Era 3: The Misl Period

After the Dal Khalsa unified the scattered Sikh resistance into a confederate army in 1748 (see the close of Era 2), the Sikh community spent the next fifty years as a network of twelve independent but cooperating confederacies — the Misls. This was not yet an empire with a single ruler; it was a federation of armed territories, each governed by its own chief, that together resisted Afghan invasion, expanded Sikh-controlled territory across Punjab, and ultimately produced the conditions for a single unified state under Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

The Misl System

The Dal Khalsa's 1748 reorganisation eventually settled into twelve Misls, each controlling its own territory while cooperating under the broader confederacy:

Misl	Leading family / founder	General territory
Ahluwalia	Jassa Singh Ahluwalia	Jalandhar Doab; became the most politically prominent Misl — Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was placed in joint command of the Dal Khalsa in 1748, while Nawab Kapur Singh remained acknowledged as supreme commander
Bhangi	Hari Singh Bhangi (Dhillon family)	Bari and Rechna Doabs; controlled Lahore, Amritsar, Multan, and Gujrat at their height
Sukerchakia	Charat Singh, grandfather of Ranjit Singh	Gujranwala and the Pothohar region; the Misl from which Maharaja Ranjit Singh eventually unified the Empire
Kanhaiya	Jai Singh, later Sada Kaur	Territory between Amritsar and the Punjab Hills; Sada Kaur, as regent, helped secure Ranjit Singh's capture of Lahore in 1799
Ramgarhia	Jassa Singh Ramgarhia	Upper Jalandhar Doab; named after the Ram Rauni fort in Amritsar, which the Misl extended and fortified
Nakai	—	Lower Bari Doab, between Multan and Kasur
Dallewalia	—	Upper Sutlej region, parts of Jalandhar and northern Malwa
Karorsinghia	—	Southeastern Malwa and the Upper Gangetic Doab
Faizulpuria (Singhpuria)	Nawab Kapur Singh's original Misl	Jalandhar Doab and tribute from the Delhi region
Nishanwalia	Dasaundha Singh	Carried the Nishan Sahib (flag) in battle for the joint Misl forces; territory around Ambala, Ropar, and Anandpur Sahib
Shaheedan (with the Nihangs)	—	Eastern Malwa, between Karnal and Ferozepore
Phulkian	Baba Ala Singh	Sirhind to Delhi; unlike the others, never absorbed into Ranjit Singh's later Empire — instead formed the separate princely states of Patiala, Nabha, and Jind

By the late 18th century, the Bhangi, Ahluwalia, and Ramgarhia Misls were the most powerful, though rivalries between them grew as Mughal central authority weakened further. Several Misls also operated the Rakhi system — a protection tax collected from villages and farmers in exchange for defence against raiders, a practical exercise of the Miri-Piri principle rather than territorial conquest for its own sake.

Capture of the Red Fort — 11 March 1783

Red Fort, Delhi

Combined Misl forces under Baba Baghel Singh and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia captured the Red Fort in Delhi — briefly placing the seat of Mughal imperial power under Sikh control. The event stands as the clearest demonstration of how far Misl military cooperation had reached by the late 18th century, decades before unification under a single Sikh ruler.