Banda Singh Bahadur (Set of 3 Books)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

A Select Bibliography of Baba Banda Singh Bhadur About the Author Dr. Kulwinder Singh Bajwa, retired from the Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University Patiala. He graduated from Baring Union Christian College Batala with Hon's in History. He did post-graduation in History from Guru Nanak Dev University and got his Ph.D. from the same University with his thesis on : Historical Analysis of Early Nineteenth Century European Travel Literature on the Punjab. He served as a Research Associate and Lecturer in the Department of History, Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar. He was Prof. Incharge of the Sikh History Research Department, Khalsa College Amritsar, more than a decade. He has the credit of participating in more than hundred National and International conferences and seminars in India and abroad. His publications. include more than six dozen research papers and four books: (i)Akali Dal Sacha Sauda Bar(ed.), SGPC., Amritsar 2002, (ii) A Brief History of Khalsa College Amritsar (1892-2003), SHRD., Khalsa College Amritsar, 2003, (iii) Mehma Parkash Vartak (ed.) Singh Brothers, Amritsar 2004. (iv) Jathedar Kartar Singh Jhabbar & Akali Jatha Sacja Sauda Bar (ed.), The Sikh University press, Belgium 2010.

Foreword On the eve of the tricentenary celebrations of the martyrdom day of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur (1670- 1716) that falls on 9th June of every year since 1716, many a scholars and historians are paying homage to the great Sikh warrior of early 18th century, who as a true follower of Guru Gobind Singh carried on his mission and legacy and shook the very foundations of the Mughal Empire. Dr. Kulwinder Singh Bajwa, an independent and straight forward scholar of repute of this century is a professionally trained historian. Nearly half a dozen books and more than three dozen research articles published in various journals of national and international repute are to his credit.

Preface Commemorations of anniversaries related to the lives of the Sikh Gurus, the Sikh heroes and martyrs, is a significant tradition among the Sikhs. In tune with this glorious tradition, the Sikh Panth is celebrating the tercentenary of the martyrdom of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. Besides being an upholder of great Sikh tradition of martyrdom, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur (1670-1716) was a great warrior, a great general and a good statesman. He was the first general of the Khalsa forces appointed by Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708). He left Nanded on 5th October, 1708, with his mission to uproot the oppressive Mughal Rule. His arrival in Delhi and Punjab, added a new dimension to the social base of the Khalsa by mobilizing the peasants and tenants to the struggle against the Mughal Feudal suppression and cruelty. However, on 12th May, 1710, at the historic battle of Chapper Chiri (corrupted name of Chappar Jhiri), Wazir Khan, the faujhdar of Sarhind was killed and Sarhind was occupied by the Khalsa Forces on 14 May, 1710. Thereupon, a declaration of Sovereign Khalsa State was made by minting coins in the names of the Sikh Gurus: Guru Nanak (1469-1539) and Guru Gobind Singh (1666- 1708), with its headquarter at Lohgarh (iron castle).

**Contents and Sample Pages**

Five Arrows of Banda Singh Bahadur Foreword

I consider it my proud privilege to write a few words on the historic novelette "Five Arrows of Banda Singh Bahadur " penned by Dr. Mohinder Paul Singh. I have known Dr. Singh for last 30 years or more, first as a journalist, then as a professor and a preacher of divinity and later as an exponent of the history of Punjab. Earlier too, Dr. Singh wrote an historical novel "Koh-i-Noor which beautifully depicts the entire travelogue of this priceless gem as well as the glory of Sikh Empire. His present work highlights the exemplary struggle carried on by the disciples of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
Baptised and enlightened by the divine grace of the Tenth Guru, Banda Bahadur stuck to the mission as laid down by his "Great Master". With his rare spiritual insight, unbending courage and valour, Banda Bahadur propagated the tenets of Sikhism with utmost sincerity, dignity and devotion. With a sense of deep dedication, religious tolerance, justice and equality for all, he laid down the very foundation of the Sikh State. His great sacrifice for the down trodden and men of soil has no parallel elsewhere in the world.
This year, Tercentenary of Banda Singh Bahadur is being celebrated and the release of this book on the auspicious occasion adds a feather to it. I wish all success for it!

Preface

Banda Singh Bahadur flashed like a lightening rod across Mughal India's horizon. He struck the monument of tyranny and injustice with such a fury as to get one of the mightiest empires of the time stunned and whole mechanism of inhuman ruthlessness paralysed for a while. Leading brightly people's revolution, first of its kind, Banda Singh goes down in history as the first Sikh Generalissimo as well.
Picked up by Tenth Master himself, a young Rajput turned Madho Das-turned Banda Singh Bahadur was granted "Five Arrows", saffron flag, drum (Ngara), and blessed by him. Banda Bahadur became first temporal leader of the Sikhs after Guru period. With him Sikh history enters second phase. Whereas Gurus' battles were defensive in nature, Banda goes on offensive. An embodiment of faith and devotion; victory and freedom; bravery and sacrifice; he gave to the world first Sikh state, royal coins, stamp and seal, all signs and symbols of royalty and ruling power.
This book treats stately Banda Singh Bahadur, a creature of flesh and blood much as he lives in popular imagination. Therefore, controversial aspect has been honestly avoided. From tragic scene of deer hunting until his own extremely horrific death in Delhi, he moves like a colossus as Khalsa general throughout his theatre of activity in between Delhi and Lahore, almost entire southern Punjab Haryana of nowadays and across Jamuna valley. He valiantly broke the myth of Mughal invincibility. Conquest of Sarhind, the crown city, is Banda's crowning achievement, of course. A yogi, a bairagi and a Sikh, all rolled into one, Banda Singh lived like a hero and died like a martyr, thus justifying his title "Bahadur" bestowed upon him by his mentor, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, The Lord of Khalsa.
Among several people, institutions and organistions that proved continuous source of inspiration for me, a few deserve my heartfelt gratitude. Cariboo Gursikh Temple Society Quesnel B.C., Sikh Society of Manitoba, Gurdwara Kalghidhar Darbar, Winnipeg, Canada, Sikh Youth Association of Australia, Singh Sabha Southampton, Gurdwara Guru Tegh Bahadur Southampton, UK.
So do some well wishers like Raj S. Mann, Raghbir Singh Basati, Yadwinder Singh Nut, Mohinder Singh Takhar, Surinder Singh Morsara, Sukhdev Singh Sandhar and fairly of NMV Lumber, Ajit Singh Sahota, Jujhar Singh Dode, Harbhajan Singh Chauhan, Jay Minhas, Ranbir Singh Manj, Jaswant Singh Grewal, Jasmel Singh M.A. B.cd., Joginder Singh Giran M.A. (Canada), Thakur Singh Basati (U.S.A) 25 well as Princpal G. S. Barara, Dr Ramesh Kumar Sharma, Jagjit Singh Dardi of Charhadi Kala Enterprise, Reference Library, Principal Prem Singh Bajaj of Punjabi Sahit Acadmy Ludhiana and many more.
As usual, my family and children both in India and Canada, provided me with safe, literary and warm haven in which to work. My wife Principal Tripat Kaur, as always, looked after the whole project with professional accuracy.
Above all, my granddaughter Aishmann Kaur Singh lent her own innocent charm to the book with her sweet interruptions. I am duly thankful to Lahore Books; Tajinder Bir Singh & Gurmannt Singh, my Publishers; Onkar Singh Dillay (Computer Work) who with keen sight for quality and publishing experience made this book see the light of day.
On the solemn occasion of 300th anniversary of the conquest of Sarhind, I most humbly offer this book as a tribute to Banda Singh Bahadur and his Khalsa warriors! May the saffron flag hoist ever and aver.......

**Contents and Sample Pages**

Revisiting Banda Singh Bahadur and His Times About The Book

The present work is the proceedings of a two-da National Seminar on "Revisiting Banda Sing Bahadur and His Times" organized by Bab. Banda Singh Bahadur Chair, Kurukshetr. University, Kurukshetra in April, 2013. Attempt has been made in this work to study and re-examine the historical geography of Banda Sing Bahadur on the basis of the contemporary and near contemporary sources. The later writings of Banda Singh Bahadur have been examined i the light of the contemporary sources. Th - scholars whose research papers have been included in this work have attempted to assess the Persian, Sikh and British historiography on Banda Singh Bahadur and His times. The present work also includes two distinguished research papers on the Rajasthani Sources on the study of Banda Singh Bahadur. The commissioning of Banda Singh Bahadur by Guru Gobind Singh for the cause of the Khalsa Sovereignty and struggle against the oppressive State system, military activities of Banda Singh Bahadur, establishment of the first Khalsa Sovereign State and the events leading to his martyrdom have been well presented by these scholars whose papers have been compiled in the present volume.

The present work is a humble attempt to study Banda Singh Bahadur in the context of the Sikh history and the history of the early eighteenth century India. It has been suggested in this work that the military genius of Banda Singh Bahadur and his heroic war activities, his liberal attitude towards the non-sikh population, his social and agrarian reformist zeal and his understanding of the sovereignty of the Khalsa are some of the commendable issues which have profoundly influenced the history of his times and have also shaped the future courses of events and the Sikh history. It has also been highlighted in this work that never in the history any disciple had fulfilled the ideas and aspirations of his master as was the case with Banda Singh Bahadur who in a true sense had implemented the orders of his master, i.e,. Guru Gobind Singh and had successfully established the first Khalsa Sovereign State. For the convenience of the readers a detailed bibliography has also been added in this work.

About The Author

Amarjit Singh is a Professor of Modern History at the Department of History, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. His areas of interest are Colonialism and Nationalism in India, partition of India and Punjab Studies. He has published a number of research papers in the reputed national and international research journals and has also attended a number of national/ international Seminar /Conferences. Amarjit Singh was appointed as Professor of South Asian Studies by the Ministry of Education, Government of Eritira (N.E. Africa) in the year 2007 and he has been credited with the introduction of a two-year Post-Graduate Teaching Course of South Asian Studies at the Department of History, Kurukshetra University. He has delivered a number of Extension/ Public/Key-Note and Valedictory Addresses at the different academic platforms. Amarjit Singh was Chairman, Department of History, Kurukshetra University from June, 2012 to June 2015 and at present is holding the position of the Director, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Chair, Kurukshetra University. His major publications include Punjab Divided : Politics of the Muslim League and Partition 1935-1947, New Delhi, 2001, Jinnah and Punjab : Shamsul Hasan Collection and other Documents 1944-1947, New Delhi, 2007 and Gandhi and the Muslim of India ; Selection From the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, New Delhi, 2015.

Preface

The proud nation is celebrating the tri-centenary year of the martyrdom of Banda Singh Bahadur from 9th June, 2015 to 9 June, 2016. It is a matter of immense pleasure that Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Chair, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra is publishing its first research work during the tri-centenary year of the martyrdom of this heroic personality of the 18th century history of India. This work is the proceedings of a two - day National Seminar on, Revisiting Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and His Times, organized by this prestigious Chair on 2"'1-3''' April, 2013. This national Seminar was graced with the presence of Sh. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the then Chief Minister, Haryana and Baba Jitenderpal Singh Ji Sodhi, 10th Descendent, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. Lt. Gen (Dr.) D.D.S. Sandhu, the then Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, Kurkshetra delivered the Welcome-Address whereas Professor J,S. Grewal, an eminent historian with international reputation and former Vice-Chancellor, G.N.D. University, Amritsar, delivered the Key-Note Address. This work also includes the proceedings of the One-day academic programme organized by the Chair in October, 2014 to commemorate the 344'h Birth-Anniversary of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

Banda Singh Bahadur indeed practiced the ideals and philosophy of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Guru Gobind Singh Ji and dedicated and sacrifiaced his life for the cause of the religion and the nation. Banda Singh Bahadur was infact a visionary who was marching ahead for atleast two hundred years of his own times and who had practiced and implemented the ideas of secular and progressive state and society. His military genius, skillful commandership, heroic war activities, liberal attitude towards the non-sikh. population, social and agrarian reformist zeal and his idea about the sovereignty of the people i.e. sovereignty of the Khalsa are some of the commendable issues which have profoundly influenced the history of his times and have also shaped the future courses of events and the Sikh history. After being commissioned by Guru Govind Singh Ji against the oppressive Mugal State in North India, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur indeed fully realized the social, religious, economic and political aspirations of the people of his own religion as well as of his times and was successful enough to provide a shape to these aspirations by adopting a course of military struggle against the oppressive and tyrannical Mughal State. The struggle of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur by no account, can be considered a fanatical religious war against the Islam but on the other hand his struggle was against those who were perpetuating massive oppressions in the name of the religion. The sacrifice and martyrdom of Banda Singh Bahadur had simply added one more chapter in the tradition of the Sikh hisory and it was simply unparallel in the history of mankind. Never in the history any disciple had fulfilled the ideals and aspirations of his master as was the case with Banda Singh Bahadur who in a true sense had completed the farmans of his master i.e.,. Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

The historians and scholars have written extensively on the different aspects of the life, activities, achievements, martyrdom and legacy of Banda Singh Bahadur. These writings are of lasting historical significance. To being with, there were the contemporary court historians and chroniclers who recorded the events related to the life and times of Banda Singh Bahadur which is generally termed as Persian historiography of the 18th century India. However, these historians were to a large extent biased against Banda Singh Bahadur and they have depicted his struggle in the form of religious war. These historians have presented Banda Singh Bahadur in a very had shape by attributing every kind of misdeeds against his struggle and against his rule and in the concluding parts of their works these historians have charged Banda Bahadur with all kind of cruelty, barbarism and inhumanness. Prominent among these historians are Khafi Khan, Ghulam Hussain Khan, Ghulam Mohy-ud-din, Muhammad Qasim, Mirza Muhammad Harsi, Muhammad Shafi Warid and Muhammad Qalandar Yar. However in the near absence of any other contemporary sources the factual parts of these Persian sources are of much significance for the reconstruc-tion of the history of Banda Singh Bahadur. One has to be very carefully scrutinize the accounts presented by these Persian historians.

**Contents and Sample Pages**