Lohgarh (Bilaspur)

Near the fort is a trench. Mughal King Bahadur Shah I himself led the army to Sadaura and sent his army to besiege the fort of Lohgarh Sahib. Khalsa army men fought here for one month under Baba Banda Singh. The fort was destroyed by the Mughal artillery, Banda Singh had a narrow escape and could not be captured alive. At last they disappeared towards upper hills of Nahan through this trench. Mogul army could not find them.[10]

Banda Singh Bahadur issued Khalsa currency from here, a coin in the name of Guru Nanak-Gobind Singh with Persian inscription sikkah bar har do alam tegh-i-Nanak wahib ast, Fateh Gobind Singh shah-i-shahan Fazal-i-Sacha Sahib ast (Coin struck in the two Worlds by the grace of True Lord; Victory to Gobind Singh, the King of Kings; the sword of Nanak is granter of desires). Banda singh also had a royal stamp inscribed, Degh Tegh Fateh Nusrait-i-Bedirang Yaft az Nanak Guru Gobind Singh (The kettle (symbol to feed the poor), the sword (symbol of power to protect the weak and helpless) the Victory and unhesitating patronage has been obtained from Nanak Guru Gobind Singh).[11]

After Banda Singh Bahadur left Lohgarh in 1715 in search of a more secure place to defend against attacking Mughal forces, the Mughal and the forces of the Nahan State repeatedly demolished the fort at Lohgarh. Presently there are only ruins of the fort in form of a few stones.[10]

Lohgarh Fort was captured by the Mughal regime after the execution of Banda Singh Bahadur. Duty to demolish it was assigned to the Muslim feudal Massa Ranghar (who was, later, killed by Sukha Singh and Mehtab Singh on 11 August 1740, for the desecration of Darbar Sahib). Demolition of the Fort began in 1716 and it was completed in 1739. All the walls and trenches had been dismantled and the bricks and rocks were transported to far away places so that the Sikhs may not build the Fort again.[3]

Map depicting Lohgarh and Muklishgarh, From Irfan Habibs's Book on Sikh history from Persian sources.

The contemporary historians were Mughals, therefore they deliberately projected a wrong picture of Lohgarh. Later on, the other historians picked, their references in context of Lohgarh leading to depiction of wrong interpretation of history. Muklishgarh is almost 30 km away from Lohgarh.

Islam Shah Suri (original name Salim Shah) son of Sher Shah Suri(original name Farid Khan), in his days of brief rule, began to build a strong fortress under the name of "Pawangarh". After the demise of their rule it remain unfinished and fell into ruins.(Later Mughals, p. 109). But the name "Moklespore" (mentioned in Rennels map of countries between Delhi and Candhaar, 1792), it is itself suggestive of its founder. Iradat Khan calls it Daber. (Jonathan Scot’s Translation of the Memoirs of Iradat Khan, p. 61.)

Historian Dr. J. S. Grewal in his book "The Sikhs of the Punjab" (p. 83) writes, Banda Singh bahadur adopted Mukhlispur, an imperial fort now given the name of Lohgarh, as his capital and struck a new coin in the name of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh.

Historian Dr. Hari Ram Gupta in his book "History of the Sikhs" (p. 11), "he therefore established his headquarters, in the beginning of February 1710, at Mukhlispur situated in lower Shiwalik hills south of Nahan, about 20 km from Sadhaura. Its fort stood on a hill top. Two kuhls or water channels flowed at its base and supplied water to it. This fort was repaired and put in a state of defence. All the money, gold and costly material acquired in these expeditions were deposited here. He struck coins and issued orders under his own seal. The name of Mukhlispur was changed to Lohgarh, and it became the capital of the first Sikh state."

Historian Dr. Ganda Singh in his book "Life of Banda Singh Bahadur" writes, "the fort of Mukhlispur was built by one Mukhlis Khan under instructions from Emperor Shsh Jahan who accasionally spent his summer there (p. 55-56). It was a strong hill-fort about half-way between the towns of Sadhaura and Nahan (about nine kos from Sadhaura), within the boundary of the village of Amuwal, among the steeps of the Himalayas on an elevated summit which could be approached only by craggy rocks and ravines. It was surrounded by two rivulets, "Pamuwali" and "Daska-wali" Khols or Khuds, which originally formed only one stream, parting into two to embrace the hillock of the fort. The fort was in a most neglected condition when Banda Singh occupied it. It was soon repaired and was given the new name of Lohgarh or Iron Fort."

Khushwant Singh in his book "A History of the Sikhs"(second edition, p. 103), "Banda was too shrewd to place much reliance on the loyalties of the new converts and he made the old fort of Mukhlisgarh, in the safety of the Himalayas, his headquarters. At Mukhlisgarh, Banda learned that Bahadur Shah (Mughal emperor), after subjugation of Rajasthan and not likely to return to Delhi before the monsoons. Banda decided to utilize the opportunity to destroy the remaining vestiges of Mughal rule in northern India."

Surinder Singh in his book "Discovering Baba Banda Singh Bahadur" (p. 285-286) writes, "Banda Bahadur carried out the repairs to the Mukhlispur fortess and renamed it as Lohgarh. He also fortified it by laying 3 to 4 ft high and 50 to 100 ft long stone walls, 52 in number. Sikh soldiers could stay behind these walls and the Mughal forces trying to reach the fortress had to face their gunshots and arrows about 15 times before they could reach the top. Large-scale troops could not climb and on two occasions when they were able to follow Banda Bahadur and his troops up to Lohgarh, the imperial forces lost a large number of soldiers but were not able to catch Banda Bahadur and his men. This small defensive arrangement has been deemed as a capital by large number of historians from Punjab when the site was hardly about 100 to 200 km from major parts of Punjab and could be easily visited and examined. The author had the occasion to visit and examine this-the Sadhaura-Lohgarh-Sitaragarh axis, a large number of times in his capacity as convenor for the raising of a suitable memorial by the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee. This author is of the optinion that half an acre of land on which Lohgarh has been raised is generally occupied by medium sixed havelis (large houses). He is also of the opinion that Lohgarh was not declared as the capital of the nascent Sikh state because three series of the coins issued by Banda Bahadur form 1710-12 does not carry any name of the city or town after the word zarb meaning ‘minted at’. Had it been fixed as a capital, the name of Lohgarh would have certainly come on the coin. The legend after the word zarb, is ‘place of perfect peace, picture of a beautiful city where the fortunate throne of Khalsa is to be located."