Preface
The story of Sikhism, the youngest amongst the six major religions of the world, is fascinating as well as relevant even in this era of phenomenal technological and scientific advancements. A little over 500 years ago Guru Nanak had founded this unique faith and gave a message of universal brotherhood, love, peace, meditation, equality, justice and fair play among all human beings, to the world. The Great Guru had also emphasized on Naam Japna, meditating on or worshiping only One God, truthful living, earning one's bread through honest means and sharing one's income or wealth with the poor and the needy. Nanak said there was none higher or lower since all human beings are rays from the same Divine light, the Lord Ek Jyote se Sab Jag Upajya. Some of the social reforms like human rights, freedom to choose and follow one's religion, equal status and respect for women preached by Guru Nanak have evoked keen interest amongst the intellectuals of the world. The top thinkers and scientists find Nanak's postulates propounded 500 years ago about universe and the origin of earth in line with their own latest discoveries. The Supreme Sacrifices, which began with the martyrdoms of the highly venerated Sikh Gurus, the Fifth Guru Arjan Dev, in 1606 and the Ninth Guru Tegh Bahadur, in 1675, on orders of the Mughal Kings, Jahangir and Aurangzeb, respectively, continued down the line with the the sacrifice of four sons( Shahabzadas) of Tenth Guru Gobind Singh, Tenth Guru himself, 40 Muktas, thousands of Sikh soldiers in Khalsa Army, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Sikh devotees, villagers, farmers, etc, through the centuries, while fighting against the Mughal empire and other barbaric Muslim invading armies of Ahmed Shah Abdali, etc. The sacrifices of the Sikhs in the struggle for freedom of India from the British Empire and later for the defence of India after India became an independent country, have also been phenomenal. As recorded by Rajinder Puri, a non-Sikh, in his book, Recovery of India, "out of the 2175 Indian martyrs for India's freedom, 1557, or 75 per cent were Sikhs. Out of 181 Indians who were hanged, 92 were Sikhs. Out of 2,646 patriots exiled to Kalapani (Andaman Islands) 2147 or 80 per cent were Sikhs. Out of 1202 people shot dead in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar in 1919, 799 were Sikhs." All this when the perecentage of Sikhs in country's population was a mere 2 per cent. Of 20,000 who joined the Netaji Subash Chander Bose's Indian National Army, 12,000 or 60 per cent were Sikhs. The number of Sikhs in the country's armed forces who attained Veer Gatti (martyrdom) and received gallantry awards, while fighting in the defence of the country after India's independence, has also been the highest. According to the well known Sikh historian, Sardar Patwant Singh, as mentioned in his book THE SIKHS, "where heroism is concerned, it will be in place to mention that the number of gallantry awards won by Sikh soldiers in the British Indian Army was also the highest among all Indian soldiers belonging 40 Victoria Crosses, the highest gallantry award in British Empire, awarded to British Indian soldiers, from 1914 onwards, 21 were earned by the Sikh soldiers, serving in various regiments of British Indian Army, while 12 of them were Gorkhas, and the remaining 7 were from assorted areas and faiths." During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, peaceful Sikh Jathas (groups of Volunteers) had made momentous sacrifices during the Komagata Maru movement, in Jalianawala Bagh massacre, Amritsar, in 1919 and in 1920s during the Singh Sabha Movenment, the Kuka Movement, Gurdwara Reforms Movement, etc, and finally about five lakh (half a million) Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus who were killed during the partition of the country in 1947. At least 10,000 unarmed and innocent pilgrims in Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar were killed during 1984 attack by free India's Army on Sikh sanctum santorum Darbar Sahib, Amritsar. Thousands of Sikhs killed in Delhi, Kanpur, Rourkela, Jamshedpur, Haryana, etc in October- November 1984 during anti-Sikh pogrom as sequal to Mrs Indira Gandhi's murder on October 30, 1984 must also be considered as sacrifices by the Sikhs. The teachings of Sikh Gurus, especially the creation of Khalsa and Amrit Pahul introduced by the Tenth Guru had infused in the Sikhs, a zero tolerance for injustice, cruelty and suppression and convinced the people that no sacrifice was too big for self respect, dignity, freedom and patriotism.
About The Book
The Supreme Sacrifices, which began with the martyrdoms of the highly venerated Sikh Gurus, the Fifth Guru Arjan Dev, in 1606 and the Ninth Guru Tegh Bahadur, in 1675, on orders of Mughal Kings, continued down the line with the the sacrifice of four sons of Tenth Guru Gobind Singh, Tenth Guru himself, 40 Muktas, thousands of Sikh soldiers in Khalsa Army, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Sikh devotees, villagers, farmers, etc, through the centuries. The sacrifices of the Sikhs in the struggle for freedom of India from the British Empire and later for the defence of India after India became an independent country, have also been phenomenal.
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