Sikh period in Lahore

Early in Aurangzeb's reign, various insurgent groups of Sikhs engaged Mughal troops in increasingly bloody battles.

The Khalsa, or the Sikh Army, were the first in history to abolish the Muslim states and Mughal Empire in the whole province of Punjab in one stroke.

[citation needed] In a temporary alliance, both groups consisting of Hindu Rajas and Muslim Governors attacked Guru Gobind Singh and his followers.

However, he deliberately failed to keep his promise and when the remaining few Sikhs were leaving the fort under the cover of darkness, the Mughals were alerted and engaged them in battle once again.

[6] [5] At the time of the late 18th century, frequent invasions by Ahmad Shah Abdali of Durrani Empire led to a lack of governance in the Punjab region.

During thirty years following the final departure of Ahmed Shah Abdali, Sikhs were left to themselves and increased in wealth and numbers.

[7] They gradually divided themselves into independent misls, under the command of hereditary chieftains, having a common place of meeting at Amritsar.

To Suba Singh went the area to the south of the Walled City, and he resided in the garden of Zubaida Begum in Nawankot, where he built a small fort for himself.

Invasions and chaos in local government allowed bands of warring Sikhs to gain control in some areas.

During the 1740s, frequent invasions by Afghans led by Ahmad Shah Abdali and chaos in local government had made life very uncomfortable for the citizens of Lahore.

He rose to power in a very short period, from a leader of a single Sikh misl to finally becoming the Maharaja (Emperor) of Punjab.

The maharaja also partially restored Shah Jahan's decaying gardens at Shalimar, and British maps of the area surrounding Lahore dating from the mid-nineteenth century show that walled private gardens - many of them bearing the names of prominent Sikh nobles - continued in the Mughal pattern under Sikh rule.

Capitalizing on the disarray surrounding the succession struggles after Ranjit Singh's death and only partially diminished by a war fought against the Sikhs on their eastern frontier, the British rode into Lahore in February 1846 and garrisoned their troops in the citadel.

Within a year, the Punjab was formally annexed to the British Empire and military sappers had begun leveling Lahore's city wall.