Same period upon Sikhs certainly helped to forge Sikhs into a distinct nation. The Sikh nation subsequently came to be characterized as a nation of “saint-soldiers.””

Before Sikhs achieved their territorial sovereignty towards the close of the 18th century, and became an independent, sovereign nation under Ranjit Singh, their King, who is known to history as “the Lion of the Punjab,” Sikhs had passed through an interesting and trying period when bands of armed Sikhs headed by Sikh knights roamed the Punjab and were the only protection against marauding Afghan invaders of Punjab and Delhi, when the Mughal empire was disintegrating in India. 2. Like the medieval European knight, these Sikh knights were tempered by the purity of Sikhism, which accounted for their chivalry and extra-ordinary personal power.

“My good blade carves the casques of men,

My tough lance thrusteth sure;

My strength is as the strength of ten

Because my heart is pure.’’1.

Sikhs, as a nation, thus, have tasted territorial (4) sovereignty before, and a common allegiance to their sovereign, the ruling house of their King, Ranjit Singh, and the idea of a “home country” is not an innovation to them. Punjab and its adjoining territory has been, and is, their “home country”.3.

“The Sikh Khalsa on the other hand was an

astonishingly original and novel creation

and its face was turned not to the past

but to the future.

A very striking instance of democratic

institution towards making a compact

nationalism was the founding of the Sikh

Religion, its long line of Gurus and the

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

  1. Sinha: Rise of the Sikh Power, quoting from the English poet, Alfred Tennyson.
  2. Pettigrew, Joyce: Robber Noblemen, Rutledge & Kagen Paul, London, 1975.
  3. Sahota, Sohan Singh, M.A.,: Sikh Homeland, Khalsa Publications, 105 Radio colony, Jullundur, India, 1970. See also, Glimpses of the Sarbat Khalea article by Prof. Rajinder Singh, Sikh Review, and Sept. 1978.
  4. On Sikh territorial sovereignty, and the significance of the Dual- (spiritual, temporal) erected outside the Akal-Takhat, Amritsar, see Punjabi article, “Dharm Dhuja Fahrant Sada”, by Sardar Peshawra Singh.