|
 Massacre
in Delhi of Banda Singh Bahadur and
his 700 Singhs was followed by severe
action against Sikhs. But every fresh
adversity only stimulated their will
to survival. A commanding figure who
led Sikhs through this dark period was
Nawab Kapur Singh, the founder of Dal
Khalsa. Kapur Singh by his bold example
and his wise leadership, welded the
Sikhs into a strong fighting force and
implanted in their minds the vision
of political sovereignty. He was a true
embodiment of Sikh character forged
by the alchemy of a fiery ordeal and
enjoyed unique esteem for his courage,
sacrifice and religious devotion.
Nawab Kapur Singh was born of a Virk
family of Jats in 1697. His native village
was Kalo-ke, now in Sheikhupura district,
in Pakistan Punjab. Later, when he seized
the village of Faizullapur, near Amritsar
, he renamed it Singhpura and started
living there. He is also known to history
as Kapur Singh Faizullapuria, and the
small principality he founded as Faizullapuria's
or Singhpuria's state.
Kapur Singh was eleven years old at
the time of Guru Gobind Singh's death
and nineteen at the time of the massacres
Banda Bahadur and his 700 Singhs in
Delhi. He had thus passed his early
life in an atmosphere charged with the
fervor of faith and sacrifice. He came
in living tough with the new impulse
animating his people when he took baptism
at a large gathering of Sikhs held at
Amritsar on the occasion of Baisakhi
of 1721. Bhai Mani Singh who had been
sent to Amritsar as head priest of the
Harimandir by Guru Gobind Singh's widow,
Mata Sundari ji, conducted the ceremony.
Kapur Singh's youthful heart was fired
with a new enthusiasm. His father, Dalip
singh, and brother, Dan singh, were
also among those who were baptized into
the Khalsa fold on that historic date.
Kapur Singh's physical courage and
warlike spirit were valuable qualities
in those days of high adventure. He
soon gained a position of eminence among
his people who were then engaged in
a desperate struggle against the Mughal
government. Zakariya Khan, Who became
the governer of Lahore in 1726, launched
a still severer policy against the Sikhs
and let loose terror upon them.
Kapur singh headed a band of warriors
who, with a view to paralysing the administration
and obtaining food for their companions
forced to seek shelter in remote hills
and forests, attacked government treasuries
and caravans moving from one place to
another. Such was the effect of their
depradations that the governer was soon
obliged to make terms with them.
In 1733, the Mughal government decided,
at the instance of Zakariya Khan, to
lift the quarantine forced upon the
Sikhs and made an offer of a grant to
them. Offering their leader a title
of Nawab and a jagir consisting of paraganahs
of Dipalpur, Kanganval and Jhabal.
After some mutual discussion Sikhs accepted
the offer. All eyes centered on him
and he was, with one accord, selected
for the honour of Nawab. Kapur Singh
was relectant, but he could not deny
the unanimous will of the panth. As
a mark of respect, he placed the robe
of honour sent by the Mughals at the
feet of five revered Sikhs- Bhai Hari
Singh Hazuria, Baba Dip Singh Shaheed,
Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, Bhai Karam
Singh, Bhai Buddh Singh, great-great-grandfather
of Maharaja Ranjit Singh- before putting
it on. The dress included a shawl, a
turban, a jewelled plume, a pair of
gold bangles, a necklace, a row of pearls,
a brocade garment and a sword.
Nawab Kapur Singh looked magnificent
in this regalia. But he had lost none
of his native humility. The first request
he made to his comrades after the investiture
was that he should not be deprived of
his old privilege of serving in the
community kitchen (Langar).
Here Emperor Akbar is seen eating at
the community kitchen of Fourth Guru,
Guru Ramdas ji .
Word was send round to Sikhs passing
their days in distant jungles and deserts
that peace had been made with the government
and that they could return to their
homes. Nawab Kapur Singh undertook to
consolidate the disintegrated fabric
of the Sikh organization. The whole
body of the khalsas was formed into
two sections--- Budha Dal, the army
of the veterans, and Taruna Dal, the
army of the young. The former was entrusted
with the task of looking after the holy
places, preaching the Gurus word and
inducting converts into the Khalsa panth
by holding Baptismal ceremonies. The
Taruna Dal was the more active division
and its function was to fight in times
of emergencies.
Nawab Kapur singh's personality was
the common link between these two wings.
He was universally esteemed for his
high character. His word was obeyed
willingly and to receive baptism at
his hands was counted an act of rare
merit. But he was so humble by temperament
that he always thought of his position
among his people to be gift from them
rather than the result of any qualities
he possessed.
The Taruna Dal rapidly grew in strength
and soon numbered more than 12,000.
to ensure efficient control, Nawab Kapur
Singh split it into five part, each
with a separate centre. The first batch
was led by Baba Dip Singh Shaheed, the
second by Karam Singh and Dharam Singh,
the third by Kahn singh and Binod Singh
of Goindwal, the fourth by Dasaundha
Singh of Kot Budha and the Fifth by
Vir Singh Ranghreta and Jivan Singh
Ranghreta. Each batch had its own banner
and drum, and formed the nucleus of
a separate political state. The territories
conquered by these groups were entered
in their respective papers at Akal Takht
by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, one of the
fewest literate Sardars. From these
documents or misls, the principalities
carved out by them came to known as
Misls. Seven more groups were formed
subsequently and, towards the close
of century, there were altogether twelve
Sikh Misls ruling between the land of
the Five Waters.
The entente with the Mughals did not
last long and, before the harvest of
1735, Zakariya Khan, the governer of
Lahore, sent a strong force and occupied
the Jagir. The Sikhs were driven away
towards the Malwa by Lakhpat Rai, the
Hindu minister at the Mughal Court at
Lahore. They were welcomed by Sardar
Ala Singh of Phulkian Misl of Malwa.
During his sojourn in the Malwa, Nawab
Kapur Singh conquered the territory
of Sunam and made it over to Ala Singh.
He also attacked Sirhind and defeated
the Mughal governer.
Nawab Kapur Singh led Sikhs back to
Majha to celebrate Diwali at Amritsar
. He was pursued by Diwan Lakhpat rai's
army near Amritsar and forced to turn
away. The Taruna Dal promptly came to
his help. The combined force fell upon
Lakhpat Rai before he could reach Lahore
and inflicted him a severe defeat. His
nephew Duni Chand, and two important
Faujdars, Jamal Khan and Tatar Khan,
were killed in the battle.
In the summer of 1739, Nadir Shah,
the persian invader, was returning home
after a hearty plunder of Delhi and
Punjab. The Khalsa Dal lay not far from
the route he had taken. When he reached
Akhnur, on the River Chenab, they swooped
down upon the rear guard, relieving
the invaders of much of their booty.
On the third night they made an even
fiercer attack and rescued from their
hands thousands of Hindu girls who were
restored to their families. For many
a long mile, the Sikhs pursued Nadir
Shah in this manner.
Zakariya Khan continued to carry out
his policy of repression with redoubled
zeal. A Pitiless campaign for a manhunt
was started. Sikhs heads sold for money
and Mughals offered a prize for each
head brought to them. According to Ratan
Singh Bhangu, "He who informed
where a Sikh was received 10 rupees,
he who killed one received 50."
To cut off the Sikhs from the main
source of their inspiration, the Harimandir
at Amritsar was taken possession of
and guarded by Mughal troops to prevent
them visiting it. Sikhs were then living
in exile in the Sivalik hills, in Lakkhi
Jungle and in the sandy desert of Rajputana.
To assert their right to ablution in
the holy tank in Amritsar they would
occasionally send riders, who, in disguise
or openly cutting their way through
armed guards, would reach the temple,
take a dip in the tank and ride back
with lightning speed. Many a heroic
tale of such daring adventure is recounted.
The governor of Lahore Zakariya Khan,
sent a strong force under Samad Khab
to seek out the Sikhs. Mughal force
was severely punished and their leader
killed. Samad Khan had been the target
of Sikhs' wrath since he had, on June
24, 1734 executed with torture, hacking
bone by bone, Bhai Mani Singh, the learned
and pious high priest of the Golden
Temple.
Nawab Kapur Singh now made a plan to
capture Zakariya Khan. With a force
of 2000 strong, dressed in green, their
hair hanging loosely behind in Muslim
style and a green Muslim banner leading
them, he entered the city and went on
to the Shahi Mosque where, according
to intelligence received, the Mughal
governor was expected to attend the
afternoon prayer. But Zakariya Khan
did not visit the mosque. Kapur Singh
was disappointed at the failure of the
mission. Throwing off the disguise and
shouting their usual war cries of SAT
SRI AKAL , the Sikhs marched out of
Lahore and vanished into their jungle
homes.
This difficult period is full of countless
other deeds of heroism and sacrifice.
A passion for martyrdom seemed to have
gripped the Sikhs. As the Prachin Panth
Prakash says "Sikhs had a fondness
for death. To court death they had now
found the oppurtunity. Their lives they
held not dear. They did not feel the
pain if their bodies were slashed. They
took to arms vowed to death. "To
Martyrdom are we wedded. We turn not
our backs upon it, " sang the Sikhs.
Meanwhile, to destroy the defiant race,
the Mughal governor of Lahore and his
minister, Lakhpat Rai, launched an all-out
campaign and set forth with a large
army. The latter's consuming passion
for death of his brother Jaspat Rai,
who died in a battle with Sikhs. The
Sikhs were brought to bay in a dense
bush near Kahnuwan, in Gurdaspur district.
They put up determined fight, but were
overwhelmed by the superior numbers
of the enemy and scattered with heavy
losses. They were chased into hills.
More than 7000 Sikhs attained martyrdom
that day. "To complete revenge"
says Syed Mohammad Latif, the Muslim
historian of the Punjab, "Lakhpat
Rai brought 1000 Sikhs in irons to Lahore,
having compelled them to ride on donkeys,
bare-backed, paraded them in the bazars.They
were, then taken to the horse-market
outside Delhi Gate, and there beheaded
one after another without mercy."
So indiscriminate and,considering the
total Sikh population in those days,
so extensive was the killing that the
campaign in Sikh history is known as
Chhota Ghalughara or the lesser holocaust.
Wadda Ghalughara or the greater holocaust
was to come later.
In 1748, a section of Dal Khalsa under
Charat Singh, grandfather of Ranjit
singh gave chase to the fleeing troops
of Ahmad Shah Durrani (Abdali). Another,
at the instance of Nawab Kapur Singh
marched on to Amritsar and freed it
from Mughals. Then Nawab Kapur Singh
begged Khalsa to relieve him out of
his office, due to his old age, and
at his suggestion Jassa Singh Ahluwalia
was choosen the supreme commander of
the Dal Khalsa.
For nearly a quarter of a century,
Nawab Kapur Singh Singhpuria had led
the Sikhs through most trying times.
Few men had even to contend with heavier
odds; few ever engaged in such unequal
fight. Yet, striving valiantly, he step
by step built up the sovereignty of
the Khalsa and, by the time he retired,
he had conferred on the Dal the lineaments
of an independent State. In the midst
of this lifelong preoccupation with
war and fighting, he maintained irreproachable
moral standards and was universally
admired for his devout and heroic spirit.
Salute to great Sikh Warrior Nawab Kapur
Singh Singhpuria
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Copyright © Harbans Singh "The
heritage of the Sikhs "
Copyright © Khushwant Singh "History
of the Sikhs"
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