Baba Banda Singh Bahadur--The Founder of Khalsa Raj

            BANDA SINGH BAHADUR--THE FOUNDER OF KHALSA RAJ

Banda Singh Bahadur was born on 16 October, 1670 AD in village Rajouri in Kashmir in the house of Ram Dev bhardwaj, a farmer by profession. He was named as Lachman Das and was fond of hunting and horse riding. One day while hunting, he killed a female deer and when he cut it for cleaning, two of the children came out of it's stomach and both died in front of his eyes. He was shocked to see this scene and decided to leave the house holder's life and became a Bairagi ( aesthetic ). He met Janaki Das Bairagi, who had come to Rajouri and became his disciple and he named him Madho Das. 

Roaming with the bairagis in Kasur, one day he came in contact with Ramdas Bairagi in 1686 AD and became his disciple, He kept roaming with him for many years and one day when he went to Nasak on the river Godavari, he decided to live there, as this place was very peaceful and romantic for aesthetics. Here he came in contact with Aughar Nath yogi, who was famous for Tantric powers. When Aughar Nath was in his last days of life, he gave him Granth of Yoga, as he had become his close disciple. After Aughar Nath died in 1691 AD, Madho Das made his own hut near Nander and started living alone as a Tapasvi. As he had tantric powers, the people started attracting towards him and he had made large number of disciples. But he was filled with ego to the brim and used to make fool/ insult other aesthetics who would come to him, by using his tantric powers. He had great physical strength and psychological power, but was using in the wrong way. Thus he spent 16 years in Nander as an aesthetic/ tantric. Now the time had come to transform / divert his physical and mental energy in the right direction for welfare of humanity.

As Guru Gobind Singh Ji had helped Bahadur Shah in succession war after death of Aurangzeb, he was obliged to The Guru. Guru Gobind Singh Ji was accompanying Bahadur Shah to south for further deliberations for suitably punishing Wazir khan, the ruler of SIRHIND, who had killed two younger sons of The Guru aged 9 years and 7 years. As the talks broke down, Guru Gobind Singh stopped at Nander.

one fine morning, in September,1708 AD, Guru Gobind Singh Ji reached the Place(Matth) of Madho Das, against the advice of Mahant Jait Ram, who met Him while passing through state of Jaipur in Rajasthan. He had informed The Guru that Madho Das had tantric powers and he uses it to harass the saints/aesthetics, who come to his Place. As Madho Das was not present there, Guru Gobind Singh Ji sat on his bed and Sikhs accompanying Him started cooking their meals/ meat etc. His disciples went to complain to Madho Das. When he returned and saw The Guru sitting on his bed, he got furious and started using his tantric powers to overturn the bed, but when all his tantric powers failed, he got confused. Then he questioned The Guru about His identity. The Guru asked him to think and look inside his mind and tell about His identity, which he already knows. After thinking for a while, he replied that:- Are you Guru Gobind Singh.? When The Guru replied in affirmative, he asked the purpose of The Guru coming to his place. Guru replied that He has come to make him His Sikh/disciple. These words of The Guru worked as an electric current and  Madho Das fell on the feet of The Guru and replied that he is His slave( Banda) and requested The Guru to make him His disciple.

Then Guru Gobind Singh Ji baptized him by giving him Khande-Di-Pahul( Amrit ) and named him Gurbax Singh but was more famously known as Banda Singh. Thus Guru Gobind Singh Ji transformed /diverted his immaculate energy to the service of the harassed and subjugated countrymen, by admitting him into THE KHALSA PANTH. He learnt the tenets of Sikhism and Sikh history very soon and was shocked to learn about the brutally with which Guru Arjan Dev Ji and Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, who were fighting for humanitarian values, were martyred. He was furious and his eyes became red, when he learnt about brutal killing of two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh Ji by brick lining them in the wall and then cutting their throats, after they refused to convert to Islam.

After Guru Gobind Singh Ji was stabbed, by one of the two persons sent by Wazir Khan to kill The Guru, He was hurt very seriously but before the man could make a second attempt, he was killed by The Guru with His Sword, and his second companion was caught and killed by the Sikhs. After all means of reconciliation by Guru Gobind Singh Ji having failed,The sword needed to be put to test as was declared by Him earlier in 'Zafarnama' that:-

                

            CHU KAAR AZ HAMAA HEELTE DAR GUZASHAT  II

            HALAAL AUST BURDAN BAA SHAMSHEER DASAT  II

   I.e. All means of redressing a wrong having failed, the raising of sword is pious and just.

Having known that His end was near, He called Banda Singh close to Him and patted him for his bravery and gave him five arrows, Nishan Sahib, Nagaara, as symbols of Political Power, and deputed five Sikhs as Panj Piaras for his guidance and sent twenty more responsible Sikhs with him for his help. He blessed and directed him for routing tyrant Mughal rule in Punjab and establish KHALSA RAJ ( humanitarian rule ). He also directed him that on attainment of political power, he should not develope ego and maintain good moral character. With these instructions of The Guru, Banda Singh proceeded toward Punjab, taking with him Guru's ' HUKAM NAMAS ' in the name of the Sikhs. On the way he faced serious financial problems and he prayed to WAHEGURU and the prayer was heard and a Sikh merchant met him near Bharatpur and offered a large amount of money of his 'Dasvand'. Banda Singh reached the ' Pargana ' of Kharkhoda and halted in villages of Sihri and Khanda, from where he sent ' HUKAMNAMAS ' of Guru Gobind Singh Ji to the Sikhs of Majha, Doaba and Malwa and told them that SARBAT KHALSA should unite and organise to destroy the tyrant Mughal rule. The Sikhs who had come with him from Nander, also sent letters in the name of important Sikhs of the area, telling them that Guru Gobind Singh had himself sent Banda Singh after appointing him as Jathedar of The Khalsa. And that it is the duty of The Khalsa to unite under his leadership for achievement of the mission assigned to him.

Consequently, a large number of Jats from 'Baangar' and brars from North and many other leading Sikhs of The Guru joined him. When he learnt that the Sikhs in large numbers have reached at KARTARPUR across Sutlej, but Pathans of Malerkotla and Ropar have stopped them on the river, he directed them to stay put till a message is sent to them.

Capture of KAPURI :-

After Sonipat and Kaithal, Banda Singh attacked SAMANA on 11th November, 1709 AD, as Sayad Jalal-u-din, who had killed Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji lived here. More over the Jalaads( butchers), namely Sashal Beg and Bashal Beg, who killed two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh Ji also lived here. All Jalaads and about ten thousands people were killed and the town was captured. As Bhai Fateh Singh fought with bravery and had a great role in this victory of The Khalsa, Banda Singh was pleased and appointed Bhai Fateh Singh as Faujdar of SAMANA and nine 'Parganas' under it.

Capture of SADHAURA :-

While moving towards Sadhaura, Banda Singh came to know that Incharge of Kapuri, kadmudin lhas been lifting all beautiful womens of Hindus through his men on horses and exploiting them sexually. He burnt his haveli with all its belongings along with Kadmudin. Then he raided Sadhora, whose In Charge Usman Khan had killed Pir Budhu Shah brutally, as he had helped Guru Gobind Singh Ji in battle of Bhangani. The people of the area being fed up of harassment by Mughal rulers joined Banda Singh's men and looted and destroyed the city.

Battle of ROPAR :-

Now the Sikhs of Majha and Doaba, who had assembled across Sutlej, crossed the river and had reached Kiratpur. Wazir khan deputed Sher Muhammad khan of Malerkotla to stop the Sikhs coming from North. He alongwith his brother Khizr Khan and nephews Muhammad khan and Nusrat Khan moved to fight the Sikhs. By this time the Sikhs of Majha and Doaba had reached Ropar. At sunrise Khizar khan attacked the Sikhs. Although the Sikhs were in small number and had only swords and spears and no guns, they fought very bravely and killed Khizar khan. Sher Mohammad khan came forward along with his nephews but when both of his nephews were killed by the Sikhs, he fled away with the dead bodies of his brother and nephews. In the meanwhile Banda Singh had also captured Banur. When Banda Singh learnt of victory of the Sikhs, coming from Keeratpur at Ropar, he was very happy and he advanced to receive them and both sides met between Banur and Kharar.

CONQUEST of SIRHIND :-

As the Sikhs from all sides had joined Banda Singh, an Ardas was made to WAHEGURU and Banda Singh ordered for preparing to raid SIRHIND, which Sikhs acknowledged with slogan of 'Sat Siri Akal', as the Sikhs were waiting since long to revenge the brutal killing of two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, aged 9 years and 7 years , by Wazir Khan a Muslim Ruler of SIRHIND. Having learnt of threat of attack by Sikhs, Wazir Khan started from SIRHIND with his army of about 20,000, elephants, horses , guns and large other weapons to stop them and both armies met at CHHAPAR-CHIRI, 10 miles away from SIRHIND on 12th May, 1710 AD. Banda Singh handed over the command to Bhai Fateh Singh, Karam Singh, Dharam Singh, Aali Singh and Sham Singh and himself took position on a Tibba to watch and direct the Sikhs. THE Sikhs fought so bravely that they almost killed the most of the army of Wazir Khan in this fierce battle but Wazir Khan was alive. Then he advanced towards Baaz Singh, but Fateh Singh hit him with his sword so strongly that it cut his head and body upto lower back. Thus Wazir Khan was killed and he lost the battle and his remaining army ran away. Then Sikhs raided SIRHIND but Wazir Khan's elder son, having learnt of his father's death, ran away to Delhi along with his family. Sucha Nand, who played a vital role in killing of two sons of Guru Gobind Singh escaped but Sikhs looted and ransacked his house. The  Sikhs got booty of about two crore rupees from SIRHIND but they did not damage any Hindu temple or Masjid like Sheikh Sirhindi’s  Maqbara. After capture of SIRHIND, Banda Singh appointed Baaz Singh as ruler of SIRHIND and Aala Singh as his assistant. Bhai Fateh Singh was appointed the ruler of Samana and Bhai Ram Singh, brother of Baaz Singh as ruler of Thanesar and Bhai Binod Singh as his assistant.

Banda Singh made SIRHIND as his centre of activities, sent armies to South, East and West to capture more areas. The victory of SIRHIND had created such a terror in the minds of the people that wherever the  Sikhs attacked, Muslims, Hindus and Govt officials surrendered without any resistance. Thus within a few days, the Sikhs were in control of Parganas with a revenue of thirty six lakhs a year. Many Muslims and Hindus in this area became Sikhs. 

Then Banda Singh proceeded to Malerkotla but the son of Sher Mohammad khan ran away with his family and valuable articles. Banda Singh's aim was not to plunder the city as he knew that Guru Gobind Singh Ji had given blessings to Sher Mohammad khan as he had protested to Wazir Khan and left his court against his order of killing of two minor sons of The Guru. He had come to this city as he came to know that Sher Mohammad khan had kidnapped Bibi Anoop Kaur River at the time Guru Gobind Singh Ji crossed Sirsa River but she killed herself with a knife to save her dignity and Sher Mohammad khan quietly buried her in the grave. He got the grave dug and took out her body and performed her last rites as per Sikh tenets. From here he went to Raikot, whose In Charge surrendered to Banda Singh without any resistance.

LOHGARH-CAPITAL OF FIRST KHALSA RAJ ( STATE ) :-

He made the fort of Mukhlas Garh as his capital as it was in mountaineous area between Sadhaura and Nahan, as SIRHIND was on GT Road and would have easily come under attack of Mughal army. This fort was in depleted condition and he got it repaired in a very short time and named it LOHGARH. He also built houses for officials to live in here. He introduced currency in the name of Guru Nanak Dev Ji--Guru Gobind Singh Ji and the Stamp on the currency was in Persian language, which read as under :-

SIKKA ZAD BAR HAR DO AALAM TEG NANAK WAAHID ASAT 

FATEH GOBIND SINGH SHAHE-SHAHAN FAZALE SACHA SAHIB ASAT 

I.e. The Victory has been achieved in two worlds with the blessings of the sword of Guru Nanak. The victory is of SHAHENSHAH Guru Gobind Singh and THE WAHEGURU ( God ).

Even the stamp used by him in his official Govt documents and correspondence in Persian was in the name of Guru Nanak-Guru Gobind Singh, which read as under :-

DEGO TEGO FATEH O NUSRATI BE-DIRANG

YAFT AZ NANAK GURU GOBIND SINGH

I.e. The victory, service to humanity, means of sustenance have been obtained by the blessings and the sword of Guru Nanak-Guru Gobind Singh.

Thus He always propagated that KHALSA RAJ ( Rule ) has been given by Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Guru Gobind Singh Ji, with the blessings of WAHEGURU ( The God ) and never claimed the victories to be his own. Banda Singh brought revolutionary reforms in land laws and abolished Zamindari System and gave the ownership rights of the land to the farmers for the first time in the country, who were mere tillers of land since centuries. The so-called low castes were dishonoured in the prevalent society, but whosoever a just approached Banda Singh, was made the ruler of his respective place etc.

CONQUEST OF AREAS BETWEEN YAMUNA-GANGA BASIN :-

Then Banda Singh advanced towards Saharanpur but it's ruler Ali Haamid Khan ran to Delhi alongwith his family and other valuables. The local people and officials resisted initially but were defeated and the Sikhs took control of the major portion of the city and a large amount of cash and valuables came into their hand, but many people were killed in this battle. Banda Singh changed the name of the city to BHAG NAGAR. Banda Singh stayed at this place and sent the Sikhs in small groups in the areas around Saharanpur and captured the whole city on around 11th June, 1710 AD and named it Gulabnagar. From here he went to Nanauta, Sheikhs fought back as they were expert in Arrow fighting, but the Sikhs fought so fiercely that the town was reduced to heap of burning coal pieces and was named as 'PHOOTA SHAHAR'. From here Banda Singh returned to Saharanpur and sent a Sikh Jatha to Jalalabad. In the meanwhile, Bahadur Shah came to know about Banda Singh entering Pargana of Saharanpur on 23th June 1710 AD and he deputed Jalal khan to fight back the Sikhs. Subsequently he deputed Feroz khan, Mohammad khan and Rajput rulers of kumaon, Srinagar and Sirmour etc. to fight the Sikhs. As the Sikhs learnt that the water of Krishna river was flowing around the walls of fort of Jalalabad, it will not be possible to capture the Fort shortly. Moreover as they were being asked to return to Punjab, they abandoned the plan of capturing Fort of Jalalabad and proceeded to Punjab for capturing 'Parganas’ of Sultanpur and Jalandhar.

CAPTURE OF PATTI, BATALA, KALANAUR AND PATHANKOT IN MAJHA AND RIARHKEE :-

 About 8000 Khalsa had assembled at Amritsar in Majha area and Amin Har Sahai, ruler of Patti attacked them at the instance of Naib Subedar Aslam khan of Govt of Lahore  but Sikhs fought bravely and Amin Har Sahai was killed and then the Sikhs captured Patti and as Chaudhary Deva Jat of Naushera Pannuan ran away to save his life, they captured Naushehra Pannuan. Then the Sikhs attacked BATALA and KALANAUR and captured both of these cities. As BATALA  was a big business centre for Kashmir and Kabul and Akbar sat on the throne at KALANAUR, as such rich people lived in these cities. Consequently, a good amount of booty came into hands of the Sikhs. A group of the Sikhs then moved towards Lahore and some of the Sikhs of Sathiala and Butala moved towards PAthankot. The Sikhs moving toward Lahore, captured outskirts of Lahore upto Shalimar Garden in Lahore. Aslam khan, the ruler of Lahore, being frightened of the Sikhs did not dare to come out of Lahore and fight the Sikhs. The Maulanas/ Qazis of Lahore took up the leadership and declared 'Jihad Against Sikhs and gave a call to the people to assemble for fighting the Sikhs and hoisted Haidri flag at Idgah /Maseet. A large number of rich Sayeds contributed a large amount of money for purchasing horses and war materials for fighting the Sikhs. Even Hindu Govt officials also joined them in 'Jehad'. one grandson of Todar Mal and son of Bhaharha Mal were the biggest leaders among the Hindus. Hearing of Jehad by Gazis, Aslam khan also sent about 500 horses and 1000 sepoys for their help. As the Sikhs were in very small number as compared to Jihadis, they retraced to jungle of Kahnuwan. The Jihadi again attacked Sikhs at Fort of Kotla Begam but the Sikhs fought very bravely and killed a large number of Jihadis. Moreover it started raining heavily in the evening and during night all Jihadist ran away. Enroute to back Lahore, Jihadis stopped at Bhilowal. As the Sikhs were following them, they attacked the Jihadis ferociously in the early morning and killed most of them, except those who were in the Fort. But they also ran away leaving the horses and other war material, which came in possession of the Sikhs. After this, the Sikhs were in control of most of Majha and Riarhkee area, except walled city of Lahore.

CAPTURE OF JALANDHAR BIST-DOAB :-

As districts of JALANDHAR, Hoshiarpur and Kangra were adjoining SIRHIND state in the North of River Satluj, after victory of Sirhind some of the Sikhs had reached this area, as the spirit of freedom had awakened in them. They were feeling as if they were now living as during the times of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and following His orders. During this time Shamas Khan, a Pathan of Kasur, was Incharge of Doab-Bisat. As Sikhs were in control of most of the area, they sent a letter to him for surrender. Shamas Khan was a clever person. He sent an indirect reply, to keep the Sikhs in allusion to gain time for preparation for battle, that he will come sometimes later to meet them. But he also sent some war material, writing to them that he is sending this much at present as he does not have arrangement of Carrots to send more war material. Simultaneously, He called the people for Jihad and assembled 4000 horse-riders, 30,000 sepoys, arrow men, gunmen and other fighters, who had come along with farmers of the area. But the Sikhs were relaxed as they trusted his letter. Now learning of his preparations, the Sikhs sent messages to Banda Singh and the other Sikhs in Gang-Doab, explaining them the whole situation and requested them to reach Doaba area very soon. But Banda Singh had to stay at SIRHIND as he came to know that Bahadur Shah was coming to Punjab from south. As some Sikhs were required to be sent to Doaba, the gherao of Jalalabad near Saharanpur was lifted and these Sikhs immediately moved towards Doaba. Both armies met outside Rahon city. Learning that they are very small in number and had very little war material as compared to the enemy, the Sikhs occupied brick-kilns outside the city and readied these to be used as forts. Although Sikhs were very small in number, they used hit, run and hide policy and Shamas Khan went back to Sultanpur, believing that the Sikhs have run away after defeat. But as he had gone a little far away, the Sikhs soon reappeared and captured the Fort of Rahon. After capturing Raahon, the Sikhs advanced to Jalandhar and the Pathans of the area were so scared of the Sikhs that they put no resistance and completely surrendered to the Sikhs. Likewise Hoshiarpur was also captured by the Sikhs without any resistance. Shamas khan fought 20 battles but could not regain control of his lost territory and had to be contented with small area of Sultanpur as the rest of Doab-Bisat Jalandhar came under control of the Sikhs.

BAHADUR SHAH'S MOVE AGAINST SIKHS :-

Bahadur Shah had just settled his problem with his younger brother Kaam Bakash in the South and reached Rajputana to sort out with Raja Jai Singh Kashwaha and Raja Ajit Singh, but capturing of SIRHIND and other areas by the Sikhs under Banda Singh changed his plans. Therefore he started for Punjab from Ajmer on 17th June, 1710 A D. As Bahadur Shah reached Sadhora on 24th Nov, 1710 AD, the Sikhs retraced from Thanesar and SIRHIND and reached Lohgarh Fort and Banda Singh also reached here and started taking measures for strengthening of the Fort. On telling by Banda Singh that, whose so ever attains martyrdom in the battle shall take re-birth after getting higher position, the Sikhs were emboldened. On 30th Nov, 1710 AD, Fort of LOHGARH was surrounded closely by about 60,000 Mughal army consisting of horse-riders, sepoys, Pathans, Balochs and burglars of different communities who had come with the purpose of loot only. As the arrangement of ration in the Fort was very less, the Sikhs purchased some ration from banias with Badshah camp, at rate of Rs 2-3 per seer by signalling with eyes and lifting with ropes etc. As the Sikhs were very small in number, they had no option but to leave the Fort during night by breaking gherao of the Mughal army. So they made a big explosion at midnight with a gun made from an 'IMLI' tree and Banda Singh and some of the Sikhs escaped cutting across the enemy forces and went towards the hills in the area of Raja Bhup Parkash of Nahan. The Mughal army attacked and occupied the Fort on 1 Dec, 1710 AD, but were disheartened to know that Banda Singh had escaped, as Bahadur Shah had brought an iron cage to catch and put him in the cage. Getting annoyed and frustrated from escaping of Banda Singh, Bahadur Shah told Muhabat Khan on 10th Dec, 1710 AD to order Incharge Shahjahanabad to kill all the Sikhs in the area.

After deputing Hamid khan to arrest Banda Singh and giving orders to Rajas of Nahan and Sirinagar for this purpose, Bahadur Shah moved towards Sadhora for proceeding to Lahore. Enroute, he learnt on 12th Feb, 1711 AD that Shamas Khan and Kutab Ali khan of JALLANDHAR Doab have been killed in battle with the Sikhs. He crossed River Beas at Sri Hargobindpur on 13th June, 1711 AD and reached in the vicinity of Lahore on 1 Aug, 1711 AD.

CAPTURING OF HILLY AREAS BY THE SIKHS :-

On the twelfth day, after getting out of Fort of LOHGARH, on 12th Dec, 1710 AD, Banda Singh wrote HUKAMNAMAS in the name of KHALSA-PANTH to reach and contact him. The Sikhs did not get disheartened due to loss of the Fort of LOHGARH, and assembled at Kiratpur. The Sikhs by this time were almost in control of eight districts of Punjab from Panipat to Lahore I.e. Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Patiala, Ambala and Karnal, except any small pockets in between these. But as Banda Singh did not have regular army to control these areas, only local Jathas of the Sikhs were controlling these areas. After the Sikhs assembled at Kiratpur, Banda Singh decided to attack hill Rajas. First of all he attacked Bhim Chand, Raja of Kahlur, who had been inimical to Guru Gobind Singh Ji. After defeat of Bhim Chand and others who came to his help, many other hill Rajas such as Raja Sidh Sen of Mandi submitted to Banda Singh. From here Banda Singh went alone to Kulu, where he was caught by Raja Maan Singh who put him in an iron cage, but somehow Banda Singh managed to escape and reached Mandi. From here he proceeded to Chamba, whose Raja Udai Singh of honoured him and became his disciple and married one of the girls from Raja's family to Banda Singh, from whom a son namely Ajai Singh was born in the end of 1711 AD.

As Bahadur Shah was proceeding to Lahore, therefore Banda Singh went towards hills of Jammu and the Sikhs enroute captured Aurangabad and Pasrur. When the news of Banda Singh having entered South-eastern hills of Jammu reached Raja Dhruv Dev Jaswalia, he informed news editor of Lahore and also blocked his passage from three sides, with the help of Muhammad Amir khan, Rustam Dil Khan, Aggar Khan and Issa Khan Manjh etc. Despite all this gherao, But Banda Singh escaped from their gherao with cleverness and great bravery and entered the hills of Arh-Barh, due to which Rustam Dil Khan got disheartened. Being annoyed at this, he terrified the residents of Kathua and adjoining areas, arrested the poor people and handed them to his sepoys, who sold them in horse-market of Lahore.

Bahadur Shah reached Lahore on 1Aug, 1711 AD and camped at village Aaluwalaa on the bank of River Ravi. After his arrival, Jihadi Mulanaas instigated Muslims and they started looting and terrifying Hindus kafirs. Orders to kill Sikhs were also issued. But Bachan Singh Kachhwaha and Badan Singh Bundela, who were deputed by the king for protecting the city, they occupied a place outside the city and gave a call to all Hindus to come to their camp for protection and thus stopped communal riots. At night og 14th Feb, 1712 AD Bahadur Shah health deteriorated due to diseased spleen and died during the night of 17-18th Feb,1712 AD. After his death, his son Jahandar Shah sat on the throne on 19th March, 1712 AD, after killing his brothers in the succession battle.

 Banda Singh came out of the mountains on 12th March, 1712 AD near Raipur/Behrampur, Bayazid Khan Faujdar of Jammu sent his forces under command of nephew of Shamas khan of Bist Doab to fight the Sikhs and then he and Shamas khan also joined him. The Sikhs fought very bravely and defeated the Mughals and Shamas khan was killed and Bayzid khan was injured very seriously and died after three days. As a result of this, the Sikhs got a good amount booty and war material. Taking advantage of the circumstances, Banda Singh proceeded to KALANAUR, where a lot of Muslims also joined his army as he was fighting tyrant rulers and not against Muslim religion. Banda Singh then proceeded towards BATALA and stopped at ACHAL, where about 8000 Sikhs under the leadership of Ram chand from hilly areas of Jammu joined him. Then Banda Singh attacked BATALA around 18th May,I 1712 AD and captured it. By this time the Sikhs occupied the area between River Beas and Ravi.

 

RECAPTURE OF LOHGARH AND SADHAURA :-

After the death of Bahadur Shah, Mohammad Amin Khan went to Lahore to join the succession battle likely to be fought among the sons of Bahadur Shah. Taking advantage of this situation, Banda Singh recaptured GARHI of Sadhaura and Fort of LOHGARH and repaired the Fort of LOHGARH very soon to use it as capital of KHALSA RAJ. As the Mughal army had surrounded the GARHI of Sadhaura for a long time, Banda Singh sent some Sikhs for help of the Sikhs in the GARHI but Mughal army attacked them. Consequently, the Sikhs in the GARHI came out to help the Sikhs who were attacked by Mughal army. Bakaa Beg khan, a famous commander of the Mughal army and many Mughal soldiers and the Sikhs were killed in this fight. After this, the Sikhs again went inside the GARHI of SADHAURA. On 18-19th sept,1712 AD, the Sikhs came out of the GARHI and rushed to the side occupied by Zamindars and escaped to the Fort of LOHGARH without much resistance by Zamindars. The GARHI of Sadhorha was then brought to ground by Abdu Samad khan. Then he attacked Fort of LOHGARH but Banda Singh and the Sikhs with him had already left this Fort as a strategical move. But as the Mughal army followed them some days later, they could not trace Banda Singh and the Sikhs accompanying him.

After leaving Fort of LOHGARH, Banda Singh eloped towards the hills of Jammu for about a year, waiting for an appropriate opportunity, as King Jahandar Shah ( subsequently named Farrukh- Siyar ) had given orders to arrest/kill Banda Singh and deal sternly with the the Sikhs. During this period, Banda Singh had second marriage with Bibi Sahib kaur, the daughter of Shiv Ram Khatri of Wazirabad, from whom his son Ranjit Singh was born from his dynasty carried on.

RECAPTURE OF BATALA AND KALANAUR :-

Banda Singh came out of hills of Jammu in early March, 1715 AD and proceeded to KALANAUR and captured it and established his Thana. Then he proceeded to BATALA and defeated Faujdar of BATALA in a fierce battle and captured BATALA and surrounding areas. Farrukh Siyar got the news on 19th March, 1715 AD that the Sikhs have captured many 'Parganas' of Lahore and have come as close as 12 KOH from Lahore and the faujdar of this district have run away and the rich persons and the Ministers of the kingdom were frightened. Hearing these news, He was very shocked and disturbed.

GHERAO AND BATTLE OF GURDAS NANGAL:-

Farrukh siyar ordered famous fighters from his kingdom such as Kamrudeen khan, Afrasiab khan, Muzafar khan, Raja Udit Singh Bundela, Gopal Singh bhadawarhei, Prithi chand Bundela and many Hindu and Muslim leaders to move their armies to Punjab to help Abdu Samad khan for fighting the Sikhs. But Banda Singh was also not totally unaware of the preparations of Mughal rulers. He also decided to built a mud GARHI in village Kot Mirza Jaan in between BATALA and KALANAUR. But as yet the GARHI was not complete, as its trenches and barricades were not ready, that Abdu Samad khan alongwith other Mughal, Hindu Raja's and Muslim leaders armies attacked the Sikhs. The Sikhs fought very bravely but as they did not have any place to hide, they retraced towards Gurdaspur under compelling circumstances and stopped in village Gurdas Nangal. As they had no other option, they occupied the haveli of Bhai Duni Chand, which incidentally had the capacity to accommodate all the Sikhs. Banda Singh fortified the haveli and arranged ration for the men, fodder for the horses and ammunition, as much he could in this short time. He also dug a trench around the haveli and filled it with water from a nearby canal and also filled fields surrounding the haveli with water so that horses and enemy sepoys could not move around easily. 

Abdus Khan and the Mughal army numbering around 24,000, consisting of half horsemen, half sepoys and big Guns regiment, reached Gurdas Nangal on 7th April, 1715 AD and surrounded it so closely from all sides that no ration and fodder could go inside. As the number of the Sikhs in the haveli was very small, daily some of the Sikhs would come out and escape fighting and breaking the gherao of the enemy forces. The enemy forces were so frightened of the fierce fighting by the Sikhs that they were praying God that Banda Singh should escape and run away from the GARHI of Gurdas Nangal. The gherao of the GARHI continued for many months and both sides had large casualties. After the prolonged gherao, the enemy forces further tightened the gherao of the GARHI, but the Sikhs were fighting so fiercely that all their efforts to reach the gate or near wall of the GARHI had failed. Then Abdus Khan ordered that underground tunnels be dug in the direction of corners of the GARHI. As the tunnels were being dug and had not yet reached the door of the GARHI,  Kamrudeen crossed the trench and reached the post from where heavy fire of 'Ram Jangas' of the Sikhs was damaging the enemy the most. Zakria khan also reached the door, which the Sikhs were using for coming out for getting any ration/fodder etc. Now the gherao was so close that it was now not possible for the Sikhs to bring any ration/ fodder from outside. Eight months long gherao had finished all of their ration and fodder etc. and they and their horses had nothing to eat and the dire hunger was now troubling them. Baba Binod Singh advised Banda Singh that under such circumstances they should escape, but Banda Singh did not agree and thus dispute arose between them, over this issue and they held swords against each other. Bhai Kahan Singh, son of Binod Singh intervened and stood between them and stopped them. It was then decided that whose so ever wants to get out of the haveli, he can leave and go. Baba Binod Singh alone came out and escaped fiercely fighting and shearing across the enemy army with his sword. 

When nothing was left to eat, the Sikhs were forced to eat animals. But as they did not have any firewood to cook the meat, they had to eat raw meat, due to which they fell ill. When the animals were finished they started eating grass/fodder. But when even grass was finished, they started eating tree leaves.  When even tree leaves were finished, they had to eat grinded branches of trees, to save their bodies and lives. So much so that they had to eat bones of animals after grinding them. Due to eating of raw leaves, tree branches, raw meat and bones of dead animals, they became seriously ill and died in hundreds. Due to the rotten dead bodies of men and animals, the whole of haveli started smelling and it became difficult to breathe. Even the Sikhs who were alive had become so weak that they could not lift their guns even. Their war material had been finished and it became impossible for them to fight the enemy to defend the GARHI. Ultimately Abdus Khan asked the Sikhs to open the door of the haveli, promising them that he will ask the king to pardon them. But when they opened the door of the haveli, Banda Singh and his companions were immediately arrested. About 200to 300 sikhs were killed in the haveli and the ground of the GARHI was filled with blood. The stomach of killed Sikhs were slit open by the enemy forces to find any Gold coins in their stomachs and their heads were cut and filled with grass and carried on spears. 

Thus evidently it was not that the Mughal army supported by Hindu Raja's armies and Muslim leaders could defeat Banda Singh and the Sikhs in Gurdas Nangal but it was the will of the God that Banda Singh and the Sikhs along with him were surrounded by a large army and caught due to becoming extremely weak, because of the dire hunger on account of non availability of anything to eat to keep themselves alive. Secondly, Banda Singh committed the mistake of not heeding to the advice of Baba Binod Singh to leave the GARHI of Gurdas Nangal, as the Sikhs in the GARHI were in very small number and also the ammunition with them was very negligible as compared to the enemy forces. Baba Binod Singh was one of the five Gursikhs deputed with Banda Singh by Guru Gobind Singh Ji for advising him, directing him to follow their advice.

 

MARTYRDOM OF BANDA SINGH BAHADUR :-

Banda Singh and other Sikhs, after being arrested from Gurdas Nangal, were first taken to Lahore. For taking Banda Singh to Lahore, iron rings and chains were put in the neck, waist, hands and legs of Banda Singh and then he was put in an iron cage and tied with chains at four places with the cage. Along with the cage he was kept on an elephant, with two officers as guards on the elephant, as they were so scared of him that he may not run away even being tied and caged. Similarly, chains were put on legs of Jathedars and prominent Sikhs of Banda Singh and they were made to sit on lame/weak donkeys and camels and paper caps were put on their heads to make them look like jokers.They were being followed by Mughals carrying heads of Sikhs on spears, who were further being followed by rich persons of the kingdom, Faujdars, Hindu Rajas with their armies. After reaching Lahore, Abdus Samad khan sought permission from the king for bringing the Sikh prisoners to Delhi. Farrukh Siyar ordered him to look after the administration of his state and send the Sikh prisoners with his son Zakria khan and Kamrudeen khan, son of Mohammad Amin khan. Abdu Smad felt that about 200 heads of Sikhs were insufficient for presenting to the king. So he started search of the Sikhs in his state and killed innocent Sikhs in thousands and sent 700 cart loads of heads of the Sikhs with the convoy of prisoners to Delhi. For sending the other Sikh prisoners to Delhi with Banda Singh, they were all tied with chains put in their neck, waist, hand and feet like Banda Singh and 2 to 3 Sikhs were loaded on these carts. 

Banda Singh and the Sikhs were taken from Agrabad to Delhi on 29 Feb, 1716 AD in a procession. In the front were 2000 heads of the Sikhs filled with grass and carried on Bamboos, with their hairs flowing with air. One person was following them, carrying a dead cat on a Bamboo indicating that what to talk of human, animal, and that not even  a cat or dog has been left alive. Behind them was Banda Singh put in iron cage, which was kept on an elephant. Red coloured shining clothes filled with the flowers of Pomegranate were worn on his body and a shining turban was adorned on his head, to make him look like a joker and a armed Mughal officer was standing behind him. Behind this elephant were 740 Sikhs, two of them tied on each camel, and caps of sheep skin decorated with mirror modules were worn on their heads and one of their hand fitted in wooden bars was tied to their neck with their hairs flowing, to make them look like sheeps. Behind them were three rich persons on horse backs namely Mohammad Amin khan, his son Kamrudeen and Zakria Khan Bahadur. On reaching the Fort of the king, as per orders of Farrukh Siyar , Banda Singh, Baaz Singh, Fateh Singh and some important Sikh leaders were handed over to Ibraheem khan for putting them in Tripolia Jail. Banda Singh's wife, his four years old son Ajai Singh, and his maid servant were sent with Darbaar Khan, administrator of Women's jail of the kingdom. The remaining about 700 Sikhs were handed over to Kotwal Sarabrah khan, for killing them. Then 1000 swords, 278 Dhaals, 173 arrow fliers, 180 guns, 114 jamdaarh, 217 knives, 23 gold coins, 600 rupees and a few gold ornaments, recovered from Sikhs in Gurdas Nangal, were deposited in treasury of the king. Is it not a miracle that the Sikhs being in small number and such a small quantity of arms fought so bravely and fearlessly for such a long time with a large Mughal army.?

The killing of Sikhs started on 5th March, 1716 AD in front of Kotwali police station under the supervision of Kotwal Sarbarah khan with the instructions that 100 Sikhs be killed daily but first they should be given offer to convert to Islam to save their lives. As none accepted Islam, 100 Sikhs each were killed on the first, 2nd and third day. After three days, When the news was conveyed to the King Farrukh-Siyar that 300 Sikhs have been killed but no Sikh accepted Islam, he ordered that the remaining Sikhs be kept hungry to force them to accept Islam. 

After keeping them hungry for seven days, the king along with Sarbarah khan Kotwal went to the jail and offered one bread (Roti) to one Sikh but it came back to the same Sikh after circulating among all 400 Sikhs as everyone offered it to the next. Then this sikh throws this bread(Roti) also in front of the king telling him that SIKHI has been attained after giving heads and it does not depend on your breads. After this he ordered that all the remaining 400 Sikhs be killed. Before killing they were again told that whose so ever becomes a Muslim, will be spared from being killed, but none of them became a Muslim and preferred being killed as a Sikh of The Guru and all were killed in four days. 

One of them was a young boy, whose father had died and who had been recently married. Her old mother approached Rattan chand, a Diwan of a wazir for saving her son. Probably on tutoring by Rattan chand, she told the king that his son was a prisoner in the hands of the Sikhs and that he is not a Sikh and will be killed in innocence. Farrukh Siyar ordered him to be released and this lady handed over these orders to the Kotwal. But the boy refused to be released, telling them loudly that :- his mother is telling lies and that I am a stout Sikh, send me soon to meet my brothers. The on lookers were still more astonished to see the young Sikh boy returning to the mortuary and bending his head before the Jallad ( butcher), who cut his head and the boy joined the Sikh martyrs. During the night, the heads and bodies of the killed Sikhs were taken out of the city and hung on the trees. 

But Banda Singh and his close associates were kept alive for a long time, after being brought to Delhi, to know about his treasures and his associates/ helpers. Ultimately, On 9th June, 1716 AD, Banda Singh and his 4 yrs old son, Baaz Singh, Fateh Singh, Aali Singh, Bakshi Gulab Singh and 21 Sikh commanders were brought out of the jail in a procession under the supervision of Kotwal Sarabrah khan. Banda Singh was made to sit on the floor and asked to either accept Islam and be a ruler or be killed, but He prefered to be killed than accepting Islam. He reiterated that his aim was to kneel him down before him and not to kill him as he destroyed Mughal rule, but Banda Singh refused to oblige him, telling Farrukh-Siyar that he is not afraid of death as he gave his head to GURU Gobind Singh Ji when he partook ‘AMRIT’ from Him. Then his 4 yrs old son was put in his lap and he was asked to kill his son, to which he refused. Then the butcher cut his son’s body and took out his heart and put it in the mouth of Banda singh, but he remained unnerved and unmoved like a stone. Then it was Banda Singh's turn for being killed. Again he was offered to convert to Islam to save his life and enjoy life of a ruler, as the king wanted to show to the people that the GURU Gobind Singh’s Sikh, who destroyed the Mughal rule has been kneeled down. But Banda Singh refused to oblige him and accepted death than conversion to Islam. First the Butcher took out his right eye, then the left eye, then he cut his left feet and then his both hands were cut and removed. After this the pieces of his skin were pulled out and removed with red hot tong, then his head was cut and after this each part of the body was cut to pieces. Banda Singh bore this extreme torture with calm, perseverance and being unmoved, in the will of God. Thus Banda Singh attained MARTYRDOM with pleasure and firm contentedness, taking it as a means provided by THE GOD, with the penultimate aim of fighting injustice and ending tyrannical Mughal rule.

Was not the decision of GURU GOBIND SINGH JI of appointing Banda Singh Bahadur as leader/ Jathedar of THE ‘KHALSA’  MIRACULOUS, as He met him for the first time in the last days of His life, when he was Madho Das and had meekly renounced the world and become an aesthetic. After having tried and failed in all his tricks to overturn the bed of Guru Gobind Singh Ji on which He was sitting in his dera, Madho Das completely submitted to GURU GOBIND SINGH JI, who brought magnetic spiritual transformation in him by baptizing him with Khande-Di-Pahul ( AMRIT ) and naming him Gurbax Singh. He then entrusted to him the task of completing His mission of fighting injustice and ending tyrannical Mughal rule and giving freedom to the people of the country. Banda Singh Bahadur proved true to the VISION, INTELLIGENCE and FORESIGHTEDNESS of GURU GOBIND SINGH JI, as he did wonderful job for achieving the mission assigned to him by The Guru, till the end of his life and attained Martyrdom as a contented SIKH bearing extreme torture with pleasure. He was not only a commander of Sikh army but was also a great preacher of Sikhism. Whenever the people came to him for help or join THE KHALSA DAL, he would make prayer for them and ask them to do SIMRAN ( Contemplate on God ) daily, but never forced anyone for religious preaching or conversion to Sikhism. He upheld the respect and dignity of the downtrodden and appointed the poor, low castes/backward castes and scheduled castes as rulers of their respective areas. He abolished Zamindari system in Punjab, which had made farmers worse than slaves, and gave land rights to the farmers who were only tillers of land for centuries. It was the magnetic force of moral and spiritual character of Banda Singh Bahadur and Guru's blessings that not even one of the 700 Sikhs/ his associates, who were offered to convert to Islam to save their lives, gave up Sikhism and all attained Martyrdom taking it to be service to The Guru and the people.

Thus evidently, Banda Singh gave a glorious fight to the Mughals for removing shackles of slavery of his countrymen, as per directions and blessings of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, and occupied a large area from River Yamuna to River Ravi and thus FOUNDED THE FIRST KHALSA RAJ. But he could not maintain it, as Mughal Kingdom was very vast and strong and had a large army and ammunition as compared to very small strength of The KHALSA army with meat resources and very small quantity of ammunition. Moreover Banda Singh with a handful of Sikhs was surrounded unawares by a large Mughal army, helped by many big Hindu Rajas with their armies, first in Sidhora and then in Gurdas Nangal and both times the Sikhs did not have sufficient ration to maintain their bodies and lives and thus the dire hunger made them helpless. But the fire of removing shackles of slavery of the people of India from tyrannical Mughal rule, ignited by Guru Gobind Singh Ji, was made stronger by Banda Singh to keep it burning and who also taught THE KHALSA to sacrifice happily and as such this fire could not be extinguished or diminished. This fire ultimately converted into a big Holy fire after 40 years and the Sikhs finished the Mughal rule from Punjab and established KHALSA RAJ in North-west India right from the boundaries of Delhi to Darya Khyber, thereby blocking the entry of invaders from Darya Khyber, which resulted in finishing tyrannical Mughal rule from India.