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 In
1710 A.D., Baba Banda Singh Bahadur
had abolished landlordism in his kingdom
and made tenants the owners of land.
Inspite of the end of ownership of villages,
many headmen did not give up their old
habits of arrogance. Sahib Rai of village
Naushehra was one of them who used to
set his mares free in other people's
fields for grazing. Mali Singh and Gurbax
Singh of the adjoining village Bharana
requested Sahib Rai, "Please keep
your mares in the leash. Roaming free,
they destroy our crops." Sahib
Rai said in an arrogant way of a headman,
"I shall tie them when I cut your
hair and make ropes of these for this
purpose."
The Singhs told about this excess of
Sahib Rai to Sardar Amar Singh and Baghel
Singh of village Bhusse. They caught
hold of his mares, sold them and donated
the money received to the community
kitchen of Bhai Tara Singh. Bhai Tara
Singh of village Wan farmed for a living.
He lived in the fields where he had
constructed a Gurdwara.
One day, one of Sahib Rai's men told
him, "Sardar Baghel Singh who had
stolen your mares has come to the abode
of Bhai Tara Singh." Sahib Rai
reached the dwelling of Bhai Tara Singh
with his men and said, "My thief
is in your dwelling. Hand him over to
me otherwise I shall take him away after
giving shoebeating." Hardly had
he uttered these words when a Sikh,
standing by, gave him a few hits with
his shoes and said, "It may be
some time before you beat but today
have a taste of it yourself."
After suffering insult at the hands
of the Sikhs, Sahib Rai went and petitioned
Zafar Beg, the Commander of Patti. To
teach a lesson to the Sikhs, he reached
the abode of Bhai Tara Singh before
daybreak with two hundred horsemen.
There was a pitched battle between them
and the Sikhs until the sunrise in which
Sardar Baghel Singh attained martyrdom
and two nephews of the Commander were
killed. After that, the Commander fled
taking away the corpses of his nephews
with him.
The Commander took the corpses of his
nephews and showed them to Zakria Khan,
the Governor of Lahore. He gave Momen
Khan two thousand horsemen and said,
"Proceed immediately to the abode
of Tara Singh and present him dead or
alive before me." Bhai Tara Singh
had got information beforehand that
Momen Khan was coming with an army.
He gathered all the Sikhs at the camp
and said, "Whosoever has his life
dearer than faith can leave us now."
None of the fifty two Sikhs was ready
to depart. All the Sikhs took up positions
and began to wait for Momen Khan. At
the arrival of the army, both sides
started attacking. On Baisakhi day of
1726 A.D., those fifty-two Sikhs attained
martyrdom fighting two thousand horsemen.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Copyright © Santokh Singh Jagdev
"Bed Time stories-7"
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