Rise of the Sikh Empire | History of the Sikhs

Rise of the Sikh Empire / History of the Sikhs: The tenth and last Guru of the Sikhs, Gobind Singh (1675-1699) founded the Khalsa Panth and ended the Guru system and called the "Guru Granth Sahib" established by the fifth Guru Arjun Dev as the next Guru. . Guru Gobind Singh was assassinated on 07 October 1708 by a Pathan named Gul Khan. Before his death, Banda Singh Bahadur was sent to Punjab with a Hukamnama. It was written in this order that from today your (Sikh) leader will be Banda Singh Bahadur. 

 

Banda Singh Bahadur

• Banda Singh Bahadur is also called the political guru of the Sikhs.
• Banda Singh Bahadur was born in Kashmir on 27 October 1670 in Rajori village of Poonch district.
• Banda Singh Bahadur's real name was Laxman Dev.
• Laxman Dev was fond of wrestling and hunting since childhood.
• At the age of 15, when a pregnant deer fell victim to his hands, he became very sad and left his home and became a recluse due to this incident.
• He became a disciple of a Bairagi named Janaki Das. Changed his name to Madhodas.
• After some time he moved to the Nanded region where he established an ashram on the banks of Godavari.
• On 03 September 1708, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, visited this ashram in Nanded and made him a Sikh, and named him Banda Singh Bahadur.
• After the death of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, Banda Singh Bahadur went to Punjab according to his wish and became the next leader of the Sikhs.
• Banda Singh Bahadur and his army first attacked Sonipat and then Kaithal.
• On 12 May 1710, Wazir Khan, who had killed the younger Sahibzadas (both younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh, Baba Zorawar Singh, and Fateh Singh), was assassinated and captured Sirhind.
• Banda Singh Bahadur's aim was to establish a Sikh state in Punjab. He made Lohgarh his capital.
• He also got coins in the name of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh issued.
• Under the leadership of Abdul Samad Khan, the army of Mughal emperor Farooq Siyar surrounded him for several months in Gurudas Nangal village near the Dhariwal area of ​​the Gurdaspur district.
• Due to a lack of food and drink, he surrendered on 07 December 1715.
• Banda Singh Bahadur was brought to Delhi along with 794 Sikhs in February 1716.
• Where 100 Sikhs were hanged daily from March 5 to March 13.
• On 16 June 1716, on the orders of Farrukhsiyar, the bodies of Banda Singh and his chief military officer were dismembered.
• The work done by Banda Singh Bahadur before his death -
  liberated the farmers from the slavery of big landlords.
  Under his rule, Muslims had complete religious freedom.
  There were 5000 Muslim soldiers in his own army.

After Banda Singh Bahadur and before Raja Ranjit Singh

• After Banda Singh Bahadur, due to a lack of good leadership, the Sikhs were divided into many small pieces.
• In 1748, with the initiative of Nawab Kartur Singh, all the Sikh troops were merged into the Dal Khalsa.
• The leadership of this Dal Khalsa was handed over to Jassa Singh Ahluwalia.
• Later it was divided into 12 parties and each party was called Misal (Arabic word, meaning "equal").
• The most prominent of all the Misls was Sukarchakia. Its head was Mahar Singh. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was born on 13 November 1780 in Gujranwala (present-day Pakistan) in the house of Maha Singh.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh

• From 1798 to 1799, Ranjit Singh became the ruler of Lahore, on 12-April 1801, Ranjit Singh assumed the title of Maharaja.
• He was crowned by the descendants of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
• He made Lahore his capital and moved towards Amritsar in 1802.
• Maharaja Ranjit Singh fought many battles against the Afghans and drove them toward West Punjab.
• The kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was divided into provinces. Out of which the main provinces were
  - Peshawar
  - Kashmir
  - Multan
  - Lahore
• The British were afraid of the growing state of the Sikhs and because of this, they wanted to secure their territories by making treaties with the Sikhs. The Treaty of Amritsar was signed on 25 April 1809 between Ranjit Singh and the English East India Company.
  - The Governor-General at that time was Lord Minto but the treaty was under the leadership of Charles Metcalf and the signing of the treaty was also done by Charles Metcalf.
  With this treaty, the part east of Sutlej came into the hands of the British and Sutlej became the eastern border of Ranjit Singh's kingdom.
• The two main ministers of Maharaja Ranjit Singh were Fakir Azizuddin (Foreign Minister) and Dinanath (Finance Minister).
• Shah Shuja, an Afghan noble, living in Kashmir defeated by Dost Muhammad, was held captive in the fort of Shergarh by the Subedar of Kashmir, Atma Muhammad.
• The Kohinoor diamond was given to Maharaja Ranjit Singh by Wafa Begum, the wife of Shah Shuja, in return for the release of this Shah Shuja.
• Maharaja Ranjit Singh died on 27 June 1839.
• Three sons were the main successors of Ranjit Singh -
  - Maharaja Kharag Singh (1839-1840)
  - Maharaja Sher Singh (1841-1843)
  - Maharaja Dilip Singh (1843-1849)

Maharaja Dilip Singh

• Maharaja Dilip Singh was born in 1838 AD.
• In 1843 AD, being very young, Jind Kaur, mother of Maharaja Dilip Singh, was handed over to the kingdom as her guardian.
• The British government wanted to take advantage of this situation. Along with this, Maharani Jind Kaur made the mistake of considering the British as weak on the strength of the mighty Sikh army and ordered the expansion of the Sikh empire.
• With this decision of Jind Kaur, the British got a chance and in 1845 the first Anglo-Sikh war started.
• Both the Anglo-Sikh wars took place at the time of Dilip Singh.

 

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