INTRODUCTION
After the death of Banda bahadur on 9th June 1716 A.D. gave a major setback to the power and prestige of sikhs.
The period between 1716 to 1765 is considered the darkest period of sikh history. Punjab faced tyrannical and crucial Abdus Samad Khan, Zakariya Khan, Yahiya Khan and Mir Mannu. Sikh gave tough competition to Mughal governors despite failing, Mughal rulers failed to burn their spirit and love for independence. Punjab saw some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting in Punjabi history during the revival of Mughal rule and foreign invasions between 1716 and 1765 AD.
- EXECUTION OF BANDA BAHADUR - The winning race which started from 1708 by Guru Gobind Singh ji with the rise of banda bahadur was ended with his execution by the mughal emperors in june 1716.
- MUGHAL EMPERORS - Between 1716- 1726, Abdus Samad Khan continued the suppression policy on sikhs to crush their spirit completely. Mughal emperors ordered a search party operation against sikh to catch them and behead them in public from 1726 and 1745 , which came to be known as nikhas ( Shahid ganj ). Another incident was the Haidri flag incident between sikhs and muslims. When suppression and force did not work then Mughal ruler Zakria khan tried to ease sikhs by granting them jagirs. Between 1745 - 1747, another Mughal ruler Yahiya Khan supported bloody carnage (Chotta Ghallughara ) between lakhpat rai and the sikhs.
- BHAI MANI SINGH MARTYRDOM - Mughal ruler Zakria khan offered Bhai Mani Singh to collect 10000 rupees to get permission to hold diwali at amritsar but Bhai Mani singh was not able to collect the amount, so according to the condition he was forced to embrace islam which he refused, so was killed.
- EMERGENCE OF DAL KHALSA - In 1934, once again to fight against the ruthless behaviour of mughals and to unite themselves against forces for punjab sikh people came together under leadership of Kapur Singh Fazilpuria and formed the dal khalsa. Dal khalsa of two wings, Budha dal and Taruna dal. Budha dal had the old and taruna dal had young members. Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was given the Chief command in 1748 and offered a scheme rakhi system. They held a meeting of leaders which came to be known as sarbat khalsa. Finally sikhs were able to reestablish their sikh rule in punjab atlast in 1765, after a three decade long struggle with the Mughals and afghans.
- ABDALI INVASION - On the invitation of Shahnawaz, the Afghan ruler, Ahmed shah abdali invaded india nine times. Mir Mannu defeated Ahemd Abdali in his first war but slowly was able to govern the whole Punjab area under his control. This period gave rise to a new problem of a tripartite struggle for Punjab between sikhs, Abdal and Mughal emperors. The Battle of Panipat was fought in which the Marathas were defeated.Vadda Ghallughara in 1962 occurred in his 6th invasion. Due to constant gorilla war strategies adopted by sikh people the Abdali had to leave Punjab.
- SIKH MISLS - Dal Khalsa was divided into 11-12 groups called as misls. Misls is an Arabic word which means equal.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it can be concluded that after the death of Banda Singh Bahadur the sikh were left unorganised and got fragmented between themselves. Mughals tried constantly to suppress the sikh community. At last finnalu sikh organised themselves together.
BOOK REFERENCE ( CLICK TO BUY )
The Sikhs of the Punjab: 03 (The New Cambridge History of India)