# Battle of Manupur
The Battle of Manupur was fought on 11 March 1748 near Sirhind between the army of the [Mughal Empire](https://www.edgepedia.org/mughal-empire) and the invading force of the [Durrani Empire](https://www.edgepedia.org/durrani-empire) under [Ahmad Shah Durrani](https://www.edgepedia.org/ahmad-shah-durrani), ending in a Mughal victory that repelled Durrani's first invasion of India.[1](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf) Manupur was a village ten miles northwest of Sirhind in the Punjab.[2](https://www.cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/CR-PDF-LIBRARY/INDIA/1658-1853_THE%20MARATHA-SUPREMACY.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Date and place | 11 March 1748, at Manupur, a village ten miles northwest of Sirhind[2](https://www.cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/CR-PDF-LIBRARY/INDIA/1658-1853_THE%20MARATHA-SUPREMACY.pdf) |
| Commanders | Ahmad Shah Durrani, Jahan Khan, Taqi Khan Shirazi, and Shah Pasand Khan for the Durrani; Wazir Qamar ud-Din, Muin ul-Mulk, Safdar Jang, Adina Beg, and Prince Ahmad Shah for the Mughals[3](https://islamicchronicles.com/this-day-in-history/11-03-1748/) |
| Strength | 12,000 Durrani picked troops against an imperial army of 60,000 to 70,000 combatants[2](https://www.cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/CR-PDF-LIBRARY/INDIA/1658-1853_THE%20MARATHA-SUPREMACY.pdf) |
| Result | Mughal victory; the Durrani army fled back to Afghanistan[1](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf) |
| Notable loss | Mughal Wazir Qamar-ud-din Khan was killed on the day of the battle[1](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf) |
| Aftermath | Muin-ul-Mulk (Mir Mannu) became Mughal governor of the Punjab from April 1748[4](https://eos.learnpunjabi.org/MUIN%20UL-MULK%20%28D.%201753%29.html) |
## Background
After the assassination of Nader Shah of Persia, Ahmad Shah Durrani took over the Persian-controlled government of Afghanistan and was elected leader of the Afghans in June 1747, becoming king in June-July of that year.[5](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/38167.pdf) He occupied Ghazni, Kabul, and Peshawar in 1747, and in January 1748 his forces took Lahore.[5](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/38167.pdf) He stayed in Lahore for a month and a quarter, compelled the chiefs of the Panjab, including Ranjit Dev of Jammu, to pay him homage, and struck his own coins in the city, following Indian royal custom.[1](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf)
The flight of the Lahore governor Shahnawaz Khan to Delhi stirred the imperial court. Emperor Mohammad Shah (reigned 1719-1748) sent an army of two lakhs under Wazir Qamr-ud-din Khan to check the invader, and deputed his son, Prince Ahmad, to the same end.[1](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf) • [6](https://jatchiefs.com/battle-of-manupur-1748/) The Delhi army reached Sarhind on 25 February 1748, while Durrani seized Sarhind on 2 March.[5](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/38167.pdf)
## Campaign movements
Ahmad Shah left Lahore for Delhi on 19 February 1748, leaving Jumla Khan of Kasur as governor in the provincial capital.[1](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf) He crossed the Sutlej at Ludhiana on 1 March and reached Sirhind the following night.[7](https://saanjh.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Sikhs_In_the_Eighteenth_Century-1.pdf) Prince Ahmad had marched from Sirhind toward Machhiwara to arrest the invader's advance, but Durrani dodged the imperial army by crossing the Sutlej at Ludhiana and took Sirhind by a night march; the garrison offered feeble resistance and surrendered, and the treasury, artillery, elephants, and women left by the imperial side were captured.[6](https://jatchiefs.com/battle-of-manupur-1748/) Shahnawaz Khan had earlier left his whole camp equipage, artillery, elephants, camels, and horses in Durrani's possession, which augmented his military resources.[1](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf)
On hearing of the fall of Sirhind, Prince Ahmad retreated from the Machhiwara side to Manupur and entrenched himself there.[6](https://jatchiefs.com/battle-of-manupur-1748/) The Mughal army entrenched itself, and the Abdali entrenched his advance camp five miles northwest of Sirhind, at about the same distance in front of the imperial camp.[7](https://saanjh.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Sikhs_In_the_Eighteenth_Century-1.pdf)
## The battle
**Stalemate and blockade.** Skirmishes between the two armies' outposts went on for about a month without a decision.[7](https://saanjh.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Sikhs_In_the_Eighteenth_Century-1.pdf) The Wazir Qamar-ud-Din's plan was to avoid an action, cut off the enemy's food supply by inciting the neighboring Zamindars to attack his foraging parties, and eventually overpower him with artillery fire.[7](https://saanjh.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Sikhs_In_the_Eighteenth_Century-1.pdf) Durrani hesitated because he lacked the artillery to answer the more numerous Mughal guns.[7](https://saanjh.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Sikhs_In_the_Eighteenth_Century-1.pdf) During the blockade, the chieftain Ala Singh and Rai Kalha repeatedly fell on Afghan foraging parties and deprived them of their plunder; the harassment was such that Ahmad Shah ordered every foraging party to be accompanied by a military contingent.[6](https://jatchiefs.com/battle-of-manupur-1748/)
**The clash.** Shortly before the battle the Durrani king brought a large gun from Lahore and, mounting it on a hillock on 9 March 1748, began killing the Wazir's men and camels. The bombardment, together with shortages of water and food caused by the interruption of supplies, forced the Wazir to risk a pitched battle.[7](https://saanjh.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Sikhs_In_the_Eighteenth_Century-1.pdf) The fight that followed continued for sixteen days.[6](https://jatchiefs.com/battle-of-manupur-1748/) In the battle the Abdali fielded 12,000 picked troops against an imperial army of between 60,000 and 70,000.[2](https://www.cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/CR-PDF-LIBRARY/INDIA/1658-1853_THE%20MARATHA-SUPREMACY.pdf) The imperial side fought under the guidance and gallantry of Muin-ul-Mulk, the slain Wazir's son, also known as Mir Mannu.[2](https://www.cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/CR-PDF-LIBRARY/INDIA/1658-1853_THE%20MARATHA-SUPREMACY.pdf) Adina Beg Khan, in close attendance on Muin-ul-Mulk, was twice wounded.[1](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf)
Qamar-ud-din Khan was slain in the battle on 11 March 1748, but his son Muin-ul-Mulk defeated Ahmad Shah's army, which fled back to Afghanistan.[1](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf) The Mughal armies under the command of Prince Ahmad Shah thus turned back the first invasion of Ahmad Shah Abdali.[3](https://islamicchronicles.com/this-day-in-history/11-03-1748/) The Sikhs pursued the retreating Afghan army up to the banks of the Indus and plundered Abdali's baggage.[2](https://www.cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/CR-PDF-LIBRARY/INDIA/1658-1853_THE%20MARATHA-SUPREMACY.pdf)
## Aftermath
After the battle the imperial army rested on the Sutlej until 12 April, when under Prince Ahmad Shah it left for Delhi, while Muin-ul-Mulk went to Lahore.[1](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf) Muin-ul-Mulk took charge of the Punjab as Mughal governor from April 1748 until his death in November 1753, having taken over the province after defeating the Afghan invader.[4](https://eos.learnpunjabi.org/MUIN%20UL-MULK%20%28D.%201753%29.html)
Ala Singh received a robe of honor (khil'at) from Prince Ahmad after the successful termination of the war, a reward that raised his prestige among the chieftains of the area and encouraged his further expansion.[6](https://jatchiefs.com/battle-of-manupur-1748/)
**Strategic outcome.** The victory saved Sirhind from Durrani occupation at that moment, but it did not end the Afghan threat. Durrani acquired Trans-Indus territory and Chahar Mahal in 1749, and a third invasion in 1751-52 conquered the Panjab and Kashmir, with Lahore and Multan ceded to the Durrani in March-April 1752 and Moin ul-Mulk serving as the Durrani's governor there.[5](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/38167.pdf) Ahmad Shah's repeated inroads between 1748 and 1767 exercised a decisive influence on the rise of the Sikh power, so that his career in India became closely tied to the Sikh struggle.[2](https://www.cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/CR-PDF-LIBRARY/INDIA/1658-1853_THE%20MARATHA-SUPREMACY.pdf)
## References
1. [Later Mughal History of the Panjab](https://apnaorg.com/books/english/later-mughal-history-in-punjab/later-mughal-history-in-punjab.pdf)
2. [Disruption of the Mughal Empire, 1658-1853](https://www.cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/CR-PDF-LIBRARY/INDIA/1658-1853_THE%20MARATHA-SUPREMACY.pdf)
3. [11 March 1748, Muslim History Chronicles](https://islamicchronicles.com/this-day-in-history/11-03-1748/)
4. [Muin ul-Mulk (d. 1753), Learn Punjabi encyclopedia entry](https://eos.learnpunjabi.org/MUIN%20UL-MULK%20%28D.%201753%29.html)
5. [Fall of the Mughal Empire, contents (IGNCA digitized volume)](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/38167.pdf)
6. [Battle of Manupur 1748, Jat Chiefs](https://jatchiefs.com/battle-of-manupur-1748/)
7. [Sikhs in the Eighteenth Century (Saanjh PDF)](https://saanjh.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Sikhs_In_the_Eighteenth_Century-1.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Conflict and security › Wars, campaigns, and incidents › Battles, sieges, and engagements › Early modern battles and sieges › Ottoman–Safavid and Eastern sieges and battles*
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