Lehal Library

Preface ix The story of the Sikhs is the story of the rise, fulfilment, and collapse of Punjabi nationalism. It begins in the Jatter part of the 15th century with Guru Nanak initiating a religious movement emphasizing what was common between Hinduism and Islam and preaching the unity of these two faiths practised in the Punjab. By the beginning of the 17th century, the movement crystallized in the formation of a third religious community consisting of the disciples or sik.hii.s of Nanak and the succeeding teachers or gurus. Its mysticism found expression in the anthology of their sacred writings, the Adi Granth, comprised of the writings of the Sikh gurus as well as of Hindu and Muslim saints. The next hundred years saw the growth of a political movement alongside the religious, atlrninating in the call to arms by the last guru, Gobind Singh. Within a few years after the death of Gobind Singh, the peasants made the first attempt to liberate the Punjab from Mughal rule. Under the leadership of Banda they defied the authority of Mughal governors and kept the imperial armies at bay for a full seven years. Although Banda and his followers were ruthlessly slaughtered, the spark of rebellion that they had lighted smouldered beneath the ashes and burst into flame again and again in different pans of the province. The period which followed witnessed a renewal of invasions of northern India by Afghan hordes led by Ahmed Shah Abdali, which gave a further impetus to the growth of Punjabi nationalism. Peasants grouped themselves in bands ( misls), harassed and ultimately expelled the invaders. The movement achieved its consummation with the liberation of Lahore and the setting up of the first independent Kingdom of the Punjab under Ranjit Singh in AD 1799-by a curious coincidence exactly one hundred years after Guru Go bind Singh's call to arms (1699),just a little under two hundred years after the compilation of the Adi Granth (1604). and three hundred years after the proclamation of his mission by Guru Nanak (1499). Under Ranjit Singh, the Punjabis were able not only to tum the tide of invasion back into the homelands of the traditional conquerors of northern India, the Pathans and the Afghans, but also to make their power felt beyond the frontiers---northwards