Battle of Amritsar (1738)

The Battle of Amritsar was fought in 1738 by the Sikh forces led by Nawab Kapur Singh and the Mughal forces led by Qazi Abdul Rehman.

Background
In 1737, Zakariya Khan took Amritsar, the holy city of the Sikhs and blocked them from visiting the Golden Temple. An army of 2,000 Mughals always guarded the gurudwara. Qazi Abdul Razzaq was chosen to be the controller of Amritsar. The Sikhs would disguise themselves during midnight and would take a dip in the holy water, not afraid of death. When they were seen, they would often be taken prisoner or slain. One time the Qazi announced that the Sikhs could not face them. This infuriated Nawab Kapur Singh and the Sikhs started planning for a battle.

Battle
One day Sukha Singh and Braj Singh, the nephew of Bhai Mani Singh went for a dip and went back to join a few hundred Sikhs outside. Abdul Rehman thought that it was only two Sikhs and decided to follow them, only to be attacked by the Sikhs waiting outside. Instead of retreating they attacked the Sikhs, only to suffer heavy losses and Abdul Rehman to be killed.

Aftermath
After the death of Qazi Abdul Rehman, Amritsar was in the control of Massa Ranghar who changed the Golden Temple into a place to enjoy the nautch. On 11 August 1740, he was slain by Sukha Singh and Mehtab Singh Bhangu.