Lehal Library

106 The Agrarian Uprising a jihad (holy war) 16 against the Sikhs. He also persuaded the Bundela Rajputs to join in the campaign. Wlth him were his four sons and the flower of the Mughal army. Firoz Khan was appointed leader of the campaign. Firm~ Khan took the offensive at once and defeated the peasant army at Amingarh. Within a month the imperial armies recovered possession of Thanesar, Kamal, and Shahabad. By December 1710, Mughal rule was re-established in the Malwa plains. Banda retreated to his fortress in the mountains. The concourse of Mughals, Meos, Pathans, Afghans, and Rajputs went afte1 him. When the fleeing peasants came in sight of the hills, they turned on their pursuers and severely mauled the van of the Mughal anny. The name of.Banda had become a source of terror. He was reputed to be able to deflect a bullet from its course and work such spells that neither spear nor sword could injure his men. 17 Imperial armies eventually surrounded the fortress of Mukhlisgarh. Bm Banda and a small band of picked swordsmen made a son ie one night and hacked their way out of the imperial cordon. Next morning ( J1 December 1710) the Mughals stom\ed the fmtress and captured the few men who had remained. Among them was one Gnlab Singh who resembled and had dressed himself like Banda. Toe exullation over the capture of the 16 Bahadur Shah dghtly suspected that most Hindus were in sympathy with the rebellion and had secretly accepu~d conversion LO Lhe Sikh fuith. Early in September 1710 lie issued a proclamation LO 'all Hindus employed in Lhe Imperial offices to shave off their beards.· (Bahlidur Sltiih Niimii.) Jradat Khan, a coiu1ier in Bahadur Shah's camp, wrote: 'Though this insurrection was not of such imponancc as to distw·h the general repose of the Empire, yet His Majesty. Defender of the Fail11, hearing that the malice of the rebels was directed again8t. Lhe religion, thought it his duty to engage them in person.• (Syed Mohammed Latif, History of t!u. Pu11jab, p. 277.) 17 Khafi Khan wroLe that 'the Sikhs in their Fakir dress struck terror in the rnyal troops.' (Munlakhib-ul-Lubiib, 11, 669-70.)