Harish Dhillon has done a good job in depicting the life of Banda Bahadur, who was an ascetic to begin with, then turned into an apt administrator and is now being celebrated as a great general, says Sanjoy Bagchi

The year 1707 was a turning point in the history of India. The last of the great Mughals, Aurangzeb, died campaigning for the conquest of the peninsular India. The Mughal obsession with the south had cost the empire dear. It had frittered away its resources; the treasury had been emptied; the crown lands had been gifted away to mansabdars for raising more men for the depleting army. The signs of the decline and disintegration were becoming more and more apparent.

The era also saw Punjab in the heartland of the Empire seething with discontent. Akbar and his successors had moulded a multi-religious society which began to disintegrate under the diabolic Islamic onslaught of Aurangzeb. Muslims began a merciless campaign against what they called infidels and their property. It was in this background that the last Guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, had created the Khalsa to fight back.

The Guru baptised five of his leading acolytes to represent the Khalsa, the Panth and the Guru himself. They were designated as Panj Pyarey, the top counsellors who were to guide the fight against the Mughals. At the same time he selected Banda Singh Bahadur as the leader and invested him with five arrows from his own quiver. He also gave him a nagada (drum) to call the faithfuls to join in the sacred mission, and a pennant as a symbol of his authority and as a point for rallying around in battles.

Soon after Banda Bahadur received the news of the Guru’s death. He embarked on a “deliberate confidence building campaign amongst all the poor and oppressed people, irrespective of their caste or religion. This was essential as years of living under tyranny had broken and crushed the spirit of the people”.

Banda Bahadur’s first encounter was with an unexpected adversary. Near Bangar in Hissar, the countryside was desolate and devastated by the depredations of a band of robbers. He laid an ambush in a deserted village and killed the entire gang when it sauntered in. After the defeat of the main gang, he systematically eliminated many other bands of robbers. This cleansing of the area earned him many more followers. It emboldened him to capture the government treasuries in Bhiwani and Sonepat as well as a revenue train from Kaithal. With this accumulation of wealth, he was now able to strengthen his force.

Banda Bahadur laid an intensive network of intelligence. His intention was to avoid pitched battles; he was going to rely on elements of surprise and speed; he wanted to strike at the weakest point of the enemy inflicting a crushing damage and then disappear before the enemy’s reinforcements could arrive.

Within two years of Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, Sikhs in Punjab had become a force to be reckoned with. It began with the battle of Samana, which was particularly important for Sikhs since its fauzdar had personally supervised the brutal execution of the ninth Guru. The city could not resist the onslaught. It fell and its inhabitants were killed and its riches were gathered for the war chest of Sikhs.

A series of quick victories followed. Ghuram, Thaskar, Thanesar, Shahbad and Mustafabad were captured in quick succession. The objective was the fortified town of Sirhind which was well defended. A weak spot in its wall was detected and the Sikhs poured into the citadel. After the capture of Sirhind, Banda Bahadur moved to subjugate Ghudani, Malerkotla and Raikot in quick succession. Then there was a lull in military activities and some actions were conducted mostly in the nature of mopping-up operations. Banda Bahadur took this opportunity to consolidate his hold on the conquered territories between the Jhelum and the Jamuna.

Apart from abolishing the jizya system of discriminatory taxation, Banda Bahadur took three important steps to herald the birth of a new Sikh state. He established a mint at lohgarh and first of the Sikh coinage bearing Guru Nanak’s inscription was issued. The second was to adopt an official seal that depicted the two most powerful sources of Sikh power: The degh or the cauldron and the tegh or the sword. The cauldron was used for cooking food in the gurdwaras which was eaten by everyone irrespective of caste or creed. It was the symbol of charity and equality. The sword symbolised the might of Khalsa that protected the oppressed from tyranny. The third measure was the adoption of a calendar of the Sikh era beginning with the victory over Sirhind.

At long last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah, who succeeded Aurangzeb, moved north. On the way he stopped to deal with the recalcitrant chiefs of Rajputana. Then he reached the Punjab with the object of eliminating Banda Bahadur. He laid siege of lohgarh. In view of the overwhelming strength of the Mughal army, the Sikh leaders decided to escape from lohgarh and carry on the struggle from elsewhere. The Sikhs had decided to abandon the plains and return to the comparative safety of the eastern hills.

In the meantime, Bahadur Shah died and his death was followed by the usual internecine conflicts until a powerful successor emerged. Banda Bahadur took advantage of the confusion in the Mughal court to recapture Sadhaura and lohgarh. But the new Emperor Farukhsiyar resumed the fight against Sikhs. Banda Bahadur’s forces were encircled in the Batala fort. The siege was so tight that those remaining in the fort were deprived of all food and were forced to surrender. Banda and his young son were tortured and literally butchered in 1716.

Author Harish Dhillon has done a good job in depicting the life of Banda Bahadur, who began his life as an ascetic, then turned himself into an able administrator and is now being celebrated as a great warrior. The book deserves to be widely read.

The reviewer is a Fellow of Royal Asiatic Society, london