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Afghan Invaders and Waris Shah

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Peer Waris Shah, of heer ranja, insults Afghans "Wang Kabuli kuttian gird hoyan dow dow alalhisab laga gayyan.”

Waris Shah was under the impression that Afghans got defeated in 1761 by Mughals and express his happiness over defeat of Afghans in his poetry "
Yey, ya Rab toon mehrban hoyon, tadey pher Choghatian da raj hoya, Toen diti shikast Qandharian noon, Dilli walian day sir taj hoya."


While describing the historic events I shall only quote and refer to non-Afghan writers and scholars to have an unbiased view of the events.

1-The Afghans played a very important role in the medieval history of India. The poverty of the soil, lack of economic and sustenance resources and the struggle for existence made the Afghans to leave their home-land and descend into the plains to sustain themselves. They made their first expedition into India in 705 AD, when their contingent from Khurasan, then under the rule of Abdul Malik Hijjaj bin Yousuf joined Muhammad bin Qasim to Sind (Henry Priestly, “Inhabitants of Afghanistan” p- 25.). In the Punjab the Afghan settlements can be traced as early as 10th century. Most of the Afghans who accompanied Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna and Sultan Shahab-ud-Din Ghori remained behind on the newly acquired land and founded their settlements all over the Punjab and Sirhind (Denzil Ibbetson, “Tribes and Castes of the Punjab" Vol-II & III., also see Rita Joshi “The Role of Afghan Nobles during the Reign of Jahangir”). The country between River Beas and Sutlej was once called the Afghanistan of Punjab (Afghana-i-Hoshiarpur). Subsequently, the Mughals used the Afghans to neutralise the refractory Rajputs.

2. Ahmad Shah Abdali, except for his invasion of Punjab when he came to punish the debauch, licentious, and carousal Shah Nawaz Khan who had killed his religious mentor Pir Sabir Shah, had been asked time and again by the local Muslims of the Punjab and Sirhind to protect the latter from the atrocities of the Marhattas and Sikhs. Throughout his life he had been fighting against the latter’s menace to the Muslims of the Punjab. After him even his grandsons had been invited by Tipu Sultan to come to the rescue of the Muslims of Hind. (Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kirmani, “History of Tipu Sultan”, 1864, translated by Colonel W. Miles, p-182). Lack of money and the local intrigues were the main causes why they did not respond to such calls in time. I shall quote two instances out of many of Ahmad Shah Abdali’s struggle against the Sikhs and Marhattas.

a. In 1762, Ahmad Shah Abdali arrived first in Jandialah and then Lahore. The Sikhs fled to Sirhind. With Shah’s presence at Lahore, the Sikhs got slack, thinking that he had no intentions of their pursuit. His sudden withdrawal to Lahore and the rumours that this time he wanted to advance beyond Delhi had made the Sikhs complacent. They did not speedily march into Malwa hills as usual. The Shah soon made them repent their blunder. He had come to know about their presence near Maler Kotla. He sallied out from Lahore at the head of his troops with utmost precaution and secrecy. He, covering a distance of 150 miles in about 36 hours, caught the Sikhs unaware and unprepared near Kot Rohera. Joined by the Afghan chiefs of Maler Kotla, Ahmad Shah on 5th May 1762 cut their route of retreat and surrounded them from all sides. Suddenly a panic seized them and general stampede followed. In the evening when Afghans stopped at a pond to water their horses, the Sikhs availed the opportunity. They fled towards Hariana and Barnala leaving behind about thirty thousands dead. Historians variously estimate the Sikh’s casualties from 12000 to 30,000. The survivors were wounded to a man. Tahmas Khan a servant to Mir Mannu and author of “Tahmas Nama,” who took part in the battle, places the Sikh dead at 25000 while Rattan Singh was told by his father a figure of 30,000. 5th May 1762 is remembered as `Bada Ghallughara' or the biggest holocaust in the Sikh History. Views of various non-Afghan writers are given below:-
i. “Tarikh-i-Ahmadi”, as quoted by S M Lateef, the Sikhs suffered 30,000 killed.
ii. Captain Murray, it did not exceed 12,000.
iii. Rai Kanhia Lal, the Sikhs killed numbered about 24,000 men.
iv. Sir John Malcolm, the Sikhs lost more than 24,000 men.
v. Arjan Das Malik, places the Sikh dead at 25000.

In the absence of Ahmad Shah Abdali from the Punjab, whenever the Sikhs got an opportunity they literally devastated the whole country, subjected the Muslims to many outrages, indignities, and hardships. They committed sacrilegious outrages to the Muslim mosques and shrines. On one occasion they chopped off ears and noses of all Muslim butchers of Lahore and expelled them from there. (See S. M. Lateef, “History of the Punjab”, 1891, p- 285-6).

b. As for the Marhattas are concerned the Third Battle of Panipat is the biggest proof of Ahmad Shah Abdali’s desire to liberate the Muslims of
Sirhind and Punjab from the Marhatta’s clutches. The incident on which Waris Shah rejoices is the massacre of a small Afghan contingent at Delhi at the hands of Sooraj Mal Jat and not the Mughals. The Marhattas army easily occupied Delhi where the small Durrani contingent that held it was cut to pieces after a spirited defence. Kanjpura on the banks of Jamuna River, sixty miles to the north of Delhi, was next besieged and the whole Afghan garrison was killed (Also see Syed Altaf Ali Brelvi, Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan p-108-9). Ahmad Shah was encamped on the left bank of the Jamuna River, which was swollen by rains. The massacre of the Kanjpura garrison, within the sight of the Durrani camp, exasperated him to such an extent that he ordered crossing of the river at all costs. S M Lateef, “History of the Punjab”, p-235, quotes "Tarikh-i-Ahmadi", and writes:

“The Shah is said to have recited some verses of the Holy Quran, and, having blown them on an arrow, discharged from his quiver into the river. Raising then the cry “Bismillah-i-Allah-o- Akbar” meaning, ‘in the name of God the great God’ he plunged into the river, followed by his bodyguards and the troops.”

The Durranis crossed the Jamuna on 23rd October. Ahmad Shah, along with other Afghan chiefs of Hind, rushed to punish Marhattas. The Afghans caught the advance guard of Marhatta army at Sarai Sanbhalak (For more detail see S. Altaf Ali Brelvi “Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan”,p-107-28). The Marhattas retired to Panipat. The Marhatta force consisted of 300,000 men, including 55,000 Marhatta Cavalry, and had three hundred pieces of cannon The “Gul-i-Rahmat” and the “Tarikh-i-Najibabad” by Akbar Shah Khan give the number of the Marhatta forces at three lacs. In local tales common among the people of Panipat the number is raised to nine lacs, which seems an exaggeration.

Ahmad Shah had 40,000 Afghans and Persians, 13,000 Indian Afghan cavalry and 38,000 Indian Afghan infantry, with 70 pieces of cannon borrowed from the Indian allies. According to the best accounts the number of Marhattas slain numbered to about 200,000, while 22,000 prisoners, 50,000 horses and an immense booty fell into the hands of the victors. News of the defeat flashed throughout India, couched in this code: “Two pearls have been dissolved, twenty-seven gold ‘mohurs’ have been lost, and of the silver and copper total cannot be cast up”.(Lieutenant General Sir G. Macmunn, “Afghanistan –From Darius to Amanullah, p-70.)

The Marhatta Peshwa or the king died of despondency. They retired beyond Narbada, never to recover their power. Rudyard Kipling in poem “With Scindia to Delhi” wrote:

“The children of the hills of the Khost before our lances ran,
We drove the black Rohillas back as cattle to pen.
It was then we needed Mulhar Rao to end what we began,
A thousand men had saved the charge; he fled the field with ten,
I held by Scindia, my lord, as close as man might be;
A Soobah of the Deccan asks no aid to guard its life;
But Holkar’s horse were flying and our chiefest chiefs were cold,
And like a flame among us leaped the long lean Northern knife.”

3. About Ahmad Shah Durrani, S M Lateef writes,

“After the victory at Panipat, the whole of Hindustan lay at the mercy of the Abdali conqueror. But he had no wish to ascend the vacant throne of the Mughals; so after remaining at Delhi for a few days and arranging the affairs of India, he returned to Punjab, which had already been ceded to him, and with which he appeared contented.”

4. Abdul Karim Alvi, the historian, narrates an interesting conversation here. When Mir Mannu presented himself before Ahmad Shah, the latter sarcastically asked him, “How is it that you did not present yourself before the threshold of your lord before this to do him homage?” “Because”, replied Mir Mannu, “I had another lord to serve.” “And why,” rejoined the Shah satirically, “ did not your lord and master succour you at this moment of your distress?” “Because,” answered Mannu boldly, “he was sure that his servant would take care of himself”. “And supposing,” continued the Shah, “I had fallen in your hands, what treatment would you have shown to me?” “I should have severed your majesty’s head from your body and sent it to my king”, was the reply. “And now that you are at my mercy, what do you expect of me”? “If you are a merchant,” said Mannu,” sell me: if executioner and tyrant, cut off my head: but if you are a king show me kingly generosity and pardon my life.” The Shah was pleased with the dauntless spirit of the youth, and conferred upon him the title of ‘Farzand Khan Bahadur Rustam-i- Hind’.

5. Mountstuart Elphinstone wrote about Ahmad Shah Abdali:

"His military courage and activity are spoken of with admiration, both by his own subjects and the nations with whom he was engaged, either in wars or alliances. He seems to have been naturally disposed to mildness and clemency and though it is impossible to acquire sovereign power and perhaps, in Asia, to maintain it, without crimes; yet the memory of no eastern prince is stained with fewer acts of cruelty and injustice."

"… He treated Moollahs and holy men with great respect, both from policy and inclination. He was himself a divine and an author and was always ambitious of the character of a saint. (“Account of the Kingdom of Caubul” 1815)

7. Ahmad Shah Abdali was a distinguished warrior, religious, generous and a kind-hearted king. He was a true Muslim and never believed in pomp and show of the royal courts. Unlike his contemporary kings and rajas, he did not even have a crown. His devotion to Islam further added to his simplicity and service to God. Being an accomplished poet and writer himself, he once wrote:

“I capture every province with the aid of God; It is with his help that I go everywhere without failure. Yet I, Ahmad, consider the world worthless and unimportant. I shall leave the world behind and go the next, armed only with my faith.”

Verdict

1. Surprisingly waris shah does not say any thing about the brutalities of the Sikhs and Marhattas on the Muslims of the Punjab, rather rejoice over the massacre of a small Muslim Afghan garrison in the Delhi Fort and Kanjpura. Furthermore, they are ignorant of the complete victory of the Afghans over the Marhattas, which is worldwide accepted and appreciated as a classic strategy of the Afghans against a force many time superior to them in men and material.
2. The pages of history bear out that Ahmad Shah Abdali was a kind-hearted person, prone to clemency and forgiveness. He spent his life in chasing the
Sikhs and the Marhattas so that Muslims of the Punjab and Sirhind could live in peace.
3. There is no evidence that Ahmad Shah Abdali ever looted the Muslims of Punjab or elsewhere for whose protection he used to come from Kabul and Kandahar.
4. There was no dearth of Muslims in the Punjab and Sirhind, yet they looked for the Afghans to shield them against the Sikhs. Certainly the Afghans were not super human beings, nevertheless, the trust reposed in them by the former clearly shows the Afghans’ gallantry, chivalry, the will to fight for their co-religionists, the acumen to administer the conquered territories, and perseverance and steadfastness to bear the hardships of war and weather for their Muslim brothers in the Punjab.
5. I have not been able to find the answers as to why:
a. Waris Shah should rejoice on the massacre of the Afghans who had been invited by Shah Waliullah of Delhi and fought for the Muslims.
6. Waris Shah should call the Afghans ‘the thieves’; a thief steals, while the Afghans were the conquerors and could get any thing by force if they wanted to.
c. Waris Shah should close their eyes to the Sikhs’ ‘Satnami Movement’, their atrocities committed on the Muslims in Lahore and elsewhere and as reported by many historians of the time.
d. Waris Shah should abuse the proud race of the Afghans as ‘Kabuli Kuttian’
e. Waris Shah should join a debauch, who had Hindu and Sikh keeps, a licentious and a pervert, a killer of a religious and pious man, and fight a Muslim who came to punish such an enemy of Islam.

Note that Waris Shah was born in Jandiala Sher Khan, Sheikhupura, a small town about 40 kilometers from Lahore. The town was dominated by Afghan Pathans who were the major landowners.
Waris Shah (1722-1798) This wanting world

Help from Brig (R) Haroon RashidThe writer is a scholar and author of the ten-volume book collection ‘History of the Pathans’


@shahbaz sharif, @Shahmir kashmir, @Multani, @ghilzai, @KingMamba

@haj9211, @Shabaz Sharif @EyanKhan
 
Last edited:
DAWN - Features; July 22, 2003 - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

By STM (Punjabi Themes)

The sectarian and religious prejudices of Aurangzeb had played a major part in the destabilization of the subcontinent and Kabul which was then part of the Delhi empire. The insights of the Mughal dynasty and the failure of the economic structure of the state were also responsible for the deterioration which ultimately led to its complete collapse. But one of the other major factors was the role of the Afghan invaders, including Nadir Shah, Ahmad Shah Abdali and his two successors. The invaders were called Turks and the great Punjabi poet Waris Shah depicts the social conditions of the era:

Waris kurri na pind vich rahee kai, fojan Hind noon Turk nein chahrrian nay. Waris Shah was born in the most troublesome period after the death of Aurangzeb and Shah Alam and it was the Punjab which suffered the most. First come Nadir Shah with the lame excuse that Islam was no more safe in India and he wanted to strengthen the Muslim rulers of Delhi who were getting weak against the Sikhs and the Marhattas.

The hatred against the Afghan invaders had reached an extent that Waris Shah was obliged to say:

Wang Kabuli kuttian gird hoyan dow dow alalhisab laga gayyan. A Persian poet, Muhammad Bukhsh Aashob, laments the destruction of the city of Lahore:

Za bedad-i-Afghan kiran ta kiran, Azan shehr bar shud bagardoon fughan.Hazar az chunan dushmani purstaiz, Aman al-aman az chunan rustkhez.

Waris Shah, though engaged in teaching and leading prayers in the mosque of Malka Haans in Deepalpur tehsil, was a distant witness to the oppression committed by Nadir Shah in Delhi and later in southern Punjab and Sindh. Waris Shah had referred to the massacre in Delhi.

Qizalbash, jallad, aswar khooni, nikal dorria Urd bazar vichon. Nadir Shah's invasion was followed by Ahmad Shah Abdali, a Multan-born warlord whose lust for loot was limitless. In that time, peaceful people like Waris Shah resisted him. He joined the force of Lahore governor Shahnawaz Khan, a debauch who had keeps, including a Sikh and Hindu women. He had murdered a religious emissary of Ahmad Shah and thus invited the wrath of the Afghan tyrant.

As Shahnawaz had killed the emissary, it was expected that an all-out war was inevitable between Lahore and the Afghans. Waris Shah had also joined the Mughal forces as a volunteer. But after insignificant clashes on the Booti Bund side in which Waris Shah was also involved, governor Shahnawaz left the city at the mercy of Afghans who plundered it for a month.

Waris Shah calls the Afghans 'thieves'. The Delhi rulers had refused to extend military support to Shahnawaz who was not in the good books of prime minister Qamruddin at Delhi. The reason was a family feud. Shahnawaz had defeated his elder brother Yahya Khan who was the son-in-law of Qamruddin. As was the practice of the Afghan invaders, Abdali and his forces mercilessly plundered the city and the citizens at large. Waris Shah narrates the conditions prevailing in the Punjab capital:

Tay, tor Lahore day vaikh kay ji daur-i-zameen tey sakht bhoochal hoya, Waris Shah jiven jal bahj mahi, tivain shehr Lahore da haal hoya.

Being a nationalist, Waris was very happy when Ahmad Shah Abdali was defeated by the Mughal forces near Delhi and he had to retreat to Kabul through Lahore, where he was never welcomed. It was only Shah Waliullah, a renowned religious intellectual of Delhi, who had invited Ahmad Shah to strengthen the Delhi Mughal rulers at whose success Waris Shah was tremendously happy:

Yey, ya Rab toon mehrban hoyon, tadey pher Choghatian da raj hoya, Toen diti shikast Qandharian noon, Dilli walian day sir taj hoya.

Waris Shah Qandhari khidar naheen, akheen vaikh, bazi hun harda ee. In Waris Shah's view, the whole of the Punjab was devastated by the Afghans and in their absence the Sikhs ruled supreme. It was the turn of the Sikhs marauders.-STM
05 August 2003

..............................................................................


Dear Editor (daily DAWN Karachi),

I want to draw your attention to a highly prejudiced, misleading and provocative piece by one "STM" writing under 'Punjabi Themes' that appeared in the National Pages of the daily DAWN on July 22, 2003 titled 'Afghan invaders and Waris Shah':

DAWN - Features; July 22, 2003 - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

In a clear attempt to discredit and insult the Afghans as you can see, the writer has alluded to a punjabi poet Waris Shah (of heer ranja fame/ whose own credentials as a 'sufi poet' are disputable according to research published in The News last week:

http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jul2003-weekly/nos-27-07-2003/lit.htm#1 )

'STM" has used inappropriate language against the great pukhtun icon Ahmad Shah Abdali better known as Baba-i-Afghan or the Founder of the Modern Afghan Nation and other Afghans. The founder of the Durrani clan is well respected in Pakistan as well, with Pak army companies and missiles named after him. One wonders really as to what is the real motive of the writer and the timing that he has chosen when the relations between our two countries are already tense? You are free to flow your own conclusions. However, one thing that stands out is that you'll find nothing constructive in it.It is a matter of grave concern to all of us. The malicious article has hurt and enraged every single Pukhtun and Afghan whoever has read it. First of all, it should not have made its way in your columns unscreened, but if your newspaper really believes in freedom of speech and expression then in all fairness, it must also publish the rejoinders.

I am aware that a number of letters have been posted in the past as protest to the editor daily DAWN but they have not been published yet (including mine).

I had also sent a copy to Brig (R) Haroon Rashid, scholar and author of 'History of the Pathans' (B&A 27 July). Today I received a very well researched and balanced rejoinder by the learned Brig (R) Haroon Rashid himself. It is an excellent scholarly commentary that highlights the important role of the Afghans in the history of the region with particular emphasis on the achievements of Ahmed Shah Abdali. The writer has brought out many positive attributes of our revered hero which STM had deliberatly attempted to distort.

This authoritative work should set the record straight once and for all.

Brig Rashid has asked to forward this original work to DAWN exclusively for publication as an article in any appropriate section as soon as it is possible.

The enclosed document has been contributed by the author ('Afghan invaders and Waris Shah by Haroon Rashid.doc)

If you require any further help you may contact the author directly <e-mail> or you can also contact me at <e-mail> if you wish.

Thanks very much indeed,

Dr Ali Jan

............................................................
'Afghan invaders and Waris Shah'
Rejoinder by Brig (R) Haroon Rashid

This is in reference to an article titled “Afghan Invaders and Waris Shah” published in “The Dawn” of 22nd July 2003, (National Pages).

The Article by one "STM" writing under 'Punjabi Themes' abounds in baseless derogatory, incriminating and vituperative remarks, some of which tantamount to naked abuses to the race of Afghans known for their valour and religious pursuits. The irresponsible accusations as under have hurt the feelings of millions -- Afghans and non-Afghans alike.

To quote Waris Shah according to the author:“Wang Kabuli kuttian gird hoyan dow dow alalhisab laga gayyan.”

A dispassionate perusal of the article, testing its salient points on the litmus of the logical inferences drawn from the relevant historic facts, shall help us in validating or rejecting the author’s acrimonious comments and the accusations of his ‘Sufi’.
Salient Points of the Article in question

1. Nadir Shah Afshar, Ahmad Shah Abdali and his two successors, called ‘Turks’, invaded India under the lame excuse of ‘strengthening the Delhi Rulers against the Sikhs and Marhattas’. Nadir Shah massacred and devastated Delhi.
2. They committed inhuman atrocities on the locals, particularly Ahmad Shah Abdali when the latter invaded the Punjab and defeated Shah Nawaz Khan, the Governor of Lahore.
3. Waris Shah volunteers to join Shah Nawaz Khan against Ahmad Shah Abdali.
4. Ahmad Shah Abdali mercilessly plunders Lahore after defeating Shah Nawaz. His lust for loot was limitless.
5. Waris Shah rejoices over the so-called defeat of Ahmad Shah Abdali at the hands of the so-called Mughals near Delhi.
6. The whole of the Punjab was devastated by the Afghans.
Relevant Historic Facts

The Afghans played a very important role in the medieval history of India. The poverty of the soil, lack of economic and sustenance resources and the struggle for existence made the Afghans to leave their home-land and descend into the plains to sustain themselves. They made their first expedition into India in 705 AD, when their contingent from Khurasan, then under the rule of Abdul Malik Hijjaj bin Yousuf joined Muhammad bin Qasim to Sind (Henry Priestly, “Inhabitants of Afghanistan” p- 25.). In the Punjab the Afghan settlements can be traced as early as 10th century. Most of the Afghans who accompanied Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna and Sultan Shahab-ud-Din Ghori remained behind on the newly acquired land and founded their settlements all over the Punjab and Sirhind (Denzil Ibbetson, “Tribes and Castes of the Punjab" Vol-II & III., also see Rita Joshi “The Role of Afghan Nobles during the Reign of Jahangir”). The country between River Beas and Sutlej was once called the Afghanistan of Punjab (Afghana-i-Hoshiarpur). Subsequently, the Mughals used the Afghans to neutralise the refractory Rajputs.

While describing the historic events I shall only quote and refer to non-Afghan writers and scholars to have an unbiased view of the events.

1. Nadir Shah Afshar belonged to a clan of Tatar tribe which is of Turk origin and has nothing to do with the Afghans (S M Lateef, “History of the Punjab”, 1891, p-194). In fact Nadir Shah was a bitter eliminator of the Afghans. His same obsession became the cause of his invasion of Hind. During his siege of Kandahar a large number of Afghans had fled and took refuge in Hind. Nadir Shah sent his confidential agent, Ali Mardan Khan as ambassador to the Court of Muhammad Shah, the Emperor of India, to prevent the influx of the Afghans to Hind. Nadir Shah was determined to extirpate the whole race of the Afghan fugitives from Ghazni. He requested Emperor Muhammad Shah to expel those Afghans who had already found an asylum in Hind. The Emperor promised to do the needful but due to the Marhatta menace he did not take any concrete measures in this context. Nadir Shah reminded the Emperor three times, but to no avail. Ultimately he decided to invade India. (S M Lateef, “History of the Punjab” p-198-204).

2. Ahmad Shah Abdali, except for his invasion of Punjab when he came to punish the debauch, licentious, and carousal Shah Nawaz Khan who had killed his religious mentor Pir Sabir Shah, had been asked time and again by the local Muslims of the Punjab and Sirhind to protect the latter from the atrocities of the Marhattas and Sikhs. Throughout his life he had been fighting against the latter’s menace to the Muslims of the Punjab. After him even his grandsons had been invited by Tipu Sultan to come to the rescue of the Muslims of Hind. (Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kirmani, “History of Tipu Sultan”, 1864, translated by Colonel W. Miles, p-182). Lack of money and the local intrigues were the main causes why they did not respond to such calls in time. I shall quote two instances out of many of Ahmad Shah Abdali’s struggle against the Sikhs and Marhattas.

a. In 1762, Ahmad Shah Abdali arrived first in Jandialah and then Lahore. The Sikhs fled to Sirhind. With Shah’s presence at Lahore, the Sikhs got slack, thinking that he had no intentions of their pursuit. His sudden withdrawal to Lahore and the rumours that this time he wanted to advance beyond Delhi had made the Sikhs complacent. They did not speedily march into Malwa hills as usual. The Shah soon made them repent their blunder. He had come to know about their presence near Maler Kotla. He sallied out from Lahore at the head of his troops with utmost precaution and secrecy. He, covering a distance of 150 miles in about 36 hours, caught the Sikhs unaware and unprepared near Kot Rohera. Joined by the Afghan chiefs of Maler Kotla, Ahmad Shah on 5th May 1762 cut their route of retreat and surrounded them from all sides. Suddenly a panic seized them and general stampede followed. In the evening when Afghans stopped at a pond to water their horses, the Sikhs availed the opportunity. They fled towards Hariana and Barnala leaving behind about thirty thousands dead. Historians variously estimate the Sikh’s casualties from 12000 to 30,000. The survivors were wounded to a man. Tahmas Khan a servant to Mir Mannu and author of “Tahmas Nama,” who took part in the battle, places the Sikh dead at 25000 while Rattan Singh was told by his father a figure of 30,000. 5th May 1762 is remembered as `Bada Ghallughara' or the biggest holocaust in the Sikh History. Views of various non-Afghan writers are given below:-
i. “Tarikh-i-Ahmadi”, as quoted by S M Lateef, the Sikhs suffered 30,000 killed.
ii. Captain Murray, it did not exceed 12,000.
iii. Rai Kanhia Lal, the Sikhs killed numbered about 24,000 men.
iv. Sir John Malcolm, the Sikhs lost more than 24,000 men.
v. Arjan Das Malik, places the Sikh dead at 25000.

In the absence of Ahmad Shah Abdali from the Punjab, whenever the Sikhs got an opportunity they literally devastated the whole country, subjected the Muslims to many outrages, indignities, and hardships. They committed sacrilegious outrages to the Muslim mosques and shrines. On one occasion they chopped off ears and noses of all Muslim butchers of Lahore and expelled them from there. (See S. M. Lateef, “History of the Punjab”, 1891, p- 285-6).

b. As for the Marhattas are concerned the Third Battle of Panipat is the biggest proof of Ahmad Shah Abdali’s desire to liberate the Muslims of
Sirhind and Punjab from the Marhatta’s clutches. The incident on which Waris Shah rejoices is the massacre of a small Afghan contingent at Delhi at the hands of Sooraj Mal Jat and not the Mughals. The Marhattas army easily occupied Delhi where the small Durrani contingent that held it was cut to pieces after a spirited defence. Kanjpura on the banks of Jamuna River, sixty miles to the north of Delhi, was next besieged and the whole Afghan garrison was killed (Also see Syed Altaf Ali Brelvi, Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan p-108-9). Ahmad Shah was encamped on the left bank of the Jamuna River, which was swollen by rains. The massacre of the Kanjpura garrison, within the sight of the Durrani camp, exasperated him to such an extent that he ordered crossing of the river at all costs. S M Lateef, “History of the Punjab”, p-235, quotes "Tarikh-i-Ahmadi", and writes:

“The Shah is said to have recited some verses of the Holy Quran, and, having blown them on an arrow, discharged from his quiver into the river. Raising then the cry “Bismillah-i-Allah-o- Akbar” meaning, ‘in the name of God the great God’ he plunged into the river, followed by his bodyguards and the troops.”

The Durranis crossed the Jamuna on 23rd October. Ahmad Shah, along with other Afghan chiefs of Hind, rushed to punish Marhattas. The Afghans caught the advance guard of Marhatta army at Sarai Sanbhalak (For more detail see S. Altaf Ali Brelvi “Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan”,p-107-28). The Marhattas retired to Panipat. The Marhatta force consisted of 300,000 men, including 55,000 Marhatta Cavalry, and had three hundred pieces of cannon The “Gul-i-Rahmat” and the “Tarikh-i-Najibabad” by Akbar Shah Khan give the number of the Marhatta forces at three lacs. In local tales common among the people of Panipat the number is raised to nine lacs, which seems an exaggeration.

Ahmad Shah had 40,000 Afghans and Persians, 13,000 Indian Afghan cavalry and 38,000 Indian Afghan infantry, with 70 pieces of cannon borrowed from the Indian allies. According to the best accounts the number of Marhattas slain numbered to about 200,000, while 22,000 prisoners, 50,000 horses and an immense booty fell into the hands of the victors. News of the defeat flashed throughout India, couched in this code: “Two pearls have been dissolved, twenty-seven gold ‘mohurs’ have been lost, and of the silver and copper total cannot be cast up”.(Lieutenant General Sir G. Macmunn, “Afghanistan –From Darius to Amanullah, p-70.)

The Marhatta Peshwa or the king died of despondency. They retired beyond Narbada, never to recover their power. Rudyard Kipling in poem “With Scindia to Delhi” wrote:

“The children of the hills of the Khost before our lances ran,
We drove the black Rohillas back as cattle to pen.
It was then we needed Mulhar Rao to end what we began,
A thousand men had saved the charge; he fled the field with ten,
I held by Scindia, my lord, as close as man might be;
A Soobah of the Deccan asks no aid to guard its life;
But Holkar’s horse were flying and our chiefest chiefs were cold,
And like a flame among us leaped the long lean Northern knife.”

3. About Ahmad Shah Durrani, S M Lateef writes,

“After the victory at Panipat, the whole of Hindustan lay at the mercy of the Abdali conqueror. But he had no wish to ascend the vacant throne of the Mughals; so after remaining at Delhi for a few days and arranging the affairs of India, he returned to Punjab, which had already been ceded to him, and with which he appeared contented.”

4. Abdul Karim Alvi, the historian, narrates an interesting conversation here. When Mir Mannu presented himself before Ahmad Shah, the latter sarcastically asked him, “How is it that you did not present yourself before the threshold of your lord before this to do him homage?” “Because”, replied Mir Mannu, “I had another lord to serve.” “And why,” rejoined the Shah satirically, “ did not your lord and master succour you at this moment of your distress?” “Because,” answered Mannu boldly, “he was sure that his servant would take care of himself”. “And supposing,” continued the Shah, “I had fallen in your hands, what treatment would you have shown to me?” “I should have severed your majesty’s head from your body and sent it to my king”, was the reply. “And now that you are at my mercy, what do you expect of me”? “If you are a merchant,” said Mannu,” sell me: if executioner and tyrant, cut off my head: but if you are a king show me kingly generosity and pardon my life.” The Shah was pleased with the dauntless spirit of the youth, and conferred upon him the title of ‘Farzand Khan Bahadur Rustam-i- Hind’.

5. Mountstuart Elphinstone wrote about Ahmad Shah Abdali:

"His military courage and activity are spoken of with admiration, both by his own subjects and the nations with whom he was engaged, either in wars or alliances. He seems to have been naturally disposed to mildness and clemency and though it is impossible to acquire sovereign power and perhaps, in Asia, to maintain it, without crimes; yet the memory of no eastern prince is stained with fewer acts of cruelty and injustice."

"… He treated Moollahs and holy men with great respect, both from policy and inclination. He was himself a divine and an author and was always ambitious of the character of a saint. (“Account of the Kingdom of Caubul” 1815)

7. Ahmad Shah Abdali was a distinguished warrior, religious, generous and a kind-hearted king. He was a true Muslim and never believed in pomp and show of the royal courts. Unlike his contemporary kings and rajas, he did not even have a crown. His devotion to Islam further added to his simplicity and service to God. Being an accomplished poet and writer himself, he once wrote:

“I capture every province with the aid of God; It is with his help that I go everywhere without failure. Yet I, Ahmad, consider the world worthless and unimportant. I shall leave the world behind and go the next, armed only with my faith.”

Inferences Drawn


1. Nadir Shah Afshar was a Turk and not an Afghan, hence Ahmad Shah and his two successors nor any other Afghan could be held responsible for the deeds of the former.
2. Surprisingly the author and his Sufi does not say any thing about the brutalities of the Sikhs and Marhattas on the Muslims of the Punjab, rather rejoice over the massacre of a small Muslim Afghan garrison in the Delhi Fort and Kanjpura. Furthermore, they are ignorant of the complete victory of the Afghans over the Marhattas, which is worldwide accepted and appreciated as a classic strategy of the Afghans against a force many time superior to them in men and material.
3. The pages of history bear out that Ahmad Shah Abdali was a kind-hearted person, prone to clemency and forgiveness. He spent his life in chasing the
Sikhs and the Marhattas so that Muslims of the Punjab and Sirhind could live in peace.
4. There is no evidence that Ahmad Shah Abdali ever looted the Muslims of Punjab or elsewhere for whose protection he used to come from Kabul and Kandahar.
5. There was no dearth of Muslims in the Punjab and Sirhind, yet they looked for the Afghans to shield them against the Sikhs. Certainly the Afghans were not super human beings, nevertheless, the trust reposed in them by the former clearly shows the Afghans’ gallantry, chivalry, the will to fight for their co-religionists, the acumen to administer the conquered territories, and perseverance and steadfastness to bear the hardships of war and weather for their Muslim brothers in the Punjab.
6. I have not been able to find the answers as to why:
a. Waris Shah should rejoice on the massacre of the Afghans who, according to the author, had been invited by Shah Waliullah of Delhi and fought for the Muslims.
b. Waris Shah should call the Afghans ‘the thieves’; a thief steals, while the Afghans were the conquerors and could get any thing by force if they wanted to.
c. Waris Shah and the author should close their eyes to the Sikhs’ ‘Satnami Movement’, their atrocities committed on the Muslims in Lahore and elsewhere and as reported by many historians of the time.
d. Waris Shah should abuse the proud race of the Afghans as ‘Kabuli Kuttian’
e. Waris Shah should join a debauch, who had Hindu and Sikh keeps, a licentious and a pervert, a killer of a religious and pious man, and fight a Muslim who came to punish such an enemy of Islam.

The only thing that comes to my mind is “Birds of a feather flock together.”
Brig (R) Haroon RashidThe writer is a scholar and author of the ten-volume book collection ‘History of the Pathans’ (2002)

Afghan invaders and Waris Shah - DAWN's Biased article and its rejoinder


@shahbaz sharif, @Shahmir kashmir, @Multani, @ghilzai, @KingMamba

@haj9211, @shahbaz Sharif

One correction in original post.

Nader Shah wasn't Afghan. He was a Turk.
 
Interesting, i'll read it from my own collection.
 
Peer Waris Shah, of heer ranja, insults Afghans "Wang Kabuli kuttian gird hoyan dow dow alalhisab laga gayyan.”

Waris Shah was under the impression that Afghans got defeated in 1761 by Mughals and express his happiness over defeat of Afghans in his poetry "
Yey, ya Rab toon mehrban hoyon, tadey pher Choghatian da raj hoya, Toen diti shikast Qandharian noon, Dilli walian day sir taj hoya."


While describing the historic events I shall only quote and refer to non-Afghan writers and scholars to have an unbiased view of the events.

1-The Afghans played a very important role in the medieval history of India. The poverty of the soil, lack of economic and sustenance resources and the struggle for existence made the Afghans to leave their home-land and descend into the plains to sustain themselves. They made their first expedition into India in 705 AD, when their contingent from Khurasan, then under the rule of Abdul Malik Hijjaj bin Yousuf joined Muhammad bin Qasim to Sind (Henry Priestly, “Inhabitants of Afghanistan” p- 25.). In the Punjab the Afghan settlements can be traced as early as 10th century. Most of the Afghans who accompanied Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna and Sultan Shahab-ud-Din Ghori remained behind on the newly acquired land and founded their settlements all over the Punjab and Sirhind (Denzil Ibbetson, “Tribes and Castes of the Punjab" Vol-II & III., also see Rita Joshi “The Role of Afghan Nobles during the Reign of Jahangir”). The country between River Beas and Sutlej was once called the Afghanistan of Punjab (Afghana-i-Hoshiarpur). Subsequently, the Mughals used the Afghans to neutralise the refractory Rajputs.

2. Ahmad Shah Abdali, except for his invasion of Punjab when he came to punish the debauch, licentious, and carousal Shah Nawaz Khan who had killed his religious mentor Pir Sabir Shah, had been asked time and again by the local Muslims of the Punjab and Sirhind to protect the latter from the atrocities of the Marhattas and Sikhs. Throughout his life he had been fighting against the latter’s menace to the Muslims of the Punjab. After him even his grandsons had been invited by Tipu Sultan to come to the rescue of the Muslims of Hind. (Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kirmani, “History of Tipu Sultan”, 1864, translated by Colonel W. Miles, p-182). Lack of money and the local intrigues were the main causes why they did not respond to such calls in time. I shall quote two instances out of many of Ahmad Shah Abdali’s struggle against the Sikhs and Marhattas.

a. In 1762, Ahmad Shah Abdali arrived first in Jandialah and then Lahore. The Sikhs fled to Sirhind. With Shah’s presence at Lahore, the Sikhs got slack, thinking that he had no intentions of their pursuit. His sudden withdrawal to Lahore and the rumours that this time he wanted to advance beyond Delhi had made the Sikhs complacent. They did not speedily march into Malwa hills as usual. The Shah soon made them repent their blunder. He had come to know about their presence near Maler Kotla. He sallied out from Lahore at the head of his troops with utmost precaution and secrecy. He, covering a distance of 150 miles in about 36 hours, caught the Sikhs unaware and unprepared near Kot Rohera. Joined by the Afghan chiefs of Maler Kotla, Ahmad Shah on 5th May 1762 cut their route of retreat and surrounded them from all sides. Suddenly a panic seized them and general stampede followed. In the evening when Afghans stopped at a pond to water their horses, the Sikhs availed the opportunity. They fled towards Hariana and Barnala leaving behind about thirty thousands dead. Historians variously estimate the Sikh’s casualties from 12000 to 30,000. The survivors were wounded to a man. Tahmas Khan a servant to Mir Mannu and author of “Tahmas Nama,” who took part in the battle, places the Sikh dead at 25000 while Rattan Singh was told by his father a figure of 30,000. 5th May 1762 is remembered as `Bada Ghallughara' or the biggest holocaust in the Sikh History. Views of various non-Afghan writers are given below:-
i. “Tarikh-i-Ahmadi”, as quoted by S M Lateef, the Sikhs suffered 30,000 killed.
ii. Captain Murray, it did not exceed 12,000.
iii. Rai Kanhia Lal, the Sikhs killed numbered about 24,000 men.
iv. Sir John Malcolm, the Sikhs lost more than 24,000 men.
v. Arjan Das Malik, places the Sikh dead at 25000.

In the absence of Ahmad Shah Abdali from the Punjab, whenever the Sikhs got an opportunity they literally devastated the whole country, subjected the Muslims to many outrages, indignities, and hardships. They committed sacrilegious outrages to the Muslim mosques and shrines. On one occasion they chopped off ears and noses of all Muslim butchers of Lahore and expelled them from there. (See S. M. Lateef, “History of the Punjab”, 1891, p- 285-6).

b. As for the Marhattas are concerned the Third Battle of Panipat is the biggest proof of Ahmad Shah Abdali’s desire to liberate the Muslims of
Sirhind and Punjab from the Marhatta’s clutches. The incident on which Waris Shah rejoices is the massacre of a small Afghan contingent at Delhi at the hands of Sooraj Mal Jat and not the Mughals. The Marhattas army easily occupied Delhi where the small Durrani contingent that held it was cut to pieces after a spirited defence. Kanjpura on the banks of Jamuna River, sixty miles to the north of Delhi, was next besieged and the whole Afghan garrison was killed (Also see Syed Altaf Ali Brelvi, Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan p-108-9). Ahmad Shah was encamped on the left bank of the Jamuna River, which was swollen by rains. The massacre of the Kanjpura garrison, within the sight of the Durrani camp, exasperated him to such an extent that he ordered crossing of the river at all costs. S M Lateef, “History of the Punjab”, p-235, quotes "Tarikh-i-Ahmadi", and writes:

“The Shah is said to have recited some verses of the Holy Quran, and, having blown them on an arrow, discharged from his quiver into the river. Raising then the cry “Bismillah-i-Allah-o- Akbar” meaning, ‘in the name of God the great God’ he plunged into the river, followed by his bodyguards and the troops.”

The Durranis crossed the Jamuna on 23rd October. Ahmad Shah, along with other Afghan chiefs of Hind, rushed to punish Marhattas. The Afghans caught the advance guard of Marhatta army at Sarai Sanbhalak (For more detail see S. Altaf Ali Brelvi “Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan”,p-107-28). The Marhattas retired to Panipat. The Marhatta force consisted of 300,000 men, including 55,000 Marhatta Cavalry, and had three hundred pieces of cannon The “Gul-i-Rahmat” and the “Tarikh-i-Najibabad” by Akbar Shah Khan give the number of the Marhatta forces at three lacs. In local tales common among the people of Panipat the number is raised to nine lacs, which seems an exaggeration.

Ahmad Shah had 40,000 Afghans and Persians, 13,000 Indian Afghan cavalry and 38,000 Indian Afghan infantry, with 70 pieces of cannon borrowed from the Indian allies. According to the best accounts the number of Marhattas slain numbered to about 200,000, while 22,000 prisoners, 50,000 horses and an immense booty fell into the hands of the victors. News of the defeat flashed throughout India, couched in this code: “Two pearls have been dissolved, twenty-seven gold ‘mohurs’ have been lost, and of the silver and copper total cannot be cast up”.(Lieutenant General Sir G. Macmunn, “Afghanistan –From Darius to Amanullah, p-70.)

The Marhatta Peshwa or the king died of despondency. They retired beyond Narbada, never to recover their power. Rudyard Kipling in poem “With Scindia to Delhi” wrote:

“The children of the hills of the Khost before our lances ran,
We drove the black Rohillas back as cattle to pen.
It was then we needed Mulhar Rao to end what we began,
A thousand men had saved the charge; he fled the field with ten,
I held by Scindia, my lord, as close as man might be;
A Soobah of the Deccan asks no aid to guard its life;
But Holkar’s horse were flying and our chiefest chiefs were cold,
And like a flame among us leaped the long lean Northern knife.”

3. About Ahmad Shah Durrani, S M Lateef writes,

“After the victory at Panipat, the whole of Hindustan lay at the mercy of the Abdali conqueror. But he had no wish to ascend the vacant throne of the Mughals; so after remaining at Delhi for a few days and arranging the affairs of India, he returned to Punjab, which had already been ceded to him, and with which he appeared contented.”

4. Abdul Karim Alvi, the historian, narrates an interesting conversation here. When Mir Mannu presented himself before Ahmad Shah, the latter sarcastically asked him, “How is it that you did not present yourself before the threshold of your lord before this to do him homage?” “Because”, replied Mir Mannu, “I had another lord to serve.” “And why,” rejoined the Shah satirically, “ did not your lord and master succour you at this moment of your distress?” “Because,” answered Mannu boldly, “he was sure that his servant would take care of himself”. “And supposing,” continued the Shah, “I had fallen in your hands, what treatment would you have shown to me?” “I should have severed your majesty’s head from your body and sent it to my king”, was the reply. “And now that you are at my mercy, what do you expect of me”? “If you are a merchant,” said Mannu,” sell me: if executioner and tyrant, cut off my head: but if you are a king show me kingly generosity and pardon my life.” The Shah was pleased with the dauntless spirit of the youth, and conferred upon him the title of ‘Farzand Khan Bahadur Rustam-i- Hind’.

5. Mountstuart Elphinstone wrote about Ahmad Shah Abdali:

"His military courage and activity are spoken of with admiration, both by his own subjects and the nations with whom he was engaged, either in wars or alliances. He seems to have been naturally disposed to mildness and clemency and though it is impossible to acquire sovereign power and perhaps, in Asia, to maintain it, without crimes; yet the memory of no eastern prince is stained with fewer acts of cruelty and injustice."

"… He treated Moollahs and holy men with great respect, both from policy and inclination. He was himself a divine and an author and was always ambitious of the character of a saint. (“Account of the Kingdom of Caubul” 1815)

7. Ahmad Shah Abdali was a distinguished warrior, religious, generous and a kind-hearted king. He was a true Muslim and never believed in pomp and show of the royal courts. Unlike his contemporary kings and rajas, he did not even have a crown. His devotion to Islam further added to his simplicity and service to God. Being an accomplished poet and writer himself, he once wrote:

“I capture every province with the aid of God; It is with his help that I go everywhere without failure. Yet I, Ahmad, consider the world worthless and unimportant. I shall leave the world behind and go the next, armed only with my faith.”

Verdict

1. Surprisingly waris shah does not say any thing about the brutalities of the Sikhs and Marhattas on the Muslims of the Punjab, rather rejoice over the massacre of a small Muslim Afghan garrison in the Delhi Fort and Kanjpura. Furthermore, they are ignorant of the complete victory of the Afghans over the Marhattas, which is worldwide accepted and appreciated as a classic strategy of the Afghans against a force many time superior to them in men and material.
2. The pages of history bear out that Ahmad Shah Abdali was a kind-hearted person, prone to clemency and forgiveness. He spent his life in chasing the
Sikhs and the Marhattas so that Muslims of the Punjab and Sirhind could live in peace.
3. There is no evidence that Ahmad Shah Abdali ever looted the Muslims of Punjab or elsewhere for whose protection he used to come from Kabul and Kandahar.
4. There was no dearth of Muslims in the Punjab and Sirhind, yet they looked for the Afghans to shield them against the Sikhs. Certainly the Afghans were not super human beings, nevertheless, the trust reposed in them by the former clearly shows the Afghans’ gallantry, chivalry, the will to fight for their co-religionists, the acumen to administer the conquered territories, and perseverance and steadfastness to bear the hardships of war and weather for their Muslim brothers in the Punjab.
5. I have not been able to find the answers as to why:
a. Waris Shah should rejoice on the massacre of the Afghans who had been invited by Shah Waliullah of Delhi and fought for the Muslims.
6. Waris Shah should call the Afghans ‘the thieves’; a thief steals, while the Afghans were the conquerors and could get any thing by force if they wanted to.
c. Waris Shah should close their eyes to the Sikhs’ ‘Satnami Movement’, their atrocities committed on the Muslims in Lahore and elsewhere and as reported by many historians of the time.
d. Waris Shah should abuse the proud race of the Afghans as ‘Kabuli Kuttian’
e. Waris Shah should join a debauch, who had Hindu and Sikh keeps, a licentious and a pervert, a killer of a religious and pious man, and fight a Muslim who came to punish such an enemy of Islam.

Note that Waris Shah was born in Jandiala Sher Khan, Sheikhupura, a small town about 40 kilometers from Lahore. The town was dominated by Afghan Pathans who were the major landowners.
Waris Shah (1722-1798) This wanting world

Help from Brig (R) Haroon RashidThe writer is a scholar and author of the ten-volume book collection ‘History of the Pathans’


@shahbaz sharif, @Shahmir kashmir, @Multani, @ghilzai, @KingMamba

@haj9211, @Shabaz Sharif @EyanKhan

much of what is quoted against Hazrat Waris Shah RA by his enemies is deceptive additions done by miscreants from the Sikh/hindu/orientalist communities of his works, much of the known being unauthenticated

Afghan brothers should be wary and not fall for forgeries or fake sufis
 
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The reason why Waris Shah was not in favour of Afghans is because generally the Mughals were seen as the legitimate Muslim power instead of the Afghans. The Mughals had contained the Sikhs. The Sikh rise to power really took off when the Afghans repeatedly invaded Punjab, greatly weakening Mughal authority. This caused great chaos in the life of everyday Punjabi Muslims who were used to living peaceful life.

Furthurmore, during Ahmad Shah Abdali's time period there was a great surge in Afghan/Pasthun unity and patriotism in the sub continent. Some incidents happened which made the Mughals very distrustful of Pashtuns. In 1755, the Rohillas under Qutab Khan invaded Sirhind. When the Afghan/Pasthun soldiers of Sirhind saw the Rohillas they did not want to fight against their tribal kinsmen, instead of defending Sirhind, they abandoned their posts and joined the Rohilla side, thus weakening the Sirhind Mughal governor and greatly strengthening the invading Pathan army with fresh recruits. The Sirhind governor abandoned his post and fled in fear, and it was with great difficulty that the Mughals managed to regain Sirhind. In today's context, this is almost like say if today, the Pasthuns in the Pakistani army were to refuse to fight against TTP militants out of some sense of kindmenship and join them against the Pak Fauj, how would general Punjabi Muslims feel about the Pasthuns? that is exactly how Punjabi Muslims like Waris Shah and Bulleh Shah felt about Afghans/Pashtuns back then.
 
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Can we get some unbiased history? Some say punjabi muslims supported Sikhs, others say Abdali came to save punjabi muslims from sikhs :wacko:

It does not make much sense.
 
Medieval persians also had very bad view about three races namely Afghans, Kambohs and kashmiris. Medieval persians also said never select or trust anyone from these three races even if the whole humanity gets extinct. Look my own kashmiri race is also included in that :rofl: but what can we do about these ancient things nothing just ignore and move on.
 
Medieval persians also had very bad view about three races namely Afghans, Kambohs and kashmiris. Medieval persians also said never select or trust anyone from these three races even if the whole humanity gets extinct. Look my own kashmiri race is also included in that :rofl: but what can we do about these ancient things nothing just ignore and move on.

Kamboh, interesting. Still million or so Kambohs in Pakistan, Punjab.
 
Can we get some unbiased history? Some say punjabi muslims supported Sikhs, others say Abdali came to save punjabi muslims from sikhs :wacko:

It does not make much sense.

Recorded history is never black and white , it is always gray. Today's TV programs are also kind of recording history as we can refer to these progamms to get information about any event happening in these days. But the presentation is always biased as we can see clearly in these programs, every anchor presents the event according to his bias. Mubashar luqman will present every event as some kind of conspiracy by his disliked PMLN while other anchors such as Talat hussain will present a more or less unbiased analysis. I think the same was the case with history book writers , their bias must have distorted actual account of the events.

Kamboh, interesting. Still million or so Kambohs in Pakistan, Punjab.

Actually this saying is from the time when Gandhara, Kamboja and Kashmir kingdoms shared borders in the north west perhaps in early centuries of christian era. It was generally thought by persians of older times that people from these threee kingdoms are never trustable because these were considered regions of rogues races :lol:. Actually original kamojas were kins of kashmiris and the modern dardic/nursitanis speaking people live in the regions which were historically known as Kamboja kingdom. I think some people who moved from kamboja kingdom to punjab in ancient times assumed Kamboj/Kamboh caste name just like we are called with Kashmiri as a caste name.
 
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Recorded history is never black and white , it is always gray. Today's TV programs are also kind of recording history as we can refer to these progamms to get information about any event happening in these days. But the presentation is always biased as we can see clearly in these programs, every anchor presents the event according to his bias. Mubashar luqman will present every event as some kind of conspiracy by his disliked PMLN while other anchors such as Talat hussain will present a more or less unbiased analysis. I think the same was the case with history book writers , their bias must have distorted actual account of the events.



Actually this saying is from the time when Gandhara, Kamboja and Kashmir kingdoms shared borders in the north west perhaps in early centuries of christian era. It was generally thought by persians of older times that people from these threee kingdoms are never trustable because these were considered regions of rogues races :lol:. Actually original kamojas were kins of kashmiris and the modern dardic/nursitanis speaking people live in the regions which was historically known as Kamboja kingdome. I think some people who moved from kamboja kingdom to punjab in ancient time assumed Kamboj/Kamboh caste name just like are called with Kashmiri as a caste name.

I also read some where Arains are related to Kamboh?
 
Can we get some unbiased history? Some say punjabi muslims supported Sikhs, others say Abdali came to save punjabi muslims from sikhs :wacko:

It does not make much sense.

Timeline, Punjabi Muslims supported Abdali and then later Ranjit Singh against Abdalis son. Abdali himself never looted Punjabi Muslims but his successor did and the Sikhs under Ranjit did notbother Punjabi Muslims.
 

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