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Today in Sikh History : 5th February |
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5th February |
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| 1762 |
Ahmad Shah invaded
for the 6th time. This invassion was primarily against the Sikhs.
The Sikhs had besieged Jandiala. Ahmad Shah reached Jandiala by forced
marches. In the meantime Sikhs had moved to Malerkotla. Ahmad Shah
surprised the Sikhs at Kup Raheera near Malaerkotla (now in Sangrur
district) and the two armies met in a straight fight. Sikhs were encumbered
with families and camp followers and lost more than 30,000 Sikh -
mostly old men, women, and children, out of a total of 50,000. However,
the main body of the Sikhs fighting force remained intact. Hwowever,
the hand written copy of the Holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib had to be
lodged near here in the house of a muslim, who kept the holy scripture
respectfully for about two centuries. It is said to have been taken
to Pakistan by that family at the time of India's Partition in 1947.
This battle is known as the "Wada Ghallughar." Ahmad Shah
reached Amritsar and destroyed Hari Mandir and the holy tank. Ahmad
Shah stayed the entire year 1762 in Panjab to subdue and crush the
Sikhs, but he totally failed in the objective. Despite the heavy loss
of life and the Holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikhs fought several
subsequent wars with Ahmed Shah Abdali and eventually convince him
to leave Punjab. Soon they recuperated and established their own kingdom,
the Khalsa rule in Punjab. With the establishment of the Sikh rule,
the Western borders of India were sealed forever to the Mughal invaders.
-Ref. Mahan Kosh.
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| 1921 |
The famous Sikh
shrine, Punja Sahib was brought under management control of Shiromani
Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC)
PANJA SAHIB gurudwara is situation at HassanAbdal, Pakistan. This
place contains a spring on a hilltop, whose water collects in a
pond nearby. During Guru Nanak's visit to HassanAbdal, his companion,
Mardana, sought some water from this pond to quench his thirst.
However, Mardana's repeated requests were denied by the muslim Faquir
who controlled this area, Walli Kandhari. Angered by the repeated
requests, he dropped a heavy rock from hilltop on Guru Nanak, who
were resting at the foothills below. Guru Nanak Dev Ji stopped the
rock with his hand. The imprint of his hand is visible even today,
engraved in the rock at this place. Subsequently, Guru Nanak had
a fruitful dialogue with Walli Kandhari and impressed upon him that
it does not behove men of God to discriminate between humans on
religious grounds. All are the children of God and He loves all
his children equally. Sikh Jathas from all over the world, travel
to this location for celebrating Vaisakhi every year. Today, HassanAbdal
is also known as Panja Sahib.
-Ref. Mahan Kosh
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