Banda Singh Bahadur - Banda's Strategy and Tactics

Banda's Strategy and Tactics

Banda’s strategy was to reach Punjab after avoiding the dangers en route, to mobilize an army of volunteers, and arm and train them in an impossibly short period, and then by the tactics of, what I term as the "Crumbling Process", bite into the mighty Mughal administrative centers one by one. This process was the only way to achieve the Guru’s mission of punishing a powerful enemy who was committing crime after crime against his people. Banda must have mentally and theoretically made grandiose plans during his long journey of nearly one year from Nander to Punjab. Whatever these dreams, this born leader of men executed them to perfection with a masterly application of the crumbling process. One by one the Mughal bastions, SAMANA, GHURAM, THASKA, MUSTAFBAD and SADHAURA were captured, until he reached the outskirts of SIRHIND. His main target was to revenge the ruthless torture and killing of the brave and innocent SAHIBZADAS.

Instinctively, Banda Bahadur adopted the vital principles of war - Surprise Flexibility, Offensive action and Concentration of Force at a point to gain local superiority. He overcame garrison after garrison by brilliantly applying these to perfection. Even Muslim authors of the time such as Qazi Noor Mohammad, Ghulam Hussain Mohammad, Qasim Kamwar Khan and Khafi Khan grudgingly praised the Tiger-like fighting quality of the Sikh Soldier. In an article of a magazine it is not possible to trace Banda Bahadur's entire campaign, so as to highlight his brilliant strategy and tactics. Yet it would be worthwhile amplifying this by select examples.