DwainKilgore21 at 17:52, 6 May 2026

2026-05-06T17:52:19Z

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{{Short description|Afghan-Mughal War battle}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Battle of the Malandari Pass (1586)
| image = Malandari battle Monument.jpg
| date = 16 February 1586
| place = [[Buner]], Between [[Karakar Pass]] and Malandari Pass (in present day [[Pakistan]])
| combatant1 = [[Afghan (ethnonym)|Afghan]] people
*[[Yousafzai]] tribe
*[[Jadoon]] tribe
| combatant2 = [[File:Flag of the Mughal Empire.png|25px]] [[Mughal Empire]]
| commander1 = [[Kalu Khan Yousafzai]]<br>Mirwais Khan
| commander2 = [[Birbal]]{{KIA}}<br>[[Zain Khan Koka]]
| strength1 = Unknown
| strength2 = 20,000<ref name= arlingh/>
| casualties1 = Unknown
| casualties2 = 8,000 ([[Abd al-Qadir Badayuni|Badayuni]]'s claim)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.511766/page/279/mode/2up | title=Mughal Empire in India | year=1940 }}</ref> with 500 officers killed.<ref name="Kingdom">''[https://ia802308.us.archive.org/20/items/kingdomofafghani00taterich/kingdomofafghani00taterich.pdf The Kingdom of Afghanistan. A Historical Sketch]'' (1911) by G.P. Tate, Member of the Asiatic Society</ref>
| result = Afghan Yousufzai victory<ref>Mughal-Afghan Relations in South Asia p132</ref>{{full citation|date=September 2025}}
| partof = [[Mughal-Afghan Wars|Mughal–Afghan Wars]]
| caption = Battle of Malandari Monument in [[Buner]]
}}
The '''Battle of the Malandari Pass''' was fought on 16 February 1586 in what is now the [[Buner District]] in Pakistan's [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province]]. The army of the [[Mughal Empire]], led by [[Birbal|Raja Birbal]], was ambushed by Pashtun [[Yusufzai]] tribesmen, led by [[Malik#Pashtun usage|Malik]] [[Kalu Khan Yousafzai]]. It was one of the greatest defeats of Mughal history and under the reign of [[Akbar|Akbar the Great]].{{efn|[[John F. Richards]] fails to specifically refer to it as the Battle of Malandari Pass, but instead states Raja Bir Bar and Zain Khan Koka commanded an army against Yusufzai chiefs and it was the greatest disaster to befall a Mughal army during [[Akbar|Akbar's reign]].<ref name=Richards50-51>{{Cite book |last=Richards |first=John F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHyVh29gy4QC&pg=PA49 |title=The Mughal Empire |date=1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-56603-2 |pages=50–51}}</ref>}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Micheal Fisher |url=http://archive.org/details/a-short-history-of-the-mughal-empire |title=A Short History Of The Mughal Empire |date=2016 |publisher=I.B. Tauras |pages=132–133}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=S. R. |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.511766 |title=Mughal Empire In India |date=1940 |publisher=Karnatak Publishing House |page=278}}</ref>

Birbal is believed to have died in the battle alongside around 8,000 Mughal soldiers.<ref name= arlingh>{{Cite book |last=Arlinghaus |first=Joseph Theodore |url= |title=The Transformation of Afghan Tribal Society: Tribal Expansion, Mughal Imperialism and the Roshaniyya Insurrection, 1450–1600 |date=1988 |publisher=[[Duke University]] |pages=316–317 |language=en |quote=}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last=Mulk |first=Professor Shujaul |year=1981 |title=Relations between Akbar and the North West Frontier Tribes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ops5AAAAIAAJ |journal=Central Asia |publisher=Area Study Centre (Central Asia), University of Peshawar |pages=47–48 |issn=1729-9802 |quote=In this confusion, Birbal and Hasan Khan Bhittani, along with eight thousand men of the Mughal army lost their lives.}}</ref>

== Background ==
The Mughals had annihilated the whole Yousafzai tribe after Mullah Meru's defeat and death in 1581 AD, and Kalu Khan Yusufzai decided to take over the task of restoring the Yousafzai's organisation and unity. In the jirga that Yousafzai organised after consulting his friends and supporters, Ayub son of Rusi, Babu son of Saifu Aba Khel Mandanr, Mirwais son of Mullah Meru, and other individuals associated with Yousafzai took part. Yousafzai's country was visited by this jirga as it preached about togetherness and issued ominous warnings about the consequences of divide.

Ain-i-Akbari claims that Kalu Khan travelled to [[Agra]] when the Mughal Emperor Akbar went to the [[Kabulistan|Kabul region]] to chastise Mirza Muhammad. Kalu Khan was treated well, but he eventually left Agra. [[Khawaja Shamsuddin Khawafi|Khwaja Shamsuddin Khwafi]] detained Kalu Khan close to [[Attock]] and then took him to court. Kalu Khan ran away once more, went back home, and eventually became the leader of the seditious elements. Abu Fazal does not specifically state how Akbar took Kalu Khan to Agra or why or under what circumstances.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=ibn Mubārak |first1=Allami Abū al-Faz̤l |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F1qLRAAACAAJ |title=The A-in-i Akbari |date=2001 |publisher=Low Price Publications |isbn=978-81-7536-228-4 |pages=70 |language=en}}</ref>

The Yousafzai had selected Ghazi Khan Malezai to serve as their leader while Kalu Khan was away. But soon after, Ghazi Khan was killed in [[Bajaur District|Bajaur]] in a battle with the Mughals. Kalu Khan, who had just returned from Agra, also joined the fight. He was once again chosen by Yousafzais to lead the tribe in Damghar, Swat.<ref name=":0" />

==Battle==
According to historians [[Jadunath Sarkar]] and Raghubir Sinh, there were quarrels between the leaders of the Mughal troops, with Birbal, Abul Fath and Zain Khan disagreeing on the course of action, and "On 16th February, (1586), during a disorderly march, the Afghans attacked in a Swat defile. Panic seized the disunited Imperial army and 8000 men lost their lives, including Rajah Birbal and many other high officers, while all their camp and equipage were plundered. The fugitives straggling in the hills were cut off."<ref name="Sarkar">{{Cite book |last1=Sarkar |first1=Jadunath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O0oPIo9TXKcC&pg=PA68 |title=A History of Jaipur: c. 1503–1938 |last2=Sinh |first2=Raghubir |date=1984 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-250-0333-5 |pages=68–69 |language=en}}</ref>

Between the [[Karakar Pass]] and the Malandari Pass, the Yusufzai Afghans under the command of Kalu Khan routed the combined forces of Zain Khan and Raja Birbal. Birbal lost his life in this battle.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahajan |first=V. D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMWSQuf4oSIC&dq=Raja+birbal+killed&pg=RA2-PA115 |title=History of Medieval India |date=2007 |publisher=S. Chand Publishing |isbn=978-81-219-0364-6 |pages=115 |language=en}}</ref> According to Mughal historian [[Khafi Khan]], 40,000–50,000 Mughal men perished in this battle.<ref name=":0" />{{Request quotation|date=September 2025}} However, [[ʽAbd al-Qadir Badayuni|Badayuni]] claims that around 8000 Mughal men perished as a result of the entire episode.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elliot |first=Henry Miers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w2AGBNfe8ZQC&dq=Raja+birbal+killed&pg=PA451 |title=The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-05587-1 |pages=451 |language=en}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
Akbar learned about the disaster two days later and an army under Rajah [[Todar Mal]] set off on 19 February to exact retribution against the Yusufzais, killing a large number of them and selling many survivors to [[Turan]] and [[Iran|Persia]], as "the countries of Swat, Bajaur and Buner were cleansed of evildoers."<ref name=Sarkar/>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Conflicts in 1586]]
[[Category:Buner District]]
[[Category:Afghan–Mughal Wars]]
[[Category:16th century in the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:Battles involving Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:1586 in India]]
[[Category:Military history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]

Battle of Malandari Pass - Revision history

DwainKilgore21 at 17:52, 6 May 2026