Khalsa Fauj

Guru Gobind Singh with three of his sons (minus Fateh Singh) and retinue at the Anandpur Darbar in the year 1698

Guru Gobind Singh succeeded his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, as guru in 1675. He felt that the Akal Sena was not living up to the challenge and sought to reform the Sikh military forces.[3] Therefore, it was replaced by the Khalsa Fauj after the formalization of the Khalsa order into the sanctified framework of Sikhism at Anandpur on 13 April 1699.[3] Guru Gobind Singh had an ultimate vision of Sikh sovereignty.[4]

It is a Holy Army of the Deathless (Akal), at once pure and perfect, baptized and sculptured in purity of love and total sacrifice. It sustains itself purely on the Divine Name. Khalsa remains untouched by the world of sin, impurity and evil.

— Partap Singh Jaspal, Eternal Glory of Guru Gobind Singh Ji & Khalsa (2003 reprint), page 59[5]

The precedence and authority for establishing the Khalsa Fauj was traced back to the teachings of Guru Nanak.[6] It was committed to freeing the Punjab of foreign domination.[6] The army followed the principle of violence only when all other means to address an issue have been exhausted, a principle of dharamyudh (righteous warfare).[7][8]

Painting of Guru Gobind Singh on horseback and holding bird of prey while marching with the Khalsa Fauj

The Khalsa Fauj frequently warred with the Mughal empire and Rajas belonging to various Hill States of the Shivalik Hills.[9] The army had to relocate from Anandpur in 1704.[9][10] A short-lived reconciliation between the Mughals and Sikhs occurred in 1707, when Gobind Singh and his Khalsa Fauj spent around 10 months encamped alongside the imperial Mughal army of Bahadur Shah whilst the latter was campaigning in Rajasthan.[11] However, Gobind Singh felt that the Mughal emperor was avoiding having discussions with him on the issue of Punjab and therefore he sent Banda Singh Bahadur to the northwest to place pressure on the Mughals.[11]

Painting from an illustrated folio of a Mughal manuscript depicting the Battle of Sirhind (1710), also known as the Battle of Chappar Chiri. From the ‘Tawarikh-i Jahandar Shah’, Awadh or Lucknow, ca.1770. The Sikh Khalsa forces are dressed in blue whilst the Mughals are wearing white

Painting of Banda Singh Bahadur being blessed with five arrows by Guru Gobind Singh, by Gian Singh Naqqash, ca.1930

Banda Singh Bahadur had been given the mantle of leadership by the Guru himself when he was blessed with five arrows from the Guru's own quiver as a symbol of victory.[12] The Guru saw potential in Banda as a warrior against tyranny and injustice, therefore he prepared him for future missions and assigned a group of Panj Pyare (five beloved ones), consisting of Binod Singh, Kahan Singh, Baj Singh, Daya Singh, and Ram Singh, to assist the newly converted Sikh in his affairs, alongside 20 other Sikh warriors.[12] Banda Singh was promoted to jathedar of the panth (general of the Khalsa Fauj) on 5 October 1708 by the Guru.[13] Banda and his retinue were instructed to go to Sirhind to take revenge for the tyranny of the local Mughal governor of the area.[13] After the passing of Guru Gobind Singh at Nanded in the Deccan (located modern-day Maharashtra), Banda Singh Bahadur became the caretaker of the Khalsa Fauj.[12] He would go on to rebel against the Mughal empire and form the first sovereign Sikh republican state, ruling over parts of the Punjab, especially in the southeastern regions, albeit the polity was a short-lived one.[14][9][15] Most of the recruits into the Khalsa Fauj during the years of Banda's reign drew from the Jat peasantry.[9] The headquarters at this time was Lohgarh.[8] Banda and 2,000 of his followers were captured and publicly executed in 1716 by the Mughals.[16][8]

After the death of Banda Singh Bahadur, the Khalsa Fauj divided into various jathas (armed group or band of Sikhs).[17][18][19] Since the Sikh community had dispersed to the jungles, deserts, and mountains to avoid state persecution, the focus of the Khalsa Fauj turned to plunder for the time being.[20][21] There was no clear leader during this period.[22] Small groups of bands of Sikh horsemen still carried out guerilla ambushes on the enemy when the opportunity arose.[22] The period between the death of Banda Singh Bahadur and the hegemony of the Sikh Confederacy is one of the darkest annals in Sikh history, with the Khalsa Fauj fighting for the very survival of the Sikh community faced with certain elimination by genocide perpetrated by Emperor Farrukhsiyar.[23] By the 1720s, the rebellion of the Sikhs had been extinguished.[8] During this time, Abdus Samad Khan, a Turani official and commander of the Mughal military stationed in Punjab, had a very harsh policy against the Sikhs.[8] Any Sikh which was found was given the choice of conversion to Islam or death.[8] When Zakaria Khan, son of Abdus Saman Khan, became the subahdar (governor) of Lahore subah (province) in 1726, he wanted the Sikhs to join the Mughal cause against the Afghan invaders or at the very least remain neutral but things did not work out that way.[8]

Significance was heavily placed on cavalry and hand-to-hand combat on horseback.[24] The Khalsa Fauj used guerilla warfare tactics.[24]

Illustration titled 'Guru Govind Singh’s armed disciples, the early soldiers of the Khalsa' from The Sikhs (1904) by John James Hood Gordon

Horses for the army were sourced from small zamindars (landowners) located between the Ravi and Beas rivers.[8] Some warriors possessed matchlock guns whilst others still used bows and arrows.[8]

Various village chieftains made-up the ranks of the Khalsa Fauj under Guru Gobind Singh.[8] Some chiefs had a larger group of warriors under them (up to hundreds) whilst others only had a few.[8] The base-of-operations for these chiefs was usually their native village, which were often fortified.[8]

There was no regular salary for soldiers in the Khalsa Fauj during the period of Guru Gobind Singh.[8] Rather, they had the chance to plunder their enemies' estates under a religious cause.[8]

Guru Gobind Singh compared the Khalsa Fauj to a coiled snake ready to pounce, which he calls the pechida maar,[25] in his Zafarnama (epistle of victory) letter addressed to Aurangzeb:[26][27][28][29]

چھا شد کہ چوں بچگان کشته چار
که باقی بماند است پیچیده مار
You killed my four sons:
What difference does that make,
When after their deaths there still
Remains behind a coiled snake?

— written by Guru Gobind Singh, translated by Navtej Sarna, Zafarnama, verse 78[30]

Illustrated folio depicting a Nishan Sahib (Sikh religious flag) from a Guru Granth Sahib manuscript housed at Takht Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur and dated to 1714 CE

The uniform and colours of the Khalsa Fauj were blue due to Guru Gobind Singh witnessing his youngest son, Fateh Singh, donning such garbs in this colour.[3] Thereafter he standardized them in his army.[3]