The worst and the most consequential century. Anandpur is abandoned in 1704, the four Sahibzade die within a fortnight, and Guru Gobind Singh Ji dies at Nanded in 1708 having vested the guruship in the Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
Banda Singh Bahadur Ji takes Sirhind in 1710, abolishes zamindari in the territory he holds, strikes coin in the Gurus' names, and is executed at Delhi in 1716.
From the 1720s to the 1760s there is a standing price on Sikh heads. The Chhota Ghallughara in 1746 and the Vadda Ghallughara in 1762 kill tens of thousands. Nadir Shah comes in 1739 and Ahmad Shah Abdali nine times between 1748 and 1767.
The Dal Khalsa is organised in 1748. The misls take the countryside. Coin is struck at Lahore in 1765 in the name of the Gurus with no ruler's name on it.
Waris Shah writes Heer in 1766. Baba Ala Singh builds Patiala in 1763. Baghel Singh holds Delhi in 1783.
Ranjit Singh Ji is born in 1780 and takes Lahore in 1799. The century ends with the confederacy about to become a kingdom.
The century runs from the death of Guru Gobind Singh Ji in 1708 to Ranjit Singh Ji taking Lahore in 1799, and almost the whole of it was fought over.
Banda Singh Bahadur Ji's rising, the campaigns of Mir Mannu, the two ghallugharas, the nine Afghan invasions and the rise of the misls all fall inside it.
By its end a community that had been declared outlawed at its start held the entire province. There is no comparable reversal in the region's history and the record of it is thin.