Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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From the time of Guru Har Rai to that of Guru Gobind Singh,
there was no overt military activity except that of maintaining some
armed men. Before founding the Khala, Bhikhan Khan, an opponent
of the tenth Guru, spoke contemptuously of his forces being composed
of low-caste men. Almost all the participants whose, names are
recorded in connection with the battle of Bhangani, were non-Jats.
The first three well-known martyrs from amongst the Sikhs, during
Guru Tegh Bahadur’s time, were Bhai Mati Das, Bhai Sati Das and
Bhai Dyala, all non-Jats. Out of the five Beloved Ones (the Five
Pyaras), only one was a Jat, and he too belonged to Hastinapur, outside
the Punjab. According to Koer Singh, Guru Gobind Singh said:
“Vaisayas, Sudras and Jats I have incorporated in the Panth.” Of the
twentfive Muktas mentioned by Koer Singh, three were Bhatias, five
Khatris, four Aroras, three Lubanas, and two water-carriers. The caste
of the rest are not given. The forty men at Chamkaur included five
Bhatias, four Aroras, some Khatris and Kalals (distillers), two Rengretas
(sweeper caste), two Brahimins, Sanga Singh of the trans-Indus areas,
sons of the Guru and the Guru himself. Those who took part in Banda’s
Irvine writes: ‘The scavengers ad leather-dressers and such like persons
who were very numerous among the Sikhs, committed excesses of
every description.
In the face of all this it would be unjustified to assert that the
growth of militancy within the Panth resulted from the impact of the
so-called Jat cultural patterns. Besides, it becomes very difficult to
understand how these so-called Jat patterns were so powerful as to
submerge all ideological considerations of the large majority of the
influential participants in the Sangat. Whether or not the original Jat
patterns of culture, or Jat traits, corresponded to the characteristic
features of the Sikh movement will be seen hereafter.
(e)
The five K’s
Another hypothesis advanced is that the Khalsa accepted the
five symbols (the five K’s) under the influence of Jat cultural patterns.
Unless the Jat cultural patterns are identified an correlated with the