Mughal Rule and Sahib Rai
During Mughul rule, the village heads (Chaudhary) used to have considerable authority over local population. They often exercised these powers most mercilessly in order to awe the subjects into submission. One such fellow Sahib Rai was head of village Naushahra. He was a hot headed and cruel person. He would often let loose his horses in the green fields of farmers of the village, causing extensive damage to their crops.If the aggrieved farmers complained to him about it, he used to abuse them, instead of sympathising with them or redressing their grievances.
Sikh Farmers Request
Once the Sikh farmers of the village together requested him to keep his horses confined to the areas meant for grazing and not let them graze in their fields thereby destroying their crops.
Instead of giving them any assurance, Sahib Rai turned them saying, “ I will definitely tie my horses but with the ropes made out of your beautiful Keshas (Hair)". Such insulting words were unbearable for the Sikhs who valued their Keshas more than their lives. Deeply hurt, they narrated the incident to S. Baghel Singh and S. Amar Singh of the nearby village, Bhusay.
Horses were Caught
A few days later, S. Amar Singh and S. Baghel Singh caught hold of Sahib Rai’s horses, while those were destroying the crops of Sikh farmers of village Naushehra, and sold them to S. Aala Singh, the then ruler of State of Patiala. The proceeds were donated to S. Tara Singh, a saint of village Wan, Taran Taaran District Punjab, for free Kitchen (Langer).
Bhai Tara Singh
Bhai Tara Singh was God fearing devoted Sikh saint. He owned considerable agricultural land and had established a Gurudwara on his land. Sikhs passing through his village were provided shelter and free meals at this Gurudwara apart from other facilities required by them. S. Tara Singh, apart from being a saint, mostly absorbed in meditation, was a brave Sikh conversant with use of arms. He had fought many a battles under the leadership of Banda Singh Bahadur.
Sahib Rai Failed
Chaudhary Sahib Rai found out through his agents that S. Baghel Singh and S. Tara Singh had caught and sold his horses. Accompanied by some of his supporters, he entered Bhai Tara Singh’s residence unannounced, and uttered insulting remarks towards Sikh community. Bhai Tara Singh tried to pacify the Chaudhary, but failed to do so. At this, the Sikhs at the Gurudwara thrashed Sahib Rai and his men, making them run for their lives.
Jaffar Beg and 200 policemen
Thus infuriated Sahib Rai went straight to the police chief of the area based in the town Patti in Amritsar District and narrated to him the exaggerated version of the humiliation suffered by him at the hand of Sikhs. Jaffar Beg, the police chief, assisted by a contingent of 200 policemen proceeded towards the residence of Bhai Tara Singh to teach Sikhs a lesson.
S. Baghel Singh Facing Raiders
S. Baghel Singh who had gone out of Bhai Tara Singh’s residence to answer call of nature very early in the morning, noticed the raiding party. He asked them to stop and shouted, “BOLE SO NEHAL SAT SRI AKAL” at the top of his voice to alert other Sikhs. At the same time, he started firing at the invaders from his gun.
Bhai Tara Singh, on hearing gun shots, along with other Sikhs rushed to the assistance of Baghel Singh. They engaged the invading soldiers in a fierce battle. Despite superiority in numbers and better equipped, two nephews and ten other soldiers of Jaffar Beg were killed at the hands of brave Sikhs. S. Baghel Singh also attained martyrdom in that battle. He had engaged the raiders single handedly and by sacrificing his own life, managed to alert other sikhs.
Jaffar Beg and Zakaria Khan Panned together
Jaffar Beg could barely save his own life by beating a hasty retreat. Jaffar Beg went straight to Lahore and narrated the incident to Zakaria Khan, Governor of Lahore. He sought his support to avenge his humiliating defeat at the hands of Sikhs. Zakaria Khan was a sworn enemy of the Sikh community. He sent a punitive expedition consisting of 2,000 horses, 5 elephants, 40 light guns, and 4 cannon wheels under orders of his deputy, Momin Khan.
One of the Sikh residents of Lahore rushed to village Waan and informed Bhai Tara Singh of this impending attack by a huge Mughal force and advised him to go elsewhere. Bhai Tara Singh had barely 22 men with him at that time. Bhai Tara Singh accompanied by about twenty two Sikhs present at that time in his Dera (house), decided to stay and face the inevitable, bravely. The Sikhs planned their strategy and took up positions at vantage points to face the enemy and inflict maximum casualties on the raiders. Momin Khan, mobilising more forces en-route and accompanied by another commander Takki Beg, mounted attack on village Waan, much before Sunrise. The sikhs were waiting and answered the attack by a deadly shower of bullets from their guns, felling the front row enemy soldiers dead.
Takki Beg insulted y Momin Khan
Momin Khan ordered Takki Beg to engage Bhai Tara Singh. Bhai Ji, in a swift action, thrust his spear into Takki Beg’s mouth. A shower of blood flowed from Takki Beg’s mouth, who ran back to save his life. Momin Khan added insult to Takki Beg’s misery by asking whether Takki Beg was chewing Paan in the battle field. Takki Beg, reacting sharply, told Momin Khan to move forward to receive his share of Paans being distributed by Bhai Tara Singh.
Momin Khan, instead of himself moving forward, sent forward his nephew Mureed Khan, whose head was cut off with a sharp low of sword, by S. Bhomi Singh, in a swift attack.
Losing so many men and patience, Momin Khan ordered his entire force to attack the Sikhs at the same time. Thus ensued hand to hand fight. The Sikhs put up a brave fight, killing hundreds of enemy soldiers before laying down their own lives as well. Not a single Sikh surrendered to the enemy. Their heads were taken back to Lahore and thrown in a dry well where Gurdwara Shaheed Singhania now stands in Landa Bazar. The Gurdwara Sahib now marks the site where the dead bodies of Bhai Tara Singh and his 20 companions were cremated.
This is how the Sikhs tried to uproot the cruel Mughal regime from Punjab, lock, stock and barrel. They fought to the finish, inflicting very heavy casualties on the enemy forces. We should be thankful to the Sikhs of those days because of whose bravery and sacrifices the mighty Mughal rule finally came to an end in Punjab towards the end of eighteenth Century.
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