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Old Soldiers


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Gurfateh

Old Soldiers

As the famous line from an old army ballad says "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." - here is a collection of some of my favourite military images.

Most military images are very stiff and formal, staged photographs in regimental formations - my personal favourites are the informal shots which show the day to day life of a soldier.

This is perhaps one of my favourite images, from perhaps the late 19th century , it shows a Sikh soldier in 'Civvies' - off duty - but still wearing his regimental Pagri Badge (a chakar and Bhagauti).

He wears a large tall dastar - the 10 yard army 'safa'. It shows how his beard is tied very clearly - tied upwards and it appears without the use of any 'Fixo' - today it is more common for the beard to be tied 'downwards' as in it is tucked under rather than upwards. I love the 'cheeky' smile and the salute - a great image.

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These next two images reflect the fascination many have with our Kesh and Dastar - It shows Harnam Singh of the 4th Sikh also in his 'civvy' clothes before and after washing and drying his hair.It is from the Desert campaign of the First World War in Kantara, on the east side of the Suez canal in 1914.

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More images of 'ablutions'

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Time for 'Tiffin'

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Veterans at the Delhi Durbar

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Wonderfully staged images of Sikh Gunners

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A Felice Beato image of some of the first recruits to the British Army

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Gallipoli - WW1

The trenches

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Mountain Battery

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Jerusalem

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Desert Diwan - Mesopotamia WW1

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The Memorial erected by The 35th Sikhs battalion in 1894 - located in the Darshani Deori Amritsar.

It reads -

"Eh chakar paltan number 35 Sikh ne tareek 16 (?) April 1894 mutaabak 5 Vasaakh san 1952 Nu Siri Darbar Sahib Amritsar da darshan karan di ar Ishnaan karan di yaadgar vich Ardass karaiya "

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The Saragarhi Memorial

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Sikhs in France WW1

Pipe Band

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Second World War - A Sikh Soldier escorting prisoners of War 1941

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Memorial to Ranjit Singh - Sikh Regiment - Kranji , Singapore

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And to finish another favourite image - Sikh boys boxing , (Army Cadets ?) from the 1940s. Note how the boy on the right is wearing a proper 'Reb' Kacchera

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Hope you enjoyed the pictures

Ranjit Singh 'Freed'

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Illuminating as ever Freed.

One point of interest is the way Sikh soldiers seem to have no problem with carrying maharaj with their shoes on, as the images from Mesopotamia testify. Today this would be unacceptable.

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Illuminating as ever Freed.

One point of interest is the way Sikh soldiers seem to have no problem with carrying maharaj with their shoes on, as the images from Mesopotamia testify. Today this would be unacceptable.

Depends on the situation bro - who knows how far they had to go and in what conditions

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Illuminating as ever Freed.

One point of interest is the way Sikh soldiers seem to have no problem with carrying maharaj with their shoes on, as the images from Mesopotamia testify. Today this would be unacceptable.

Depends on the situation bro - who knows how far they had to go and in what conditions

I just get the feeling that people today have gone overboard in following Dasmesh pita's instruction that Maharaj is our Guru and are taking it really literally.

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Well, some of older pictures you see don't really correspond to what we do today. For instance, there is an old painting of Harmandir Sahib which clearly shows the Granthi reading maharaj and it seems to have been placed on a simple raised platform covered with a plain white clothe. Today they place it in a really ostentatious palki with multicoloured cloth around it.

Also people seem to take Guru with them on expeditions like those soldiers in the picture. I think a lot of us have also seen those magnificent miniature Guru Granth Sahibs that soldiers were issued with by the British Army. Plus most of us have heard of Sham Singh Attari on the battlefield swearing noot to quit the field with his hands on the granth in the First Anglo-Sikh war.

I just wonder if in the old days they put maharaj in a bed and left food laying around for it like today? Also the thing we do when we go abroad and take some cloth to offer to Guru Sahib when we reach our destination...I'm just wondering if that is a new thing.

Basically I'm saying do we treat Maharaj different today than in the past?

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It's a question of faith. If the physical saroop of Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the same for someone as Guru Gobind Singh Ji then their behaviour will reflect this. I wouldn't say we do things much more differently than in the past, especially the Singhs who follow puratan Maryada, which has been in place for ages.

Damdami Taksal, Nihung Dals, Bhai Daya Singh Sampardaye, and more recently Nanaksar all treat Guru Ji's saroop with the utmost respect - some Singhs in the past (e.g Baba Nand Singh Ji) have actually got parthak darshan of Guru Sahib from Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

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The palki thing is almost definitely a new innovation though.

I think some Hinduism has crept in with people beginning to treat Guru sahib almost like an idol with rituals to be performed around with less emphasis on khoj or analysing the contents. I think the saying was, if want you want to find the Guru, KHOJ the bani contained within.

What would your definition/translation of khoj be? Maybe I'm misunderstanding?

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