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sounded like ‘guru’. He ordered that ‘gurh’ (guV) be called rorhi (roVI).

Many people still call a small piece of ‘gurh’ gurh di rorhi (guV dI roVI).

On March 10, 1746, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and a few thousand Sikhs

were hiding in Kahnuvan jungle. Lakhpat Rai set out in search of

them. Lakhpat surrounded the forest and started a search for the
Sikhs. The Sikhs held out for some time striking back whenever

they could but they were heavily outnumbered and under-equipped.
They decided to escape to the hills in the northeast. They crossed

the River Ravi and went to Jammu and Kashmir. They were hoping

that the Hindu population of the hills would give them shelter, but
the hill people instead drove them away with bullets and stones. The

hill people were afraid of Lakhpat Rai’s orders that "Whosoever

gives shelter to the Sikhs will meet the same fate as the Sikhs.”

Sikhs suffered heavy losses. A few survivors succeeded in crossing

the Ravi, though many were carried away in the torrent. Lakhpat Rai

followed them. They crossed the Beas and the Sutlej to find refuge
in Lakkhi Jungle, deep into the Malva region. Lakhpat’s troops killed

hungry and unarmed Sikhs.

Lakhpat Rai marched back to Lahore with more than 3000 Sikh
captives. He paraded them on donkeys. They were taken to the Naks

Khana (horse market) at Delhi Gate and were mercilessly beheaded in

small groups.

An estimated 7,000 Sikhs were killed and 3,000 captured in the

action between March and May of 1746 and between Kahnuvan and

Lakhi Jungle and Delhi. The nightmarish attempt at Sikh annihilation
came to be known as Chhota Ghallughara as compared to a still

greater killing, the Vadda Ghallughara that happened 16 years later
in February, 1762.

Lakhpat Rai's boast of a total annihilation of the Sikh people,
however, did not happen. In about six months, the Sikhs were back

Sikh History and Gurmat Sikhia Book 6 2020 Edition Page 26