Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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death.” The governor then asked, “If you were defeated in the fight,
what would you do then?” The boys replied : “We would collect our
armies again and either kill you or be killed.”
After the battle of Anandpur, when Guru Gobind Singh reached
Chamkaur, he had a small number of his followers left with him. As
the Mughal troops, overwhelming in numbers, were on their heels, the
Guru and his men hastily occupied a commander of the imperial troops
sent a message to the guru asking him to realize his disparate position
and to surrender. The Guru’s son, Ajit Singh, could not tolerate his
challenge to the Guru’s resolve. He drew his scimitar and exclaimed
to the messenger: “Utter another word and I will smite your head from
your body and cut you to pieces, for daring so to address our chief.” 4
Among the Sikhs at the Chamkaur seige was one Bhai was one
Bhai Jiwan Singh Rangreta. He “Was a great marksman; He held one
tower single handed.” 5 Cunningham writes: “At Chamkaur, in one of
the towers of the small brick fort, is still shown the tomb of a
distinguished warrior, a Sikh of the sweeper caste, named Jivan Singh,
who fell during the seige. The bastion itself is known as that of the
martyr.” 5a This shows how the revolutionary spirit had seized men
even from among the lowest castes, and how the movement honoured
its martyrs without considerations of caste.
Some Sikhs from the Majha tract had deserted the Guru when
he was beseiged at Anandpur. When they reached their homes, they
were not well received and were reproached for betraying the
movement. A lady named Mai Bhago took a leading part in rallying
these deserters back to the cause and in retrieving the damage that
had been done to their reputation. Under the leadership of Mai Bhago,
they joined the Guru again when he was at Khidrana. By that time
the Mughal troops had closed upon the Guru. The Brars, a Jat
tribe, who had joined the Guru with mercenary motives, took to
their heels on seeing the enemy. These men from Majha, died
fighting, one by one, but they successfully prevented the Mughal
troops from reaching the Guru. When the battle was over, the