Baba Gurbaksh Singh of Shahidi Misl
The Leonidas of Khalsa Warriors, his 30 warriors faced thousands of invading Afghans
We have oftentimes heard of the bravery of 300 Spartans and their King, Leonidas who confronted the mighty Persian army and bravely fought against thousands of soldiers and ultimately all of his warriors achieved martyrdom. Sikh history is full of such narratives as they had to constantly face oppressive invaders from the west, who were determined to annihilate the recalcitrant Sikhs.
Ahmed Shah Abdali was the king of Afghanistan and he had invaded India and looted her of its wealth nine times. He was one of the intruders who was responsible for the collapse of the mighty Mughal Empire. India was in a state of chaos and turmoil during the mid-Eighteenth century when plunderers from the west used to regularly pillage the country and divest it of its wealth. Innocent men, women, and children from all religious backgrounds used to be mercilessly slaughtered and chaos prevailed in northern India. The main opposition offered to these invaders was by Sikhs, a nascent religion, which believed in equality of all human beings, preached love, respect, dignity and instilled in its followers the spirit to fight oppression and injustice.
Sikhs had been standing up to intolerance from early on, starting in fact with the teachings of its founder, Guru Nanak, till the last master, Guru Gobind Singh, who established the Khalsa fraternity and inculcated in the community the values of courage, justice and indomitable spirit. Sikhs, although numerically insignificant in Punjab had developed and perfected a unique style of martial arts, equestrian skills, and were excellent marksmen with muskets. They perfected guerrilla warfare and could challenge and cause contention to a large army. They would attack the rear-end of assaulting forces with their swift gallops, fire at the enemy, dart away and when the enemy would chase them, the Sikhs would swiftly turn and attack them head on. The Afghans were unable to defeat the Sikhs due to their unique fighting skills and battle tactics and were frustrated with their harassment and were constantly looking for opportunities to eradicate them.
Ahmed Shah Abdai tried on numerous occasions to wipe out the Sikhs from Punjab and at times was successful; however, the Sikhs would always return from the ashes, like the Phoenix. In 1762, he made a surprise attack on Sikhs and exterminated close to 20,000 of them, including the elderly, women and children. This event is called the Whadda Ghalughara or the Great Holocaust. He subsequently destroyed the Sikhs sacred shrine, the Harminder Sahib, also called Golden Temple by raising it to the ground and by filling the sacred sarowar (pool) with waste. Abdali, was however unable to crush the intrepid and indomitable spirit of the Sikhs, who were able to defeat the invaders and rebuild the sacred site after Abdali left Punjab.
In 1764, Ahmed Shah Abdali invaded India again to extirpate the rising power of Sikhs, who had occupied most of Punjab. The main Sikh contingent was assisting Raja Jawahar Singh and away from Punjab, fighting alongside his army against the Mughals. Abdali along with his ally, a Baluch Chief Nasir Khan decided to invade Punjab and clear it of the Sikh menace once and all He was able to muster up to 30,000 fighting men and ravaged Punjab. His goal was to again destroy Harminder Sahib as he wanted to crush the spirit of the Sikhs because this was their most revered shrine. An eyewitness account of the resistance offered by Sikhs at the holy place was recorded by Qazi Noor Mohamman who accompanied Abdali and made an entry of 1st December 1764 in his war journal ‘Jangnama’, describing the attack on Harminder Sahib and the daring resistance offered by 30 Sikhs led by Baba Gurbaksh Singh.
On hearing of an impending attack on Chak Nanak (Amritsar), the remaining Sikhs and other inhabitants of the city had fled and left the Gurdwara unguarded since most of the fighting forces were away from Punjab. Baba Gurbaksh Singh of Shahidi Misl was a native of Leheel, a village near Khemkaran, Amritsar. He was a devout, pious Sikh and a fearless warrior who decided to defend the holiest place along with 30 of his associates. The names of three other are: Man Singh, Basant Singh and Nihal Singh. Unfortunately the names of the remaining 26 brave warriors is unknown.
These 30 warriors, attired themselves in the dress of a bridegroom with a gana (customary thread tied around the waist), who were going to meet their bride, the ultimate death. They had made a resolution to shield the sacred place and give their lives in its defence, regardless of the odds and would not turn their backs against the foe. They entered the precincts of the sanctum sanctorum and sought the blessings of the eternal Guru. They assembled and occupied their positions near the Akal Thakat and waited for the enemy to enter the holy ground. On the morning hours of 1st December 1764, a Saturday morning, Abdali reached the vicinity of Harminder Sahib with his grand army and was surprised to see a few dozen Sikhs waiting for them, they were defiant, roaring like lions, showing no fear on their faces. The brave men fought resolutely against the unending stream of Afghan soldiers. They fought till the last man and shed their final drop of blood in consonance with the martial tradition of great Khalsa. The brave Sikhs ultimately died and none of them fled from the carnage. Each one of them held their swords tied around their hands and resisted the foe till their final breath. It was a great spectacle to see these 30 brave souls fight against thousands of well-armed and trained invaders.
Having defeated these unwavering warriors, Abdali desecrated the Harminder Sahib, destroyed the revered building and left the bodies of the Sikhs to be consumed by wild animals. After the enemy left, some of the local inhabitants who had remained at Amritsar, came over to see the destroyed Gurdwara and collected the bodies of the fallen martyrs. They were given a dignified cremation at a pyre behind the Akal Thakat. In commemoration of their bravery, ‘Bunga Shahidan’ stands majestically behind the Akal Thakat.
Picture from Google
