Chhota Ghallughara

Chhota Ghalughara
Part of Mughal–Sikh wars and Hill States–Sikh wars
Native nameਛੋਟਾ ਘੱਲੂਘਾਰਾ ("Lesser Massacre")
LocationAcross the Punjab (concentrated killings at Lahore, Amritsar, Kahnuwan)
Date1746
Deaths10,000 Sikh men, women, and children
VictimsSikhs
PerpetratorsMughal Empire
AssailantsYahiya Khan, Lakhpat Rai, Hill Rajas of the Shivalik Range

Chhota Ghallughara (Punjabi: ਛੋਟਾ ਘੱਲੂਘਾਰਾ [tʃʰoːʈäː kəl˨luːkäː˨ɾäː], "Smaller Massacre") was a massacre of a significant proportion of the Sikh population by the Mughal Empire in 1746. The Mughal Army killed an estimated 7,000 Sikhs in these attacks while an additional 3,000 Sikhs were taken captive.[1] Chhōtā Ghallūghārā is distinguished from the Vaddā Ghallūghārā, the greater massacre of 1762.[2]

  1. ^ A Popular Dictionary of Sikhism: Sikh Religion and Philosophy, p.86, Routledge, W. Owen Cole, Piara Singh Sambhi, 2005
  2. ^ According to the Punjabi-English Dictionary, eds. S. S. Joshi, Mukhtiar Singh Gill, (Patiala, India: Punjabi University Publication Bureau, 1994) the definitions of "GHALLOOGHAARAA" are as follows: "holocaust, massacre, great destruction, deluge, genocide, slaughter, (historically) the great loss of life suffered by Sikhs at the hands of their rulers, particularly on 1 May 1746 and 5 February 1762" (p. 293).