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18/ Bhai Vir Singh
Duleep Singh made to his countrymen a public appeal in
more specific terms from Russia and asked for help in his
campaign against the British. Thus was this "Seditious
Proclamation" summarized in the London Times for August 5,
1889:
An appeal, by the Maharaja Duleep Singh of an
extraordinarycharacter, addressedto thenatives ofIndia,
is published in the Press. In prevision of the future and as
.his royal decree he demands a monthly subscription of
one pice from each of the 250,000,000 but from each in
the Punjab one anna. The public debt of India is [in this
document] repudiated: the payment oftaxes is forbidden,
cow-killing is prohibited, prisoners are to be released,
and all persons who have suffered tyranny and injustice,
caused bythe British Government, are to be reinstated in
their rights. He purposes entering India with a European
army with the material support of Russia.
These developments created a commotion in the Punjab.
The air became thick with hearsay. The sympathizers of the
Maharaja circulated prophecies about his return and eventual
victory. Notices to this effect were publishedin a book entitled
Khurshid-i-Khalsa IUrdu! byBawaNihal Singh. 1 Visions ofthe
restoration of their power began to stir the minds of certain
sections of the Sikhs. There were desertions from some of the
Sikh regiments. The Government took severe measures to
repress the agitation. Thakur Singh Sandhanwalia, described
in ottical papers as "friend and inciter of Duleep Singh," had to
flee India to escape arrest and live the rest of his days in the
French territory of Pondichery.
About the time the Singh Sabha arose, the Namdhari, or
Kuka, movementwhichhadprecededit cameto a bloodyclimax.
The Kuka reform had insisted on the abolition of caste and
infanticide and the simplification of Sikh religious and social
1. Political Suggestions, Information and other Services ofSardar Sir Attar
Singh, published by the family for private circulation.
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