Sikh history of 18th century seems highly depressing and sikhs didn't even get a fair share :'(

[Guest]

After I am done reading the sikh history of 18th century , a feeling of dread envelops me . Its hard to explain but I feel like a state of panic . So many tyrants and so many torturous methods. Indeed superhero were the singhs and singhnia who survived all that ordeal . I can't even wrap my head around the fact that successive mughal governors of lahore , be it abdus khan , zakaria , yahya , mir mannu , all of them sliced , crushed between wheels, drowned , dragged to death the singhs . Yet, we somehow survived beyond the 18th century is indeed a miracle in itself.

I feel very very depressing because there's so much of pain in sikh life of 18th century . I mean i can literally feel the pain and challenges that came with being as a sikh in that time period just by reading those historical books. Sikhs were without food , shelter , hunted like animals and dehumanized and declared outlaws. 

BUT the worse part , we didn't even get our fair share . Maharaja Ranjit singh established an empire with non-sikh majority in 1799 but less than a decade later Britishers were already in the picture. And within 50 years, that hard earned empire was lost. Its so hard to believe that thousands and thousands of sikh men , women and children bore torture and agonizing death for a period of self-rule so short. Heck , marathas and rajputs had it better without even a fraction of our sacrifices. 

What strange kind of justice god has . We atleast deserved 500 years of self rule for so much of blood paid. I don't understand what god was thinking. 

now you know why its depressing.

[Ranjeet01]

11 minutes ago, AjeetSinghPunjabi said:

After I am done reading the sikh history of 18th century , a feeling of dread envelops me . Its hard to explain but I feel like a state of panic . So many tyrants and so many torturous methods. Indeed superhero were the singhs and singhnia who survived all that ordeal . I can't even wrap my head around the fact that successive mughal governors of lahore , be it abdus khan , zakaria , yahya , mir mannu , all of them sliced , crushed between wheels, drowned , dragged to death the singhs . Yet, we somehow survived beyond the 18th century is indeed a miracle in itself.

I feel very very depressing because there's so much of pain in sikh life of 18th century . I mean i can literally feel the pain and challenges that came with being as a sikh in that time period just by reading those historical books. Sikhs were without food , shelter , hunted like animals and dehumanized and declared outlaws. 

BUT the worse part , we didn't even get our fair share . Maharaja Ranjit singh established an empire with non-sikh majority in 1799 but less than a decade later Britishers were already in the picture. And within 50 years, that hard earned empire was lost. Its so hard to believe that thousands and thousands of sikh men , women and children bore torture and agonizing death for a period of self-rule so short. Heck , marathas and rajputs had it better without even a fraction of our sacrifices. 

What strange kind of justice god has . We atleast deserved 500 years of self rule for so much of blood paid. I don't understand what god was thinking. 

now you know why its depressing.

Life is unfair unfortunately. 

[jkvlondon]

2 hours ago, AjeetSinghPunjabi said:

After I am done reading the sikh history of 18th century , a feeling of dread envelops me . Its hard to explain but I feel like a state of panic . So many tyrants and so many torturous methods. Indeed superhero were the singhs and singhnia who survived all that ordeal . I can't even wrap my head around the fact that successive mughal governors of lahore , be it abdus khan , zakaria , yahya , mir mannu , all of them sliced , crushed between wheels, drowned , dragged to death the singhs . Yet, we somehow survived beyond the 18th century is indeed a miracle in itself

I feel very very depressing because there's so much of pain in sikh life of 18th century . I mean i can literally feel the pain and challenges that came with being as a sikh in that time period just by reading those historical books. Sikhs were without food , shelter , hunted like animals and dehumanized and declared outlaws. 

BUT the worse part , we didn't even get our fair share . Maharaja Ranjit singh established an empire with non-sikh majority in 1799 but less than a decade later Britishers were already in the picture. And within 50 years, that hard earned empire was lost. Its so hard to believe that thousands and thousands of sikh men , women and children bore torture and agonizing death for a period of self-rule so short. Heck , marathas and rajputs had it better without even a fraction of our sacrifices. 

What strange kind of justice god has . We atleast deserved 500 years of self rule for so much of blood paid. I don't understand what god was thinking. 

now you know why its depressing.

for an eternity of being satguru ji's charan it is small potatoes, why desire worldy wealth when naam's wealth protects you and accompanies you to Darbar

[TejS]

Reading Sikh history has made me a very cynical person unfortunately. Any kind of amicable feelings towards humanity drowns away in me.

[Ranjeet01]

28 minutes ago, TejS said:

Reading Sikh history has made me a very cynical person unfortunately. Any kind of amicable feelings towards humanity drowns away in me.

The reason you feel cynical is because like many Sikhs we are idealists.

We are taught to want to look at the best of humanity .

When we see the complete opposite,  it creates some kind of cognitive dissonance.

This means that with some of our people ,we double down and refuse to see the worst of what humanity can be.

The other section of our people become very cynical and see only the worst.

It is either black or white.

The reality is that there are shades of grey.

In Sikhi, we need to get beyond this duality of thinking.

One person can show the best and the worst of humanity. 

In Sikhi, we get beyond duality with miri-piri,  nirgun sargun, sant sipahi etc.

You will see this in politics as well. One person can see perfectly corteous and will be stabbing you in the back at the same time.

Our punjabi culture understands this very well, however our Sikh side seems to bypass this understanding,  probably because we have to lower ourselves to play these kind of games. 

[jkvlondon]

1 hour ago, TejS said:

Reading Sikh history has made me a very cynical person unfortunately. Any kind of amicable feelings towards humanity drowns away in me.

why cynical did it not make you realise just how much those gursikhs loved you that there was nothing they wouldn't do to ensure Guru ji's sikhi reached you? Humans are scumbags no doubt but contrast that with the nature of a Guru inspired soul ... they become nirvair, nirbhau. You have to read the history and sakhian of guru Sahiban also to balance the horror in your mind .

[MisterrSingh]

13 minutes ago, jkvlondon said:

why cynical did it not make you realise just how much those gursikhs loved you that there was nothing they wouldn't do to ensure Guru ji's sikhi reached you?

Were they not just surviving from one day to the next with little thought of anything beyond immediate, local issues? Does that kind of far-sightedness ring true as the kind of sentiment that comes naturally to us to that particular extent? I think it's a slightly romanticised re-telling of the past. 

[jkvlondon]

1 hour ago, MisterrSingh said:

Were they not just surviving from one day to the next with little thought of anything beyond immediate, local issues? Does that kind of far-sightedness ring true as the kind of sentiment that comes naturally to us to that particular extent? I think it's a slightly romanticised re-telling of the past. 

not the avasta they reached they were able to see further than their daily concerns , they trusted in sikhi and Guru sahiban's words .Else who would go into jungles to live and rescue strangers kids ?

[KhoonKaBadlaKhoon]

4 hours ago, MisterrSingh said:

Were they not just surviving from one day to the next with little thought of anything beyond immediate, local issues? Does that kind of far-sightedness ring true as the kind of sentiment that comes naturally to us to that particular extent? I think it's a slightly romanticised re-telling of the past. 

Youre completely right. It's more than slightly romanticized. 

[TejS]

5 hours ago, jkvlondon said:

why cynical did it not make you realise just how much those gursikhs loved you that there was nothing they wouldn't do to ensure Guru ji's sikhi reached you? Humans are scumbags no doubt but contrast that with the nature of a Guru inspired soul ... they become nirvair, nirbhau. You have to read the history and sakhian of guru Sahiban also to balance the horror in your mind .

You misunderstood me. I feel cynical towards collective humanity because the struggles of our Sikh ancestors shows there is no such thing as compassion and love for people different in any way from you. Even our own Sikhs have betrayed us in the past for their personal benefits and short-sightedness.