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  1. Nanakianism, provocatively, abnegates the political state’s infringement of personalized liberty on the fallacious ploy that the state is supreme in toto. (1) If perceived from the latter purview, it is no wonder then that the history of the Sikhs consists of unflinching resolve even in the face of abject political tyranny. The bowdlerized variation of Sikhi, promulgated by political institutes and atrophied sampradas ,depicts the Sikh as a bovine. Herded in the morning by pseudo-Saints; butchered in the afternoon by opponents of an uncaring state- a caricature fast becoming reality. Historically, the Sikhs were never hewers of wood for others. (2) Even in the early days of the twentieth century they preserved their sacred ideals like the Sikhs of the hoary past. The nomenclature of Kartar Singh Jhabbar (1874-1962) ranks among the finest of the community’s leaders during the sanguinary Gurudwara Reform Movement. Intrepid, provocative, and vociferous Jhabbar today has been reduced to just a picture on museum walls; his legend has been mitigated to render the Sikhs torpid in the face of continuing politico-religious offensives. Let the young Khalsa awaken and derive inspiration from Jhabbar- a Sikh for whom no sacrifice was too inferior to make; a true leader of men. Jhabbar emerged during a grim epoch for Sikhi. The annihilation of Sikh sovereignty in 1849 A.D. witnessed the ascendancy of the schismatic Nirmala and Udasi cults which, once an addendum of the Sikh society, were employed by the British polity to expropriate Sikh Gurudwaras: the theo-political hubs of the Sikh world. (1) To further compound their nefarious designs, the British polity effectively censored all forms of Sikh proselytizing and created the Nirmala Dharam Duja Akhara to precipitate both an identity and philosophical crisis in the Khalsa psyche. (2) The calamity produced, then, reached a boiling point when Semitic and militant Hindu proselytizing made inroads into the Sikh heartlands and Sikhs began converting owing to a lack of knowledge vis-a-vis Sikhi. A rapid recovery, however, was made with the birth of the Lahore Singh-Sabha. Composed of leading intellectuals of the day, the Lahore Sabha differed from it’s Amritsar counterpart in that that though it promulgated Sikhi from an Eurocentric purview- it concentrated heavily on praxis and proactively proselytized among all and sundry. The Amritsar Sabha, until it’s final days, could not resolve the peripheral dilemma whether religious distinctiveness and identity were worth preserving or not. The Jhabbar clan, in which Kartar Singh was born, were fanatically Sikh and detested what they perceived as being the annihilation of Sikhi on a day-to-day basis. Young men like Kartar Singh were often enrolled into regional Singh-Sabha centers, established as proselytizing outposts, and trained in the disciplines of history, oratory and theology. Jhabbar’s skill with the fighting stick when coupled with his masterful oratory stood him in good stead to preach in areas hostile to Sikhs. Word soon spread of this dynamic preacher who brokered no challenge and was also able to meet physical bellicosity head-on. In 1904 A.D. his name spread throughout the Punjab after he saved the life of proselytizer Bhai Mool Singh. The latter, a stringent opponent of both Arya-Samaj and Islamic missionaries, had been invited by a certain Ganda Singh to perform the baptismal rites of his children who wished to renounce their ancestral faith of Islam and convert to Sikhi. As the event was about to proceed an unruly mob, collated by local mullahs, attacked Mool Singh who fled to Jhabbar. Jhabbar, calmly, picked up his fighting stick and dashed towards the belligerents who were already under heavy attack from Sikhs invited to the initiation ceremony. Smashing his way through the melee, Jhabbar would leave behind him a trail of fractured bones and concussed heads. Mool Singh would profusely thank him and take a keen interest in this laconic young man whose stick could work wonders. The Gadar movement, an expatriate revolt, and the Komagata Maru incident, where would-be-migrant Sikhs were deported from Canadian waters and slain by the Colonial Indian Police upon reaching Indian shores, ubiquitously inflamed the Sikhs against the British regime. The effect of these catastrophes was further exacerbated by the Jallianwala massacre, 1919 A.D., in which the army ruthlessly mowed down hundreds of participants in a regional Congress assembly. The refusal of the British to adjudge the event as a massacre and penalize the guilty witnessed the entire sub-continent ignite in a paroxysm of rage and Europhobia. Kartar Singh Jhabbar would utilize these sanguinary days to deliver his maiden speech against the incumbent powers thus drawing their ire upon him. Yet for all his anger, Jhabbar would also be in the vanguard of Sikh bodies attempting to save the innocent from the frenzied and often directionless mobs venting their venom on alien and countrymen alike. On April 28th warrants would be issued for Jhabbar’s arraignment. After a Kangaroo court, he was deported to the Andaman Islands on June 7th. Imprisonment would only reinforce Jhabbar’s convictions and strengthen his resolve. Behind bars, he would daily meet with the deportees from both the Gadar and Komagata incidents. Contrary to the edicts from the Akal-Takhat, issued by Nirmalas and other political sycophants, vilifying these men they proved to be dedicated Sikhs and voracious readers who possessed their own library. Jhabbar, himself, had two texts on him dating back from his arraignment days: a Sikh litany and the Braj classic the Hanuman Natak. (3) He would hone his political knowledge in daily debates with these men and grow into a staunch opponent of the Indian National Congress. In 1920 A.D. he would be returned to the Punjab and released. Unbeknownst to the British, however, Jhabbar the preacher was dead. His imprisonment, abroad, had now resurrected him as Jhabbar the leader. Jathedar Jhabbar, as he was now known, soon joined a band of like-minded men and they commenced holding political communes for the Sikhs. Dispirited by years of ascetic leadership, composed of Nirmalas and Udasis, the Sikh youth actively answered Jhabbar’s call to arms and began forming themselves into political cells. Their main purpose was to represent the Sikhs in the political spectrum, but other events overtook their plans. Baba Di Ber, a historical Gurudwara, had been placed under Mahant Prem Singh who conducted the daily happenings in the Gurudwara as per the Sikh Code of Conduct. His son, however, would prove a debauch whose life was cut short by over-indulgence. Regional Hindus and Muslims would oust Prem Singh’s assistants; insinuate themselves as his daughter-in-law’s legal correspondents and transform the Gurudwara into a den of vice. The ouster of the local congregation, by the new management, angered the Central Majha Diwan which dispatched Teja Singh Bhuchar to restore Baba Di Ber’s sanctity. Bhuchar and his fifty-strong party were initially arrested but later released on a technicality. Panicking, the management rapidly dissipated in the face of their arms. The arrival of Jhabbar ensured the restoration of the Gurudwara to the congregation and soon a plan was set in motion to form an ubiquitous committee for the management of all Gurudwaras. The Gurudwara Reform Movement was born. The Movement, initially dismissed as being idealistic, however would score a notch against the Nirmala-cum-Udasi Mahant-hood when it would liberate the Sri Darbar Sahib complex from the clutches of the British. Sanataanism having penetrated the Khalsa psyche, men like Sodhi Bhan Singh and Avtar Singh Vahiraa published texts condoning the Hindu customs of Caste prejudice and misogyny. (4) These practices were rapidly introduced into Gurudwarasby the Mahants until only the haut monde could enter and offer obeisance. Lakhmir Singh, a Muslim turned Sikh revivalist, had taken a band of lower-Caste Sikh converts to the Akal-Takhat to offer sacramental food as a sign of gratitude to the Guru. The Nirmalas, therein, had openly avoided these devotees and callously elucidated that they were in no position to offer anything as their Caste was abysmal. (5) Several bodies, including representatives of the Ravidassiya brotherhood, collated and commenced taking sacramental offerings to the Darbar and being turned out by the administration. Upon hearing of this, Jhabbar swiftly reached Amritsar and joined the protests. Cornered by the congregations, the Nirmalasattempted to debate their stand with Jhabbar. When asked to provide canonical injunctions mandating Caste in Sikhi, they were forced on the back foot and started fleeing. A reading was obtained from the Adi Guru Granth which propounded the imbecility of Caste and it’s corollaries. Other than the chief administrator, all the Nirmalas fled the scene shamefaced. The Nirmalas at Akal-Takhat also beat a hasty retreat from the Darbar. Jhabbar collated a congregation on the steps of the edifice and criticized the British installed administration for it’s lapses in judgement. After declaring all edicts, passed under the latter, nullified he asked for the congregation to elect a band of seventeen volunteers to undertake the administration of the Akal-Takhat and restore it’s sanctity. Soon a jatha was formed which was placed under the charge of Teja Singh Bhuchar. Dressed in blue and black, and armed to the teeth, these men were drawn from the so-called lower-Caste Sikhs. Witnessing their election, the Nirmalas commenced sending out dispatches asserting that the lower-Castes were about to demolish the Darbar and violate other historic Gurudwaras with their unholy presence. (6) Three hundred armed Sikh volunteers however put paid to the Nirmalas‘ designs after conducting a flag march throughout Amritsar. The effect of the Gurudwara Reform Movement was beginning to be felt far and wide and even the Indian National Congress began taking note of it. Jhabbar, however, openly opposed Gandhi and forewarned the Sikhs to avoid falling for the man’s glib rhetoric. Gandhi, on the other hand, expressed false joy at the actions of the Sikhs but continually reiterated that the nation was more supreme than their 300 year old faith. (7) The Gurudwaras under the Mahants served to foster love between Hindus and Sikhs and the Sikhs should consider assimilating into the Hindu fold. (8) Jhabbar would openly denounce Gandhi at the 1920 Lahore Sikh Conference, but many such as Master Tara Singh would be ensnared by Gandhi’s mellifluous vows. Time would prove Jhabbar right. The Nirmalas, of Amritsar, in the meantime had hit upon a new stratagem to oust the Shiromani Committee (as the Movement’s leadership was known) from the Darbar. An elected band was dispatched to the vicinity of the Akal-Takhat where the Akali-Nihangsresided. Once famed for their belligerence and their guardianship of all Gurudwaras, the Akali-Nihangs had been routed by the British at Patiala and forced to flee the Punjab. Their inability to modernize their mentality and confront the grievous state of the Panth had rapidly rendered them obsolete. The Nirmalas convinced them that they had surrendered control of the Darbar for good and requested the British to restate the Akali-Nihangs in their stead. Jhabbar, and his men, however had hijacked the Akali-Nihang’s old obligations. The Budha-Dal’s variation of the event asserts that the Akali-Nihangs had been assisting Jhabbar until then; Jhabbar now refused to grant them Jathedari of Akal-Takhat and assaulted them. Based on the account of one late Anoop Singh, it is alleged that Jhabbar angrily speared the Dasam Granth and hurled it from the balcony of the Takhat. Did Jhabbar do this collaterally whilst combating the Nihangs? The Dal insists that he did this in consort with British injunctions. Three factors, however, should be taken note of here: -The paucity of evidence prior to and after the event underscoring any anti-Dasam sentiments on Jhabbar’s part. -Why was the Dasam Granth not removed on the very first day of the Nirmalas fleeing the Takhat? – Rather then employ Jhabbar, who was vilified as a malefactor until the day of partition, why did the British never utilize the service of the Nirmala poojaris to remove the Dasam Granth from the Akal-Takhat in their almost century long sway over the Darbar Sahib? Until substantiated, all allegations of Jhabbar forcefully removing the said Granth remain hearsay. The progress of the Gurudwara Reform Movement would be arrested by the events of Jaito in which the Khalsa would openly challenge the British over their forceful expulsion of Maharajah Ripudaman Singh from the throne of Nabha. Slowly, but surely, men like Master Tara Singh would align Sikh movements with the Congress’s greater aim of Hindu dominated India. Jhabbar, at his level, would oppose all coalitions between the Sikh polity and the Congress but as 1947 drew closer even he could feel the palpable desire for a bifurcated sub-continent. Attempts at establishing an autonomous Sikh nation-state were doomed by Tara Singh’s apathy until the fateful sundering was upon the Punjab. Having liberated the Gurudwaras of Punjab with his sweat and blood; witnessed the massacre of Sikhs at Nanakana Sahib at the hands of Narain Dass Udasi and wiled his life away in jails Kartar Singh Jhabbar was forced to witness the destruction of Sikh heritage in both India and Pakistan. A knight errant of the Panth, he would breath his last in 1962 A.D. Sources: (1) Deutsches Staatstecht, vol. i, sec 16; referenced by Singh K in Theo-political Status of Sri Darbar Sahib. (2) Singh M, (1956); Hazur Sahib Di Twarikh, self-published; pg. 380. (3) Singh N, (2001); Jathedar Bhai Kartar Singh Jhabbar, Dharam Parchar Committee (Amritsar), pg. 29. (4) See Singh M, pg. 340. (5) See Singh N, pg. 42. (6) Ibid, pg. 48. (7) Ibid, pg. 51-52. Additionally see Akali Dal Ate Gandhi (Giani Jujhar Singh; self-published, 1955). https://tisarpanthdotcom.wordpress.com/2018/07/08/knight-errant/ I apologize to fellow member Jonny101 for falsely castigating him during our debates on Jhabbar. I was in the wrong and I admit it. Jonny Ji was right all along.
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