V History

The development of the Sikh community has been strongly influenced by the course of historical events. Guru Nanak, who was a Hindu by birth, was born at the time of religious reform movements in northern India. While his thought shared many of the features of his contemporaries, his religious doctrine nonetheless marked a radical departure and soon attracted many followers. Guru Nanak was succeeded by nine other gurus. Guru Angad (Guru between 1539 and 1552) established the Gurmukhi ("from the mouth of the guru") script in which Punjabi is written. Guru Amar Das (Guru between 1552 and 1574) founded Goindwal where Sikhs were encouraged to gather twice a year. Guru Ram Das (Guru between 1574 and 1581) is remembered for founding the current site in Amritsar of the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) on land granted by the emperor Akbar. When Guru Arjan Dev assumed the leadership of the community (1581-1606), Sikhism had developed a considerable following in Punjab's central districts. During his Guruship the Darbar Sahib (1604) was completed and the Guru Granth Sahib (also known as the Adi Granth) was compiled. Sikhism's increasing influence, however, led the Mughal emperor Jahangir to check the growth of the new faith. This move resulted in the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev in 1606.

Guru Hargobind (Guru between 1606 and 1644) reacted to these developments by establishing a fortress at Amritsar and the Akal Takhat (seat of temporal authority) opposite the Harimandar Sahib (temple of God) within the Darbar Sahib complex. The linking of these two forms of authority was further symbolized in his decision to wear two swords that signified the temporal and the spiritual. The leadership of the seventh and eighth Gurus (Guru Har Rai, Guru between 1644 and 1661; Guru Har Krishan, Guru between 1661 and 1664) was largely uneventful as they sought to avoid a direct confrontation with the Mughal rulers, but their successor, Guru Tegh Bahadur (Guru between 1664 and 1675), was martyred after making representations to the emperor Aurangzeb against the religious persecution of Kashmiri "pundits" (from Sanskrit pandit, "teachers"). Guru Gobind Singh's guruship (1675 to 1708) was marked by a growing conflict between the Sikh community and the Mughal and Hindu princely rulers in Punjab. In 1699, at Baisakhi, Guru Gobind Singh decided to further consolidate the development of the community by baptizing the Khalsa. Upon his death Guru Gobind Singh vested the guruship in the Guru Granth Sahib. Thereafter the spiritual and the temporal were embodied in the Guru Panth (the temporal Sikh community) and the Guru Granth Sahib (which would spiritually guide it).

With the collapse of the Mughal Empire and the decline of Afghan influence in Punjab, the 18th century saw the rise of Sikhs to political power in the province. During the "heroic century", against considerable odds, the Sikhs, who were the minority religious community in the province, achieved political dominance in Punjab. This rise culminated in 1801 with the establishment by Ranjit Singh of the Kingdom of Lahore, which included Afghan territories to the west, and Kashmir to the east, and extended to the borders of Tibet. Although Ranjit Singh's state was the embodiment of Punjabi identity, its fortunes were largely guided by a powerful military meritocracy that was dominated by the Khalsa.

Ranjit Singh's kingdom lasted until 1849 when it was annexed by the British. During the next century Sikh fortunes waxed and waned as they were first treated with suspicion by the ruling colonial rulers and then recruited in large numbers into the Indian Army. In response to the competitive religious revivalism that took place in Punjab in the late 19th century among the three main traditions (Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh) following the proselytizing activities of Christian missionaries, the Singh Sabhas attempted to reassert Sikh identity by seeking the removal of Hindu influence and ritual that had accreted into the Sikh tradition during the dislocation of the Panth in the 17th and 18th centuries. The work of the Singh Sabhas was completed by the Akali Movement (1920-1925), which successfully removed Hindu mehants (hereditary custodians) of leading gurdwaras , including the Darbar Sahib. This movement established the two premier institutions that have controlled Sikh affairs ever since: the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandak Committee, which manages the affairs of the leading gurdwaras ; and the Akai Dal (its political wing).

The Akali Dal opposed the partition of Punjab, but when it became a reality in 1947 Sikh political leadership opted for the Indian Union. Partition divided the Sikh community into two and precipitated the mass transfer of Sikhs (and Hindus) from West Punjab and Muslims from East Punjab. Almost 250,000 people were killed in the riots that followed.

After 1947 the Akali Dal leadership attempted to preserve the distinctive identity of the community by campaigning for a Punjabi Suba (Punjabi-speaking state). This demand was opposed by the central leadership as communal but was eventually conceded after the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. Although the linguistic reorganization of Punjab in 1966 created a majority Sikh state (60 per cent) it left many Punjabi-speaking territories outside the new state. Centre-inspired dismissal of the Akali Dal governments (1967-1971) and lingering resentment about linguistic reorganization led the Akali Dal to adopt the Anandpur Sahib Resolution (ASR) in 1973 that called for greater autonomy for Punjab.

Following the dismissal of the Akali Dal government in 1980 the ASR became the focus of an autonomy movement led by moderate Akalis. However, as this campaign failed to achieve a political settlement with the centre, the militant faction led by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale called for direct action that resulted in the gradual breakdown of law and order in Punjab. On June 5, 1984, the Indian Army, in an operation code-named Blue Star, entered the Darbar Sahib complex in order to evict Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers who had taken refuge in the precinct. The clash resulted in deaths of 1,000 security personnel and Sikh militants.

In the aftermath of Operation Blue Star, the prime minister Indira Gandhi was killed by her Sikh bodyguards. Her death was followed immediately by pogroms against Sikhs in Delhi in which approximately 3,000 people were killed. In 1985 Rajiv Gandhi attempted to restore the political process through the Rajiv-Longowal Accord but his reluctance to make concessions on the main Sikh demands undermined the moderate Akalis and led to the rise of militant groups campaigning for a separate Sikh state of Khalistan. Between 1984 and 1993, almost 25,000 people were killed in Punjab as a result of militant violence and counter-insurgency operations conducted by the security forces. By the end of 1993 the use of overwhelming force by the police, the paramilitaries, and the army succeeded in eliminating most militant groups.

In February 1997, in the first free and fair elections held in the province since 1985, the Akali Dal won a landslide victory in the Punjab Legislative Assembly elections. Although the party is still officially committed to ASR, the campaign for more autonomy has been superseded by efforts to establish a regional power base.