 Baba
Banda Singh Bahadur was the first Singh King who established
Sikh rule in a large part of Punjab. Lachhman Das was his
childhood name. He was born to Rajput parents. He wa very fond
of hunting in his early life. One he hunted a she dear who was
pregnant. The dying animal gave birth to two kids who also
died along with their mother before the eyes of Lachhman Das.
He was thoroughly shaken by the incident and
ovecome with grief, he renounced the world and became a
Bairagi Sadhu adopting first one Janki Das as his Guru, and
later some others, but none of them being true Guru, could
provide him peace of mind. He turned to tantric sadhus and
acquired some miracle powers. With the help of these miracles
powers he was able to recruit a number of persons as his agent
disciples. Through them, he established his popularity among
the simple minded people around his Ashram on the bank of
river Godavri. None benefitted from his miracles. He rather
used those miracles to sub due and humiliate religious leaders
and other famous saints of the atea who ever happened to visit
his Ashram. Guru Gobind Singh while travelling towards South
India from North along with some Sikhs, visited Lachhman Das’s
Ashram and in his absence, sat on his beautifully decorated
cot.
On his return to the Ashram, Lachhman Das could not tolerate
Guru Gobind Singh occupying his seat. He along with his
disciples tried all their tantric miracles to overturn the cot
occupied by Guru Gobind Singh, in order to humiliate and
punish him for his daring act but failed to cause any harm to
the new unknown visitor. No trick worked on the Guru. He kept
sitting on smilingly.
Accepting defeat, Lachhman Das Bairagi fell
at the feet of Guru Gobind Singh and asked forgiveness and
said, “O, Guru Ji, I am your Banda (Slave)”. Show me light and
put me on the right path. I am at your service and am prepared
to do anything at your bidding.
Guru Gobind Singh taught him the basic
principles of sikh religion and administered Amrit to Lachhman
Das, admitting him to Sikh fold. The Guru renamed him as Banda
Singh. Guru Ji’s Amrit changed Lachhman Das’s life completely.
He was no longer a wicked bairagi troubling humiliating
innocent people, but was now a brave Sikh of the tenth Master.
Guru Gobind Singh sent Banda Singh on a
mission to Punjab to punish the guilty and cruel rulers of the
time. He was provided with five brave Sikhs as advisors. He
was also provided with necessay weapons.
Fully armed and accompanied by brave Sikhs and Guru Ji’s
blessing, banda Singh proceeded on his mission towards Punjab.
With the help of Guru’s Hukumnamas (Orders) to Sikh community
to help and join Banda Singh in his assigned mission,
thousands of armed Sikhs joined him. The rulers of Punjab were
already well aware of fighting qualities of the Sikhs and were
thus terrified to face them.
Within a short time, Sikh forces, under the
leadership of brave Banda Singh, put to death many tyrant
rulers, including Nazab Wazir Khan who was responsible for
putting to death the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh in
a most in human manner. Cruel rulers and their associates were
singled out systematically, picked up and punished for their
crimes against humanity.
Banda Singh captured large part of Punjab
and established sikh rule there. He minted coins in the name
of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Guru Gobing Singh ji, In the
meantime, Faruksaiyar became the Emperor at Delhi. He was
angered by the defeat of Mughtal forces at the hands of Banda
Singh everywhere. He sent a large force from Delhi and
mobilised forces from eleswhere in Punjab to defeat and
capture Baba Banda Singh.
The Sikh forces were ultimately beseiged by
overwhelming number of Mughal forces in the fortess of Gurdas
Nangal. The Sikhs fought valiantly under the leadership of
Baba Banda Singh inflicting heavy casualties on the Moghul
army. However, due to prolonged encircling of the fortess by
superior number of forces, the Sikh forces were left with no
rations. They were forced to eat tree leaves to sustain
themselves. Due to this, they became too weak to fight the
enemy.
Ultimately, the brave Sikh general Baba
Banda Singh Bahadur was arrested along with seven hundred Sikh
soldiers and brought to Delhi, where they were mounted on
ponies, insulted and paraded in the Bazars of Delhi.
The Sikhs were offered amnesty if they accepted conversion to
Islam. Not one among them accepted this offer of lease of
life. As such they were tortured and done to death publicly.
They died in high spirits, sticking to their faith.
Finally before Baba Banda Singh was butchered most mercilessly
by the tyrant rulers, his four years old son was put ot death
in front of Baba Banda Singh, by cutting open his abdomen. His
heart was taken out and thrust into the mouth of Baba Banda
Singh. But even this most inhuman and cruel act of tyrant
rulers failed to break Baba Ji’s resolve and determination. He
remained composed as ever. Finally, he was put to death most
mercilessly by pinching the flesh from his body, bit by bit,
by means of heated pincers.
Thus came to an end and eventful chapter of
Sikh History when the tyrant Moghul rulers tasted defeat after
defeat for a number of years at the hand of Sikhs under the
leadership of the first Sikh General Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.
The Guru thus demonstrated to the people the true strength of
mind and body of those who had partaken Amrit and how a
Bairagi who was notorious and aimless, could turn out to be a
brave person with credible achievements.
Baba Banda Singh Bahadur
Shaheed Baba Banda Singh Bahadur came to the
Punjab scene in 1708 when the Mughal government was planning
the genocide of the Sikhs, but the daring deeds of the Khalsa
under his leadership made the Sikhs the rulers of the eastern
region of the state.
Banda was born on 16 October 1670 at Rajori
Village in Jammu. He was named Lachman Das. Wrestling,
horseback riding, and hunting were his major hobbies. As a
young man he shot a deer and was shocked to watch the mother
and her aborted doe writhing in pain and dying. After this
gloomy scene he had a change of heart. He left his home and
became a disciple of a Bairagi sadhu who gave him the
name Madho Das. In the company of the sadhus he traveled to
Nanded, situated on the bank of the river Godawari, where he
built a hut to meditate upon God.
Banda joins Khalsa Panth
In September of 1708, Guru Gobind Singh
happened to go to Madho Das’ hut while hunting. Madho Das was
impressed by the personality of the Guru. The Guru asked him,
“Who are you?” In great humility, he replied, “I am your
banda (slave).” After taking Amrit, he was given a Sikh
name, Gurbakhsh Singh – but he remained popular known as
Banda. Historians, therefore, mention him as Baba Banda Singh
Bahadur, or simply as Banda Bahadur.
Guru Gobind Singh hoped that Emperor Bahadur
Shah would fulfill his promise and do justice in the Punjab by
punishing the Governor of Sirhind and his accomplices for
their crimes against the people. Finding him reluctant, the
Guru deputed Banda Bahadur, under the leadership of five
Sikhs, to end state terrorism in the Punjab.
On his way to the Punjab, Banda punished
robbers and other criminal elements which made him popular
with the people. Banda possessed no army. Instead, his
strength lay in the Hukamnama (edict) of Guru Gobind
Singh to the people of Punjab, calling them to arms under the
leadership of Banda to overthrow and destroy the oppressive
rulers. This sent such a wave of relief and enthusiasm among
the people that some even sold their bullocks and property to
purchase arms. Not only the Sikhs saw Banda as their deliverer
but the oppressed Muslims and Hindus also joined him in the
popular revolt against the tyrants.
Victories of Banda Bahadur
Banda had approximately 500 men with him
when he reached the borders of the Punjab. He easily took over
two centers, Sonepat and Kaithal. Meanwhile, more people
joined him. Samana, a large Mughal city famous for minting
coins, was conquered on 11 November 1709. About 20,000 people
are said to have been killed there. With the treasury in their
hands, the Sikhs became financially stable. Two other army
centers, Mustafabad and Sadhora (near Jagadhari), were also
taken.
These victories of the Sikhs sent a clear
signal of coming events to Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sirhind.
He knew that justice was about to be delivered and he would
soon be punished for his crimes. Wazir Khan lost his sleep and
started collecting his army and ammunition. He sent urgent
orders to all the commanders in the region, and also recruited
mercenaries.
Another jatha of the Sikhs gathered
near Anandpur Sahib and marched towards Sirhind but their
advance was blocked by a section of the state army. A bloody
battle took place at Ropar (Roop Nagar) in which both of the
Mughal commanders were killed. Afterwards, there was nobody to
check the jatha from joining Banda. The Sikhs were
now ready for their final battle to become the rulers of the
Cis-Satlej areas of the Punjab.
The Sikhs, although they did not have the
required arms to defeat the army, were emotionally charged
with the memory of the cold-blooded murder of the two youngest
sons of Guru Gobind Singh at Sirhind. They attacked the city
on 12 May 1710 and were its masters on 14 May. The death of
Wazir Khan and his lackeys brought a long awaited relief to
the people. In his first administrative order, Banda gave the
ownership of the land to the farmers and let them live in
dignity and self respect.
Petty officials were also satisfied with
this change. Nawab Ameen-Ul Daula mentions the new image of
the Sikhs in these words: “Dindar Khan, an official of the
nearby village, took Amrit and became Dindar Singh. The
newspaper writer of Sirhind, Mir Nasir Uddin, became Mir Nasir
Singh.”
Founding of the Khalsa Rule
In the north-east of the Punjab, between
Sadhora and Nahan, Banda developed the village Mukhlis Garh,
made it his capital and renamed it Lohgarh (fortress of
steel). He established his own mint. One side of the coin
reads: The power of the sword granted by Guru Nanak won
the two worlds. Guru Gobind Singh became victorious by the
grace of the True Lord. The other side reads: Issued
from the beautiful capital of Good Luck, a place of peace for
the world. The official papers were identified by the
stamp: The authority for service was
received from Guru Nanak, Guru Gobind Singh.
Banda sent Sikhs to the Uttar Pradesh (U.P.),
a large state to the north of Delhi, because of charges
against many state officials and administrators regarding
repression of the people, particularly of harassment of
non-Muslims. The Sikhs took over Saharanpur, Jalalabad, and
other areas nearby, bringing relief to the population.
Also, in the west of the Satlej, and in the
regions of Jallandar and Amritsar, the Sikhs started fighting
for the rights of the people. They used the newly established
power of the people to remove many corrupt officials, and
replaced them with honest ones.
The march of the Emperor
The rule of the Sikhs over eastern Punjab
obstructed the communication between Delhi and Lahore, the
capital of Punjab, and it worried Emperor Bahadur Shah. He
gave up his plan to subdue the rebels in Rajasthan and marched
towards Punjab. The entire Indian force was organized to
defeat and kill Banda Bahadur. The governors were ordered to
immediately dispatch their armies to the Punjab, and new
fighters were recruited. 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 August 29,
1710 to all Hindus to shave off their beards. The emperor knew
that the Sikhs loyal to their faith would not cut their
beards, hence would leave his army, and would not be able to
spy.
Meanwhile, the Sikhs, after taking Sirhind
and founding their capital, spread to different regions in U.P.
and Punjab. Banda, himself, was in U.P. when the army marched
to Sirhind. Before the return of Banda, they had already taken
Sirhind and the areas around it. The Sikhs, therefore, moved
to Lohgarh for their final battle. As soon as the emperor’s
army reached there, the Sikhs fell upon them and defeated
them.
Khafi Khan writes, “The sudden attack of the
fakirs (Sikhs) threatened the army seriously. Watching their
dead and wounded, one could conclude that the army is losing
the battle.” Kanwar Khan describes the battle in these words:
“I saw with my eyes every wretched Sikh jumping out of his
trench, attacking the soldiers bravely and dying fearlessly.”
However, ever increasing supplies of men and
materials to the army generals fighting Banda, helped them to
take over the fort. Sikhs lost two of their commanders and
2,500 men. Baba Banda Singh left the fort at night and went to
a secret place in the hills.
The failure of the army to kill or catch
Banda shocked the Emperor. On 10 December 1710 he ordered
that, wherever a Sikh was found, he should be murdered. The
Emperor lost his mental balance, became sick and died on 18
February 1712.
Banda takes over Hill Rajas
Banda wrote letters to the Sikhs to get
themselves reorganized and form groups to fight state
repression. The Sikhs gathered near Keeratpur and defeated
Raja Bhim Chand in the Spring of 1711. He was responsible for
organizing all the hill rajas against Guru Gobind Singh and
instigating battles with him. Bhim having been completely
routed, other rajas willingly accepted their subordinate
status, and paid revenues to Banda.
When the new Emperor, Farakhsyar, sent a
strong force to arrest him, Banda moved away from the Punjab
to the Jammu hills, where he stayed for about a year.
Arrest of Banda Bahadur
In March 1715, Baba Ji entered the Punjab
near Gurdaspur. He was in the village of Gurdas Nangal, when
the army laid siege to it. The Sikhs fought bravely and
defended the small fort for eight months. Mohd Quasim writes:
The brave and daring deeds of the
infernal Sikhs were amazing. Twice or thrice a day, some forty
or fifty Sikhs would come out of their enclosure to gather
grass for their animals. When the combined forces of the
imperialists went to oppose them, they made an end of the
Mughals with arrows, muskets, and swords. Such was the terror
of the Sikhs, that the commanders of the royal army prayed
that God might so ordain things that Banda should seek his
safety in flight from the village.
However, on 7 December 1715, the exhausted
and starving Sikhs were tricked when Banda was approached to
reconcile with the Government and meet the commander to
discuss the terms for making him the Governor of Jammu. He was
arrested instead and put in an iron cage. Other Sikhs were
captured, chained and brought to Delhi in a procession. Along
with 700 Sikh prisoners from the Punjab, there were 2,000
Sikhs heads hung on spears at the head of the procession 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, one hundred Sikhs were brought out of the fort and
murdered in public. This horrible butchering of the Sikhs was
witnessed and documented by many. The brave Sikhs showed no
sign of dejection or humiliation, instead they sang their
sacred hymns; none feared death or gave up his faith. The
British Embassy at Delhi recorded, “It is not a little
remarkable with what patience they undergo their fate and to
the last it has not been found that one apostatized from this
new formed religion.”
According to a Muslim historian, a nobleman
received permission to see Banda Singh Bahadur before he was
executed. He asked Banda Singh, “It is surprising that one who
shows so much acuteness in his features and so much nobility
in his conduct, should have been guilty of such horrors.” With
the greatest composure, Banda replied, “I will tell you,
whenever men become so corrupt and wicked as to relinquish the
path of equity and to abandon themselves to all kinds of
excesses, then the Providence never fails to raise up a
scourge like me to chastise a race so depraved; but when the
measure of punishment is full then he raises up men like you
to bring him to punishment.”
On 9 June 1716, Banda’s eyes were gouged,
his limbs severed, his skin removed and then he was killed.
Baba Banda Singh Bahadur thus became a
martyr. A Bairagi, having become an Amritdhari Sikh, committed
himself to live as a protector of the rights of the people. He
offered his own life while fighting the tyranny of the state.
Though his rule was short-lived, reforms brought about by him
still exist today. Banda Singh demonstrated that the people
have within them the power to topple tyrannical rulers.
Subsequently, the people, guided by the
Khalsa, destroyed the oppressive rulers of Punjab and became
the masters of their state.
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