Tempo:
'
ti
CHAP. Ill
BANDA
77
Banda, the chosen disciple of Gobind, was a native ^^o^-^^of the South of India, and an ascetic of the Bairagi Banda sucorder;^ and the extent of the deceased Guru's prepara- ceeds tions and means will be best understood from the nar- Gobind as temporal rative of the career of his followers, when his own com- ^ in Sikhs The gathered more. spirit was no manding numbers round Banda when he reached the north- Jj^^g^^^Jth'" west, bearing with him the arrows of Gobind as the ^^^ "^p, Banda put to flight the Mughal tures pledge of victory. authorities in the neighbourhood of Sirhind, and then sirhind. attacked, defeated, and slew the governor of the pro- 1709-10. vince. Sirhind was plundered, and the Hindu betrayer and Musalman destroyer of Gobitid's children were themselves put to death by the avenging Sikhs.- Banda next established a stronghold below the hills of Sirmur,-^ he occupied the country between the Sutlej and Jumna, and he laid waste the district of Saharanpur.*
Bahadur Shah, the emperor, had subdued his The emKambakhsh, he had come to terms peror with the Marathas, and he was desirous of reducing marches rebellious brother
the princes of Rajputana to their old dependence, when ^a^J^^^g^ he heard of the defeat of his troops and the sack of his He hastened city by the hitherto unknown Banda."' towards the Punjab, and he did not pause to enter his But Banda "^^ capital after his southern successes; but in the mean- *^ '" meantime time his generals had defeated a body of Sikhs near driven toPanipat, and Banda was surrounded in his new strong- ^ards hold. A zealous convert, disguised like his leader, jammu. 1 Some accounts represent Banda to have been a native Northern India, and the writer, followed by Major Browne (India Tracts, ii. 9), says he was born in the Jullundur Doab. 'Banda' signifies the slave, and Sacjap Chand, the author
of
of the Gur-Ratnavali, states that the Bairagi took the name or title when he met Gobind in the south, and found that the powers of his tutelary god Vishnu were ineffectual in the presence of the Guru. Thenceforward, he said, he would be the slave of Gobind. - For several particulars, true or fanciful, relating to the capture of Sirhind, see Browne, India Tracts, ii. 9, 10. See also Wazir Khan was Elphinstone, History of India, ii. 565, 566. clearly the name of the governor, and not Faujdar Khan, as mentioned by Malcolm {Sketch, pp. 77, 78). Wazir Khan was indeed the 'Faujdar', or military commander in the province, and the word is as often used as a proper name as to denote
an office. 3 This
was at Mukhlispur, near- Sadowra, which lies north-east from Ambala, and it appears to be the 'Lohgarh', that is, the iron or strong fort, of the Siar ul Mutakharin 115). * Forster, Travels, i. 304. Cf. Elphinstone, History of India, Travels, i. 304. This was in a. d. 1709-10. (i.
*»
ii.
561,
and Forster,
ti
CHAP. Ill
BANDA
77
Banda, the chosen disciple of Gobind, was a native ^^o^-^^of the South of India, and an ascetic of the Bairagi Banda sucorder;^ and the extent of the deceased Guru's prepara- ceeds tions and means will be best understood from the nar- Gobind as temporal rative of the career of his followers, when his own com- ^ in Sikhs The gathered more. spirit was no manding numbers round Banda when he reached the north- Jj^^g^^^Jth'" west, bearing with him the arrows of Gobind as the ^^^ "^p, Banda put to flight the Mughal tures pledge of victory. authorities in the neighbourhood of Sirhind, and then sirhind. attacked, defeated, and slew the governor of the pro- 1709-10. vince. Sirhind was plundered, and the Hindu betrayer and Musalman destroyer of Gobitid's children were themselves put to death by the avenging Sikhs.- Banda next established a stronghold below the hills of Sirmur,-^ he occupied the country between the Sutlej and Jumna, and he laid waste the district of Saharanpur.*
Bahadur Shah, the emperor, had subdued his The emKambakhsh, he had come to terms peror with the Marathas, and he was desirous of reducing marches rebellious brother
the princes of Rajputana to their old dependence, when ^a^J^^^g^ he heard of the defeat of his troops and the sack of his He hastened city by the hitherto unknown Banda."' towards the Punjab, and he did not pause to enter his But Banda "^^ capital after his southern successes; but in the mean- *^ '" meantime time his generals had defeated a body of Sikhs near driven toPanipat, and Banda was surrounded in his new strong- ^ards hold. A zealous convert, disguised like his leader, jammu. 1 Some accounts represent Banda to have been a native Northern India, and the writer, followed by Major Browne (India Tracts, ii. 9), says he was born in the Jullundur Doab. 'Banda' signifies the slave, and Sacjap Chand, the author
of
of the Gur-Ratnavali, states that the Bairagi took the name or title when he met Gobind in the south, and found that the powers of his tutelary god Vishnu were ineffectual in the presence of the Guru. Thenceforward, he said, he would be the slave of Gobind. - For several particulars, true or fanciful, relating to the capture of Sirhind, see Browne, India Tracts, ii. 9, 10. See also Wazir Khan was Elphinstone, History of India, ii. 565, 566. clearly the name of the governor, and not Faujdar Khan, as mentioned by Malcolm {Sketch, pp. 77, 78). Wazir Khan was indeed the 'Faujdar', or military commander in the province, and the word is as often used as a proper name as to denote
an office. 3 This
was at Mukhlispur, near- Sadowra, which lies north-east from Ambala, and it appears to be the 'Lohgarh', that is, the iron or strong fort, of the Siar ul Mutakharin 115). * Forster, Travels, i. 304. Cf. Elphinstone, History of India, Travels, i. 304. This was in a. d. 1709-10. (i.
*»
ii.
561,
and Forster,
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