Sikh Empire: what our present democracy can inculcate

By Priyanshu Dagar

According to the Sikh belief, god is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Sikhism flourished from around 1469 to 1708. This was the time when the 10 Sikh gurus spread the fruitful message of truth, devotion, and peace. Sikhism came out to be a revolution in medieval India when discrimination based on religion and gender was very common in Indian society.  

The outskirts of mankind were flooded with social evils like the caste system and untouchability. Sikhism has shown various instances from time to time to mark their hard-headed devotion and principles making Sikhism the greatest symbol of inter-faith tolerance whether it may be Guru Arjan dev ji who was severely tortured by the Mughal empire Jahangir but remained rigid on his ideas or Teg Bahadur shah ji who continued his preaching even after cruel and gruesome punishments by Aurangzeb.

Sher-E-Punjab 

India has seen numerous invasions for its great, that it once held 35 to 40  percent of world GDP. It’s most probable that you are aware of the title “Sher-E-Punjab”.  Yes, the ever-great Maharaja Ranjit Singh led the inclusion of 12 misls into a combined force. The Afghans who had tremendous exploration and experience of fighting in the ghats around the northeastern part of the subcontinent were not only defeated by  “Sher-E-Punjab” but chased back to their boundaries and at times even further.

During the 1780s the Sikhs were divided into 12 groups and had their proper confederation called misls. 

On November 13, a leader armed with outstanding bravery and courage was born. Smallpox had taken one of his eyes and his short height couldn’t put a dent in his courage and leadership. At the age of 12, he lost his father and took command of the misl Sukerchakia.

Uniting Punjab 

The roots of the Mughal Empire had weakened after the death of Aurangzeb. After  1750s the northwest part of India had divided into 14 regions of which 12 were solely ruled by sikh Misaldars. “Ab” is a term in Urdu meaning Water and “Panch” meaning five; this coined the term Punjab, meaning a region surrounded by five water bodies namely Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Dyas. The 10th Sikh Guru formulated the Khalsa Army (Khalsa meaning Pure) which not only controlled and regulated the 12 misls but also, had fights amongst them over the production and revenue from these areas. Maharaja Ranjit Singh had united 5 big misls or confederacies while the rest 7 small misls themselves united with the king to fight against the Afghans. Once Afghanistan was a part of India and was called Gandhar. The relations between Persia and India were good until the advent of Nadir Shah. He took advantage of the falling Mughal empire capturing and looting Peshawar followed by  Delhi and Karnali zone. The loot was so exorbitant that he relieved all taxes in Persia for 3 years.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the Afghans 

What would you expect a boy just 17 years old to react if you tell him to fight an Afghan army of ten thousand soldiers? He would collapse in fear, right? But that wasn’t the case with Maharaja Ranjit Singh when he defeated the great army of Zaman Shah that comprised about 12000 soldiers with his sole misl.  This raised the status of the minor king. Followed by great jaw-dropping victories of the Sikh Empire against  Afghans and even Turks, Maharaja Ranjit Singh worked towards modernisation of the Sikh army. The popularity of the Sikh War tactics and bravery was to such an extent that during the Cold War Russian  Commander-in-chief Nikolai Ogarkov had USSR leaders against attack on Afghanistan by saying “We  are not Sikh, which can win Afghanistan”. You must be wondered to know that in 2020 BBC World History Magazines conducted a pole ranking the leadership qualities of top world leaders in history  where Queen Elizabeth was ranked at 5, Abrahim Lincoln at 4, Winston Churchill at 3, Amilcar Cabral at 2  and Maharaja Ranjit Singh at the no. 1 position. 

Beauty of Sikh Empire and What our Democracies can Inculcate? It’s a startling fact that there was the dominance of the Muslim and Hindu populations in the Sikh Empire.  Everyone was seen with an equal lens as a human and was served with equal job and growth opportunities. Even the refugees from the Cold War came into the Sikh empire seeking help; they were allotted lands to reside in and jobs to work like normal citizens. The Sikh empire set the foundation stones of a perfect society where everyone was treated equally irrespective of their color, creed, caste, gender,  etc. Today in a world where people are discriminated against even against their thoughts which is worsened by the recurring marginalization on several bases, we should learn to fight against the invaders. The invaders today are the souls driven by negativity, war, Conflict, greed, and hate. We must work towards a tolerant society that accepts everyone and resounds the message of positivity and peace.