The battles of the 1630s
The hawk and the battle of Amritsar
A dispute over Shah Jahan's escaped hawk is said to have brought Mughal troops under Mukhlis Khan to Amritsar.
The Encyclopaedia gives the common story. Shah Jahan, visiting Lahore, was hunting near Amritsar when a favourite hawk flew off and came into the hands of the Sikhs. Royal messengers came to claim it and were refused. The emperor sent soldiers led by Lahore's faujdar, Mukhlis Khan. They met armed resistance, and he lost his life.
The Dabistan has no hawk. It says that a force sent by order of the emperor attacked at Ramdaspur and that Guru Ji's baggage and goods were plundered. Ganda Singh adds that, when the site of Khalsa College was levelled, heaps of bones were found there.
How do we know?
The sources conflict on this story, or scholars doubt it.
The battle itself is close to certain. The hawk is a chronicle explanation for a conflict that probably had broader causes, and the Encyclopaedia itself calls the cause minor. The date 1629 appears in only one entry.
- ScholarshipGives the hawk story and Vaisakh 17, 1691 Bk, or 14 April 1634, from the Bhatt Vahi Multani Sindhi.[EoS]
- From the timeRecords a fight with Shah Jahan's men at Ramdaspur, and plunder of Guru Ji's goods. (p. 16)[Src]
- ScholarshipDates the fighting at Amritsar in which Painda Khan took part to 1629.[EoS]
- Later traditionGives Mukhlis Khan's army, Painda Khan's combats and heroic speeches.[Macauliffe]
