Banda Singh Bahadur

Banda Singh Bahadur
Born	27 October 1670 Rajauri, India
Died	9 June 1716 (1716-06-10) (aged 45) Delhi, India
Other names	Madho Das
Years active	1708-1716
Known for	fighting the Mughal Empire abolishing zamindari system, killed Wazir Khan (Sirhind) and established Khalsa rule in Punjab.
Successor	Chhajja Singh Dhillon
Children	1 (Ajai Singh)

Banda Singh Bahadur (born Lachman Dev, also known as Banda Bahudar, Lachman Das and Madho Das) (27 October 1670 – 9 June 1716, Delhi) was a Sikh military commander.

At age 15 he left home to become an ascetic, and was given the name ‘’Madho Das’’. He established a monastery at Nānded, on the bank of the river Godāvarī, where in September 1708 he was visited by, and became a disciple of, Guru Gobind Singh, who gave him the new name of Banda Singh Bahadur. Armed with the blessing and authority of Guru Gobind Singh, he assembled a fighting force and led the struggle against the Mughal Empire. His first major action was the sack of the Mughal provincial capital, Samana, in November 1709. After establishing his authority in Punjab, Banda Singh Bahadur abolished the zamindari system, and granted property rights to the tillers of the land. He was captured by the Mughals and tortured to death in 1716.

Biography and Role in Sikh History

Early life

There are different views regarding the origin of Banda Singh Bahadur:

• The Mahan Kosh, a Sikh encyclopaedia written by Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha, (Bhasha Bibhag Punjab, Patiala), states that he was Minhas Rajput, either from Rajouri in Jammu region or Doaba region of Punjab.
• P.N. Bali calls him a Mohyal Brahmin. According to Bali's "Mohyal History," Banda was born in a Mendhar Dist. village, Poonch, nestling the Shivalik ranges, in Jammu & Kashmir, in a Chhibber family on 27 October 1670.
• Hakim Rai calls him a Punjabi Khatri/Rajput.
• Giani Budh Singh a noted scholar of Poonch in his famous book Chhowen Rattan described Banda Bahadur as "Brahmin".
• Harjinder Singh Dilgeer in his book Sikh Twareekh (1469–2007) (published by Singh Brothers Amritsar, in 5 volumes in 2008) narrates that Banda Singh was a Rajput, born in 1670. At the age of 16 he left his home and joined the party of wandering Hindu ascetics (sadhu). He spent two years with two saadhus (Janki Das and then Ram Das)and then joined Baba Lunia, near Burhanpur. In 1696, he met Guru Gobind Singh at Kankhal, near Haridwar but this was a short meeting. After this, Sri Guru Gobind Singh visited him in August 1708. Dilgeer's account is challenged by some Sikh authorities.

As a young man, wrestling, horseback riding, and hunting were his major pastimes. He once shot dead a doe and was shocked to watch the mother and her aborted fawn writhing in pain and dying. After he had a change of heart. He left his home and became a disciple of a Bairagi Sadhu: Janaki Das, who gave him the name: Madho Das. In the company of the Sadhus, he travelled through Northern India and finally arrived at Nanded (in present-day Maharashtra), situated on the bank of the river Godavari.

Early conquests

After a meeting with Guru Gobind Singh on 3 September 1708, he became a Sikh. The guru ordered him to go to Punjab and fight the Mughals with the help of the Sikh army. Banda Singh Bahadur camped in Khar Khoda, near Sonipat.He fought the Battle of Sonepat and took over Sonipat and Kaithal. In 1709 he defeated Mughals in the Battle of Samana and captured the Mughal city of Samana, killing about 10,000 Mohammedans. Samana was famous for minting coins. With this treasury the Sikhs became financially stable. The Sikhs soon took over Mustafabad and Sadhora (near Jagadhri). The Sikhs then captured the Cis-Sutlej areas of Punjab, including Ghurham, Kapori, Banoor, Malerkotla, and Nahan. On 12 May 1710 in the Battle of Chappar Chiri the Sikhs killed Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sirhind, and Dewan Suchanand, who were responsible for the martyrdom of the two youngest sons of Guru Gobind Singh. Two days later the Sikhs captured Sirhind. Banda Singh was now in control of territory from the Sutlej to the Yamuna and ordered that ownership of the land be given to the farmers, to let them live in dignity and self-respect.

Banda Singh's Sikh Raj

Banda Singh developed the village of Mukhlisgarh, and made it his capital. He then renamed the city it to Lohgarh (fortress of steel) where he issued his own mint. The coin described Lohgarh: "Struck in the City of Peace, illustrating the beauty of civic life, and the ornament of the blessed throne." He briefly established a state in Punjab for half a year. Banda Singh sent Sikhs to the Uttar Pradesh and Sikhs took over Saharanpur, Jalalabad, Muzaffarnagar and other areas near by bringing relief to the repressed population. In the regions of Jalandhar and Amritsar, the Sikhs started fighting for the rights of the people. Banda Bahadur captured Rahon after defeating mughals in the Battle of Rahon, (1710).Sikhs used their newly established power to remove corrupt officials and replace them with honest ones.

Revolutionary

Banda Singh is known to have abolished or halted the Zamindari system in the time he was active and gave the farmers proprietorship of their own land. It seems that all classes of government officers were addicted to extortion and corruption and the whole system of regulatory and order was subverted. Local tradition recalls that the people from the neighborhood of Sadaura came to Banda Singh complaining of the iniquities practices by their land lords. Banda Singh ordered Baj Singh to open fire on them. The people were astonished at the strange reply to their representation, and asked him what he meant. He told them that they deserved no better treatment when being thousands in number they still allowed themselves to be cowed down by a handful of Zamindars.He, later, captured Sadhaura after defeating the Sayyids and Shaikhs of Sadhaura in the Battle of Sadhaura.

Persecution from the Mughals

The rule of the Sikhs over the entire Punjab east of Lahore obstructed the communication between Delhi and Lahore, the capital of Punjab, and this worried Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah He gave up his plan to subdue rebels in Rajasthan and marched towards Punjab. The entire Imperial force was organized to defeat and kill Banda Singh. All the generals were directed to join the Emperor’s army. To ensure that there were no Sikh agents in the army camps, an order was issued on 29 August 1710 to all Hindus to shave off their beards.

Banda Singh was in Uttar Pradesh when the Moghal army under the orders of Munim Khan marched to Sirhind and before the return of Banda Singh, they had already taken Sirhind and the areas around it. The Sikhs therefore moved to Lohgarh for their final battle. The Sikhs defeated the army but reinforcements were called and they laid siege on the fort with 60,000 troops. Gulab Singh dressed himself in the garments of Banda Singh and seated himself in his place. Banda Singh left the fort at night and went to a secret place in the hills and Chamba forests. The failure of the army to kill or catch Banda Singh shocked Emperor, Bahadur Shah and On 10 December 1710 he ordered that wherever a Sikh was found, he should be murdered. The Emperor became mentally disturbed and died on 18 February 1712.

Banda Singh Bahadur wrote Hukamnamas to the Sikhs telling them to get themselves reorganized and join him at once. In 1712, the Sikhs gathered near Kiratpur Sahib and defeated Raja Ajmer Chand, who was responsible for organizing all the Hill Rajas against Guru Gobind Singh and instigating battles with him. After Bhim Chand’s dead the other Hill Rajas accepted their subordinate status and paid revenues to Banda Singh. While Bahadur Shah's 4 sons were killing themselves for the throne of the Mughal Emperor Banda Singh Bahadur recaptured Sadhura and Lohgarh. Farrukh Siyar, the next Moghal Emperor, appointed Abdus Samad Khan as the governor of Lahore and Zakaria Khan, Abdus Samad Khan's son, the Faujdar of Jammu. In 1713 the Sikhs left Lohgarh and Sadhura and went to the remote hills of Jammu and where they built Dera Baba Banda Singh. During this time Sikhs were being hunted down especially by pathans in the Gurdaspur region. Banda Singh came out and captured Kalanaur and Batala which rebuked Farrukh Siyar to issue Mughal and Hindu officials and chiefs to proceed with their troops to Lahore to reinforce his army.

Siege in Gurdas Nangal

In March 1715, Banda Singh Bahadur was in the village of Gurdas Nangal, Gurdaspur, Punjab, when the army under the rule of Samad Khan, the Mogual king of Delhi laid siege to the Sikh forces. The Sikhs fought and defended the small fort for eight months.

Torture and Execution

On 7 December 1715 Banda Singh Bahadur was captured from the Gurdas Nangal fort and put in an iron cage. The remaining Sikhs were captured and chained. The Sikhs were brought to Delhi in a procession with the 780 Sikh prisoners, 2,000 Sikh heads hung on spears, and 700 cartloads of heads of slaughtered Sikhs used to terrorise the population. They were put in the Delhi fort and pressurised to give up their faith and become Muslims. On their firm refusal all of them were ordered to be executed. Every day, 100 Sikhs were brought out of the fort and murdered in public. This continued for approximately seven days. After 3 months of confinement, on 9 June 1716, Banda Singh’s eyes were gouged out, his limbs were severed, his skin removed, and then he was killed.

Criticism by Early Sikh Historians

Mahima Prakash - Sarup Dass Bhalla

This manuscript was completed by Sarup Das, who belong to lineage of Guru Amar Dass, in 1776. In his manuscript, Sarup Das mentioned incident of Gurdas Nangal and surrendering of Banda Bahadur of, where Banda Bahadur made comments against Guru's wishes. The key points mentioned in his writings are:

• After surrendering, Banda Bahadur admitted at Delhi that he hadn't followed code of conduct given by Guru Gobind Singh.
• Banda had desire to marry again even during the siege which led to agitation.

It was Binod Singh who agitated against him and clashed with him inside the fort. After that Binod Singh left tje fort and Banda Bahadur later surrendered . He confessed at Delhi:

"ਕਿਸੀ ਕੀ ਕਿਆ ਮਕਦੂਰ ਥਾ ਜੋ ਮੁਝ ਕੋ ਮਾਰਤਾ॥ ਪਰ ਸਤਗੁਰ ਕੀ ਆਗਿਆ ਮੇਰੇ ਸੇ ਭੰਗ ਹੁਈ ਹੈ ॥"

— (Banda Bahadur, as per Mahima Prakash)

Mata Sundri, who was already in Delhi, fetched out Baba Kahn Singh from the prisoner group and did not save Banda Bahadur from capital punishment.

Mahankosh, Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha

Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha - states in his Mahankosh that:

.....ਪਰਭੁਤਾ ਵਧ ਜਾਨ ਪਰ ਬੰਦਾ ਬਹਾਦੁਰ ਨੂੰ ਕੁਝ ਗਰਬ ਹੋਇਆ, ਆਪਣੀ ਗੁਰੂਤਾ ਕੀ ਅਭਿਲਾਖਾ ਜਾਗ ਗਈ | ਜਿਸ ਪਰ ਉਸ ਕੇ ਕਈ ਨਿਯਮ ਗੁਰਮਤਿ ਵਿਰੁਧ ਪਰਚਾਰ ਕਰਨੇ ਚਾਹੇ ਜਿਸ ਤੋਂ ਪੰਥ ਦਾ ਵਿਰੋਧ ਹੋ ਕੇ ਖਾਲਸੇ ਦੇ ਦੋ ਦਲ ਬਣ ਗਝ.....

This means After attaining popularity, Banda turned Egoistic and wished to become Guru. Under this Egotism, he preached his own Code of Conduct against Gurmat(i). Due to which Panth split into two parts. One Tat Khalsa(With Gur Gobind Singh) and other Bandai Khalsa (Khalsa of Banda Bahadur).

All early Sikh historical resources including Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, Giani Gian Singh, Historian Karam Singh, Giani Kartar Singh, Nihang Dharam Singh etc. also mentioned these facts.

Battles fought by Banda Singh

• Battle of Sonepat
• Battle of Ambala
• Battle of Samana
• Battle of Chappar Chiri
• Battle of Sadhaura
• Battle of Lohgarh
• Battle of Jammu
• Battle of Rahon, (1710)
• Battle of Jalalabad (1710)
• Battle of Kapoori
• Battle of Gurdas Nangal or Siege of Gurdaspur

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur War Memorial

A war memorial was built where Battle of Chappar Chiri was fought, to glorify heroic Sikh Soldiers. The project was inaugurated by the Chief Minister (Punjab)Prakash Singh Badal on 30th Nov 2011. The 328 ft tall Fateh Burj (Victory Tower) was dedicated to Banda Singh Bahadur who led the army and defeated the Mughal Force. The Fateh Burj is taller than Qutab Minar and is in octagonal structure. There is a dome at the top of tower with KHANDA made of stainless steel.

See also

• Sharan Kaur Pabla – Sikh martyr
• Nanua Bairagi – Sikh warrior
• Hari Singh Nalwa
• Sawan Mal
• Rattan Singh Bhangu
• Bhai Mani Singh
• Baba Darbara Singh
• Baba Binod Singh
• Baj Singh