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Ahmed Shah Abdali 143 retake the province and were not likely to write off a country they considered a pan of their empire. The consensus of opinion was that the possession of Lahore was more symbolic than real proof of possession of the Punjab. They resolved, however, to take as much of the remainder of the country as they could. In March 1759 the Marathas re-entered the Punjab. Their progress through Malwa was slow and cautious, for they were uncertain of Sikh reactions. The Sikhs did not check them, and let Sabaji Sindhia occupy Lahore. From Lhe north, Generaljahan Khan again crossed the Indus into the Punjab. Sabaji turned to the Sikhs for help. The joint forces of the Marathas and Sikhs defeated the Afghans and sent them scurrying back to their own country.27 Fifth' Afghan Invasion, 1759: Battle of Panipat, 1761. Sikhs in Lahore In the autumn of 1759 Ahmed Shah Abdali mustered a large army of sixty thousand Afghans and Pathans to invade India for the fifth time. His specific object on this occasion was to crush Maratha power in northern India. His nominee, the Rohilla Chief, Najibuddaulah, had been expelled from Delhi. Muslim rulers from different parts of the country had written to him of the danger that the rising tide of militant Hinduism presented to Islam; even the Hindu chiefs of Rajasthan bad pleaded with him to save them from the depredations of the Marathas. AJthough the Sikhs had no love for the Marathas, they looked to them to take the lead in resisting the Afghans. While the Maratbas were making their plans, the Sikhs tried to check Abdali's progress by themselves. A Marathi newsletter records: 'Abdali has come to Lahore and fought a great battle with the Sikhs. Two thousand Abdali troops were slain and Jahan Khan was wounded.' 28 27 H. R. Gupta, Hist,;ry of the SiMs, I, 128, quoting Delhi Chronicle, p. l 65, which recorded news of the victory on 19 September 1759. 28 Rajwade i, 146; H. R. Gupta. History of the Si_khs, I, I 29.