Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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Revolution, they believed that, in settling accounts with their
seigneurs, they were carrying out the King’s wishes, if jot his specific
instructions.’ 61 In any case, there was no organized attempt to directly
seize the land from the landlords and redistribute it among the
commoners. ‘Nobles who stayed in France, and remained peaceable,
never at any time during the Revolution, saw their property
threatened.’ 61a The one great occasion when the redistribution of land
took place was when estates of the Church were nationalized and put
up for public auction. But, it was the bourgeoisie, or the rich peasants,
who benefitted, for they alone could raise the bid. Later, ‘some peasants
(through a minority) had been able to benefit from the sale of biens
nationaux, particularly after the law of June 1793 had made it possible,
for a short while, for village to band together to bid together for smaller
lots.’ 62 The majority of the aristocracy, though shorn height of the
Jacobin Terror. 63 There is no doubt that the abolition of feudal
institutions (feudal privileges and levies, etc.,) by the French Revolution
ushered in a new era in the rural society of France, but, ‘the transfer
of land between classes had been on a relatively modest scale; and it
was the bourgeoisie rather than the peasantry that had reaped the min
reward; the losers were the Church rather than the nobility and those
least favoured were the poorest peasants.’ 64
Dr. Ganda Singh has expressed the view that the Khalsa under
Banda abolished the zamindari system and established peasant
proprietorship in land. 64a ‘The Sikhs when they hold land at all hold it
usually as proprietors and seldom as tenants. This is but natural as
they were once the masters of the country.’ 65 We will, however, limit
ourselves to that evidence which shows in general terms that the
revolutionary Khalsa worked for the uplift of the unprivileged classes
and against the established vested interests.
Khushwaqt Rai has written in his history ‘Tarikh-i-Sikhan’ (1811):
“... and after that, as the saying goes—hemistich: men disappeared
and God’s own country was captured by an ass; the sect of Singhs
took possession of the country of the Punjab. Since then, upto this
time the whole administrative machinery of the country is in disarray
and the normal system of governance, official codes, the set up of
levies and awards... and the allowance occurring from estates bestowed