DISCLAIMER

DISCLAIMER. This short film has been made with the objective of sharing aspects of our glorious history with the masses and covers historical facts and draws inspiration from various books, texts and articles written on this subject over the years. Veer Savarkar’s historical books have been a major inspiration. The objective of this short film hence is not to hurt the sentiments of any particular caste or community. Various imagery commonly available is obtained from the web and has been used to depict people, places and scenes and we do not claim for this imagery to be our own creation in any way. We have used simple tools like PCs and mobile phones to create this short film hence technology wise this may seem very basic but we do have our hearts in the right place as we attempt to revisit our glorious history and share it with you..

The Sikh Gurus. The Guardians of Bharat Over The Ages Part 3.

By the late 15th Century major part of Northern India was dominated by Islamic imperialism. The founder of the Sikh Sect Saint Guru Nanak had realized the inevitable clashes between Hindus and Muslims and the rising dominance of Islamic Powers and was deeply concerned..

When Jahangir occupied the throne of Delhi he faced rebellion from his son Khushrav Mirza who sought asylum from Guru Arjun Dev which the Sikh Guru granted..

It is said that before his execution Guru Arjun Dev had conveyed to his son Guru Hargovind Singh to become militarily powerful to resist persecution which led to the rise of the era of Saint- Soldiers among the Sikh Gurus. Just like a coconut or a jackfruit is hard on the outside and soft on the inside the next Sikh Gurus and their followers portrayed a strong tough exterior to combat scoundrels and yet possess soft hearts and pure souls at the same time..

Meanwhile in the tenure of Guru Tegh Bahadur (born in 1621) the politics in Delhi also saw the rise of tyrant Aurangzeb at the helm of the Mughal Empire. Aurangzeb’s diabolic Islamic fanaticism led to forced conversions of Hindus to Islam, crippling jaziya taxes and destructions of places of worship, and the brave Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur stood up firmly against these atrocities. It is also believed that a group of Kashmiri Hindus too approached Guru Tegh Bahadur for help against Aurangzeb’s cruel persecutions..

Guru Govind Singh is regarded as the 10th and the Last Sikh Guru (the holy book of Guru Granth Sahib is referred to as the 11th Guru)..

In an expedition against Aurangzeb Guru Govind Singh found himself surrounded around the Fort of Anandpur. His 4 children, the eldest aged 18 and the youngest 9 were with him..

Aurangzeb died in 1707 in the Deccan after he had fought a long futile campaign against the Marathas who tired him out completely. His death led to mayhem in the Mughal Empire as his sons fought each other in a war of succession..

Laxman Dev had heard stories of oppression and atrocities of the Mughals from Guru Govind Singh and decided that he will not stay quiet. The Guru also prior to his death wrote to his followers to support Laxman Dev. Laxman Dev soon came to be known in Sikh and Mughal circles as Baba Banda Bahadur and proved a nightmare for the Mughals..

Farukhsiyar in a move to divide and rule endorsed Guru Govind Singh’s widow Mata Sundari‘s growing rift (she disagreed with some of Banda Bahadur’s views) and promised her that he will recruit Sikhs in his imperial army on high positions if she managed to urge the Sikhs to join him. Banda Bahadur refused the offer however his army got split into two factions- the Tat Khalsa (supporters of Mata Sundari) and the Bandai (supporters of Baba Banda Bahadur)..

The glorious years of the Maratha Empire and the Sikh Empire in the background must not go untold. Aurangzeb died in 1707 in the Deccan as a tired and sad old man after fighting years of wars against Chhatrapati Shivaji and Sambhaji Maharaj and Queen Tarabai with his dream unfulfilled of conquering the Deccan..

Prior to Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s reign the entire province of Punjab was fragmented hence he played a major role in integrating it into a unified kingdom..

The story of the Sikh Gurus cannot be completed without narrating the story of Kumar Haqiqatrai..

Voice Overs:. Ketaki Joshi Deshpande. Tanish Venkatesh.