Khalsa Panth greatest gift to mankind
By Balraj Madhok

IT is a happy coincidence that the tercentenary of the foundation of the Khalsa Panth by Guru Gobind Singh has come soon after the golden jubilee of freedom of truncated Hindustan. The movement for liberation of India from foreign rule did not begin in 1857. It began in the 8th century A.D. when Sindh and Multan come under foreign Arab rule. West Punjab came under Turkish rule around 1020 A.D. when Mehmood of Gazani conqured Lahore and made it a part of his empire. The rest of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi came under Turkish rule after the defeat of the last Hindu king of Delhi, Prithvi Raj Chauhan, in 1192 by the Turkish invador, Shahabuddin Gauri. The Turkish rule was extended to the rest of north India, except Assam and parts of south India in the subsequent decades. But unlike Iran and other countries conquered by Islamic Arabs and Turks, India never fully submitted to the foreign rule. Struggle for liberation was continued by the rulers and people of India in some form or the other in different parts of the country. Much has been written about this long struggle for freedom in different parts of the country but not much light has so far been thrown on the struggle for liberation of Punjab from foreign rule in the period prior to the rise of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. That makes the foundation day of the Khalsa Panth on Baisakhi Day, 1699, at Anandpur not only a great event in the life of the Sikhs and the Khalsa Panth but also a milestone in the long struggle for freedom of the country.

Gobind Rai was the 10th Guru of the Shishyas pronounced as Sikhs of Guru Nanak Dev and his successor Gurus. The martyrdom of his father and the Ninth Guru, Tegh Bahadur, influenced the young mind of Gobind Rai. He then resolved to militarise the Sikhs and prepare them for a prolonged struggle for freedom of Desh and Dharm and put an end to the repression and suppression of the Hindus in the name of Islam. The creation of the Khalsa Panth was the first and the most important step he took to achieve that objective.

Sikhs from all over the country met in a congregation at Anandpur on the Baisakhi Day. Guru Gobind Rai who had performed a-year-long Yajna at Naina Devi to propitiate goddess Shakti, gave a stirring call to the congregation for volunteers who may offer their heads to the goddess. The first to respond to his call was Daya Ram Khatri of Lahore. After taking him into a tent pitched nearby, the Guru with his blood-dripping sword in his hand called for more volunteers. Four others coming from different parts of the country, including Swarashtra and Orissa and belonging to lower castes, came forward one after the other. They were all first ushered into that tent. They were later brought out alive and presented to the congregation. These five dedicated Sikhs were given the name Khalsa or pure, and were projected as models and described as Panj Piare. They were also declared "Singhs’’ or lions and were given new names ending with Singh. The Guru himself gave the lead by changing his name from Gobind Rai to Gobind Singh. Thus, the Khalsa panth created on this historic day was to be the new army of lions, the true Kshatriyas, for the protection of Hindu dharma and liberation of the motherland. This is clear from the famous call of Guru Gobind Singh: "Let the Khalsa Panth triumph all over the world, so that Hindu dharma is awakened and all falsehood is destroyed."

It is thus clear that Khalsa Panth as conceived by Guru Gobind Singh was not a new religion. It was to be the sword arm of the Hindu people, particularly of those Hindus who had become disciples of the Gurus. Every Khalsa was expected to be a good Sikh and a good Hindu. The call to give at least one son of the family for the Khalsa Panth was meant for all Hindus and not for Sikhs alone. The Kshatriyas pronounced as Khatris of Punjab took this call of the great Guru most seriously.

The battle of Chamkaur was the first battle fought by the Khalsa under the leadership of Guru Gobind Singh himself. His two young sons died fighting in that battle. His other two sons fell into the hands of the Mughal subedar of Sirhind. They were offered the choice of death or Islam. They refused to become Muslims and were therefore entombed alive in a wall. These four young sons of Guru Gobind Singh were the noblest fighters for freedom and martyrs for dharma.

Guru Gobind Singh could not complete his mission. He had to leave Punjab in search of allies. At Nanded in Maharashtra, he met a Punjabi Kshtrya, Laxman Dev, who had become a Bairagi and assumed the name Madhav Dass. Guru Gobind Singh inspired him to go back to the path of duty of a true Kashtriya, and carry on his mission in Punjab as his "Banda".

Khalsa Panth is the greatest gift of Guru Gobind Singh to his country and his poeple for whom he lived and died. A saint, scholar, warrior and visionary rolled into one. He was the greatest Hindu, the most devoted shishya or Sikh of Guru Nanak Dev and the first Khalsa of the age.

Banda Bairagi, also called Banda Bahadur, carried out the mission entrusted to him with great devotion, skill and ability. He put the Mughals on the run and laid the foundation of independent Punjab on which Maharaja Ranjit Singh later built the independent kingdom of Punjab. It is unfortunate that his role and achievements have not been given due importance by Sikh historians and he has been virtually forgotten by the Khalsa Panth.