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Please enter a valid web address * About * Blog * Projects * Help * Donate * Contact * Jobs * Volunteer * People * Sign up for free * Log in Search metadata Search text contents Search TV news captions Search radio transcripts Search archived web sites Advanced Search * About * Blog * Projects * Help * Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape * Contact * Jobs * Volunteer * People Full text of "Rise Of The Sikh Power Of Punjab " See other formats SOHAN SINGH SITAL PREFACE The long drawn out struggle and the tale of countless sacrifices through which the Sikh nation had to wade to come by her goal as last, is nothing short of a miracle, indeed. It was during the life-time of their fifth apostle, Guru Arjan Dev, when the Sikhs came to be organised and knit in a distinct community. But this was too bitter a pill for the autocratic Mughal rulers to swallow. Guru Arjan Dev was martyred under the direct orders of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Though this was an unbearable blow to the newly rising Sikh community, yet it stood this cruel calamity like a dauntiess and brave nation. His son, Guru Hargobind, who succeded him as the sixth Guru, was then a boy of less than cleven years old. But he stood his test and ground remarkably well and led the community effectively. The Sikhs did not lose heart because of the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev. On the contrary they learnt the lesson of daring and bravery from his peerless sacrifice. A sword dangled from its girdic on the person of each Sikh who wore a rosary of holy beads round his neck at the same time. The Sikhs took to the path of living as saint soldiers. As Aurangzch occupied the Mughal throne at Delhi, he introduced a wholesale change in the policy of his admin- istration. He had a fixed goal of proselytising* the entire Hindu population of India to Islam by the terror of his sword hand. Though the Hindus formed a majority of the popu- lation in north India, they behaved as a helpless community. They had no effective organisation to protect or lead them. Guru Teg Bahadur came to their rescure and offered him- self for martyrdom for their sake. Far from recognising his rightful and just claim and proposal,Aurangzeb martyred _ the Guru in Delhi. This sanctimonious martyrdom was responsible for bringing about a matchless revolution in the Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com history of India, beyond a doubt. This martyrdom was 8 challange, thrown out to the Sikh nation by the Mughal rulers. The Sikhs, too, respon- ded to it like brave warriors. They swarmed to collect themselves under the flag of Guru Gobind Singh as armed and fearless soldiers. That had started an era of wars for religion and mar- tyrdoms in the country. All the four sons or Guru Gobind Singh, his mother and, at last,he, all fell as martyrs to their cause. He was treacherously killed by a hired foe. Yet the Sikh nation was far from being cowed or beaten; it arose every time on the strength of its martyrdoms with a rene- wed courage and power. It continucd to advance like an irrestible storm. The Sikhs regained some power during the leadership of Banda Singh Bahadur, when they had set themselves as the rulers of their mother-land for a bit. But the Mughal rulers of Delhi once again used their total military power against them and suppressed thein to- tally. Baba Banda Singh Bahadur was put to death most barbarously in Delhi. A wide massacre was staged, next, through the Punjab to annihilate the Sikhs altogether. The people were now convinced that the Sikhs could never revive and rise again. But after only a short respite, the Sikhs were up and doing and in arms for their life and honour. They were actively staging the same, long drama of martyrdoms and warring struggle in the-fires of which they had been tempered a while back. And, in this way, they were able to attain their goal after servere struggles in the fields of battles after three-quarter years of a century. At long last, the Sikhs were able to establish their administration in thd Panjab after sacrificing millions of their members in the ficlds of bloody battles and represson. The following pages of this book narrate the story of the matshless bravery of the Sikh nation. IT am also grateful to Professors M.C. Sharma and Hardyal Singh who helped me in this work of translation trom my Panjabi compositions. Seetal Bhawan, Sohan Singh Model Grom, Sceetal, Ludhiana, Pb, 25.7.1970, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com www.archive.org/details/ namdhari CONTENTS Part First CHAPTER PAGE I Early Life of Banda Singh 10 II Sikh Baptism 14 III Banda Singh in Panjab 2! IV Small Skirmishes 26 V Samana-ward 31 VI Sadhaura to Chhatt 37 VIL The Battle of Sishind 44 VIII Nemesis of Sirhind 50 IX Lohgarh as Capital 54 X Towards the Jamna 62 XI Revolution in the Majha 70 XII_ Fighting the Fanatics 75 XIN In Jullundur Doaba 8] XIV Sirhind and Sadhaura Lost 88 XV_ The Battle of Lohgarh 94 XVI Aftermath of Lohgarh 99 XVII Back in Panjab 102 XVIII The Scene in Lahore 108 XIX The Tussel Continues 113 XX_ The Beginning of the End 118 XXI_ The End Itself 123 XXII In Delhi 128 XXIII Banda Singh: an Estimate 136 Part Second I Essentials of Sikhism 146 II Butchery after Banda Singh 148 Ill Tara Singh Martyred 153 IV Disorders Continue 160 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com V_ Comparative Calm 165 VI Repression Renewed 169 VII Bhai Mani Singh 174 VHI_ Bota Singh 179 IX The Mughal Kings 183 X Nadar Shah became King of Iran 188 XI Nadar Shah Invaded India 193 XII. Dark Times 197 XIIT Massa Ranghar 202 XIV Taroo Singh 207 XV_ Ressurrecetion 212 XVI More Dark Times 216 XVIT_ Stalemate 222 XVIII Abdali 227 XIX Confusion : 232 XX The Sikh Misals 238 XXI Mir Mannu 242 XXII Mannu and Kaura Mall 247 XXIII Abdali Again 251 XXIV Abdali, Mannu and the Sikhs 258 XXV_ Worst Barbarism 263 XXVI_ Murad Begam 266 XXVII_ Riotous Ravening 271 XXVIII Abdali Active 277 XXIX_ Adina Beg 284 XXX _ Abdali and Mahrathas P 290 XXXI_ Sikhs Survive 295 XXXII Abdali and the Sikh Slough 301 XXXII Abdali and the Sikhs 306 XXXIV The Panjab in Muddle 311 XXXV_ Sikhs Settling 317 XXXVI Abdali Again 322 XXXVII_ Abdalis Last Invasion 336 XXXVIII_ The Sikhs Achieve the Goal 340 Note : Please read page seventeenth next. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com www.archive.org/ details/namdhari PART FIRST The First Sikh Ruler Banda Singh Bahadar, The Martyr. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com www.archive.org/details/namdhari CHAPTER 1 Early Life The great personalities of the world were generally born to parents of small means. Baba Banda Singh, called the Martyr and the Brave, was one such hero of note. Rajauri is a small, though an ancient, town in the Punchh territory of Kashmir. A male baby was born to the wife of a Rajput of the Bhardwaj sub-caste, Ram Dev by name, on October the 27th, 1670. His parents chose for him the name of Lachhman Dev. No one could tell just then that the baby was to change his name several times during his life and that, at last, he was to bear a name that would be remembered with admiration till eternity. Ram Dev was a comparatively poor man, He worked as a ploughman, and thus earned his livelihood. He was not in “a position to put his son to any schooling in the boy’s early life. As Lachhman Dev grew up a little, he lent a hand to his father at his work. But he utilised his leisure for going to the nearby forest and hunting some small game with his bow and arrows. He soon turned out to bea prac- tised hand, through his fondness for, and daily use of, his crude weapons. His fascination for hunting grew with his advancing years. He looked a fine and stout youngster at the age of fifteen years. The build of his body was spare, size middling, skin wheaten and his features beautifully chiselled. His eyes Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com were shining and his face reflected his quick temper.* He shot a doe with his bow one day, while hunting on the bank of the stream, called Tawi. When he stepped up to where she lay wounded, he stood stunned as he looked into her bright, tearful eyes. When he opened her under-skin, he saw two young ones, that died in extreme pain, while he stood aghast, with his eyes fixed in pity on the little, dying ones. This horrible happening shook the young hunter out of his old bearings of life, with the result, that Re took to the life of a holy hermit. He flung his spear into the stream and broke the bundle ot his arrows, and threw it away. He had, now, res nounced hunting for the rest of his life. He kept very dejected and led a barren life for a time after this sad incident. Though he lived among his people, yet he took no interest in anything. His habit of adventure and daring, and the happy-go-lucky and ebullient ways of his former life had at once been killed by this phase of a strange sadness, He now went to the extent of feeling little desire for his normal food even, It so happened that one day a party of roamingwascetics (Bairagis) turned up at his village and stayed there for the night, while on their way to the valley of Kashmir. Their preaching and their random talk drew him to them, He found them satisfying and in tune with his new mentation. He renounced his life with his parents and left with the roam= ing party of the saints. One of them, a learned saint, Janaki Prasad Bairagi, impressed the mind of Lachhman Dav quite a great deal, The result was that he became his disciple. His name was changed to Madho Das on his initiation to the new cult. The party travelled, and visited several places, in the mountainous territories of Kashmir and then returned to the plains of the Panjab. Madho Das came to a place, called Ram Thamman,t where a fair was held in mid-April. He had been * Karam Singh Historian, ‘snda Bahadur’ Panjabi, page 108. ¢ Ram Thamman is a village in Tehsil Kasoor, District Lahore that is a sacred place of pilgrimage for the ascetics. It has a mausoleum of Saint Ram Thamman who was related to Guru Nanak. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com }2 in the close company of a saint, named Janki Prasad. That was in 1686. Here he met another holy man, Saint Ram Dass, the ascetic.* Madho Das spent some time here and then he became a regular member of the saintly party and moved with the holy men on pilgrimage to many places. They visited several of the religious places over the counrty and he received some educa- tion and religious instruction during these travels. During his roamings, he came to the forests of Panch Batti, The beautiful sights of Nasik fascinated him. He built a hut here aud lived there to practise austeritics and pay adoration to the supernatural powers. Another old saint came to him here, his name being Agglar Nath. Madho Das served him and looked after him witha true devotion. This ascetic was dccply learned in magic and supernaturatism, and was much talked about. Agghar Nath was pleased with Madho Das’ devotion and taught him some of his wonderful feats and secrets, The old saintly Agghar Nath died some time later, in the year, 1691, after passing his book on the gospel of supernatural- ‘ism to Madho Das. Madho Das studied and practised asceticism aud magic with the help of that book. When le was convinced of his powers of working magic, he set out to try in action the degree of his proficiency in the art. He chose a green and beautiful place, near Nadeyr, on’ the hank of the River Gaudavari and built there a small hut for himself. There he soon became well-known to the neigh- bouring people as an anchorite, possessing extra-ordinary powers. Numbers of persons would visit him, ask for his blessings to grant them success, prosperity and sons and were said to have their prayers granted by this saint. The numbers of those who put their faith in him and made him offerings, swelled, and his disciples, too, were around him, ail the while, as were his ordinary followers. His supernaturalism worked for his followers in both directions: blessing or cursing them, according to the demands made onhim. Thus, he won a roaring reputation among the people at large. He occupied a large area for his hermitage, * Bunda Singh Bahadur by Dr. Ganda Singh, page 4. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 13 planted garden trees in it and having enlisted a number of disciples, he settled down there as the head-saint. The habit of hunting of his early life raised its head now again in a new form. His art of working magic made him a proud man. He would make other saints, who came to visit him occasionally, uncomfortable with the powers of the spirits, that he would raise; and found great pleasure in belitt- ling and making fun of them like that. He had a special type of a couch made for this purpose. It had a very beautiful bed- cover spread on it day and night. He would ask a stranger, who came to him, to sit on it. He would welcome him in very sweet words at first; but, next, he would manage, - through some concealed mechanical device, or, as the common people believed, through his magical powers, to up-set the couch, Those present in his recom would, thus, see the venerable guest lying on the floor with the inverted couch right on top of him. Madho Das would clap his hands in delight and loudly laugh at this. It became a habit with him to confound and dishonour his saintly visitors. This afforded him a special pleasure. And he spent a period of sixteen years on the bank of the Gaudavari like that. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary —~ NamchariElibrary@gmail.com www.archive.org/details/namdhari CHAPTER IF Sikh Baptism His circumstances brought abeut~another change in Madho Das’s life. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and the last Guru of the Sikhs, arrived at Nadeyr in 1708. It was about the end of September then. He reached the hermitage of Bairagi Madho Das directly. He had been told lots of things about the wonder working-powers of Madho Das by Saint Jait Ram of Dadu Duara;* whont he had met there, Accordingly,.as soon as-the gracious Guru was in Nadeyr, he was pleased to make sure that Madho Das was, in any case, to be enabled to gain salvation for himself. Madho Das was not at home when the Guru went there. He took his seat on the couch that Madho Das had used to discomfort and confound many a saint already, There were several he- goats browsing about inside the compound of the Bairagi. These goats had heen left at the place as offerings tohim by his devotees. The Sikhs caught and killed. some of the goats, under orders from the Guru, and cooked their meat for dinner. While this meat was being cooked, the disciples of Madho Das took the word of this sacrilege to him. His resentment was aroused sorely at this news, and he rushed back to his hermitage in order to take his revenge upon the offender. His * Dadu Duara ig a temple in the village, known as Narayan, “in Rajasthan, near Jaipur, three miles off the railway station of Phulera. Mahan Kosh by Bhai Kahan Singh, p. ¢70, edition of 7AM, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 1S anger was simply consuming and his eyes were flaming red. He used all his art and magic to upturn the couch on the Guru, but in spite of his doing his very best, nothing would avail him. He was a little gripped with fear now. He started wondering as to who the bold new-comer could be! He came up to the Guru and looked closely at his face, its brilliant, spiritual light, its majestic, captivating and kindly eyes, abounding in divine grace, his golden plumes, a hawk perched on the thumb of his one hand, his sword hanging from his girdle, a bow tucked on his shoulder— looking a fascinating picture of both stateliness and~ spirituality, harmoniously mingled. The very first look. of the Guru had melted his anger and had won him over as an ardent admirer. Unable to utter a single word and tongue-tied, the Bairagi found his hands joind in obeisance and head lowered in reverence. The kindly Guru smiled and said softly: “You had thrown away your spear, had broken your bow and crushed your arrows; yet even, now, you have not changed your nature !” Madho Das raised his eyes just a bit and cast them low again, His body shook from head to toe-tips. He felt as if ‘somebody had come to know his deepest secrets. Taking himself a little in hand and under control, he spoke, not without an effort: ‘Your Holiness, I have lost all my merit and rectitude at the hands of such a high saint as Yourself.”’ The Guru: ‘How do you mean ?” The Rairagi: “Your Honour, Iam a confirmed vegetari- an saint. You have killed lives and shed blood in my own house and you have desecrated my seat on which I sit, while worshipping my gods.” The Guru: ‘Does the shedding of blood profane your seat ?” - The Rairagi: “That is the principle of my Vaishnav® (Vegetarian) creed.” The Guru: ‘‘Is that so in spite of the fact that the blood has flowed in one corner of your large compound while your couch stands in a distant corner? How did that make your *The followers of the cult of God Vishnu. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 16 seat unhallowed ?” The Bairagi: “Your Lordship; when blood has been shed in the hermitage no seat, in any corner of it, can escape the curse of impurity.” The Guru: “Then tell me one thing: when in India rivers of the blood of its guiltless inhabitants happen to’ flow over every inch of its soil, how was it that your hermitage in this locality could remain unprofaned so far in spite of it all?’’ These words went straight home and shook his heart out of its complacency. His very soul was shaken out of its deep sleep and all his powers were up in revolt against his past. Thus staggered altogether, he exclaimed: ‘Well ?” The Guru replied in a firm tone: ‘That is that.’ A new and bright light had dawned in the inner soul of the Baivagi now. He bowed and fell at the feet of the Guru and spoke with tears welling in his eyes: ‘‘Pardon me, my Lord, I am your humble votary (Banda.)’’* The Guru: “And I am raising my Banda (servant) to the status of Banda Singh.’’+ The Bairagi: ‘‘At your service and at your sacred feet, Your Holiness.” The Guru: “My Banda Singh Bahadur,} you are a huntsman by nature, Persevere in your vocation of hunting. Iam granting to you an unbreakable bow in place of the one that you had broken and discarded once, and the arrows that will break the tyranny of the cruel, absolute rulers of our people. You hunted the helpless animals at one time; come out now and kill the merciless tyrants - of our mother-land. I anoint you to be the protector and saviour of the humble, helpless people, the Khalsa, ** from today onward.” The Guru administered the holy, Sikh baptismtt to * Servant, slavo, believer or votary. + Lion-Sikh, ~ Brave. _ *® The pure, upright persons, the Sikhs. +tAmrit,Dr, Ganda Singh:Banda‘Singh Bahadur, p. 18; Ahmed Shah Batalia: Zikrey Gurnan wa [btday Singhan wa Mazhab-i-Aishan, p. 11; Ganesh Dass: Risala-i-Sabib-Numa, pp. 186-87. Mufti Ali-ud-Din: Countinued Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 17 Madho Das with his own hands. He renamed him Banda Singh and bestowed on him the title of Bahadur.* The Guru instructed him in all the articles of the Sikh creed and its symbols. Banda Singh now learnt with great interest the Sikh scriptures and Sikh history with the help of other Sikhs present there. A narration of the stories © of the martyrdoms of Guru Arjan Dev and of Guru Teg Bahadur set his blood boiling with pious indignation. The accounts of the battles of Guru Gobind Singh himself against. the hill rajas and the Mughal, imperial armies, given him by the Sikhs, made the muscles of his arms twitch and aflame for immediate action. His hands were involuntarily forced to gtip his sword. His mind was in revolt, hungering deeply for his Guru's permission to let him rush to the Panjab and to try his luck at fighting the tyrannical rulers there. It was about that time that another tragedy occurred. Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sirhind, felt very much uneasy in his mind on hearing the news that the Guru and the Emperor were on intimate and friendly terms with each other, He wove another fatal plot now. He bribed heavily and won TEE 7 Tbrat Nama, p. 08. Mohammad Ali Khan Ansari, Taworikh.i- Muzaffri, p.86. Kanahya Lah Twarikh.i-Panjab, p. 66. Racha Kishan: Goshad-Panjab, p. 20. Zaka-ul-La: Tarikh Hindustan, Vol. IX. p. 57. Bakhat Mal: Hal-i-Mukhtsar Ibtda-i Firqa-i-Sikh- an, p. 10. Gulam Hussain Khan: Raymond-SeirMutaqhrin, I, p. 82. Briggs, pp. 72-78. M. Gregor: I, p. 106. Mohammad Lateef, p. 274 Panye: A Short History of the Sikhs, p. 48. Macauliffe: The Sikh Religion V,p. 288. Ibbetson Maclagan-Rose: A Glossary of the Tribes and Castos of the Panjab and N.W.F.P.,I, p.608. Brown: History of the Origin and Progress of the Sikhs, India Tract IT, 1787-88, p. 9. Forster’s Travels, I, p. 268. Iradat Khan: Memories of the Mughal Empire, p. 143. Lovett: India, p. 84. Sau Sakhi, 1905: (Sun Bandey Tum Khalsa Panth, Milo Khalsa Pahul Santh), Sardha Ram: Sikhan de Raj di Vithia, p..64. Veni Prasad: Guru Gobind Singh, p. 102; Sri Ram Briksha Sharma: Guru Gobind Singh, p. 77; Gyani Gyan Singh: Panth Parkash, V Edition, p. $28; Shamsher Khalsa, Urdu, IV edition, p. 7% Radha Mohan, Gokal Ji. Guru Gobind Singh, p. 88; Sir Surrinder Sharma: Guru Gobind Singh, p. 88; Rattan Singh Bhangu: Pracheen Panth Parkash, (Ham ne Khaisa tu bhiralaya), p. 68; Gokal Chand Narang: p. 172. * Brave. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com 18 over two Pathans, Ata-Ulla Khan and Gul Khan* who were well-known to the Guru already. These two conspirators went all the way to the distant Deccan and appeared at the Guru’s encampment. They professed deep devotion to and faith in ‘the Guru, They regularly attended the morning and evening assemblies of prayers ‘and devotional music, where the Guru, too, was present and preached to the congregations. Gul Khan found an opportunity quietly to enter the tent of the Guru one day, a little after the evening prayers. The Guru was alone there, resting on his couch, at the time. Gul Khan approached him noiselessly and then jumped at him. His dagger thrust went deep into the chest of the Guru, just a bit below the heart, on the left side. Before the Pathan could inflict on him another blow, the Guru rose and severed ' with his sword the head of the attacker from his body. The other Pathan, Ata-ulla Khan, who had kept watch at the duor, hurriedly ran away. He was at once overtaken by the Sikhs and killed with sword thrusts. A surgeon was at once called in, who served the Guru and dressed his wound. This tragic calamity impelled Banda Singh not to stay’ there any longer, He was determined in his mind to be avenged immediately upon these murderers for all their unre- lenting tyrannies and holocausts, if he was at all to be called worthy of being a Sikh of the Guru. He presented himself to the Guru in all reverence and with folded hands. The Guru guessed his purpose and observed: “My Banda Singh Bahadur, the time to punish the tyrants is ripe now. Do kecp your faith in Sikhism unshaken and fiim. Tshall be with you in spirit and realisation all the while. The community of the Sikhs shall ever find me present with it, in my own way, and you shall realise me in the Pantht that shall represent the power of the Almighty Himself on this earth. Live and work like a true and devout servant of the Panth. God will be at your back and helpful to you. Let five of my Sikhs pray on your behalf for whatever you seek to attain,and it shall be granted by God Almighty.” The Guru gave Banda Singh necessary instructions in * Gyani Gyan Singh: Twarikh Guru Khalsa, page 1432. t The Sikhs as a religious entity. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 19 his work like that, and asked him to be ready to proceed to the Panjab. He made him a gift of five arrows from his own stock, signifying the victories to be won by this new Sikh. He was given a war drum and a flag and, moreover, the Guru told five of his leading Sikhs* to accompany Banda Singh to the Panjab as his councillors. They were: Bhait Binod Singh, Bhai Kahn Singh, Bhai Daya Singh, Bhai Baj Singht and Bhai Ran Singh. Twenty other Sikhs, too, were asked to return tothe Panjab with him. Moreover, the Guru wrote his instructions {Hukamname or orders) to several leading Sikhs to help Banda Singh in the plan that he was to put through. In short, he was appointed the Jathedar or leader of the Sikh community and sent to the Panjab to work his mission there. He now started on his journey as the captain of his ' band of twenty-five Sikh comrades, As they rested after making each stage of their march, he came to know from them the stories of the Sikh Martyrs, and that of the most brutal martyrdom of the two children of the Guru at Sirhind, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh, that had, in particular, made his blood boil inside his veins. Their murder by making them stand at a spot while a brick-wall was built around them to suffocate them to death, had shocked him beyond words. It made him grow so agitated and restless as to wish strongly to reach Sirhind in a single day to wreak his vengeance on ‘the tyrannical Nawab there. They had, thus, reached Bharatpur** by steady marches when they were faced with an unexpected hardship: they had exhausted their funds and were yet far from their destination. They were not in a position to take to any law- breaking in that territory. All of them, however, joined now in making a prayer to their Guru to help them in this contingency. The prayer was answered: just then a party of Lubana Sikhs turned upthere, who were on a_ business trip to a farther area, They made an offering of five hundred * Panj Piyarcy or five adored ones or advisers. + Brother, mister or comrade. ¢ Rattan Singh Baangoo, Pracheen Panth Parkash, p 67. ** Gyani Gyan Singh; Shamsher Khalsa, Urdu, p 7. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 20 rupees to Baba Banda Singh, as one-tenth of their profits.t This money was used by the party of Banda Singh to tide over their difficulty. They were, thus, enabled to continue their march till they had reached the neighbourhood of Delhi, nn + It isa religious tenct of the Sikhs to pay 10 percent of their earnings to the common welfare fund of the community. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com www.archive.org/details/ namdhari CHAPTER HI Banda Singh in the Panjab Banda Singh started his preparations to fulfil his mission as soon as he was in the Panjab Hie was well aware of all that he required in order to conquer Sirhind. His first task was to win over to him the loyalties of the poorer section of the people. The Sikhs would make their day’s prayers and then shouted their slogan loudly which was ‘‘Akaal, Akaal,”’* All of them were swordsmen-saints and Banda Singh was their leader or chief. The faithful Sikhs would come to visit him and make him their offerings, taking him for a Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh and the Jathedar of the community. They would ‘ reverently greet him, wanting to be blessed by him for the grant of prosperity or sons. He would pray to God in their behalves and their wishes were met, in most cases. He would in this way, receive substantial collections, all of which he used to distribute among the members of his party and the poor commons. If a poor man would come to serve the Sikhs assembled there and the members of his Jatha or group, in particular, he was rewarded with a gold mohar by him. Bhai Rattan Singh has narrated this practice of Banda Singh in the following words: “If the demand was made for ason, a son was granted to such a Sikh, * Karam Singh Historian: Banda Bahadur, p. 3). Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com 22 And milk would be there, if for milk was the prayer made. If a man in trouble turned up, Banda Singh’s prayer 7 relieved him of it, too. He made them worship God and their prayers failed not to aid them...... “Wherever Banda Singh made a halt, there his host was rewarded with a gold mohar. Tf an oil-man would lend him oil for his lighting purpose, Banda Singh failed not to pay him a gold coin. When a potter brought to him an earthen lamp or a vessel, he would drop him a gold coin out of his pocket. If a wood-cutter offered him fuel, a gold coin was his unfailing reward.’’* Banda Singh had, thus, made a name all over his part of the country. People daily made him the usual offerings. His visitors knew him as a philanthropist, charitable person and miracle worker. This would attract to him thieves and robbers at times; but they dared not do his hermitage any harm as it was always protected by his band of armed Sikhs. His policy, at the time, was not to get involved in any of the problems of the people; but he was resolved to advance his own plans quietly first. Thus, moving from one place to another, Banda Singh and his party reached the tract, called Bangar.{ One day the village in which Banda Singh and party had stayed, was attacked by a gang of robbers. The entire people of the village were terror-stricken and confounded and_ started running away, leaving their homes unprotected. That was a time when the Government of Delhi was altogether ineffect- ive and powerless. The bands of rascals from large villages would rob and kill the people of smaller places. These daily calamities and destruction had made the people timid and terror-stricken to the extent that they would run away for their lives, leaving everything in the villages behind them, The people in the village where these Sikhs were staying, were terrified and nervous, though Banda Singh did his best * Pracheen Panth Parkash, Second edition, p. 69. ¢ The area of Jakhal, Sirsa and Hissar. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 23 to persuade the residents to join his party in facing and beating the robbers away. But nobody in the village would give an ear to what he had told them. At last, he himself, along with a smal) number of his Singhs,made ready to oppose the robbers. And he and his party of Sikhs attacked the bad, mad plunderers with such force and ferocity that they knew no other safety than that of running away from these lion-like resisters. The Sikhs went in pursuit of them and succeeded in robbing the robbers of whatever plunder they had succeeded in carrying from their previous victims.* The village people, too, had, by then, returned to their homes. They thanked profusely the Sikhs for their bravery. That was how Banda Singh had helped in saving a few villages from being plundered by robbers. Banda Singh now sent the criers around, throughout that neighbourhood, asking the people to stop paying the revenue to the Government that afforded them no security of life and property. He himself promised to give them all necessary protection and security in return for their supplying to his Sikhs milk and other articles of food and mere necessaries of life, in order to keep them going in life and in their service. At the same time, he tried to persuade the poor and the oppressed classes of the population to assemble under the flag of Guru Gobind Singh and seek conversion to Sikh religion, This declaration estranged the minds of the chiefs (land. lords) of that area from Banda Singh and his party. These important persons behaved and lived like autocrats, who ruled and acted as it pleased them. And, they were in league with the robbers, too, who had to pay these ‘‘barons’’ a part of the plunder that they used to collect, It were these land-lords alone who were the rulers of the people in actual practice. They were now anxious to break Banda Singh and his group of the Sikhs. But, luckily for the mass of the people, these rulers missed their opportunity to create disturbances that -they had wanted to use as their pretext; for, Banda Singh left that locality and moved further to the villages, named Sebri * Rattan Singh Bhangoo : Pracheen Panth Parkash, page 70. ¢t Karam Singh Historiam : Banda Bahadur, page 83. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com 24 and Khanda. Sehri and Khanda are situated close by each other in the pargana of Kharkhod. Banda Singh wrote letters from there, addressed to the Sikhs of the Majha, the Doaba and the Malwa and of other places, far and near. He despatched special messages, written and addressed by the Guru himself, to many prominent Sikhs and himself wrote several letters, similar to those the Guru had written, addressed to other well-known Sikhs. Other Sikhs who were keeping him company, also, wrote.for the same purpose to several other persons whom they knew. The subject of all these letters was about the same, and may be summed up in the following words: “Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, the General of the Sikh community, appointed by Guru Gobind Singh himself, has recently come tothe Panjab, in order to take our revenge upon Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sirhind, for the bloodiest murder of the guiltless and innocent children of our Guru. It is a religious duty of every Sikh to take part in this holy war of the Panth.’’ Anybody who read or listened to the subject of the letters, put aside his duties and chores at home and took to preparing for doing his best in order to answer this call to arms. And, moreover, the person who received such a letter, visited with it a score of the neighbouring villages and read it out to their residents. Every home in every village bustled with the preparation for fighting this holy war. The rusted swords were sought out, brightened and sharpened. The spears tucked in the ceilings and bows without strings, were recovered and made war-worthy. Those, who were without substance with them, borrowed money of the professional lenders, at 25% or even 50% interest, yearly. If a couple of Sikhs started fiom a village, they grew into five through new additions at the next village. After covering a distance of a few miles, they would multiply into a regular squad. Whichever village they would turn in, they would proclaim their mission and invite the residents to join with them to fight for their Guru and his creed and win martyrdom, The whole of the Panjab had, by now, heard the news of the arrival of Banda Singh Bahadur and of the imminen Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com 25 war under his generalship. How far had the Sikhs been enthused. for this holy fighting was evident from the busy preparations that they were making for it. 1f the husband was ploughing his land out of the village and his wife had heard of ‘the local war-party being organised, she would meet her husband at the door of the house, taking his weapons to him. A sister would carry a number of coins tied in a piece of cloth, and a bow and arrows for her brother and would go to meet him out in the field. A mother would wake up her sleeping son, place his spear on his shoulder and make him run in order to catch up with the war-party already on its way. These patriotic women of the villages would go up the roofs of their houses to have a fond look at the fighters’ parties and greet them with their war slogan* and encourage them to fight toughly. No Sikh lady could forget the bloody, horrible deeds of the tyrannical Wazir Khan and Sucha Nand. Their bloody crimes flashed across mind. She imagined and pictured in her mind the two children of her Guru being killed by the rising wall around them, and saw also in her imagination, the writh- ing, wounded bodies of the unholy dying criminals. That was how earnestly and waimly the Sikhs left their homes and assembled under the banner of Banda Singh. * Sat.Sri Akaal: Deathless is the God Almighty. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER IV SMALL SKIRMISHES The Chaudhries (land-lords) of the rural areas took the news of all this stir to the local officers, who placed special guards on the roads and the river-crossings. They were ordered to arrest every person who looked a suspect. The Sikhs of the Majha were particularly hit- by these restrictions on their travel. Many of them had _ been arrested. The remaining ones managed to reach the Doaba and then Kiratpur either by assuming changed appearances or travelling along less known routes, or joining the company of the traders’ parties or by going along the hilly tracks, The Doaba Sikhs, too, faced similar hurdles. The Pathan functionaries had blocked their passage between Ropar and Maler Kotla; but the resourceful Doaba Sikhs reached Kiratpur and joined those of their comrades who had already assembled there. The Malwa Sikhs, how- ever, met with no such obstruction.They left their homes, formed parties of twenty or so and marched from one village to another, avoiding the known high-ways. Governor Wazir Khan of Sirhind had two servants,named Aali Singh and Maali Singh, who came of village Salaudi. Wazir Khan had heard of the arrival of Banda Singh. One day the Pathan ruler made the following taunting remarks to AaliSingh and Maali Singh: “I am told that another Guru of yours, Banda Singh, has arrived in these parts. I suggest that you should go and join him in his religious war. If you Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 27 can, prompt him to attack Sirhind. Your former Guru, who was badly licked by us,had to flee this part of the country, to find a refuge in the distant Deccan, at Nadayr, and to meet a speedy death there.* The bones of this new Guru will be scattered in the streets of Sirhind.”” Aali Singh and Maali Singh did their best to control their rising indignation ano not to make any bitter retort -to the taunt. Yet they found it impossible to control their temper any longer against the insult and conceit flung at their Guru and they did happen to say certain bitter words, in their turn. The Governor lost no time in arresting and throwing behind the prison bars ali the Sikhs living in that place. But times were such that these victims of oppression could escape from the prison-house as easily as they had been arrested and held up. It, thus, happened that the whole party of Aali Singh was enabled to give a slip to the jailor by successfully bribing his assistants. The Jail offici- als informed the Governor next day of the escape the Sikh prisoners. They were alleged to have fled away by making a hole in the prison wall the previous night. The Governor was helpless and felt as if the ground had slipped from under his feet. The sikhs had flown out of his reach. Banda Singh had stayed put at Sehri-Khanda, waiting for the expected Sikh parties to join him there. Aali Singh and Maali Singh of Salaudi were the first to go to him.t They were twentythree in number.{ Some more parties of the Malwa Sikhs had turned up now. Bhai Fateh Singh, the descendant of Bhai Bhagtu,had brought a large party to the leader. He had with him some Sikh business-men, too, who had brought with them a number of bullocks, laden with rations.f¢+ Karam Singh and Dharm Singh of Roopeka had also turned up there. Nagahia Singh and Choohar Singh of Daulat, along with a good number of Brar Sikhs and Jatts from Bangar, had also joined up. Ram Singh and Tilok * Guru Gobind Singh had died on October the 7th, 1708, at Nadeyr. Banda Singh was already on his way to the Panjab when the news of this death had reached him. And it was he who had told the Sikhs in the Panjab the story of this tragedy. ¢ Karam Sinz, Historian: Banda Bahadur, page 40. } Gyani Gyan Singh: Shamsher Khalsa, page 8. tt Dr. Ganda Singh: Banda Singh Bahadur, Page 32. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 28 Singh, the Phoolka leaders, had not come there themselves. But they took care to send to the aid of Banda Singh a large number of their men and a good deal of other material. The Sikhs of the village, Maharaj, had received money from the Phoolkas and reached there in a farge party. All these persons had reached Banda Singh at Sehri- Khanda. Chaudhri Kapura did not turn up there, nor did he render Baba Banda Singh any other help. Banda Singh now had a total of about five hundred sikhs. He set out from there, moving ahead through villages. If the chaudhries of a village offered them the day's provisions, they would resume their march without causing any trouble there. But in places where the leaders of a village were hard-headed, the Khalsa bands would forcibly acquire the provisions to meet their need of the day, As they approached Sonipat, the Captain of the army platoon posted there advanced from the town haif-heartedly to fight the Sikhs. He showed no courage to come toa clash with them. The news of the advancing Sikhs that had reached his ears, had frightened him out of his wits, When the Sikhs moved to an attack, he hurriedly retreated and ran away Delhi-ward, leaving the town to the tender mercies of the invaders. The Sikhs plundered the town and advanced towards Kaithal. The province of Delhi comprised the Divisions of Delhi, Saharanpur, Sirhind, Hissar and Ferozabad, each under a Commissioner, asin our present system. Kaithal was a pargana or district under Sirhind, The band of the Sikhs of Banda Singh Bahadur was resting near the village of Bhuna, not much distant from Kaithal, when they were told that the government money from the treasury of Kaithal was being carried to Delhi, guarded by a few soldiers only. Banda Singh promptly ordered a party of his nien to attack the treasure guards. The Sikhs swooped upon the treasure-carriers like hungry tigers. They met no resis- tance at all. The soldiers who gaurded the treasure, melted away at the start of the attack, leaving the treasure behind. This brought a decent sum of money into the possession of Banda Singh, which he distributed among all his followers. All his Sikh comrades were very pleased with him for his self-denial and fair dealings, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 29 The army officers of Kaithal receieved the news of this incident from his soldiers who had fied to him for protection, This officer was a Hindu. Taking four hundred cavalry men with him, he hastened to meet and punish the Sikhs.* All the men of Banda Singh were foot-soldiers. He realised that fighting the enemy in the open would not avail him, He, along with al] the Sikhs, walked into the dense forest, growing nearby.{ Whenthe army officer came to know that the Sikhs had slipped into the jungle of thick trees for fear of his horsemen, he rushed haughtily after them and attempted to enter the forest, When the horses could not enter there safely with their riders, he ordered his soldiers to dismount and to go in pursuit of the Sikhs among the trees. Before they could dismount, the Sikhs rushed on them from amongest the nearby trees, swords in hands, and killed several of the enemies before they had gained a foothold on the ground. This sudden on- rush of the Sikhs had astounded the government soldiers. Some of the Sikhs lost no time in arresting the enemy officer securely. Fighting was atan end. The Sikhs had killed some of the enemies, while the others had either succeeded in running away or had been captured. And the Kaithal officer was, at last, released on the condition that he was to give all his horses to the Sikhs and, for the future, he was to retain his post in Kaithal and was to realise the government dues from the people as before and pay them to the Sikhs, The Sikhs turned their eyes to Samana next. The Governor of Sirhind had four dastoors or districts under him, Haveyli Sirhind, Tehara, Thaneswar and Samana, Samana was a very well-known, old and rich town, In those times people in the villages were poor and lived from hand to mouth, while all the wealth was accumulated in the towns of the administrative head-quarters of the _country. The mansions of the rich persons and of the officers were built sky high while it was a rare sight to see an ordinary baked-brick house standing in a village. “Rattan Singh Bhangoo: Pracheen Panth Parkash, P. 71. + Karam Singh Historian: Banda Behadur, p, 34 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 30 Samana, too, was overflowing with wealth. It was well-known for the distinction that it possessed twenty- two palankeens. This meant that there were twenty-two families in that town whose members were formally privileged by the authority of the Emperor to move about in palankeens. Each one of these big parsons possessed a mansion of pucca bricks, with butteressed works like a fort. The town was defended by a thick city-wall, with strong gates that could be shut against the attacks of the enemies. The Muslim Savyads and the Mughals formed a large majority in the town, and were known for their bravery. They knew of the disturbances caused by Banda Singh, no doubt. But they had given him little heed. They were proud of their power and entertained an overweening opinion that the Sikhs had no chance to approach and harm them and their town. The great wealth of Samana was not the only reason for the Sikhs to attack it; their minds were poisoned againgt it on another account too. Sayyad Jalal-ud-Din who had beheaded Guru Teg Bahadur, the ninth Guru and father of Guru Gobind Singh, and the butchers Shashal Beg and Bashal Beg who had murdered the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh most inhumanly, lived in Samana. When Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sirhind, had murdered these children of the Tenth Guru, these rulers of Samana were his partners in this inhumanity. Banda Singh had now proclaimed all these facts of history to the Sikhs of the area and invited all of them, who would partake of the plunder of Samana, to come out and join him in the proposed exploit. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER V Samana-ward The force of Banda Singh had three types of men in itt first, the true, devotee Sikhs who had joined him to attain salvation through martydom; secondly, the paid men of the Sikh chiefs like Ram Singh, Tilok Singh and others, who were sent to serve and fight under Banda Singh; and, thirdly, the professional plunderers of that part of the country, who had joined hands with him for the sake of robbing those whom they attacked, and who kept hindmost at the time of fighting and fore-most when plundering their victims. The Muslim, underground historian of the time, Khafi Khan, has recorded that the total number of Banda Singh’s men was four thousand horsemen and seven to cight thousand footmen which latter swelled to forty thousands in the end. At the head of a force of about a dozen thousands men, Banda Singh encamped at a place ten miles distant from Samana. He made his army march at night-fall, and covering the distance of ten miles, appeared at the gates of Samana at four o’clock on the morning of November the 26th, 1709, and rushed into the town. The guards were given no opportunity to close the gates, so sudden was the attack. Banda Singh gave the word to massacre anybody offering resistance, as his men broke into the streets. The Sayyads and the Mughals had now made ready to check and re-ist this onrush of the raiders. But they could not Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 32 make a stand for long to resist and throw the Sikhs out., Leaving the common inhabitants of the city defenceless, the wealthy families shut themselves up behind the doors of their mansions, in comparative security. The Sikhs ransacked the streets of the town, making short work of all opponents. Whosoever resisted them, was put to the sword. It was the turn of the mansions next. The Mughals and the Sayyads fought courageously. But the endless zeal of the Sikhs dashed their hope to the ground. The Sikhs, at the moment, saw the image of a murderer of their ninth Guru and of the two children of their tenth Guru in the face of each Mughal or Sayyad. That being the case, no one could protect and save the lives of these rulers. The mansions fell to the raiders. They were emptied of their inmates and their wealth. The house of every big family was a cess-pool of blood with human bodies writhing in agony of death. The heads of influential residents rolled in the streets like pumpkins, The women of the rich families who never appeared in public except behind their veils, were now running about in the streets with uncovered heads and bare feet. Only those lived to tell the tale afterwards, who had run for their lives, discarding their love of homes and families, as soon as the raiders had rushed into the town. Ten thousand Muslims were said to have been despatched there in one day, a number of them being childien and women. Some of the women had committed suicide and some children were killed by the professional plunderers. The rulers of Samana had never once imagined that such a terrible day was ever to dawn upon them, inflicting on them this horrid retribution. Normally they had been committing on the common folk all the tyrannies that they had chosen, It was the common practice among them to dishonour the daughters or other women-folk of the commons and to fleecethem, and squeeze from the small people whatever the latter had possessed. Now that the oppressed people found their first-ever opportunity, they, too, did their worst in taking revenge upon the Samana tyrants. They carefully traced and picked every one of the oppressors, killed him, plundered his effects and set his Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 33 house on fire and reduced it to ashes, to complete the tale. However, the destruction of life and property caused by the Sikhs was small as compared to the havoc wrought by the robberes of the area, who seemed to know much about the life and character of the people of Samana. This prosperous and busy town was a heap of ashes and ruins by the nightfall. Actually this exploit was the first, real victory that Banda Singh had scored against the Mughal rulers of the Panjab. Samana was really a rich town, The Sikhs had acquired, on this occasion, wealth worth lakhs of rupees. The men of Banda Singh were not paid any salary. He, therefore, distributed proportionately the entire acquisition among his followers, Sardar Fateh Singh had fought with considerable skill and courage. Banda Singh had, therefore, appointed him the otficer of the military force that he left behind him in Samana. Samana, which lay in ruins on that day, has not been able to recapture its old status. The Mughal residents there were up-rooted so as never to come back to their old perch. They shifted toa place on the banks of the rivulet Sraswati, near Pehowa. They were pushed out of that place, too, later, during the time of the Sikh Misils.* Then they set out to settle down in the Saharanpur area. When the British took possession of these parts, they had shifted these Mughals from there to a place in the District ot Karnal. Sirhind is only thirty miles or so from Samana. The news of this devastation had reached Sirhind, and Wazir- Khan was well aware that his capital could not escape a similar fate for long. He was, therefore, busy in making preparations to ensure that the fate of Samana did not befall Sirhind. He despatched to Samana two of his spies in order to assess the real strength of the Sikhs. But it so happened that they fell into the hands of the Sikhs. One of them had only one good cye, and the other man had only one arm. They were taken to Banda Singh, who had them thoroughly shoe beaten and then sent them back to Sirhind with the message that the Khalsa was ready to attack Sirhind and Wazir Khan might make his preparations * A federation of Sikh feudal chiefs. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 34 against the day- Some of the Malwa Sikhs were pressing Banda Singh to attack Sirhind at an early day. But he knew the position better. A ruler like Wazir Khan who possessed a large num- bers of big guns, field guns and elephants and who was in a position to requisition large numbers of the soldiers from his local commanders of the divisional areas, could not be challenged cheaply and merely in haste and for the fun of it. It was wiser to make firm and sure preparations, before tackling him in the hattle-field, rather than to strike prematurely and suffer a defeat. He wanted to build his strength for a sure victory first and fight the enemy there- after. He knew well that the plundcrers formed a majority of his men. They were powerful enough to ciusha defeated enemy; but when an action was prolonged, the plunderers were the first to slink away before the fluctuating fortunes of the field. It was for this reason that Banda Singh was anxious to meet the Doaba and the Majha Sikhs first. Also, his five councillors, Baj Singh and others, too, came of the Majha; and they had strongly wished that these brethren who had travelled all the way from across the Beas and the Sutlej against great odds and hardships, should be enabled to join the Sirhind venture. The Sikhs from the Majha and the Doaba, who had assembled at Kiratpur, found their path to Sirhind blocked by the Pathans of Ropar and Maler Kotla. They sent their emissaries in disguise, to Banda Singh, asking him for his orders His reply was brief: “Remain where you are, We are moving in the diiection of Chhatt. Wait for my next message.” These Sikhs, staying put at Kiratpur, were now face to face with another danger, that of starvation. © Whatever they had brought from their homes, had been exhausted, leaving them starkly penniless. But the Guru had heard their prayer and resolved their hardship in the nick of time: two traders of Kiratpur itself, Peshaura Singh and Keshaura Singh, financed a free kitchen for the assembled Sikhs. And this charitable arrangement was maintained till the congre- gation had moved to its next place. Sishind fell on Banda Singh’s way to Kirtpur. He Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 35 had, therefore, to march in a circuitous way. This curve by the eastern side of Sirhind was safer than the route on the western side. The eastern paths were easier to traverse and the people there, too, were more prosperous. Banda Singh, therefore, preferred the eastern detour. The men of Banda Singh left Samana. walked a little distance to the south, and then turned eastward. Their first encounter was at Ghuram. The Pathan residents of that place came out to resist the Sikhs. But they soon ran away from the field: they could not defeat or throw back these Sikhs, who had already over-run Samana. The town was plundered, the houses of the Pathans were set on fire, and the ncighbourhood annexed to the territory controlled by Fateh Singh. The Siklis then advanced to Thaska whose Pathan residents did not at all oppose them.* The Sikhs entered the place, plundered it and left it, without any killing what- ever. They went to Shahabad next. The Sayyad, the Sheikh, the Mughal and the Pathan Muslims formed its population. The local officer, who ruled there, lived outside the town, in an inn, that was built like a regular fort. The Sikhs marched into the town, but the officer rested behind the closed gates of the inn all this while. The resident, too, preferred to play safe for their lives and saw their belong- ings being pillaged, without raising their little fingers against the transgressors. The result was that without shedding a single drop of blood, the Sikhs carricd their plunder and went their way. The admirable officer in charge of the security of the town, was still resting cosily behind his closed doors. Mustafabad was the next victim of the Sikhs. Its army officer marched out of the town at the head of his two thousand strong special military force, two guns and a large number of volunteers from the town and the country around it, to oppose and defeat Randa Singh. The robber force with the Sikhs hastily melted at the first booming of the guns. But the staunch, faithful Sikhs held their own as usual. Banda Singh did not fail to take * Dr. Ganda Singh: Randa Singh Bahadur, p. 48. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com "36 time by the forelock and made a Jightning attack, wisely avoiding a drawn out action. The Sikhs of course, possessed no long-range guns and rifles; they quickly drew their swords and rushed at the enemy straight. There was a bricf period of ferocious sword-play on both sides. The Muslim fighters lost their foot hold and ran away for safety. The Sikhs took possession of the guns and the rest of their munitions, When the robbers heard of the victory of the Sikhs, they, ton, turned up to score their own gains. The whole of the town was plundered and the houses of the rich fami- lics were set on fire to be devoured by flames. t tMacaulide, Vol. V, p. 947, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER VI Sadhaura To Chatt The Sikhs turned their attention to Sadhaura, During their march they stayed for the night at the village of Dalaur, Here they were told by the Lubana Sikhs stories of the cruelties perpetrated by Kadam-ud-Din, who was the chief of Kapoori. His father, Aman-Ulla, had been the Governor of Gujrat, Kathiawar, during the time of Emperor Aurangzeb,* He had amassed huge wealth during his regime there through corrupt practices. These earnings of sin had turned Kadam-ud-Din into a beastly tyrant. This oppressor would not spare any beautiful Hindu woman of his area from being made a'prey to his lust. The soldiers of this dirty beast would roam like wild animals even in areas outside his rule, seeking any pretty women whom they would capture for their master. Every new bride was first taken to him without fail and was then allowed to proceed to her husband’s place. A perfect believer in Sikhinm as Banda Singh was, he could not possibly take this barbarism for granted and could not forgive it, either. He attacked Kapoori before he headed for Sadhaura. Before the sun rose, the Sikhs had entered Kapoori. Kadam-ud-Din made a brief stand. But the Sikhs overpowered him quickly and despatched him to the hell to burn in its fires.t His right royal mansion was reduced to ashes and his town was completely plundered. * Karam Singh Historian, Banda Bahadur, p. 43. ¢ Sohan Singh : Banda the Brave, page 69. _ Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 38 Sadheura needs a special mention. It is an ancient town, Budhist saints had lived in it long centuries back. It was then called Sadhuwara, later changed into Sadhaura. When the Muslims congerors settled in India, the Toosi tribe of the Pathans occupied this town. Sayyad Nizam-ud-Din of Village Siana, district Karnal, later defeated the Toosi Pathas and occupied Sadhaura. About the same time, Sayyad Khizar Khan came to possess the throne of Delhi in the year 1414, He awarded a jagir of sixty thousand rupees to Nizam-ud-Din. It was this man who was succeeded by Saint Badur-ud-Din Shah, whom the Sikhs popularly called Buddhu Shah, who was the ninth in succession in Sadhaura. Sayyads, Qazis and Sheikhs lived in this town at the time when Banda Singh took notice of it. Usman Khan was the pargana (district) chief of it. He was notoriously narrow-minded and fanatical and he had Sayyad Buddhu Shah murdered fur the reason that the latter had rendered all possible aid to Guru Gobind Singh in the battle of Bhangani. Cows were killed in the houses of the Hindus under orders from Usman Khan and cows’ blood was often sprinkled in the kitchens, and in the faces, of the Hindus, who were made to pay him double the amount of taxes of what the Muslims paid. He had forbidden the Hindus observe their religious customs and compelled them to bury and not to burn their dead relatives, This was not all. Hindu women were forcibly dishonoured. The Sikhs were, thus, compelled to attack Sadhaura. They attacked Sadhaura at the sunrise. They entered the town without mecting with any resistance. They found the streets empty. The middle class citizens had abandoned the town already; they had heard of what had happened in Kapoori. The remaining upper class Sayyads had together found refuge in the mansion of Sayyad Buddhu Shah, They comprised forty to fifty wealthy families. It might be that they had hoped that the association of the noble name of Buddhu Shah was going to protect them there from the wrath of the attackers. The Sikhs who were strangers to the place, did not know any one mansion from the other. But the local marauders knew well the place and proceeded to attack it Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 39 straight-way. They had been grievously harassed and oppressed by their ruling class, by its Sayyads and Qazis, in particuler. Every one of these low class persons had been made to suffer at the hands of the local leaders, at one time or the other. Luckily they found them assembled in one place. The disturbances gave them a plausible excuse to conceal their identity. They drew their swords and rushed into the mansion and killed all of the persons assembied there without exception. Since that day the house has been called the massacre mansion* (katal Garhi.) Usman Khan also lost his life there. His dead body was hung from a tree, face downward. Many houses of the Sayyads were burnt down. Plentiful booty was the reward of the invaders of Sadhaura, Banda Singh settled down in the fort of Sadhaura for the time being and despatched one party of his men toward Mukhlas Garh. They captured the fort after a brief skirmish and named it Lohgarh.t Banda Singh now sent his message to the Sikhs in the camp at Kiratpur, saying that they were to proceed towards Kharar, while he himself was advancing to Banoor. Wazir Khan was very uneasy in his mind on hearing the news of the successes scored by Banda Singh. He daily prayed to God that He might ordain matters so as to send Banda Singh any where but to Sirhind and protect him from the impending calamity. He hatched a conspiracy and sent a nephew of Diwan Sucha Nand at the head of an army of a thousand men, to join the Sikhs and then treacherously kill Banda Singht The Siklis were about to depart from Sadhaura when this troop of one thousand soldiers joined them, Their Hindu commander most humbly prayed to Banda Singh to let his party form a section of the Sikh army in order to fight for the Sikh community. He declared that Sucha Nand and Wazir Khan were his mortal cnemizs and that Sucha Nand had robbed him and mis-appropriated all his property, That was why he was secking protection of the * Mirza Mohammad Harisi: Ibrat Nama, page 40. t Gyani Gyan Singh: Shamsher Khalsa, page 10. } Sohan Singh: Banda the Brave, page 76. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 40 Sikhs, to have himself revenged upon his uncle, Sucha- Nand. Such happenings were very common in those times, That was why, half believing him, Banda Singh allowed him to live in the Sikh camp. This Hindu trickster kept company with the Sikhs till the day of the battle of Sirhind. But he did not succeed in gaining his objective, because staunch Sikhs, like Baj Singh, would, all the while, ensured the strictest security of the life of their chicf. Moreover, the most trustworthy guards would attend on him. Banda Singh made his possession of Lohgarh secure and left Sadhaura and marched in the direction of Ambala.* He collected a good deal of plunder on the way and then attacked Banoor. The officer of the town offered the Sikhs a feeble resistance and then fled the field. Some of his men saved their lives by fleeing from there, and some others were killed and the remaining persons laid down’ their arms before the Sikhs. The entire town was plundered. But good care was taken for the security of the homes of the Hindus. Their requests and demands were met and the Sikhs rendered them full help everywhere. The Hindus now had recognised the fact that their welfare depended upon the advancement of the Sikhs. That was why a good many Hindus sought Sikh baptism, took to observing Sikh forms and symbols and had themselves enlisted as the soldiers of Banda Singh.t The Kiratpur camp had now several thousands of Sikhs assembicd there. When they received the message of Landa Singh, they started in the direction of Ropar, Wazir Khan trembled with awe on hearing this news, He had no doubt in his mind that, if the two Sikh armies could join hands, the rnin of Sirhind was inevitable. He saw safety in one measure only: to attack, defeat and destory the Kiratpur army before it had the opportunity of joining up with Banda Singh's force. He selected the Chief of Maler Kotla to march in command of a five-thousand strong army and five guns to fulfil this urgent commission. Sher Mohammad Khan was * Gyani Gyan Singh: Shamsher Khalsa, page 9. ¢ Shamsher Khalsa, p. 9. . Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 4) the Chief: of the Maler Kotla rulers at the time. He enjoyed the favour of.the Emperor in Delhi and, asa mark of special honour, was permitted to carry a drum and a flag as his badges. Along with his brother, Mahmud Khan, whom Guru Gobind Singh has described as Khuaja Mardud* in his book, “Zafar Nama," and his uncle, two sons : Nusrat Khan and Wali Mohammad Khan, he rushed to Ropar to clash with the Sikhs. The Ranghar“tribe of the Muslims of Ropar region also joined him in large numbers, The Sikhs had not expected it even in their dreams that they were going to fight a battle with the enemy suddenly and so early. This attack had surprised them; yet they got ready with their weapons to meet the on-rush- ing foe. This battle was fought outside the tewn of Ropar and continued the whole of the day. The arrows and the bullets rained thickly from both sides. But the Sikhs had started feeling down-hearted as their ammunation gave out. The night fell and the battle stopped. The Muslims were happy and sure that they were going to make mince-meat of the Sikhs the next morning. On tlic other hand, the Sikhs were uneasy in mind and very anxious to find away to join hands with Banda Singh’s force at Banoor at the earliest. But more Sikhs soon turned up, who had been left behind at Kiratpur, during the course of the night. Their Ropar comrades welcomed them with all their hearts and felt encouraged by their presence. The battle was joined in by both sides with the rise of the sun, Khuaja Khizar Khan chose a specially selected troop of his warriors and advanced to attack the Sikhs. He continued to push forward in the heat of his enthusiasm till the two armies were closc cnough to use their swords, Khizar Khan shouted at the Sikhs : “Throw up your arms, if you want to live; else no power on earth will protect you from sure death.” The Sikhs replied to this ultimatum in the form of a rain of arrows and bullets, Destiny had willed that the victory would favour Wahiguru’s, that is, God Almigh- ty’s Sikhs. A bullet from the rifle of a Sikh killed Khizar Khan and he dropped dead from his horse-back. He *The word means cursed or damned. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 42 had safely come through the battle of Chamkaur. But he was not so lucky at Ropar as to survive another encounter with the Sikhs, The Sikhs were in high spirits now. They were ruth- lessly mowing down their enemies as the farmers do their ripe crops, They surrounded the corpse of Khizar Khan . and would not let the Muslims carry it away. When the latter furiously rushed for it again, the Sikhs in their hundreds slashed all these Muslims to death. They would charge the Sikhs again and again to snatch the body from them, but were everytime beaten back with disas- terous results. They had, in fact, clashed with invincible mountains. Fighting was at its hottest and bloodiest at that spot, with the result that neither friends nor foes could be disting- uished by either side in this sharp mclee. The Malerkotla men reached the corpse at last, though it was at the cost of two more gencrals of the status of Khizar Khan: Nusrat Khan and Wali Mohammad, who also were killed in this goriest of battles. Sher Mohammad Khan was wounded, but some-how he managed to carry away the corpses of his brothers and returned to Maler Kotla. His army proved smarter than their general in quickly fleeing from the field of the battle after him. The Sikhs had the battle-ficld to themselves at last. The shouting of the slogan of their victory resounded from the ficld and floated on the winds about them. They took hold of the guns and the rest of the war material of the enemy and marched towards Banoor. They were far more anxious to meet their leader, Banda Singh, than to pursue the beaten enemies. Banda Singh, too, had gained possession of the town of BRanoor now, When he and his friends heard the news of the Sikh victory at Ropar, they were all beside themselves with pride and joy. Banda Singh and some of the more eminent leaders, went out for three miles to receive the victors of Ropar. This meeting of the two armics was highly satisfying to them. The customary sweet dishes, costing hundreds of rupees, were cooked and partaken of by al} *Wattan Singh Bhangoo : Pracheen Panth Parkash, p, 79. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 43 and sundry. Some Brahmins and Hindus of the town of Chhatt turned up there while the Sikhs were yet celebrating their recent victory. They complained of the tyranny and oppressions of the local Muslims. The Sikhs lost no time in going to Chhatt. They attacked the town and punished the oppressors. The depressed Hindus heaved a sigh of relief. This was the first venture in which the Malwa, Majha and Doaba Sikhs had taken part together. Preparations were next taken in hand to plan to win the coming battle of Sichind now, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER Vif The Battle of Sirhind Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sirhind, received an ultimatum from Baba Banda Singh, who had threatened hint with dire punishment for his black deeds. The Governor was already aware of this ominous danger hovering over his head and spelling the ruin of the Sirhind dominion one of those days, He had called up his feudual chiefs along with their army quotas. Even this left his mind uneasy. He set on foot an immediate propaganda for a religious war, summoning the faithful Muslims to join it. The masses of the Muslim ghazis* answered his call and rushed to Sirhind to fight for him. All of them dug themselves in entrenchments that they made near the village of Chaparchiri,¢ nearly a dozen miles outside the city of Sirhind,and there they awaited the Sikhs. Wazir Khan now had fifteen thohsand paid soldiers,{ both Nig own and those from the parganas, and five thousand Muslim zealotry. He was most proud of the Maler Kotla fighters, of whom Sher Mohammad and Khuaja Ali comman- ded the trenches on the right hand side. His ghazi zealots, who were out to earn martyrdom, commanded the left flank, Wazir Khan himself, in command of his specially * ‘The faithful Muslims who would stake their lives in 9 teligious war, are called Ghazia. + Rattan Singh Bhangoo: Pracheen Panth Parkash, p. 83 and Mechman Parkash, p. 612. 3 Khafi Khan, Vol. H, p. 653. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 45 tried army, was in the centre. The gun emplacements were given the foremost positions in the field. The guns which they used were not very powerfully destructive. But they could terrify the enemy by their Joud report and their possession lent dignity to an army. Smaller or field guns and large-sized pistols were kept in readiness, on both sides of the big guns. They were backed by a long line of elephants standing like a thick-castle wall. Behind these were the rows of the soldiers, armed with arrows, rifles and spears. Some of these soldiers were spoiling for a hard fight while others who had been forced into the battle, were unwilling and afraid. Thus, there stood the aged Governor, Wazir Khan, supported by an army of twenty thousand men, to oppose and defeat the Sikhs. The Sikhs, on the other hand, had made their own plans. Banda Singh made freely available to all the Sikhs whatever he had with him. He sent word to all the villagers, prompting them to come in their thousands to Sirhind to take their revenge for the cruellest assassination of the young children of their Guru. This call was made to the devotees and, also, to the marauders over a large area, and they turned up in answer to it. Banda Singh, now, had under him a force of men which could give battle to the Nawab, thongh it was numericallv inferior. But Banda Singh was very short of weapons. The guns, the light guns, pistols and some other sophisticated weapons of the time thev locked. Very few sikhs possessed rifles. Even the horses were far short of their need. Some of them had their bows and arrows and some a spear or a sword each. The rest had astick or an axe each that he carried on his shoulder, for lack of anything better. They all came individually or in parties; all of them were in high spirits. They were lustily shouting their war cry of ‘Sat Sri Akaal.””. It was by no means a har- monious, trained and disciplined army. Those who were determined to do or die in the name of their holy religion, were not many, Some were regulir marauders and pillagers, and some were paid soldiers of Ram Singh and others, sent there to fight for the community. Then there was the one-thousand strong force deputed by Sucha Nand Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 46 and Wazir Khan to act as a thousand snakes in the grass to bite the unsuspecting Sikhs. Baba Banda Singh divided his men in three sections. A part of the Malwa Sikhs were placed under the command of Sardar Fateh Singh Bhaika who was supported by Karam Singh, Dharm Singh, Aali Singh and other sardars. The Majhail Sikhs formed the second section, and were comman- ded by Sardar Baj Singh, a Ball Jatt of Meerpur Patti, who was assisted by Binod Singh, Ram Singh and Sham Singh. Baba Banda Singh himself commanded the third section. The Sikhs were fewer in numbers. They were without guns and had far fewer weapons and horses. But they possessed another, cardinal merit in plenty: that was their national zeal, which the enemy had not, Sirhind and Wazir Khan were the two words that the Sikhs wanted to eradicate for ever from the memory of mankind. It was in Sirhind that the two vounger sons of Gurn Gobind Singh, Princes Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh, while still in childhood, were bricked alive ina wall, on December the 26th, 1704.* And it was the same Wazir Khan whose hands were red with the blood of these young innocents. It was for this inhuman sin that the indignation of the Sikhs knew no parallel in intensity. In the face of the fury of this indignation no one could possibly protect Sirhihd. Banda Singh and his reserve force retired a Sittle from the main armv positions to a mound nearby, and ordered his two generals, Baj Singh and Fateh Singh, to advance and attack the enemy. When thev came close to the positions of Wazir Khan, the latter ordered his gunners to fire. The hig and the smaller guns were now hurling death on the Sikhs. Their thunder shook the earth under the fighters’ fect and the heavens seemed to burst over their heads. The entire field was enveloped in smoke. Those who had gone there in order to rob and: plunder, were the foremost to flee from the field at the very start of the attack, But the brave Sikh generals kept their courage * Zorawar Singh was 7 years, 11 months and 8 days and Fateh Singh 5 years, 10 months and 10 days old, on the day of the tragedy. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 47 up and continued advancing and shouting their war cry. The Sikhs had no guns whatsoever to return the fire of the enemy. And, of course, they had no mind to halt and he shot dead by the fire of the enemy from so close a distance. They, accordingly, rushed at, and attacked, the enemy gunners swiftly. Their arrows pierced the chests of the gun-men and the remaining enemies were cut in twain with their swords. They were now face to face with the mighty wall of the huge elephants. But this wall could not stop the progress of the brave Sikhs for long. Two of the elephants were killed in no time and the rest of them ran away. It was just at this critical juncture that the nephew of Sucha Nand played foul. He fled the field along with his one thousand soldiers, shouting to others: ‘Run away, Leave the field, while you just have time to do it.’ This treachery succeeded in leaving an opening in one wing of the Sikh front, which started retreating slowly. Baj Singh passed this news to Baba Banda Singh at once. He now rushed into the battle line at the head of his reserves. He made his attack instantaneously. He now, shot one of the five arrows with which Guru Gobind Singh had blessed him.* The Sikh army shouted their war - cry of ‘Sat Sri Akaal’ with one voice, that seemed to rend the sky. Banda Singh would pull the string to his ear with full force and his arrows pierced the chest of ten soldiers at a time to come out dry on the other side on account of their specd. ; The Sikh fighters were at once encouraged when they saw their general fighting by their side. This made Baba Banda Singh shout to them forcefully: ‘Khalsa, look ahead and you see the greatest criminal, the murderer of the children of our Guru, the sinful Wazir Khan, stand there. He is the dirty beast who had our Guru’s innocent children bricked alive in a wall. It is he who had our mother Gujri, of sacred memory and holy soul, . imprisoned and starved for several days, and had, thus, killed her. As long as we do not shed pools of his blood, our souls ‘will not know any peace and rest. We shall deserve to be * Gyani Gyan Singh: Shameher Khalsa, p. 18. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 48 called the brave sons of the holy ruler of mankind, only when we have fleeced Wazir Khan and thrown his corpse to the dogs to feast upon. . Only those nations have a right to preserve their existence, who quickly return a tit for a tat. Do destroy these sinners, therefore. Raze Sirhind to the ground. Look | there goes the cursed Turk. Kill him. “He who calls upon God, he is blessed. True is God Almightv.’’* These slogans raised by the Sikhs, had shattered the courage of theirenemies. Here was this new, freshened force that had joined them at fighting and then there was the sincere, though brief, speech of Banda Singh Bahadur that gave them high courage fora glorious cause. The Maleris were the first target of the quick attack of the Sikhs. It was no more a question of guns and rifles: for, the warriors had now taken to hand-to-hand fighting. Corpses soon rose in heaps. The clanging of the swords and the din of the roars of the warriors: “Catch them Kill them t’’ were the only noises falling on their ears. The Maleris fought courageously. But the Sikhs’ swords proved too much for them; for, they were bent upon destroy- ing the enemy. Sher Mohammad Khan and Khuaja Ali both were killed.t Muslim corpses rose steadily in heaps. As the two chiefs fell, their soldiers ran away from the battle-field. The Sikhs had shattered completcly the Maleris’ front. Next, the ghazis fared no better. These lovers of martyrdom and the worshippers of heaven were seen lying all over on the blond-drenched soil, silent in the sleep of death. Wazir Khan’s was the only front that had held its own till now. The entire Sikh force was concentrated on that front,next. Baj Singh attacked it on one side and Fateh Singh on the other. The Muslim force was hedged in from all sides. Hed Wazir Khan intended to melt away from the field, he would not have found it possible; for, the * Roley so nihaal. Sat Sri Akaal. + Munshi Sohan Lal: Umda-ut-twarikh, Vol. 1, p. 77. The whole family of the Maleria was destroyed in the Sikh battles, Nahar Khan had lost hig life in Chamkaur, Khizar Khan, Wali Mohammad Khan and Nusrat Khan in Ropar and both Sher Moharmad Khan and Khuaja Ales in the battle of Chaparchiri. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 49 Sikhs were dead set on preventing his escape. Thus, find- ing no way out, he had to fight it out. He attacked Baj Singh. He had despaired of life and now wanted to cut down some-body before he was himself put to the sword. But his wish was not fulfilled: a sharp arrow from the bow of a sikh pierced through his chest* and he fell off the hack of his horse. Sardars Baj Singh and Fateh Singh rushed towards him and captured him while still alive. It was soon known among the Muslim fighters that the Governor had been killed. Thev lost heart at that and ran away in all directions, leaving the field. But whichever way thay turned, they were met by the Sikh swordsmen who were out to destroy them. Banda Singh had taken care to surround them and to stop all points of escape. He had ordered that no enemy was to be permitted to leave alive, The result was that the Sikhs had despatched the whole of the enemy force to the next world.t Those few, who did manage to leave the field alive, could just sneak away with difficulty.? The Sikhs took inta possession all the material of the enemy and they trampled upon the dead and cut down the still living foes. This well-known battle was fought on May the 22nd,. 1710. Though it was fought a dozen miles distant from Sirhind, the victorious Sikhs took no rest and pursued the living enemies to the walls of Sirhind, slashing them as they overtook them.** There was a small force of the enemy, stationed in the fort outside the city. Thev tried to. oppose the Sikhs. But the Sikhs who had defeated and destroyed an army twenty-thousand strong, could not he checked or beaten back by such a small bond. Banda Singh took the fort in a single assault. And the victorious Sikhs, shouting their slogans, ‘Victory be to God’’ and “God Almighty is True’ entered the town of Sirhind. * Karam Singh: Banda Rahadur, p. 71. Latif, p. 274. t Ahiwnal Sultan-i-Hind, p. 86. 2 Khafi Khan: Vol. FH, p. 684. ** Gyani Gyan Singh: Shamsher Khalsa, p. 14. acid History of India, Vol. VII, p. 415. : Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER VIII Nemesis of Sirhind Sirhind is an old town, It was attached to the pargana (district) of Samana at one time. But later, it was promot- ed to be an independent pargana during the reign of Feroze Shah Tughlak. As it was situated on the Grand Trunk Road, it continued to grow popular and populous. It was raised during the Mughal times to the status of a sarkar,* that controlled Samana and twenty-seven other parganas, The Mughal Empcrors of India used to make a stage for rest there while on their way to Kashmir, and this gave an added fillip to its prosperity every year. The Royal Palace, the Beauty Garden and the Tank and the terraces for leisurely walks heightened the beauty of the place. Great learned scholars, rich businessmen, jewellers and _ gold snerchants had settled there. Tt was, thus, known to be the richest centre between Delhi and Lahore. That attracted the pillagers of the sur- rounding villages as also of other areas from far and near. The bad characters who had deserted the Sikh army at the start of the battle, now again concentrated themselves at Sirhind when the news of the Sikh victory reached their ears. The whole of the town was at once in the grip of plunder and massacre. The Sikhs, of course, did have a bone to pick with the place and its rulers; yet the residents * It was an epuivalent of a division that controls five or more districts now in the Panjab. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 5] of the surrounding villages had no less a grouse against their oppressors living in that town. It was a very common practice of the officers of Sirhind to rob the honour of the sisters and daughters of the ordinary families and to plundnr their homes without any valid ground. All these people who had suffered such tyrannies, were now united with one another in a mob. Banda Singh ordered a whole-sale masscacre. Men and women who met the attackers, were put to death. Persons who had felt no remorse at the cruel decimation of the Guru's innocent children, deserved to receive no pity or con- sideration. The streets of the once rich town were turned into quagmires of blood and crushed flesh and bones, where headless corpses rolled on the street pavements. The Ilindus saved their lives by exhibiting their hair-plaits on their heads and bv praving to be spared in the name of the great Guru. Some Muslims also saved themselves by hiding in Hindu homes and promising never to commit oppression against anybody.* The plunderers from Sirhind itself and from its neighbouring villages caused much destruction, They settled old scores and set on fire the houses of those against whom they entertained grudges and on whom they wanted to avenge themselves. This town with a royal dignity had been reduced to utter ruins Goods worth millions of rupees were despoiled. Some have-nots had now collected wealth enough to go ahead in life for generations to come. The occasion rewarded the Sikhs, too, very well, indeed. Randa Singh had found wealth worth two crores of rupees _ from the House of Wazir Khan alone. Moreover, the house of Diwan Sucha Nand, too, provided funds worth several lakhs.t The town was ransacked for three days on end. Then, at last, Banda Singh had the plundering stopped by order and by the beat of the drum the and secured peace for the town, The yellow flag of the Sikhs was now flying at the spot where the two children, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh, * Kamwar Khan, p. 160; Mohammad Kasim: p. 20; Irvine: Later Mughals: vol. I, p. 96. ¢ Kanwar Khan: p. 150 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com 52 had been martyred inside the brick wall. The territory of Sirhind, it was proclaimed, now had the Khalsa Raj established in it and Sardar Baj Singh was appointed its Governor. A session of the Khalsa assembled in the fort and those accused of crimes were summoned there for trial. Wazir Khan had been captured during the battle of Chaparchiri. But his son had very smartly slipped from the battle-field. As soon as the news of the defeat of his father reached him, he fled to Delhi, along with other members of his family, leaving every thing else behind him. The Sikhs, therefore, were only half satisfied with their victory. Sucha Nand, too, had done his best to run away from Sirhind. But, somehow, the destiny did not let him escape from there. The Sikhs had succeeded in capturing him, along with the other members of his family. There were some other Muslim and Hindu dignitaries also who were . taken prisoners. All of them were held in ropes and brought before Banda Singh. Wazir Khan was the first to be presented to Randa Singh who occupied the seat of judgement. He addressed Wazir Khan, saving: “Look here, Wazir Khan, attend to me carefully and hear all that I say now. Did you not attack Anandpur without any ground ? Did you not take false vows for having the fort there evacuated by the Guru ? Did yon not besiege forty hungry Sikhs in a house at Chamkaur with the help of your army, thousands-and-thousands men strong, and have them martyred ? And, as for your last, but worst, cruelty: did you not have the five and the seven vears voung, innocent, children of the Gurn smothered to death by having them bricked in the foundations of a wall ? Did vou have no fear of God's dread and did not qualms of conscience visit you then ? Be prepared now to pay the price of your ghastly sins against God and men.” Wazir Khan had no answer to these accusations. His legs were tied with ropes, which were pulled by a pair of oxen and his body dragged hehind them and, thus, paraded thronghout the town. While the Governor was still breathing and writhing, he was thrown into flames. When he was still half burnt, his body was tied and hung Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 53. from a tree, face downward, where the crows and other birds made feast of it for some days. Sucha Nand was called in, next. It was on his advice that the Guru’s children were martyred in that cruel manner, Hehad a full share in other oppressions also, that had been perpetrated in Sirhind. He and the other members of his family were made to parade the streets of the town in a very disgraceful manner. They were compell- ed to beg for river-shells at the doors of the residents. His children and grand-children were, then, killed before his eyes, in order to make him realise what it meant to have one’s children butchered like that. He, too, was killed cruelly, at last. The remaining accused were also killed equally pitiless- ly. The Sikhs had acted on the maxim of eye for an eye, in a full measure. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER IX Lohgarh as Capital Though Babar was the first Mughal king who had conquered Delhi and occupicd its throne, it was Akbar who had established the Mughal rule on a broad and sound basis in the country. It was his policy to treat all his subjects equally justly and to respect all their religious creeds, On the other hand, Aurangzeb acted in a manner al- together opposed to that of Akbar. He was partial in most of his actions. Every non-Muslim was beastly and sinful in his eyes. He had many a Hindu temple razed to the ground and a Muslim mosque built in its place.* The followers of creeds other than Islam were heavily taxed. His oppression against the non-Muslims had gained dimensions that broke the back of its victims. One result of this suppression was that the Mahrattas in the Deccan and the Sikhs in the Panjab had rebelled against the Muslim administration during the last phase of Aurangabad’s reign. As the Mughal rulers tried to put them down, so did the uprisings of these two peoples gather further force. Auranzeb breathed his last on March the 2nd, 1707, at Ahmadnagar in the Deccan. There were violent confliots for succession among his sons. Bahadur Shah occupied the throne at last, by defeating and destroy- ing his brothers. These family feuds had weakened the Mughal power a great deal, Bahadur Shah was compelled to spend some of the time of his early rule in the Deccan, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 55 first in fighting against his brother, Kam Bakhsh, and, next, in suppressing the risings of the Rajput princes. That was about the time when Baba Banda Singh had descended upon the Panjab, killed Wazir Khan and occupi- ed Sirhind. ‘Bahadur Shah was fighting the Rajputs in Ujjain at the time.* Banda Singh proclaimed the Sikh rule in the Sirhind territory. The Sikhs then ruled over the twenty-eight parganas that were under Sirhind.t They had in their possession the area between the Jumna and the Sutlej rivers and Sonipat and Kiratpur towns, and the territory yielded a revenue of thirty-six lakhs of rupees yearly Banda Singh had appointed Sardar Baj Singh of Mirpur Patti, a Ball Jatt, as the Governor of Sirhind and Aali Singh as his deputy, He raised Sardar Fateh Singh of Bhaika to the status of a Governor and appointed him the Commander in Samana. Ram Singh, a brother of Baj Singh, was made the LExccutive Controller of Thaneswar and Binod Singh his assistant. Baj Singh, Ram Singh, Koer Singh and Sham Singh were all the tour brothers.** Sham Singh worked under Baj Singh and Koer Singh was made a body-guard of Baba Banda Singh. The Hindu revenue and accounts officer whom Aurangzeb had dismissed and replaced by Muslim personnel, were reinstated by Banda Singh, in place of the Muslims, Not a few Hindus and Muslims had become converts to Sikhism when they found the Sikhs becoming the rulers in this part of the country. A chief of the locality of Sirhind, Dindar Khan, became Dindar Singh when he had _ baptised himself a Sikh. Similarly, the news-writer of Sirhind, Nasir-ud-Din by name, was now re-named as Nasir Singh when he had accepted Sikhism.t{ The local chiefs gladly accepted the Sikh rule and willingly paid cash tributes to their new rulers. + Latif, History of the Panjab, p. 275. } Gokal Chand Narang, p. 179. t Rattan Singh Bhangoo, page 84.XX Rattan Singh Bhangu. P, 83. ** Khalsa: the pure ones, the Sikh congrcgation. tt Yaar Mohammad, Dastural-Insha, P. 6; Rukat-i-Nawab Amin-ud-daula. Rukka (letter) the third. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 56 Banda Singh set himself to improve the administration of the territory over which he ruled, when Bhai Bulaka Singh, the musician, came to him for the redress of his complaint. Bulaka Singh used to sing religious hymns while playing music on his two-stringed lyre. He had lived.in the company of Bhai Aali Singh, also, for some time, One day he reached village Ghurani in the course of his tour, The Masands of the Ram Rai sect formed a goodly portion of its population. RBulaka Singh held a session of his religious hymns and music in the gurdwara of Guru Hargobind, the Sixth Sikh Guru, and, after reciting the canto of “Rahiras” he led the congregation in the ceremonial prayer. When he mentioned the name of Guru Gobind Singh and added, “Resdected Khalsa, (let us) call on Wahiguru,”* the Masands were furious with anger. They attacked him, broke his lyre and beat him _pitilessly. They then poured insults on the Tenth Guru himself, shout- ing: “It is good that he is no more among the living. His children, too, are done for; but this: ‘(let us) call on Wahiguru,’ is still very much active here.’’t This report was too much for Banda Singh to tolerate. He ordered Sardar Aali Singh, the Deputy Commander of Sirhind, to lead a party of his soldiers. Aali Singh swooped upon Ghurani, near Chawa Pail. He threw the followers of Ram Rai out of the village and set up a Sikh police station in Pail. Bulaka Singh was appointed the local police officer, Aali Singh received the tribute moneys from the local chaudries and marched ahead from there. He next attacked the pargana of Sunam and demanded from the Rangarh tribe of the place the payment of their tribute. These Rajput Rangarlis were a haughty people. They prepared to fight rather than pay the tribute. The Sikhs assaulted them. The Rangarhs were beaten off and the Sikhs plunderee the town, He next turned to attack Mansoarpur. The town had not paid in the revenue, when a messenger had been sent there to ask for it. The result was that the town was looted. Since no resistance was offered, there was no killing resorted *God Almighty. t Ardasg, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com a7 to there.* No harm had come to the town of Kaithal when Banda Singh had reached the Panjab. But it was a different matter now. The people of the Bloch tribe in Kaithal, were very swollen-headed. Aali Singh now made a surprise attack on them and robbed its residents who offered only a brief resistence. He made them promise obedience to the Sikhs for the future and returned to Sirhind. About the same time Baba Benda Singh marched upon Maler Kotla at the head of a small army. As the news reached the town, the sons of Sher Mohammad Khan fled their homes, along with their families. There was no one there now to give a fight. Its respectable chiefs met the attacking party outside the town and presented tribute to Banda Singh. Their leader was one, Kishan Das, a Bania by caste. He was the same man at whose house Baba Banda singh had once stayed when still a Bairagi. That was why Banda Singh had agreed to accept the request of his old acquaintance. These local chaudhries collected money from the residents of the town according to the capacity of each contributor to pay and made it over to the Sikhs.t That proved the saving of the town. There was another reason, too, for the safcty of this town from the Sikh attack. When Governor Wazir Khan had the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh under arrest in Sirhind, he had told Sher Mohammad Khan, the Chief of Maler Kotla: ‘The Guru has killed your brother. Wreak your revenge on him by slaying his son now.” Sher Mohammad Khan had not agreed with the Governor, On the contrary, he had advised him to set the childien free, since they were innocent and helpless. When the Governor declined to follow this advice,Sher Mohammad Khan expressed strong disapproval of his cruel proposal and left the court in disgust. And, when the Guru heard about it, he blessed the Khan in his prayer to God.t This was * Karam Singh ; Banda Bahadur, p. 78. ¢ It was an amount of five thousand ri pecs and some horses, in addition, Gyani Gyan Singh: Shamsher Khalsa, p. 16. ¢ Inayat Ali Khan: A Description of the Principal Kotla Afgans, p. 18-14. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 38 another consideration that had weighed with tne Sikhs in leaving the safety of Maler Kotla intact. They had favour- ed Maler Kotla and saved it from an avoidable destruction. Banda Singh procecded to Raikot from there. Its ruler brought the tribute due to the Sikhs and proceeded to meet Banda Singh. Humbly and willingly he accepted the Sikh dominance. The Sikhs treated the Rai of Raikot with due regards, and moved on after receiving a tribute of five thousand rupees, They went to Gujjarwal, Phalleiwal, Jagraon and other places, from where they received tributes and then returned to Sirhind, The Sikhs now controlled an arca yielding a revenue worth fifty-two lakhs of rupees. Banda Singh was resolved to set up a regular Sikh administration then. Any such government had essentially to possess its own territory, its own capital and its own national flag, army, king, currency and stamps. The Sikhs already had their own yellow flag, that had been conferred upon them by Guru Gobind Singh. They had conquered their own country, the Panjab, from the Muslims and they had their own King, Banda Singh Bahadur.* But they had still to procure the remaining emblems of a free and sovereign state, Banda Singh had resolved to acquire and establish all these emblems. Ilis immediate proposal was to choose - Sirhind as the Capital of the Sikh Government that might be set up in the Panjab. That was why this town was not allowed to be destroyed by the hordes of the. free-booters. But he was doubtful of its full suitability as an administra- tive, national, capital town: it was situated on the main road between Delhi and Lahore and was, thus, exposed to frequent attacks by the imperial forces. Moreover, the place was a flat and open plain, very susceptible to raiders. It was for these reasons that he preferred Lohgarh to Sithind for the seat of his government. Lohgarh had been formerly named Mukhilispur. The construction of the fort at this place was started during the reign of Saleem Shah, the son of Sher Shah Suri. He had named it as Pawa Garh; but it was left unfinished at the time. The built portion, * Kattan Singh Bhangoo: Pracheen Panth Parkash, p. 97. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 59 too, later became ruins. Afterwards, Emperor Shah Jahan ordered this place to be developed as his hunting ground. He had a special love for grand buildings as well as for hunting. One of his officers, Mukhlis Khan by name, built a fort and palaces there. The place was called Mukhlispur after his name. Emperor Shah Jahan would often go there on his hunting trips during the summer season. The fort was situated at a distance of about six miles from Sadhaura in the foot-hills. The Sikhs renamed it as Lohgarh, after they had conquered it. The ruins of Lohgarh are now included in the area of the village, named Pammu- wala. The original fort had been built on a high hillock, hetween two rivulets, formed by the division of one stream. These two rivulets are named as the Pammuwala and the Daskawala streams, after the names of the two villages by which they flow. Banda Singh found the fort much dilapidated when he arrived there. He had it properly repaired and set it up as the capital of the Sikhs, All the material that the Sikhs acquired from the plunder of Sirhind and other places, was collected and stored in Lohgarh. And the tributes and revenucs the Sikhs had received from other places, were, too, deposited there. The yellow flag of the Sikh nation waved at the fort and the slogans of its armies resounded there so as to rend the skies. Banda Singh used the royal palace as his residence and was known as the king of the Sikhs among the local people. His one effort was to exalt the ruling Sikhs to the dignity of the Mughal royalty. The Mughal kings commemorated their coronation by minting new coins on the occasion. Banda Singh, too, started his year, from the date of his conquest of Sirhind. He, also, had the Khalsa currency inscribed with the names of the Gurus, Starting with the birth of Guru Nanak and with the follow- ing words engraved in Persian inscription: “Sikkah zad bar har do alam tegh-i-Nanak wahib ast, Fateh Gobind Singh Shal-isShahan Fazal-i-Sacha Sahib ast.’” (Coin struck in the two worlds by the grace of the True Lord; victory to Gobind Singh, the King of Kings; the Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary ‘NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 60 - - sword of Nanak is the granter of desires ) And the reverse side had the following inscription: “Zarb ba aman-ud-dahar masawwarat shahar zinat-ute takht-i-mubarik bakht.” (Coined at the Model City, the Refuge of the World, the Ornament of the fortunate Throne.) Banda Singh also had a royal stamp inscribed for his use. This was a little smaller in size than a paisa, a copper coin of the Lritish time before 1947, and was used for making impressions on the orders of his government. Its inscription read as follows: “Degh o Tegho Fatch o Nusrat-i-bedirang Yaft az Nanak Guru Gobind Singh.” (The kettle (symbol of the means to feed the poor), the sword (symbol of power to protect the weak and the help- less), the victory and the unhesitating patronage have been obtained from Nanak Guru Gobind Singh,)* The Sikhs now possessed all the insignia of their rule as did the Mughals: the country, the throne, the capital place, the coin, the stamp, the flag, the army, the potentate and other symbols of royalty. The difference, however, consisted in the fact that, while the Mughal rulers exercised every governmental authority in their personal names, the Sikhs wielded every authority for power in the name of their holy Guru. Banda Singh considered and called him-self the slave of the Guru, though every-body else named him as the King. Anyway, he was the first ruler of the Sikh nation. He built the structure of a seculer state and government in the community and defended and headed it like a potentate, who combined the spirit, the work and the mission of a nation-builder with the self-denial of a saintly personage. His talent for fighting skilfully, tenaciously and, even, brilliantly, to a victorious consummation, had won him a name among the Sikhs and had made him a nightmare for their enemies. He, thus, laid truly the foundation of a Sikh state in the country, upon which was confidently raised a * Dr. Ganda Singh: Banda Singh Bahadur, pages 82-83, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 61 superstructure Jater by his community, which culminated in the rule of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, the Lion of the Panjab. Banda Singh’s life as the captain of the Sikh nation’s ship, though short-lived, was, beyond a ‘doubt as distinctive as it was. distinguished. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER X Towards the Jamna The Sikh Government in those days was no more than a military rule. Banda Singh had no time to set upa_ civil administration in the country under him, In spite of that, what he achieved for the Jatt farmers of the Panjab was — something that no king in the whole of India had ever done. Land-lordism was the invariable practice in the country under the Mughals.* These big landlords fleeced their tenants mercilessly and they paid their tribute to the king out of this moncy. These landlords were the actual rulers inside their areas, and oppressed their tenants very much, Banda Singh did away with this system of land-lordism and made the tenants the owners of the lands that they cultivated. They were made to pay to his government the revenue directly, without the intermediary land-lords, The system of direct payment was continued by the Sikh misalst and, later, by Maharaja Ranjeet Singh throughout the Panjab. And it has been in use in the Panjab ever since, Itisas a result of this system that every farmer here in the Panjab owns the land that he farms. This system turned some of the landlords bitterly against the Sikhs. But thousands of the ee * *J,and-lordism had been specially strong here, as in the U.P. Tho moncycd owners of large areas in tho villages forced their tenants to work for thom. These landicss tenants were helpless aud totally at the mercy of the owners of lands. ¢ Alike or equal. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 63 Jatt farmers were greatly obliged to them and had accepted Sikh baptism and turned its defenders. It was at this time that Banda Singh had given the Sikhs a new war slogan, ‘Fateh Darshan,’ that is: ‘Victory Visit.” But the old Sikhs from the time of Guru Gobind Singh, declined to approve of it. It was, accordingly dropped during the life time of Baba Banda Singh, = The Sikhs considered themselves, then, the complete rulers of their part of the country and the guardians of the poor sections of the nation. Ifa low caste villager would join a Sikh party, he would offer himself for baptism as a Singh, and then he would come back to his own village and would be appointed an official there under the authority of Banda Singh, The old, respectable chaudharies of that village were compelled to dance attendance on him. No one had the power to disobey his orders.* The ascendancy of the Khalsa to this power, had prompted numerous Hindus, from far and near, to embrace Sikhism. Even some Muslims had preferred to be called Sikhs. Many Hindus had forcibly, even atrociously, been converted to Islam during the Mughal rule. They had not been willingly reconciled to their new religion. As soon as they felt a little safe from Muslim oppression, they threw Islam overboard and adopted the Sikh crecd. Hinduism did not take any of the converts from it back at any cost, even though they had been jorced to leave it at the point of the sword, But the doors of Guru Nanak's creed were always open to welcome anybody, Consequently, these persecuted citizens gladly found refuge under the protection of the liberator of the oppressed that Guru Nanak had been and turned Sikhs, That was why the number of the Sikhs had grown quickly. This new movement to seek conversion to Sikhism, was not restricted to the territory between the rivers Jamna and Satlej. It had rather spread over a large area. In the village of Unarsa, inthe pargana of Deoband beyond the Jamna, @ majority of the residents became converts to Sikhism, The army officer of Jalalabad, Jalal Khan by name, felt bitterly annoyed on hearing this news. He a “Irvine: Later Mughals, Vol. 1, pages 98-09. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 64 arrested all these new Sikhs, whose leader was one Kapoor Singh. He had been sent there under orders of Banda Singh as their preacher and instructor. He wrote a full report of this occurrence to Banda Singh. Randa Singh started with a military force from Lohgarh as soon as he had this news, The Sikhs crossed the Jamna at Rajghat and marched straight to Saharanpur, which was a divisional town of the Delhi province and controlled Deoband, Rampur, Nanauta, Thanna Bhavan and twenty- four other parganas, After crossing the Jamna the Sikhs wrote to the Commander of Saharanpur, telling him cither to yield or to face an attack. Commander Sayyad Ali Mohammad Khan of the place, was a weak-kneed and cowardly person. He started shivering in his shoes to hear of the ultimatum from the Sikh messenger. The rich people and the prominent persons of Saharanpur, did their best to urge him to give the Sikhs a fight and promised to render him all help and pressed him not to lose heart. But parrot-like he repeated that it was far wiser to desert the town while time allowed it, than to resist the enemy and get destroyed. He conld not lose sight of the memory of the massacres of Sadhaura and Sirhind. He rejected the advice of his courtiers outright, packed all his valuables and ran at nightfall to Delhi, along with the members of his family. When the Sikhs approached Sahanpur, a few daring persons who were well armed, came out to resist them. They were overthrown during the very first clash with the Sikhs, A hell was let loose on the people of the town now. Any one who tricd to oppose the Sikhs, was destroyed. Only he who had laid down arms and submitted to attackers, was spared. The entire city was plundered and the homes of the government officers, were set on fire. It was arich place and yielded an abundant harvest of property, cach and jewels to the invaders. The conquest of this town and desertion of it by its Commander, had brought into the posession of the Sikhs almost half the division.* All the neighbouring area of Saharanpur was combed by marau- ders, and it became desolate in a few days’ time. ® Mohammad Harisi : Ibrat Nama, page 42. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 65 Beyhut, a village of the pirzadas,t was situated at a distance of seventeen miles from Saharanpur. They were . very notorious for cow-killing and for tyrannising over the poor Hindus. They plundered the property of the Hindus and killed cows in the streets and the Hindu homes of the town disdainfully. The Sikhs swooped upon Beyhut as soon as they came to know of these atrocities. The pirzadas tried to oppose them. But that was of no avail at all. They were all put to the sword, except one of them who happened to have been away to Bulandshahr. He was the only survivor of the clan. After plundering and burning the mansions of the Pirzada families, the Sikhs returned to Saharanpur, Banda Singh sent his messenger from there to Jalal Khan. He was told to set his Sikh prisoners free and to pay to the Panth® the tribute in future. Else the Khalsa was going to attack him, he was told. Jalal Khan was a Pathan of a sterling courage, He had already taken part in many a_ battle successfully and creditably. He had fought under the command of Aurangzeb in the Deccan, He had conquered and destroyed the town, Khera Manihar, of the Rajputs and had built on its ruins his present town that was called Jalalabad after his own name, He commanded a very powerful army of the Pathans of the Khaibar Pass and his town and fort were both strongly built. He treated the Sikh messenger cruelly. He made him ride a donkey and paraded him along the streets of his town, And he beat him, at last, and sent him back to his master. This provoking news made the Sikhs very indignant. They started for Jalalabad immediately. The town of Ambeyta fell in their way, though five miles aside. The majority of its population consisted of Pathan and Gujjar Muslims. The eminent Muslim saint, Sheikh Abb-ul-Muali, lived there. His followers, in all that area, used to make offerings to this pir. The town was thus, quite prosperous, t Decondants of the Muslim saints, generally rich, influential families. *The whole Sikh community. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com 66 The Sikhs directed their attention to this place first, Sheikh Abb-ul-Muali offered them no resistance. The Sikhs, there- fore, took no life there: they pillaged the town and marched on. It was the turn of Nanauta, next. Nanu Gujjar had founded this town ancient times, and had given his own name to it. In course of time the Gujjars were thrown out of the town by the Sayyads who now occupied it. Some Pathans and Sheikhs had also settled there later. Several residents of the Sayyad tribe had held high position in public life. A Sayyad of this town had been appointed the Commander of Saharanpur during the reign of Aurangzeb. He had some large mansions built in Nanauta. When the Sikhs left Ambeyta and advanced further, a large number of the members of the Gujjar tribe from Rampur turned up to join the Sikhs. They declared that they were the followers of Guru Nank and that they came there to take part in that Sikh, religious war, By this strategem they were able to secure the advantage of making their own town and its surrounding area safe from pillage. Moreover, they also became partners in the plunder of Nanauta. The Gujjars had some old accounts to settle with the Sayyads. The Sikhs entered Nanauta on July the 11th, 1710. The Sheikhzadas of the town were brave fighters and expert arrow-shots. They contested the Sikh on-slaught over every inch of the ground in every one of the mansions in their part of the town. Three hundred Sheikhzadas lost their lives on that say during the courageous fighting in the court-yard of Sheikh Mohammad Afzal’s house alone. This sharp, bloody contest led to an utter destruction of the town. The royal mansions of the Sheikhs and of the Sayyads were destroyed. The whole town was left in ruins, It has been called Phuta Shahr or the town in ruins, since that day. After dealing with Nanauta like that, Banda Singh advanced toward Jalalabad, that was five miles distant from it. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 67 Jalal Khan* made full preparations to resist the Sikhs. He had collected a sufficient amount of food and war material in the fort. He had also called a large number of villagers to fight for him by the side of his regular army. The Sikhs approached Jalalabad straight from Nanauta. The ground between the two towns was overgrown with a big forest of butea frondosa trees.t As the Sikhs advanced half way, they saw the enemy forces waiting for them. Jalal Khan had despatched hts nephew,Hazbar Khan,and his brother-in-law, Ghulam Mohammad Khan, to go ahead and meet the Sikhs and drive them back. The Pathans had under them four hundred cavalry-men, one thousand foot- soldiers and four-to-five-thousand strong special militia from the villages, besides hordes of the Ghazis. The Sikhs rushed at the enemies head-long. It was a very bloody battle. Hazbar Khan and numerous Ghazis were killed.¢. Jamal Khan and Pir Khan, the nephews of Jalal Khan, waited in the wings behind, commanding fresh forces for the aid of the fronts where help was required. They chose their chance now and attacked the Sikhs. The fighting raged for three days. Then Dindar Ali Khan, the son of Jalal Khan, rushed to the battle-field at the head of fresh and specially selected seven hundred men. But before he had joined the battle, Jamal Khan and Pir Khan had been killed. The Sikh army had now encircled the Muslim defenders. Dindar Khan rushed upon the Sikhs ferociously, There were many casualties on both the sides. Some-how, he forced his way to where the corpses of his brothers lay, And with the help of his men he got hold of the bodies *Jalat Khan was the son of Mir Hagar Khan. He was a descendent of the Aurak Zai tribe of the Afyhans, who had migrated to India during the time of Shah Jahan, Ho had been granted some villages as his estate, Jalal Khan succucded Hozar Khan as the landlord of those vilhages. Ne had helped Aurangzeb, during the latter’s war against Dura Shikoh. Ho was granted a liege of some more villages in the Pargana of Thanna Bhawan as a re- ward for his services. He had destroyed Khera Manihar and built a fort on its ruins and called it Jalalabad. ¢ Itis called Keysoo, dhak or plaas hire, } Whafi Khan : Mantakhib-al-Labab, page 658, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 68 of Jamal Khan, Pir Khan and other Sardars* and wangled his way back through the Sikh encirclement. He then retreated to Jalalabad.t The Sikhs besieged Jalalabad. Jalalabad is situated on a high ground, A_ small stream, called the Krishna, flows by it. It was the rainy season now and the stream was in flood. The fort and the town had large sheets of water standing all around it. The siege was maintained for a full score of days. The Sikhs failed to take the fort. Nor did Jalal Khan have the guts to come out, drive the Sikhs away and put an end to the sicge. The town was, thus, safe; but the country- side around it was devastated by the Sikhs. At the same time Banda Singh had been receiving urgent calls from the Panjab. The Sikhs, therefore, raised the siege and re-crossed the Jamna, Jalal Khan breathed a sigh of relief and took a full vengenance upon the Sikhs of Unarsa, who were cruelly done to death, along with Kapoor Singh. Once across the Jamna, the Sikhs headed straight for Karnal. Its Commander turned out to oppose the Sikhs. But he was defeated in the very first clash with them. The Sikhs held the town in their possession. No small or big enemy commander there showed the courage to challenge them. All the territory np to Panipat was captured by the Sikhs, and Sardar Ram Singh and Baba Binod Singh were put in charge of it. The Sikhs roamed the territories of these parganas of the Dethi division. The Governor, Asaf Daula Asad Khan, was so afraid of the Sikhs as dare not leave Delhi and face them. He was, instead, repeatedly writing his reports to the Emperor.} The very word, Sikh, had * Their tombs, brick-built, stand near the shrine of Kaley Shah, on the Saharanpur-Dethi Road. ¢ Jalal Khan wrote a report of all this fighting to the Emperor that was received in Delhion July 1, 1710. 3 According to the instruction of this Governor, there were others, too, who had been reporting to the Emperor. The prominent figures among these were: Diwan Taj Din, Diwan Hafiz Khan, Police Inspector Hassan Khan, Bakhshi Fakhr-ud- Din, the Reporter, Reporter Mohammed Tahir, Qazi Darwesh Mohammad and some others: Tarikh Mohammad Shahi. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 69 became a bugbear al] over this part of the country. Many a family of Delhi had been leaving the capital and fleeing to other provinces. When the Governor of Delhi itself was afraid of facing the Sikhs, the common people felt, of course, utterly helpless, JFrrom Panipat to Lahore and from there to the hills of Pathankot, the country was in possession of the Sikhs. The Sikh hordes were active on one side of Panipat; and, on its opposite side, there was Bazid Khan Qasoori, who commanded a Pathan army; but, instead of fighting and driving the Sikhs away, he had both his eyes fixed Delhiward, in order to seek refuge there when necessary. The new Sikh Commanders, Ram Singh and Binod Singh, settled at the inn of Tirauri, now their head- quarters. The rest of the Sikh forces returned to the Panjab. The Governor of Delhi, too, felt some relief now. He dismissed, Mahammad Ali Khan, the Governor of Saharanpur, and replaced him by Jalal Khan, He awarded Jalal Khan a robe of honour, along with this new appointment, on August 21, 1710. His son, Dindar Ali Khan, was also promoted to a higher rank in the army. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER XI Revolution in the Majha Most of the baptised Sikhs were the residents of the Malwa, the Doaba and the Majha during the life-time of Guru:Gohind Singh. When Baba Banda Singh appeared in the Panjab, many Sikhs joined him in the fulfilment of his mission. And when he had conquered Sirhind and a large area besides, the non-Sikhs of the rest of the territory, were encouraged to accept Sikhism. Besides, the Sikhs of the Majha had also started their plans and preparations for establishing a Sikh government there. There was no locality in the country the residents of which were not sick of the oppression practised by the Muslim rulers, As the Mughal hold on the people slackened, so did the tyrannies practised by the local rulers on the people, intensify. To rob the property of a family, to expel a man from his native village, to take the life of another man or to dishonour the women-folk of others, was considered to be the birth right of these petty rulers, This was the reason why the commons were eager to get rid of their oppressive rulers. The phenomenal success of the Sikh struggle in the province of Sirhind, had inspired them, throughout the Punjab, to wageand win a war of libe- ration.No more did they fear the Mughal imperialism. Rather they considered themselves to be the sole masters of their mother-land now. The fond aspiration of their Tenth Guru, that he was to turn the poor peasants of the Punjab into princes, was constantly ringing in their ears. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 71 The Sikh population of the entire Majha stopped pay- ment of revenue to their rulers. But this was by no means all. Where two Sikhs met even for ten minutes, they felt as if they were the masters in their own land, that their Guru had granted them self-government and that the foreigners had no right to rule over them. Where a Sikh met another Sikh, he would accost him with the greeting: ‘The Khalsa (the Sikhs) belong to God Almighty. Victory be to our Father God.’”’* It appeared to them as if the whole man- kind had been converted to Sikhism and all owed allegiance to the Sikh flag. They were, at last, strongly determined in every home and every village, to make a united attempt to conquer the entire country. To govern it was the birth- right of the Sikhs, ‘Why should the foreigners hold it in subjection ?’’ they argued. This view at once took roots in the Majha and bands of Sikhs assembled every-where. All the Sikhs were invited by the beat of drums and the waving of flags, to assemble in Amritsar. Eight thousands of them had crowded in that holy Sikh centre of their Guru, Ram Dass, within a few days.f They discussed their plans and the way in which they were to advance. It was not safe to move towards Lahore where the Governor and the imperial army were too strong for them to tackle. Qasoor, too, was well defended by Kheshgi Pathans, who possessed well trained armies and well-defended forts. / They agreed that the easiest area to plunder was the Riarki. Their minds thus made up, they paid their homage at their temple, Jater known as the Golden Temple, said their prayers to their Guru and God and marched on the way to the Riarki, in Gurdaspur district. They compelled the chaudhries of every village that they approached, to pay them the tribute money and made them promise loyalty to the Sikh rule, and then moved further ahead. Any village where the chaudhries were not tractable and yielding, was pillaged by them. The govern- ment police and revenue officers were dismissed by them * Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh. t Dr. Ganda Singh : Banda Singh Bahadur, p. 100. Ganesh Das: Chahar Gulshan-i-Panjab, p. 189. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 72 and replaced by Sikhs. It did not take them many days to plunder all that area. The Sikh hordes approached Batala next. It was a prosperous, commercial town. Very rich tradesmen, who had dealings with Kashmir and Kabul, lived there, It was well-known for its riches all over the country. The commander of the town advanced to fight the Sikhs who quickly swooped upon him like hungry tigers. The Sikhs swept the enemy away as do the high, flood waters of a river, Any one who opposed them, was at once done for with the sword. The defenders had taken fright and had stampeded. Shouting their war slogans, the Sikhs entered the town, thoroughly ransacked it and gathered a rich booty from there, i Kalanaur was their next target. It is the town where Emperor Akbar was crowned. The story of Batala was repeated here, too. The Sikhs plundered it and proceeded ahead. This legion reached Kahnuwan, next. The Sikh party from Sathiala and Butala marchad as far as Pathankot and over-ran the whole of the pargana (district.)* The major part of the attacking force, however, turned in the direction of Lahore. This Sikh army plundered all the towns and parganas and, they passed through punishing the oppressors of the poor everywhere. It reached the very outskirts of Lahore and rested in its Shalamar Gardens. They had replaced all the government functiona- ries by the Sikhs in the territory between Lahore and Pathaakot. These now controlled all the police stations in the area, Sikh parties would go up to the city wall of Lahore from their Shalamar camp. The Governor of Lahore was terribly afraid of leaving his fort. This Governor, Aslam Khan, came of the Maulvizadas of Kabul and he had been appointed the Governor in Lahore by Prince Muazaz-ud-Din, the son of Emperor Bahadur Shah, He was so afraid of the Sikhs that he had no heart to leave the fort and give them a fight, There was, hower, one duty that he performed daily : with a heart sinking with fear, he prayed to God without fail that He might be pleased to keep the terrible Sikhs at * Mohammad Qasim: Ibrat Nama, P, 22. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 73 a distance from him ! The Governor, thus, refused to stir out of the town for fear of the Sikhs. On the other hand, the chaudhris and the maulvis of the country-side worried him with their daily complaints and requests, asking the government to protect them from the rising tide of the marauders. These chaudharies of the villages, who had suppressed and oppressed the people largely, were made to pay back . through their noses for their crimes against the populace. The common man who had a grouse against any one, now took his revenge against him to his heart’s content. This political upheaval saw many persons punished to death. All they had owned was destroyed and they had to run to Lahore for their lives. The Muslim priests or maulvis possessed a deadly weapon, jihad, or the holy war. They raised their ‘“‘religion- in-danger’’ call. The maulvis who had migrated to Lahore from the villages, highly exaggerated tlieir stories. This terrified the government officers still further. Lahore was full of these maulvis, who instigated a large number of Muslims to embark on a jiliad. The Uaidri flag* was raised in Lahore,in the Id Gah,t out- side the Delhi Gate.{ Speeches for a jihad were made in all the streets and at street-corners, Crowds of the people of Lahore and its surrounding villages started assembling under the flag at the Id Gah. ‘he promises for sending to Ileaven those who became martyrs in the holy war, were freely made by the priests. Governor Aslam Khan was, however, called all sorts of bad names for his slackness, The numbers of these Ghazis swelled rapidly to some thousands. The fanatical enthusiasm of many of them had gone to the length of their disposing of their homes and other property, and of binding on their wrists the proverbial martrydom threads, These enthusiasts sct themselves up as the leaders of the Ghazi parties, They had donated all that they possessed for financing this holy war. Two of these Ghazi leaders, Mohammad Taqi, a relative of Shah * Muslim flag, named after Hazrat Ali. ¢ The Muslim prayer ground. ¢ It is the site of the present railway station. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 74 Abdulla, and Moosa Beg, the son of Khuda Vardi Beg Agharkhani, were quite prominent at the time. The. Muslim and some Hindu richmen of the town, too, made their contributions to the Ghazi funds ina big way. The top-most contributor among them was the grandson of Todar Mal and the son of Pahar Mall, Some aged persons also tied the martrydom thread on their wrists and joined the Ghazi hordes. Respectable persons among them, like Haji* Sayyad Ismaeel, Haji Yar Beg, Shah Enaiyat and Mulla Pir Mohammad Waiz, became the Ghazi leaders. The Governor, too, found himself. in) good heart now. He made a move, at last, to wash out his old disgrace and appointed Mir Ata-ulla Khan Purbia and Muhibb Khan Kharal, the landlord of Faridabad, commanders of five hundred cavalry-men and one thonsand foot-soldiers of the royal army, to reinforce the Ghazi hordes, This army had its own distinctive dignity. There stood the two reyal commanders,Ata-ulla Khan and Muhibb Khan, at the head of the royal army, on one side. And, on the other, there were thousands of the Ghazis, with many-colonred, Martyrdom strings deeorating their wrists, the palms of their hands browned with the water of the myrtle leaves, dressed in green clothes and holding green, Muslim flags in their hands waving above their heads. It was in this splendour that this jihad army left Lahore under their ULatdet Cig. * Haji: A Muslim who has been on pilgaimage to Mecca in Arabia, from a forcign country. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER XII Fighting the Fanatics The Sikhs were well in control of the territory they held now, They divided their active, fighting force into four regiments. Their first regiment was stationed at Amritsar and was meant for the Majha, that is, Amritsar and Lahore districts. The second unit was in charge of the region of Riarki in ordcr to maintain order up to the foot-hills. The third one was meant for the area near Lahore. And the fourth one was the mobile division, meant to attend to the requirements of any of the other divisions, that arose from time to time. The Lahore regiment had heen stationed in the fortress of Mehta Bhagwant Rai, in the village, called Bharat, by the bank of the River Ravi, Bhagwant Rai was a resident of Bharat and the Qanugo* of the pargana of Neyshta Bharli, He had built a burnt-brick mansion in his village of Bharat. The people called it the fort of Bhagwent Rai. It was situated within the pargana of Neyshta Bharli. The Ghazis marched straight to village Bharat, carrying their Haidri flag aloft. The Sikhs had the news of it and had improved . the fortification of the mansion, They also collected as much ammunition and food stores there as they were able to procure for the occasion, The Ghazis soon reached there, marching fast in their religious ardour. They besieged the fortress. The Sikhs * Qanugo was a senior revenue Officer. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 716 were ready to receive them, sitting behind the walls of their towers and defences. When the Ghazis were within the range of the Sikh firing, the latter rained on them showers of arrows and bullets. The foremost rows were killed and those Ghezis who had stood behind them, now advanced to the attack. And both the sides were then shooting fast and hard. The Sikhs were inside the fortress and protected by its parapets against the bullets and arrows of the enemy. But everyone of their shots went home, to the cost of the attackers, Ina short time there were heaps of the dead seen among the Ghazis outside the fort. As they fell, fresh recruits for the glory of Islam stepped forward blindly to attack the Sikhs in the fort. Their leaders yelled their war slogan, ‘Hail My Ali,’* in order to egg them on to the attack repeatedly, All through the day they continued to attack the Sikhs and to try to break through the gate of the mansion, And the whole of the day the Sikhs were laying them low with their unfailing shots. There was secn by the evening another wall of the dead outside the brick walls of thie mansion. Every Sikh had killed several Ghazis; there were hordes of others of them still, who could be seen jostling about around the walls. It was already night-fall. Yet the fighting had not stopped. The Sikhs desired the fighting to end for the night; for, they were tired and needed rest badly. But the enemy outside the fort had no mind to give them any time for it. The Ghazis who had fought the Sikhs during the day, were relicved by their fresh comrades in order to have rest behind the fighting lines, and these, in their turn, continued the attack through the night. The Sikhs, all told, were hardly enough to man their defences. They had their bit of a dinner while protecting their positions at the parapets. Three-fourths of the night had passed and yet fighting had not ceased The Sikhs were much worried about their safety, indeed. But what could they do? The enemies *A call on the name of Ali who was the son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 77 were sure to press their attacks with redoubled, even four- fold, strength at day-break. They had been. fighting all night, without a wink of sleep. .It was obvious that the next day was to witness a still bigger holocaust, without respite or recession. Accordingly, after a serious soeeaitaen it was resolved that the Sikhs were to attack the Muslims at a weak point, make a breach there, and escape into the open country under cover of the night. The Sikhs threw open the gate of the mansion immediately and attacked a weak point of a wing. The result was that those of the enemies alone. were spared, who had made way for them to pass. It was a smart piece of attack, the Sikhs killed a large number of besiegers and then hurriedly disappeared into darkness outside. This unexpected happening surprised and confused the Ghazihordes. The resulting chaos led several of them to strike and kill one another in the dark. But when they found the mansion emptied of the enemies, their delight knew no bounds. The Sikhs had escaped, no doubt; but the Ghazis gave a hell to the residents of-the village. The Hindu homes were plundered for the reason that they were said to have co-operated with the Sikhs and some Muslim families were harassed, on the other hand, for the reason that they were merely luckewarm in aiding the Ghazis, The Ghazis started on their way back to Lahore in the morning. They were jubilant at their victory as if they had destroyed the Sikhs root-and-branch from the face of this earth. They cruelly treated the Hindus of the villages that fell in their way on their return. Once again they had planted their Haidri flag at the gate of the Id Gah. These Ghazis who were intoxicated with their victory over the Sikhs, treated other Muslims tauntingly. When they met a Muslim, they considered him as Cowardly and apostate, since he had taken no part in their jihad. And, if it wasa Hindu they approached, he was a non-believer or kafir. They could have given some regard to a cowardly, faithful Muslim; but a Hindu whom, according to them, God had made a non-believer by birth, was possibly given no humane consideration. The result of this hateful tirade was that whoever was even remotely Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 78 suspected of being a Sikh or a friend of a Sikh, was maltreated.** This oppression was extended even to the government officers, many of whom were insulted by these Ghazis. , In a few days after that, the Sikhs once again assembl- ed at Kotla Begum, near Chamiari village. There was a small, mud-work fortress there which the Sikhs occupied. When the news reached Lahore, the Haidii flag was once again raised. The call for jihad was made and the Ghazis left their homes and reached the Id Gah in crowds. They were more Numerous this time than before. The bad characters of the town, too, joined them. They left the town and set out for Chamiari directly. The Ghazis who sought merit through waging a holy war, committed untold crimes against the common people. They plundered all the villages they passed throngh. If some people protested against this tyranny, their village was reduced to ashes. Numberless, innocent women, too, were outraged.t Even the leaders of the Ghazis were shocked at these outrages. They punished some of the bad characters among the Ghazis at Bhilowal and two or three of them were given the death penalty, toot Even then, the infuriated Ghazis did not mend their beastly behaviour, They continued to mal-treat the peasantry all their way till they came upon the Sikhs at Kotla. When the watchman on the near trec, known as the tangoo,* brought the news of the enemy, the Sikhs prepared themselves for the fight. They were from five to seven hundred in number. Both the armies started shooting arrows and bullets at each other when they were within range of cach other. This was their first encounter. Sayyad Enaiyat, Mohammad Tagi and Mohammad Zaman Rangarh came forward to lead the attacks. Bows and rifles were discarded in many cares, giving place to hand-to-hand fightings. The earth grew red with blood. The sky was ** Mohammad Qasim: Thrat Nama, p. 23. + Karam Singh: Banda Bahadur, p. 105. $ Mohd. Qasim, Ibrat Nama, p. 23, * Tangoo meant the man who was made to sit on top of a tree to keep watch. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 79 overcast with clouds that day; but the lightning flashed in the hands of the Sikhs. Whichever way the Sikhs rushed, the Ghazis ran ahead of one another, instead of coming to grips with them. The shining, naked swords in the hands of the Sikhs made the enemies tremble with fear. The Ghazis were many times the number of the Sikhs, Fresh reinforcements more than made up for the loss of those killed or wounded in the cause of Islam. This bloody battle continued till the afternoon. Both the sides had been fighting equally well till then. After that, however, the Pathan cavalry began to give in because of the rising losses inflicted by the Sikhs on them. They retreated, turned back and fled the battle-ground in all directions. That was the end. The Ghazis turned tail and left the ficld.* Jt was surprising to see them so disheartened as to throw up their swords. They ran in confusion, empty- handed, not caring for the direction they took. The Siklis ran in pursuit of them and spared no-body they could lay their hands on. If one Ghazi received a sword thrust, a couple of them more would fall on the ground inv panic. To add fuel to the fire, at about sunset a dust storm and. then a deluge of rain overtook them, The Ghazis had Jeft the battle-field. The Sikhs, there- fore, prudently took into their possession the material left behind by the fleeing Ghazis rather than pursue them fur- ther in that most inclement weather. They cared for their wounded men and collected the booty and retired behind their defences to spend the night there. How the Ghazis fared after this, is hard to tell. This battle was fouglit when Raba Banda Singh was fighting against Jala] Khan across the Jamna. The routed Ghazis recovered their poise the following morning. But they felt much out of sorts and depressed. They thanked God that the Sikhs had not pursued them, Yet, they knew not that the Sikhs were on the look out to snatch their opportunity again, and lurked furtively behind them. The Ghazis halted for the next night at Bhilowal. * Dr. Ganda Singh : Banda Singh Rahadur, pages 107-108 Mohammad Qasim: Ibrat Nama, pages 23-24, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 80 Muhibb Khan and Mir Ata-Ulla had rested their royal! forces in the local fort; and the Ghazis and others who had spent the previous night in great discomfort and fear, now went to sleep in the open in a carefree manner, They were confident that they were out of the reach of the enemy. But the Sikhs were not at all satisfied with their performance of the previous day. They were determined to deal the Ghazis another blow, such as would make the Sikhs a night-mare for the Muslims. It was about mid-night when the Sikhs suddenly assaul- ted the sleeping Ghazis. They were surprised in their sleep and found no time to rnn away. The Sikh swords cut each enemy into two. The entire camp was now up, howling and screaming. Hundreds of the Ghazis were done to death. Murtaza Khan and the grandson of Todar Mall were cut to pieces in the confusion, along with many other noted people. Nothing could be done to challenge and fight the Sikhs in the circumstances. Hence, Ata-Ulla and Mohammad Taqi shouted their order to the Ghazis from the house-tops where they stood, telling them to run and seck refuge inside the village. Not a single man who was caught napping by the Sikhs outside the village, was able to dodge death. The Sikhs captured horses and plunder worth thousands of rupees and slipped from Bhilowal before dawn, The Ghazis who had survived this onslaught, left the place, sighing and in tears, and hurried back to Lahore. Once again, the Sikhs dogged them there and plundered the out-lying colonies of Lahore. The city proper, in the centre, was alone safe. Some people again proposed raising the Haidri flag. But, this time, no one came to patronise it. The Sikhs now controlled the whole of the country from the city wall of Lahore to Pathankot, between the Rivers Ravi and Beas. * Dr. Ganda Singh: Banda Singh Bahadur, page 110. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER XIII In Jullundur Doaba The precedent of the risings by the Malwa and the Majha Sikhs had encouraged the Sikhs of the Doaba* also to rebel against their Government. Moreover, a force of the Sikhs from Banda Singh’s bands had turned up to assist them. They formed an army of a decent size when the local Sikhs had joined up with them. Their first victim was the town of Rahon, Enaiyat Khan, the land-lord of the place, was the chief citizen there. He was a notorious robber whose reign of terror had made even the Commissioner of that district helpless, The Sikhs attacked him and dispossessed him of the gains of his crimes. The local government army depot was replaced now by the Sikh soldiers under a Sikh commander. The chaudhris and other tand-lords of the neighbourhood were then made to take their orders from their new, Sikh officer. _ The Faujdar (military officer) of the division of Jullundur lived at Sultanpur. He belonged to the Khalf Zai tribe of the Pathans of Qasoor, Sultan Ahmad Khan, an ancestor of this family, had been a very well-known person among the servants of prince Mohammad Azam Shah. He had four sons: Hussian Khan, Bazid Khan, Pir Khan and Ali Khan. Ali Khan was a homely sort. He had no out-standing achievement to his credt. Hussian Khan did * The area between the rivers Satie} and Beas, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 82 not seek to serve any prince. He later occupied a large area of the Majha, after Banda Singh’s time and during the weak governorship of Abdual Samad Khan, and was, at last, killed in the battle of Chuhnian, on April 4, 1721. Bazid Khan was a very smart man. When Bahadur Shah came to the Panjab to fight against his own brother, Bazid Khan accompanied him and fought for him. And when Bahadur Shah ascended the throne, he conferred on him the title of Qutab-ud-Din Khan and appointed him the Commissioner of the Jammu DWision. When Bazid Khan returned to the Panjab from Delhi, he learnt at Pantipat that the Sikhs had occupied the country to the North. He settled in Panipat itself and dared not proceed further into the Sikh controlled region But he wrote to the Governor of Dellii that he was blocking the imperial road against the Sikhs, who might have otherwise raided Delhi. When Bahadur Shah marched from Delhi northward, he accompanied him from Pantipat. He set himsclf up as the Gavernor of Jammu, after the Sikhs had been defeated at Loligarh. Pir Khan, the fourth brother, had served Bahadur Shah in a big way. Bahadur Shah bestowed upon his son, Noor Khan, the title of Shamas Khan and the governorship of Jullundur in return for the services of Pir Khan, After the Sikhs took possession of Rahon, they sent two of their men to Sultanpur in order to ask the Governor to submit to their suzerainty or be prepared for a fight. The Governor Shamas Khan was an intelligent and _ states- man-like officer. When he read the terms of the ultima- tum, he felt much concerned and care-worn. The Sikhs had written to him: Set free the Hindu and Sikh prisoners. Return to their original owners the lands that have been confiscated by the government. Give us all your arms and ammunition and make yourself over to the Sikh Panth, along with all the treasure that you possess,”’ A man who faces a sudden danger is capable of devising a far more effective strategy than a carefree person, who is comfortably placed. He welcomed the two Sikh messengers and gave them full consideration and told them that he was an obedient servant of the Panth. He called a separate meeting of the ‘rich persons, his Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 83 officers and other inffuential persons of the town and . consulted them as to how he was to deal with the Sikhs. They all assured him, on oath, of their loyalty to him, It was resolved to give the Sikhs a good fight. But they agreed that they must gain time to make effective preparation for it. He told the Sikh emissaries that he agreed to meet all their demands, that he possessed large quantities of war material and that he was ready to send some of it immediately with them. And he promised personally to take the rest of it in carts, along with the tribute money; but to arrange all this he needed time. Shamas Khan, accordingly, got a few cart-loads of the war material ready and sent them with the Sikh messengers to Rahon. When they reached there, the Sikh force assembled there was overjoyed to have the report of the response of Shamas Khan to their ultimatum. They felt assured that when the commissioner himself had yielded to them, no one else could defy them. On the other side, Shamas Khan gained the time that he was in need of. He despatched the maulvis to the villages of the Doaba, who, on their appeal for jihad or holy war, assembled a Jarge number of the Ghazis. The local chaudhries then led to Sultanpur crowds of these fighters for Islam whom they had prompted to join their war, with the beat of drums in all the villages. Oil-men, cobblers and weavers and other poor, Muslim workers, too,came willingly; the weavers were the foremost in the ranks of the warriors who were spoiling for the coming clash with the infidels. The jihad was the latest love of these weavers who would fall down when entangled in their slender threads, but who were now enthusiastic about their sport of hunting the tigers. There assembled hordes of the Ghazis within and outside Sultanpur. The chaudhris and the maulvis of the territory were also with them. The traders and the shop-keepers of Sultanpur had donated their money liberally to the Ghazis for the cause of this holy war. Shamas Khan then advanced from Sultanpur at the head of five thousand horse-men,thirty thousand foot soldiers and over a hundred thousand Ghazis.* The Sikhs had sent news * Khafi Khan: Muntakhib-ul-Labab, Vol. IT. p. 668, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 84 of it to Baba Banda Singh at Jalalabad and prepared them- selves to face the enemy. A part of their force stayed in the Rahon fort; but their other comrades advanced out of the town and took their positions in a deserted brick kiln. They raised the side walls of the kiln further by placing on them sacks filled with over-burnt bricks and earth and used them as the ramparts of a fort. When the enemy came within range of the Sikhs, volleys of bullets were fired into them. The front: rows of the Ghazis licked the earth. And as the second volley was fired, Shamas Khan ordered a frontal attack. The weavers formed the front ranks of the Ghazis; but they had never handled a sword. They did not know how to carry the weapons like the sword, the bow and the arrows supplied to them by their commanders. When the order to attack was given to the Ghazis, all of them rushed towards the Sikhs rashly. Some of them fell on the ground, entangled in their own loose, unmartial dresses and some others were cut down by the Sikh swords before they had time to unsheath their own swords. This utter blood-shed by Sikh swords continued for two or three hours, drenching the soil of the hattle-field with red blood. The clanging swords reminded one of the noisy scene in a street of braziers. “Catch him, kill him, oh water, Allah- hoo-Akbar,f Sat Sri Akaalt were the only sounds that rent the air. Nothing else could be heard there. The Sikhs were tired of killing the enemy, who appeared to be endless in numbers. The only way out of the impasse for them was to fight a rear guard action and retreat into the fort of Rahon.* Shamas Khan besieged the fort. The battle raged between the Sikhs within the fort and the Ghazis outside it. It was October the 11th, 1710.¢f The Sikhs saw no advantage in holding the fort against the over-whelming enemy. They, therefore, slipped out of the fort about ¢ The Muslim war slogan. $ The Sikh war slogan. * The building of the Government Higher Secondary School atands there now. tt The emperor had received the report of this battle from Shamas Khan on October the 26th, 1710 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com 85 midnight, breaking safely through a weak point in the enemy encirclement. Shamas Khan, too, thanked his stars for this easy riddance, He did not pursue the Sikhs, therefore. He re- appointed his officers in Rahon and marched back to Sultanpur. The Ghazis who had survived the battle, returned to their respective homes, thanking God for an escape from the harm’s way. But the Sikhs had not gone for. They were hiding themselves in the bush-fields of the neighbourhood. When Shamas Khan had left Rahon, the Sikhs came out of their hiding places. By the time he was back in Sultanpur, a thousand Sikhs attacked the’ Rahon fort, threw out its guard and retook its possession. But Shamas Khan had no more courage to occupy Rahon again. The Sikhs made their foot-hold in Rahon secure. They then marched towards Jullunder, The Pathans of the town fled their homes as soon as they heard of the approaching Sikhs. Thus, the Sikhs occupied the town without firing a shot, Since they had met with no resistance there, the town was not pillaged and no one was killed. The prominent citizens collected the tribute money voluntarily and paid it to the Sikhs, who occupied all the territory around it without much ado,- The Sikhs wrote their challenge to Hoshiarpur, next. The district officer of the place settled the matter peace- fully, agreed to take his orders from the Sikhs and paid in the tribute. Thereafter tributes were realised from Phagwara and other districts, too. Shamas Khan controlled Sultanpur at the time, while the rest of the Doab was under the Sikhs. They raided Sultanpur and skirmished with him frequently. The author of “the Muasir-ul-Umra” has written that twenty two small and big actions had been fought by the Sikhs against Shamas Khan. The Sikhs entertained feelings of enmity towards Bilaspur, only a little less in intensity than what they had felt against Sirhind. Raja Bhim Chand of Kahiloor was the first man to fight'a battle against Guru Gobind Singh. He was the real originator of the feuds that followed. And he was the man who had invited the imperial generals to fight in his aid. He had instigated the other Hindu hill Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 86 chiefs to fight shoulder to shouldar with the Mughal imperial army during the sieges of Anandpur against the Sikh Panth. Obviously, the Sikhs could but ill afford to let these hill states be alone. They had captured the Doaba and the Malwa and were determined to punish the hill rulers for having played the devil with the Guru and his Sikhs, The Chief of Bilaspur, therefore, was the first to receive their ultimatum. Their reason for this choice was that he was the leader and the most powerful the hill chiefs, The Sikhs had made it a rule that before they would attack an enemy, they would give him a written ultimatium in advance, saying: ‘Obey or fight us.” He who agreed for a settlement, was not harmed in any way. But any one who went in for a clash of arms, was invariably given hell. The Raja of Bilaspur was a little stunned to have this challenge from the Sikhs and tried to think out what to do about it. He invited the other hill princess and land-lords of the neighbour-hood and consulted them.* All of them decided to fight the Sikhs. The fort of Bilaspur was repaired and renovated. The articles of food and ammuni- tio were stored there to meet the requirements of a siege. Altogether, one thousand and three hundred Miaans (Rajput leaders and warriors,) assembled there to have a taste of the sharp sword-blades of the Sikhs. The princes had stationed seven frantic elephants, drunk with wine, in front of the gate of the fort to protect it against the enemies. On the orther side, a Sikh force, commanded by Sardars Baghar Singh, Kehar Singh. Ranjeet Singh, Ranjor Singh, Bajjar Singht and other generals advanced to attack the fort. From a distance they fired warning volleys from their rifles twice, and then they rushed at the gate of the fort. The seven elephants that blocked the gate, were killed and the Sikhs broke into the fort. The Rajputs put up a stiff resistance for a while, but soon the Sikh swords started making a clean sweep of them. * The princes of Darol, Majheloo, Nangloo, Nandey,/Sohal, Jhandwal, Kaneyt, Dicchann Chilahaley, Ballarh, Pammeyn and Dadhwa] had answered his call. Rattan Singh Bhangoo: Pracheen Panth Parkash, p. 95. ¢ Rattan Singh Bhangoo, p. 96. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 87 The Sikh wrath rose as they recalled the false and treacher- ous oaths, once before, taken by these Rajput hill-princes, The swords of the Sikhs made quick work of them and not a single one of the thirteen hundred lived to tell the tale after. ward, Then the Sikhs dug thirteen pits and buried one hundred bodies into cach one of them. They plundered the royal palaces and the town. They also sent their nitimata to the other hill cheifs, ‘none of whom had the stamina to give the invaders fight. All of them willingly admitted the Sikh over-lordship and paid in the tributes. The Sikhs conquered the hill states and proudly re- tnrned to the plains. They had now sct up their independent raj in the Majha, the Doaba and the Malwa. The yellow Sikh flag Mew over the Majha and the Riaraki territories up to the foot-hills of Pathankot excluding Lahore, from Jagraon, Machhiwara and Panipat to Bilaspur, along both the Banks of the Jumna and up to the high mountains of the Doaha, Banda Singh was the King of the Sikhs and Lohgarh was his capital. Fearless fighters, like Baj Singh, were his commanders. The rising power of the Khalsa saw, indeed, during this interval, thousands upon thousands of the Ilindus sceking conversion to Sikhism in the territory bet- ween the Jumna and the Ravi rivers. The Jatts of the Majha who had never before becn really converted to any set creed so far, liad now become staunch Sikhs. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER XIV Sirhind and Sadhaura Lost. Bahadur Shah suppressed the rebellion of his brother in the Deccan, returned north from there and was, at the time, staying at Ajmer. He intended to punish the Raiputs for their revolt against him. But fate had destined it differently. He had news, on May 30, 1710, of the Panjab having been over-run by the Sikhs who had set up their rule under their King Banda Singh. Asaf-ud-Daula Asad Khan and many other officers had sent to him their reports, high- ly exaggerating the enormity of the position. Some respec- table Muslims of Sirhind, Samana, Thaneswer, Sadhaura and other places also came to him, about June the 22nd, 1710, with their complaints. The seriousness of rhe Panjab situation as presented to ‘the Emperor by the Muslims—officers and emissaries—com- pelled Bahadur Shah to come to the Panjab directly from Rajputana, leaving unquelled the Rajput revolt against him. Bahadur Shah wanted to head the compaign himself; but his Minister, Munim Khan, advised him otherwise and argued that it was beneath the dignity of the Emperor of India to lead the army against an ordinary mutineer who was not from any royal house. But the Emperor was bent upon treating this uprising as a jihad and himself wanted to take part init. He ordered Asaf-ud-Daula Asad Khan, the Governor of Delhi, to despatch an army to punish the Sikhs immediately. Simultaneously, he wrote to Khan Dauran, the Governor Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com 89 of Awadh, Mohammad Amin Khan the China Bahadur, the Commissioner of Moradabad, Khan Jahan, the Governor of Allahabad, Sayyad Abdulla Khan and others, ordering them to rush to the aid of Asad Khan. He himself started for the Panjab on June 27, 1710. Armies from all the provinces of the country were al- ready with him. He had at first a mind to send them back to their own stations. But the Panjab news that he had been receiving, was so fearful as to compel him to change this view. He rather had to call up more forces now. Whenever he met a prominent person, he told him to accompany him to the Panjab. Rajq Chatar Saal and Sardar Chooramann and some others, thus, accompanied him. He by-passed Delhi and proceeded directly to fight the Sikhs, Wazir Khan, the imperial Governor of Sirhind, had been killed by the Sikhs. The emperor appointed Zain-ud- Din Khan as the Governor of Sirhind in his place, on July 18, 1710, . The Emperor and his forces reached Praagpur on August, the 7th. Feroze Khan Mewati was ordered to march forward at the head of his advance force. Sultan Quli Khan, Shakir Khan and some other Sardars accom- panied Mewati as his assistants. He was given a sum of fifty thousand rupees to enlist additional forces. Moham- med Amin Khan the China Bahadur, and Qamrv-ud-Din Khan also turned up now. Another army, under Sayyad Wajih-ud-Din, was sent there on August the 22nd, And an announcement .was made, with the beat of drum, in the imperial camp and the city of Delhi, on August the 24th, to the effect that no one from the army camps was allowed to visit the city and no one from the city was to enter the army camps. Kokaltash Khan was ordered to march with his army to occupy Sonipat. He was followed by the imperial forces which arrived at that place on October the 22nd. Most of the Hindus kept long beards in those days. An order was now promulgated, from the royal camp, on September the 8th, compelling all the Hindus to shave their beards, so that they were no longer mistaken for the Sikhs. All the Hindus in the royal camp had their beards shaved, accordingly; they were not the Hindus of the age Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 90 of Lord Krishna, who would have rather lost their necks than their hair. Quite a few Hindus who were court and revenue officials, were awarded robes of honour by the Emperor for shaving their beards clean. It was at Sonipat that Sayyad Saif-ud-Din Ali Khah, Sayyad Nizam-ud-Din Ali Khan and Sayyad Siraj-ud-Din Ali Khan, turned up at the royal camp. The territory of the Panjab up to Panipat had already been occupied by the Sikhs. Just across the boundary at Panipat were stationed the armies of Bazid Khan Kheshai of Qasoor. He had not, so far, moved out of his cup for fear of the Sikhs. As Feroze Khan reached Panipat with his royal forces, however, Bazid Khan joined him. Now this combined force marched into the Sikh controlled area. The Sikh forces were not concentrated anywhere, They were scattered all over the territory controlled by them, The Sikh Sardars administered their own separate areas in the Malwa, the Doaba, the Riarki and the Majha, As the imperial army advanced, it entered the territory of Baba Binod Singh and Sardar Ram Singh, who had no large army that could have repelled the Mughals. Yet, they were determined to prove their mettle in the field before retreat- ing deep into the Malwa. A thick forest of butea frondosa,* grew all over the land between Thaneswer and Trawari and the grand road passed across it. Feroze Khan Mewati was advancing along this road. The Sikhs concealed themselves under cover of this thick forest near the village of Amingarh and there waited for the enemy. The imperial army reached that place on October the 26th, 1710, When the enemy was within range, the Sikhs showered arrows and bullets at them. This sudden calamity terrorised them. The Sikhs attacked Muhabat Khan, the son of Khan-i-Khanan Munim Khan, instantly. Already the imperial officers entertained a deep fear of the Sikhs, And now the Sikhs had attacked them with the speed and force of lightning. The mughal army failed to gain a foot- hold, When Muhabat Khan saw his soldiers being pushed back, he himself fled the field. The Sikhs attacked and * It is called dhak, palaas or Keysoo in north India. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 91 routed their enemies in the contest.* Feroze Khan Mewati showed better pluck in this clash and changed the fortunes of the battle. He called up the Sayyads of the neighbourhood and advanced to attack the enemy. Their horse-men were handicapped by the thick forest, Accordingly, Mewati ordered them to attack the Sikhs on foot. They fought hand to hand. There was fierce fighting with swords on both the sides for some time and the soil under feet was blood-drenched. The Sikhs were fewer in number. But they possessed a reputedly wonderful courage. A sikh would be surrounded by ten enemies and presently he could be seen lying wounded among the ten corpses of his foes. This fact had forced even Mewati to doubt his success. The hope of his winning a victory looked distant. All the same, he persisted in going all out for a victory. He urged his entire force to put their best foot forward in unison, The small number of the Sikhs was swept away by the mighty deluge of the imperial army. They were beaten and pushed back steadily deep into the forest, and those who could escape, disappeared into the back-woods. Mewati thanked his stars that his name was not tarnished. His other soldiers who were afraid of the Sikh might and had remained in the back-ground, now boast- fully stepped forward and began attacking the Sikhs, who had fallen wounded or dead on the ground. They satisfied their feelings of malice by using their swords on the martyred enemies. Carts laden with three hundred heads of the Sikhs, were sent to the Emperor as war trophies, Many Sikh corpses were hung on the trees by their long hair. And lumps of flesh from their dead bodies were displayed on the trees, on both sides of the road and for miles on end. The Emperor rewarded Feroze Khan by making him the Commissioner of Sirhind, and six of his officers with |. . robes of honour, on October the 30th. He was further given, on November 4th, asum of one lakh of rupees to meet his requirements, * Mohammad Qasim: Ibrat Nama, p. 24. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 92 The Sikhs repaired from Amingarh to Thaneswar and, after another skirmish, reached Sadhaura. Feroze Khan had pursued them from Thaneswer to Shahabad. Bazid Khan, now, marched towards Sirhind. The imperial commanders were in high spirits everywhere, because of the presence of the Emperor. Snamas Khan who had not stirred out of Sultanpur for fear of the Sikhs, now called up thousands of the Ghazis and joined forces with his uncle, Bazid Khan. The Sikh Commissioner of Sirhind, Sardar Baj Singh, was at the moment away on same duty. But his two brothers, Sham Singh and Sukha Singh, were present in Sirhind. As Bazid Khan, Shams Khan and Umar Khan advanced to attack Sirhind, Sham Singh and Sukha Singh came out to repel them. The two forces joind battle in Yaqub Khan’s Garden, near the town. The Sikhs were small in number. Yet they fought undauntedly and killed large number of their enemies. The armics were looked in a grim struggle, when Sardar Sukha Singh was shot dead, The Muslims now pressed the Sikhs hard, and the utter retreated within the fort. Shamas Khan and others besieged the fort. The Emperor had the news of this battle at the village of Ukala, on November the 27th. He ordered Mohammad Amin Khan China Bahadur, to lay siege to the fort of Sirhind. But before Mohd. Amin Khan reached there, Shamas Khan had gained its possession. The Sikhs had fought the enemy from inside the fort for a time. But when, at last, they saw the numbers o1 the besiegers swelling from day to day, they slipped quietly out of the fort one night. The Emperor reached Sadhaura on December the 4th, 1710. Here he received the flags and three hundred heads of the Sikhs sent to him by Shamas Khan. Mohammad Amin Khan had been despatched to conquer Sirhind. He could not tolerate the credit of the victory of Sirnind going to Shamas Khan, He, thus, felt envious towards the latter and wrote the Emperor a detailed letter. “Shams Khan has enlisted an unnecessarily large force,’ wrote Amin Khan. “He does not care too hoots for the orders of the Emperor and is mutinous in all that he does.” The result was that Shamas Khan was dismissed Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 93 from the Commandership of Sultanpur.* Isa Khan Manjh succeeded him. Isa Khan was an important personality in the Doaba. His grand father, Bulaqi, had been a notorious dacoit, who had terrorised the whole of the Doaba. Isa Khan proved to be a worse beast. He had taken to robbing the caravans on the high road in place of raiding small places. He had, at the same time, developed intimate relations with the local rulers. He, thus, played safe, escaped punishment for his crimes, and was taken for one of the richest persons in the region. When the Sikh revolution began, he moved into Sultanpur under protection of Shamas Khan, who asked him later to look after the Doaba region during his absence - in Sirhind. He was, next, appointed the Commissioner of the Doaba by imperial orders. Isa Khan inflicted the most terrible cruelties on the Sikhs who then returned to the Doaba. He put to the sword every solitary Sikh, who was caught moving in the area. The Sikhs had lost control of nearly all the areas, till recently under them, They themselves were either scattered in different places or besieged in Lohgarh and Sadhaura fortresses. There were large enemy armies encamped around them. Emperor Bahadur Shah was himself in Sadhaura. His eldest son, Muazz-ud-Din Jahandar Shah, was in command of thirty-one thousand cavalry-men; eleven thousand horse-men were under other princes and eleven thousand cavalry-men under Jumlat-ul-Mulk, in addition to seven thousand cavalry-men being under Muhabat Khan and thousands of foot-soldiers under other commanders. Rustam Di] Khan, Feroze Khan and some other generals also joined them there, TESTS * Muasrul-Umara, Vol. IIL p. 128. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER XV The Battle of Lohgarh About this time the Sikhs had left Sadhaura after some fighting and joined their comrades in Lohgarh. The fort of Lohgarh was built on a high mound. It had deep ravines, streams of flowing waters and high clay mounds all around it, making it very difficult to approach. The Sikhs had some what improved its defences, but were deficient in food supplies. They had occupied the fort; but they were closely besieged by large enemy armies. The imperial army itself was over sixty-thousand strong and, besides, robber bands and the auxiliary armies were countless in numbers. The Sikhs manned all the mounds around the fort. It was not, thus, safe for the besiegers to make a frontal attack on the fort. That was why the Emperor had forbidden his generals advancing to attack the fort defences, The Emperor had actually desired that Banda Singh, considering that the Mughal army was_ too weak to attack the fort, should come out to fight in the open field and be, thus, taken a prisoner easily. But Banda Singh was well aware of such tactics. The Sikhs raided the weak enemy positions and struck at them under cover of night, carried the booty and returned to their posts in a trice, The imperial army suffered heavy losses during these night assaults. Heavy, continuous rains soon descended on them. It was about the Christmas time of cold winds when winter Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 95 rains, too, had flooded the neighbourhood of Sadhaura. The royal forces felt heart-broken. All of them had encamp- ed in low places, The rain waters had flooded all the gorges around them. They were seriously short of rations, and frightened to death by the Sikh raids. Thousands of their horses died for want of fodder, and men died of cold. The word of Banda Singh's miraculous powers, which could curse, paralyse and kill the enemy, went the round of the Mughal posts and drove them to despair. Every general and eminent person now complained to the Emperor of Banda Singh's magica! powers to kill or harm them. Even Bahadur Shah himself shivered in his shoes as he daily heard these tales. But the rains stopped after a few days and the royal army had some breathing time. Prince Rafi-ul-Shan was given the overall command of the Mughal army. He was assisted by Jumlat-ul-Mulk Munim Khan Khanei-Khana Minister, his sons: Muhabat Khan and Khan Zaman, Feroze Khan Mewati, Rustam Dil Khan, Hamid-ud-Din Khan Bahadur, Raja Chattar Saal, Raja Ude Singh, Chooramann Jat, Islam Khan Mir Atish, Bakhshi Afzal Khan and other famous generals. On December 4, the Emperor deputed Rustam Dil Khan and Feroze Khan Mewati, to advance and sclect safe positions for encampment near the enemy, Rustam Dil Khan and Feroze Khan had hardly advanced a couple of miles the following day, when the Sikhs suddenly swooped on them like panthers and rained death on them with arrows and bullets. Hundreds of the enemies were laid low. Among the dead was the nephew of Feroze Khan whose son, too, was wounded. Sword in hand and unafraid of death, the Sikhs ferociously fell upon the enemy, dealing them death blows, The enemies lay dead in heaps. The soldiers ef Rustam Dil Khan lost their foot-hold, and ran helter skelter in all directions. Another Mughal army turned up and the enemy was now several times more numerous than the Sikhs who, however, did not lose ground, They fought on, steadfastly like brave warriors, till it was dark. Every Sikh killed several enemy soldiers before he fell a martyr. At last they retreated in the Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 96 darkness and slipped back into the Lohgarh fort.* This battle was fought on December the 5th, 1710. The Mughal army advanced a mile and half and went in camp there. Khan Khana and Muhabat Khan kept watch at the camp and Rustam Dil Khan, Afzal Khan and other Sardars marched half a mile ahead and encamped at the bank of the Som streamlet. There was a thick forest on the opposite side of the streamlet from which horrible noises were heard all the night. Rustam Dil Khan was awarded the title of Ghazi Khan Rustam Jang for his bravery and was promoted to command four thousand foot-soldiers and three-thousand cavalry. A dinner was sent from the royal kitclien to Khan Khana and Muhabat Khan as a mark of royal honour to them. The Emperor too, advanced to the bank of the Som on December the 9th and encamped there. He had a good view of the mound of Loligarh from there. Prince Rafi-ul- Shan took his advance guard to the very foot of the hillock of Lohgarh on December the 10th. He swerved to his left for another mile, leaving the army of Bakhshi-ul-Mamalik in the charge of Ude Singh Bundhela. The Khan Khana advanced to the right side with the help of a local guide. His two sons, Mohabat Khan and Khan Zaman. Raja Chatarsaal Bundhela, Islam Khan Mir Atish, Hamid-ud-Din Khan and the special forces of the two princes, Azim-ush- Shan and Jahan Shah, were under him. Lohgarh was, in this way, closely besieged on all sides. Sixty thousand men of the special, royal army and thou- sands of the robbers and the Ghazis were spoiling for a fight in the command of the Khan Khana.f The Sikhs suffered from two very severe disabilities: they were too few in numbers and were starving for want of food. They had lived on the plunder from the enemy camps or on their horse-meat. In spite of that, the Emperor did not show courage enough to attack the fort of Lohgarh. On the contrary, his orders to his princes and *Kanwar Khao: Tazkarat-us-Sulatin, para 158, He was personally present at this "battle. He was in the company of Prince Rafi-vl-Shahb at the time. ¢t Kamwar, p. 158. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 97 generals were not to attack the posts held by the Sikhs, © however confident of their victory. Khan Khana requested the Emperor to allow him to go ahead in the task of probing the strength of the Sikh defences. He did obtain this permission, but only on the condition that he was in no case to attack the enemy without imperial orders.* When Khan Khana was within range of firing, the Sikhs rained arrows and bullets on the enemy. The Sikhs occupied a high ground while the royal army fought from their low level. The latter, therefore, suffered a heavy Joss of life. When Khan Khana saw his soldiers fall like flies, he could not resist the urgency to order his soldiers to shoot in return. He was, at the same time, afraid of disobeying the royal order. Yet, he felt a stronger urge to make a name for himself in the battle. The other generals, too, joined in the assault, against the royal orders, when they saw him staging his attack first. The Emperor and his four sons were watching the fighting from the opposite flank. They disliked this rash- hess on the part of their generals, though, at the same time, they were pleased to see them advancing. The imperial hordes, sixty-thousand strong, swept forward to attack the Sikhs, who fought ferociously for every inch of every mound and each one of whom was killed after despatching not less than twenty enemies. If a position was too hard pressed by the enemy, the Sikhs retreated to and manned the next one. By the afternoon the Sikhs had lost their perches on all these knolls, except the Lohgarh mound itself, which wasthe last one they possessed. Had the imperial army dislodged the Sikhs from it, they would have | safely conquered the fort. The Sikhs stuck to the Lohgarh mound with might and main. The enemy would rush forcefully up it to dislodge the Sikhs from the knoll. But the latter held on to it like leeches and would not budge on inch. They cut the attack- ers to pieces with their swords. The dead bodies of the enemies rose in heaps at the foot of the ridge. a The son of the court official (peshkar) Sucha Nand was killed and his body lay on the heap of other corpses. * Murray : History of India, p. 306. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 98 Rajas Ude Singh and Chatar Saal hastened to help Khan Khana. Even then the Sikhs did not let any one gain the top of the Lohgarh mound till night-fall. The gorge round Lohgarh was more than half full of the dead bodies. The Sikhs, too, had been killed in large numbers; but the enemy losses were many times the number of the dead Sikhs. The Khan Khana called a halt to fighting when it was pitch dark. But he ordered all his soldiers to keep armui all the night. The Minister was gratified with the hope of capturing Banda Singh by the sunrise. Mirza Rukan made a detailed report of the day’s fighting to the Emperor. Though very few in number, the Sikhs were resolute and undaunted fighters. Each one of them was duty-bound to die in defence of his leader, If they had possessed enough food and fighting material, the enemy could not have captured the fort at all. It was already over a month since the siege had begun. A few days after the battle of Amin- garh the imperial army had surrounded Lohgarh and stopped all supplies from reaching the Sikhs in the fort. What little they had, was soon consumed. Several of them had died of starvation. They were considerieg to slip out of the fort or to attack Khan Khana suddenly on December the 10th. The day’s fighting had been the hardest, and thousands of brave warriors had lost their lives on both sides. The Sikhs entertained no doubts about what the tollowing day was going to be like. They finally decided to give the enemy a slip and leave the fort under darkness of the night. It was very essential to keep the plan a strict secret from the foe. Sardar Gulab Singh, the Bakhshi,*® the treasurer of the Sikh force,had the highest faith in Banda Singh. le offered his life as a. sacri- fice for the Panth. Gulab Singh offered prayers to God, put on the dress of Banda Singh, and set himself up on his seat. A dozen other Sikhs, too, were to stay behind in the fort with Gulab Singh. The Sikhs had continued to fire an occasional shot from the fort till mid-night.- Suddenly they produced a loud, explosive noise and attacked a weak point of the enemy encirclement, quickly cut down the enemies in front of them, and neatly escaped into the hills of Nahan. * Dastoor-ul-Insha, P- 8. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER xvI Aftermath of Lohgarh At sunrise the next morning, December the 11th, 1710, Jamlat-ul-Mulk Munim Khan Khan Khana Wazir ordered his men to attack the enemy. A dozen shots were fired from inside the fort, in reply. Khan Khana could clearly see Gulab Singh sitting and wearing the clothes of Banda Singh. The royal army advanced an to the walls of the fort, broke open the gate and rushed in. The Sikhs who opposed them, were too few to matter and as they fell wounded, Gulab Singh, mistaken for Banda Singh, was captured. Khan Khana was very delighted, hoping that this victory was to wash away the ignominy of many a previous deed that the Emperor had disapproved. Munim Khan was an old servant of Bahadur Shah and had been appointed a Minister in preference to several other officials, who had much better claims to the post, Moreover, the Emperor had conferred the title of Jumlat- ul-Mulk Manim Khan Khan Khana upon him. This had openly estranged him from all the other notables of the court. They told the Emperor that the hawk had flown away and the huntsman was carrying to him an artificially coloured parrot, instead. As customary, Khan Khana was taking with him to the royal camp a dozen wounded Sikhs and Gulab Singh, supposedly Banda Singh, in a procession, led by bands playing and with usual splendour. An angry word from the Emperor was his reception: “Stop the playing of bands. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary @gmail.com 100 Let not Munim Khan dare present himself to His Majesty.” When Munim Khan learnt his mistake, he felt utterly ashamed of himself. He had disobeyed the Emperor and had, thus, carned his displeasure. He, at the same time, had failed to take Banda Singh a prisoner. He felt heart- broken and returned to his camp under a heavy load of sorrow, The royal messenger told him that the wruil of the Emperor was irretrievable, since he insisted that Munim Khan must produce the arch-rebel Banda Singh, at what- ever cost he might be captured. The Minister also learnt from the messenger that the courtiers were maligning him freely and that the Emperor was pleased to listen to them. Munim Khan's mind sank within him at this news and he realised suddenly that the leanings of the royalty were no more trustworthy than quick shifting sands. His health began to fail from that day. After the disgrace of Munim Khan, Rustam Din Khan, took with him the Sikh prisoners to the camp of the Emperor. He also brought with him, from the Lohgarh fort, five howdahs of elephants, three guns, seventeen small gun-carriages, one royal umbrella and a few silver staffs. The Emperor, as usual, presented him a suitable prize. _ Gulab Singh and the dozen Sikhs were handed over to the Police Inspector Sarbrah Khan. When the Emperor's mind was pacified, he called Khan Khana to his court, on December the 13th, patted him kindly for his services and awarded him a robe of honour. Bakhshi-ul-Mulk Amir-ul- Umra, Muhabat Khan Bahadur, Hamid-ud-Din Khan Bahadur, Islam Khan Bahadur, Raja Ude Singh, Raja Chattar Saal, Chooraman Jat and some others, too, were rewarded with presents for their services during the compaign. Orders were issued the same day to the Rajasot Nahan and Sri Nagar® to arrest Randa Singh and to send him to the reyal court. Hamid Khan was also sent immediately to take into custody the Raja of Nahan and to bring him to the Emperor, in case Banda Singh was not captured. Banda Singh, however, would not obligehim. Hamid Khan *The well-known hill station, Srinagar, in Kashmir, is a different place. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 101 took Raja Bhoop Parkash, the son of the Raja Hari Parkash of Nahan, a prisoner and presented him to the Emperor on December the 22nd.. The mother of Raja Bhup Parkash deputed thirty distinguished persons of the State to the Emperor to press him for the release of her son. The Emperor had these notables killed on March the 23, 1711." And Raja Bhup Parkash and Gulab Singh were enclosed in iron cages and shut up in the fort of Delhi. Every inch of the fort of Lohgarh was dug up in search of the treasure concealed there by Banda Singh, The scarch succeeded at last on Decémber 16th, 1710, yielding a harvest of silver and gold coins, worth eight lakhs of rupees, The Emperor knew that Banda Singh had taken him- self to the hills. He had also becn informed about the large scale disturbances caused by the Sikhs in the Doaba and the Majha regions, Consequently, he started for Lahore across the Doaba. He left Lohgarh, travelled by way of Puri and halted at Bhadoli on February the 15th, 1711, But, being in no hurry to reach Lahore, he halted there for several days. Unhappy Munim Khan died there on February the 28th, 1711. His death was, by and large, due to the disgrace that the Emperor had heaped upon him for his conquest of the fort of Lohgarh. The Emperor left Bhadoli on March the 7th and reached Ropar on April the 30th. He crossed the Sutlej on May the 17th and arrived at Hoshiarpur on June the 9th. He, next, crossed the Beas on June the 23rd, reached Kahnuwan on July 17th, Kalanaur on the 29th, Chamiari on the 3Uth, Panj Graeen on August the 3rd and was in Lahore on August the 11th, 1711, * Kamwar Khan, p. 186. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER XVII Back in the Panjab Banda Singh escaped from the fort of Lohgarh, break- ing through the siege laid by the imperial army. This, undoubtedly, spelt a defeat for the Emperor. He felt extremely hurt and outraged. But he saw no way of driving his prey back into the cage. Though broken-hearted, he consoled himself with the thought that he was, at long last, rid of the nasty foe, And he gave himself up to revelry and enjoyment. But Banda Singh was not the man to give the Emperor an easy riddance. He was not at all discouraged by the loss of Lohgarh. He had disappeared among the dense trees in the darkness by skipping across the enemy lines. He donned the orange robes of an ascetic for a few days and walked towards Anandpur with no definite distina- tion in view.* He had no intention to pass his time in this disguise, either. He was thinking of fighting the Mughal rulers again. Within a fortnight of the battle of Lohgarh he hastened to write requisitionary letters to the Sikhs known to him, telling them to unite and arm themselves. Dr. Ganda Singh has given the text of one such letter in his book,+ which is reproduced here. His seal in Persian: ‘The kettle (symbol of the means * Lateef, p. 278. ¢ Banda Singh Bahadur, p. 153. Dr. Ganda Singh hasa true copy of one such letter. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com 103 to feed), the sword (the symbol of the power to protect the weak and the helpless,) victory and unhesitating patronage, have been obtained from Nanak Guru Gobind Singh.” “Lord God is one. Victory visit. “I convey to you the injunction of His Holiness the True Master. The Guru shall save the entire Khalsa of Jaunpur. Remember the Guru again and again. You shall gain victory and felicitation in life. You are the Khalsa of the holiest and deathless divinity. I expect you to meet me armed with your five weapons. Observe the religious code and symbols of the Khalsa. Do not use bhang,* opium, tobacoo, poppy seeds, wine and other intoxicants. Do not eat meat, fish and onion. Do not commit theft or adultery. We have tried to build the rule of Heaven on this Earth, Let every one of you love others. I ordain that whoever observes the Sikh forms and the Sikh conduct, the Guru shall protect and bless him. “Dated Poh the 12th, the year the first, lines ten."’f His words, “His Holiness the True Master’ in the letter, have been used for Guru Gobind Singh. “The Guru * Bhang is an intoxicating drug made from the leaves of Cannabis sativa. (Hag. sna sort) “@a-Q-3a-Q-gsfo-@-anes §-eda Wes na s'oa Tg dfs fw” 1 a@ e3 wens! fret He Wise A} at gan 8 AGEs WERT AGS Ud a ag Ta | TL Ts AUS’ HoH Asa | SA fact wars yeu at at wem 9, UA adleg fq a aH eufent ears mrest 1 won tt Bas We | ga SHQ Vely URS Ug mNS ae} Bdl wert HA HES! horn ad wer gt Ad ad adel t mA Asa easter 31 my fef feng ager i nat ganda wen et sus sada farel aa wast ada 1 fist GG 92, ANS ufos, Aga GA 9 | Dr. Ganda Singh, Banda Singh Bahadur, p. 153. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 104 shall protect and bless him,” the word Guru in it refers to Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh, which is clear from his reference to the use of ‘Nanak Guru Gobind Singh.” in the wording of the seal. He had told the Sikhs not to use any intoxicants whatever. At the same time, he has for- bidden the use of meat, fish and onion. He had lived for the greater part of his life as a Vaishnavite, who docs not take meat, That was why he persuaded others, too, to shun meat-eating. We have to remember, in this connection, that when he was still young, he had seen the death of a doe and its un- born young ones and this had affected his mind so that he had turned a wandering hermit. Never in his life had he overcome this feeling. That was the reason that he abstained from eating meat and advised others, too, against taking it. He laid great stress on two matters : firstly, observing the code of the symbols of the Khalsa which is a mark of his keen faith in Sikhism, and secondly, the need of every Sikh wearing five weapons, which was a proof of his plan to fight the Mughal rulers again. His letter was dated December the 26th, 1710.* The deteat of Lohgarh had not dis-spirited the other Sikhs, either. They were keen on regaining the freedom, of which they had already tasted a brief spell. This was the reason why a large number of the Sikhs met Banda Singh at Kiratpur ir. answer to his call. Banda Singh had not yet built a strength sound enough to enable him to return to Sadhaura and challenge the Emperor there. Therefore, he quietly went to the Pathankot region to raise adequate force. It took him about three months before he was able to work publicly. At the time the Emperor had besieged Sadhaura, he had appointed Bazid Khan Qasoori as the Governor of Jammu, The latter had reached Raipur by then. Shamas Khan, his nephew, who had been relieved of the Commissionership of Jullundur, joined his uncle at Raipur. Bazid Khan was in Raipur when Banda Singh came to * It was actually dated Poh the twelveth, equavilent to the above date. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 105 Pathankot. Bazid Khan (Qutad-ud-Din Khan Kheshgi) was, one day, about 16 miles away from Raipur when the news of Banda Singh’s presence in that area reached him. He despatched Shamas Khan's brother-in-law, Shahdad Khan, at the head of fifteen hundred cavalry-men to Raipur for its protection, Shahdad Khan strengthened his defences after reaching there. Bazid Khan and Shamas Khan, too, started back for Raipur. While busy in hunting on the way, the news of the Sikhs being near at hand came to them. They had a force of nine hundred men at the time and they made ready to attack the Sikhs. Shamas Khan, who was closely followed by Bazid Khan, had hardly gone a mile, when they saw the Sikhs, Bazid Khan had no mind to challenge them, before joining his force at Raipur; but Shamas Khan was for fighting the Sikhs immediately; and against the warning of his uncle, he advanced to attack them. But, instead of fighting Shamas Khan, the Sikhs ran away from him. Bazid Khan again told him not to go in pursuit of the Sikhs. But the fervour of his young age did not permit him to heed the warning. The retreating Sikhs, with Shamas Khan in pursuit of them, had hardly gone a mile and a half, when they suddenly turned to attack their pursuers, With drawn swords in their hands, the Sikhs surprised Shamas Khan, who was intoxicated with the hope of a quick victory, but who found himself entangled in a deadly quandary. Bazid Khan also turned up slowly with his force. A hot, bloody action was fought by the contestants. The Pathans were being pushed back, when Shamas Khan advanced to make a ferocious attack, his target being the force commanded by Baj Singh, whom he tried to give a lance thrust. But Baj Singh retaliated by smartly snatch- ing the lance from Shamas Khan, whom he wounded with the same weapon.* Shamas Khan, drew his sword and, undaunted, attacked Baj Singh again. Before the sword of Shamas Khan could reach Baj Singh, the sword of the latter slashed the former’s left shoulder and came out on * pr. Ganda Singh : Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, p. 162. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 106 his right side below the ribs and had completely cut him in two. Bazid Khan was cut to the quick to see his nephew killed. In sheer exasperation he rushed at Baj Singh with a vengeance. They both were slightly wounded in simul- taneous blows. Bazid Khan was about to strike again when Fateh Singh interrupted and returned him such a blow that Bazid Khan dropped off his horse-back, half dead. The Pathans, now, lost hope of a victory. But they were determined not to leave the field without fetching the bodies of their Sardars. They fought their hardest and succeeded in carrying away the bodies. Shamas Khan had died on the spot; but Bazid Khan died on the third day while on his way back.t Both the bodies were buricd in their town of Qasoor. When the Pathans had fled the field, their camp was left behind intact, and this provided the Sikhs with lots of booty. This was called the battle of Behrampur, and it was fought during the last week of March, 1711. This victory had greatly encouraged the Sikhs. They plundered the entire region of Pathankot, Batala, Kalanaurr and Raipur. In spite of all these achievements Banda Singh did not want to fight against any army commander protected by the walls of a fort, for the reason that he did not havea sufficient force at his disposal. The fall of Lohgarh was a big blow to the Sikhs, though they had put up with it, no doubt; but they had not yet regained their former proportion and might in men. The Emperor did not return to Delhi after the conquest of Lohgarh ; he was still firmly chasing the Sikhs. As long as life befriended him, he was determined to hunt down Banda Singh. He ordered Saf Shikan Bahadur and Himmat Daler Khan to go to Lahore in pursuit of the Sikhs. They were soon followed, on 7th March, 1711,by Hamid Khan Bahadur, with an army five-thousand strong. Still the Emperor was not satisfied with what he had already done. He despatched Kustam Dil Khan on May the 24th and Mohammad Amin Khan on May the 3!st to join the former ¢ Rattan Singh Bhanygoo: Pracheen Panth Parkash, p. I14. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 107 generals specdily, The Emperor had the news of the battle of Belhramput on June the 4th, 1711, and of the deaths of Shamas Khan and Bazid Khan. Then he himself, left after his generals and reached Hoshiarpur on June the 9th. By the time Mohammad Amin Khan and Rustam Dil Khan had reached the region of Raipur, Banda Singh had crossed the River Ravi and entered the Rachna Doab.* He pillaged Aurangabad and Pasrur and went ahead to the Jammu hills. However, the Sikhs, next found them» selves besieged by the royal armies near Kathuha and Parol. The forces of Mohammad Amin Khan, Agghar Khan and Rustam Dil Khan had surrounded them on threc sides, while the high hills obstructed the Sikhs on the fourth.They were very badly entrapped there. But, instead of wasting lis time in thinking out plans of an easy escape, Banda Singh at once rushed at the sector held by Rustam Dil Khan, and aftersome quick sword-wotk, tore through the enemy ranks and disappeared from the place. When the Sikhs had, thus, escaped, the residents of Kathuha and Parol drifted under a terrible cloud. Mortitied, Rustam Dil Khan burst upon them like a terrible storm. Their homes were plundered and numcrous innocent persons were driven to Lahore and sold in the slave market there. d Mohammand Amin Khan and Rustam Dil Khan were just then alienated from each other. The former wrote to the Emperor that Rustam Dil Khan had been bribed by the Sikhs, whom he helped to break through his flank of the siege. The Emperor was convinced of the truth of the report, recalled Rustam Dil Khan to Lahore and imprisoned him there, on August the Ist, 1711, till he was set free on November the 30th, 1711. Mohammad Amin Khan alone kept up his pursuit of the Sikhs. He persisted in keeping track of them, but refrained from attacking them. He played this gume till the death of Emperor Bahadur Shah, * It is the region between the Ravi and the Chenab rivers. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER XVIII The Scene in Lahore It was very tough going for the Sikhs and the Hindus of Lahore and its neighbourhood in those days. The Muslim oppression and tyrannies heaped upon them were of the extremely type. There was a general order to kill the Sikhs wherever they were found. Any one suspected of being a Sikh or being friendly with one, was put to death without much ado. Even the helpless Hindus were treated no less cruelly. Many of their families had their homes plundered and set on fire. It was almost impossible for them to live in Lahore. There was a monastery, opposite the royal palace and on the bank of the River Ravi, where a number of the Hindu ascetics lived. The Muslim priests, one day, incited a mob of their fanatics to attack the place asa result of which a Hindu woman ascetic was stabbed to death with a knife by a Muslim. The entire Hindu population in Lahore was extremely terrorised by such acts, Shiv Singh was a Hindu and a clerk of the Khan Khana. His son had an attack of small-pox one day. The boy was taken, in a procession by his relatives and friends who were singing hymns and beating cymbals, to the temple of the Hindu goddess, known as Sitala. This incident incited the fanatical Muslim maulvis to cry wolf and create disturbances on the excuse of ‘irreligion.’ Muslim mobs, thousands strong, and led by Maulvi Vardi Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 109 Beg started pillaging the Hindu homes in the city. The whole of Lahore was shocked to see this fanaticism and cruelty. Bachan Singh Kachhwaha and Badan Singh Bundhelia, had been appointed by the Emperor to keep peace and security in Lahore. They had encamped outside the city at a fine place, and they proclaimed it, with the beat of drums, that the harassed Hindus were to shift to their camp for their protection. Numerous Hindu families moved to the camp, But driven to despair they prepared themselves to oppose the terrorists. Finding that the situation was deteriorating fast, Zabardast Khan came in between the two hostile parties and persuaded the Governor of Lahore, Aslam Khan, to control the situation and keep peace between the two communities, the Hindus and the Muslims. The Emperor, too, reached Lahore within a few days after the incident. Respectable Muslims and maulvis complained to him that their homes had been plundered by the Hindus and the Sikhs of the city. He asked them about the difference between the Hindus and the Sikhs, He was told that the Hindus shaved their heads and chins, but the Sikhs never did that. He took no other action against the Hindus except issuing a royal proclamation telling them that it was compulsory for them to shave their heads and beards. And any Hindu disobeying the order, was to be punished as a Sikh. ~ There were many Hindus employed in high posts under the Muslim rulers. They had shaved their hair and appeared trim and smart in the royal court the next morn- ing. Any one of them refusing to shave himself was put to death. The government officers in the whole of the city took the barbars with them and whoever met them with a beard on, was shaved without fail. There were some Sikhs who, then, lived amongthe Hindus and mixed up with them, They werc in a great fix in the new conditions. Some of them, who found time over night, ran away from the town; but those who were captured, were invariably killed. The Emperor and his princes had encamped outside the town. The former now recalled to mind the previous Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 110 services of Rustam Din Khan. He set him free from the jail on November the 30th, 1711, and conferred on him the title of Ghazanfar Khan, The heatth of the Emperor failed about the end of January, 1712. He was off his head. His condition deteriorated further in another month. He ordered the dogs ani the donkeys in the city to be killed. The Goverinent officers were going the round of the streets, holding sticks ‘and other weapons in their hands and, as a result, numbers of dead dogs littered the streets. Another royal order demanded the yogis, ascetics and fakirs to be turned out of the city. Emperor Bahadur Shah held his last, Durbar on February the 24th, 1712. His health was failing rapidly. The Sardars and the princes were extra busy in those days. But they gave no thought to the sinking Emperor : they were building their respective chances for succession. The Emperor breathed his last during the night between February the 27th and the 28th. This death gave rise to an internecine war among his sons. It was traditional for most of the Mughal Kings to ascend the throne through a blood-path of their brothers, This happened to the sons of Bahadur Shah, too. The surroundings of Lahore were turned into a battlegroun.. Allthe generals and the Sardars of the kingdom joined this war of succession and sided with one or the other prince The guns boomed and the swords changed from March the 14th to the 28th, Azim Shah, Jahan Shah and Rafi-ul-Shah were killed and Jahandar Shah ascended the throne on March the 29th, 1712. He had Rustam Dil Khan, Ala Vardi Khan and Mukhlis Khan mus dered most cruelly. Muhabat Khan, Jahan Khan, Hakim-ul-Mulk, Huadayat-uila Khan, Fidwi Khan, Abdul Qadir Khan, Lutaf-wl-Khan, Mohammad Ali Klan and some others, about a score in number, were severely victimised. Their properties and homes were confiscated. And any one belonging to the royal family that he could lay his hands upon, was put to the sword. Only he escaped death who had sided with Jahandar Shah in that family holocaust. The only other man who was not done in, was Farrukh Siyer, the son of Azim Shah (Azim-ush-Shan) who, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com W later, put Jahandar Shah himself to death. Jahandar Shah left for Delhi after a month. He appointed Zabardast Khan the Governor of Lahore. The new Emperor lacked the ability to rule his empire. Zulfikar Khan became his Minister and many other non- entities were given high positions in his court. The Muslim mirasis (bards), in particular, received great favour from him. Most of the high class sardars felt disgusted with his measures. Farrukh Siyer was the Commander of Bihar- Bengal at the time. With the assistance of the Sayyad brothers, Hussain Ali and Abdulla, the Governors of Bihar and Allahabad respectively, le attacked Dehli. A contes- ted battle was fought and much blood shed. Jahandar Shah and his Minister, Zulifkar Khan, were killed and Farrukh Siyer occupied the throne of Delhi on February the 1ith, 1713. He appointed the Sayyad brothers, Abulla to Ministership and IIussain Ali to the post of the Comman- der-in-Chief. Zabardast Khan, the Governor of Lahore, was replaced by Abdus Samad Khan. In short, all the high class officers were replaced with new men. Banda Singh had slipped into the hills of Jammu _ after the battle of Behrampur, for the reason that Mohammad Amin Khan had made it impossible for the Sikhs to live in the. plains, The place in the beautiful Jammu hills where Banda Singh had spent his time, is still called the Dehra (hermitage) of Baba Banda Singh, When Mohammad Amin Khan heard the news of the death of Bahadur Shah and returned to Lahore, the Sikhs breathed a sigh of relief, Banda Singh, too, began to organise his power. He travelled from Jammu to Chamba and Mandi directly along the mountain paths, The common people, the Hindus, in particular, had come to believe that Randa Singh could work miracles and no power on earth could defeat him, That was why Siddh Sen, the ruler of Mandi and Ude Singh, that of Chamba, paid their reverence to and sought the blessings of Banda Singh, who agreed to marry a daughter of the prince of Chamba under pressure of the Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 112 latter’s requests.* The marriage was celebrated according to the Sikh rites. The elder son of Banda Singh, Ajai Singh by name, was the child of this marriage He was martyred in Delhi along with his father later. Banda Singh was not idling when the princes and the generals of Delhi were fighting their battle of succession in Lahore. He left Chamba and went straight to Sadhaura. The imperial army was completely concentrated in Lahore, largely ignoring the territory where Banda Singh was biding his time. He now occupicd Sadhaura and Lohgarh after curbing a slight opposition put up by the enemy. Tohgarh was once again made the Sikh capital, and the devastated parts of the fort were repaired. And the Sikhs again controlled a fairly large area around it. Ae * The second mattiage contracted by Banda Singh was to a daughter of a Khatri of Wazirabad, named Sahib Kaur, who became the mother of Ranjeet Singh, the second son of Banda Singh. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHATTER XIX The Tussel Continues After occupying the throne firmly, Jahandar Shah despatched Mohammad Amin Khan, to reconquer Sadhaura with the help of Zain-ud-Din Ahammad Khan, the Governor of Sirhind, Both. these generals besieged Sadhaura. However hard did they try to take Sadhaura by storm, the Sikhs attacked them from within with an equal dash and beat them back, This fight continued till December, 1712. When Jahandar Shah marched towards Agra in order to defeat Farrukh Siyer, he called Mohammad Amin Khan from Sadhaura. This left Zain-ud-Din Ahmed Khan alone to carry on his fight with the Sikhs. Banda Singh then found an opportunity, during the short interval, to strengthen the defences of the fort of: Sadhaura. Zain-ud-Din contiuned to maintain the siege. But he was badly harassed by Sikhs, who kept raining bullets on his force all the while. Day or night, dining or doing some thing else, the Sikhs ceaselessly fired on the besieging force. Thus irritated, Zain-ud-Din advanced his men and placed the guns at a short distance of forty to fifty yards from the walls of the fort. One of these guns kept up accurate firing. Heavy rain descended during the next night when the Sikhs made a sally from the fort in the darkness of the night and pushed that gun into a deep ditch. Zain-ud-Din had a hard job in retrieving the gun. he had to employ one hundred men at the rate of fifty rupees each to Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 114 pull it out.* While this siege was still on, the officers of the province were transferred to other places. Furrukh Siyer occupied the throne of Delhi on February the 11th, 1713, after killing Jahandar Shah, He removed Zabardast Khan from the Governorship of Lahore “and appointed Abdus Samad Khan Daler-i-Jang in his place, on February the 22nd, 1718, Zakaria Khan, the son of the latter, was made the Commander of Jammu. Rut they were, at the same time, toldto drive away the Sikls from Sadhaura before proceeding futher. Abdus-samad Khan commanded a.large army and reached Sadhaura. The army of Zain-ud-Din joined him there. Banda Singh was at Lohgarh at the time; but most of the Sikhs were in Sadhaura. As soon as Abdus-Samad Khan reached Sadhaura he did his best to conquer it. The Sikhs sallied out of the fort, attacked’ and licked their besiegers and returned to the fort. Banda Singh himself deputed some Sikhs of his force at Lohgarh, who would suddenly assault the Sadhaura Muslim army and return after inflicting heavy damage on the enemy, The rations of the Sikh army had totally run out by then. And the sallics they made, did not fetch them what they needed. At last, they were forced to vacate the forts. One night in the first week of October, 1713, the Sikhs left the fort of Sadhaura, cut through the enemy encirclement and reached Lohgarh, where Banda Singh and his men joined them, and all of them together went to the hills the same night. When the royal generals occupied the Sadhaura fort and advanced to Lohgarh, they found an empty fort there, too. The emperor received a report of this develup- ment on October the 9th, Abdus Samad Khan proceeded to Lahore after occupy- ing Sadhaura, and his son, Zakaria Khan, took the heads of the Sikhs, killed in the fighting, to the Emperor in Dethi. He presented himself to the Emperor on December the 18th, 1713. The Emperor gave him the robes of honour and promoted him to a higher rank. Abdus Samed Khan and Zakaria Khan were despatched to lead a campaign into Rajputana. The emperor made then costly gifts on " ® De, Ganda Sinhh: Banda Singh Bahadur, p. 185. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 115 their return to Delhi from there on June the 8th. They were again deputed to the Panjab, on June the 26th, with orders to decimate the Sikhs, The Sikh rising had once again been put down. Banda Singh went direct to Jammu after leaving Lohgarh and stayed in the old place that was later known as Dehra Bada Banda Singhor his hermitage. Here he was marricd to one, Sahib Kaur, his second wife. At this time the rural Muslim population began to tyrannise over and assassinate their Sikh and Hindu neighbours. The regular Sikh fighters were beyond their reach; but they terribly oppressed the Hindus who sympathised with the Sikhs. The cruelties practised by the Pathans of Kahnuwan District, in particular, knew no bounds. At last the non-muslims were literally driven to desperate countermeasures. The Sikhs of this neigh- bourhood arose with determination to fight these tyrants. Sardar Jagat Singh, a local Sikh leader, along with his brothers, relatives and other Sikhs, attacked the fortress of the Pathans on March the 27th, 1714. Mohammad Ishaq, the local Pathan leader, was killed during the action. The Sikhs gathered a booty worth sixty thousand rupees. “Quite a few families had left the village of Kahnuwan for ever, then,* A severe famine visited the country that year. The whole of northern India mas gripped by hunger. When every one was concerned with his own self, Banda Singh was occupie] with the task of building his military power. Khidmat Talb Khan replaced Zain-ud-Din Almad Khan as the Commander in Sirhind about this time. He began touring the area under him and that made it difficult for the Sikhs to move about there. Banda Singh descended from the mountains and came to the plains in February, 1715. His first target was Kalanaur. It is the town where Akbar had been crowned King. Kalanaur had advanced in prosperity with the stability of the Mughal rule. Beautiful mansions, splendid palaces and grcen, lovely gardens aflorded special grandeur to Kalanaur, It was the habitat of rich people in those * Dr. Ganda Singh: Banda Singh Bahadur, page 193. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com 116 days. Its Commander, Sohrab Khan, and its revenue officer, Santokh Rai, made fool-proof preperation for its protection. Anokh Rai, a brother of the latter, lent a big hand in its defence preparedness, These two Puri Khatries had a high opinion of their daring. The three of them called up large forces of the volunteers from the neighbouring villages and confidently waited for Sikhs to show up. Banda Singh rushed upon them with a dash that simply stunned them. When Sohrab Khan, Santokh Rai and Anokh Rai saw their men dying like flies at the flames, they knew no security other than the one ofa flight from the town. The three run-away musketeers left the town to the tender mercies of the Khalsa. The Sikhs plundered the town at their ease and took into possession the entire pargana.* The Sikhs next directed their attention to Batala, It isa very old town. It is said to have been founded by Ram Dev Bhatti. It is situated in the centre of the fertile tract of Riarki. It had grown to be a bustling town then. It had reached its maximum prosperity at the time of Banda Singh. It was populated by Bukhari Sayyads to the south of the Thathiari** gate in the west. There stood, next to it, the street of rich Qazis that extended to the large Hathit Gate. It consisted of pretty palaces and magnificent mansions, The mansions and the mosque of the Qazistt were well-known places there. The street ran from the Hathi Gate to the Acchli and from there to the Mian Gate.ttt Inside this gate were the palace, the holy seat and the school of Mohammad Fazil Qadri.{ttt He was alive at the time. There was a slaughter-house between the Acchali and the Hathi gates, where several cows were killed every day. The town had a pucca fortress for the Faujdar or commander in the town. Sheikh Mohammad Daim of *Karam Singh: Banda Bahadur, page 167. Mohammad Qasim: Ibrat Nama, p. 41. ** Braziers. +Elephant. tt Muslim priests, ttt A noble man. tttt Karam Singh: Banda Bahadur, page 168, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com W7 Bharowal was the Commander then. The news of the imminent Sikh raid made many residents of the town desert it. Mohammad Fazil Qadri and many of the darweshes and his other relatives ran away to Sultanpur in the Doaba for safety. Sheikh Ahimad, Commonly known as Sheikh-ul- Hind, was a great succeeder. He collected the people and persuaded them to fight and beat off the Sikhs, They shut the gates of the town and made full preparations to fight the raiders. The Sheikh-ul-Hind and the Commander Mohammad Daim marched out of the town by the Hathi Gate, to fight the Sikhs. Banda Singh left Kalanaur, spent the night at Acchal and raided Batala early in the morning like a ferocious tiger. The Commander and the Sheikh-ul-Hind fought bravely. A bloody battle continucd for some time. When tlie Sikhs made a determined attack, the enemy could not hold out. Sheikh-ul-Hind* lost his life and the Faujdar fled to Bharowal. The rest of the residents were cither put to the sword or ran away from the town. The Sikhs smashed the gates of the town and entered it. The first street that they attacked was the one of Qazi Abdul-Haq. Very rich people had their homes there. The whole of the street, was, therefore, plundered and reduced to ashes ¢ The school of Mohammad Fazil Qadri, the mansions of the Qazis and the houses of the butcl.ers were conipletely burnt down. In short, the town was devastated ina way that it could never regain its old prestige. Its residents, who escaped death, had saved their lives by fleeing to Lahore or to the hills of Chamba or Dasuha. The Sikhs once again controlled the entire region of the Riarki and one half of the Majha. They replaced the government police by their own appointees in the Majha. All this news had been sent to the Emperor in Delhi by his officers, * The men of the Sheikh-ul-Hind took his corpse to Wazirabad and buried it two miles outside the town. Tho village at the spot is called Kotla Sheikh-ul-Hind and his descendents live tyero, tM. Gregor, p.108. Ahimad Shah Batalia: Zikr-i-Guruan, p. 12. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER XX The Beginning of the End This ascendancy of the Sikh power again shook the Mughal rule to its foundations. Farrukh Siyer was bent upon suppressing the Sikh disturbances at any cost and | by all means. He sent an urgent order to Abdus Samad Khan Daler-i-Jang, the Governor of Lahore, to capture Banda Singh at his earliest. On March the 20th, 1715, he ordered Imad-ud-Daula Mohammad Amin Khan's son, Qamar-ud-Din Khan, Afra Sayyab Khan, Muzzafar Khan, Raja Ude Singh Bundelia, Raja Gopal Singh Bhadauria and several other Hindu and Muslim notable Sardars to proceed with their armies and reinforce the troops of the Daler-i-Jang. All the other feudal Sardars and Commanders in the Panjab also received similar urgent orders to join the campaign. Mirza Ahimad Khan, the Commander of Gujrat, Iradatmand Khan, the Commander of Aminabad, Nur Mohammad Khan, the Commander of Aurangabad and Pasrur,Sheikh Mohammad Daim,the Commander of Batala, Sayyad Hafiz Ali Khan, the Commander of Haibatpur- Patti, Sohrab Khan, the Commander of Kalanaur, Raja Bhim Singh Katochia and Hardev, the son of Raja Dhrub Dev, all marched to Lahore at the head of their armies. Arif Beg Khan, the Deputy Governor of Lahore, encamped near Shah Ganj, outside the city, and enlisted new forces, numbering several thousand. Meanwhile, Daler-i- Jang, too, was back to Lahore, after he had subdued the Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 19 Blattis of the Lakkhi forest. He now started, at the head of all these forces, to defeat Banda Singh. Banda Singh had full information of the enemy plans. He knew that he commanded too small a force to fight the imperial army. He, therefore, ordered his Sikhs to build a mud-walled fort near Kot Mirza Jaan. But the enemy hordes arrived beforce the Sikh defences were completed, Abdus Samad Khan Daler-i-Jang, the Governor of Lahore, was the Commander-in-Chief of the royal forces and Arif Beg his lieutenant. Kot Mirza Jaan was situated midway between Kalanaur and Batala, Banda Singh had opted for the place for two reasons, if victory favoured him, the enemy would be left shelterless and completely at the mercy of the Sikhs; but if, on the other hand, the imperialists had the upper hand, the Sikhs could have a free retreat into the hills, Banda Singh had becorne such a bane to the imperial generals that they were impelled to keep Muslim saints and priests with them to ward off the evil that he was likely to do them. There were numerous qazis,mullas and fakirs with the royal army, and they prayed all the while to God for the victory of the Emperor and the security of the lives of the generals, and recited verses from the Quran.* Not unoften would the army make the saints go in advance of them, making them recite the scripture louder and louder still, while the poor souls shivered in their shoes for fear of the Sikhs. Diler-i-Jang ordered an attack immediately on approaching the enemy position. Banda Singh, on the other hand, met the enemy with a dash and violence that shattered the enemies’ nerves. Men who fought for the allurements of pay and prizes and who kept first in mind the safety of their lives, were ranged against sincere warriors who had staked their all for the sake of martyrdom or victory: the two horses were different in spirit as in colour, The very first onset of the Sikhs had dislodged the imperial forces from their positions, Faced with an evident defeat, the royal generals taunted their soldiers, pressed them to * Rattan Singh Bhangoo, p. 128. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 120 fight hard and renewed their attacks from all the sides of the field. Finding themselves outnumbered in a big way, the Sikhs and their commander slowly retreated. But this falling back was so confidently and skilfully executed that the enemy had no chance to come to closer grips with, and overwhelm, them. The Sikhs had, at last, sought refuge in the fortress of Gurdas-Nangal. The old village of Gurdas-Nangal is now only a mound which is called the Ruins of Baba Banda. This mound is situated at a distance of one mile from the present village of Gurdas-Nangal and four miles to the west of the city of Gurdaspur. There was no regular fortress there. It was the large mansion of Bhai Duni Chand where the Sikhs found a refuge from the enemies. This was the so-called fort of Gurdas-Nangal. The Sikhs had dug the ditch around it deeper and the banks of the royal canal and of a natural stream near by were cut to fill the citch with water. This made it hard for a man or a horse to reach out to the mansion.t : It was on April the 17th, 1715, that Delhi received the news of the rout of the Sikhs and their retreat into Gurdas- Nangal. A royal message from Delhi ordered Daler-i-Jang to despatch immediately Banda Singh, alive or dead, to Delhi. Daler-i-Jang besieged the mansion held by the Sikhs. The Sikhs who had gone to the villages around to fetch food and fodder for their army, were captured and cruelly done to death by the enemies. Daler-i- Jang then launched repeated attacks against the besieged, The harder the royal forces pressed the fort- ress, the more ferociously were they thrown back by the Sikhs, The assaulters met an iron wall of opposition against which they broke .their fore-heads and rolled reeling back. The guns of the enemy hurled tons of cannon balls on the Sikhs; and the Sikhs retaliated with their arrows and bullets, which pierced the masses of the enemy forces, aie When Daler-i-Jang and his son, Zakria Khan, wer ¢ Mohammad Qartim: Ibrat Nama, p. 42. Qasim was a scrvant of Araf Beg and had acconipanied the Delhi armies at the time of the battle of Gurdas-Mangal. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 121 tired of their repeated attacks and failed to make a headway, they resolved to crush the Sikhs through starvation by a siege, All approaches were then completely plugged by the enemy forces. Abdul Samad Khan Daler-i-Jang himself commanded one flank of the fortress. The second wing was assigned to his son, Zakaria Khan, the third to Qamar-ud-Din Khan and the fourth to the rest of the commanders and the landlords. It was not possible for the Sikhs to receive any more food whatever from out- side. They were in for the severest hardships, All the same, the dauntless Sikhs defied all dangers. A party of the Sikhs, forty or fifty strong, would sally forth, cut through the enemy defences, snatch whatever they could lay their hands on, by pressing, killing or plundering the enemics, and would carry their booty back into the mansion, The enemy found these sallies most irritating. Out of desparation they started bombarding the Sikh defences blindly. Even this failed to make any impression on the Sikhs, who held the maxim, “to find comfoit in discomfiture,’’* dearest to their licarts. They raised their war slogans boldly and lustily from inside their defences and terrorised the enemy, The’imperial generals repeatedly prayed to God to rid them of that nasty emergency, Tf nothing better were to happen, they heartily wished that their enemy should slip out of the fortress so that the whole annoying business should any way end. The Sikhs were severely short of rations and their enemies of their courage. The Daler-i-Jang had in a way Inst all hope of a victory. His anxicty was as to how to dispose of that tantaliser. He recognised an instrument of doom in Banda Singh, On the other hand, there was the obvious risk of annoying the Emperor. In addition, there was the possibility of his fall in the public estimation. He ordered the sicge of the mansion to be tightened and strengthened further. His generals had, moreover, the tents of their soldiers pitched nearer the walls, making the encirclement fool-proof. Each tent joined with the two on both its sides, with a fencing of tightened ropes running full ¢ Sf fefe Ay Harel 1 Dukh wich sukh manseen. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 122 circle on the inner side. There was not an inch of space that was not covered by tents, ropes and watchmen. The Sikhs were cornered more tightly than ever before. Yet they did present a bold front. Baba Binod Singh would cross the encirclement in disguise and buy sweets and other food in the royal army market at a higher price than the normal rate. Whenever he was suspected, he used his sword to protect himself and slung back into the mansion, The entire royal force was sick of such skirmishes, It built platforms of earth, ten to twenty yards long and not less than six feet high, in front of its tents, as protection against the Sikh bullets. But the greatest fear for the besiegers was that of the magical powers of Banda Singh. Though the qazis, mullas and fakirs assured them that their prayers had made the magic of Banda Singh innocuous, yet the generals were still not convinced of this fact. They belicved that Banda Singh had the powers even to change his form and go out of, and back into, his fortress at his pleasure. The result was that even a dog or a cat that came from the Sikh side, was made a target of the royal soldiers’ arrows and bullets and was reduced to lumps of flesh. Months passed like this. There were urgent and frequent messages trom the Emperor, urging an early capture of the fortress. Daler-i-Jang was himself no. less — impetient with the stale-mate. He requisitioned thousands of men and sent them inte the surrounding area to cut timber and used it in building high platforms from where to bLom- bard the Sikhs. The embankment thus raised outside, was higher than the walls of the mansion. The generals planned to place their soldiers there and made them fire on the Sikhs in their fortress. The Sikhs still retained self-confi- dence and let no enemy approach their walls. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamchariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER XXI The End Itself Another regrettable event happened at this stage. The Sikhs were discussing the question of staying put in the fortress and to continue fighting or slipping out of it and through the enemy lines, as was done at Lohgarh. Banda Singh favoured sticking on to the fortress; but Baba Binod Singh advocated throwing up of the hot patato. The two generals even Jost temper as the discussion continucd. Then their quarrel grew bitterer and they drew their swords for a fight, when Kahn Singh, the son of Binod Singh, stepped between the two and appealed to them for peace and not to damage the Sikh cause in that critical hour. He further suggested that one of them should leave the fortress. Baba Binod Singh agrecd to clear out. He rode his horse, bared his sword and safely pushed through the enemy defences.* That was the end of that sad incident. The sicge had already lasted for eight months. The enemy did not allow anything whatever to trickle into the fortress. Not much of food and fodder could have becn stored inside the building. Whatever they possessed, had already been consumed. The Sikhs had snatched, in their sallies, a little from the foes. And occasionally they had purchased a little from a greedy imperial army-man at a high cost, too. But that did not last for long. Soon men and horses began to die of starvation. Many a precious * Karam Singh: Banda Bahadur, pages I76-77. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 124 life was lost like that. The Sikh fighters lived on the boiled leaves of trees, without salt, for some time. They peeled off the bark from the trees, dried and powdered it and used it for flour. Harder days came when these resources, too, gave out, in turn. The killing of the horses for meat followed. Next came the turn of the mules and the donkeys to live on. No fuel of any kind was available any more; they now tried to appease their hunger with raw flesh. Some of them went to the limit of tearing their own thighs open and eating their own flesh to keep going. There is no other example known to history when people were reduced to such horrible straits to pacify the demands of elemental hunger. The Chamba wife of Banda Singh and their son, Ajai Singh, were also among them.* = This innocent child of four years, too, suffered extreme hardships in the name of the Guru. In spite of all this ruination, the Sikhs did not lose heart. They aimed their rifles at the enemies and pressed their triggers, even when they were at death’s door. Then their ammunition, too, finished, as had their rations already. These warriors with stalwart bodies were now raduced to mere skcletons, Even then the enemy did not muster enough courage to advance to attack the besieged and hungry lions. At long last, Daler-i-Jang resorted to a diplomatic foul play. He sent a message to Banda Singh, saying that if the Sikhs evacuated the fortress, the Emperor would forgive them for all that they had done. Moreover, they were to be awarded feudal estates under a royal mandate. He declared the yenuineness of that promise on an oath on the holy Quran and sent a present to Banda Singh, in proof of his earnestness. t It was under these terms that on December the 17th, 1715, and under orders of Banda Singh, the gate of the Gurdas-Nangal mansion was flung open. Famished with * Sahib Kaur, the second wife of Banda Singh, was living at Dehra Baba Banda Singh, in Jammu territory and it was at this time that she give birth to her son, Ranjeet Singh. ¢ Rattan Singh Bhangoo, pages 126-27, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 125 hunger and half dead the Sikhs lay within it helplessly, Abdus Samad Khan Daler-i-Jang forgot all his words of honour and oaths and made Banda Singh a captive. He also had two to three hundred Sikhs bound hands and feet in ropes, and pushed them down to the tender mercies of his soldiers, who had dared not attack the mansion before, but who now used their lances and swords freely against the helpless captives. All of them were killed most mercil- essly. This was an unfailing proof of their cowardice and treachery. The army next entered the mansion in order to search it. They dug every inch of its flooring and found nothing there. Had the Shikhs possessed any wealth, ny would not have stopped fighting. Every enemy soldier thought that the Sikhs possessd a huge treasure, The question was: where was it concealed ? The bodies of the dead Sikhs were torn open to make sure that they had not concealed gold coins in their intestines, Thus there were some Sikhs among them who were still breathing and not dead; they were now lynched. This gruesome tragedy and holocaust ended at last. The rest of the Siklis, about two hundred in number,* were captured along with Banda Singh, and were made to carry aloft, on the lances, the heads of their former comrade Sikhs, now dead. Daler-i-Jang, in this way, marched back from Gurdas- Nagal, beating drums of triumph. The Emperor had the news of thi®victory on December the 22nd, 1715. Though a captive, the terror of Banda Singh’s powers still made the minds of his captors tremble and deeply panicky. They were terribly afraid of his working the occult powers and flying high over their heads. A bold man among the arniy officers offered to be tied to the body of Banda Singh with a stout, iron chain, so that when the latter attempted to fly, he was to open his vitals with a dagger. From Gurdas-Nangal the royal army reached Lahore in great glory. There were rows of spectators on both sides of the road to see the fun. The procession of Banda Singh *Karam Singh: Banda Bahadur, page 177, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 126 was approaching. Bandsmen, playing their tunes, came foremost. They were followed by the Mughal army, carry- ing the heads of about three thousand dead Sikhs on their lances. Next came Banda Singh, trapped in an iron cage, placed on an elephant’s back, with a Mughal army officer chained to him on either sides.* His feet were fettered, wrists hhand-cuffed, a heavy, iron ring round his neck and a heavy chain tied around his waist, the two ends of which were secured fast round the waists of the two Mughal army men on his sides. Then there came two hundred Sikh captives, each two of whom were chained to the back of a camel or that of a donkey. All of them had been reduced to mere skeletons; but their faces had not lost their usual lustre. Last of all came the imperial generals, commanders, rich men, land-lords, Hindu rajas and their forces. Thousands of the Lahore citizens had crowded the sides of the roads, the business strcets and the roofs of the houses. After they had been paraded along soime of the streets, they were imprisoned in the royal fort. Abdus Samad Khan Daler-i-Jang asked for the royal permission to present Banda Singh personally at Delhi; the Emperor, however, refused. He ordered Daler-i-Jang to keep in Lahore for controlling the administration of the territory and to tell Zakaria Khan and Qamar-ud-Din Khan to take the Sikh captive in their charge to Delhi. Zakaria Khan started with two hundred Sikh prisoners as his charge. But he thought this number too small for a presentation to the Emperor. Therefore, he ordered his officers to capture as many Sikhs from the villages as they could lay their hands on. His chaudhris and subordinates ran amuck in the villages, like hunting dogs, in search of the Sikhs. He who learnt of it in time, sought safety in disappearing from his place. The man who oppesed his capture, was murdered then and there. And the man who was captured, was handed over to Zakaria Khan as a prisoner of war. Hundreds of the heads of the innocent Sikhs who had been thus killed and hundreds: others who were captured in the villages, were taken to swell the numbers whom Zakaria Khan took to Delhi. They had * Rattan Singh Bhangoo: Pracheen Panth Parkash, p. 141. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 127 not disobeyed, or fought with, the Government forces; their direst crime was that they professed Sikhism. This procession arrived at Sirhind where it was taken the round of the main streets. Banda Singh was carried on an elephant and other Sikhs in bullock carts, Each one of them had his hands and feet fastencd in chains. Yet, as they looked at the blood-stained fort of the place, the muscles of their arms did not fail to tickle with excitement. Big crowds had assembled in all the streets to have a look at them. Those who had their houses burnt during the previous disturbances, called names to, and brick—batted, the Sikhs. The Sikhs recited their hymns to themselves caimly.* he Emperor was informed on February the 25th, 1716, that the prisoners were nearing Delhi. He deputed Itmad- ud-Daula Mohammad Amin Khan to go out to mect them and to take them into Delhi in a proper, presentable form.t * Rattan Singh Bhangoo: Pracheen Panth Prakash, p. 142, + Kamwar Khan: Tazkora-ul-Sulatin Chugtayan, p. 179, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com CHAPTER XXU In Delhi The strange procession entered Delhi by the Lahori Gate, It was led by three thousand army-men, cach carry- ing a head of a Sikh atop a pole, with the long hair flowing behind, They were followed by a skeleton of a cat, similarly held high on a pole, to indicate that not a living creature had escaped from the mansion at Gurdas-Nangal. Then came Banda Singh, He was carried on the back of an elephant, shut fast in a cage, wearing a red turban, covered with gold chains, The jail executioner sat behind him, holding a neked sword aloft in his hand. They were followed by seven hundred and forty Sikh captives, bound in pairs and carried on camel-backs. Most of them wore wooden caps and had their faces blackened. Each one of them had one hand extended forward and the other backward, thrust ina wooden frame and made fast there with nails driven around it. The tried generals of Banda Singh were forced to wear sheep skins and walk on both sides his elephant. Next, there came the three Mughal Commanders : Nawab Mohammad Amin Khan China Bahadur, his son, Qamar-ud-Din Khan Bahadur and son-in-law, Zakaria Khan Bahadur, making the rear of the procession. Their army men stood in file, on both sides of the cavalcade, which was followed by a huge crowd of the citizcn-spectators. The streets and the roofs of the houses, too, were full of people, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com 129 come out to watch the Sikhs and their victors. Mirza Mohammad Harisi, the author of ‘“Ibrat Nama,” personally accompanied the procession from the Loon Mandi (Salt Market) to the Shahi (royal) Fort. He has written in his book, ‘There was not a single person in Delhi who had not turned up to see that spectacle that day. The Mulims were beside themselves with delight; yet the Sikh prisoners, too, felt happy. There was no sign of sorrow or sadness to be seemin their faces. They looked happy in reciting their Guru’s hymns. “Tf anybody offered to give them his sympathy in their. misfortune, their reply was brief : ‘Sweet is the Will of God. To another sympathiser who remarked : ‘They are going to kill you,’ their answer was ; ‘We arc not afraid of death, You may kill us, if you like. Were we afraid of dying, how could we have fought you so often ? It was starvation that had knocked us under. Otherwise, you know the mettle we are made of and what we are up to.’ ’* When the procession reached the fort, the Emperor ordered Banda Singh and some of his Sardars, like Baj Singh, Fateh Singh and others, to be kept as prisoners in the fort under supervision of Ibrahim-ud-Din Khan Mir Atish. The rest of the Sikhs, six hundred and ninety four in number, were sentenced to death and were handed over to Sarbrah Khan Kotwalt for execution. Mohammad Amin Khan, Qamar-ud-Din Khan and Zakaria Khan were presented with the robes of honour and other prizes, the next day. Zakaria Khan then deposited all the booty that he had captured in Gurdas-Nangat fortress in the royal arsenal. It comprised the following articles ; Swords 1000 Shields 278 Bows and their bukets 173 Rifles 180 Daggers 114 Small Swords 217 Gold Coins 23 Rupee Coins 600) * Harisi: Ibrat Nama, pages 58-58. ¢ Jailer. Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com www.archive.org/details/ namdhari 130 Gold Ornaments A few* It was with the help of this very scanty war material that the Sikhs had been defying the powerful and extensive . Mughal empire for eight months. But, had they possessed necessary material to fight with the Mughals on eqnal foat- ing, no enemy could have forced them to evacuate the mansion of Gurdas-Nangal. 7 The execution of the Sikhs started on March the 5th 1716, under orders of the Emperor and under the chargc of the Kotwal, Sarbrah Khan. One hundred Sikhs were taken to the execution ground in front of the Chabutra Jail. The executioner sharpened his sword while his victims looked on. There were spectators standing all around and in the centre were the captive Sikhs of Guru Gobind Singh, the lovers of their faith and of death. The executioner read out the royal sentence that declared . ‘‘He who will accept conversion to Islam, shall be absolved of all his crimes and he exalted with royal honours, But he who declines this favour, shall be be- headed.”’ There was m xe among those Sikhs who preferred life to his faith, Tl