Battle of Babeli: 4 Babbars vs 2,200 Britishers

This week, the Jalandhar Tribune travels to historic village Babeli, around 26 km from Jalandhar where four Babbar Akalis had given a tough fight to more than 2,200 men of British cavalry all through the day on September 1, 1923, before being gunned down near the gates of the historic Gurudwara Chaunta Sahib in the village. The villagers have preserved the memories of the fateful day by making a huge gate and idols of the four heroes at the entrance of the village. An annual fair along with a kabaddi tournament is also organised every year to commemorate the historic saga.

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 21

It was the night of August 31 in 1923 when a group of 18 Babbar Akalis landed in Babeli village and took shelter at the house of their associate Shiv Singh Chahal.

Amongst the group were dreaded Babbars, including Karam Singh Daulatpur, alias ‘Editor’, Ude Singh Ramgarh Jhungian, Bishen Singh Mangat and Mohinder Singh of Pindori Ganga Singh. They all were coming from Domeli village after attending a conference. While the four Babbars stayed in Babeli, others marched ahead.

According to Major Singh, grandson of Shiv Singh Chahal, the Babbars often used their ancestral ‘haveli’ as a hideout while travelling from one place to another. “They had even made a secret way out through the back room from where they used to evade easily if any threat appeared from the front side,” said Major Singh while showing the place which has now been covered with bricks.

Treachery of Anup Singh

Little did the Babbars realised that one of their associate Anup Singh had shaken hands with the British government to plan their encounter on the historic land visited by Sikh Guru Har Rai, in whose memory a huge gurudwara was erected on the site. The site was surrounded by a 22-foot deep and 100-foot wide rain stream nullah flowing from three sides, which is present even today.

Anup Singh’s message reached his uncle Bog Singh at Manko village around 4 am on September 1 who further alerted VM Smith, the Jullundur Superintendent of Police. By 10:30 am, around 2,200 cavalry armed with weapons surrounded the village.

Babbars fight British cavalry

As soon as the Babbars got the news of the police entering the village, they immediately looked for their weapons which were already damaged by Anup Singh. The Babbars didn’t give up or give a thought to bow down or surrender. They went ahead and challenged Smith by unsheathing their swords.

Both the parties challenged each other and the scene of utmost courage, passion and ‘fight till the last breath’ went on for over an hour. According to author Dr Bakhsish Singh Nijjhar who had interviewed many Babbars few years ago over this incident, Smith had offered the Babbars to surrender.

In response, the Babbars challenged him and said Khalsa never lay down its weapons, but opt for the supreme sacrifice. Later, after raising a loud ‘jaikara’ of ‘Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal’, Karam Singh, who always used to keep a pistol with him, fired the only round he had and caused panic amongst the British army who thought they were without weapons. Taking advantage of it, the Babbars broke their security net and ran towards the jungle situated on the other side of the village.

Finding no way out to get hold of weapons, the Babbars decided to reach Gurudwara Chaunta Sahib where they would further swim across to other village through the high flowing choe.

Informing about the saka, ex-sarpanch Kuldeep Singh said the Babbars jumped from a window inside the room and ran towards the choe (rainwater stream). The police too rushed behind them. However, the Babbars managed to reach the banks of the choe and were about to jump into it when they were shot at by the British army surrounding the area. While shouting the ‘jaikaras’ loud and clear, the bullet-stricken Babbars fell into the stream from where their bodies were flushed out later.

“While three of them —Babbar Karam Singh Daulatpur, Ude Singh Ramgarh Jhungian and Mohinder Singh Pindori Ganga Singh died on the spot; Bishen Singh Mangat, though injured, managed to swim across the other side of the choe. However he too was shot dead by the British army,” informed Singh.

Postmortem conducted

Immediately after the killings, the bodies of the four Babbars were brought under a huge tree in the village and a post mortem was conducted on the site. According to Sitaram Bansal, an expert of revolutionary studies, village folklore says that when measured, Karam Singh’s heart was found to be nearly 1 kg.

Villagers fear cremating bodies

After the brutal killings, the British army threatened the villagers not to cremate them or else they would face dire consequences. With no one coming forward, Sadhu Singh, an old man from nearby Babiana village came forward and cremated them later at the night in the light of a lantern. He later threw their ashes into the choe. Due to his daring act, folklore says the Britishers ‘awarded’ him with 100 ‘koras’ (lashes).

Annual fair

The villagers hold an annual fair in the memory of their heroes and also organise a kabaddi tournament to promote young talent in the area. A beautiful gate depicting the date of the bloody battle of 1923 was constructed at the entrance of the village and colourful idols of the three Babbars along with Shiv Singh Chahal and Sadhu Singh too were constructed inside the gurudwara complex where the Babbars were cremated.

Demand of tourist centre

Villagers have demanded the state government to develop the village as a tourist attraction in the Doaba region. Sitaram Bansal said the village was well connected to Kapurthala and to Jalandhar and the beautiful geography of the historic site where the gurudwara is surrounded by natural stream from all three sides could be developed as a major tourist attraction in the area. Seventh Sikh Guru Har Rai had spent over 90 days in meditation in this village where a ‘chaunta’ (platform) of that era is a place of reverence visited by people from far flung places. Villagers have also installed Nishan Sahib on both the sites where the Babbars had sacrificed their lives.