The Rise of the Sikh Power
The rise of the Sikh power was examples of religious identity translating into political power in the late Mughal period. From its origins in the teachings of Guru Nanak in the late fifteenth century, the Sikh tradition developed over the following centuries into a major religious community in the Punjab, and by the early eighteenth century, the militarisation of the community under Guru Gobind Singh and his successors had produced a major political force. The consolidation of the Sikh state under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the early nineteenth century produced one of the most powerful indigenous states in India on the eve of the British conquest, and the eventual British annexation of the Punjab after the Anglo-Sikh Wars of the 1840s was the last major act in the consolidation of British rule in India.
Guru Nanak and the Foundation of Sikhism
The Sikh tradition had its origins in the teachings of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), who preached a form of devotional religion that synthesised elements of the Hindu bhakti tradition with elements of the Sufi mystical tradition of Islam. Guru Nanak’s teachings, recorded in the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of the Sikh faith, emphasised the oneness of God, the equality of all human beings, the importance of honest labour, and the rejection of the caste distinctions and ritual formalism of orthodox Hinduism. The Sikh tradition was thus from its origins a synthesis of Hindu and Muslim elements, and it offered a religious message that had a particular appeal in the religiously plural Punjab.
Guru Nanak’s successors, the nine Gurus who followed him, developed the Sikh community into a major religious presence in the Punjab. Guru Angad (1504–1552) standardised the Gurmukhi script, the writing system used for the Punjabi language and the Sikh scripture. Guru Amar Das (1479–1574) established the institutional basis of the Sikh community, including the system of langar, the communal kitchen that emphasised the equality of all who partook of the food. Guru Ram Das (1534–1581) founded the city of Amritsar, which became the principal centre of the Sikh community. Guru Arjan (1563–1606) compiled the Adi Granth, the principal Sikh scripture, and built the Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple, at Amritsar.
The Mughal-Sikh Conflict
The relationship between the Sikh Gurus and the Mughal authorities was complex and changed substantially over the course of the seventeenth century. The early Gurus had generally maintained good relations with the Mughal authorities, and the Sikh community was able to grow substantially in the early seventeenth century. The relationship deteriorated under the later Mughal emperors, particularly Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, as the Sikh community grew in size and influence and as the Mughal state’s religious policies became more rigorous.
The martyrdom of Guru Arjan in 1606 was an early indication of the deterioration. Guru Arjan was arrested by the orders of Emperor Jahangir and was tortured to death, allegedly for his refusal to convert to Islam and for his support of the rebellious prince Khusrau. The martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1675, the ninth Guru, by the orders of Aurangzeb was a more serious event. Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed, according to Sikh tradition, for refusing to convert to Islam and for his defence of the religious freedom of the Hindu community, and his martyrdom is commemorated in the Sikh tradition as a major event in the history of the faith. The execution contributed to a substantial deterioration in the Mughal-Sikh relationship and set the stage for the militarisation of the Sikh community under Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and last of the personal Gurus.
The religious policies of the late Mughal empire were a major factor in the deterioration of the Mughal-Sikh relationship, and the conflict between the Sikhs and the Mughals is incomprehensible without reference to the broader pattern of religious conflict that characterised Aurangzeb’s reign. The execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the destruction of important Hindu temples, and the reimposition of the jizya all contributed to the sense of grievance that animated the Sikh resistance, and the militarisation of the Sikh community under Guru Gobind Singh was a direct response to the persecution of the community under the later Mughal emperors.
Guru Gobind Singh and the Khalsa
The militarisation of the Sikh community was the work of Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), the tenth and last of the personal Gurus. Guru Gobind Singh spent much of his life in armed conflict with the Mughal authorities, the Hill Rajputs, and various local adversaries, and he transformed the Sikh community into a militant political force. The most significant event of Guru Gobind Singh’s career was the founding of the Khalsa in 1699, an event that marked the formal transformation of the Sikh community into a martial order.
The founding of the Khalsa was a deliberate act of religious and political innovation. On the day of Baisakhi in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh gathered the Sikh community at Anandpur and called for five volunteers who were willing to give their lives for the faith. The five, who became the Panj Pyare, the “Five Beloved,” were the first members of the Khalsa, and they were given the distinctive insignia of the Sikh martial tradition: the uncut hair (kesh), the wooden comb (kangha), the steel bracelet (kara), the ceremonial dagger (kirpan), and the soldier’s shorts (kachera). The Khalsa was required to defend the Sikh community and the Sikh faith against persecution, and the founding of the Khalsa marked the beginning of a new phase in the history of the Sikh tradition.
Guru Gobind Singh fought a series of campaigns against the Mughal authorities and the Hill Rajputs in the closing years of the seventeenth century. The Battle of Bhangani in 1688, the Battle of Nadaun in 1691, and the Battle of Anandpur in 1704 were the major engagements of these campaigns. Guru Gobind Singh was forced to abandon Anandpur in 1704 under the terms of a safe-conduct agreement that was subsequently violated by the Mughal authorities, and the two younger sons of the Guru, Sahibzada Ajit Singh and Sahibzada Jujhar Singh, were killed in the fighting that followed. The Guru’s two younger sons are commemorated in the Sikh tradition as martyrs, and their death is regarded as a major event in the history of the faith.
The death of Guru Gobind Singh in 1708 at Nanded in the Deccan, allegedly assassinated by a Mughal agent, marked the end of the personal Guruship. Guru Gobind Singh declared that after his death, the Guru would be the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture, and the corporate community of the Khalsa. The transformation of the Sikh community from a personal-leadership tradition to a scriptural and communal tradition was a major development in the history of the faith, and it allowed the Sikh community to survive the persecution of the early eighteenth century.
Banda Bahadur and the Early Eighteenth-Century Sikh Revolts
The death of Guru Gobind Singh was followed by a brief but spectacular phase of Sikh militancy under Banda Bahadur (1670–1716). Banda Bahadur, a former ascetic who had been converted to the Sikh faith by Guru Gobind Singh, led a series of revolts against the Mughal authorities in the eastern Punjab and the upper Doab between 1709 and 1716. Banda Bahadur’s forces captured Sirhind, the city in which the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh had been killed, and they established a substantial territorial base in the Sikh heartland.
The Mughal response to Banda Bahadur’s revolt was substantial. The emperor Bahadur Shah I sent a large force under the command of Wazir Khan, the faujdar of Sirhind, to suppress the revolt, and Banda Bahadur was eventually defeated and captured in 1716. Banda Bahadur was executed in Delhi, and his execution marked the end of the major Sikh revolts of the early eighteenth century. The execution, however, did not suppress the Sikh community, and the surviving members of the community retreated to the hills and forests of the upper Punjab, where they gradually rebuilt their strength.
The Sikh Misls
The eighteenth century saw the gradual consolidation of Sikh territorial power in the Punjab through a system of misls, or Sikh confederacies. The misls were military and political organisations that combined the religious solidarity of the Khalsa with the military organisation of the Jat and Gujar peasantry of the Punjab. The misls controlled substantial territories in the Punjab, and they competed with each other for revenue and prestige, while maintaining a common religious and political identity.
The most important misls included the Sukerchakia, the Ahluwalia, the Bhangi, the Kanhaiya, the Nakkai, the Ramgarhia, the Phulkian, and the Patiala. The misls were led by misldars, or commanders, who were elected by the community and who combined military, political, and religious authority. The misls were highly mobile military forces, and they were able to project military power across a wide area of the Punjab. The misls were also substantially autonomous of the Mughal authorities, and the gradual decline of Mughal authority in the Punjab created a power vacuum that the misls were able to fill.
The Afghan invasions of the mid-eighteenth century, particularly the invasions of Ahmad Shah Abdali, contributed to the consolidation of the Sikh misls. The repeated Afghan incursions, combined with the decline of Mughal authority, created a power vacuum that the Sikhs were eventually able to fill. The Sikhs, in alliance with various other Indian powers, fought a series of engagements with the Afghan forces, and the battle of 1764 at Harnaulgarh and the subsequent engagements of the 1760s and 1770s were important events in the consolidation of Sikh territorial power.
Ranjit Singh and the Consolidation of the Sikh Empire
The consolidation of the Sikh state under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the early nineteenth century represented the culmination of the long process of Sikh political development. Ranjit Singh emerged in the early 1800s as the most powerful of the Sikh leaders, captured Lahore in 1799, and was crowned Maharaja of the Punjab in 1801. Over the next three decades, he built a Sikh state that controlled the Punjab, parts of the North-West Frontier, and Kashmir, with a modernised army trained by European officers and equipped with modern artillery.
Ranjit Singh’s state was a substantial political achievement. He united the various misls under his authority, and he built a centralised administrative system that combined the military and political traditions of the Sikh community with the fiscal and administrative practices of the Mughal empire. The army that he built, the Khalsa army, was one of the most formidable military forces in India, and it was trained by European officers, including some former officers of the Napoleonic Wars. The state also developed a substantial administrative and fiscal system, and the city of Lahore, the capital, became a major centre of culture and learning.
Ranjit Singh’s state was also notable for its religious tolerance. The Sikh state, although it was a Khalsa state, allowed substantial religious freedom to its Muslim and Hindu subjects, and the court of Lahore was a centre of culture and learning for the Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh communities. The state’s religious policy was in marked contrast to the religious policies of the late Mughal empire, and it contributed to the substantial loyalty of the state’s Muslim and Hindu subjects.
The Anglo-Sikh Wars and the Dissolution of the Sikh State
The death of Ranjit Singh in 1839 was followed by a period of political instability in the Sikh state, in which the Khalsa army, the aristocracy, and the British East India Company competed for influence. The British, concerned about the growing power of the Khalsa army, decided on a policy of confrontation, and the First Anglo-Sikh War broke out in 1845. The war was fought on a substantial scale, with major engagements at Mudki, Ferozeshah, Aliwal, and Sobraon, but the British eventually prevailed. The Treaty of Lahore (1846) imposed substantial territorial and financial penalties on the Sikh state, and the subsequent Treaty of Bhairowal (1846) established a Council of Regency that effectively placed the state under British protection.
The Second Anglo-Sikh War broke out in 1848, triggered by the revolt of the governor of Multan, Mulraj Chopra, and the subsequent murder of two British officers. The war was fought on a substantial scale, with major engagements at Ramnagar, Chillianwala, and Gujrat, and the British eventually prevailed. The Treaty of Lahore (1849) annexed the Punjab to the British East India Company’s dominions, and the last of the Sikh sovereigns, Duleep Singh, was pensioned off and eventually converted to Christianity. The dissolution of the Khalsa army and the annexation of the Punjab were major events in the consolidation of British rule in India.
The Legacy of the Sikh State
The Sikh state, despite its eventual defeat by the British, was political formations of the late Mughal period, and its legacy is substantial. The state’s military traditions, with their emphasis on disciplined infantry, modern artillery, and European-style training, were an important precedent for the later Indian army. The state’s religious traditions, with their emphasis on the equality of all human beings, the rejection of caste distinctions, and the commitment to the defence of the religious freedom of all communities, were a major contribution to the development of Indian religious culture. The state’s cultural traditions, including the distinctive Sikh architecture, music, and literature, continue to flourish in the modern Indian state.
The Sikh state is also important as a case study in the political dynamics of the late Mughal period. The rise of the Sikh power, from the teachings of Guru Nanak in the late fifteenth century to the consolidation of the Sikh Empire under Ranjit Singh in the early nineteenth, illustrates the broader dynamics of the decline of the Mughal empire and the rise of regional successor states. The Sikh-Mughal conflict, the rise of the Marathas, the British East India Company’s expansion, and the eventual rebellion of 1857 are all part of a single connected history in which the political fragmentation of the late Mughal period created the conditions for new political formations and the eventual British conquest of India. For the broader context, the Mughal decline overview, the reign of Aurangzeb, the history of the later Mughals, and the Mughal military overview offer comprehensive treatments of the empire’s later centuries.
Sources
- J.S. Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab (NCHI II.3, 1990), chs. 1–6.