Kamal Ghorui
By Harvinder Pal Singh
Baisakhi, a festival of harvest, is also when Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, created the Khalsa, a psychological construct that galvanised common people to rise against oppression. To test their courage, the Guru, unsheathed, called for volunteers to sacrifice themselves for the faith. The five brave hearts who stepped forward, offering themselves for oblation, were initiated into the ‘Khalsa’, a name derived from the Arabic word ‘Khalis’, meaning ‘pure’.
These ‘Panj Pyare’, five beloved ones, were not from Punjab alone. While Himmat Rai, a water carrier, came from Jagannath Puri (Orissa), Mokham Chand, a tailor, belonged to Dwarka (Gujarat). Sahib Chand, a barber, hailed from Karnataka, and Dharam Das, a farmer, was a native of Hastinapur (Delhi). Only Daya Ram, a shopkeeper from Lahore, represented Punjab. They were given a common surname, ‘Singh’, meaning ‘lion’, and became the first members of this new order with a distinct identity.
While Khalsa is synonymous with a warrior ever ready for a righteous war, it also represents a tradition that unites humanity, breaking down discrimination of any sort. If this regional representation with different dialects signified the spirit of oneness of Akand Bharat , the common surname further erased caste distinctions. ‘Manas ki jaat sabhe eke pehchanbo’, asserted the Guru, meaning that the whole human race was one. This resonated with the concept of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, a Sanskrit term meaning the whole world is one big family.
In the context of the Mughal Empire, ‘Khalsa’ (pronounced Khalisah) the emperor, without intermediaries like jagirdars or mansabdars, with the revenue generated going directly to the imperial treasury. Giving the title of Khalsa to commoners was a direct challenge to the ruling despot; his followers were no longer answerable to any emperor; instead, they were now directly answerable to God.
The creation of the Khalsa also sought to render the power-wielding clergy of all faiths redundant. Sikhs are expected not to bow before any mortal; they must pay absolute obeisance only to their eternal Guru, the Guru Granth Sahib.
Having completed his lifetime epic work, Guru Gobind Singh, proclaimed, ‘Khalsa mero roop hai khaas, Khalsey meh hau karau niwas’, meaning Khalsa is my true form and within him I abide. It thus became the most precious resource in his fight for righteousness, equality and justice, which eventually led to the emancipation of the oppressed lot, who later rose to become rulers of their homeland. The Sikh invocation of ‘Raj Karega Khalsa’ doesn’t mean rule by them; instead, it alludes to a rule by those ‘pure ones’, directly linked to God, free from the scourge of ritualism, superstition, and inequality.
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