Jan-March 2006 - Institute of Sikh Studies

74ABSTRACTS OF SIKH STUDIES : JAN-MARCH 2006 / 537-38 NSWinning Formula of the PUNJ/Consultation used by the Misls.Today the Khalsa Panth faces a similar situation. We are at thelosing end from outside and from within. We need to focus on ourlong-term “needs” and evolve it is very. The Panth is spread out allover the World. Each Diaspora Sikh community has its own uniqueset of restraints of environment/cultural influences/politicalenvironment/economic forces, etc, etc., that has to be dealt with.one Common SOLUTION for all won’t work. Yet we all have certaincore values that we all share with all Sikhs all over the world. Wehave to work on the premise that we can agree to disagree on certainpoints. This is the most compelling reason for the establishment of anInternational Confederation of Sikhism – an Apex Body that hasworldwide representation – so that decisions reached at the Head canbe suitably disseminated at ground zero.Lets have a look at the MISL SYSTEM and how it was so successfulin the late 17 th century and how its validity can be used today for ourbenefit.KHALSA CONFEDERATION – AKA THE MISL SYSTEMThe Misl System can be rightly called the Golden Age of Sikhism(if we include the time up to the Khalsa Raaj of Maharaja RanjitSingh as that was also a part of the same ideology).WHY WAS THIS KHALSA CONFEDERATION SO SUCCESSFUL ?The answer lies in the four aspects of Khalsa Brotherhood’sideology that were strictly followed. Equality of all, Justice for all,Khalsa above all and Gurmatta Principle of republican Democracy.1. Equality of all Khalsa. In the Misls, although there was aSardar or leader – that was strictly for command structure purposes –in effect all were equal. From the foot soldier to the sardar – no onewas more equal than the other. As an example, we can see that whenPunjab Governor of the Mughal Govt decided to make peace withthe Sikhs and offer them a Jagir and title of Nawab to go with it, theKhalsa Forces had a meeting and the post was offered to the StableHand Kapur Singh, who then became Nawab Kapur Singh. In anordinary classification, the title and jagir would have gone to a sardarof one of the Misls. This was one Underlying Principle of faith Guru