Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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only the Sikhs Jats, whose visits to Kiratpur or Anandpur to pay their
respects to the Guru were very short and occassional?
3. Response to Economic Problems
It has also been suggested that the militarization of the Sikh
movement was the result of the economic pressures. Agrarian troubles
were no doubt one of the factors for the downfall of the Mughal
empire. Religious persecution of non-Muslisms was another reason.
Rattan Singh Bhangu has not ignored the fact that those who were
oppressed by the state or the administration joined the Khalsa. But
the question is, why, in the Punjab, the Khalsa alone became the centre
of resistance? Why did the Kashmiri Pandits travel all the way to
Anandpur? Why did the Jats of Haryana, who were in no way less
oppressed, build no resistance on their own? If economic causes or
religious persecution alone, without an ideology, an oriented leadership
and an organization, could give rise to movements, then there should
have been a general revolt throughout the length and breadth of the
country. But nothing of the kind happened.
There were, in broad terms, four types of peasant upheavals.
Firstly there were the uprisings which the common exploited peasants
undertook on their own. These were sporadic and unorganised, and
instead of bearing any fruit invited further oppression and misery.
Secondly, there were peasant revolts built around the leadership of
Zamindars, as distinguished from Jagirdars, which were localized affairs.
These when successful either served the personal ends of the local
Zamindars or ended merely in plunderings. If the Zamindars could
unite for a common purpose, they would have become a force to reckon
with, because the total number of their armed retainers, as estimated
by Abul-Fazl, was 44 Lakhs. The third category was the successful
revolt of Bharatpur Jats on caste lines, where Jats fought as Jats. It had
only the limited objective of establishing the rule of a Jat family. The
fourth category comprised the Satnami revolt and the Sikh movement,
wherein, along wit the peasants, the other lower castes also played a
major role. Here also, the Satnami revolt was in the nature of an
ephemeral flareup. It collapsed suddenly and did not carry on any
sustained struggle, because it lacked preplanned objectives and a
determined leadership. It was only in the Sikh movement that we find