Long before the
British built the Gateway to India there was another Gateway to India. It was The
Khyber Pass.
As early as 326 B.C.
Alexander the Great came down The Khyber. Then came Ghori, Gazni, Nadir Shah,
Khiljee, Durrani. They all came down the Khyber. They did not come to do
Battle. They came to loot, plunder and rape.
There was no one to
stop them. I was reading one of Mahatma Gandhi’s quotes in which he says that
it is the duty of every Hindu to resist foreign invasion, no matter for what
purpose it may be undertaken. He wrote this sometime in the 1940’s. Sadly, this advice was centuries too late. So
there was no one to stop the invaders.
It is important to
know that the Hindus of that time were of very different bent of mind.
One of the
Macedonians accompanying Alexander wrote, “She (India) let the legions thunder
pass and plunged into thought again!”
This is what the
ancient Indians were good at. Thinking! Sadly, not so today.
It was a remarkable thought
that gave the world Zero. Einstein was awed by this discovery and said there
could have been no mathematics without Zero.
Another explanation
is of what we know as the Pythagoras Theorem which the Greeks had expounded in
450 B.C. This is mentioned in the Baudh vama Sulba stura in 800 B.C. in the
ancient Hindu Texts, 350 years ahead of the Greeks!
Back to the Khyber.
The mountain range in which the Khyber Pass is located is known as the Hindu
Khush, which means the Killer of Hindus!
No one went up the
Khyber! It was one way traffic!
In May 1675, a group
of Kashmiri Brahmins approached the Sikh Guru Tegh Bhadur to stop the slaughter
and forced conversions of Hindus to Islam. If the Emperor could convince Guru
Sahib to become a Muslim, then the Brahmins will follow.
Guru Tegh Bhadur left
for Agra with his followers, Bhayee Mati Das, Bhayee Sati Das and Bhayee Dyala
who was all of 15 years of age.
Before leaving
Anandpur Sahib, Guru Sahib nominated his nine year old son, Gobind Rai as his
successor.
All his followers
knew that Guru Sahib would never accept Islam and as such they would be killed.
Yet they followed Him faithfully and fearlessly.
Guru Sahib was forced
to witness these horrifying and gruesome executions.
Bhayee Mati Dass was
sawed in half while alive. Bhayee Dyala, the youngster was boiled to death,
Bhayee Sati Das was set on fire and roasted alive!
Guru Tegh Bhadur was
beheaded halal style. A slow and extremely painful death. But he did not relent.
He sacrificed Himself and His followers to save the Kashmiri Brahmins.
This was on 24th
of November, 1675.
His severed head was
smuggled back to Anandpur Sahib where his nine year old son, Gobind Rai,
cremated it.
Guru Tegh Bhadur and
his three companions are the most heroic and unmatched example of Satyagrahis
and martyrs the world has ever been witness to.
Guru Gobind Singh’s
father was martyred. His four sons were also martyred by the Mughals. Five of his immediate family were martyrs.
This is unheard of in history.
Their entire protest
was peaceful and it was to save the Hindus.
Today these very same
people are being called anti-national.
I must mention that
the title that the Guru Sahib has was ‘Hind di Chaadar’, the Shield of
Hindustan!
Young Gobind Rai took
on the mantle of his Father and became Guru Gobind.
As Guru Gobind was
aware of all these atrocities he realized that he had to fight fire with fire!
He wrote to the Emperor Aurangzeb a missive in Persian and in poetry form. It
is referred to as the Zafarnama. So far all the opposition from the Sikh Gurus
had been peaceful. Now he declared, it was time for the dove to hunt the hawk!
Guru Gobind took to
arms. He created the Khalsa at a solemn ceremony in 1699 at Anandpur Sahib. He
transformed the simple Farmer Folk of Punjab into a family of Soldier Saints,
The Khalsa Panth. The warrior was born!
Most important, as of
that day every Sikh would carry the name Singh, meaning Lion.
Not one Singh has had
any trouble living up to that and its reputation!
From Gobind Rai to
Guru Gobind and finally Guru Gobind Singh, the tribe has increased, flourished,
prospered and made a major contribution to humanity.
On one occasion Nadir
Shah was on his way back to Persia. His kafla was attacked by the Sikhs who had
become masters of the art of hit and run warfare. They were always a small band
of seasoned horsemen and well armed. They would attack the armies of the
invaders which outnumbered the Sikhs, and as quickly as they had appeared they
would disappear.
Nadir Shah was
enraged that anybody would have the audacity to attack him. He asked one of his
Generals, who are these people and where do they live?
“Their saddle is
their home and once a year they come to Amritsar to bathe in the Holy Sarovar and
pray to their God!”
“Watch out for these
people”, was the advice that an exasperated Nadir Shah gave to his General.
With their ‘guerre la’
tactics they were unbeatable. With their appearance, flowing beards, dark blue
turbans, charging on their well trained horses they struck terror into the
Islamic invaders.
It is entirely
possible that they were the world’s first terrorists! They terrorised the invaders,
they terrorised the Muslim Governor of Lahore who offered a reward for
producing a severed head with long hair and full beard.
The Mughals enthroned in Delhi also lived in terror of the Sikhs. So did the British. The British thanked the river Satluj which was a natural boundary between the Kingdom of The Sikhs and The British Raj.
I have mentioned that for these hundreds of years the invaders came down the Khyber and took the loot back home through the Khyber. This happened continuously and repeatedly. To stop the invaders who plundered India, it was the Sikhs who once again came to the rescue of Hindustan.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh
saw that the invaders had all used The Khyber Pass. The ablest General that The
Maharaja had was Hari Singh Nalwa. He ordered Hari Singh to stop any further
invasions into Hindustan. Hari Singh did just that. He moved up to Peshawar and
built the famous Jamrud and Shagai Forts. He then built a series of smaller
Forts all the way up to The Khyber.
He actually opened up
the way till Kabul! Ranjit Singh had organized The Sikh Misls into a unified
State. It was called the Kingdom of the Sikhs. In 1801 he proclaimed himself as
Maharaja of The Kingdom. Since Sikhism preaches that all men are equal, the
Maharaja never wore a crown.
Ranjit Singh came to
be known as the Sher-e-Punjab, meaning The Lion of Punjab. He was just that.
He turned the tables
on the invaders who had come down the Khyber Pass.
After having
consolidated his territories in the plains, on one occasion Maharaja Ranjit
Singh decided to spend the summer in Kabul. At 2.000 metres above sea level,
Kabul has a salubrious climate.
Lahore boils in the
summer heat.
To avoid a
confrontation with the Maharaja, the Afghan King Zaman Shah conferred on Ranjit
Singh, the title of ‘The Governor of The City of Kabul’!
It was also a time
for the Maharaja to make amends for the damage and the havoc that the Islamic
invaders had inflicted on India.
On one occasion,
Mahmud of Ghazni had taken the Silver Doors that graced the Som Nath Temple.
They were in Afghanistan and had been used on the doors of the tomb of Mahmud
of Ghazni.
For the first time in
history, and the only time that the loot taken from the Som Nath Temple was
brought back to India!
Maharaja Ranjit Singh
did that!
The magnanimous Maharaja
offered them to the Pandits at the Som Nath Temple.
They refused to
accept the doors saying that the infidels had looked upon them! These doors are
now in the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
This was an amazing
piece of bravery and the person who helped the Sikh Maharaja succeed was
General Hari Singh Nalwa.
Who was Hari Singh
Nalwa?
Hari Singh wanted to
be a warrior. He joined the Khalsa Fauj at the age of 13. At age 17 he killed a
tiger in hand-to-hand combat armed only with a Kirpan.
On hearing of this
exceptional feat of bravery, the Maharaja allowed him to go into Battle the
next year.
Hari Singh took part
in 22 Battles in his lifetime. He won all 22!
In addition to the
Forts that the Sikhs built, they also built Gurudwaras. The Khalsa remains
loyal to his Gurus. The Forts and Gurudwaras still exist till today. The Forts
stand rock steady, maintained by the Pakistan army. The Gurudwaras are in
shambles.
One of the forts he
built, The Shagai Fort (see photograph) today is the head quarters of the
Khyber Rifles. I have a photograph of it. I could have got shot and killed on
the spot. A Sardar complete with beard and turban, photographing a Pakistani
Military installation!
But foolishness and
bravado have their own peculiar adrenalin pumping ability!
Even till this day
Hari Singh’s name is well known in what was the North West Frontier Province
and today’s Pakhtunkhwa.
Legend has it that
even today Mothers tell their naughty children in Pushto “CHUP SHA, HARI SINGH
RAGHLAY”, MEANING STAY QUIET, HARI SINGH IS COMING!
The contribution that
the Sikhs made to defend the Hindu Dharam was much appreciated. To repay the
Sikhs for their courage, fortitude and determination the Hindus decided that
the first born male in the family would be brought up as a Sikh.
Here is a quote which
impresses the importance of the Farmer.
Once in your life you
need a Doctor, a Lawyer, a Policeman or a Preacher, but three times a day you
need the Farmer!
Here is another quote
that highlights the importance of the Farmer. “No race can prosper till it
learns that there is as much Dignity in tilling a Field as in writing a Poem”
Booker T Washington.
In closing I also
quote from an Editorial in The Tribune dated 26th of March 1931.
“Never was a
Government confronted by a situation in which the path of justice was more
clearly or more indisputably also the path of self interest. Never did a
Government fail more signally to follow the right path”.
This could be advice
written for today’s government.
