Badshah Khan (1890-20 Jan., 1988), as Abdul Gaffar Khan was well known, was the founder of a party called Khudai Khidmatgar in 1929—a great follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Badshah Khan was the President of All India Congress Committee in 1934.For all his austerity and simplicity, Gaffar Khan embraced the modern world and acknowledged the progress […]
It is a Sikh tradition that after partaking the holy potion (Amrit) men write ‘Singh’ with their first names similarly women write ‘Kaur’ to their first names.Once a group of Sikhs was coming to Anandpur from a village. The group had already partaken Amrit. The group included a woman named Deep.The menflok were feeling thirsty.
Guru Sahib stayed on at Nanded and preached. There are several legends connected to Guru Sahib that occurred during his preaching tours which deserve to be mentioned because they are part of his charismatic life which illustrate his character.Fine for GuruIt happened when Guru Sahib reached Naraina Via Sirsa, Nauhar and Pushkar on his southern
His mission at Nanded was to meet Madhodas Vairagi. The idea was given to him by Mahant Jaitram of Burhan. Madhodas was early known as Banda Vir Vairagi. His real christened name was Laxmandas. He was born to the family of Ramdev Dogra of Rajouri on 27 October, 1670.As a young man he was very
The letter was carried to Aurangzeb by Bhai Daya Singh. The letter contained the references to the valour of Khalsas against the Moguls. Aurangzeb did not mind it. He was then a 90 year old bed ridden emperor. He infact asked his minister Munim Khan to formally invite Guru Gobind for talks with due honour.
The governor of Sirhind, Vazir Khan had received information on the resurrection of Khalsa army. It worried him. He was afraid of Guru’s revenge for causing the death of his mother and the sons.He put his army on the tail of Guru Sahib. In 1705 his Mogul army attacked Guru army at Khidrana. That area
Mata Gujri and her two youngest grandsons Jorawar Singh and Fateh Singh aged 8 and 6 respectively were in the care of their cook Gangu who took them to his ancestral village for safety. But the cook turned into a crook when the greed overtook his conscience. In his charges he saw an opportunity to
A large combination of forces laid a siege to the fort town of Anandpur Sahib. The initial thrusts of the enemy were repulsed by ferocious Khalsa warriors. The Mogul commanders and Rajas decided to make the siege more severe and leave no gaps to stop all the supplies to the fort. All the escape routes
The defeated hill kings were getting frustrated. They would not sit idle. The humiliating defeats kept pricking them invoking the desire for revenge. They wanted to destroy Guru Sahib by all means. So, they wrote a letter to Aurangzeb which was carried to him by Bilaspur prince Ajmer Chand.The subject matter part of the letter
Anandpur had become a holy place of Sikhs. It also was a sanctuary for the people hounded or tormented by Moguls or the anti-Guru king. When Kuvaresh the son of well known Hindi poet Keshva Das was subjected to the threats of forcible conversion into Islam he fled to Anandpur Sahib.Bhai Nandlal was also the
Bhai Daya Singh (Dayaram Khatri)—He was a resident of Lahore born in 1669. Sudhay Khatri was his father and the mother was called Dayali. He had deep faith in the teachings of the Gurus. When he offered his head he was 30 years of age. He took part in the battle of Chamkaur. He was
He gave no sermons on that day. Instead he announced, “My sword asks for a human sacrifice today. Is there any brave one who would offer his head?”There was a pin drop silence. All appeared to have been stunned and frozen. Guru Sahib repeated his call. At the third call Dayaram Khatri of Lahore came
On 1699 Baisakhi day Guru Gobind founded Khalsa Panth which literally meant ‘the sect of the purest ones’. The aim was to select the most devout and aggressive ones from the legions of his followers to create an elite force to serve as his storm troops. The other aims were to put a check on
Mogul court was alarmed at the growing power and influence of Guru Gobind Singh and due to that fact the increasing tendency of hill kings to raise the banner of rebellions. The matter required immediate attention. Aurangzeb himself was in the South leading some campaign again but he kept abreast of the developments in Punjab
This battle was not directly related to Guru Gobind. It was merely a fall out of Bhangani battle. The hill kings had seen the power of Guru Gobind in that battle. Many of the kings appreciated his teachings as well. So, without striking any clear cut pact with Guru they assumed that they could use