Lost Heritage - The Sikh Legacy In Pakistan

[proactive]

Other than that i agree whole heartedly that public perception of partition is greatly skewed in favour of migration and hardships of khatri sikhs from potohar, rawalpindi, peshawar etc by the indian media and writers. The loss of life and property of jatt sikhs has been relegated to a secondary role, if any. Also want to point out that a significant and prosperous jatt sikh community is present in UP in rural Terai region in areas like Pilibhit etc. They migrated mostly from lahore, sialkot and lyallpur districts. The Terai region was the biggest hotbead of militancy outside Amritsar-Tarn Taran-Gurdaspur division.

This is mainly because of people like Khushwant Singh who wrote his 'History of the Sikhs' in the late 1950s. It was he who through his articles presented the culture of his area of Pothohar as being the norm for all of the Punjab which it clearly wasn't. This is why in the 1980s you had all those Hindu journalists in Delhi writing about how the two communities of Sikhs and Hindus were interlinked with the eldest son of a Hindu family becoming a Sikh and intermarriage between these two communities being common. In the rural areas of Majha and Malwa this would have been laughable as most of the Hindus that Sikhs came across were Bahmans and Banias. The intermarriage was common in Pothohar and mainly because most of the Sikhs of that area had gone from being Sehajdharis to Keshadharis through the parchar of Baba Khem Singh Bedi and Sant Attar Singh as well as the Singh Sabha in Rawalpindi. The Hindus in the area were also mostly Sehajdharis and it was only after the Arya samaj came to the area that the Hindus became more committed Hindus.

The eldest son as a Sikh tradition is probably based around the 'sukhna' tradition when many Hindu/Sehajdhari women who had not given birth to sons would go to a local Sikh Baba and then wish for a son and make a vow to raise that son as a Sikh. If a son was born then he would be raised a Sikh but if after that other sons came along then as the vow was only for the first son then these sons would remain plain Hindu/Sehajdharis. This is not to say that Sikh women from Keshadhari families did not do 'sukhna' but as they were already in Keshadari families there was no need for them to make a 'sukhna' for the eldest son to be a Sikh. So when these families for Pothohar migrated to Delhi the local Hindu assumed that there must be a tradition in Hindu families to raise their eldest son as a Sikh. Added to this tradition was also the fact that one of the Hindu leaders in the 1920s had asked each Punjab Hindu family to make one of their sons a Sikh as the Hindus had been particularly worsted by the Muslims in a communal riot in Multan. This may have als given rise or at least added weight to the claim that the Sikhs or Khalsa was founded to protect the Hindus.

[StarStriker]

This is mainly because of people like Khushwant Singh who wrote his 'History of the Sikhs' in the late 1950s. It was he who through his articles presented the culture of his area of Pothohar as being the norm for all of the Punjab which it clearly wasn't. This is why in the 1980s you had all those Hindu journalists in Delhi writing about how the two communities of Sikhs and Hindus were interlinked with the eldest son of a Hindu family becoming a Sikh and intermarriage between these two communities being common. In the rural areas of Majha and Malwa this would have been laughable as most of the Hindus that Sikhs came across were Bahmans and Banias. The intermarriage was common in Pothohar and mainly because most of the Sikhs of that area had gone from being Sehajdharis to Keshadharis through the parchar of Baba Khem Singh Bedi and Sant Attar Singh as well as the Singh Sabha in Rawalpindi. The Hindus in the area were also mostly Sehajdharis and it was only after the Arya samaj came to the area that the Hindus became more committed Hindus.

The eldest son as a Sikh tradition is probably based around the 'sukhna' tradition when many Hindu/Sehajdhari women who had not given birth to sons would go to a local Sikh Baba and then wish for a son and make a vow to raise that son as a Sikh. If a son was born then he would be raised a Sikh but if after that other sons came along then as the vow was only for the first son then these sons would remain plain Hindu/Sehajdharis. This is not to say that Sikh women from Keshadhari families did not do 'sukhna' but as they were already in Keshadari families there was no need for them to make a 'sukhna' for the eldest son to be a Sikh. So when these families for Pothohar migrated to Delhi the local Hindu assumed that there must be a tradition in Hindu families to raise their eldest son as a Sikh. Added to this tradition was also the fact that one of the Hindu leaders in the 1920s had asked each Punjab Hindu family to make one of their sons a Sikh as the Hindus had been particularly worsted by the Muslims in a communal riot in Multan. This may have als given rise or at least added weight to the claim that the Sikhs or Khalsa was founded to protect the Hindus.

There r some incredibly dumb hindus, who think, this whole "eldest son raised as sikh", has been goin on since GURU GOBIND SINGHS TIME!! Haaaaa! They actually think, guru gobind singh invented sikhi, n there was no such thing as sikhs/sikhi from guru nanak-guru tegh bahadur time, as tjey were hindus apprntly, and sikh population ALL originated frm this cr@ppy practise. Id!iots, absolute id!iots!

[Ranjeet01]

A lot of these Potohar Sikhs would have practiced first cousin marriages, I wonder if these Hindus would think this as well.

[Bhau]

This is mainly because of people like Khushwant Singh who wrote his 'History of the Sikhs' in the late 1950s. It was he who through his articles presented the culture of his area of Pothohar as being the norm for all of the Punjab which it clearly wasn't. This is why in the 1980s you had all those Hindu journalists in Delhi writing about how the two communities of Sikhs and Hindus were interlinked with the eldest son of a Hindu family becoming a Sikh and intermarriage between these two communities being common. In the rural areas of Majha and Malwa this would have been laughable as most of the Hindus that Sikhs came across were Bahmans and Banias. The intermarriage was common in Pothohar and mainly because most of the Sikhs of that area had gone from being Sehajdharis to Keshadharis through the parchar of Baba Khem Singh Bedi and Sant Attar Singh as well as the Singh Sabha in Rawalpindi. The Hindus in the area were also mostly Sehajdharis and it was only after the Arya samaj came to the area that the Hindus became more committed Hindus.

The eldest son as a Sikh tradition is probably based around the 'sukhna' tradition when many Hindu/Sehajdhari women who had not given birth to sons would go to a local Sikh Baba and then wish for a son and make a vow to raise that son as a Sikh. If a son was born then he would be raised a Sikh but if after that other sons came along then as the vow was only for the first son then these sons would remain plain Hindu/Sehajdharis. This is not to say that Sikh women from Keshadhari families did not do 'sukhna' but as they were already in Keshadari families there was no need for them to make a 'sukhna' for the eldest son to be a Sikh. So when these families for Pothohar migrated to Delhi the local Hindu assumed that there must be a tradition in Hindu families to raise their eldest son as a Sikh. Added to this tradition was also the fact that one of the Hindu leaders in the 1920s had asked each Punjab Hindu family to make one of their sons a Sikh as the Hindus had been particularly worsted by the Muslims in a communal riot in Multan. This may have als given rise or at least added weight to the claim that the Sikhs or Khalsa was founded to protect the Hindus.

Thats the reason the perception of a sikh in india is that of a khatri/bhapa sikh. Most people dont even know the there is a separate entity called jatt sikhs with their own nature, customs, characteristics etc because the only sikhs they have come across are urban khatri sikhs. No wonder sikhs have been made an object of ridicule by some.

I recently had a debate with a bhapa acquaintance and when i presented him with facts about how jatt sikhs were instrumental in creation of sikhism and khalsa and hugely disproportionate sacrifices made by them to preserve the religion, he, like others, played the 'equality' card saying how our gurus preached that there are no castes etc and everyone is equal. But facts are facts. And when i asked him that how come after 3000 sikhs were butchered in delhi, no bhapa from delhi joined the struggle and picked an AK47, he drew a blank. Meanwhile we lost 35000 young men between 1984-1993, 90% of them jatt sikhs in an effort to pick up and put the turban back on the head of the kaum.

Sorry if i offended anyone since i am majhail and we are known to be a tad bit emotional and impulsive.

[Jonny101]

As many of you have said, the Sikh partition story in popular culture is mainly a Pothohar dominated theme. This could be because being a business class they were educated and wrote books about it. Another reason could be that they suffered particularly brutal violence at the hands of the Muslim pothoharis. Still today when you read and hear of what went on in Rawalpindi division, it sends chills down your spine. They were under siege, fought bravely. Many times when it seemed to be all lost, their women jumped into wells to save their honour and their men fought to the last man. This is something one only hears about in history when reading about Chittor in Rajasthan where Rajputs fought against Muslim invaders after their women did jahaur. Pothohar was the epicenter of where all the partition violence started. It was like a testing ground for Muslims. Unfortunately Sikhs in central Punjab did not retaliate right then as they should have and this encouraged Muslims to carry out this violence in rest of west Punjab.

Same thing happened in 84. The Sikh genocide or the anti Sikh violence which happened after Indira Gandhi died was mainly directed against Delhi's Khatri Sikh community. Although other Sikhs suffered too, but who can deny the brutality of what happened in Delhi. So 84 genocide like 47 violence is seen through the eyes of Khatri Sikhs because in both cases they suffered greatly.

[MisterrSingh]

This is fascinating stuff. So, in brief, the khatri Sikhs of Delhi that were on the receiving end of the anti-Sikh pogroms of 84 originated from the old way "First son of Hindu becomes a Sikh"? But that kind of system was never part of life for Sikhs of the Punjab?

[StarStriker]

Meanwhile we lost 35000 young men between 1984-1993, 90% of them jatt sikhs in an effort to pick up and put the turban back on the head of the kaum.

.

Mate 35k, is a low n incorrect number of sikhs who were killed by indian state. Frm 1977-95, 250k sikhs were murdered. Remember jaswant singh khalra found 20k+ in just tarn taran/amritsar area, think of all of panjab/haryana/jammu added together.

Regarding khatris tho, it is sad, that they suffered alot of violence in w.panjab n relocated to delhi/UP, n 30yrs later, the very same ppl suffered brutal pre-planned violence afta witch indira's death.

[JagsawSingh]

Same thing happened in 84. The Sikh genocide or the anti Sikh violence which happened after Indira Gandhi died was mainly directed against Delhi's Khatri Sikh community

Maybe in terms of property and perhaps even rape and forced hair cutting, but in terms of murder / death, records show that the greatest number of deaths among Sikhs occurred in the poorer areas of Delhi such as Trilokpuri, thus the Bhatra Sikhs by far suffered the most in terms of Sikhs being massacred.

"First son of Hindu becomes a Sikh"? But that kind of system was never part of life for Sikhs of the Punjab?

That system became the norm for all urban khatri Hindus of Punjab during maharaja Ranjit Singh's reign.but we should not forget the main reason for it : Money and Wealth. You see, after the Sikhs became the regional power, and a major central Asia power, the urban khatri group of Hindus saw the opportnities that existed in terms of government jobs and business in the far reaching Sikh empire. Thats was the main reason they sometimes made one of their sons a Sikh ; Wealth.

[chatanga]

Gujjars are traditionally cow/buffalow/goat herders and because of this they were also milkmen. It is said that since they drank alot of milk and did physically hard work they were also tall and physically strong. Even today in Pak Punjab alot of their kabadi players and wrestlers are Gujjars.

Punjabi Rajputs were mainly farmers by profession. The ones from pothohar joined the army in large numbers during british era. Even today the Pak army is dominated by these same Mussalman Punjabi Rajputs of pothohar. Besides them the Gakhars, janjuas, Awans, Alpials, khokhars were a warlike people. It is with these people that the Bhangi Missal fought with and made them submit to Sikh rule.

The Gujjars in India are different from the Pakistani Gujjars in traditional roles. During the reign of Akbar he tried to wean Gujjars from their traditonal animal-herding into farming. The states of Gujrat and Gujranwala were places where Gujjars were given large amounts of land adn they settled there since. Even today these two districts have a lot of farming Gujjars. These Gujjars have ggod physiques through hard farm work and eating well and training hard. The Indian Gujjars on the other hand are thin and weak, with the odd exception here and there. They do not farm but carry on their tradional animal-herding.

[chatanga]

The eldest son as a Sikh tradition is probably based around the 'sukhna' tradition

During the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Sikhs were freely admitted into the his army. The HIndus in western Panjab, or north of Ravi let's say, used to raise their first son as a Sikh, or made them into a Sikh as this provided a fine income for the family. After the Khalsa Sarkar ended, this practice ended almost immediately.

Concerning the Khatris, whether Sikh or Hindu, the strength of varan between is very strong, so they will intermarry and such. This is not the same with other castes as much.