Battle of Gurdas Nangal:

The Battle of Gurdas Nangal was a battle that took place on April 1715 between the Sikhs, led by Banda Singh Bahadur, and the Mughals, led by Abd al-Samad Khan. Banda was at that time carrying on operations and small raids to the north of Amritsar. Just then, the Mughal Army appeared to confront them with the full determination to finally crush the Sikhs. Banda then quickly retired northwards to take shelter in the fort of Gurdaspur. It had been recently extended so as to accommodate 60,000 horses and food. Large stores of grain and fodder had also been collected there. The Mughal Army converged upon the fort from three sides. The Delhi force of 20.000 men under Qamar-ud-din Khan advanced from the east. The Lahore troops consisting of 10,000 men under Abd al-Samad Khan marched from the south. And the Jammu troops numbering nearly 5,000, under Zakariya Khan, moved from the north. To the west of the fort was River Ravi, which had no bridge over it. All the boats had been withdrawn to the opposite bank which was closely guarded by numerous local chiefs and government officials. The pursuit was so tight that Banda could not enter his fort at Gurdaspur. Thus, he quickly turned west.

Finding that all the ways of escape had been barred, he rushed into the haveli of Duni Chand which had a large open compound with a wall around it at village Gurdas Nangal, 6 km to the west of Gurdaspur. In it, Banda accommodated 1,250 men with a small number of horses.

Banda Singh dug a ditch around the enclosure and filled it with water from the canal flowing nearby. The Mughals also dug trenches all around the enclosure. The battle then took place on the beginning of April 1715. The news of the battle reached Farrukhsiyar on 17 April 1715. The siege lasted a little over eight months. The full summer from April to June, the entire rainy season from July to September, and half of winter from October to the beginning of December passed in this condition with frequent sorties and occasional skirmishes.