Jan-March 2006 - Institute of Sikh Studies

FROM CROWN TO THE CROSS-ROADS – SIKH HISTORY GOES FULL CIRCLE67taken in tabiah of Guru Granth ji and the Punj Piaras. Such a decisiontaken after full consultation and absolute freedom of speech by all,was then accepted in toto by all. In essence, once a decision wasarrived at, no one questioned it or disobeyed it.3. The Entire Body of the Khalsa behaved as One – no doubtthere were Sardars and Foot Soldiers, but when it came down to basics,there was absolute freedom among all Sikhs. The Sardars sat downand ate with the common Sikhs, there was upward and downwardcommunication and mobility, each was a servant of the whole. If aSardar committed something against the Moral Code, he could be andwould be punished. Even the Maharaja was tied to a tree and lashedtwenty times in public for a moral offence. In essence, no one wasabove the law of the Khalsa.This is a very brief account of how we arrived at the Crossroadsand then went on to claim the Crown.The Sikhs are one of the most prosperous and politicallyimportantreligious minorities in India. Today, the Diaspora Sikhs area vibrant part of many Foreign countries such as Canada, UK, USA,Australia, New Zealand, apart from the long-established migrantcolonies in Malaysia, Singapore Indonesia and Thailand. The religionitself is of comparatively recent origin – it dates from the time ofBabur – but the history of its community, called Panth , or “Path,” bythe faithful, is a deeply rooted aspect of Sikh life. Since its inception,the Sikh community has been one of the major factors in Indian history,and in the Two World Wars proved its valour and valuable contributionas well on a Global scale.The Mughals correctly “understood” that Sikhism was a separatistmovement, a “Danger” to their Hegemony and Empire, and tried theirbest to kill it in its infancy by martyring Guru Arjun Ji and waging waragainst Guru Hargobind Ji, Guru Gobind Singh ji, but they failed andby the eighteenth century, the Sikhs had established a separate kingdomwith its capital in Lahore. The British arrived in India as the BritishEast India Company and gradually changed from traders to conquerors.They also realized the “ biggest obstacle to their Empire” lay in theform of the Sikh kingdom of Lahore. By 1850, they had annexed thewhole of India barring only the Punjab Khalsa Kingdom of MaharajaRanjit Singh. As long as the Maharaja was alive, the British kept their