ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>RAH&#298&#7770&#256</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="RAH*Z"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279RAH&#298&#7770&#256 and Kup, two villages, 4 km apart from each other and jointly known in Sikh history as Kup- Rah&#299&#7771&#257, in Sa&#7749gr&#363r district of the Punjab, were the scene of a fierce battle between the Sikhs and the combined forces of Ahmad Sh&#257h Durr&#257n&#299 and his vassals in Sirhind and M&#257lerko&#7789l&#257: Ahmad Sh&#257h Durr&#257n&#299, who, after his victory over the Mar&#257&#7789h&#257s in the third battle of P&#257n&#299pat in January 1761, considered himself master of north India, was peeved at the open challenge to his supremacy when, during his return march in April 1761, the Sikhs attacked his baggage train and liberated several hundreds of women whom the invader had made captive and who were being carried to Afghanistan. A 12,000-strong punitive expedition sent by him against the Sikhs in August 1761 was forced to surrender, its commander having ignominiously deserted and escaped under cover of darkness. Next month the Sikhs defeated Obaid <u>Kh</u>&#257n, the governor of Lahore, and, forcing him to take refuge in the citadel, became the virtual masters of the town. Ahmad Sh&#257h, furious at the repeated reverses, came out at the head of a huge army determined to scourge the Sikhs out of existence. The latter, following their usual tactics, disappeared from the scene. They, however, decided to escort their families to the safety of Lakkh&#299 Jungle, a desert deep in the heart of the M&#257lv&#257 region, and be free to deal with the Durr&#257n&#299. They crossed the Sutlej along with their women folk and children and the aged and the infirm. Ahmad Sh&#257h, marching from Lahore on the morning of 3 February 1762 crossed the Sutlej the following day. He sent orders to Zain <u>Kh</u>&#257n, his <i>faujd&#257r</i> at Sirhind, and Bh&#299khan <u>Kh</u>&#257n, the chief of M&#257lerko&#7789l&#257, to foreclose the Sikhs, as he himself rushed to attack them from the rear. On the morning of 5 February 1762, the Sikhs found themselves trapped around the villages of Rah&#299&#7771&#257 and Kup. The combatants among them hastily re-formed to make a protective ring around the rest of the column and continued their movement, fighting back at the same time against heavy odds. This desperate fight continued throughout the day, and ended at sunset, both sides utterly exhausted, near the villages Kutb&#257 and B&#257hma&#7751&#299, some 25 km to the west of Kup-Rah&#299&#7771&#257. The Sikhs lost between twenty and twenty-five thousand men, women and children, the heaviest casualties suffered by them on a single day. The action, therefore, came to be known as Va&#7693&#7693&#257 Ghall&#363gh&#257r&#257, or the major holocaust, to be distinguished from the Chho&#7789&#257 or smaller Ghall&#363gh&#257r&#257 suffered by them in1746 around the K&#257hn&#363v&#257&#7751 marshes in Gurd&#257spur district.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kup and Rah&#299&#7771&#257 being Muslim villages in the Muslim state of M&#257lerko&#7789l&#257, no monument was raised to commemorate the battle so doggedly fought by the Dal <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. In recent years, however, Niha&#7749gs of the Bu&#7693&#7693h&#257 Dal have constructed two <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> near Rah&#299&#7771&#257, both sharing the name Gurdw&#257r&#257 Va&#7693&#7693&#257 Ghall&#363gh&#257r&#257 S&#257hib. The one near the railway station, itself named Ghall&#363gh&#257r&#257 Rah&#299&#7771&#257, consists of a square flat-roofed hall and a row of six small rooms. The other, nearer to the village and by the side of an old sandy mound, comprises a row of three rooms, the middle room serving as the sanctum.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bha&#7749g&#363, Ratan Si&#7749gh, <i>Pr&#257ch&#299n Panth Prak&#257sh</i>. Amritsar, 1914<BR> <li class="C1"> Gi&#257n Si&#7749gh, Gi&#257n&#299, <i>Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u> Gur&#363 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i> [Reprint] Patiala,1970<BR> <li class="C1"> K&#257hn Singh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Gurushabad Ratan&#257kar Mah&#257n Kosh</i>. Patiala, 1981<BR> <li class="C1"> Gandh&#299, S&#363rit Singh, <i>Struggle of the Sikhs for Sovereignty</i>. Delhi, 1980<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Major Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (Retd.)<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>