This weekend we remembered the Shaheedi of Banda Singh Bahadur. When we remember the shaheedi we should of course remember his whole life and the impact on us today. Here is the history.
Banda Singh Bahadur was originally born with the name Lachman Dev on October 16, 1670. He was born into a Rajput family. One day, while hunting he shot a deer and realized afterwards that she had been pregnant. He became very sad and became an ascetic. He was then known as Madho Das. He travelled extensively with Sadhus and settled in a hut near Nanded. In 1708 Guru Gobind Singh Ji was travelling and came upon Madho Das’ hut in his absence. Guru Ji asked the Sikhs to prepare langar as they had been hungry from many days. Madho Das returned to find this and became angry, trying to use his magical powers against Guru Ji. After they did not work, Guru Ji asked who he was, and defeated Madho Das replied “I am your banda.” Banda means slave. He then joined the Khalsa and became Gurbaksh Singh, also known as Banda Singh Bahadur.
Guru Ji sent him on a special mission. Some people incorrectly call this as a revenge mission but Sikhism is not about revenge (In fact Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji saves Jahangir after he tortures his father Guru Arjan Dev Ji). Rather, he went to end continued persecution. Sawan Singh Gogia explains “The mission of Banda Singh has been generally misunderstood by historians who think that he was commissioned by Guru Gobind Singh to avenge the murder of his sons. Had it been so, his work should have been over after the defeat and death of Wazir Khan. In fact, the Guru entrusted to him the noble task of continuing war against the tyranny of cruel rulers and oppressors” (Sikhnet). Guru Ji gave him political and military powers and gifted 5 gold tipped arrows and drum as symbols of this authority. He was also given Guru Ji’s sword, green bow, and a Nishan Sahib. He was sent with 5 Singhs, Baj Singh, Ram Singh, Binod Singh, Kahan Singh, and Fateh Singh as council. There was another 25 Singhs who also went. A handwritten Hukamnama told the Sikhs to join Banda Singh Bahadur wherever he travelled to. During the year-long journey to Sirhand, where Wazir Khan was living, Guru Ji became Jyoti Jot (merged with the Eternal Light). More Sikhs joined Banda Singh as he travelled and fought oppressors. They conquered a lot of area. Money that was acquired from government treasuries was redistributed to the poor. The old Zamindari system (feudal system) was destroyed so that farmers could own their own land. He appointed his own police officers. Thieves were now scared and order and justice was restored.
He then created a headquarters in 1710 at Mukhlispur (changed to Lohgarh), the capital of the first Sikh state. The battle of Chappar Chiri then occurred just outside Sirhand a few months later. While his largely untrained followers had no elephants, few horses, and fought with spears, swords, and arrows, Wazir Khan had a fully trained army with artillery, horses, and elephants. Wazir Khan was killed in that battle, and Sirhand was conquered. Baj Singh was appointed Governor and the other four Singhs in the council that accompanied him were also put in charge of other duties. Bandha Singh went back to Lohgarh. Bandha Singh made an official seal and coin in the name of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Guru Gobind Singh Ji. His rule was fair and a Muslim reported to Emperor Bahadur Shah that Banda Singh does not oppress muslims- he gives them a daily wage, looks after them, allows them to do their own religious prayers. Since this destroyed the oppressive system set up under the Mughals, the emperor turned against the Sikhs, setting up laws against the Sikhs and orders for the Sikhs to be killed. The large number of Mughal forces pushed the Sikhs back into the hilly areas. Here Banda Singh got married in 1711 to Shushil Kaur and settled for a few years, having a son Ajai Singh in 1712. Bibi Ji continued the langar. In the meantime, Emperor Bahadur Shah died in 1712, proceeded by Jahandar Shah and then Farrukhsiyar in 1713.
In 1715, Banda Singh tried again to fight against the Mughal forces but Emperor Farrukhsiyar sends 20,000 forces against the Sikhs. Banda Singh’s Hukamnama issued to the Sikhs at the time can be found in the references. It encourages the Sikhs to follow the rules of the Khalsa. A group of Sikhs led by Bandha Singh made their way to a village Gurdas Nangal which was sieged. There was a force of 100,000 Mughal troops and yet the Sikhs survived 8 months of siege living off of tree bark for food. Even Muslim writers who witnessed what happened at the time spoke highly of the courage of the Sikhs in facing these conditions. Bandha Singh's own wife and child were with him through this. At that time, Binod Singh wanted to evacuate, but Bandha Singh did not and so Binod Singh was allowed to leave with a group of Sikhs. The Mughals offered the Sikhs could leave unharmed but once the gate opened, they speared 300 Sikhs, and the only 200 remaining were arrested. Banda Singh was chained and put in an iron cage on top of an elephant, with special guards. On the way to Delhi, more Sikhs were confined and many were martyred. 700 cartloads of slaughtered heads and hundreds on spears were brought to Delhi. Banda Singh was dressed up in a gold turban with a bright shirt, and other Sikhs were chained on the back of camels with faces blackened and sheepskin put on their heads. Despite the attempts at humiliation they remained in Chardi Kala as written by those witnessed this time. There were now 740 prisoners who were confined for just over 3 months from the end of February to the beginning of June of 1716.
On June 9, the Sikhs were offered their lives to be spared if they converted to Islam. As documented by the English ambassadors of the East India Trading Company, not a single of the 740 Sikhs converted and all chose death. They were martyred and their heads placed around Bandha Singh. The executioner killed his 4 year old Ajai Singh with a knife down his body, and thrust his heart into Banda Singh’s mouth. His eyes were gouged out, hot pincers pulled away his flesh, arms and legs cut off, and the rest of his body cut to pieces. Through the torture until his martyrdom, Bandha Singh Ji remained calm. As Gyani Ji said in katha today, those who have Naam do not feel physical pain.
Meanwhile Bibi Ji was separated from the prisoners as the emperor wanted to marry her. The other queens tried to get her to embrace Islam and attempted to bribe her with jewels and promises of a comfortable life. When that didn’t work, she was told that 100 Sikhs were murdered daily due to her refusal. She stuck to her faith. She stated, “Time of our death is fixed and none but God can prolong our life. My religion is dearer to me then my or my son’s life” (sikhiwiki).
We have so much to learn from the life of Banda Singh Bahadur. He restored justice and fairness under Sikh rule and did not give in despite being tortured. I hope he inspires each of us to stand up for what is right and just, and to carry the values of the Khalsa.
References
http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Bibi_Shushil_Kaur
No comments:
Post a Comment