PAGES OF HISTORY: - SIKH WARRIORS: The Saviors of Kumbh

By Col SS Gill

The Sikhs have a glorious history of fighting against the injustice of emperors like Aurangzeb and be one of the major reasons of finally bringing its downfall. They have always played a major role in the history of Punjab. However probably only a handful people would know that they played a massive role which had a permanent impact which is prevalent till date outside Punjab. This was in the most important event that happens in India- The Kumbh Mela. Sadly, this incident doesn’t find mention at any place. Hence referring to many sources (Chahar Gulshan book on Kumbh, Dabestan-e-malaheb by Mohisin Fani, Khulasat-ul-Tawarikh, Geographer Captain Francis Raper report of 1760, Allahabad District Magistrate Report of 1888, Biography of Begum Samru and various historical topics in newspapers / magazines in last 15 years) I have tried to resurface this critical incident for the knowledge of everyone

 

Sikh Warriors fighting one the battles during Misl Periods

For those of us who do not know Kumbh Mela, it is the most important and one of the oldest religious events of Hindus. It is celebrated once in 12 years in rotation at four Dhams of sacred rivers – Haridwar on Ganga, Ujjain on Shirpa River, Nashik on Godavari and Prayagraj and Triveni of Ganga, Yamuna and mystical Sarawati. While Kumbh is held after 12 years, Ardh Kumbh is held after 6 years (Ardh means half). Both are held on fixed dates based on combination of position of Jupiter, Sun and Moon as per the Vikram Samvat Calendar. I will not touch upon the history of Kumbh but it surely is an occasion when millions of Sadhus, Traders, Pilgrims and Visitors attend the Kumbh. With the passage of time the number of visitors has only swelled. In the last Maha Kumbh of 2013 more than 120 million people are said to have visited Prayagraj

The event that Sikhs played a critical role was at the 1796 Ardh Kumbh at Haridwar. However before going into the details, we should know the background and why Sikhs interfered and made an impact

The Background

With such a huge gathering of people, the Kumbh is not just a religious event. It was a whole commercial event and can make a political impact. Traders from across the religious and even neighboring countries came to the event. The trade along with religious activities like order of taking baths and various other religious ceremonies involved huge amount of money in Kumbh. There were various Akharas involved in these activities. Over time there were serious clashes between the various Akharas over the control of activities.

The Kumbh at Haridwar

There is a long history of clashes recorded right from 1310 to 1760 where, as per report of geographer Captain Francis’s report more than 18000 Vaishnavi Sadhus were killed by the ferocious Naga Sadhus of the Shaivite Sect. Even bigger number are feared to have drowned about whom no accounts are there. This continued in 1766 at Ardh Kumbh at Haridwar where a reported 9000 Sadhus of the peaceful sect of Nirvani/Mahanirvani who are based at Prayagraj were killed. Over time the Shaivaite Naga Sadhus emerged the most violent Akhara which had many people and arms under its control. They played an important role in the subsequent wars between various kingdoms (They went by political considerations rather than religious as they had supported Mughals against Hindu kings in many wars)

Naga Sadhus participating in a recent Kumbh

The British were also very watchful of the Kumbh. Such a huge gathering religious of people could be easily used by a strong personality to rally support and throw the handful Britishers out of India for good. The Kumbh also was an excellent opportunity for the Christian missionaries to carry out their proselytizing activities.

As the Shaivite sect was most powerful due to numbers with it and firearms, East India Company started to back them. This resulted in all the power of collection of taxes, allotment of places, judiciary and policing to come under them after 1760. Also, East India Company was backing Begum Samru (Samru state near Meerut) who was a Christian convert from Islam. She has employed hundreds of Europeans in her cavalry and administration and was married to a French Army Officer from her army. She was at forefront to organize the Christian Missionary activities at Haridwar Kumbh.

Begum Samru

Company banned participation of Vaishnav Sadhus in the Kumbh. This meant open field for Shaivite Sadhus, Begum Samru and East India company in terms of money collection, justice mechanism, propaganda including Christian missionaries. This one-sided positioning led various peaceful sects of Sects / Akharas which included Vaishnav, Nirmala, Udasis, Nirvani, Panchayali Mahanirvani, Niranjani, Taponidhi, Nirmohi (Which is a party to Ayodhya dispute) to get together in these desperate times and approached Raja Sahib Singh Sahib Singh of Patiala (Ancestor of Captain Amarinder Singh, CM of Punjab).

Raja Sahib Singh of Patiala whose troops played a pivotal role

The local population had also started to look up to the Khalsa warriors for help and started to pay Rakhi (Protection money) to them. The Rani of the Raja, Rani Ratan Kaur played a key role in all this incident. She sent requests to all the local chiefs of the region. Many agreed to support overtly or covertly. Ranjit Singh who was not in a very strong position at that time chose to stay away. The Bhangi Sardars of Bhangi Misl which was the most powerful Misl and Dhanna Singh of Kaithal wanted to help the peace loving Vaishnav sects and local population. To remind all this was a time when all peaceful sects and Akharas were being kept out of the Kumbh by Shaivite sect

Decisive clash of 1796 Ardh Kumbh at Haridwar

As per Captain Thomas Hardwick in “Asiatick Researches” approximately 2.5 million people were participating at 1796 Ardh Kumbh of Haridwar. The Udasis sect with the backing and support of the Khalsa warriors decided to participate. This was a provocative move but with Sikhs strong holding their back, they decided to break the cycle of injustice.

As the Udasis started to reach Haridwar, about 2000 cavalry men camped at Jwalpur near Haridwar under the leadership of Dhanna Singh of Kaithal and Sahib Singh of Patiala. The rest of cavalry of 12000 under leadership of Rai Singh Bhangi and Sher Singh Bhangi was resting secretly between Haridwar and Roorkee about whom both East India Company and Begum of Samru were not aware. They also simultaneously were providing protection to families of Vaishnav followers which consisted mainly women and children.

The Udasis chose a site near the Ganga and set up their base erecting their flag. However, there was a violent reaction from the Shaivite Mahants who lead an attack on the camp and looted and injured the Udasis and many more Bairagis who were tagging along. Despite this Raja Sahib Singh of Patiala sent a Vakeel (Agent) along with Dhanna Singh Kaithal to meet the head Mahant of Shaivite Sect and other committee members. Tax was paid to Gossain Mahant and matter was resolved. Dhanna Singh requested looted stuff to be returned which was then agreed upon. However, the episode had irked the Gosain Shaivite Mahants as a very provocative move as per them had been made by Udasis and the Vaishnav Sadhus and they were required to be taught a lesson.

All went well as per the agreement for first three days of the Kumbh. However, on the 4^th day, 10^th April 1796, Gosain Mahant turned violent and started to beat the Vaishnav Sadhus. They were joined by the troops of Begum of Samru and they started to now loot them adding to the insult. While all this was going on a battalion (1000 Troops) of East India Company stood by as mute spectators allowing this to happen.

This lead the 2000 cavalry to come to the rescue and asked Gosain Mahants and Begum Samru to stop as all taxes had already been paid. Instead they were attacked which lead to a counter attack by the Sikhs and pitched battle had started. In an hour the 12000 Cavalry under the Bhangi Sardars also joined the small Sikh Cavalry. Against them stood 50000 armed Gosain Mahants and 1500 infantry/cavalry of Begum of Samru. The Sikh warriors soon gained an upper hand and killed many Gosain Mahants and the infantry of the Begum. Staring at a complete rout and wipeout of Gosain Mahants and Begum’s troops the British started to interfere in favor of their allies. They rescued many Mahants from drowning around various Ghats and asked the Sikhs to stop the fight. The British were forced to punish many Mahants for breaking the treaty and cause violence. As per British records over 2000 Gosain Mahants and Begum’s infantry were killed while 20 Sikhs fell in the battle.

This was the first live encounter which British had witnessed on the fierce fighting skills of the Khalsa warriors and took a serious note which was incorporated in their strategy (The Khalsa Raj of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the last territory occupied by East India Company once rest of the country had been subdued).

The event had a lasting impact on Kumbh itself. Shaken by the swift and ferocious action, the East India Company was forced to apply a standard operating procedure for Kumbh involving all sects. This SOP is still followed till present day. The Various Akharas were provided with timeslots for the Shahi Ishnaan for future. The Missionaries were also forced to move out of Kumbh. With a semblance coming at Kumbh mela became an even bigger center of religious, social and commercial activities that traders from far off areas of Persia, Tibet, Nepal, Arabia and many more came to participate in it

20 years later Maharaja Ranjit Singh Decided to attend the Kumbh at Haridwar in 1806, the British aware of the 1796 clashes and wary of any repeats specially deputed a very senior officer Charles Metcalfe to personally accompany the Maharaja. The trip did not ultimately materialize due to reasons best known to the Maharaja himself

For the Sikhs while this great contribution was lost in history and known to a few, also represented a lost opportunity in many ways. The area between Ganga Yamuna doab which included cities like Meerut, Shamli, Muzzaferpur became quite pro Sikh and paid Rakhi (Protection) money to them. The Jaat caste of the region started to put Singh in their names and in many cases even the females started to put Kaur behind their names. The general population which were non-Sikh started to build small Gurudwaras in their localities. These were however dismantled by the British at later stages

In hindsight Maharaja Ranjit Singh could have used the advantage to bring these areas under his rule which would not have been hostile instead of expanding further west to hostile areas which drained the resources of the Sikh Raj.

In-fact there are quite many evidences which indicated that the British in 1809 were ready to have Yamuna as the boundary with Maharaja Ranjit Singh at a time when they were badly caught up with Marathas, Tipu Sultan and Jats of Bharatpur. History knows that Sutlej was agreed upon as the boundary. The above caused Maharaja Ranjit Singh to practically give up Sindh and the critical access to sea it could provide. This would have been decisive in long term. Rest is History.