May is a month in which Hari Singh ‘Nalwa, the famous Sikh general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was fatally wounded in Battle of Jamraud. Anew saga of chivalry was written in the history of the subcontinent when Sikhs attacked the invader Nadir Shah and freed thousands of Hindu women on 5 May, 1739. While Sikhs have a history of chivalry, our opponents do not. Many ‘Sikhs killed in the infamous Operation Black Thunder and even earlier, while the rest of India was reorganized on linguistic grounds, Punjabi ‘Suba was created most ungraciously after prolonged agitations.

The Prakash Utsav of Guru Amar Das ji fails in this month, and the ‘Mchima Prakash contains a beautiful passage which bears recounting: One day, a Sikh asked the Guru to tell him how a Sikh should conduct himself: “He who firmly grasps the Guru’s word is my Sikh. He should rise a ‘watch before dawn, make his ablu Yions and sit in seclusion. The Guru’s image he should implant in his heart, and contemplate on Gurbani. He should keep his mind and consciousness firmly in control. He should never utter a falsehood nor indulge in slander. He should make an honest living and be prepared to serve holy men. He must not covert another’s woman or wealth. He should not eat unless hungry nor sleep unless tired. He who breaks his principle falls victim of sloth. His span is shortened and he lives in suffering…”

Do think over and remember the Guru’s words. Do try to follow the message contained within them.

Guru Amar Das Ji

Guru Amar Das Ji, who inherited ‘Guru Angad’s light was his senior in age by 25 years. He came to the Second Guru as a seeker, and remained to become the bestowed of the highest blessing.

He was born on May 5, 1479 (the anniversary falls on May 14 this year), a bare 10, years after Guru Nanak Dev Ji: His parents were divorced Hindus and so was he till Amar Das chanced to hear words of Gurbani, sung by Bebi Amro, the daughter of Guru Angad Dev ji.

Amar Das went to the Guru and devoted the rest of this life to the service of the Guru, which he performed with extreme humility and devotion.

Amar Das became Guru at Guru Angad Dev ji’s death in 1552. He whole extensively and the Guru Granth Sahib contains 907 hymns written by him. He further consolidated the Sikh faith. He created a well-knit ecclestical order and set up 22 manjis (dioceses) covering different parts of the Indian subcontinent. Each was placed under the charge of a pious Sikh.

Guru ka langar became renowned during Guru Amar Das ji’s time and in order to emphasize the oneness of mankind, everyone was expected 10 partake the langar food before meeting the Guru, Even the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, who came to Goindwal,, ate food with all the commoners before meeting the Guru fier selecting one of his most devout followers, Jetha, a Sodhi of Lahore, as his successor, Guru Amar

Das merged with the Eternal Light on Sept. 1,1574.

Chhapher Chheri

You are probably familiar with the tragedy of Guru Gobind Singh jis younger sons being bricked alive on the orders of Nawab Wazir Khan at Sirhind. Becayse of this incident and the Nawab’s continuing hostility towards Guru Gobind Singh ji, he became a special target of the Sikhs. In time, Sirhind was raised to the ground by Banda Singh Bahadur, and the Nawab met his end in the Battle of Chhapher Chheri.

Kirpan

The Kirpan is one of the five sacred symbols of the Sikhs and all Amritdhari Sikhs are required to wear ‘one at all times. The British Imperial authorities in India had banned the Sikhs from wearing the Kirpan on certain occasions, as a result of which there was a lot of resentment among the Sikhs. Many Sikhs went to jail on this issue, and finally, the British retuned and on May 19, 1919, restrictions on the Kirpan were removed all over British India, in Burma and in the armed forces,

Punjabi Suba

It was May 10)1955 that the Akali Dal launched a struggle for Punjabi Suba, or Punjabi speaking state. Master Tara Singh lead the first batch of 10 volunteers in defiance of a ban on shouting slogans. He was arrested, along with his companions.

In order to understand the demand for a Punjabi speaking state or Punjabi Suba, we have to go backbiting time. The Sikhs were the biggest victims of the partition of India in 1947. Nearly half of them had been rendered homeless and had to migrate from what became Pakistan, Nearly two percent of their population had been massacred.

A positive fall out of this was that for the first time the Sikhs were concentrated in an area which was their homeland. But they were still in minority and expected certain safeguards for them to be incorporated in the Indian constitution, this the Constituent Assembly failed to do, and the two Sikh members of this assembly, Hukam Singh and Bhupinder Singh Mann, refused to sign the Indian Constitution. Communal feeling between the Hindus and the Sikhs started flaring. It was given fresh impetus by communal Hindu decisions like announcing Hindi as a medium of instruction in 1948, refusal by the Senate of Panjab University (on June 9, 1949) to adopt Punjabi as a medium of instruction and the campaign by Arya Samaj elements to make Punjabi speaking Hindus declare Hindi as their mother tongue in the 1951 census. This mass misstatement completely falsified the language returns and they had to eventually be abrogated under the instructions of the Government of India.

While all this was going on, there were many incidents of chauvinism by the majority community, and any demand on behalf of the Sikh community was described as unbecoming, parochial and antinational.

It was in this context that Punjabi Suba became the focus of Sikh demands. It lead to a long drawn out struggle, which was suspended twice, when India faced war, in 1962 and in 1985. During this period it became clear that while the Government of India was happy enough to go ahead with its avowed objective of organizing states on linguistic basis all over the country where the Hindus were a majority, it refused to do so in Punjab, since, (because of the disavowal of their mother tongue, Punjabi, by the Hindus of Punjab) a Punjabi speaking state now meant a Sikh majority state.

The import of this was not lost on the Sikhs and the agitation continued. After many hardships, thousands of arrests, dozens of political machinations, Punjabi Suba came into being ‘on Nov, 1, 1966.

Punjab and been bifurcated into West Punjab and East Punjab in 1947, it was trifurcated into Himachal Pradesh (in 1948) and into Punjab and Haryana (in 1966).

Operation Black Thunder

A 10 days act of the Golden Temple by hundreds of heavily armed security men, and dozens of specially trained “black cat” commandos is known as Operation Black Thunder.

It was during this infamous operation that KP.S. Gill first shot into prominence in Punjab in 1983. He has posted the black cat snipers, armed with the latest weapons all around the Golden Temple complex. While the other security men sealed the area and refused to allow anyone to enter the complex, the snipers started killing anyone who ventured out into the parkarma of the Golden Temple.

Not only would they kill all such people, they did not let anyone pick up the bodies of those who had been martyred. Gestapolike propaganda devices succeeded in making this brutal action as “‘success story” for the government machinery.

Guru Hargobind Ji

Guru Hargobind, the anniversary of whose accession to Guruship falls on May 21 this year, was born on June 19, 1595at Wadali, near Amritsar. As a small boy, he was entrusted to the care of the revered Bhai Buddha, and he soon learnt both the sacred lore as well as other skills like horsemanship, archery and swordsmanship.

He was Guru from 1606 to 44. The dual concept of miri and piri or of the necessity of conjunction between spiritual and temporal power, was given an organizational shape by Guru Hargobind ji.

He carried two swords, signifying his mastery over the two worlds, and instituted the Akal Takht, in front of the Golden Temple, as a symbol of temporal authority. The Guru conducted the secular affairs of the community from here and despite his soldierly style, he observed in his personal life the simple standards established by his predecessors.

‘Alarmed at the growing influence of the Guru, Emperor Jahangir had him detained at a fort at Gwalior, The Guru was imprisoned for a few months, along with a number of feudal chiefs form various parts of the country. When Jahangir ordered his release, the Guru refused to leave till hig prisoners were allowed to go with him. His wish was acceded to and a number of princes gained their freedom with him. The Guru’s relations with Emperor Jahangir were quite friendly and during this time, he built many historic Gurdwaras, besides traveling widely to propagate the Sikh faith.

The Guru’s relations with Shah Jahan, Jahangir’s successor, deteriorated as he took up the banner of spiritual freedom against growing Mughal intolerance, and there were a number of skirmishes between the Sikh and the Mughal forces.

Guru Hargobind ji developed the town of Hargobind pura (where he had a Gurdwara as well as a Mosque built). He also founded Kiratpur, in the Shiwalik hills. After nominating his son, Har Rai, as his successor and consecrating him Guru, Guru Hargobind departed this life on March 3, 1644.

 

Article extracted from this publication >> May 5, 1995