When the Mughal Empire oppressed India through Islamic extremism.

The Wonderous 1
Mar 11
4 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

The pure belongs to the 'Wonderous Enlightener'. The victory belongs to the 'Wonderous Enlightener'.

Going back in time to the year 1674, the ‘Mughal’ empire was ruling India and the throne was occupied by the emperor ‘Muhi al-Din Muhammad Chavgatha’. He was famously known with his regnal name ‘Aurangzeb (beauty of the throne). The ‘Sikhs’ and Sikh historical sources would refer to him as ‘Nauranga’ because he did not do justice to his self-claimed name. He had committed many atrocities and practiced Islam very extremely. The emperor was aware of the power that Islam had towards the West (from India), with ‘Saudi Arabia’ and all the Islamic countries around it. Thus, he wanted to spread Islam towards the East (from those countries) so that he could fully implement ‘Sharia’ law within his rule. The only way he could establish Islamic law was to have a completely ‘Muslim’ population. Without having the law of ‘Sharia’ implemented, he believed that he would be doomed for hell and could not practice his religion adequately by accepting this. Consequently, he agreed with all of his religious advisors that mass conversions must take place in order for their target to become a reality. This extreme approach brought devastation to India because Aurangzeb used every way possible to spread Islam, even if it meant bribery or violence.

Aurangzeb firstly started his campaign in ‘Kashmir’, targeting the rich and educated class of Hindus in particular. Especially part of the agenda was to target the ‘Brahmans’ who were the scholars of the Hindu scriptures and responsible for delegating knowledge of the Hindu faith to the masses. The ‘Sooba’ (governor) of Kashmir was Sher Afkan who first proposed to a group of Hindu scholars about accepting Islam. However, after they displayed a steadfast attitude for their own faith as Hindus, Afkan Sher was enraged and decided to invade an area of 11 to 17 miles that was heavily populated by Hindus in Kashmir. This mountainous area of Kashmir had many places of pilgrimage and sacred spots for the Hindus alongside residence of many Hindu scholars. This was after all a hub for scriptural learning of the Hindu texts. A mass conversion campaign commenced where the ‘Janeoos’* removed from the Hindus totalled to weigh around ‘Sava Man’ (1.25 Maunds)**. This oppression continued for days to follow. One can understand just how many people were oppressed by considering how light a thread is, and for a pile of threads to weigh that much, was absolutely atrocious!

*A ‘Janeoo’ can be defined as a religious initiation thread worn by ‘Hindus’ from the left shoulder down to the right hip.

**1 ‘Man’ is defined as 1 ‘Maund’ (about 37kg) so ‘Sava Man’ refers to about 46.6kg of weight.

After Afkan Sher had made his mark, the initial group of Hindu scholars were invited to talk again and warned about the consequences of not converting to Islam. This group managed to bail themselves out of the situation by asking for a time of six months to think things through. They were granted this time in which they decided to make an escape far up in the snowy mountains, to congregate at ‘Amarnath’ to plea before their entity ‘Shiv Ji’ for an answer. ‘Amarnath’ Temple is a shrine situated in a cave at an altitude of 12,756 feet and located in the ‘Pahalgam tehsil' of the ‘Anantnag’ district of Jammu/Kashmir, (present day India).

These Brahmans decided that they will either please their ‘God’ or die trying, but refused to give up their faith. After eight days of collective worship, fighting hunger and sleepless nights, their bodies had weakened and some Brahmans had fallen unconscious. Finally, the Brahmans discovered a (mysterious) letter in the shrine which mentioned Guru Tegh Bahadar Ji being their only saviour and how they should seek his sanctuary. This letter was understood as a divine intervention of God and a token to rescue them out of their problem. Seen as they were worshipping ‘Shiv Ji’, they believed it to be written by that entity. As they read this letter to one another multiple times, they started to question who this Guru was. Out of the group, only one Brahman knew who this letter was referring to and explained about Guru Ji to everybody else. It soon made sense to everyone that it was this Guru’s father, Guru Hargobind Ji that had previously resisted four attacks by the Mughul empire and was victorious in four battles with Shah Jahan (the father of the current Mughul emperor Aurangzeb). Guru Tegh Bahadar Ji lived life fearlessly and would be unphased before the emperor’s might.

Other historical sources such as the ‘Bhat Vahis’ mention that a Brahman named Kirpa Ram Datt was a part of this group whose family lineage had been Sikhs from the time of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. He knew very well about the compassionate nature of this ‘Guruship’ and it was him that suggested visiting Guru Tegh Bahadar Ji who would embrace them in this hour of need. Interesting to mention is that according to some sources, it was this same Kirpa Ram Datt who became a martyr in the battle of Chamkaur Sahib (1704) after being initiated into the Khalsa as Kirpa Singh.

To be continued...

The pure belongs to the 'Wonderous Enlightener'. The victory belongs to the 'Wonderous Enlightener'.

References:

1. Sant Gurbachan Singh - (Katha) 'Shaheedi Saka of Guru Tegh Bahadar Ji' (Parts 1 & 2)

2. Thakur Das - Shaheed Bilas

3. Kavi Santokh Singh - Gurpartap Sooraj Parkash

4. Kahan Singh (Nabha) - Mahan Kosh

5. Giani Pinderpal Singh - (Katha) Jeevan Katha Ate Shahadat Guru Tegh Bahadar Ji'

6. Bhatt Vahis

7. Alphabet.Inc - Google

8. Dr Sukhpreet S - (Lectures) 'Guru Tegh Bahadar Ji'

9. Sant Kartar Singh - (Katha) 'Shaheedi Guru Tegh Bahadar Ji'