from Punjab. But after his death, the defenders of Punjab were the only Sikh Punjabis.
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia became the head of the Sikh sovereignty. Under his rule, the domain of Sikhs considerably grew over Punjab. After the death of Jassa Singh, Afghans started gaining power again and Maharajah Ranjit Singh started to defend Punjab.
One of the main rivals to be defeated by Ranjit Singh was Zaman Shah. Zaman Shah, despite his previous defeats, attacked Lahore and surrounded Sikhs from all sides. The Afghans now planned to attack Amritsar, which was well answered by the forces of Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh won the hearts of everyone in Punjab, irrespective of religion and status. It was on July 7, 1799, that the victorious Ranjit Singh entered Lahore.
Punjab had a picture of chaos and disorder when Maharaja Ranjit Singh took over as its ruler, on 12th April 1801 by establishing the Sikh Empire of Punjab. Later, with the Secular Punjabi Rule, Maharaja Ranjit Singh conquered the Kashmir valley, Ladakh, along with modern-day Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and annexed it into the Empire of Punjab.
In the 1800 century, the religious ratio of Punjabi people in Punjab was 52% Muslim Punjabis, 41% Hindu Punjabis, 6% Sikh Punjabis, and 1% others. Muslim Punjabis and Hindu Punjabis were in the support of the Sikh Empire of Punjab. Prime Minister of Sikh Empire of Punjab was a Hindu Punjabi Dhian Singh Dogra and Foreign Minister was a Muslim Punjabi Fakir Aziz-ud-Din. Religion was a personal subject in the Sikh Empire of Punjab. Justice was provided to the inhabitants of Punjab without discrimination of religion.
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