How Nanakpanthi Sindhis, Punjabi Hindus or non-Khalsa Sikhs have a justified claim on Gurus and Granth

Why did Sufi Miyan Mir & Ahmad Sirhindi hold their fifth Guru, Arjun Dev’s execution, as a great Islamic victory? Why did the sixth Guru Har Govind take on the Mughals with the support of Hindu Rajputs.? Why was Guru Tegh Bahadur beheaded by Aurangzeb? Why did Guru Govind Singh spend his entire life fighting the Mughals, why did Jamshed Khan and Wasil Beg stab him, why did the Mughals kill his sons and his mother? According to Panth Prakash of Giani Gian Singh, Guru Gobind Singh ji’s sons are known to have said: “Turk bhay mare naahin Hindu raha marhahi kaal sabhahun ko khai hai taantey ab tum vichaar karo chaar din Jeevan kay het hum dharma kyon gavaai hai.” Translation: “We will not die just for the fear of Turks, we will remain Hindus till death, Time will kill all, why should we lose our Dharma for this life of four days.” Guru Gobind Singh in the Bachitar Natak says that Prabh/ Prabhu saved the Tilak and Janeu of his father who gave up his life for Dharma: Tilak janju rakha Prabha taka Keeno bado kaloo maih saaka. But Macauliffe and S.S. Kohli and their translations insert the word “of the Hindu”, “frontal marks, sacrificial threads of the Hindus”, to fabricate a narrative that Guru Tegh Bahadur gave up his life for the Hindus and not his own Hindu Dharma! Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth-Rashi 12-Ang 474: Tin try suni shri Teg Bahadur Dharam nibhaani bikhaiye Bahadur Ajuttar/ ucchatar bhano/ maano hum Hindoo Ati priya ko Kim karate nikandoo. Says Teg Bahadur, brave is the one who stands by Dharma, I believe my Hindu Dharma to be most superior and so how can I abandon that which is most dear to me! Hindu dharam rakhe jag mahin Tumre kare binse iha nahin. - Rashi 12, Ang 474, 35. I shall endure harm so that Hindu Dharma prevails in this world. The Dharma that’ll never be destroyed how much you try. Guru Tegh Bahadur chose death over being converted to Islam, and laid down his head for the sake of Dharma. Seesu diaa par see na ucharee Dharam heti saka jin kiaa. Seeshu diaa par siraru na diaa. “Without a sigh, my father sacrificed himself but did not give up Dharma”. Gurus wore Tilak and Janeu. It becomes clear with the verse of Guru Granth Sahib, Raag Ramkali, Baba Sundar, Ramkali Sadd-Ang 923, that All the Gurus wore a Tilak: Raam Daas Sodi tilaku diaa gur sabdu sachu neesaanu jeeu. The Guru then blessed Ram Das Sodhi with the tilak, the insignia of the true word of the Shabad. During the succession ceremonies of Gurus, a Tilak was applied on the forehead of the next Guru. On Baisakhi 12 April, 1801, Sahib Singh Bedi, a direct descendant of Guru Nanak daubed Ranjeet Singh’s forehead with saffron Tilak and proclaimed him Maharaja. Maharaja Ranjit Singh had Ganesh ji sthapna done at the entrance of a bunga near the Golden Temple. He even had Ganesh sthapna at the entrance of his samadhi in Lahore. So rooted was he in Dharma that he gave gold for Jwalamukhi Mandir, Kashi Vishwanath Mandir, Hari Mandir (that later becomes islamised ‘Darbar Sahab’) and wished to donate the diamond Koh-i-noor diamond to the Puri Jagannath Mandir. In 1819, he banned Cow slaughter, restored all Mandirs in Kashmir and healed the wounds inflicted in four centuries by Islamists on Kashmiri Hindus. Maharaja Ranjeet Singh’s Flag had Maa Durga in the centre with Hanuman ji and Bharav on either side, same as on Lakshman Dev- Madho Daas/ Banda Singh Bahadur’s flag. Dr. Sheena Pall gives evidence from the Mukammal Sausakhi, Panth Prakash, Bhagat Ratnavali and Surya Prakash that Shri Ganesh was worshipped by the Gurus, that Ganesh pooja was done before the marriage ceremonies of Guru Nanak, Guru Hargobind, Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh. “Apart from illuminations, worshipped Ganesh and Lakshmi, the harbingers of good fortune and prosperity on Deepawali, the theme of material wealth in the rite was publicly exhibited by worshipping a silver coin alongside sacred icons.” Guru Gobind Singh ji was a Devi bhakt. Guru Gobind Singh performed a Yagna at Naina Devi and spent Rs 45,000 on it before formation of Khalsa Panth, according to Chaupa Singh Rahit-nama. Chaupa Singh was an eyewitness to all incidents in Guru Gobind Singh’s life, he had also taught Gurumukhi to Gobind Singh. In Ugardanti he invokes the violent/ ugra roop of Aadi Shakti for Dharma Raksha and for protection of the Khalsa Panth. In Chandi Charitar Ukti Bilas he prays to Shiva/ Aadi Shakti, “Deh Shiva bar moye..” The five weapons were not five _K_s. The five weapons that Guru Gobind Singh mandated the Khalsa to carry were those of Devi Durga, a sword, a firelock, bow and arrow, a pike. At the time of annexation of Punjab, the British in 1849 banned carrying of weapons. 175 years later, the Singh Sabha replaced the five weapons by five Ks. Source: Pashaura Singh and WH McLeod, pages 45-46— 57/294 “Prior to the establishment of the Singh Sabha there is no reference to the Five Ks nor of their inclusion into the Rahit and their formation was not clear until the nineteenth century.”- Anne Murphy, The materiality of the past, history and representation in Sikh tradition. Guru Nanak and his nine successors were a reforming body within the Hindu community. “The Sikh movement was in itself a result of the great Vaishnava movement which had started in the Ganges valley in the fifteenth century. Guru Nanak and his nine successors were a reforming body within the Hindu community that re-awakened the Hindus to the past glories of their Arya race… Each individual under Hindu Dharma is free to worship a separate Deity, in a family, one member may be an orthodox Hindu, another a Sikh, an Arya Samaji, a Brahmo Samaji or a follower of the Radha Swami.”- Professor Gulshan Rai, The Hindu Problem in the Punjab. Guru Gobind Singh expresses his distrust in his letter, Zafarnama to Aurangzeb after the battle of Chamkaur: “I have no trust in your oaths, even if you swear a hundred times on Kuran." Mara aitbar bar een kasm-e-neest Agar sad kuran ra b-khirdi kasam Mara aitbar-e na yak zara dam. He writes, “When all has been tried and yet justice is not in sight, it is then right to pick up the sword, it is then right to fight.” The Sikhs cannot claim exclusive ownership of the ten Gurus or the Granth. The Madra Desh he talks about in Bichitra Natak, is Brahmavarta, the present day Sindh & undivided Punjab. Sindh is not just a geographical region, its an inalienable part our heritage for on the banks of Sapt Sindhu was born the ancient most civilisation the Hindu Sabhyata, for which Sanyasis like Aadi Shankaracharya, Mahaprabhu Chaitanya, Vallabhacharya, Madhavacharya, Ramdas, Ravidas, all the ten Gurus dedicated their entire lives. Apart from the Sikhs, Nanakpanthi Sindhis, Punjabi Hindus/ Sahajdhari or non-Khalsa Sikhs have forever revered the Gurus and the Granth as their own, and probably have understood their teachings better since they see them from the Vedic aspect of oneness. Sindhis fled to the Indian side after 6 January 1948 Karachi riots, unfortunately to be viewed as cowards who fled even though there was less violence in the Sindh provinces as compared to Punjab. The government too was less willing to allocate resources for their rehabilitation. The provincial government went one step further and enacted the ‘Bombay Refugees’ Act 1948’ to restrict refugee movement, to extern refugees from specific areas and to subject them to forcible dispersal, criminalising them if they violated these rules! The Gurdwaras were under the care of Udasis and the Mahants much before SGPC was born just a 100 years ago. Sindh has suffered at the hands of Islamic invaders since AD 632, separated from Bombay despite pleading to Gandhi, unlike Punjab and Bengal, Sindh was not divided but given away to Pakistan. Their sufferings don’t seem to seize, not in Pakistan where they are assaulted, converted, abducted, ravished and made to cross the border to India seeking citizenship, and also not in India where even their right to worship is challenged. Today, Udaasipanth Sindhis follow the Gaddi of Baba Hari Ram who strengthened the Udaasi panth and whose spiritual ancestry is traced to Guru Nanak Dev himself. The differences between Baba Shri Chand’s Udaasis and Guru’s traditional Sikhs ceased after Guru Gobind Singh declared the Granth as the Guru. Question is - Who is the maryada following ‘Saccha Sikh’ according to SGPC? The Nirankaris, Nanakpanthis, Uddsis, Niranjanis, Suthra-Shahis, Sanmal-Shahis, Dhir Malias, Sevapanthis, Sat Kartaris, Nirmalas, Namdhairs, Ravidasas or the Nihangs? Instead of trying to distance themselves from Sanatana Dharma, Sikhs should rather be worried about the increasing conversions of Sikhs to Christianity. Also read: How all ten human Sikh Gurus were practising Hindus The author professionally is a hospitality entrepreneur. She is an avid history buff and perpetually researches episodes where history was faulted to manufacture faux narratives. She is the founder of Ayodhya Foundation Org which aims at promotion and revival of Vedic culture, Bhartiya sangeet and nritya, arts and handicrafts. Her works involve ‘Existence of Saraswati from the Shastras,’ ‘Partition of India and the events since 638 that lead to it,’ ‘History of Islamic and Christian invasions across the world’ etc. She tweets with @meenakshisharan. Views expressed are personal. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.