Pahar Singh

“ Ah! thou art a just man, O Jemadar."
"Well, then, hold out thine hand, brother," returned Pahar Singh, taking up a few coins and dropping them into his hand. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Good gold, good gold, Lallajee!" he said, looking up: "but it is of no use giving it to him: he will only spend it on women and liquor. Better I should have the rest, who can take care of it, Lalla, and give it him as he needs it—dost thou not think so? Yet, stay, I may as well—nine, ten, that's two hundred rupees, brother—enough for thee. ”

“ The King started as the man covertly declared his name, and the covering fell from his face.
"Thou Pahar Singh, the Lion of Allund?" he said.
"Even so, monarch," returned the chief. "Ha! ha! The man whom thy slaves—cowards—tell thee they pursue. Aha! they dare not. Pahar Singh is monarch of his own wilds; no royal troops dare to come near them. But keep thine own counsel, and now listen. Thou mayst need me yet, and I may do thee good service. Two thousand good hearts and stout arms, such as thy money cannot hire, [138] serve Pahar Singh. Swear to keep faith with me, and I will be true. ”

“ He moaned and groaned, my lord, worse than a woman; said he had been robbed at the temple; spoke of Pahar Singh who had wounded him, Maun Singh who had throttled him, then of the Shah's secretary—may his name be honoured!—and some ten thousand rupees. In short, noble sir, we could make nothing of the matter, for he began to weep if we spoke to him, and told us to take him to the King without delay. So we brought him here, and must speak for himself. ”

“ Come, sir," he added to Pahar Singh, who waited for him, "I attend you."
"He will be vexed at what he finds," said the Khan when Fazil was gone; "and it will distress his young heart. He has never seen the like, and it requires older eyes, like thine and mine, Huzrut, to look on such sights unmoved."
"Ay, true," replied the Peer; "but one or two battle-fields will be enough to cure him, and methinks he is over-tender to infidels. Well, we shall see what he advises about this Brahmun, for he is clear in council. The man ought to die." ”

“ Who did not remember that to slay infidels in war earned the blessing of the Prophet and paradise? So, with Pahar Singh leading them, his sword between his teeth, and striking down men right and left with every blow of his axe, the infuriated soldiery rushed in a body down the steps and into the large court below.
Who can describe the scene? Shrieking women and helpless men strove to fly before them, but in vain; and the bloody work of their enemies, as they pressed forward, hewing with their long sharp weapons at the unresisting masses, was quick and deadly. ”

“ As they say in Persian, 'Shooduni-Shooduni'—what is to be, is to be," returned Pahar Singh; "nay, for that matter, why did I bring your father and his men at all? Some of those pig-headed servants of Nimbalkur's began it by shutting the gate, and killing my poor Rama; and after the Peer Sahib's cry of 'Deen, Deen!' you might as well have tried to stop the Beema in flood as the men. All I could do was to save Nimbalkur and others, while the Peer was pulling down the Mother from her altar, and spitting on her. Aha! holy priest! we shall see who is strongest, the Mother or thee. ”

“ Thief! get me the rest—the rest of the gold they have put aside for thee. Didst thou not promise a lakh?"
He had now lashed himself into a fury, which had been his object evidently from the first; and he struck the Lalla with his clenched hand violently upon the head, so that he fell backwards, and lay apparently stunned; but it was only fear.
"He will kill him—not that he does not deserve death, the mean hound!" said Fazil Khan, hurriedly to his companion. "When was Pahar Singh ever known to spare a victim? What is to be done, Bulwunt? shall we attack them?" ”

“ I must ride before all for a short distance, and will rejoin ye by-and-by."
"Tooljapoor!" exclaimed the Peer, when Pahar Singh had disappeared, "a nest of idols and thieves, indeed. The haunt of a devil in the shape of an old woman, whom they all worship. I know her, with her red eyes; and when I have seen the idolatrous Kaffirs bow down before her by thousands, I have longed for the sword of our lord the Prophet to be among them. 'Inshalla!' when——"
"Peace, Huzrut," said the Khan, in a soothing tone, interrupting him. ”

“ The Khan and his son, with the Peer, were speculating as to whether that was to be the place of divergence, when Pahar Singh and his nephew rode up, and at once put an end to the doubt.
"We separate here," he said; "and this, Meah Sahib, is my son who will lead you; you will find him true and intelligent. Do not go to Sindphul," he added to Gopal Singh; "Lukshmun knows the high-road to Rutunjun by Uljapoor, and that will take you close under the pass between Sindphul and the town. ”

“ He is desperate, noble sirs; do not provoke him."
"I would do him no harm," said Pahar Singh to the Secretary, "but it is as well to be certain in case of treachery;" and he drew a small dagger from his girdle with his left hand, and held it in an attitude to strike into the King. "Go, if the money is here; bring it quickly; but beware of any attempt to rescue him, or you will cause his death. You could not reach me ere I had struck him down. [137] Go then, Meerza Sahib, my friend Maun Singh will bring the bags: he is strong enough." ”

“ The letters will [100] not alter the matter one jot, and my lord can act as he pleases afterwards. We can send people with the Lalla."
"Excellently spoken, Amrut Rao; ye have all better brains than I have. Then the papers are valuable?" said Pahar Singh.
"Yes, my lord, if properly vouched for; and the man who stole them can give a better account of them than we can. The King might give any money—a lakh of rupees—for them. He already more than suspects the Wuzeer and Sivaji Bhóslay of being in league with the Emperor, and would rejoice to get such proofs of their treachery." ”

“ One who has the right, as he has the power, to demand what he seeks." And as he spoke he snatched from beneath the heap of ashes before him [136] the heavy sword he had kept concealed there, which flashed brightly in the firelight, and started to his feet, as did also his follower. "Stir not!" he exclaimed to the King and Secretary, who had been too much startled by the sudden action to rise with the Jogi; "stir not, or ye die on the spot!" Drawing himself up to his majestic height, Pahar Singh laughed scornfully. ”

“ It ranks as one of the Cis-Sutlej states, which came under British influence in 1809. Its area is 642 sq. m., and its population in 1901 was 124,912. It is bounded on the W. and N.E. by the British district of Ferozepore, and on the S. by Nabha state. During the Sikh wars in 1845 the chief, Raja Pahar Singh, exerted himself in the British cause, and was rewarded with an increase of territory. In the Mutiny of 1857, too, his son and successor, Wazir Singh, did good service by guarding the Sutlej ferries, and in attacking a notorious rebel, whose stronghold he destroyed. ”

“ Punjab in the northwest part of India. They constitute by themselves a very important community, which is closely bound together by a feeling of common brotherhood. They all go by the name of Singh, meaning the lion, and are rightly proud of their history, which though brief in scope of time, is yet full of inspiring deeds committed by the Sikh forefathers in the defense of religious freedom and justice during the evil days of a few corrupt and fanatic Moghul rulers of India. As a rule Sikhs belong to the agriculturist class and both men and women are stalwart and healthy-looking. ”

“ Once aroused to sense of duty towards the weak and the oppressed, they have always been found willing to give their lives without remorse or regret. Sikhs constitute a major portion of the military and police forces of India and of several British colonies. Those tourists who have been in the East will recall the tall, bearded Sikh policemen of the British principalities of Shanghai and Hongkong. Since the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, Sikhs have always been regarded as the most loyal and devoted subjects of the British Crown in India. ”

“ At the time of the Guru Ka Bagh incident the physical Gandhi was locked behind iron bars in a jail of India, but his spirit accompanied every Sikh as he stepped across the line to receive the enemy’s cowardly blows.
The amazing part of this whole story is the perfect peace that prevailed throughout its entire course. The program of passive resistance was carried to completion without one slip of action on the part of the passive resisters. No community in the whole length and breadth of India is more warlike and more inflammable for a righteous cause than the Sikhs ”

“ King and political head of the Punjab, as well as chief of the Khalsa, he aimed at reconciling the varied divisions of race and creed among his subjects by employing all in his service. He kept up, however, the theory of the Khalsa, attributing every success to the favour of the Guru in the name of the Lord. "God the helper—Ranjit Singh," was his sign-manual. The Sikhs retained special privileges as the ruling race, the heart and soul of the military nation—the favoured of the State. ”

“ In 1803 the British captured Delhi from the Mahrattas, the one strong native power then left in India. Those who still kept the field were followed up by Lord Lake, who defeated them wherever they stood. He pursued Holkar, their chief, who fled to the Punjab with the remnants of his once powerful and numerous army in the hope of finding an ally in the Sikhs. In alarm at finding the Mahrattas and British in their midst, a "Guru Mata," or National Council of the Khalsa, was held at Amritsar for the last time. They decided to stand aloof, and Ranjit Singh acted as mediator. ”

“ They held aloof from the Sikh movement, as one in which their high caste was disregarded. They are strict Hindus, very clannish, loyal to their chiefs, and good soldiers, with all the Rajput pride of ancient lineage, disdaining every service but that of arms.
Kharak Singh, eldest son of Ranjit Singh, succeeded as Maharaja in 1839. He was weak in character and incompetent as a ruler. Under the evil influence of a sycophant Court favourite, his father's minister was ignored and insulted, and a plan made to assassinate him ”

“ None among my many brave and faithful servants is so rarely seen in Court—none is so frequently heard of for his deeds in the remotest parts of my Empire. Thou hast confirmed our rule in Kabulistan and Zabulistan in the West, thou hast wrested Bengal and Orissa from the determined Afghans in the East, success has ever attended thy great endeavours."
"Monarch of many nations," spoke Man Singh in his gruff voice, "I am ill fitted to speak, but gratitude dwells in my heart. ”

“ Then you have heard lies, sahib. I know the burden of their song. A bad Sikh and a bad Englishman alike resemble rock torn loose. The greater the height from which they fall, the deeper they dive into the mud. Which is the true Sikh, he who marched with us or he who abuses us? Yet I am told that in America men believe what hired Sikhs write for the German papers. ”

“ We find later that when Sikhs are reduced to mere groups of anarchists, declared outlaws, and were continuously compelled to be confined to the forests, no new literature could be created. They had a warrior spirit, a sense of courage and sacrifice and a spirit to continue their war against Muslim rulers, but they could not chalk out their future beyond this . This explains why these warrior groups fought among themselves. It is here that their lack of contemporary spirit worries us. ”

“ On the evening of the 18th, after our arrival in camp, at a small village named Lullianee, the Sikh chiefs arrived from Lahore, escorting their youthful Maharajah. The deputation were fully as humble in their deportment as the most punctilious despot could have required; and Dhuleep Singh, having been graciously forgiven for the offences of his countrymen, and raised to the precarious honours of acknowledged sovereignty, was at last treated to a royal welcome from the voices of our heavy cannon. ”

“ Our Sikh wars saw the hardest fighting which has ever taken place in India. The army which Runjit Singh had spent his life in training was a splendid force, and proved able in the shock of battle to beat the sepoys of the Company. It was only by the desperate fighting of the British troops, little aided by their native auxiliaries, that the Sikhs were finally driven back. Unfortunately, Lord Gough, the commander-in-chief, was a reckless general, whose only idea of tactics was to dash his men at the centre of the enemy's position, regardless of batteries, obstacles, and earthworks. ”

“ Beyond the Rajputs lay the third district of India which was still independent—the Sikh principality of the Punjab. The Sikhs were a sect of religious enthusiasts who had revolted against the misgovernment of the Great Mogul some fifty years before, and had formed themselves into a disorderly commonwealth. But one great chief, Runjit Singh, had taught them to combine, and forced them into union. He ruled them for many years, and organized the whole sect into an army which combined the courage of fanaticism with the strictest discipline. ”

“ But of Risaldar-major Ranjoor Singh bahadur in the flesh, I have not had another glimpse. I went in search of him the very first evening, only to learn that he had "passed his medical" that afternoon and had returned at once to active service.
We Sikhs have a proverb, sahib, that the ruler and the ruled are one. That has many sides to it of which one is this: India having many moods and minds, the British are versatile. Not altogether wise, for who is? When, for instance, did India make an end of wooing foolishness? ”