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 Baba
Ram Singh was born at village Bhaini
Raiyan, district Ludhiana on the 3rd
February, 1816 A.D. His father Bhai
Jassa Singh, was a carpenter. His brother-in-law,
Sardar Kabul singh was a gunner in the
artillery of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
In 1837 A.D., He took Baba Ram Singh
with him to Lahore and got him recruited
in the regiment of Kanwar Naunihal Singh.
On the 18th December, 1845 A.D. the
Sikh army suffered a defeat in the battle
of Mudki due to mean settlement of some
Dogra Generals of Sikh army with British.
Baba Ram Singh could not bear the defeat
of the Sikh army in this manner. He
left the service of the army at Mudki
and came straight to his village Bhaini.
On arrival at his village, Baba Ram
Singh started preaching, "Worship
of eternal Being, giving up worship
of the dead, keeping off the intoxicants,
giving up meat, minimum expenditure
on marriages and widow remarriage etc."
He used to say, "I am only a messenger
or a reporter and not a guru."
His followers starting calling themselves
'Namdharis'. Baba Ram Singh was a supporter
of reform of the 'Mahants' and priests
of the gurudwaras as a result of which
they were against him. Every year, on
the occasion of Diwali or Baisakhi fairs
he used to go to Amritsar and put his
views before the congregation. The number
of his audience used to touch twenty
thousand. He started a movement in 1848
A.D., to force the British to leave
India. He called upon his followers
to boycott foreign goods and Government
departments due to which people stopped
buying imported cloth, gave up taking
their disputes to courts and started
deciding these in villages.
The boycott movement of Baba Ram Singh
had great effect on the work of the
Government. In 1863 A.D., the Government
setup a police post at his village Bhaini.
Cow Slaughter was banned in Amritsar
during Sikh rule. In 1870 somebody spread
a false rumor in Amritsar that the Government
was about to give permission to the
butchers to slaughter cows in the holy
city of the Guru. On the 14th June,
1870 A.D., a group of Namdharis beheaded
four butchers at Amritsar. Four Namdharis
were hanged and two were imprisoned
for life for that crime. On the 15th
July, 1872 A.D., some Namdharis had
quarrel with the butchers of Malaud
and Malerkotla over cow-slaughter in
which ten people were killed and seventeen
were injured. The deputy commissioner
of Ludhiana, Mr. Crown pronounced death
sentence on sixty-eight Namdharis. Forty-nine
of them were blown by cannon fire and
nineteen were hanged. Baba Ram singh
was exiled to Burma. He went to his
heavenly abode on the 29th November,
1885 A.D., in jail of Margee Island.
Although the Government crushed the
Namdhari movement, yet they could not
extinguish the light of freedom lit
by Baba Ram Singh.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Copyright © Santokh Singh Jagdev
"Bed Time Stories-7"
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