The impact of these teachings on Indian society led to a social and political revolution. Nationalism the first casualty of the caste system began to develop on our soil. Up to then, invaders from the northwest easily trampled this land, ransacked her religious places, dishonored her women, and humiliated her people. But after the birth of the Khalsa, the tide turned its course. The sanctity of honest toil led to wonderful economic advancement in the Punjab. The new conception of personal sacrifice in the interest of communal prosperity inspired the followers of the new faith to become saints, sages and martyrs.
On the 13th April 1799, exactly a hundred years after the foundation of the Khalsa, Ranjit Singh conquered Lahore and founded the first independent kingdom in the Punjab, after centuries of slavery and exploitation. His rule had been quoted by many political thinkers to illustrate their theories and praised by historians not only for its secular basis but also for its solicitude for the welfare of the masses. Anecdotes relating to the Maharaja’s keen sense of justice, generosity and unfaltering devotion to duty have become proverbial in Punjabi homes.
(The Sikh Review 1978)
Article extracted from this publication >> April 13, 1990
