Sikh Empire

The Sikh Empire was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The empire, based around the Punjab region, existed from 1799 to 1849. It was forged, on the foundations of the Khalsa, under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from a collection of autonomous Punjabi Misls.^[1][2] At its peak, in the 19th century, the empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north, to Sindh in the south, and Tibet in the east.

The foundations of the Sikh Empire could be defined as early as 1707, starting from the death of Aurangzeb and the downfall of the Mughal Empire. The fall of the Mughal Empire provided opportunities for the Sikh army, known as the Dal Khalsa, a rearrangement of the Khalsa inaugurated by Guru Gobind Singh, to lead expeditions against the Mughals and Afghans. This led to a growth of the army, which was split into different confederacies or semi-independent "Misls". Each of these component armies, known as a Misl, controlled different areas and cities. However, in the period from 1762–1799, Sikh commanders of their Misls appeared to be coming into their own.

The formal start of the Sikh Empire began with the merger of these "Misls" under Ranjit Singh. He was crowned on 12 April 1801 (to coincide with Baisakhi), creating a unified political state. Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak Dev, conducted the coronation.^[3] Ranjit Singh rose to power in a very short period, from a leader of a single Sikh Misl to finally becoming the Maharaja of Punjab. He began to modernize his army, using the latest training as well as weapons and artillery. After the death of Ranjit Singh, the empire was weakened by internal divisions and political mismanagement. Finally, by 1849 the state was dissolved after their defeat in the Anglo-Sikh wars.

The Sikh Empire was divided into four provinces Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Kashmir from 1799-1849.

History

Mughal Rule of Punjab

The religion of Sikhism began at the time of the Conquest of Northern India by Babur. His grandson, Akbar supported religious freedom and after visiting the langar of Guru Amar Das had a favorable impression of Sikhism. As a result of his visit he donated land to the langar and had a positive relationship with the Sikh Gurus until his death in 1605.^[4] His successor, Jahangir, saw the Sikhs as a political threat. He arrested Guru Arjun Dev because of Sikh support for Khusrau Mirza^[5] and ordered him to be put to death by torture. Guru Arjan Dev's Martyrdom led to the sixth Guru, Guru Har Gobind, declaring Sikh sovereignty in the creation of the Akal Takht and the establishment of a fort to defend Amritsar.^[6] Jahangir attempted to assert authority over the Sikhs by jailing Guru Har Gobind at Gwalior and released him after a number of years when he no longer felt threatened. Sikhism did not have any further issues with the Mughal Empire until the death of Jahangir in 1627. His successor, Shah Jahan "took offense" at Guru Har Gobind's sovereignty and after a series of assaults on Amritsar forced the Sikhs to retreat to the Sivalik Hills.^[6] Guru Har Gobind's successor, Guru Har Rai maintained the guruship in the Sivalik Hills by defeating local attempts to seize Sikh land and taking a neutral role in the power struggle between Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh for control of the Timurid dynasty. The ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, moved the Sikh community to Anandpur and traveled extensively to visit and preach in Sikh communities in defiance Aurangzeb, who attempted to install Ram Rai to the guruship. He aided Kashmiri Brahmins in avoiding conversion to Islam and was arrested and confronted by Aurangzeb. When offered a choice between conversion or death, he chose to die rather than compromise his principles and was executed.^[7] Guru Gobind Singh, assumed the guruship in 1675 and to avoid battles with Sivalik Hill Rajas moved the gurship to Paunta. He built a large fort to protect the city and garrisoned an army to protect it.The growing power of the Sikh community alarmed Sivalik Hill Rajas who attempted to attack the city but the Guru's forces routed them at the Battle of Bhangani. He moved on to Anandpur and established the Khalsa, a collective army of baptized Sikhs, on 30 March 1699. The establishment of the Khalsa united the Sikh community against various Mughal-backed claimants to the guruship.^[8] In 1701, a combined army composed of the Sivalik Hill Rajas and the Mughal army under Wazir Khan attacked Anandpur and, following a retreat by the Khalsa, were defeated by the Khalsa at the Battle of Muktsar. In 1707, Guru Gobind Singh accepted an invitation by Bahadur Shah I, Aurangzeb's successor to meet in southern India. When he arrived in Nanded in 1708, he was attacked by two agents of Wazir Khan, the governor of Sirhind, One of whom died by the Sword of Guru Gobind Singh, while the other Assasin was murdered by a member of the Khalsa army. It was said that later the Guru had passed away due to the wounds inflicted during the fight.

Banda Singh Bahadur

Banda Singh Bahadur was a Hindu ascetic who converted to Sikhism after meeting Guru Gobind Singh at Nanded. A short time before his death, Guru Gobind Singh ordered him to reconquer Punjab and gave him a letter that commanded all Sikhs to join him. After two years of gaining supporters, Banda Singh Bahadur initiated an agrarian uprising by breaking up the large estates of Zamindar families and distributing the land to the poor Sikh, Hindu and Muslim peasants who farmed the land.^[9] Banda Singh Bahadur started his rebellion with the defeat of Mughal armies at Samana and Sadhaura and the rebellion culminated in the defeat of Sirhind. During the rebellion, Banda Singh Bahadur made a point of destroying the cities in which Mughals had been cruel to Sikhs, including executing Wazir Khan in revenge for the deaths of Guru Gobind Singh's sons after the Sikh victory at Sirhind.^[10] He ruled the territory between the Sutlej river and the Yamuna river established a capital in the Himalayas at Lohgarh and struck coinage in the names of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh.^[9] In 1716, his army was defeated by the Mughals after he attempted to defend his fort at Gurdas Nangal. He was captured along with 700 of his men and sent to Delhi, where he was tortured and executed after refusing to convert to Islam.

Hari Singh Nalwa

Hari Singh Nalwa was Commander-in-chief of the army of the Sikh Empire. He is known for his role in the conquests of Kasur, Sialkot, Multan, Kashmir, Attock and Peshawar. Nalwa led the Sikh Army in freeing Shah Shuja from Kashmir and secured the Koh-i-Nor diamond for Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He served as governor of Kashmir and Hazara and established a mint on behalf of the Sikh Empire to facilitate revenue collection. His frontier policy of holding the Khyber Pass was later used by the British Raj. Nalwa is responsible for expanding the frontier of Sikh Empire to the Indus River. At the time of his death, the western boundary of the Sikh Empire was khyber pass. His death at the Battle of Jamrud was a significant loss to the Sikh Empire.

Dal Khalsa

Sikh Misls

The period from 1716 to 1799 was a highly turbulent time politically and militarily in the Punjab. This was caused by the overall decline of the Mughal Empire.^[11] This left a power vacuum that was eventually filled by the Sikhs in the late 18th century, after fighting off local Mughal remnants and allied Rajput leaders, Afghans, and occasionally hostile Punjabi Muslims who sided with other Muslim forces. Sikh warlords eventually formed their own independent Sikh administrative regions (misls), which were united in large part by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Formation

The Sikhs had strong collaboration in defense against foreign incursions such as those initiated by Ahmed Shah Abdali and Nadir Shah. The city of Amritsar was attacked numerous times. Yet the time is remembered by Sikh historians as the "Heroic Century". This is mainly to describe the rise of Sikhs to political power against large odds. The circumstances were the hostile religious environment against Sikhs with a tiny Sikh population compared to other religious and political groups.

The formal start of the Sikh Empire began with the merger of these "Misls" by the time of coronation of Ranjit Singh in 1801, creating a unified political state. All the Misl leaders, who were affiliated with the army, were nobility with usually long and prestigious family histories in Sikhs' history.^[1][12] The main geographical footprint of the empire was the Punjab region and the empire extend into the Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north, to Sindh in the south, and Tibet in the east. The religious demography of the Sikh Empire was Muslim (80%), Sikh (10%), Hindu (10%).^[13] Gujranwala served as his capital from 1799. In 1802, he shifted his capital to Lahore and Amritsar.

End of Empire

After Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the empire was severely weakened by internal divisions and political mismanagement. This opportunity was used by the British Empire to launch the Anglo-Sikh Wars.

The Battle of Ferozeshah in 1845 marked many turning points, the British encountered the Punjabi Army, opening with a gun-duel in which the Sikhs "had the better of the British artillery". But as the British made advancements, Europeans in their army were especially targeted, as the Sikhs believed if the army "became demoralised, the backbone of the enemy's position would be broken".^[14] The fighting continued throughout the night earning the nickname "night of terrors". The British position "grew graver as the night wore on", and "suffered terrible casualties with every single member of the Governor General's staff either killed or wounded".^[15]

British General Sir James Hope Grant recorded: "Truly the night was one of gloom and forbidding and perhaps never in the annals of warfare has a British Army on such a large scale been nearer to a defeat which would have involved annihilation"^[15]

The Punjabi ended up recovering their camp, and the British were exhausted. Lord Hardinge sent his son to Mudki with a sword from his Napoleonic campaigns. A note in Robert Needham Cust's diary revealed that the "British generals decided to lay down arms: News came from the Governor General that our attack of yesterday had failed, that affairs were disparate, all state papers were to be destroyed, and that if the morning attack failed all would be over, this was kept secret by Mr.Currie and we were considering measures to make an unconditional surrender to save the wounded...".^[15]

However, a series of events of the Sikhs being betrayed by some prominent leaders in the army led to its downfall. Maharaja Gulab Singh and Dhian Singh, were Hindu Dogras from Jammu, and top Generals of the army. Tej Singh and Lal Singh were secretly allied to the British. They supplied important war plans of the Army, and provided the British with updated vital intelligence on the Army dealings, which ended up changing the scope of the war and benefiting the British positions.^[2][16]

The Sikh Empire was finally dissolved after a series of wars with the British at the end of the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849 into separate princely states and the British province of Punjab, which were granted statehood. Eventually, a Lieutenant Governorship was formed in Lahore as a direct representative of the British Crown.

Geography

The Punjab region was a region straddling India and Afghanistan. The following modern day political divisions made up the historical Sikh Empire:

• Punjab region till Multan in south
  • Punjab, India
  • Punjab, Pakistan
  • Haryana, India.
  • Himachal Pradesh, India

• Kashmir, conquered in 1818, India/Pakistan/China^[17][18]
  • Jammu, India
  • Gilgit, Gilgit-Baltistan (Occupied from 1842–1846)^[19]
• Khyber Pass, Afghanistan/Pakistan^[20]
  • Peshawar, Pakistan^[21] (taken in 1818, retaken in 1834)
  • North-West Frontier Province and FATA, Pakistan (documented from Hazara (taken in 1818, again in 1836) to Bannu)^[22]
• Parts of Western Tibet (1841), China^[23]

Jamrud, Khyber Agency District was the westernmost limit of the Sikh Empire. The westward expansion was stopped in the Battle of Jamrud, in which the Afghans managed to kill prominent Sikh general Hari Singh Nalwa in an offensive, though the Sikhs successfully held their position at their Jamrud fort.

Timeline

• 1710 - 1716, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur defeated the Mughals and declared the Khalsa rule.
• 1716 - 1738, turbulence, no real ruler, but Mughals did get back the control for 2 decades but Sikhs engage in guerilla
• 1733 - 1735, The Khalsa accepts only to reject the confederal status given by Mughals.
• 1762 - 1767, Invasion of Ahmed Shah Abdali,
• 1763 - 1774, Charat Singh Sukerchakia, Misldar of Sukerchakia misl established himself in Gujranwala.
• 1764 - 1783, Baba Baghel Singh, Misldar of Karor Singhia Misl, conquered the Delhi and sourroundings and imposed taxes on Mughals
• 1773, Ahmed Shah Abdali dies and his son Timur Shah launches several invasions of Punjab.
• 1774 - 1790, Maha Singh becomes Misldar of the Sukerchakia misl.
• 1790 - 1801, Ranjit Singh becomes Misldar of the Sukerchakia misl.
• 1801 April 12, Coronation of Ranjit Singh as Maharaja.
• 1801 - 27 June 1839, Reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, whose coronation took place in 1801.
• 27 June 1839 – 5 November 1840, Reign of Maharaja Kharak Singh
• 5 November 1840 – 18 January 1841, Chand Kaur was briefly Regent
• 18 January 1841 – 15 September 1843, Reign of Maharaja Sher Singh
• May 1841 - August 1842, Sino-Sikh war
• 15 September 1843 – 31 March 1849, Reign of Maharaja Duleep Singh

See also

• Sikh
• Sikhism
• Mughal Empire
• Aurangzeb
• Misl
• Punjab Army
• Ranjit Singh
• History of Punjab
• Punjab Chiefs‎
• Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Generals

References

Bibliography

• Heath, Ian (2005), The Sikh Army 1799-1849, Osprey Publishing (UK), ISBN 1-84176-777-8 
• Kalsi, Sewa Singh (2005), Sikhism (Religions of the World), Chelsea House Publications, ISBN 978-0791080986 
• Markovits, Claude (2004), A history of modern India, 1480-1950, London: Anthem Press, ISBN 978-1843311522 
• Jestice, Phyllis G. (2004), Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia, Volume 3, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-1576073551, http://books.google.com/books?id=H5cQH17-HnMC&pg=PA345&dq=guru+har+gobind+jahangir&cd=2#v=onepage&q&f=false 
• Johar, Surinder Singh (1975), Guru Tegh Bahadur, University of Wisconsin--Madison Center for South Asian Studies, ISBN 8170170303, http://books.google.com/books?id=dFomYOVXsAkC&pg=PA192&dq=tegh+bahadur+martyrdom&hl=en&ei=VdTES8i6DpCKNLDWxL8O&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=2&ved=0CDoQ6wEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false 
• Singh, Pritam (2008), Federalism, Nationalism and Development: India and the Punjab Economy, Routledge, pp. 25–26, ISBN 978-0415456661, http://books.google.com/books?id=mQLDcjhNoJwC&pg=PA26&dq=dal+khalsa+banda+bahadur&hl=en&ei=55PGS9jfJ4XUM8XDuewI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false 
• Nesbitt, Eleanor (2005), Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, USA, p. 61, ISBN 978-0192806017 

Notes

• Volume 2: Evolution of Sikh Confederacies (1708–1769), By Hari Ram Gupta. (Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. Date:1999, ISBN 81-215-0540-2, Pages: 383 pages, illustrated).
• The Sikh Army (1799–1849) (Men-at-arms), By Ian Heath. (Date:2005, ISBN 1-84176-777-8).
• The Heritage of the Sikhs By Harbans Singh. (Date:1994, ISBN 81-7304-064-8).
• Sikh Domination of the Mughal Empire. (Date:2000, second edition. ISBN 81-215-0213-6).
• The Sikh Commonwealth or Rise and Fall of Sikh Misls. (Date:2001, revised edition. ISBN 81-215-0165-2).
• Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Lord of the Five Rivers, By Jean-Marie Lafont. (Oxford University Press. Date:2002, ISBN 0-19-566111-7).
• History of Panjab, Dr L. M. Joshi, Dr Fauja Singh.

External links

• Article on Coins of the Sikh Empire
• Sikh Confederacy
• Confederacy of Punjab
• Sikh Kingdom of Ranjit Singh
• Battle of Jamrud