Medieval and early modern periods 1206
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to unite with Almighty Lord. It is about inward cleansing of the conscience and seeking unity with Supreme Lord through His Grace. The word Pahul is a derivative from the substantive Pahu – which is an agent which brightens, accelerates or sharpens the potentialities of a given object Directions to the Amrit Ceremony Macauliffe writes "The Guru caused his five faithful Sikhs to stand up. He put pure water into an iron vessel and stirred it with a Khanda or two edged sword. He then repeated over it the sacred verses which he appointed for the ceremony , namely, the Japji, the Jaap, Guru Amar Das's Anand, and certain swaiyas or quatrains of his own composition." – The Sikh Religion by M.A. Macauliffe, V – 5, p. 94 The ceremony is to be conducted in any quiet and convenient place. In addition to the Guru Granth Sahib, the presence of six Sikhs is necessary, one granthi to read from the holy text and five, representing the original five beloved disciples, to administer it. Washing of the hair prior to the ceremony is mandatory by those who are receiving the initiation and those who are administering. Any Sikh who is mentally and physically sound (male or female) may administer the rites of initiation, provided that he himself had received the rites and continues to adheres to the Sikh Rehni (Way of Life) and wear the Sikh Articles of Faith, i.e. 5 Ks . There is no minimum age requirement; however, a person who is considering to be Amritdhari should not be of a very young age; he or she should have attained a plausible degree of discretion. The person to be Amritdhari must have taken bath and washed the hair and must wear all five K's: Kesh (unshorn hair), strapped Kirpan (sword), Kachhehra (prescribed shorts), Kanga (comb tucked in the tied-up hair), Karha (steel bracelet). He/she must not have on his/her person any token of any other faith. He/she must not have his/her head bare or be wearing a cap. He/she must not be wearing any ornaments piercing through any part of the body. The persons to be Amritdhari must stand respectfully with hands folded facing the Guru Granth Sahib.
Those undergoing initiation must wear the five holy symbols, the 5 Ks. No jewellery or distinctive marks associated with any other religion should be worn. The head must be covered with a cloth. 400 | P a g e
Anyone seeking re-initiation after having resiled from his previous vows may be assigned a penance by the five administering initiation before being re- admitted. During the ceremony, one of the five Pyare (the beloved ones), stands and explains the rules and obligations of the Khalsa Panth. Those receiving initiation have to give their assent as to whether they are willing to abide by the rules and obligations. After their assent, one of the five Pyare utters a prayer for the commencement of the preparation of the Amrit and a randomly selected passage (hukam, or word of God) is taken from Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The person being initiated "Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh". The salutation is repeated and the holy water is sprinkled on their eyes and hair, five times. The remainder of the nectar is shared by all receiving the initiation, all drinking from the same bowl. After this, all those taking part in the ceremony recite the Mool Mantra and they are inducted into the Khalsa. Khalsa as a military force One of the duties of the Khalsa is to practice arms. This has been deemed necessary due to the rising persecution from the rulers. Before joining the Khalsa, most of the people were from professions like farming, pottery, masonry, carpenters, Labanas, etc. Guru Gobind Singh in Oct, 1708 deputed his disciple Banda Singh Bahadur to lead the Khalsa in an uprising against the Mughals. Banda Singh Bahadur first established a Sikh kingdom and then brought in the Land reforms in the form of breaking up large estates and distributing the land to peasants. He and his comrades were eventually defeated and executed, but he became an icon among the Sikhs. After a long exile the Khalsa regrouped under Nawab Kapur Singh, who gathered local Khalsa leaders and created Dal Khalsa, a coalition army. The Dal Khalsa fought against the Mughals and the Afghans, eventually resulting in the establishment of a number of small republics called misls (autonomous confederacies) and later in the formation of the Sikh Empire. After the fall of the Mughal empire and the later establishment of a Sikh Empire in the Punjab, the Khalsa became an instrumental force in the new risen political frames with the inception of a Sikh monarchy: the Khalsa was created a democratic body, and could oppose the Maharaja of Punjab. By the time of death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1839, the regular army of Sikh Empire was assessed by Sir Lepel Griffin at 29,000 men, with 192 artillery pieces. The irregular levies were estimated at a similar number. The official name of the state (Sikh Empire) of Sikhs was "Sarkar-e-Khalsa": Government of the Khalsa. The boundaries of this state stretched from Tibet to
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Afghanistan and from Kashmir to Sutlej in the south and included regions of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir, Ladakh, etc. Modern status Today, the Khalsa is respected by the entire Sikh nation; however, not all Sikhs are Amritdharis The issue of Khalsa code of conduct has led to several controversies. In the early 1950s, a serious split occurred in the Canadian Sikh community, when the Khalsa Diwan Society in Vancouver, Canada elected a clean-shaven Sikh to serve on its management committee. Although most of the early Sikh immigrants to Canada were non-Khalsa, and a majority of the members of the society were clean-shaven non- Khalsa Sikhs, a faction objected to the election of a non-Khalsa to the management committee. The factions in Vancouver and Victoria broke away from the Khalsa Diwan Society, and established their own gurdwara society called Akali Singh. In the United Kingdom there have been tensions between the Khalsa Sikhs and the non-Khalsa Sikhs. Many Sikhs in Britain have insisted on their right of not conforming to the Khalsa norms, while maintaining that they are truly Sikh. On the other hand, some of the Khalsa Sikhs think of the non-Khalsa Sikhs as having abandoned the Sikh faith altogether. Each year the Khalsa display their military skills around the world at a festival called Hola Mohalla. During Hola Mohalla military exercises are performed alongside mock battles followed by kirtan and valour poetry competitions. The Khalsa also lead the Sikhs in the annual Vaisakhi parade.
There are different views regarding the origin of Banda Singh Bahadur: The Mahan Kosh, a Sikh encyclopaedia written by Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha, (Bhasha Bibhag Punjab, Patiala), states that he was Minhas Rajput, either from Rajouri in Jammu region or Doaba region of Punjab. P.N. Bali calls him a Mohyal Brahmin. According to Bali's "Mohyal History," Banda was born in a Mendhar Dist. village, Poonch, nestling the Shivalik ranges, in Jammu & Kashmir, in a Chhibber family on 27 October 1670. Hakim Rai calls him a Punjabi Khatri/Rajput. Giani Budh Singh a noted scholar of Poonch in his famous book Chhowen Rattan described Banda Bahadur as "Brahmin".
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Harjinder Singh Dilgeer in his book Sikh Twareekh (1469 – 2007) (published by Singh Brothers Amritsar, in 5 volumes in 2008) narrates that Banda Singh was a Rajput, born in 1670. At the age of 16 he left his home and joined the party of wandering Hindu ascetics (sadhu). He spent two years with two saadhus (Janki Das and then Ram Das)and then joined Baba Lunia, near Burhanpur. In 1696, he met Guru Gobind Singh at Kankhal, near Haridwar but this was a short meeting. After this, Sri Guru Gobind Singh visited him in August 1708. Dilgeer's account is challenged by some Sikh authorities. As a young man, wrestling, horseback riding, and hunting were his major pastimes. He once shot dead a doe and was shocked to watch the mother and her aborted fawn writhing in pain and dying. After he had a change of heart. He left his home and became a disciple of a Bairagi Sadhu: Janaki Das, who gave him the name: Madho Das. In the company of the Sadhus, he travelled through Northern India and finally arrived at Nanded (in present-day Maharashtra), situated on the bank of the river Godavari. Early conquests After a meeting with Guru Gobind Singh on 3 September 1708, he became a Sikh. The guru ordered him to go to Punjab and fight the Mughals with the help of the Sikh army. Banda Singh Bahadur camped in Khar Khoda, near Sonipat.He fought the Battle of Sonepat and took over Sonipat and Kaithal. In 1709 he defeated Mughals in the Battle of Samana and captured the Mughal city of Samana, killing about 10,000 Mohammedans. Samana was famous for minting coins. With this treasury the Sikhs became financially stable. The Sikhs soon took over Mustafabad and Sadhora (near Jagadhri). The Sikhs then captured the Cis-Sutlej areas of Punjab, including Ghurham, Kapori, Banoor, Malerkotla, and Nahan. On 12 May 1710 in the Battle of Chappar Chiri the Sikhs killed Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sirhind, and Dewan Suchanand, who were responsible for the martyrdom of the two youngest sons of Guru Gobind Singh. Two days later the Sikhs captured Sirhind. Banda Singh was now in control of territory from the Sutlej to the Yamuna and ordered that ownership of the land be given to the farmers, to let them live in dignity and self-respect.
Banda Singh developed the village of Mukhlisgarh, and made it his capital. He then renamed the city it to Lohgarh (fortress of steel) where he issued his own mint. The coin described Lohgarh: "Struck in the City of Peace, illustrating the beauty of civic life, and the ornament of the blessed throne." He briefly established a state in Punjab for half a year. Banda Singh sent Sikhs to the Uttar Pradesh and Sikhs took over Saharanpur, Jalalabad, Muzaffarnagar and other areas near by bringing relief to the repressed population. In the regions of Jalandhar and Amritsar, the Sikhs started fighting for the rights of the people. Banda Bahadur captured Rahon after defeating mughals in the Battle of Rahon, (1710).Sikhs used their newly established power to remove corrupt officials and replace them with honest ones.
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Banda Singh is known to have abolished or halted the Zamindari system in the time he was active and gave the farmers proprietorship of their own land. It seems that all classes of government officers were addicted to extortion and corruption and the whole system of regulatory and order was subverted. Local tradition recalls that the people from the neighborhood of Sadaura came to Banda Singh complaining of the iniquities practices by their land lords. Banda Singh ordered Baj Singh to open fire on them. The people were astonished at the strange reply to their representation, and asked him what he meant. He told them that they deserved no better treatment when being thousands in number they still allowed themselves to be cowed down by a handful of Zamindars.He, later, captured Sadhaura after defeating the Sayyids and Shaikhs of Sadhaura in the Battle of Sadhaura.
The rule of the Sikhs over the entire Punjab east of Lahore obstructed the communication between Delhi and Lahore, the capital of Punjab, and this worried Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah He gave up his plan to subdue rebels in Rajasthan and marched towards Punjab. The entire Imperial force was organized to defeat and kill Banda Singh. All the generals were directed to join the Emperor‘s army. To ensure that there were no Sikh agents in the army camps, an order was issued on 29 August 1710 to all Hindus to shave off their beards. Banda Singh was in Uttar Pradesh when the Moghal army under the orders of Munim Khan[23] marched to Sirhind and before the return of Banda Singh, they had already taken Sirhind and the areas around it. The Sikhs therefore moved to Lohgarh for their final battle. The Sikhs defeated the army but reinforcements were called and they laid siege on the fort with 60,000 troops. Gulab Singh dressed himself in the garments of Banda Singh and seated himself in his place. Banda Singh left the fort at night and went to a secret place in the hills and Chamba forests. The failure of the army to kill or catch Banda Singh shocked Emperor, Bahadur Shah and On 10 December 1710 he ordered that wherever a Sikh was found, he should be murdered. The Emperor became mentally disturbed and died on 18 February 1712. Banda Singh Bahadur wrote Hukamnamas to the Sikhs telling them to get themselves reorganized and join him at once. In 1712, the Sikhs gathered near Kiratpur Sahib and defeated Raja Ajmer Chand, who was responsible for organizing all the Hill Rajas against Guru Gobind Singh and instigating battles with him. After Bhim Chand‘s dead the other Hill Rajas accepted their subordinate status and paid revenues to Banda Singh. While Bahadur Shah's 4 sons were killing themselves for the throne of the Mughal Emperor Banda Singh Bahadur recaptured Sadhura and Lohgarh. Farrukh Siyar, the next Moghal Emperor, appointed Abdus Samad Khan as the governor of Lahore and Zakaria Khan, Abdus Samad Khan's son, the Faujdar of Jammu. In 1713 the Sikhs left Lohgarh and Sadhura and went to the remote hills of Jammu and where they built Dera Baba Banda Singh. During this time Sikhs were being hunted down 404 | P a g e
especially by pathans in the Gurdaspur region. Banda Singh came out and captured Kalanaur and Batala which rebuked Farrukh Siyar to issue Mughal and Hindu officials and chiefs to proceed with their troops to Lahore to reinforce his army. Siege in Gurdas Nangal In March 1715, Banda Singh Bahadur was in the village of Gurdas Nangal, Gurdaspur, Punjab, when the army under the rule of Samad Khan, the Mogual king of Delhi laid siege to the Sikh forces. The Sikhs fought and defended the small fort for eight months.
On 7 December 1715 Banda Singh Bahadur was captured from the Gurdas Nangal fort and put in an iron cage. The remaining Sikhs were captured and chained. The Sikhs were brought to Delhi in a procession with the 780 Sikh prisoners, 2,000 Sikh heads hung on spears, and 700 cartloads of heads of slaughtered Sikhs used to terrorize the population. They were put in the Delhi fort and pressured to give up their faith and become Muslims. On their firm refusal all of them were ordered to be executed. Every day, 100 Sikhs were brought out of the fort and murdered in public daily, which went on approximately seven days. The Mughals could hardly contain themselves of joy while the Sikhs showed no sign of dejection or humiliation, instead they sang their sacred hymns; none feared death or gave up their faith. After 3 months of co
nfinement On 9 June 1716 Banda Singh‘s eyes were gouged, his limbs were severed, his skin removed, and then he was killed.
This manuscript was completed by Sarup Das, who belong to lineage of Guru Amar Dass, in 1776. In his manuscript, Sarup Das mentioned incident of Gurdas Nangal and surrendering of Banda Bahadur of, where Banda Bahadur made comments against Guru's wishes. The key points mentioned in his writings are: After surrendering, Banda Bahadur admitted at Delhi that he hadn't followed code of conduct given by Guru Gobind Singh. Banda had desire of marrying again even during the siege which lead to agitation. It was Binod Singh who agitate against him and had clash with him inside fort. After that Binod Singh left fort and Banda Bahadur surrendered later on. He confessed at Delhi: — (Banda Bahadur, as per Mahima Prakash) 405 | P a g e
Mata Sundri, who was already in Delhi fetched out Baba Kahn Singh from the prisoner group and didn't save Banda Bahadur from capital punishment. Mahankosh, Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha - states in his Mahankosh that: This means After attaining popularity, Banda turned Egoistic and wished to become Guru. Under this Egotism, he preached his own Code of Conduct against Gurmat(i). Due to which Panth split into two parts. One Tat Khalsa(With Gur Gobind Singh) and other Bandai Khalsa (Khalsa of Banda Bahadur). All early Sikh historical resources including Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, Giani Gian Singh, Historian Karam Singh, Giani Kartar Singh, Nihang Dharam Singh etc. also mentioned these facts.
Battle of Sonepat
Battle of Ambala
Battle of Samana
Battle of Chappar Chiri
Battle of Sadhaura
Battle of Lohgarh
Battle of Jammu
Battle of Rahon, (1710)
Battle of Jalalabad (1710)
Battle of Kapoori
Battle of Gurdas Nangal or Siege of Gurdaspur Execution On December 7, 1715 Banda Singh Bahadur was captured from the Gurdas Nangal fort and put in an iron cage and the remaining Sikhs were captured, chained. The Sikhs were bought to Delhi in a procession with the 780 Sikh prisoners, 2,000 Sikh heads hung on spears, and 700 cartloads of heads of slaughtered Sikhs used to terrorize the population. They were put in the Delhi fort and pressured to give up their faith and become Muslims. On their firm refusal all of them were ordered to be executed. Every day, 100 Sikhs were brought out of the fort and murdered in public daily, which went on approximately seven days. The Mussalmans could hardly contain themselves of joy while the Sikhs showed no sign of dejection or humiliation, instead they sang their sacred hymns; none feared dead or gave up their faith. After 3 months of confinement On June 9, 1716, Banda Singh‘s eyes were gouged, his limbs were severed, his skin removed, and then he was killed. Sikhs retreat to jungles 406 | P a g e
In ca. 1716 Farrukh Siyar, the Mughal Emperor, issued all Sikhs to be converted to Islam or die, an attempt to destroy the power of the Sikhs and to exterminate the community as a whole. A reward was offered for the head of every Sikh. For a time it appeared as if the boast of Farrukh Siyar to wipe out the name of Sikhs from the land was going to be fulfilled. Hundreds of Sikhs were brought in from their villages and executed, and thousands who had joined merely for the sake of booty cut off their hair and went back to the Hindu fold again. Besides these there were some Sikhs who had not yet received the baptism of Guru Gobind Singh, nor did they feel encouraged to do so, as the adoption of the outward symbols meant courting death. After a few years Adbus Samad Khan, the Governor of Lahore, Punjab and other Mughal officers began to pursuit Sikhs less and thus the Sikhs came back to the villages and started going to the Gurdwaras again, which were managed by Udasis when the Sikhs were in hiding. The Sikhs celebrated Diwali and Vaisakhi at Harmandir Sahib. The Khalsa had been split into two major factions Bandia Khalsa and Tat Khalsa and tensions were spewing between the two. Under the authority of Mata Sundari Bhai Mani Singh become the Jathedar of the Harminder Sahib and a leader of the Sikhs and the Bandia Khalsa and Tat Khalsa joined by Bhai Mani Singh into the Tat Khalsa and after the event from that day the Bandeis assumed a quieter role and practically disappeared from the pages of history. A police post was established at Amritsar to keep a check on the Sikhs. Abdus Samad Khan, was transferred to Multan in 1726, and his more energetic Son, Zakaria Khan, also known as Khan Bahadur, was appointed to take his place as the governor of Lahore. In 1726, Tarra Singh of Wan, a renowned Sikh leader, and his 26 men was killed after Governor Zakaria Khan, sent 2200 horses, 40 zamburaks, 5 elephants and 4 cannons, under the command of his deputy, Momim Khan. The murder of Tarra Singh spread across the Sikhs in Punjab and the Sikhs. Finding no Sikhs around, the government falsely announced in each village with the beat of a drum, that all Sikhs had been eliminated but the common people knew the truth that this was not the case. The Sikhs did not face the army directly, because of their small numbers, but adopted dhai phut guerrilla warfare (hit and run) tactics. Under the leadership of Nawab Kapoor Singh and Jathedar Darbara Singh, in attempt to weaken their enemy looted many of the Mughals caravans and supplies and for some years no money from revenue could reach the government treasury. When the forces of government tried to punish the outlaws, they were unable to contact them, as the Sikhs did not live in houses or forts, but ran away to their rendezvous in forests or other places difficult to access.
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