Ugmi revolt from the martyrdom of innocents

Surinder Singh Tej

Malerkotla is the town that remained safe as a Muslim princely state even during the days of the fall of Mughal rule and the establishment of Sikh supremacy in Punjab and also during the Santali suffering. Even after the establishment of the Punjabi province, its Muslim majority character remained intact and is still there. Settled in 1454 by the Sufi fakir Sheikh Sadruddin-i-Jahan from Afghanistan, the city was granted the title of a semi-autonomous princely state by Ismail Khan in 1600 AD. His status was that of Sardar. The Nawabization of this status fell to his successors. After destroying Sirhind brick by brick in 1710, Banda Bahadur defeated many other Nawabs and Faujdars in Malwa, but did not move towards Malerkotla. The last Nawab of this princely state was Iftikhar Ali Khan who died in 1982. Many of his relatives migrated to Pakistan during the Santali period and lived there as the Nawab of Malerkotla, but Iftikhar Ali Khan did not renounce his allegiance to India. All this blessing is associated with the ‘Shout of Ha’ which the Nawab of this princely state, Sher Muhammad Khan, struck in Bithai Kachhari on behalf of Suba Sirhind Wazir Khan. This incident is said to be on 25 December 1704 (1705 according to many historians). He had the courage to stand up from the packed court saying that the sentence of death sentence to Baba Zorawar Singh (9 years) and Baba Fateh Singh (6 years) was unjust. Not only that, in a letter of complaint written to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, he described Wazir Khan’s decision as an insult to Islamic law and morals. His bravery made his name immortal in the annals of Sikh history and human rights, Malerkotla was also made an eternal character of Guru’s grace.

Martyrdom of little Sahibzades is very painful. The two innocents were first nailed to the wall while alive and then beheaded. On hearing about this punishment, his 81-year-old grandmother, Mata Gujri, collapsed and died. According to that time, this incident is on 26 December 1704. In Sikhism, ‘jujh maroon’ is considered the best kind of death, but the martyrdom of the younger Sahibzades is treated with intense grief. It is also necessary to mourn. Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan questioned Wazir Khan: “Our enmity is with the Guru, not with these innocent children. What is wrong with these children?” He received the answer from a nobleman named Sucha Nand: “Snake children are spolia. It is only reasonable to behead them.” The Nawab rejected this answer and refused to be a participant in the inhuman act. Wazir Khan was his relative. He was not melted. But his unmelting end cost him dearly. Five years later (on 12 May 1710 in the battle of Chapparchidi) not only his head was beheaded but his entire dynasty also fell to the sword. Those who earn anger are also angry.

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The martyrdom of Chhota Sahibzades is considered a tragedy in human history. Such an example of giving sacrifice for the sake of religion is not found in the history of other nations. Sikh scholars have been describing this sacrifice in a very poignant manner. But even if seen from objective human needs, this sacrifice does not seem less poignant. The entire incident went something like this:

• After the creation of the Khalsa, Dasam Pita Guru Gobind Singh Hakumat-i-Mughlia began to tear up in his eyes. Wearing a turban on the head, walking armed, riding horses, protecting the weak were the steps taken by his disciples to disobey the universal decrees and bans for non-Muslims and rebellion against the government. Anandpur Sahib was in the territory of Rajput Raja Bhim Sen (later Raja Ajmer Chand) of Kehlur princely state. He and the kings of other hill states had lost the war of Bhangani from Guru Ji. No Mughal emperor ever invaded the princely states of Dhauladhar (present-day Himachal Pradesh) or Uttarakhand. These princely states had accepted the subordination of the Mughal Sultanate for fear of mere oppression and regularly sent annual or semi-annual Khiraj and gifts to the Mughal court. They were worried about the activities of the Khalsa. Despite Guruji’s declarations of ‘Raj Na Chahun, Mukut Na Chahun’, he was constantly sending complaints against Kalgidhar to Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir. In these complaints, they called Guruji and his disciples as rebels.
• Based on these complaints, when the emperor ordered the arrest of Guru Sahib, the kings sought the help of the Mughal army to do so. The emperor assigned the responsibility of helping the province to Sirhind Wazir Khan. He marched towards Anandpur Sahib with his army. The armies of the hill kings also joined that army.
• There were two wars of Anandpur Sahib. Mughals were defeated in the first war and their general Ramzan Khan was seriously injured

  went After this, military action was called for in Lahore and other places. Sikh historians say the number of this army is more than one lakh. It was armed with artillery. This army besieged the forts of Anandpur Sahib. The Khalsa army had to leave the rest of the forts and gather at Anandgarh. The siege lasted eight months. The days of Fakakshi came in the fort. Many of the disciples also left the company after writing a disclaimer.

• Finally, the Mughal generals and the hill kings took oaths from their respective scriptures and promised that if the Guru and his followers left the fort, they would be allowed to go somewhere else peacefully. According to Sikh sources, on the night of 20 December 1704, Guru Sahib, his family, Panj Pyare and about 400 Sikhs evacuated the fort. But when they reached the banks of the Sarsa river, the royal army broke the promise and attacked them.
• The Sarsa river was flooded at that time due to rains. Due to this, Guru Sahib’s family was divided into three parts in the confusion. His two mahals (daughters) Mata Sundari and Mata Sahib Kaur left for Delhi side with Bhai Mani Singh and some other devotees; Guru Ji, the two elder Sahibzades, Panj Pyare and about 40 other Sikh warriors went towards Chamkaur Sahib. Mata Gujri and the two younger Sahibzades were separated.
• The Mughal army continued to pursue Guru Sahib. Guru Sahib marched in the rough fort of Chamkaur. This Garhinuma Haveli was handed over to him as Thahar by the younger brother of the chief of Chamkaur Sahib. The siege of this fort by the Mughal army and the martyrdom of the two great Sahibzades took place on December 21 (according to some sources, December 20). During the night of 21st and 22nd, Guru Sahib escaped from that fort by obeying the order of Panj Pyar. He had five companions with him, but due to the darkness and the abundance of jungles, the companions got separated from Guru Ji.
• Mata Gujri and the two younger Sahibzades spent the night of December 21-22 in Kumma Mashki’s hut in village Chak Dhera. Then a cook named Ganga Ram took them with him to his village Saheri. Sikh scholars present two sides of this incident. One is that Ganga Ram alias Gangu Brahmin was already with Mata Gujri and the younger Sahibzades. His mind was blown by seeing the ashrafis (gold seals) they had. The other side is that he was in his village. On learning about the presence of Mataji and Sahibzades in Chak Dhera, he came there and at first took them to his house as a devotee, but then, greedy for official rewards, he informed the Kotwal of Morinda.
• The Kotwal of Morinda arrested Mataji and Sahibzade and kept them in the Kotwali of Morinda on the night of 22nd December. Then the next day, as regular prisoners, the province was presented to Sirhind Wazir Khan. Wazir Khan was already dismayed at the safe escape of Kalgidhar, he ordered the mother and the two Sahibzadas to be imprisoned in a cold tower and starved.
• On December 25, 1704, the younger Sahibzades were called to the court and asked to convert to Islam. When they refused, the death sentence was pronounced. The next day too, when he remained adamant, the practice of marking the head on the wall was carried out.

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  The slogan of ‘Haa Da Naara’ against this nefarious act was not limited to Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan alone. A wave of anger arose against this in the whole of Punjab. Guru Sahib had sent two of his eldest Sahibzadas with his own hands ready to ‘die in battle’. The grief that was in his mind at that time, he drank it like a sip of patience. Information about the arrival of the children came to them in January 1705 at the residence of the Muslim jagirdar Rai Kala at Raikot. Rai Kala sent Guru’s devotee Noora Mahi to Sirhind. When he was narrating the martyrdom of the children, Kalgidhar bowed his head and scratched the root of a bush with his arrow. Despite appearing steadfast from the outside, the fact that he continued to scratch the root with an arrow was an expression of his mental anguish. At the end of Noore Mahi’s statement, he said, “Take, the root of the Mughal Empire has been uprooted.” This sentence, indeed, proved to be prophetic.

  The martyrdom of the Sahibzades gave an extraordinary shock to the unruly and violent spirit of the Punjabis. Anger and outrage crossed religious boundaries. Be with the Guru of every religion. At the time of the siege of Anandpur Sahib, even those who left the side of Kalgidhar returned, the Khalsai plant also began to grow rapidly. The ranks of Gurus began to flourish everywhere. Guru Sahib mentioned this fact in his victory letter ‘Zafarnama’ written to Emperor Aurangzeb. In response to this letter, the king expressed his desire to meet them. The extent to which the resentment of the martyrdom of the younger Sahibzadas remained in the Guru Sahib’s mind can be estimated from the fact that on the death of Aurangzeb in 1708, when his son Shahzada Muazzam (later Bahadur Shah) ascended the throne When Guru Sahib asked for help for the war, in response Guru Sahib asked for the ‘handover of Wazir Khan’ on one condition. When Muazzam, being a crown prince, refused to fulfill his promise, Guru Sahib directed Banda Bahadur to Punjab to suppress the evildoers. This man of the Guru proved the success of the Guru’s mission within two and a half years (on 12 May 1710): by driving Wazir Khan to Hell in the Battle of Chaparchidi.

  It was the effect of the martyrdom of the Sahibzades that the Sikh groups from Jhelum to Ghaggar became the support of the poor against the atrocities of the Mughal soldiers. Even after paying the price of heads, they kept the Sikh plantation fruitful. Only 45 years after the two martyrdoms, till 1750, the dominance of Bakul Bulleshah ‘Browns’ began to be seen in the entire land of five rivers. Within the next 30 years, the entire region turned into Khalsa land, despite the Sikh community constituting only 8 percent of the Panj-Aab’s total population. Then the story of how Maharaja Ranjit Singh expanded the boundaries of the Khalsa Darbar from the Khyber Pass to the whole of Kashmir and the whole of Ladakh and the boundaries of (Baloch) Khan Kalat to more than half of the present Himachal, is again true.