Sikhism

SIKHISM’S MILITARISTIC IDENTITY | Historical Events That Have Shaped Sikhs Militaristic Identity | Physical death I do not fear, death of conscience is a sure death. – Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindrawale. | Divesh Sharma Monday, December-03-12 MMParveen Singh

Sikhism’s Militaristic Identity

Since the creation of Sikhism by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Sikhs have repeatedly had to take on a militaristic identity to survive in this world. There have been many instances in the past, which have led Sikhs to have to put their beliefs aside, and had to pick up weapons to save their own people from persecution. From The Great Sikh Holocaust (1762), to Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919), leading all the way up to Operation Bluestar and its aftermath (1984), Sikhs have been prosecuted for no other reason than that they are different and want to live their lives according to their own rules and regulations. Sikhism was created because Guru Nanak Dev Ji believed that most of the Hindu and Muslim traditions were not feasible, therefore they must be forsaken, and a simple, religious outlook on life must be adopted. However, this simple, religious outlook has been constantly overshadowed by a militaristic identity-which has been forced upon the Sikhs by certain historical events that have taken place from the beginning of Sikhism, with the latest event taking place less than thirty years ago. This militaristic identity is a direct offspring of the Guru’s teachings to bow your head to the One True Lord. If a Sikh shall not be granted the permission and freedom to do so, they prefer death.

It is known to everyone that during the reign of the 10 guru’s, the Moghul’s were also in power for the rest of the country. The Moghuls had made life very miserable and had left no stone unturned to diminish the identity of Sikh’s off the face of this planet. In all reality, the Afghans had also attempted to intimidate Sikhs into converting to Islam—that obviously did not work out. In the 1700’s, the Afghans were led by Ahmed Shah Durrani. He was a very strong leader who did not take no for an answer. Throughout the 1700’s, Ahmed Shah Durrani invaded India five times—the sixth time being the time of the Great Sikh Holocaust. (The Great Holocaust (Wadda Ghalughara)) Durrani was a merciless killer, who wanted nothing more than to diminish the Sikhs and take over whatever little wealth they had. Durrani had played a dirty battle by surprising the Sikhs while they were still trying to ensure that the women, children and elderly were well away from the chaos that was about to unfold. However, the surprise element of the attack did not faze them. They were ready to take on the Afghan army head on, and fought around the train that the women, children and elderly were aboard. The Sikh army gave their all to protect the honour of their women, and the lives of their children and elders. An eyewitness states: “Fighting while moving and moving while fighting, they kept the baggage train marching, covering it as a hen covers its chicks under its wings. More than once, the troops of the invader broke the cordon and mercilessly butchered the women, children and elderly inside, but each time the Sikh warriors regrouped and managed to push back the attackers.” (Sikh Holocaust of 1762) Eventually they parted ways, and the Sikhs had lost many lives, for the reason that they refused to bow down to anyone other than their One True Lord. It is a shared sentiment in the Sikh community, that if you love something, fight for it—don’t back down without giving it your all. This shared sentiment is the basis for the Sikh community because they will give their lives to protect their religion, honour and beliefs—no one is above the One True Lord, and if they were not granted the permission to bow their head to Him, they would rather die—which is exactly what they have done. Sikhs picked up weapons to protect their people and religion, and dropped them only in death; they did not run away from their duty—that is to fight for their religion.

Another instance in Sikh history where they have had to take on a militaristic identity was after the Vaisakhi Day incident in 1919—The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. General Dyer had issued an order which required all “Indians” (Sikhs actually, because it was only in effect in Punjab) to crawl on their hands and knees and to be whipped if they were “a whips length away” from a law enforcing official. On April 13, 1919, the Sikhs had gathered to celebrate Vaisakhi and protest these extreme measures in a garden just down the street from Shri Harimandir Sahib. This garden is a small square tucked in a corner beside the main street marketplace. More than 1650 rounds of ammunition were fired within the span of ten to fifteen minutes. The people were packed in this small garden, which resulted in the bullets piercing through one person and injuring one or two other people as well. (Amristar Massacre) General Dyer had committed a grave mistake which cost him his job. His justification for this horrific act was: “I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing but they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have made, what I consider, a fool of myself.” The end result of this Massacre was the renewed militaristic identity that the Sikh youth had to take up. It was not only the Sikh youth in Punjab itself, youngsters from abroad also wanted to fight for the right to practice their religion. Examples of such Sikh youth-national and from abroad-are Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Shaheed Udham Singh and Kartar Singh Sarabha. All three of these “freedom fighters” fought for the right to practice their religion and the freedom of their sacred land. These three are the perfect example of a Sikh taking up a militaristic identity to protect his religion, beliefs and people. All three were born in a religious Sikh family which resulted in them loving their religion and truly believing that they are not to bow their head to the One True Lord. When this love, belief and way of life was questioned through the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, which left thousands of innocents dead—who refused to bow their head to anyone other than the One True Lord—these three picked up their weapons, and brought upon freedom to the Sikhs. They brought this freedom by becoming “fighters” and diminished anyone who stood in the way of their religion, beliefs and people. They proved that a Sikh will only bow their head infront of the One True Lord—and will take up weapons and diminish the enemy if they are not given the liberty to do so.

Most of the instances that led Sikhs to take up a militaristic identity took place in the late 18th and early 20th centuries. The most recent event that had Sikhs once again identified as militaristic people, was Operation Bluestar, also known as the Sikh Genocide of June 1984. This military attack by the Indian government, was not because there were terrorists hiding inside Shri Harimandir Sahib or because the Sikhs were planning a terrorist attack, it was mainly due to the reason that Indira Gandhi wanted to destroy Sikhism at its roots. (Operation Bluestar) The underlying cause for this was the fact that Sikhs were not given any recognition in India’s Constitution despite all of their contributions to the freedom of India. Sikhs demanded this recognition under the influence of Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindrawala, who led Sikhs to finally open their eyes to the injustice surrounding them. Regardless of their numerous attempts however, none of their demands were met, and instead over 150,000 Sikhs were arrested and many were killed. (Operation Bluestar) After these “attacks,” Punjab was handed over to the Indian military. This military attacked Shri Harimandir Sahib on May 31st, 1984. There were only 251 Sikhs to protect the Temple, but they managed to keep the army out for a full four days. Due to the resistance by Sikhs, the Indian Army brought tanks and destroyed the Akaal Takht Sahib. All 251 of the Sikhs defending the Temple had become martyrs which led the Army inside the Temple and then enraged them that such a small number of men were blocking them. This enragement led to them ruthlessly murdering innocent Sikhs who had come to pay their respects on the Martyr day of the Fifth Guru—Guru Arjun Sahib Ji. Approximately 50,000 Sikhs were killed that day. This genocide led to a brutal aftermath all throughout India where many Sikhs were being killed everyday without any mercy. Out of this aftermath, rose two Sikhs who decided to strengthen the Sikh militaristic identity and diminish the one person who had dared to destroy their roots, and had dared to deny them the right to pray to the One True Lord. These two Sikh fighters were Beant Singh and Satwant Singh. These two Sikhs chose to forsake their “duty” towards their employer, and fulfilled their greater religious duty—that of bringing justice to their people, who now had to rebuild their holiest shrine from the ground up. (Smith, 1984) Undoubtedly, this attack brought Sikhs back together as one, and strengthened the foundations for the future of this religion, which now flourishes. But this was only done with the bravery of Beant Singh and Satwant Singh. They were mere bodyguards who stood in the way of anyone who would try to harm Indira Gandhi, yet they forsaked their duty for their religion, and prayed to their One True Lord, and brought justice to thousands. The aftermath of this assassination was another genocide, which did leave many hundreds of thousands of Sikhs dead, but had Beant Singh and Satwant Singh not eliminated Indira Gandhi, Sikhism would have been eliminated from its roots.

“Physical death I do not fear, death of conscience is a sure death,” Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindrawale. This quote all but strengthens the militaristic identity of Sikhs. A Sikh is ready to forsake his life, but will not forsake his religion, his beliefs or what is right and what is wrong to him. Historical events have tried to take away Sikhs’ consciences’, force them to convert, try to eliminate them from the face of the planet, yet every single attempt has failed. After hundreds of attacks—during each of which Sikhs came together as one, and fought against their enemies—Sikhs are still around. They will not bow down to anyone other than the One True Lord. Sikhs will not tolerate discrimination against them, or their freedoms and liberties being taken away from them. Sikhs will fight for their religion, they will take up weapons to save themselves. Sikhs will not back down without a fight, because they do not know how to. They have forever fought for their religion and their freedom, and they will continue to do so until they have diminished all problems from their lives. Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh–Khalsa belongs to the Wonderful Lord. Victory belongs to the Wonderful Lord.

Bibliography 1. Amristar Massacre. (n.d.). Retrieved May 15, 2012, from Amritsar: http://www.amritsar.com/Jallian%20Wala%20Bagh.shtml

2. Operation Bluestar. (n.d.). Retrieved May 25, 2012, from Search Sikhism: http://www.searchsikhism.com/bluestar.html

3. Sikh Holocaust of 1762. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh_holocaust_of_1762

4. Smith, W. E. (1984, November 12). Indira Gandhi: Death in the Garden. Retrieved May 30, 2012, from The Sikh Times: http://www.sikhtimes.com/bios_111284a.html

5. The Great Holocaust (Wadda Ghalughara). (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2012, from Search Sikhism: http://www.searchsikhism.com/holo2.html

--------------------------------------------
[ 1 ]. Sardar Singh Bhatia, “Vadda Ghallughara,” The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, Volume IV, Patiala, Punjabi University, 1998, pp. 396.
[ 2 ]. http://www.amritsar.com/Jallian%20Wala%20Bagh.shtml –Winston Churchill.
[ 3 ]. http://www.amritsar.com/Jallian%20Wala%20Bagh.shtml –General Dyer
[ 4 ]. http://www.searchsikhism.com/bluestar.html
[ 5 ]. http://www.searchsikhism.com/bluestar.html

Bibliography: 1. Amristar Massacre. (n.d.). Retrieved May 15, 2012, from Amritsar: http://www.amritsar.com/Jallian%20Wala%20Bagh.shtml 2 3. Sikh Holocaust of 1762. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh_holocaust_of_1762 4 5. The Great Holocaust (Wadda Ghalughara). (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2012, from Search Sikhism: http://www.searchsikhism.com/holo2.html -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Sardar Singh Bhatia, “Vadda Ghallughara,” The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, Volume IV, Patiala, Punjabi University, 1998, pp. 396.