SIKH HISTORY  

Sikh Gurus 1469 - 1708 A.D.

Sikh Misls (confederacies) 1709 - 1800 A.D.

Sikh Empire 1801 - 1849 A.D. (later annexed by British Empire)

THE SIKH GURUS, 1469 - 1708 A.D.

The Sikhs, a sect of dissenters from Brahmanical Hinduism, originated in the Punjab.  Guru Nanak, the founder of the religion, was born at the home of his maternal grandfather at Talwandi (now known as Nankana Sahib in Pakistan), in the year 1469 A.D.  The teachings of Nanak were strongly influenced by the creeds of the Hindus and Muslims, but his own faith was strictly monotheistic and he taught his followers the worthlessness of ostentatious prayers, of penance and pilgrimages.  In his views of Indian society, Guru Nanak followed Ramanand, a religious reformer of the end of the 14th century, who had already abolished caste among his disciples.  Guru Nanak was greatly influenced by Kabir and Shaikh Ibrahim Farid  (1450 - 1535 A.D.), a descendent of the famous Sufi saint Shaikh Fariduddin Shakarganj of Pak Pattan whose works were incorporated in the Granth Sahib.

Nanak acquired the title of Guru (Divine Teacher).  Guru Nanak and the nine Gurus who succeeded him, set a great example of living spiritually. Gradually this gentle religion of reconciliation became transformed into a formidable, aggressive military power. This transformation was brought about on account of continued Mughal oppression. Constant harassment by the Mughal forces because of the failure of the Sikhs to embrace Islam, led to the emergence of Sikh militarism.

Guru Nanak died in 1539 A.D.  He had feared that his reform movement might become a religious sect, so excluded his own two sons from its leadership, and before his death,  he designated Lehna, who later took the name Angad, as his successor to Guruship.  Guru Angad wrote the Sikh's Granth Sahib (Holy Book), which included his report on Guru Nanak's teachings as well as his own observations. Guru Angad died in 1552 A.D., and again, rather than pass leadership to one of his sons, he made Amar Das, a seventy-three year old disciple, his successor. Before his death in 1574 A.D., Guru Amar Das made his son-in-law Jeth his heir.  Jeth took the name Ram Das, and started building  the Sikh's Golden Temple at a site granted him by Akbar.  The new town and residence of Guru Ram Das, which was called "Guru-ka-chak" or "Ramdaspur", soon developed into a regional commercial center.  Akbar's successor Jahangir had Ram Das tortured to death for having aided a rebellion against him.

Guru Arjun Dev was the third and youngest son of Guru Ram Das and Mata Bhani, born at Goindwal on April 15, 1563 A.D. He started construction of the Temple building itself which was finally completed in 1601 A.D. He also enlarged the Granth Sahib, half of which is due to him, and built the Harmandir at Ramdaspur, which now became known under the name of its tank, Amritsar.  Guru Arjun Dev was imprisoned in Lahore for having aided the unsuccessful rebellion of Khusru against his father Jahangir. He is said to have disappeared in the river Ravi in which he was allowed to take a bath, in 1606 A.D.

Under Arjun's son and successor Har Gobind, the Sikhs became a military sect, leading to the first step in his dynasty's devotion to self-defense.  After a stay at Gwalior Fort, a state prison where Shah Jahan had sent him for reasons which are still not clear, he engaged in petty warfare in the Punjab and claimed several victories over the troops of local Mughal commanders.  

Har Gobind was succeeded by his grandson, Har Rai, who was a supporter of Alamgir's (Aurangzeb's) brother, the pious Dara Shikoh. After Har Rai's death in 1661 A.D., there was partisan bickering and the decision of which of his two sons was to become Guru was deferred to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.  Aurangzeb decided on the second son Har Krishan, but before the infant Guru (born in 1656 A.D.) could leave Delhi he died of small-pox in 1664 A.D.  The Guruship now reverted to Tegh Bahadur, Har Gobind's second son.  But Har Gobind's eldest son Ram Rai also laid claim to the Guruship.  Aurangzeb Alamgir had Tegh Bahadur executed in 1675 A.D. for having refused to accept Islam. Tegh Bahadur's son and successor, Guru Gobind Singh, vowed to avenge his father's murder and to combat Alamgir's oppression. He turned the Sikh community to militarism, to what he called the Khalsa (Army of the Pure). The unity of this military brotherhood was strengthened by the introduction of the title Singh (lion), which was to be borne by all the male members of the community, and the famous five k's which a sikh must always wear after his admission to the Khalsa: kesh (unshorn hair), kacha (short knee length soldier's shorts), kara (an iron bangle worn on the right arm), kripan (scimitar), and a khanga (the hair-comb with teeth on one side ued by men and worn in the top-knot).

The Tenth Great Guru, Guru Gobind Singh initiated the Sikh Baptism ceremony in 1699 A.D. and thus gave a distinctive identity to the Sikhs. The first five Baptized Sikhs were named Panj Pyare (Five Beloved Ones). Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Holy Scripture was compiled and edited by the Fifth Guru, Guru Arjan in 1604 A.D. This is the only scripture in the world which has been compiled by the live founder of a faith during their own life time. Guru Arjan also built the world famous Gurdwara Darbar Sahib also known as The Golden Temple, at Amritsar which is the nucleus of Sikhism.

THE SIKH MISLS

After the death of Guru Gobind, the Sikh community produced a number of military bands, the most important of which was led by Lakshman Das, a bairagi (ascetic) who had become a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh and adopted the name, "Banda" (slave).

Banda Singh Bahadur, who formed almost a regular army, sacked several Mughal towns.  Banda had several successes against Mughals during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam Bahadur.  However, an able military commander, Abd-al Samad Khan, sent as governor of Lahore by the next Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar, caused Banda and the Sikhs to retreat and finally surrender.  Several Sikh leaders were sent to Delhi in captivity, and Banda and his infant son were executed there in 1716 A.D.  Banda's partisans fought for some years for the control of Harmandir (Sikh religious authority), but were finally excommunicated by Guru Gobind Singh's widow Mata Sundari, in 1721 A.D.

The Mughal governor Abd-al-Samad Khan and his son and successor Zakaria Khan undertook several campaigns aimed at crushing the Sikhs, but didn't prove too successful against their guerilla tactics.  Zakaria Khan finally attempted to make peace, by offering the Sikhs a "jagir" (a tract of land) with an annual revenue of a 100,000 rupees and the rank of Nawab for their leader.  In 1733 A.D., the rank of Nawab was bestowed on Kapur Singh, who made Amritsar his residence.  The Nawab reorganized the Trans-Sutlej sikhs in 1734 A.D. into eleven "misls" or confederacies, each led by its own chief or Sardar.  Before retiring in 1748 A.D., he formed the Dal Khalsa, a united army of the misls under the command of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia.  The proudest achievement of this army in the eyes of the Sikhs, was the conquest and destruction of Sirhind in 1763 A.D.,  where Guru Gobind's two sons were put to death earlier.

The campaign of the Persian ruler Nadir Shah in 1738/39 A.D., and the nine invasions of Northern India by Ahmad Shah Durrani between 1747 A.D. and 1769 A.D., led to numerous encounters between the Afghan and Sikh troops and to the repeated occupation, destruction, and desecration of Amritsar, but at the same time, they put an end to all Mughal control over the Punjab.  When the Afghan supremacy over the country began to dwindle, the power vacuum was filled by the only remaining organized force, the Sikh Misls.  Soon, Sikh leaders and their bands extended their raids even beyond the Punjab, into Rajasthan, Haryana, and across the Jamuna, but there their advance was checked by the Rohillas of Rohilkhand, the Maratha army of Mahadji Sindhia under its French commanders De Boigne and Perron, and by the Irish adventurer George Thomas, the self-styled dictator of the Sikhs who for a short time was able to establish his own principality centered on Hansi and the fort of Georgegarh near Jhajjar.

Each Misl was basically a confederacy of Sikh horsemen led by a Sardar, and belonging either to the "Budha Dal" (old army), or the "Taruna Dal" (new army) but the different misls were far from uniformly organized.  The size and relative importance of the misls varied considerably during their history.

THE SIKH EMPIRE 

A certain Charat Singh, who was the head of one of the Sikh Clans (Sukerchakia misl), established his stronghold in Gujranwala in 1763 A.D. Charat Singh died in 1774 A.D. and was succeeded by his son, Mahan Singh, who in turn fathered the most brilliant leader in the history of the Punjab - Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It was this short statured man, addicted to strong drink, blind in one eye, who united the Punjab under one flag.  Ranjit Singh seized Amritsar In 1802 A.D., Ludhiana in 1806 A.D. and Peshawar in 1834 A.D. His rule stretched from the banks of the Jamuna to the Khyber and from Kashmir (1819 A.D.), Ladakh (1833 A.D.) to Multan (1818 A.D.). 

By an 1809 A.D. treaty with the British, Ranjit Singh was confirmed as the ruler of the tract he had occupied south of Sutlej. But the agreement restricted him any expansion to the north or further south of the river.  Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the most powerful of all the Sikh Rulers and ruled for over 40 years. After his death in 1839 A.D., the Sikh Empire was divided into small principalities looked after by several Sikh Jagirdars.  This weak situation provided a good opportunity to the British of East India Company to put an end to the Sikh stronghold in the Punjab, in 1849 A.D. 

With the establishment of the Sikh rule in the Punjab, the necessity of regulating the finances of the State was keenly felt by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Having been apprised of the attainments of Ganga Ram in this branch, the Sikh ruler invited him to Lahore. Till then there were very few Kashmiri Pandits residing at Lahore. Pandit Ganga Ram having risen very high in the estimation of the Sikh ruler was appointed as the Finance Minister. Raja Dina Nath rose to a higher place of eminence. He was put in charge of the Privy Seal by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. 

Punjabi, a variant of the Hindi language with some Persian influence, is the spoken and written language of the Sikh people. Male members of the Sikh religion use the name, Singh (lion), as their middle or last name, while females use the name, Kaur (princess).

SIKH RULE ( Kashmir )

In 1819 A.D., Ranjit Singh conquered Kashmir and made it part of his Sikh empire. Gulab Singh had been Ranjit Singh's protégé for thirty years. When Ranjit Singh died, Gulab Singh, aged forty-seven, was well-placed to control events not only in the heart of the Sikh empire in Lahore but also in Kashmir.  In 1846, when the British defeated the Sikhs and annexed Punjab, they sold Kashmir to Gulab Singh of Jammu for Rs. 7.5 million under the Treaty of Amritsar. Gulab Singh, who titled himself the Maharajah, signed a separate treaty with the British which, in effect, gave him the status of an independent princely ruler of Kashmir. He added to his dominion by conquering Ladakh. Gulab Singh died in 1857 and was replaced by Ranbir Singh (1857-1885). Two other Maharajahs, Partab Singh (1885-1925) and Hari Singh (1925-1949) ruled in succession.