Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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Muslim rulers; not out of worldly considerations but because they
considered his cause to be just. The Guru hailed Saiyed Budhan Shah
as ‘a true priest of God’, meaning that he was serving the cause of
God, and presented him (Budhan Shah) with his turban and comb
which were preserved by his descendants as a relic till these were
procured by the Chief of Nabha.’ 36
4. Not Clannish or Feudal
The Sikh armed struggle was not based on clannish, tribal, feudal
or dynastic loyalties or ambitions either. Guru Gobind Singh was not
interested in political power for himself.36a The only tribes from which
a sizable number of Sikhs were drawn were Jats. But, as they shed off
their Jatism when they joined the Khalsa, the question of their retaining
their original clannish and tribal ties did not arise. Brahmins, Khatries,
Jats and low castes, the lowest of them, participated in the struggle
not as members of their original castes, but as members of the
egalitarian Khalsa brotherhood. Unlike the Marathas, they were not
held together by a regional nationalism. Of the five Beloved Ones,
who formed the nucleus of the Khalsa leadership, one belonged to
Hastanpur (U.P.) , one to Dwarka (Saurashtra), one to Bidar (Karnataka)
and one to Jagannath (Orissa). 37 The Sikhs were cemented together by
the ideology of the Khalsa. The Brahmins and Khatries who joined
the Sikh ranks had no hesitation in bowing to the Masands many of
whom were from the Jats. 38 Everyone accepted the Jats, Kalals and
Rangretas, the lowest caste, as one’s equals in the Khalsa Dal.
The leadership always went to the most deserving Sikh,
irrespective of his caste or the size of his group. After the Gurus, the
Jats accepted the leadership of non-Jats, first of Banda and then of
Jassa Singh Kalal, a not much respected caste. Out of the five divisions
of the Taurana dal, Jats were commanders of only two. 39 The
commander of Sikh forces at the time of Chota Ghalu Ghara was
Sukha Singh, a carpenter. 40 This tradition was so strong that even during
the Misal period the leader of one of the Misals was one Jassa Singh,
a carpenter. During the revolutionary period, there were rifts in the
Sikh ranks on questions of principles, but there is not one instance of