Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Banda's march got first Khalsa Raj

CHANDIGARH: Exactly 300 years ago, Chhapar Chiri, a small village near here, was witness to a historic battle which laid the foundation of first Khalsa Raj, founded by the great Sikh warrior — Baba Banda Bahadur.

As festivities for the tricentenary of the victory of Sirhind, fought at Chhapar Chiri, reach a crescendo on Tuesday, a massive march of Sikhs led by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which started from Nanded in Maharashtra last month, would reach Lohgarh, the capital of first Khalsa Raj, now located in Himachal Pradesh. It is here that the SGPC is planning a major revival exercise for paying homage to the warrior who avenged the killings of two children of the 10th Sikh master, Guru Gobind Singh, by defeating the formidable army of the Governor of Sirhind, Wazir Khan. The ruler had ordered that the Guru's children be bricked alive for not renouncing their faith.

The march assumes significance since it is probably the first time that the Sikhs are attempting, in an organised manner, to give due recognition to places associated with the life and times of ascetic-turned- warrior, who was handpicked by the Guru to lead the Sikhs. These include a gurdwara and a polytechnic college at his birthplace in Rajouri near Jammu, a memorial at Chhapar Chiri, Baba Banda Bahadur museum at Fatehgarh Sahib (named so to mark the 'fateh' (victory) of Sirhind) gurdwara and a fort at Lohgarh near Nahan, where the warrior set up the Khalsa Raj capital and ruled from an area called Mehlanwali.

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With thanks : source : Times of India

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