Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

143
trained in the use of arrows. They include Kalals and
goldsmiths, who do not know how to wield a spear.’ 19
Bhangu has referred to the plebian composition of the Khalsa at
several places. 20 When the Tarana Dal wing of the Khalsa Dal was
reorganized into five divisions, one of the divisions was under the
command of Bir singh Rangreta. 21 This division continued to
participate in the campaigns of the Khalsa right up to the time of the
conquest of Malerkotla. 22 In the great battle with Abdali, called Wada
Ghalu Ghara because the largest number of Sikhs in a single battle
were killed here, it is specially mentioned that Ramdasias (cobblers)
and Rangretas took a prominent part. 23
The Plebian composition of the Khalsa is corroborated also by
evidence from non-Sikh sources. Banda’s forces were recruited chiefly
from the lower caste Hindus, and scavengers, leather-dressers and such
like persons were very numerous among them. 24 The low-caste people
who swelled Banda’s ranks are termed by a contemporary Muslim
historian, as already quoted, as the dregs of the society of the hellish
Hindus.24a Another contemporary Muslim writer says that Banda
brought into the forefront the unemployed and worthless people who
had hitherto been hidden by the curtain by the curtain of
insignificance.24b Khafi Khan says that ‘these infidels (Sikhs) had set
up a new rule, and had forbidden the shaving of the hair of the head
and beard. Many of the ill-disposed low-caste Hindus joined themselves
to them, and placing their lives at the disposal of these evil-minded
people, they found their own advantage in professing belief and
obedience, and they were active in persecuting and killing other castes
of Hindus.’ 25
3. Not Sectarian
The egalitarian political aims of the Sikh movement are also
brought out by the negative evidence that it was not sectarian or based
on clanish, tribal, feudal or dynastic loyalties and ambitions. There is
a reference in Vachitar Natak that Guru Teg Bahadur sacrificed his
life to save the sacred thread (Janeo) of the Hindus. An erroneous
inference, therefore, might be drawn that the Sikh movement aimed
at the revival of Brahmanism.