Misl

In order to withstand the persecution of Shah Jahan and other Mughal rulers, several of the later Sikh Gurus established military forces and fought the Mughal Empire and Hindu hill chiefs[5] in the early and middle Mughal-Sikh Wars. Banda Singh Bahadur continued Sikh resistance to the Mughal Empire until his defeat at the Battle of Gurdas Nangal.

For several years Sikhs found refuge in the jungles and the Himalayan foothills until they organized themselves into military bands known as jathas.

Misl Nehkalank was a nomadic Misl which consisted of the Nihangs, which is an armed Sikh warrior. Nihang are believed to have originated either from Fateh Singh and the attire he wore or from the "Akali Dal" (lit. Army of the Immortal) started by Guru Hargobind. Early Sikh military history was dominated by the Nihang, known for their victories where they were heavily outnumbered. Traditionally known for their bravery and ruthlessness in the battlefield, the Nihang once formed the irregular guerrilla squads of the armed forces of the Sikh Empire, the Sikh Khalsa Army. This Misl has transformed into the Nihang Dals of today, mainly the Budha Dal and Tarna Dal.

Sikh Confederacy (1707–1799)

Phulkian Misl · Ahluwalia Misl · Bhangi Misl · Kanheya Misl · Ramgarhia Misl  · Singhpuria Misl · Panjgarhia Misl · Nishanwalia Misl · Sukerchakia Misl · Dallewalia Misl · Nakai Misl · Shaheedan Misl

Each Misl was made up of members of soldiers, whose loyalty was given to the Misl's leader. A Misl could be composed of a few hundred to tens of thousands soldiers. Any soldier was free to join whichever Misl he wished, and was free to cancel his membership of the Misl to whom he belonged. He could, if he wanted, cancel his membership of his old Misl and join another. The Barons would allow their armies to combine or coordinate their defences together against a hostile force if ordered by the Misldar Supreme Commander. These orders were only issued in military matters affecting the whole Sikh community. These orders would normally be related to defense against external threats, such as Afghan military attacks. The profits of a fighting action were divided by the misls to individuals based on the service rendered after the conflict using the sardari system.

The Sikh Confederacy is a description of the political structure, of how all the Barons' Kingdoms interacted with each other politically together in Punjab. Although misls varied in strength, the use of primarily light cavalry with a smaller amount heavy cavalry was uniform throughout all of the Sikh misls. Cavalrymen in a misl were required to supply their own horses and equipment.[26] A standard cavalryman was armed with a spear, matchlock, and scimitar.[27] How the armies of the Sikh misls received payment varied with the leadership of each misl. The most prevalent system of payment was the 'Fasalandari' system; soldiers would receive payment every six months at the end of a harvest.[28]

Cavalry tactics

The Misls primarily employed cavalry in warfare.

Fauja Singh considers the Sikh misls to be guerrilla armies, although he notes that the Sikh misls generally had greater numbers and a larger number of artillery pieces than a guerrilla army would.[26] The misls were primarily cavalry based armies and employed less artillery than Mughal or Maratha armies. The misls adapted their tactics to their strength in cavalry and weakness in artillery and avoided pitched battles. Misls organized their armies around bodies of horsemen and their units fought battles in a series of skirmishes, a tactic which gave them an advantage over fighting pitched battles. Bodies of cavalry would attack a position, retreat, reload their muskets, and return to attack it again. The tactics used by misl field armies include flanking an enemy, obstructing river passages, cutting off a unit from its supplies, intercepting messengers, attacking isolated units like foraging parties, employing hit-and-run tactics, overrunning camps, and attacking baggage trains. To fight large armies the misl would completely evacuate the areas in front of the enemy's marching route but follow in the rear of the opposition and reconquer areas the enemy had just captured, threaten agents of the enemy with retribution, and sweep over the countryside in the wake of the enemy's withdrawal.

The Running Skirmish was a tactic unique to the Sikh cavalrymen which was notable for its effectiveness and the high degree of skill required to execute it. George Thomas and George Forster, contemporary writers who witnessed it described its use separately in their accounts of the military of the Sikhs. George Forster noted:

"A party from forty to fifty, advance in a quick pace to a distance of carbine shot from the enemy and then, that the fire may be given with the greatest certainty, the horses are drawn up and their pieces discharged, when speedily, retiring about a 100 paces, they load and repeat the same mode of annoying the enemy. Their horses have been so expertly trained to a performance of this operation that on receiving a stroke of hand, they stop from a full canter."

The remainder was separated into Puttees or parcels for each Surkunda, and these were again subdivided and parcelled out to inferior leaders, according to the number of horse they brought into the field. Each took his portion as a co-sharer, and held it in absolute independence.

— Origin of the Sikh power in the Punjab (1834) p. 33 – Henry Thoby Prinsep

The Sikh Misls had four different classes of administrative divisions. The patadari, misaldari, tabadari, and jagirdari were the different systems of land tenure used by the misls, and land granted by the misl left the responsibility of establishing law and order to the owner of the land. The land under the direct administration of the chief of the misl was known as the sardari and the tabadari and jagirdari systems used land directly given by the chief from the sardari. The patadari and misaldari systems formed the basis of a misl, while tabadari and jagirdari lands would only be created after large acquisitions of land. The type of system that was used in an area depended on the importance of the chief sardar of the area to the rest of the misl.

The Patadari system affected newly annexed territories and was the original method used by the misls in administrating land.[29] The patadari system relied on the cooperation of surkundas, the rank of a leader of a small party of cavalrymen. The chief of the misl would take his/her portion and divide the other parcels among his Sardars proportional to the number of cavalrymen they had contributed to the misl.[30] The Sardars would then divide their parcels among their Surkundas, and then the Surkundas subdivided the land they received among their individual cavalrymen. The Surkundas receiving parcels of land with settlements were required to fortify them[note 2] and establish fines and laws for their zamindars and ryots.[31] Parcels of land in the patadari system could not be sold, but could be given to relatives in an inheritance.[32] The soldiers who received parcels from the Patadari system held their land in complete freedom.[3]

The Misaldari system applied to sardars with a small number of cavalrymen as well as independent bodies of cavalrymen who voluntarily attached themselves to a misl.[32] They kept the lands they held before joining the misl as an allotment for their cooperation with the misl. The leaders of these groups, called misaldars, could transfer their allegiance and land to another misl without punishment.[32]

The Tabadari system referred to land under the control of a misl's tabadars. Tabadars served a similar function to retainers in Europe. They were required to serve as cavalrymen to the misl and were subservient to the misl's leader. Although tabadars received their land as a reward, their ownership was subject entirely on the misl's leader.[33] The tabadari grants were only hereditary on the choice of the chief of the misl.

The Jagirdari system used the grant of jagirs by the chief of the misl. Jagirs were given by the chief of the misl to relations, dependents, and people who "deserved well".[33] The owners of jagirs were subservient to the chief of the misl as their ownership was subject to his/her needs. Like the Tabadars, jagirdars were subject to personal service when the chief of the misl requested.[33] However, because jagirs entailed more land and profit, they were required to use the money generated by their jagirs to equip and mount a quota of cavalrymen depending on the size of their jagir.[33] Jagirdari grants were hereditary in practice but a misl's chief could revoke the rights of the heir. Upon the death of the owner of a tabadari or jagadari grant, the land would revert to direct control of the chief (sardari).

A map of the Punjab region showing the different doabs

The two main divisions in territory between the misls were between those who were in the Malwa region and those who were in the Majha region. While eleven of the misls were north of the Sutlej river, one, the Phulkian Misl was south of the Sutlej.[34] The Sikhs north of the Sutlej river were known as the Majha Sikhs while the Sikhs that lived south of the Sutlej river were known as the Malwa Sikhs.[16] In the smaller territories were the Dhanigeb Singhs in the Sind Sagar Doab, the Gujrat Singhs in the Jech Doab, the Dharpi Singhs in the Rechna Doab, and the Doaba Singhs in the Jalandhar Doab.[16]

1. Battle of Rohilla
2. Battle of Kartarpur
3. Battle of Amritsar (1634)
4. Battle of Lahira
5. Battle of Bhangani
6. Battle of Nadaun
7. Battle of Guler (1696)
8. Battle of Basoli
9. First Battle of Anandpur
10. Battle of Nirmohgarh (1702)
11. Second Battle of Anandpur
12. Second Battle of Chamkaur (1704)
13. Battle of Muktsar
14. Battle of Sonepat
15. Battle of Ambala
16. Battle of Samana
17. Battle of Chappar Chiri
18. Battle of Sadhaura
19. Battle of Rahon (1710)
20. Battle of Lohgarh
21. Battle of Jammu
22. Kapuri expedition
23. Battle of Jalalabad (1710)
24. Siege of Gurdaspur or Battle of Gurdas Nangal
25. Attack on Nadir Shah (1739)
26. Siege of Ram Rauni
27. Battle of Manupur (1748)
28. Battle of Amritsar (1757)
29. Battle of Lahore (1759)
30. Battle of Sialkot (1761)
31. Battle of Gujranwala (1761)
32. Sikh Occupation of Lahore[35]
33. Sikh holocaust of 1762 or Battle of Kup
34. Battle of Harnaulgarh
35. Battle of Amritsar (1762)
36. Battle of Sialkot (1763)
37. Battle of Sirhind (1764)
38. Rescue of Hindu Girls (1769)
39. Battle of Delhi (1783)
40. Battle of Amritsar(1797)
41. Gurkha-Sikh War
42. Battles of Sialkot
43. Battle of Jammu (1808)
44. Battle of Attock
45. Battle of Multan
46. Battle of Shopian
47. Battle of Balakot
48. Battle of Peshawar (1834)
49. Battle of Jamrud
50. Sino-Sikh War
51. Battle of Mudki
52. Battle of Ferozeshah
53. Battle of Baddowal
54. Battle of Aliwal
55. Battle of Sobraon
56. Battle of Chillianwala
57. Battle of Ramnagar
58. Siege of Multan
59. Battle of Gujrat