By: Amar Singh
Submitted by: I. Singh

Mir Mannu became the new governor of Lahore and Multan on the 9th of April 1748AD. He appointed Kaura Mal as his new poet. After setting right the administration of his province, he deployed army patrol to finish the Sikhs off his province. The Sikhs left his territory and moved to other states. Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia and his group of Sikhs joined the army of the Commander of Jalandhar. The Sikhs gathered at Amritsar on the occasion of Diwali or Bhandi Shor in 1748AD. When Mir Mannu came to know of the gathering Sikhs, he sent his general with an army to blockade Amritsar and sent words to the Commander of Jalandhar, Adina beg to take his army to help his general in finishing the Sikhs. Five hundred Singhs took shelter in the fort of Ram Rauni and the rest moved to forests. The combined forces of Lahore and Jalandhar surrounded the fort. The Singhs inside the fort did not surrender even after two months of siege, which shows the immense courage and how strong their will was not to give their Sikhi even if death was imminent. Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia was in an army who was in siege of the fort, with his Sikhs.. One day, he deserted the royal army and joined the Singhs inside the fort with his squad. The commander of Jalandhar felt the departure of the Singhs in this manner very much but could not do anything. Hearing this news of the second invasion of Abdali, Mir Mannu made peace with the Sikhs and sanctioned an estate in Patti area for the livelihood.

During the third invasion of Abdali, one day in December, 1751AD when the party of Sardar Sukha Singh was returning to his camp in the evening after a fight with a detachment of Abdali’s troops, the artillery of Lahore made the party a target of their gun-shells. In this invasion of Abdali, all the Punjabis under Mir Mannu were together to face him. But when Mir Mannu’s army of Lahore started attacking Dal Khalsa, the army of Dal Khalsa left the company of Mir Mannu after this mishap. The commander of Jalandhar got Kaura Mall murdered at the hands of a Pathan on the 6th March 1752AD that resulted in Mir Mannu’s defeat in the battle. Mir Mannu held the desertion of Dal Khalsa responsible for his defeat. He again planned to finish the Sikhs off in his province.

Mir Mannu confiscated the estate of the Sikhs and deployed army patrols to eliminate them. He announced a reward of ten rupees for a person who brought a Sikhs head. He also began to reward the informers for giving whereabouts of Sikhs and their families. People in greed were getting Sikhs and their families arrested.

They were brought to Lahore where the Singhs were beheaded and their families were put in jails. Every woman was given forty pounds of grain to grind for each day in jail. A very heavy stone was placed on the chest of one who could not grind. Their children were mutilated on javelins before their very eyes. Their children were also cut into pieces and made into garlands which were then put around the necks of the mothers. Even then, they refused to give up their faith.

In the jails they were given a quarter of bread to eat and a bowl of water in the whole day. Bowing to the will of God, those tolerated it all. On the 4th November 1753AD, Mir Mannu died. After his death, Singhs set the prisoners free and took them away.

The term that Sikhs have adopted to describe their Martyrs is from the Arabic word Shahid (pl. Shuhuada). The primary meaning of this term in the Qur’an is as “witness” the one who testifies for Allah and the prophet Mohammed. The Muslims used the word Shaheed for fallen warriors in battle.

The Sikh women never gave up their Sikhi even thought they saw their own sons and daughters being murdered and tortured in front of their eyes. Reading about this brings tears to my eyes but yet our mothers and sisters kept up their heads and lived their Sikhi to their Last Breath!

As Bob Marley says: “Many people will have to suffer, many people will have to die”. This will happen as it is the will of God. We have no real control over what has happened but we can change what may happen in the future. We should be helping other women not to be in similar circumstances as the ones our mothers and sisters had to go threw, such as helping women who are forced into prostitution because of their circumstances, or we should help women who are being beaten at home because their husband or father is either drunk or high on drugs. I wouldn’t be able to watch my family be killed. If that happened to me, i would end my life but we must remember our mothers and sisters carried on fighting even in the hardest of times. A Shaheed for me is someone who has seen the truth and the truth is death, someone who has lived the truth and has even died the truth. Truthful living is higher than the truth but truthful death is also higher then the truth.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh