sikhs

"When all other methods fail, it is proper to hold the sword in hand. [22]"

"He suffered martyrdom for the sake of his faith."

"The Lord saved his Tilak and Janeau He did a great sacrifice in this Kali (yuga).... For Dharma, he sacrificed himself.... With the departure of Tegh Bahadur The world was full of grief. Hai Hai Hai (sighs of sorrow) filled the entire world. Jai Jai Jai (shouts of victory and joy) filled the realm of the Devas (Heaven)"

"My father travelled towards the east and took the holy dip at several places of pilgrimage. When he reached the Triveni Sangam, he spent several days there performing charity and many meritorious acts. It is there that I appeared (in my mother’s womb) and then I took physical birth later in Patna."

"At the end of the rainy season, Mata Bassi, grand- mother of Guru Har Krishan, led a sangat from Delhi to Bakala. She brought with her the tokens of succession - five piece and a coconut consecrated by Guru Har Krishnan... On the evidence of the Bhatt Vahi Talaudā Parganā Jind, Guru Tegh Bahadur was formally anointed Guru on Bhadon Amavas 1721 BK / 11 August 1664. Bhai Gurditta applied the saffron mark to his forehead. The assembled Sikhs paid their homage and made offerings."

"Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji’s life epitomised courage and compassion. On his Shaheedi Diwas, I bow to the great Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji and recall his vision for a just and inclusive society,"

"The Sikh Gurus Tegh Bahadur, beheaded by Aurangzeb in 1675 for refusing to convert, and his son Govind Singh, who founded the military Khalsa order and whose four sons were killed by the Moghul troops, are very popular in Hindutva glorifications of national heroes'. Their pictures are routinely displayed at functions of the RSS and its affiliates, and their holidays celebrated, e.g.: 'Over 650 branches of Bharat Vikas Parishad observe Guru Tegh Bahadur Martyrdom Day'. Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom in 1675 was of course in the service of Hinduism, in that it was an act of opposing Aurangzeb’s policy of forcible conversion. An arrest warrant against him had been issued on non-religious and nonpolitical charges, and he was found out after having gone into hiding; Aurangzeb gave him a chance to escape his punishment by converting to Islam. Being a devout Muslim, Aurangzeb calculated that the conversion of this Hindu sect leader would encourage his followers to convert along with him. The Guru was tortured and beheaded when he refused the offer to accept Islam, and one of his companions was sawed in two for having said that Islam should be destroyed.... He was not a Sikh defending Hinduism, but a Hindu of the Nanakpanth defending his own Hindu religion..."

"This morning, I prayed at the historic Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib, where the pious body of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Ji was cremated. I felt extremely blessed. I, like millions around the world, am deeply inspired by the kindnesses of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Ji."

"The Guru defended the Hindu religion and gave the message of universal communion."

"In northern India, Gurdwara Sisgunj in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, stands witness to Aurangzeb's idea of punishment to non-Muslims. Here the Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur was called upon to embrace Islam, and on his refusal was tortured for five days and then "beheaded on a warrant from the emperor" (December 1675)."

"[Aurangzeb] summoned the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur (1664-1675 A.D.), to the imperial seat at Delhi and martyred him in cold blood on his refusal to embrace Islam. Some followers of the Guru who had accompanied him were subjected to inhuman torture and torn to pieces. This was as it were a final signal that there was something very hard at the heart of Islam's heart which the Gurus had tried to soften with their teachings of humanism and universalism. Sikhism had to accept the challenge and pick up the sword in defence of its very existence."

"This new community, the Khalsa Panth, remained an integral part of the Hindu social and religious system. It is significant that when Tegh Bahadur was summoned to Delhi, he went as a representative of the Hindus. He was executed in the year 1675. His son who succeeded him as guru later described his father’s martyrdom as in the cause of the Hindu faith, ‘to preserve their caste marks and their sacred thread did he perform the supreme sacrifice’. The guru himself looked upon his community as an integral part of the Hindu social system."

"“It is well known in this world that we are the grandchildren of Guru Tegh Bahadur who went to Delhi and got himself beheaded rather than forsake his Dharma. Now, this group of Turks (Muslims) have threatened us with death but this Dharma will not go away. We will not die merely for fear of Turks. We will remain Hindus till death. Time devours everyone one day. Respected brother, reflect that for this life of four days, why should we lose our Dharma?”"

"It is the special Kripa of the Guru Sahibs that we will mark the special occasion of the 400th Parkash Parv of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Ji during our Government’s tenure. Let us mark this blessed occasion in a historic way and celebrate the ideals of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Ji."

"Aurangzeb: Hinduism is a false religion. It allows idol worship, it does not teach Tauhid (unicity). Therefore, Hindus will be punished in hell. I pity them and therefore I wish that all should be converted to Islam. It is Allah's wish that there should be only one religion, Islam. If the Hindus accept Islam they will be rewarded with wealth, high offices and land grants. In that case you will be able to retain your leadership, have many more followers and be a renowned priest of Islam which is the only true religion on earth. O Guru, accept my invitation to embrace Islam and you shall get whatever your heart's desire may be. Guru Tegh Bahadur: O Emperor, thou and I and all people are God's and so are all the religions which acknowledge God. If it were His Will that there should be only one religion in the world he would not have allowed other religion to exist side by side at the same time. There is none to dispute His Will. Is there not more than one road leading to Delhi, and more than one gate to enter the capital? O, Emperor you are merely a labourer and not a true servant ofjthe Lord. You work for your selfish ends, worldly achievements, establishment of your rule, to enslave human beings to your will. And all this you wish to do in the name of religion. Even if you perform namaz, fasting, read the Quran and other things enjoined by the law, yet your are a labourer, for you do all this for reward, to secure a place in paradise. Islam is resignation to the Will of the God, and not to wish worldly things here and heaven after death. Aurangzeb: Remember, I am only obeying God's orders in converting all to Islam. Guru Tegh Bahadur: I know not whether you imagine that you are carrying out God's command or merely wish to hide the crimes committed to satisfy your greed and desire for power under the cloak of religion. Remember, conversion is not carrried out by force or threats or by bribes. Conversion is a thing that depends on the faith of the heart. Why did not the uncle of the Prophet become a convert to Islam? You say your religion does not allow idol worship in any form. Then whfere is the justification to enjoin a kind of worship to be offered to the black stone of Kaaba? O, King, you speak of unicity but you do not know what that means. All the religion believe in the unicity of God. The meaning of unicity doe's not end here. Remember when the self is eliminated that duality can disappear. Thus alone can one believe Tawhid. ""

"Bring the offerings , an embroidered dress and six oxen to present to Mata Ji on the occasion of Diwali along with the entire congregation . Take Mata Ji's command to be the command of the Guru. The congregation shall be blessed."

"Listen All! Said Tegh Bahadur: Those who stick to their Dharma are called brave. I know my Hindu Dharma to be the best. How can I forsake that which is very dear to me? It (Hindu Dharma) gives immense joy in this world and the next. Even life is trivial compared to honor. The fool whose intellect is corrupted, That idiot alone will forsake it. I will endure harm to establish Hindu Dharma in this world. It will never be destroyed even if you try."

"Guru Har Rai Ji had two sons, Guru Har Kishan Ji and Ram Rai Ji. Then, guru-ship was given to Har Kishan. After him, guru Tegh Bhahdur became the guru. By caste Khatri Sodhi Sahib Ji of Kaushish gotra, worshipper of Naina Devi and a native of Vatan ( Suba ) Lahore. Bhoj Raj Ji the prohit of Shri Prag Raj ( Tribeni / Allahabad ), whosoever from the line of the Sodhis and a Sikh of the guru, visiting ( Prayag ) will honour him ( Bhoj Raj prohit ), he will be blessed. Signed Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji."

"The attack on Sikhs and their property in our locality appeared to be an extremely organized affair ... There were also some young men on motorcycles, who were instructing the mobs and supplying them with kerosene oil from time to time. On more than a few occasions we saw auto-rickshaw arriving with several tins of kerosene oil and other inflammable material, such as jute sacks."

"(Rahul Gandhi's) current Guru Number 1, Sam Pitroda, added to Congress problems by making one of the most thoughtless, offensive remarks I have ever heard. Accosted by TV reporters last week and asked about the 1984 pogrom against the Sikhs, he said, “OK 1984 happened, so what?”"

"It was the Congress leaders who instigated mobs in 1984 and got more than 3000 people killed. I must give due credit to RSS and the BJP for showing courage and protecting helpless Sikhs during those difficult days. No less a person than Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself intervened at a couple of places to help poor taxi drivers."

"One who is not perturbed by misfortune, who is beyond comfort, attachment and fear, who considers gold as dust. He neither speaks ill of others nor feels elated by praise and shuns greed, attachments and arrogance. He is indifferent to ecstasy and tragedy, is not affected by honors or humiliations. He renounces expectations, greed. He is neither attached to the worldliness, nor lets senses and anger affect him. In such a person resides God."

"My answer is that I am a Hindu and I love Hindu dharma. How can anyone destroy it? It provides happiness both in this world as well as in the other world. There is no other religion like it. Only a deranged person or a fool would leave it to become vile. Hindu dharma would remain in the world for ever. It is not going to be destroyed by your efforts."

"How can I disgrace the Hindu Dharma, so dear to my heart?"

"You did not send those who are accused in the anti-Sikh riots to jails. Not just that, you also made someone who has allegations of instigating anti-Sikh riots, a Chief Minister."

"The attacks on members of the Sikh Community in Delhi and its suburbs during the period, far from being a spontaneous expression of "madness" and of popular "grief and anger" at Mrs. Gandhi's assassination as made out to be by the authorities, were the outcome of a well organised plan marked by acts of both deliberate commissions and omissions by important politicians of the Congress (I) at the top and by authorities in the administration."

"Reminiscing the 1984 Sikh Massacre, the Prime Minister asserted, “Entire Punjab has witnessed that we formed SIT to investigate the 1984 Sikh riots, helped its victims. But Congress has always done the work of sprinkling salt on their wounds by giving big positions to the accused of riots.”"

"The RSS and Sikhs have always fought shoulder to shoulder. Sikhs can never forget how RSS activists protected them during the partition and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots."

"Christians are not the only minority to be targeted by the Sangh Parivar. Violence against Sikhs in northern India in 1984… also stemmed from the activities and hate propaganda of these groups."

"Despite numerous credible eye-witness accounts that identified many of those involved in the violence, including police and politicians, in the months following the killings, the government sought no prosecutions or indictments of any persons, including officials, accused in any case of murder, rape or arson."

"The killings of Sikhs in November 1984, under Congress rule in Delhi and other cities of North India, can be accurately described as a pogrom or massacre because the killings were totally one-sided. It was not a Hindu-Sikh riot. In fact, the Hindu community was as stunned by the murderous mobs, as were the Sikhs. Congress Party had hired goons who pretended frenzy and butchered over 3,000 Sikhs in Delhi alone. Many more thousands were killed or burnt alive in several North Indian cities. The dead were all Sikhs; only Sikh women were raped. There was not a single incident of Sikhs having killed Hindus or abducted women of any community in retaliation. Sikhs are not a helpless community in ordinary times, nor are they an oppressed religious minority. However, since Congress Party politicians are known to have led murderous mobs and the top leadership of the Congress Party is known to have deliberately immobilised the law and order machinery, the killing brigades and arsonists got a free hand for three–four days. Even though the army was ready at hand in Delhi Cantonment, it was not called for three long days till the worst was over. The police did not fire a single shot at the murderous mobs. They were asked to look the other way or actively assist the killer mobs. There wasn’t even an instance of lathi charge to disperse mobs. There were no arrests of arsonists during those days. It was uncontrolled mayhem from October 31, 1984 to November 3, 1984. The loss of property was also one-sided. Only Sikh homes were set on fire; the mobs looted only Sikh business establishments and houses. No Sikh went on a looting spree."

"The fact of the matter is that innocent people died in 1984 and innocent people dying is a horrible thing and should not happen. The difference between Gujarat and 1984 was that the Government of Gujarat was involved in the riots. [...] I think that riots, as all riots, were a horrible event. Frankly I was not in operation in the Congress party."

"When a big tree falls, the earth shakes."

"I have no confusion in my mind about that. It was a tragedy, it was a painful experience. You say that the Congress party was involved in that, I don’t agree with that. Certainly there was violence, certainly there was tragedy."

"“I have data which shows who was responsible whenever violence incidents took place in the country... "The Congress talks of 1984 riots, I would like to tell them that they have forgotten that some accused are today on the position of CM."

"This is indeed the blessing of Vedas and Puranas, that you may meditate in the name of Hari."

"Before that kãfir [Guru Arjun Deva] was executed this recluse [meaning himself] had seen in a dream that the reigning king had smashed the skull of idolatry. Indeed, he was a great idolater, and the leader of the idolaters, and the chief of unbelievers. May Allah blast him! The Holy Prophet who is the ruler of religion as well as the world, has cursed the idolaters as follows in some of his prayers – “O Allah, demean their society, create divisions in their ranks, destroy their homes, and get at them like the mighty one.”"

"'From Hindus and Muslims have I broken free', said Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Sikh guru, in the 1590s. (...) Yet, it is not as straightforward as separatists might wish. No Sikh Guru was ever a Muslim, ergo the half-sentence: 'Of Muslims have I broken free', does not mean that he abandoned Islam. Therefore, the other half need not be construed as a repudiation of Hinduism either. Rather, it may be read as repudiating the whole 'identity' business including the division of mankind into Hindu and Muslim categories, on the Upanishadic ground that the Self is beyond these superficial trappings (the Self being neti neti, ?not this, not that?)-but that is a typically Hindu and decidedly un-Islamic position. To the Quran, group identity (being a member of the Muslim ummah or not) is everything, is laden with far-reaching consequences including an eternity in heaven or in hell. To Hindu society, it is also undeniably important; but to Hindu spirituality, it is not. Likewise, another verse of the same poem, 'I will not pray to idols nor say the Muslim prayer', is more anti-Islamic than anti-Hindu: it rejects a duty binding every single Muslim (prayer) and a practice common among Hindus (idol-worship) but by no means obligatory."

"These days the accursed infidel of Gobindwal was very fortunately killed. It is a cause of great defeat for the reprobate Hindus. With whatever intention and purpose they are killed – the humiliation of infidels is for Muslims, life itself. Before this Kafir (Infidel) was killed, I had seen in a dream that the Emperor of the day had destroyed the crown of the head of Shirk or infidelity. It is true that this infidel [Guru Arjun] was the chief of the infidels and a leader of the Kafirs. The object of levying Jizya (tax on non-Muslims) on them is to humiliate and insult the Kafirs, and Jihad against them and hostility towards them are the necessities of the Mohammedan faith."

"In the very first year of his reign, he [Jahangir] tortured Guru Arjun Dev to death. His contempt for Hindus comes out clearly in his Tuzuk-i-Jahãngîrî: “A Hindu named Arjun lived in Govindwal on the bank of river Beas in the garb of a saint and in ostentation. From all sides cowboys and idiots became his fast followers. The business had flourished for three or four generations. For a long time it had been in my mind to put a stop to this dukãn-e-bãtil (mart of falsehood) or to bring him into the fold of Islam.” According to other accounts, he asked the Guru to include some sûrahs of the Quran in the Ãdi Grantha, which the Guru refused to do. In the eighth year of his reign, he destroyed the temple of Bhagwat at Ajmer. He persecuted the Jains in Gujarat, and ordered that Jain monks should not be seen in his kingdom on pain of death. Finally, he sent Murtaza Khan to Kangra for reducing that city of temples. The siege lasted for 20 months at the end of which he himself went to Kangra for slaughtering cows in that sacred place of Hindus, and building a mosque where none had existed before."

"The Mughal rulers of the Punjab were evidently concerned with the growth of the Panth, and in 1605 the Emperor Jahangir made an entry in his memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Jahāṅgīrī, concerning Guru Arjan's support for his rebellious son Khusrau Mirza. Too many people, he wrote, were being persuaded by his teachings, and if the Guru would not become a Muslim the Panth had to be extinguished. Jahangir believed that Guru Arjan was a Hindu who pretended to be a saint, and that he had been thinking of forcing Guru Arjan to convert to Islam or his false trade should be eliminated, for a long time. Mughal authorities seem plainly to have been responsible for Arjan's death in custody in Lahore, and this may be accepted as an established fact. Whether death was by execution, the result of torture, or drowning in the Ravi River remains unresolved. For Sikhs, Arjan is the first martyr Guru."

"After Guru Arjun Deva had been tortured and done to death by Jahangir, he [Ahmad Sirhindi] wrote in letter No. 193 that “the execution of the accursed kafir of Gobindwal is an important achievement and is the cause of the great defeat of the Hindus.”"

"There was a Hindu named Arjan in Gobindwal on the banks of the Beas River. Pretending to be a spiritual guide, he had won over as devotees many simple-minded Indians and even some ignorant, stupid Muslims by broadcasting his claims to be a saint. They called him guru. Many fools from all around had recourse to him and believed in him implicitly. For three or four generations they had been peddling this same stuff. For a long time I had been thinking that either this false trade should be eliminated or that he should be brought into the embrace of Islam. At length, when Khusraw passed by there, this inconsequential little fellow wished to pay homage to Khusraw. When Khusraw stopped at his residence, [Arjan] came out and had an interview with [Khusraw]. Giving him some elementary spiritual precepts picked up here and there, he made a mark with saffron on his forehead, which is called qashqa in the idiom of the Hindus and which they consider lucky. When this was reported to me, I realized how perfectly false he was and ordered him brought to me. I awarded his houses and dwellings and those of his children to Murtaza Khan, and I ordered his possessions and goods confiscated and him executed."

"Arjun’s martyrdom inspired his own son, Hargobind, to arm his comrades, who stood ready to defend their religion with their lives, converting the pacifist faith of Guru Nanak into a militant new order pitted against Mughal tyranny."

"21st June dawned terrible and grim in Lahore, even more than the two previous days. On this day a bus was stopped by Muslim goondas outside Mochi Gate, a purely Muslim locality. Hindu and Sikh passengers were pulled out, the Muslims being asked to stand in a separate line. The Muslim goondas on such occasions used the term ‘chhatra’ (a sheep) or ‘suer’ (pig) for the victims, and asked the drivers if they happened to be Muslims, to surrender their prey to them. 10 of these unhappy passengers were stabbed to death and left dead on the Circular Road. On this day the city, of Lahore, both walled and new, saw altogether 46 fires raging in it. In the walled city alone, a thickly populated area, concentrating a population of 3 lakhs in a square mile or so, 20 fires were burning in the Hindu and Sikh localities. Gurdwara Baoli Sahib inside Dabbi Bazar in the walled city was attempted to be burned, but was saved by the arrival of a military patrol. On the 22nd June, the campaign of arson took a still more widespread and ‘all-out’ form. On this day the town had as many as 69 fires burning in its different localities. Shahalmi Gate, the biggest and busiest trading centre of Lahore, almost entirely Hindu, was the spot selected for destruction by Muslims this time. (103)"

"But the worst carriage and destruction came in the Western districts-Multan, Rawalpindi, Campbellpur, Jhelum and Sargodha where right from the 5th March the League-led Muslim mobs fell with determination and full preparations on the helpless Hindus and Sikhs scattered in the villages, at the rate usually of a few Hindu and/or Sikh homes in the midst of a large Muslim population. (76)"

"July (1947) was a month of violent and widespread attacks on Hindus and Sikhs in Lahore. The elimination and extermination of these minorities by the Muslims was proceeding apace now, and the field covered was coming to embrace more and new spheres of life and activity. (105)"

"These attacks were open, unchecked and of the nature of a thorough extermination-the methods being everywhere uniform, such as stabbing, arson and the humiliations inflicted in forcibly converting the men and dishonouring the women of the minorities. (76)"

"These districts were worse situated from the point of view of the harassed and beseiged Hindu and Sikh populations, even than the districts of the Rawalpindi Division in the Punjab. These Districts backed on the tribal Afghan territory, into which the Hindu and Sikh women and others could be easily kidnapped. Flight was impossible for these unfortunate people either, for they were separated from the Hindu-Sikh areas of the Punjab by a very long belt of Muslim areas, through which no non-Muslim could travel with safety in those terrible months of anarchy in the Punjab. (75)"

"In May the attack on Hindus and Sikhs assumed very large proportions. Regular burning, murder and pillage started. On May 18, the Muslims of Mozang, a high Muslim majority area of Lahore attacked the Hindu and Sikh inhabitants. The Muslim mob is said to have been ten thousand and was supplied with rifles which report speaks of as having come from the armoury of the police station of Mozang, through the courtesy of the Muslim Sub-Inspector. The arms thus loaned were to be returned after “use”. Several Hindu and Sikh buildings were set on fire, and moving about in the Mozang area became extremely risky for any Hindu or Sikh. (97)"