Guru Tegh Bahadur and His Times

Eminent speakers at a seminar held in New Delhi von April 1, 1995. recalled the supreme sacrifice offered by the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur Ji, for Kashmiri Pandits in the year 1675 at Chandni Chowk. Delhi, and the repercussions thereof which ultimately shook the foundations of the Moghul Empire and ended the persecution of Hindus by rulers like Aurangzeb.

The seminar was organised by Panun Kashmir in preparation for its historic Guru Tegh Bahadur Kritagyata Yatra to be taken by the organisation to Gurudwara Anandpur Sahib in Punjab on the Guru's 374th birth anniversary Shri Jagmohan, former J&K Governor, Lt. Gen (Retd.) Jagjit Singh Arora, Prof Surjit Singh Chawla (historian), Shri P.N.K. Bamzai (historian), Mrs. Amrit Kaul (research scholar) and Dr. Agnishekhar, Convenor of Panun Kashmir, among others, spoke on the occasion.

All the speakers were unanimous in the view that it was a spiritual leader whom the Kashmir Pandits, groaning under the tyranny of Aurangzeb and his governor, were directed to approach for salvation and freedom by divine will. It could have been another Raja or a chieftain whom they could have approached for protection but that was not to be as spiritual authority, and not temporal power, had to carry the day of uprooting fanaticism.

Prof. Surjit Singh Chawla, the author of Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur", said that compassion was at the core of the Guru's decision to oppose Aurangzeb's religious fanaticism, but he was not opposed either to Muslims or to Islam.

Lt. Gen. Aurora advised the organisation to include Muslims also in the Kritagyata Yatra as that would organise the Muslims also against tyranny and oppression on religious grounds in the situation the country is facing today.

Shri Jagmohan, who is perhaps the only person in the country who has a full appreciation of the happenings in Kashmir during the past decade and the torture to which the Hindus of Kashmir have been subjected, said that a wave of consciousness throughout the country is needed to awaken the nation to the dangers confronting India as a result of the shallow attitudes adopted by the powers that be on national issues of critical importance. He wanted the KP community to spread out to each and every corner of the country to do this job of awakening the nation.

Mrs. Amrit Kaur, researching on the history and traditions of the Sikhs and the teachings of Sikh Gurus, dwelt at length on the humanistic aspect of the lives and works of the Gurus and the moral authority acquired by them by turning their backs to power and pelf as it is the moral power alone which ensures victory in the ultimate analysis.

Shri P.N.K. Bamzai, the illustrious historian from Kashmir, said that it was a spiritual master who took over the responsibility of saving Kashmiri Pandits from total annihilation under Aurangzeb and some other spiritual leader will see them through their present ordeal.

Dr. Agnishekhar and Shri Kamal K. Hak outlined details of the Yatra to Anandpur Sahib on April 16, 1995, including obeisance at Gurudwara Chamkaur Sahib where Pandit Kripa Ram Dutt, who led the 500 Kashmiri Pandits to Guru Tegh Bahadur's presence, died fighting fanaticism as a Khalsa.

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Courtesy:- K.S. Reporter and April-May 1995 Koshur Samachar