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  • A Gala of Sikh Killings and Sacrifices Tract No. 360

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    Guru Nanak Dev Mission
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    A Gala Of Sikh Killings And Sacrifices Tract No. 360

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    This tract can also be read online/ downloaded / printed for offline reading in different formats as per your convenience from the following link: http://gurunanakdevmission.blogspot.com/2011/03/gala-of-sikh-killings-and-sacrifices.html This tract was digitised and uploaded by The Sikh Digital Library team. Please check the blog http://sikhdigitallibrary.blogspot.com for more documents uploaded by the team.

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    216 views29 pages

    A Gala of Sikh Killings and Sacrifices Tract No. 360

    Uploaded by

    Guru Nanak Dev Mission
    This tract can also be read online/ downloaded / printed for offline reading in different formats as per your convenience from the following link: http://gurunanakdevmission.blogspot.com/2011/03/gala-of-sikh-killings-and-sacrifices.html This tract was digitised and uploaded by The Sikh Digital Library team. Please check the blog http://sikhdigitallibrary.blogspot.com for more documents uploaded by the team.

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    HOS @ © 0 -@-G ain @ 26 ‘Aig umf 7) : > Guru Nanak Dev Mission Series 360 @ Has HEN Afni ga A q df Hafs uses Tt is a privilege to die the death of an hero ict an approved cause. A GALA of Sikh Killings and Saerifices Guru Nanak Dev Mission Patiala P.O, SANAUR, PATIALA. Punjab India > > &-@] @ © 2232422 e s. 1-25 2 “> ib > a > > ®t @ 2] = i. i-8-@-@. << ©. Ravi. Chis was a practical demonstration of what the Guru had earlier taught his followers to under go. But the spirit of willingness to sacrifice one’s life for the sake of truth and righteous- ness did not end there. The ninth Guru Tegh Bahadar, was similarly arrested along with some of his Sikhs when he interceded on behalf of the Brahmans of Kashmir and Hindus in general to let them kave the freedom of following their religious beliefs. The accompanying Sikhs were one after the other tortured to death. One was sawn from 3 head to foot after fastening him between two logs of wood, another was boiled in a cauldron and a third burnt alive by wrapping him in cotton. It was considered that the Guru would be frightened at the sight of such tortures but when he still persisted in his demend for the freedom of Faith and did not yield. be was beheaded in the open. It was in November 1675. As to the spivit cf sacrifice that Guru Nanak wanted to inculcate in his followers, Guru Tegh Rakedar had specifically laid down that only those people would find a place in the court ef and merge with Almighty God as water with water who shirk not the miseries of life and have nc attachment to its comforts and the worldly possesSions: 9 3a gu nfs Be od Wd Au nad ng g Odi ata ava Heb ws ... aida ats afa@ Fae fag Me wel Afa we The Sikh Scriptures very explicitly lay down the way of life the Sikhs have to follow. Yong fadt ay feat es wef ater They were called upon to tread a path cs 4 narrow as sword edge and ¢s fine as an hair. Infact the Sikhs h:ve all alcng led such lives on account of their tenacity to stick to the princiles of their life end seccndly due to the bigctary of the Hindu and Muslim priestly class. This bed been the cause cf the martyrdom of the Gurus Azjen dev and Tech Bahadur With the advent cf tke tenth guru Gobind Singh who had wmiliterised ) from one and the seme bowl, This caremony had prectically equated them all-lowest of the low with highest of the high, which could not be relished by the so called Shigh caste pecple among Hindus as Prahmin and Kashatrives, The Hindu hill rejs in whose territory Anand Pur Szhib. the ebode of Guru Gobind Singh was situcted eculd net tolerate this. They asked the gura to abstein from it, but it was a question of principle. How could the Guru go back on it. The Rajis approached the Mughal king Aurangzeb, under whose orders Guru Tegh Pabadur hed been beheaded and thus the Hindu Rajas and 5 the Mughal forces joined hands against the . This led to the harassment of Guru Gobind Singh, which opened a gala of Sikh sacrifices. Guru gobind Singh had declared “wen al avs Ag ea ufagad? Recognice as one the entire humanity without distinction cf caste or creed and he would not at any cast forsake his principle even though he had to vacate Anandpur Sahib, All, that followed, is along story, The guru suffered a lot, lost many of his Sikhs on the way, got separated from his youngest sons of nine and seven years and his mother, and with a strength of forty Sikhs along with his two elder sons took shelter in a small fortress at village Cham- kaur. He was pursued by the enemy's army in thousa'nds.'His men fought bravely and they along with his sons aged léand 14 fell figh- ting. He however, left the fortress and esca- ped in the darkness of the night followed, after some interval, by two of his Sikhs who joined him at Machhiwara next day, Meanwhile two younger sons of the guru alongwith his mother had teached the village Saheri with their family cook Gangu, who 6 later on betrayed then. and reported their whete abouts to Nawab Wazir khan of Sir- hind, who got them arrested and imprisoned. Two days later on their refusal to forsake their Faith and get converted to Islam they were bricked alive and their grand mother fell dead at the very shock of the news of their torture and death, It was in the last week of December 1704. The Guru was not spared his much needed respite at Machhiwara even and he with a few followers moved on to the desolate area of distriet Bathinda. The enemy how ever had been pursuing all along and while Near the present town of Mukatsar he had: to face them. Forty Sikhs, who had forsaken him while still at Anandpur Sahib, and who wanted to redeem their position and com- pensate for their fault, knowing the critical situation in which the guru was,and to allow him some time to reach a sefer place engaged the enemy by attacking from bebind and all of them fell fighting a fierce battle. These were very hard times for the Sikhs. They had left their hearths and 7 homes and taken shelter in dense forests and desolate sandy areas. The Mughal govern- ment under Babadut Shah had issued edicts in 1710 to assasinate a Sikh wherever found and prizes were awarded to whosoever ptesented a sevred Sikh head. Meanwhile visit’ of Sikhs to Darbar Sahib Amritsar and e bath in the tank there wete banned and any Sikh seen there was shot dead then and there. After the defeat of Banda Sibgh Bahadur at Gurdas Nangal on 7th December 1714, 7°0 Sikhs including Banda Singh were arre- sted bownd down on camels two on each and led by two thoussnd Sikh heads with flowing long haiz and beards pinned on spear heads were taken in procession, paraded through the main hazars of Lahore and then taken to Delhi in the some formation. Banda Singh and afew other leading Sikhs among them were locked in cells in the Red Fort and 693 of them were assasinated-~one hun- dred every day in front of the Delhi police station (Kotwali), According to Serman and Stephanson two English news writers, who had been present at site all these days —from 4th to 12th Match 1715-not a single Sikh hesitated being beheaded Rather a lad of 16, whose mother had somehow approached the 8 iuthorities to spere ker sen on the plea that be wes not a Sikh. refused to be freed saying this kis mother was telling a lie and accot- dingly ke should he given the same treatment es his ocher companions. He was conse-~ ynently bebeaded Banda Singh Bahedar was trought cut of the Fert clong will his four year old son, who was cut in to pieces and his quivering heart taken out and thrust into father’s mouth. Banda Singh was then tor- tured by blinding his right eye, then cutting his left leg, chopping his hands and lastly fulling bis skin again and again with red hot pincers but Banda Singh calmly and unflinch ingly under-went all the atrocities till he died such a horribie death. Besides such at-ocities by the Mughal government of the country, raids by Pathans from the north-west had continued all along. and the Punjab being the gate-way of India on that side and Sikhs being a force to reckon with, they had very hard times to face. The Mughal government and raiders like Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali were bent upon their total extinction. 9 Some cf their important leade:s were atrested & tortured to death. Bhai Meni Singh the head cf the Derbar Sahib, Amritsar their kclies: temple was cue limb by limb, Bhai Taru Singh’s skull was chopped of, Bhei Subeg Singh and Shehbez Singh were minced by revolving them on wheels studded with ‘ezors all round, infants were snatched speared, cut into pieces and returned to their respective mothers and thousand others were arzested and massacred at the Lahore Horse market site. About thirty five thousand ot them including women and children were butchered-some in their hiding place near Kabnuwan, Distt Gurdaspur and others by Ahmed Shah Abdali at Kup Hariza near Malerkotla while they were cn their way to Rejfpatana leeving their hearths and homes in the Funjab in 1762. The militant Sikhs had by chen orgenised themselvs into several fighting squads, which ultimately came to be known as twelve Sikh Misals each Misal having its own leadar celled Jathedar wich a strength of several thcusends. They were now in a position to 10 give a good fight to any invader or the locai Muslim government Every one of these Misals had its own teriitory to collect its revenues and maintzin its pesition, They joined hends egainst a common eremy se much so that when Akdzli curing Lis kst reids wes returning home with a large booty and thousands of Hindu girls & bays to be sold as slaves in their own counér , ke wes pounced upon and lighted of che booty on his way back. Sardar Jassa Singh head of the Ahluwalia Misal rescurd eighteen thousand girls & boys from the inveders, hands and escorted each of them to kis or her parents, Eor this one incident he is renowned as Bandi Chher- liberator of the belpless captives. Afser that none from the north west hes ever dared to through which since centuries beck, India hed been tepea- tedly invaded have been shut once for all and by the end of the century the Sikhs under Maharaja Ranjit Singh weve able to establish the Khalsa rule in the Panjab. which conti- nued for almost fitty years, but was lost to the Britishers due to their betrayals by the Dogra family of Kashmir and the Bhaiyas of invade Indie, Thus thg doo-s 11 U.P., who had been made all powerful by tke wrong pelicies of the Khalsa Rule The Britishers were well aware cf the arm power of the Sikhs as well zs cf heir weakness. Their inborn spirit of sacr fice ard their devotion to and love for their relicion have b221 chatacteristie of them and t-el: religion zvevolves round their gurcwazs c wete the gutdwetas where they usu: Ilv assembled and chalked out their programmes which had a religious tinge and thus they fel: bound to carry out their decisions ceken in the assemblies there. In a way Gurdwarces were 2 state within the stete for them end the Govt, fully realised it, Accordingly it had taken steps not to let pass control cf the Gurdwaras to the Sikh hands. Since the advent of Khalsa rule in che Punjab end even earlier the Gurdwaras had remeined with the Nirmal and udasi seets, it wes not difficult for the Govi, to handle and win them ove which it did successfully all over the St:te while the central and the mcs important Gurdwara from the Sikh point of view. the Golden Temple and allied Gurdwares in Amritsar were taken over cizeccly: under the 12 control of the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar through a Sikh Sarbrah for their internal management How much keen the Govt. was to continue this arrangement isborns out by the letter reproduced below written by the Punjab Governcr to the Vicezcy of India, [chick it would be politically dangerous to allow the menzgement of the Sikh temples to fall into the hends of comm’t:ees emanci- pated from Govt conercl, and I trust your Fxcelleney will essist to pass such orders in the c*se as will encble to continue the system which h:s werked out successfully for more than thirty years, Believe me, urs Sincerly RG Egerton Ls. Governor Funjab (Simla August 1881) Under ‘he circumsiances the Udasi & Nirmal Poo} tis end Mehanis of Gurdwares felt secure and were more auda- cious in handling the Gurdwara affairs, which made chem levish, corrupt laxtive and negligent of their duties towards pilgrims, This natscelly enraged the people in gen and a feeling to oust such corrupt Poojaris & Mahanis grew stronger every dey, Mahant Nazam Das of the Gurdwara Janam Asthan 13 Nankana Sebib had surpassed all norms of morality by keeping a slim young girls in his house, not wes the hono pilgrims visiting. Janam Aschan safe. - of female The matter becarre subject cf common talk particulary among Sikhs and they hed begun to think ci, some Low ousting tke Mahant. The latter wes fully awate of it and had begun resorting to defence measuces by taking into his service seme criminels and collecting fire arms and ammunition to meet the situation, The Sikhs of the Ilaqe knew it but they would not tolerate any bloodshed in the holy precinets of the Gardwera end accordingly they decided upon temcining non- violent and even to sacrifice their lives if the situation so demanded. A group (Jathe) consisting cf abcut 130 81 pledged to remain non-violent led by Bhai Lakiskn en Singh of the village Dharowal - abcut fifteen miles from their destination - left for Nanke- na Sahib on the night preceding 20th Februry 192] and reaching there early on the 20ch entered Gurdwtra Janan Asthan at 6 A.M. The Mahant party armed with guns end ammunition went upon the rocis of the 14 rooms facing Sanctum Sanctorum & began firing on Sikhs seated cnd singing hymns jn front of it. None moved or ran for life till ell of them were dead or wounded. {heir bodies were then heaped at ee places in the Gurdwara compound and sprinkling petrcleum on them they wete. set on fire The Jatheder Lakikskman Sing who ley wounded inside the S:net:am Senctorum was dragged out, bound with a tree behind there and burnt tc

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