Lehal Library

Persecution and Reorganization 121 Interlude Between the Invasions, 1739-41 Nadir Shah's five months' stay in India utterly disrupted the administration of the Punjab. Zakarya Khan could do little more than retain his post by dancing attendance on the Persians. The only people who refused to have any truck with the foreigner were the Sikhs. Their conduct during the oc01pation, particularly in liberating Indian prisoners, changed their reputation from that of highwaymen to fighters for freedom and did much to restore their prestige among the common people. With the confidence that the peasantry was behind them, the Khalsa returned to the plains, built themselves a mud fort at Dallewal on the banks of the Ravi, and resumed their pilgrimage to Amritsar. According to a contemporary Muslim writer: 'Sikh horsemen were seen riding at full gallop towards their favourite shrine of devotion. They were often slain in the attempt and sometimes taken prisoner; but they used on such occasions to seek instead of avoiding, the crown of martyrdom .... No instance was known of a Sikh taken on his way to Amritsar consenting to abjure his faith.' 12 Zakarya Khan, who had submitted to the foreigner, showed great alacrity in taking the offensive against the Sikhs. He bad the fortress at Dallewal blown up and ordered village officials to round up Sikhs and hand them over for execution. He made head-hunting a profitable business by offering a graded scale of rewards: a blanket for cutting off a Sikh's hair, ten rupees for information of the whereabouts of a Sikh, fifty rupees for a Sikh scalp. Plunder of Sikh homes was made lawful; giving shelter to Sikhs or withholding information of their movements was made a capital offence. Zakarya's police scoured the countryside and brought back hundreds of Sikhs in chains. They were publicly beheaded at the nakhiis, the horse-market of Lahore, since then renamed Sahidgaaj (place of martyrdom), in memory of the said, 'By God! They live on grass and claim kingship!' Tawiiri!h-i-Punjiib, 71.) 12 John Malcolm, Sit.etch of the Sikhs, p. 88, quoting a contemporary Muslim writer.