Fact or Fiction?

Hari Singh Nalwa ― Champion of the Khalsaji, the chapter titled 'The Legend', includes the following story:

Feminine Apparel for Pashtuns

In accordance with the teaching of their Guru, the Sikhs did not attack the defenceless or the weak. This included children, women, mendicants and the elderly. Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa advised the Pathans that one way they could escape the wrath of an infuriated Sikh was to dress as a woman. In the Punjab, the shalwar kameez is feminine apparel.

The shalwar was a loose trouser with a stiff border at the ankle, while the kameez was a loose shirt falling to the knees. This dress came to popularly be known as the ‘Punjabi suit’ in India. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, men still wear its variant — the ‘Pathan suit’.

Milkha Singh of Gurdwara Darshani Deohri, Amritsar, first narrated this story to the author. Many others corroborated it since.

(Source: Nalwa, V. 2009. Hari Singh Nalwa ― Champion of the Khalsaji, New Delhi: Manohar, p. 264)

In the twenty-first century, the Wali of Swat confirmed that the above was indeed a fact:

Swat: Sanctuary for the Sikhs

The following is the gist of an open letter written a few months ago by Miangul Aurangzeb, the present Wali of Swat, to the Taliban when the Taliban were preaching and enforcing strict dress and conduct codes for the women in the areas that fell under their control.

"At the outset I want to record that you all must love me very much as you have decided not to take over my property in Swat unlike those you have taken over of other landed families. I am therefore emboldened to believe that I have the privilege of sharing some historical facts for you to know about and I urge you to absorb the same before you continue your campaign of moral policing, especially when it comes to the manner of dressing and code of conduct for women.

The Sikh army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, under the leadership of Hari Singh Nalwa came to the Frontier in the 1820's and swiftly conquered our ancestors. It is the only time in recorded history that our people were ruled over by foreigners. The locals were so utterly terrified of the Sikh army that they used to hide every time the Sikhs came into view. Those that decided to resist were met with ruthlessness. During this time, the word was spread around that the Sikhs did not harm elderly people, women and children and that the local men who did not wish to earn wrath of the Sikhs should wear the garb of Punjabi women, which was the Salwar-Kameez. At that time in our history both men and women alike, wore only a single-robe garment (similar to that worn by the Arabs) and the Sikhs would not harm any man either when wearing the Salwar-Kameez.

So you see, our men happily adopted the garb of Punjabi women since they were too terrified to stand up and they have adopted the garb as being theirs' ever since. I am very intrigued to see that you are following in the footsteps of your ancestors by wearing the adopted Punjabi women's garb as your own, but now go around preaching and coercing our women as to how they should be living their lives! I suggest that take a deep look inside yourselves, given this historical perspective."

Sincerely,

Aurangzeb

(Source: Nishaan, Swat: Sanctuary for the Sikhs, III/2009, New Delhi: Nagaara Trust, p. 45)

Mistaken Identity!



In the course of this research, the author chanced upon a photograph (left) supposedly showing Hari Singh Nalwa in the company of Ranjit Singh. The legend accompanying this photograph on display in a leading New Delhi gurdwara read, “A rare photograph of AD1808 while doing war between Maharaja Ranjit Singh and British Empire. Standing bodyguard: Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa, Faqir Azurrudin (Aziz-ud-din) Sitting: Lord Jangi Laat, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Lord Ripin (Ripon, Viceroy).” That this was not a photograph of Hari Singh Nalwa was clear from chronology of events. Hari Singh Nalwa died in 1837 at the age of 46. The supposed Hari Singh Nalwa in the picture was a young man. Though the earliest camera adapted to making a permanent image was developed in the 1820s, photography was first used in India in 1840. Moreover, the dress of those featured in the photograph did not bear resemblance to the mode of the Sikhs. The photograph in question features Sher Ali, son of Dost Mohammed Khan, two of his advisors and four firangis. Amir Sher Ali Khan ruled for two spells, from 1863-66 and again from 1868-79. The two Afghans standing next to each other, on each side of and behind Sher Ali were mistaken for Hari Singh Nalwa and Fakir Aziz-ud-din.

Complicity of Gulab Singh

The year Hari Singh Nalwa was killed in the Battle of Jamrud, the author of Tawarikh Guru Khalsa, Giani Gian Singh, was aged fifteen. Ranjit Singh had appointed the young lad to read out the Holy Scriptures to him.

Some people believed that there was antagonism between the Jammu Dogras and Hari Singh. The revenue collection of Peshawar was in the hands of Gulab Singh Dogra. Yar Mohammed of Peshawar owed thirteen and a half lakh rupees to the Lahore Darbar. Gulab Singh colluded with the Khan. In the Battle of Jamrud, when Sardar Hari Singh was driving the enemy ahead of him, one of Gulab Singh’s men in the Sikh Army shot the Sardar in the back, from behind. The Sardar stooped over the neck of his horse. At the time people merely suspected Gulab Singh, but when he forgave Yar Mohammed’s dues — his complicity became more apparent. Bijay Singh Dogra revealed this information. The Sikhs were greatly pained. Following this, at Gulab Singh’s specific request Ranjit Singh granted him Hari Singh’s territory. On seeing the treatment meted out to a great Sardar who had conquered so many lands for the Lahore Darbar, many Sikh Sardars were disheartened. Following the death of Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa, no further conquest was made in the direction of the North West Frontier.

The Lahore Court chronicle confirmed Gulab Singh’s appointment to collect the revenue of Peshawar in 1835 (Sohan Lal Suri 19th cent.: III (2), f. 253). There was, however, one inconsistency in the Giani’s narrative. Yar Mohammed died in 1828. The author either incorrectly referred to him, or used his name to refer to the Peshawar Barakzais.

References
Giani Gian Singh. 1892. Tawarikh Guru Khalsa, ed. K.S Raju, Punjab: Languages Department, 1999, (Gurmukhi).

Suri, Sohan Lal. (19th century). Umdat-ut-tawarikh, Daftar III, tr. from Persian by V.S. Suri, Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University, 2002.

(Source: Nalwa, V. 2009. Hari Singh Nalwa ― Champion of the Khalsaji, New Delhi: Manohar)