Sarkar Kfiafsa The Great Drama of Rea f Guru Nanak
...... tail; wv n ^ Jl Dr. Kufcfip Singh, FRCS Chandigarh I
Digitized bv Paniab Digitat Library WWW. Sarkar Khalsa The Great Drama of Real Guru Nanak
Dr. Kuldip Singh, FRCS
2080, Sector 15C, Chandigarh Ph. 2772980, email - [email protected] l I
Dedication Dedicated to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II In Commemoration of her Visit to Sri Darbar Sahib Amritsar The Site of Operation Bluestar, Where the Real Guru Nanak Revealed Himself:“The Light of the Lord Himself was called Guru Nanak.” Recorded in Sri Guru Granth Sahib is True.
2 SARKAR KHALSA THE GREAT DRAMA OF REAL GURU NANAK
I The Enigma of Sarkar Khalsa During last few years of 18th Century several different armies were fighting for occupying Lahore. The three main groups were Leaderless Mughal Army, Remnants of Afghani and the various Sikh misls. In the chaotic conditions with complete break down in Law and Order in 1799, the Muslim and other Leaders of Lahore approached a totally illiterate 17th year young Ranjit Singh who was an expert horse rider and sword tighter to take over the Government and provide peace. The Sikh Misl Leaders including Jathedar Akal Takhat were advised by Sahib Singh Bedi who enjoyed the great respect to accept Ranjit Singh as Head of Sarkar Khalsa.
Who advised this totally illiterate* Ranjit Singh to commence a sovereign State with a meteoric rise, which soon came to the notice of the British who had occupied most of the India and the European Countries? (*Who could not read and write any language) Following the capture and execution of Banda Bahadar along with his 740/780 soldiers in March 1716, the Sikhs were scattered. The Sikhs started regrouping with the Mughal forces trying to liquidate them. Sikhs had their sympathizer amongst the Hindu majority of Punjab. Several Hindus on 3 the other hand were cooperating with the Mughals to get rewards for in forming them about the Sikh hideouts. The harrowing brutalities faced by the Sikhs are still recounted in the daily Ardas. The brave Khalsa Sikh soldiers of other Missals came forward to rapidly extend the domain of the Sarkar Khalsa. The fervour and death defying Khalsa soldiers was recorded by Ghulam Jilani in his “Jang-i-Multan ^(1818): “that a cannon lost one of its wheels and could not be properly fired without support. The Durbar soldiers wrangled among each other to have the honour of supporting the cannon on their shoulders. Many were killed with the recoil of the gun.” Kashmir was next Captured, July 1819 and by 1822 most of the West Punjab was under Sarkar Khalsa. Mohkam Chand, Hari Singh Nalwa, Misr Dewan Chand andAkali Phula Singh were the successful commanders. The fame of Sarkar Khalsa spread to Europe. At the same time Maharaja Ranjit Singh commenced employing European officers to give a modem look to his Army. Over 50 European officers were in the Sarkar Khalsa Army at the time of demise of Maharaja in the 1839. After the death of Akali Phula Singh in 1823 Maharaja changed his lifestyle. He married the two young daughters of the Kangra Raja and became addicted to opium alcohol and entertainment by dancing girls. Ranjit Singh gave large offerings to temples and mosques and celebrated Hindu and Muslim festivals. Sarkar Khalsa was a peaceful secular state and Maharaja enjoyed love and affection of all Punjabis. Everyone mourned him. In spite of universal love of his subjects, the Sarkar Khalsa came to an end within ten years. What were the factors, which lead to its meteoric rise and its rapid decline? Only the soldiers of Sarkar Khalsa gained the reputation of being invincible on the battlefield.
4 Digitized wwwjjanjtMiailib^om SARKAR KHALSA THE GREAT DRAMA OF GURU NANAK n True Story of Eclipse of Sarkar Khalsa According to the admission made by Sir Robert Cust, in his logbook entry, dated 22nd December 1845, the British Command had formally decided at night to “Surrender unconditionally” the next morning before the Khalsa army. Lord Hardinge, the British Governor General, who took part in this battle, also thought that everything was over\ After making his will, he handed it to his son, who was his ADC, together with his sword-a present from the Duke of Wellington and 1/ which once belonged to Napoleon, his Star of the Bath, and ordered him to escape in the night to Ferozepore, saving “if the day were lost, I must fall.” “THE TRUTH: Why did Lord Harding decided at night to “Surrender unconditionally” the next morning before the Khalsa army?”He had witnessed the killings of the British soldiers at the hands of the Sarkar Khalsa soldiers. r No Britishj>oldier was prepared to face the Khalsa soldiers ' and they had deserted from the field^l Why and how did this j happen? If asked to surrender the British had no option because the British soldiers were not there to fight. Nanaksdas visualized how a soldier of Sarkar Khalsa would hold the bayonet of the British soldier with his left hand saying loudly “SATNAAM” and wielding his sword with his right hand was shouting “ WaheGuru” while severing his 5 neck. The speed of cutting of the British necks was realty staggering. Many dozens were killed per hour. The Sarkar Khalsa soldiers never thought about their own life”. The above note” THE TRUTH... own life” is by Nanaksdas written on deep contemplation. This was based on the memory which was too old had gone much below consciousness. The surrender did not take place because the already “Contracted Sikh Generals” made the victorious Khalsa soldiers to surrender to the British. The British always shuddered at the thought of the manner in which the soldiers of the Sarkar Khalsa were cutting the necks of the British soldiers as if they were cutting a cauliflower crop.
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Digitized by PaniahMaitaUjbran^wwwu^ SARKAR KHALSA THE GREAT DRAMA OF GURU NANAK m The Truth of Anglo Sikh Wars 1845 “The ill-equipped, ill-fed and in gloriously betrayed Sikh soldiers fought the enemy with such bravery and ferocity that the enemy had to make hurried special contacts with Generals Lai Singh and Tej Singh to save the situation for them.’’(Kapur Singh, Parasara Prasana pp 248-249) Lord Gough then told the whole truth when he added, “Certain it is that there would have been a different story to tell if the body of men had not been commanded by traitors.” (The life and Campaigns of Viscount Gaugh, p. 108) Out of the once 54 European officers in the Khalsa army, only two, namely Col. Mouton and Col. Harbon took part in the First Anglo - Sikh War. Col. Mouton, a Commander of Regular Cavalry and a French officer, published a report in Paris in 1846, which Inter-alia, records, “Very little was needed to conquer the British, at least in the north of India. Without treason a campaign of one month would have lead us to Delhi.” Shame, therefore, to all those who enriched by the great Maharaja or his successors, preferred dishonour and the breaking up of the kingdom to a glorious war and the sharing of its perils. (Dr. Ganda Singh (ed.) the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845- 46). Punjab Past and Present, Serial No. 29, April 1981, p 127)
7 1849 The British Subaltern wrote, “The Sikhs fought like devils.... Such a mass of men I never set eye on and as plucky as lions they ran right on the bayonets of the 21st (Regiment) and struck at their assailants when they were transfixed. (Sita Ram Kohli, Sunset of the Sikh Empire 1967 p. 175) When the remnants of Sikh soldiers, without any backing from their state, challenged in battle the British army at Chillianwala on 13th January, 1849, the rout of British was so decisive and complete that even patriotic British historians are obliged to admit that they were defeated. The great grand- father of the writer of these lines, who fought in this battle used to narrate that the Sikhs, for full twelve hours pursued the scattered British soldiers in all directions, who when overtaken would fall on their knees to beg for mercy, saving” hum tumhara sei.” (I am like a defenceless cow to you), on the sight of a Sikh soldier. (Kapur Singh,Parasara Prasana p. 249) General Thackwell, who was present, wrote, “In this action as well as at Chillianwala, Sikhs caught hold of the bayonets of their assailants with their left hands and closing with their adversaries, dealt furious sword blows with their right. This circumstance alone will suffice to demonstrate the rare species of courage possessed bv these men. The fidelity displayed by the Sikh gunners is worthy of record: the devotion, with which they remained at their posts, when the atmosphere around them was absolutely fired by the British guns, does not admit description. (Sita Ram Kohli, Sunset of the Sikh Empire 1967 p. 178) 8 The fight at Gujrat was a disaster though, the coup de erace was, however, delivered again bv the Arch Traitor. Gulab Singh Dogra. (Sita Ram Kohli, Sunset of the Sikh Empire 1967 P-179)
After the death of Akali Phula Singh in 1823 Maharaja changed his lifestyle. He married the two young daughters of the Kangra Raja and became addicted to opium alcohol and entertainment by dancing girls. SARKAR KHALSA THE GREAT DRAMA OF GURU NANAK IV The Training of the Sarkar Khalsa Soldiers There is no doubt in both the Anslo-Sikh wars of 1845 and 1849. The British successes had been on account of the treason of General Lai Sinsh and Tei Singh 1845 and by the Arch Traitor, Gulab Sinsh Dosra in 1849. The British shuddered at the thought of the manner in which the soldiers of the Sarkar Khalsa were cutting the necks of the British soldiers. They decided to take immediate steps that the British have never to face the SOLDIERS OF SARKAR KHALSA again. There were no history books to explain how did the Gurus achieve to bring such a change that the people of the lowest strata society, whose ancestors had never held a sword in their hand for generations into such ferocious warriors. *The Sarkar Khalsa soldiers used to read SGGS and believed that they belonged to the Army of Akal Purkh or God. Soldiers believed that there was no difference between their Guru and God. For them dying while fighting for truth would provide them MUKTI or freedom from the cycle of birth and death. The British became certain that the Sikh soldiers learn from their Gurus when they recalled that their record 133 years earlier had showed the same death defying character of the Khalsa. Jhere were no books on history or stories about the Gurus. Sikhs never felt the need for the same.
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Digitized b^EBnjRt^kjiUUibrarvI In 1716, the Sikh soldiers/vrisoners who were captured along with Banda Bahadur, were addressing their executioners as ‘Muktas’ or deliverers (giving them mukti from the cycle of birth and death). To their surprise the British found that the other Sikhs, the religious leaders (Sikh clergy! and the Sikh Sardars (with few exceptions, all of whom had died in the battle! had all the faults of the other societies of the world like addiction to wealth, wine and women. The Sarkar-e-Khalsa was the Best State of the world during 1799 to 1849 and was admired by the Heads of the European States. The loss of the Sikh kingdom, which meant end of their sovereignty, did not matter to them. Sikh Sardars were too eager to win favors from their new masters. These scholars were ready to help the British in every wav. Can they wean the Sikhs from reading Guru Granth Sahib? This was the big question before the British. The British commenced a search to locate any good writer among the Sikh Sardars. Would that alone be enough? The thoughtful British noted that the opposition faced by the British in the Anglo Sikh Wars had shaken them. Never before, the British Armies had faced such a situation. The behavior of other native Armies was very different, ever since the British started conquering one Indian State after the other in the last two hundred years. The British realized that the Sikhs were very different. They have to bring about such changes in
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Diaitizpd by Paniabmb Digital Library I www.oawabdiailib.om. the practice of Sikh religion that it js regarded by every one as an offshoot of Hinduism./Bhai Vir Singh Ji obngea-th^^Brttish an'd'conVerfea the unique religion of Guru Nanak into an offshoot of Hinduism.
The fervour and death defying Khalsa soldiers was recorded by Ghulam Jilani in his “Jang- i-Multan” (1818): “that a cannon lost one of its wheels and could not be properly fired without support. The Durbar soldiers wrangled among each other to have the honour of supporting the cannon on their shoulders. Many were killed with the recoil of the gun.”
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Digitized t SARKAR KHALSA THE GREAT DRAMA OF REAL GURU NANAK V Factors Responsible for Earning Respect and Esteem for Sikhs in the Western Countries during the 19th Century: Sikh Religion came to the notice of the Western World in the 17th and 18th centuries as the latest organized Religion. Before the Printing Press Era, very little was known about the History of the Gurus and the factors, which lead to its emergence. The METEORIC RISE of Sarkar Khalsa attracted the attention of the European countries. RANJIT SINGH DESIRED to have Highly Paid Foreign Officers to train his Army. The Comparative PEACE made several officers from various countries to join his army. A total of 54 EUROPEAN OFFICERS were in the Army of Sarkar Khalsa by 1839.
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Digitized bv Paniab Digital Library I www.ganiabdigiiib^m. Large Number of Generals and other high officers of the British Army took part in the Anglo Sikh Wars. Governor General of India, Lord Harding had witnessed the total rout of the British Army. He had correctly decided if asked to surrender, he had no option except total surrender. He was also clear that as an out come. The British had to abandon the whole of India. No British soldier could face the soldier of Sarkar Khalsa. The daredevil quality of the Sarkar Khalsa soldiers spread to all over Europe. The other quality of Sarkar Khalsa Soldiers, Saint Soldiers in Peace, was not known even to General Hari Singh Nalwa and Maharaja Ranjit Singh himself. Peshawar had been a part of Afghanistan since 1001 until it was liberated by General Hari Singh Nalwa on 6~ May 1834 and annexed it to the Sikh Kingdom. Maharaja Ranjit Singh wrote a letter to Captain Wade, political agent Ludhiana on 12.5,1834. “By the Grace of God at the present auspicious moment I have been delighted by the arrival of happy news... (Details of the battle)... Peshawar fell in the hands of officers of my government who extended their protection to the inhabitants of the place and their property. In the evening there were illuminations in the city which was hailed both by Hindus and Mohammadans of the country as harbinger of their deliverance from hands of their tyrants”. (General Hari Singh Nalwa, by Baba Prem Singh Hoti, 1937, p 234-235) PAST. PRESENT ANb FUTURE OF SIKHS IN TH E WORLh
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www. panjabdigilib. org The Sarkar Khalsa Soldiers, Invincible in the Battlefield Saint Soldiers during Peace earned for the Sikhs admiration and respect in the western world. The Sikh Soldiers maintained their reputation in the Saragarhi episode of 1897 and in the two world wars. They have spread to 100 countries. The Sikhs are building bigger and bigger Gurdwaras all over the globe. They have now to propagate the Mission of Guru Nanak enshrined in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. End of all violence and permanent peace would be heralded in early 21- Century.
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15 Digitized bv Paniab Digital Library I www.oaniabdiaUib.om. SARKAR KHALSA THE GREAT DRAMA OF REAL GURU NANAK VI British Reaction to the Unique Sol dier of Sarkar Khalsa The Sikh Soldier of Sarkar Khalsa were admired and held in great respect after 1849 Invincible in battle Saint Soldiers in peace was due to their reading SGGS The soldier did not have any personal attachment The Sikhi character of the soldiers was exemplary British officers of Sikh Regiments kept flowing beards and did not smoke The Sikh Regiments had qualified granthis in the regimental Gurdwaras During First World War 1914-1918 the Sikh soldiers were supplied a small copy of Guru Granth Sahib in their kit The Sikh soldiers maintained their Sikhi character in World Warll. In this Drama, the Real Guru Nanak is showing that the under standing of SG GS is the gift of the Guru JOT ROOP HARAAP GUROO NAANAK KAHAA-YO (1408) The Light of the Lord Himself was called Guru Nanak
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24 THE UNIQ UE SOLDIERS OF SARKAR KHALSA I
25 INVINCIBLE IN THE BATTLEFIELD
SAINT SOLDIERS DURING PEACE
26 THE UNIQ UE SOLDIERS OF SARKAR KHALSA II
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DISPLAYED DURING ANGLO-SIKH WAR 1845 Total rout of British Army 22 December 1845
28 The British command decided to SURRENDER UNCONDITIONALLY the next morning before the Khalsa Army. Lord Hardinge, the British Governor General, who took part in this battle, thought that everything was over. After making his will, he handed it to his son- who was his ADC, together with his sword-a present from the Duke of Wellington and which once belonged to Napoleon, his Star of the Bath, and ordered him to escape in the night to Ferozepore, saying “if the day were lost, I must fall.” No British soldier was prepared to face the Khalsa soldiers any more and they had deserted from the field. The soldier of Sarkar Khalsa would hold the bayonet of the British soldier with his left hand saying loudly “SATNAAM” and wielding his sword with his right hand was shouting “ WaheGuru” while severing his neck. The speed of cutting of the British necks was realty staggering. Many dozens were killed per hour. The Sarkar Khalsa soldiers never thought about their own life”.
29 digitized J% The surrender did not take place because the already “Contracted Sikh Generals*” made the victorious Khalsa soldiers to surrender to the British. The British always shuddered at the thought of the manner in which the soldiers of the Sarkar Khalsa were cuttins the necks ofthe British soldiers as if they were cutting a cauliflower crop. Why and how did this happen? If asked to surrender the British had no option because the British soldiers were not there to fight. * Lai Singh and Tej Singh
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—-Digi tized^h^te www^paniabdiqU]f/^ora THE U N IQ U E SOLDIERS OF SARKAR KHALSA
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Digitized by Pan]ab Digital Library j www.panjabdigilib.o INVINCIBILITY DISPLAYED
DURING ANGLO-SIKH WAR 1849
32 DkritizecUj^anial^krita^brw^^wwjja^^ “The Sikhs fought like devils.... Such a mass of men I never set eye on and as plucky as lions they ran right on the bayonets of the 21st (Regiment) and struck at their assailants when they were transfixed.” When the remnants of Sikh soldiers, without any backing from their state, challenged in battle the British army at Chillianwala on 13th January, 1849, the rout of British was so decisive and complete that even patriotic British historians are obliged to admit that they were defeated. The great grandfather of the writer of these lines, who fought in this battle used to narrate that the Sikhs, for full twelve hours pursued the scattered British soldiers in all directions, who when overtaken would fall on their knees to beg for mercy, saving “hum tumhara sei. ” (I am like a defenceless cow to you), on the sight of a Sikh soldier. General Thackwell, who was present, wrote, “In this action as well as at Chillianwala, Sikhs caught hold of the bayonets of their assailants with their left hands and closing with their adversaries, dealt furious sword blows with their right This circumstance alone will suffice to demonstrate the rare species of courage possessed by these men. The fidelity displayed by the Sikh gunners is worthy of record: the devotion, with which they remained at their posts, when the atmosphere around them was absolutely fired by the British guns, does not admit description. The fight at Gujrat was a disaster though; the coup de grace was, however, delivered again by the Arch Traitor, Gulab Singh Dogra. THE UNIQUE SOLDIERS OF SARKAR KHALSA IV SAINT SOLDIERS DURING PEACE
Peshawar had been a part of Afghanistan since 1001 until it was liberated by General Hari Singh Nalwa on 6th May 1834 and annexed it to the Sikh Kingdom. Maharaja Ranjit Singh wrote a letter to Captain Wade, political agent Ludhiana on 12.5.1834 ”By the Grace of God at the present auspicious moment I have been delighted by the arrival of happy news... (Details of the battle)... Peshawar fell in the hands of officers of my government who extended their protection to the inhabit ants of the place and their property. In the evening there were illuminations in the city which was hailed both by Hindus and Mohammedans of the country as harbinger of their de liverance from hands of their tyrants”. Why the people of Peshawar greeted the Sarkar Khalsa Army? Fifteen years earlier, the victorious Sikh Army entering Kashmir in 1819, their commander Hari Singh Nalwa declared that the Khalsa soldiers will not plunder or molest any one. The harsh Shariat rule of Islam would be replaced. Instead of 16000 Afghani Army Hari Singh Nalwa brought about complete peace in the valley by keeping only Sikh Army of 1500. The 35
DiqTtTze^^ania^DiqTta^bmr^^ww^pamabdiaiU^^^ Khalsa Army did not behave like an Army of occupation. The Kashmiris lived in perfect peace under Lahore Darbar. The news about the exemplary behaviour of the Sikh Army _in Kashmir had spread all over the world. Hdcf'd M'ttH'
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