Punjabi Rajputs were very weak at the time of Aurangzeb, the mughal Emperor. The states of Sarhind, Kalanaur, Lahore, Kashmir and Peshawar were ruled by the Nawabs, appointed by the mugal government in Delhi. There were around 22 small Pahari states that were active in the Shivalik belt. All of them were located at very secured places. However, they were not very powerful and Muslim powers all around them were trying to destroy them. These states became very weak due to repeated Muslim attacks. These 22 states were not united at all. They used to fight each other every now and then. In these days Raja Prithi Singh of Chamba State, attacked Noorpur State due to some misunderstandings. He destroyed the entire Noorpur City and burned it. At the same time period, the Raja’s from Jammu and Basoli states attacked Raja Dalip Singh of Guler State. Due to all this happenings, Raja Shia and Raja of Kehloor were busy in a civil war for a long time. Actually, the whole Punjab was in the condition of a civil war. At the same time Rajputs and Muslims were busy in a political struggle in southern part of India. They were indulged in a race to destroy each other. What could be expected from the Punjabi Rajputs, when they were in really bad condition? When Guru Gobind Singh Jee started his struggle against the Muslim powers that time these Raja’s from hilly states remained silence. They even never did protest against the Muslim powers. However, these Raja’s kept on supporting Muslim powers against Guru Gobind Singh ji. They tried to block Guru Jee’s way every time when ever they got any chance.
At this difficult time it was only the Rajputs of Doaba region, who stood with Guru Gobind Singh Jee and laid their lives for the Sikh cause. Along with Guru Jee they gave a strong fight to Muslim Nawabs for a long time. During this tough time Guru Gobind Singh Jee started to build his own army, the Khalsa fauj. He began to train new recruits in his Fauj. The first Doaba Rajput Sardar Sangat Singh Minhas of village Padhiana Distt. Hoshiarpur joined Guru Gobind Singh Jee’s Fauj with his two brothers and many other Rajput sardars. Few months later, the Nizam of Lahore sent a small group of armed men to collect tax dues from the Pahari Raja’s. Alaf Khan was commanding these armed men. The Rajputs from these hilly states asked Guru Jee to help them. Due to the nature of helping the needy, Guru Gobind Singh Jee agreed to send a small group of his Khalsa Fauj under the command of Sardar Sangat Singh Minhas. Sardar Sangat Singh defeated Alaf khan’s army. After this Subedar of Lahore, sent his own son with the army to take care of this matter. First of all he defeated Raja Bhim Singh of Kaheloor and collected the tax. After that he attacked Raja Vikram Singh Walia of Guler State. Raja Vikram Singh asked Guru Gobind Singh Jee to help him. Again, Guru Gobind Singh Jee sent his Fauj under the command of Sardar Sangat Singh Minhas to help Raja Vikram Singh. Raja Vikram Singh and Sardar Sangat Singh Minhas fought together against the Muslim army. The Mugal army was defeated again but Sardar Sangat Singh Minhas got serious injured during this battle. He couldn’t sustain the injuries and died. This war was happened in samat 1748 vikrami. After this battle there was peace all around for next 8 years. During this peaceful time, Guru Gobind Singh Jee kept on training his Fauj to tackle any attack from the mugal raj. Saradr Bachitar Singh of village Chukhiara Distt. Jalandhar joined Khalsa Fauj along with a large group of doaba Rajputs. Anandpur Sahib and the state of Kehloor were neighbouring states.
Raja Bhim Chand of Kehloor State got fearful from the strong Khalsa Fauj and called the entire Pahari Raja’s to wage a war against Guru Gobind Singh Jee. As a result of this meeting, all Pahari rajas’s walked to Anandpur Sahib and gave a notice to Guru Gobind Singh Jee to leave Anandpur Sahib because they are feeling insecure due to his presence in Anandpur Sahib. They told Guru Jee if he leave Anandpur sahib, they would help him. Guru Jee told them that he would not leave Anandpur Sahib at any cost. Pahari Raja’s had army of almost 20,000 men and on top of this, the Nawab of Sirhind also joined them against Guru Gobind Singh Jee. Guru Jee had only 2000 Khalsa’s under the command of Sardar Bachitar Singh. The battle between Guru jee’s Fauj and Pahari Raja’s started and the Khalsas ran out of food. Pahari Raja’s attacked the kila Anandgarh and tried to break the main gate of the fort. Sardar Bachitar Singh stood in the way and start fighting against Bhim Chand’s army. He managed to prevent them from entering the fort. Guru Sahib’s army lost most of his army men and a few khalsas were left. Due to the great loss of his beloved khalsas, Guru Jee decided to leave Anandpur Sahib and went towards Nabha and Jeend states. During samat 1763 vikrami, doaba Rajput Sardar Kharak Singh Minhas and Bachitar Singh Rathore, kept helping Guru Gobind Singh in this struggle.
After Guru Gobind Singh Jee’s left for his heavenly abode, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur took over the torch to fight against the Mugal Oppression. Baba Banda Singh Bahadur reorganized the Khalsa Fauj and declared a war against Muslim powers. From doaba region he got help from Sikh Rajputs named Sardar Ram Singh Manj, Sardar Gursahai Singh Bhatti, Sardar Kanwar Singh Parmar, Sardar Dharam Singh Minhas, Sardar Krishan Singh Minhas, Sardar Budh Singh Parmar, Sardar Khan Singh Parmar, Sardar Dasonda Singh Parmar, Sardar Jiwan Singh Parmar, Sardar Punjab Singh Parmar, Sardar Mehboob Singh Jaswal, Sardar Hargopal Singh Chauhan and many more. Baba Banda Singh Bahadur won almost half of the Punjab State and he offered Jagirs to his army commanders. During the Sikh Misls time, Baghel Singh of Krorhsinghia misl gave jagirs to his commanders, Jiwan Singh, Karam Singh and Bhag Singh, the Saroya Rajput brothers . Their heirs are still holding forts in village Chukhiara, Dihana, Bhungarn and Bohan.