Sultan Mahmud Khan
military commander
Sultan Mahmud Khan (Punjabi: سلطان محمود خان, died 1859) was a Punjabi Muslim commander of the Sikh Khalsa Army, in the Sikh Empire. His derah of artillery was designated as Topkhana Sultan Mahmud. He is regarded as one of the best commanding officers of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
He is best known for showcasing his bravery in Battle of Multan, Battle of Hairdu, Battle of Shopian and the Anglo-Sikh Wars: Battle of Ramnagar and Battle of Chillianwala, in which the Sikh army defeated the forces of Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough.
Early life
Mahmud Khan was born to Ghaus Khan, also known as Mian Ghausa, who served in the army of Sardar Maha Singh, chief of Sukerchakia Misl. His father was of Rajput decent while his mother was a Meo Muslim from Mewat. His ancestral village was Bharowal in Amritsar district.
Military career
Mahmud Khan's military career started when he was quite young. During the Battle of Amritsar (1797), Battle of Gujrat (1797) and Battle of Amritsar (1798), he served under the then Sardar Ranjit Singh; these battles foiled the attempts of Zaman Shah Durrani to annex Punjab into his region. In 1799, Ranjit Singh and his mother-in-law, Sada Kaur liberated Lahore from the Bhangi Misl and was proclaimed the Maharaja of Punjab in 1801.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sultan Mahmud Khan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.