4. Khalsa as Rulers 

In May 1757, the Afghan General Jahan Khan attacked Amritsar with a huge army. The Sikhs were not prepared to face the army at that time. Therefore, they decided to withdraw to the forests. Their fort, Ram Rauni, was demolished. Harimandar Sahib was blown up, and the army desecrated the Sarovar by filling it with debris and dead animals. Baba Deep Singh Shaheed made history when he attacked Jahan Khan to recover Amritsar from army control. Fatally wounded, Baba Ji cut through the army column to reach the Harimandir Sahib. Some unexpected developments took place in the state which proved favorable for the Sikhs. Adina Beg did not pay revenues to the government. The Governor dismissed him and appointed a new Faujdar in his place. The army was sent to arrest him and this prompted Adina to request Sikh help. The Sikhs took advantage of the situation and to weaken the government, they fought against the army. One of the commanders was killed by the Sikhs and the other deserted. Later, the Sikhs attacked Jallandar and thus became the rulers of all the tracts between Satlej and Beas rivers, called Doaba. This raised the political status of the Khalsa. Instead of roaming in the forests, now they were ruling the cities. After this, the Sikhs started bringing more areas under their control and realizing revenue from them. In 1758, joined by the Marhattas, they conquered even Lahore and arrested many Afghan soldiers who were responsible for filling the Amrit Sarovar with debris a few months earlier. They were brought to Amritsar and made to clean the Sarovar. After the cleaning of the Sarovar, the soldiers were allowed to go home with a warning that they should not do that again – which was a novel and humane punishment, all things considered. Abdali came again in October 1759 to loot Delhi. The Sikhs gave him a good fight and killed more than 2,000 of his soldiers. Instead of getting involved with the Sikhs, he made a rapid advance to Delhi. This meant that the Khalsa were considered a formidable power in the Punjab. They decided to collect revenues from Lahore to prove to the people that the Sikhs were the rulers of the state. The Governor of Lahore knew that he could not face the Sikhs, so he closed the gates of the city and did not come out to fight against them. The Sikhs laid siege to the city. After a week, the Governor agreed to pay 30,000 rupees to the Sikhs.