Download PDF | Surinder Singh - Medieval Panjab in Transition_ Authority, Resistance and Spirituality C.1500 -C.1700-Routledge (2022).

Download PDF | Surinder Singh - Medieval Panjab in Transition_ Authority, Resistance and Spirituality C.1500 -C.1700-Routledge (2022).

557 Pages 

This book reconstructs the historical transition in the undivided Panjab during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It shows that the assertion of Mughal and Afghan suzerainty faced sustained resistance from local elements, particularly the autonomous tribes and hill chiefdoms. In central plains, Dulla Bhatti mobilized the toilers of his ancestral domain and, leading a relentless fight against the Mughal oppression, became an abiding symbol of resistance in the collective memory. The multicultural legacy of Panjab evolved through diverse strands of spirituality. The jogis, wedded to monastic discipline, supernatural abilities and land grants, gained acceptance through their exertions for social betterment. 

The Sabiri and Qadiri silsilas channelized mystical urges towards the technique of prime recitation. The popular verses of Shah Husain, Baba Lal and Sultan Bahu proposed a loving relation with God. The legendary lovers, perishing in the struggles against patriarchal forces, promoted a merger of dissent with spirituality. In the city of Lahore, the material pursuits and cultural life were visible in a mosaic of descriptions, including episodes of social tension. The book understands the upliftment of depressed castes as a defining feature of Sikhism. It places egalitarian concern of the Sikh Gurus alongside the anti-caste protests of Namdev, Kabir and Ravidas. Owing to scriptural authority and congregational equality, the members of depressed castes attained a numerical majority in the Sikh warrior bands that shook the foundations of the Mughal state. The work relies on evidence from the Persian chronicles, Mughal newsletters, Sufi writings, Sikh literature and Punjabi folklore.

 Surinder Singh has taught at the Department of History, Panjab University, Chandigarh. His last publication was The Making of Medieval Panjab: Politics, Society and Culture, c. 1000–c. 1500. 

Introduction 

 Panjab, for the purpose of this book, comprised the area enclosed between the Indus and Jamuna. Appearing monotonous and uniform, it was marked with diverse topographical features. On its east, the submontane tract ran along the southern flanks of the Lesser Himalayas from the Jamuna to Jhelam. The plain was divided into two parts, Indo-Panjab Plain and Ghaggar Plain. The former was shaped like a vast triangle, with the Siwaliks as its base and the Satluj and Indus as its sides. The plain, leaving the submontane tract and moving south-west, sloped gradually with a gradient seldom exceeding 2 ft in a mile.1 The routes of rivers, that drained its waters, have been ably traced in Sujan Rai Bhandari’s chronicle. They flowed in wide and deep valleys lower than the plain.2 The low plains (khadars) were amenable to annual floods, while the central uplands (bars) comprised extensive wastelands of grass. 

The Ghaggar Plain was a transition zone between the Indus and Ganga Plains. Bordered by the Siwaliks on the north-east and merging with the Rajputana desert in the west, it was inundated during monsoons by a dozen torrents. West of the Panjab Plain, the Salt Range comprised jagged hills and fertile valleys. On its north, the uplands of Potwar Plateau displayed diverse features including ravines, valleys and sandy beds of torrents. During the early medieval period, substantial parts of central and western Panjab were annexed to the Ghaznavid Empire. The political control remained weak due to the rebellions of its governors and opposition of the local tribes, while Islam attained a substantive cultural presence. From the early thirteenth century onwards, the Delhi Sultanate grappled with its provincial officers (muqtis), Khokhars and Mongols. The Chishtis and Suhrawardis constructed spiritual networks, while Muslim migrants arrived in sizeable numbers. 

The Tughluq rulers, forming alliances with zamindars and Sufis, brought about canal-based agrarian expansion in the cisSatluj tract and Multan. The resultant process of transformation was disrupted due to Timur’s invasion and Tughluq decline. The Lodi rule, with its narrow ethnic base and internal dissensions, allowed tribal chiefs and village headmen to strengthen themselves. In Multan and Malerkotla, two Suhrawardi Sufis became rulers with the help of rural potentates. At the opening of the sixteenth century, a new phase was inaugurated in the history of Panjab. As the local tribes and Sufi saints became active, the lovers came into conflict with patriarchal forces. The two states, Afghan and Mughal, tried to strike their roots, while the Sikh Gurus employed a new socio-religious discourse to build a society free from discrimination and oppression. For the last 150 years, historical scholarship has been engaged in comprehending these developments. Before undertaking a fresh analysis, it would be appropriate to trace the major trends in historiography, besides setting the scope of the proposed study and identifying its primary sources.

TRENDS IN HISTORICAL WRITING

Scholarship on medieval Panjab took off with Cunnigham’s study of Sikhism. It assumed that the vicissitudes of the Sikhs, beginning from their origin to the British annexation of the Lahore kingdom, formed the integral parts of a single historical phenomenon. It aimed at giving Sikhism its place in the general history of humanity by showing its connection with different Indian creeds and by exhibiting it as a natural and important result of the Muslim conquest.3 Ernest Trump’s work gave great offence to the Sikhs for locating Sikhism in the Hindu Puranic tradition, making derogatory references to the Sikh Gurus and finding imperfections in the Sikh scripture. Macauliffe, making a conscious attempt to assuage the feelings of the Sikhs, conformed to the dominant concerns of the Singh Sabhas. According a separate identity to Sikhism as a world religion, he viewed Sikhism as a product of Muslim atrocities.4 Banerjee lamented that Sikhism found it increasingly difficult to maintain the catholicity of its original goals and simplicity of its original form. As a result, its whole character changed, as a peaceful sect was gradually turned into a military order and a devotee developed into the saint soldier.5 Gupta’s analysis of the Sikh struggle was rooted in the anti-imperialist nationalist sentiment and the gurdwara reform movement. 

The Sikh attainment of political power was attributed to underlying factors such as the breakdown of the Mughal administrative institutions, anti-Hindu measures of Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Singh’s push for human rights while instituting the Khalsa, the sacrifice of two lakh lives in battles and massacres, the mobilization of socially inferior groups, the support of the Hindus and extraordinary qualities of the Sikhs.6 In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Syad Muhammad Latif, a loyal officer of the colonial regime, felt that the prominent writers like Malcolm, Prinsep, Mcgregor and Cunningham had produced only the history of the Sikhs. A complete history of Panjab needed to give adequate space to the 700 years of the Muslim period. The successive dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate, despite internal conflicts, defended Panjab against the Mongols and tamed the local tribes. Akbar remodelled the land revenue system, but introduced controversial religious innovations. Jahangir’s love for Nurjahan overshadowed his interest in nature. Two provincial governors, Asaf Khan and Ali Mardan Khan, left evidence of architectural creativity, but wars of succession plagued the reigns of all rulers from Jahangir to Bahadur Shah.7 The Mughal rule was characterized by corruption, anarchy and cruelty. The country became desolate as land was farmed out to contractors. Money squeezed out of the peasantry was wasted on luxurious establishments. Honour, justice and position were up for sale. As rulers sank into debauchery, dubious characters usurped the functions of kingship. The royal court became a hotbed of intrigue for warring factions, while provincial satraps sought to build their own power on plunder and blackmail. The Mughal government, being rapacious and tyrannical, was hated to a degree.8 Latif’s dismal picture aimed at showing the colonial dispensation in a favourable light in contrast to the alleged misrule of the Mughals. No doubt, the Mughal ruling class played a significant role in making the history of Panjab from early sixteenth century to mideighteenth century. It was not easy to put together a coherent picture of the Mughal engagement with the region. In the opinion of Muhammad Akbar, there did not exist a single contemporary work focusing on this area. 

The official chronicles offered a poor reward in the form of small bits of evidence. Since the European travellers often reproduced bazaar gossip and stories current among the people, their reports could not be set against the evidence of contemporary Muslim or Hindu historians. The authorities on the Sikh Gurus, being Sikhs or Hindus, were often prejudiced.9 The author, chosing only a part of Panjab (the Mughal province of Lahore) as his canvas, surveyed the land and people, besides the route of rivers and revenue potential of the Doabs. A major part of the narrative comprised military operations against the Afghan potentates, rebellious Mughal officers and hill chiefs. The agricultural fertility benefited from the means of irrigation, while non-agricultural production included textiles, paper and metals. Overland commerce was linked to Persia and Central Asia. People were divided into three classes—nobles, professionals and masses— showing disparities in income and consumption.10 Hindus, believing in a multiplicity of deities, assigned centrality to human soul as well as notions of heaven and hell. Islam, though divided among Sunnis and Shias, made commendable progress, as it was the state religion. The Sufis, owing to their divinely inspired preaching, strove to cement the relations between the Hindus and Muslims. Unlike Sikhism, they never appealed to the ignorant masses and remained confined to the most enlightened persons.11 Irfan Habib, while attributing the fall of the Mughal Empire to an agrarian crisis, placed the Sikh revolt in the category of popular uprisings of the Jats, Satnamis and Sikhs.12 The roots of the crisis were traced to the frequent transfers of revenue assignments (jagirs), thereby inducing an oppressed peasantry to abandon the villages or resort to armed resistance.13 In case of the Sikhs, the process of militarization occurred alongside the rise of low castes.14 In another study, Habib traces the migration of the Jats from Sind to Panjab, their settlement as cultivators and entry into the fold of Sikhism. It notices the early presence of Jats in Central Sind as a large primitive community with pastoral economy and egalitarian social structure. By the eleventh century, they migrated to Multan and, by the sixteenth, they spread across Panjab, beyond the Jamuna and up to the Chambal. During this migration, they settled as sedentary cultivators with the help of the Persian wheel and went on to acquire the zamindari rights across a vast area. 

Their lowly social status did not correspond with their newly-gained economic position. Motivated by the urge to gain social equality, they entered the widening ranks of Sikhism and even displaced the Khatris from leadership within the Sikh movement. The Jats, as tax-paying peasants, had suffered great oppression due to a heavy burden of land tax and resorted to armed violence.15 In Habib’s words, ‘This further cemented the historical association between the Jat peasantry and Sikhism, though the association antedates the agrarian crisis of the Mughal Empire.’16 Chetan Singh, in an attempt to interpret the changes in Panjab during the seventeenth century, has woven different groups and sub-regions with the larger historical process. The outstanding economic developments—commercialization of agriculture, increased artisanal production and expanding trade—encouraged restructuring of society and led to social unrest. Both socio-economic trends, progress and decline, had the potential of generating social unrest. Sikh militancy during the pontificate of Guru Hargobind did not coincide with economic hardship, but with an expanding economy and better material life. He appeared to have antagonized the Mughal government by championing the cause of peasants, who were struggling for better tenancy rights and actual possession of land.17 The increased Sikh militancy, which occurred during the last two decades of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century (1675-1715), was traceable to the reversal of positive economic trends. Decline of trade and fall in demand had an adverse impact on urban and rural areas. There was a direct association between the core areas of Sikh rebellion (Majha, Doaba and Malwa) and those that experienced commercialization as well as its reversal. These trends were manifested in a more intense form in the uprising of Banda Bahadur. The widespread tribal unrest, which erupted independently of the Sikh movement, emerged from the common economic experience of the region.18 According to a poetic biography of Shah Husain, he was present  at the public execution of Dulla Bhatti and clashed with the police chief for his heretical conduct. The event enabled Najm Hosain Syed to suggest that the two rebels faced a common enemy, the Mughal State. The ruling class, with its power concentrated in the city of Lahore, organized a polity that reduced the peasants and artisans to dependence. 

The inhabitants of the central upland (bar), for seven generations, did not bow before a kingship born in Delhi and grown in Lahore. Dulla Bhatti, while reenacting the rebellion, remained elusive. The Mughal State captured him through deceit and hanged him in public to terrify the petty functionaries and traders and, thus, erase the story of his resistance (nabri). Dulla Bhatti, refusing to bend even at the gallows, added a new dimension to this resistance. Shah Husain, who was present in the multitude, represented a dangerously subversive ideology. By making a bold display of his love for Madho, he demolished the patriarchal norms (kherashahi), which had destroyed the natural sexual instincts and deprived women of their agency. As elusive as Dulla Bhatti, Shah Husain symbolized the social urge of the Panjabis to be a Ranjha and, thus, give birth to a new society on the decaying ruins of the old one. The Mughal State could neither assimilate Shah Husain in its system of maintenance grants nor punish him through its legal apparatus. 

It was caught in a double siege. From outside, Dulla Bhatti had mobilized an army of deprived sections to pull down its ramparts and, from within, the verses and dance (dhamal ) of Shah Husain were piercing through its walls.19 By the early 1980s, an unexpected development was happening. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan took the world by storm. His music, demolishing all barriers and breaking all records, represented purity, beauty and universality. Though he has sung in Urdu and Persian, an overwhelming bulk of his lyrical repertoire is in Panjabi. Carl W. Ernst has examined the context and implications of Nusrat’s music across the globe.20 This is not to suggest a direct impact of Nusrat on historical writing, but his Qawwalis did induce an attitudinal change in the way this world looked at South Asia, in general, and Panjab, in particular. Richard M. Eaton examined the role of the Chishti shrine of Pakpattan in promoting the twin processes of agrarian expansion and Islamization. Shuja Alhaq’s  voluminous study on the expansion of Sufism in medieval Asia has accorded a central place to the Sufis of Panjab from Baba Farid to Bulle Shah. In 2005, the Department of History, Panjab University, Chandigarh, organized a seminar, where scholars from India and Pakistan debated aspects of Sufism in medieval Panjab. The resultant volume, comprising 18 papers, has been dedicated to Nusrat. The Suhrawardi order has attracted major works from Qamrul Huda, Amina Steinfels and Hasan Ali Khan. A study of Shaikh Sadruddin’s cult has amplified into a history of Malerkotla. The identity of the town as the site of Muslim majority and communal harmony rested on three factors—the spiritual power of the saint, Guru Gobind Singh’s blessing to Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan for his cry in favour of the Guru’s sons and peace during partition of Panjab. An examination of Hir Waris underscored the vernacular and ethnic character of Panjabi Muslims.

 In their lived experience, they were strongly inclined towards the parallel streams of Sufism and Bhakti.21 In my recent book, I relied on Hir Damodar to uncover the state of Jat clans in west Panjab.22 What is equally important, the two Sufi shrines at Nakodar (Lal Badshah and Murad ShahLadi Shah), now placed under the iconic singers Hans Raj Hans and Gurdas Mann, respectively, have attained unprecedented popularity among the lower sections. The new breed of singers—Nooran Sisters, Salim Shahkoti, Saeeda Begam, Kanwar Grewal, Khan Saab and Sonali Dogra—have risen under the cultural umbrella of Nusrat. Even small kids who participate in singing competitions on television shows reproduce the numbers of Nusrat to win prizes. McLeod, with his textual analyses of the hagiographies on Guru Nanak and documents on the Sikh code (rahit), established a high watermark in Sikh studies. There has been a vigorous debate on the process of the formation of the Sikh scripture, involving comparisons among numerous manuscripts. There was no hesitation to delving into the compilation connected with Guru Gobind Singh, including his epistle to Aurangzeb. An examination of the sectarian literature produced in the Mina lineage was crucial to reconstruct the early Sikh history, in general, and religious violence, in particular. In this context, Syan argues that the writings on Sikh history have viewed Sikh militancy as natural, inevitable and reactive. 

McLeod has linked it to the impact of Jat cultural patterns and economic problems.23 The Khatris and Jats were depicted as passive and bellicose in accordance with their intrinsic natures. In fact, the two castes had internal differentiations and adhered to different notions of violence. The Khatri notion of violence was connected to courtly civility, while that of the Jats was linked to clan identity.24 Throughout the seventeenth century, there was a contestation between two positions, the one represented by the successors of Guru Arjan and the other by the Miharvan school. Guru Hargobind, building on a rich inheritance, underwent gentrification. In addition to his growing demand for goods and luxuries, he offered employment to the Jats and other low castes, who aspired for social mobility. Miharvan, lacking material resources, was linked to the elite Khatris and the Mughal State. In an intellectual contest, there was a contrast between householder and renouncer and active and inactive militancy.25 In 1670s, Guru Tegh Bahadur and Harji advanced opposing ideas of householder-sovereign vs householder-ascetic. Guru Gobind Singh’s struggle, based on a critique of the Mughal State and an alternative vision of sovereignty, appealed to the Jats and other low castes. Harji, owing to links with the Brahmins and Khatris, opposed the Khalsa injunctions, cultivated peace towards the Mughal State and maintained status quo in social practices. Sikh militancy, rooted in an uninterrupted dialogue among the Sikhs, did not constitute a shift from peace to militancy, but it changed the type of religious violence it possessed.

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

In the present study, Chapter 2 is devoted to the Mughal-Afghan conflict as it unfolded in Panjab. Treating this development in the backdrop of the fifteenth century, it describes the political transactions between Babur and the diverse local elements in the Sind Sagar Doab. The family of Daulat Khan Lodi, suffering from internal dissensions, was caught in the crossfire between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi. The Mandahars of Kaithal, while opposing the Mughals, faced complete extirpation. While dealing with the decade-long governorship of Mirza Kamran, the chapter throws fresh light on his relations with the zamindars and chiefs of the hill principalities. It traces the resistance of the Gakkhars and Niazis to the Afghan State, which faced a difficult situation in Multan owing to the opposition of tribes such as the Balochis, Langahs and Jats. Chapter 3 revolves around the efforts of the nascent Mughal State to consolidate its rule in Panjab. Its military success at Panipat and Mankot was a limited gain. On the north-west, the Mughal State succeeded in removing Sultan Adam Gakkhar and assimilating his numerous kinsmen into the mansab system. However, Mir Chakar Rind, who was strongly entrenched in Multan, managed to retain his autonomy and remain out of the expanding Mughal net. This chaper concludes with the saga of Dulla Bhatti, who led a formidable revolt against Akbar and, thus, carved a unique position for himself in the Panjabi folklore. Chapter 4 revolves around the Jogis, who represented one of the oldest religio-spiritual traditions of South Asia. Kaikhusrau Isfandiyar, the author of a comprehensive treatise on the diverse religious paths, enables us to record the belief system of the Jogis. This text opens a window into the physical austerities that were based on bodily postures and breath control. Though the Jogis often travelled in groups, they spent a considerable part of their lives in monasteries. 

This chapter describes the internal layout of such establishments at Gorkhatari, Tilla Balnath and Jakhbar Jogian. The community of Jogis, organized in a hierarchical order, lived in accordance with strict rules. Though the Jogis appeared to have withdrawn from society, no monastic establishment could survive without a regular income, which could accrue only from land grants. For this reason, they paid attention to preserving documents and interacting with the Mughal State. What is interesting, the Panjabi folklore throws a flood of light on the multifaceted role of the Jogis in society. Puran, the Rajput prince of Sialkot, renounced his inheritance and, joining the fraternity of Gorakhnath, endeavoured to remove systemic infirmities and bring about social improvements. Waris Shah’s vivid portrayal of Jog, with reference to the conduct of Ranjha as a Jogi, was rich in detail. The concluding section examines Guru Nanak’s sermon to the Jogis, who were made familiar with an alternative path for the guidance of true devotees (gurmukh). Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the diverse shades of spirituality as manifested in three Sufi lineages and three saint poets. It picks up the thread of discussion from the Sabiri Chishtis, who had attained a strong presence in south-east Panjab and beyond the Jamuna. For this purpose, it scans the correspondence between Abdul Quddus Gangohi and Jalaluddin Thanesari. It traces the rise of the early Qadiris, who established their centres at Uch and Shergarh. Abdul Baqi’s Maqamat-i Daudi enables us to reconstruct the mystical path of Shaikh Daud. Miyan Mir, who elevated the Qadiris to their peak, focused his energies on the training of disciples with the help of a variety of austerities and introducing the prime recitation (sultan ul-azkar). Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi’s mystical thought, particularly his claims regarding the Mujaddid and Qaiyyum, were intertwined with the concerns for the second Islamic millennium. His response to Ibn Arabi’s unity of being (wahdat ul-wujud) stood in need of revision. Chapter 6 seeks to understand the spiritual ideas of saint poets, who expressed themselves in the vernaculars. It reconstructs the life of Shah Husain as recorded in his versified biography, besides identifying the tenor of his mystical thought as embedded in his mystical poems. Similarly, it analyses the poetry of Baba Lal and Sultan Bahu. It pays equal attention to the conversations between Baba Lal and Dara Shukoh. Chapter 7 engages with the issue of caste among the Sikhs. It identifies the verses of the first five Gurus, who unequivocally rejected caste and asserted the equality of all humans irrespective of birth. This chapter shows that Guru Nanak, identifying himself with the members of low castes, set a high example for his followers. 

The Gurus not only condemned the upper caste pride in their high status, but held that the worth of an individual depended on his pious conduct and sincerity of his devotion. This chapter lays emphasis on Guru Arjan’s hymn in Rag Asa, wherein he made an unambiguous statement praising the low caste saints, who had made credible spiritual progress owing to purity of their devotion. The thrust of this chapter is on the verses of Sant Namdev, Sant Kabir and Sant Ravidas. In these verses, they launched a powerful  attack on caste, rejected the authority of Brahmins and took pride in their craft. This chapter, relying on the writings of Bhai Gurdas and Kaikhusrau Isfandiyar, shows that social reconfiguration was surely taking place among the Sikhs during the seventeenth century. It also examines the passages in Persian chronicles that highlighted the large presence of low castes among the Sikh warrior bands. Thus, diverse forms of evidence enable us to judge if the Sikh leadership had succeeded in erasing the scourge of caste, particularly during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Chapter 8 is concerned with the love stories of Hir-Ranjha, Mirza-Sahiban and Sohni-Mahiwal. In spiritual discourses, they were hailed as epitomes of love, the sublime emotion that pulled the human towards the divine. In the Panjabi folklore, the stories of their travails have been preserved in copious detail. It is not possible to place them in a definite chronological frame. Moreover, there were variations in the available narratives. These difficulties were not insurmountable. In the case of Hir-Ranjha, I have relied on Damodar Gulati, who produced the first ever version of the story. Since I have provided the details in a recent book, I have confined myself to the bare minimum, which served as backdrop to the theme. In the case of Mirza-Sahiban, I have relied on the narratives of Pilu, Hafiz Barkhurdar and Charles Swynnerton. HirRanjha and Mirza-Sahiban were located in the agricultural-pastoral society, where the Jat clans often resorted to violence in order to assert clan honour. Owing to the deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes to love, the lovers were treated as supreme offenders, who had to be killed. In the case of Sohni-Mahiwal, I have preferred Fazl Shah over Hashim Shah. This tale was located in the town of Gujarat, but the urban space was as intolerant of love as the rural society. 

The potters, like the Jat clans in earlier tales, felt deeply offended at Tulla’s daughter falling in love with a stranger, who was a merchant from Bokhara. In their different contexts, the lovers faced numerous hardships and ultimately met violent ends. With the passage of time, the society learnt to treat the lovers in a different way. The saint poets and balladeers narrated the stories in the prevailing mystical idiom, which was ideologically subversive. Chapter 9 explores the sociocultural life in the city of Lahore,  which was not only the capital of the province of Panjab, but also the most important city in the larger north-western region. It reveals the characteristics of the urban economy, which had shown considerable vibrancy on account of its artisanal production. As a premier centre of commerce, it was connected to all parts of the Indian subcontinent on the one hand and with Central Asia and Persia on the other. Contemporary observers were impressed at the large presence of foreigners and the easy availability of goods produced in distant places. This chapter notes the impact of the presence of the Mughal court on the demographic structure, particularly the emergence of a temporary township in the suburbs and the nine-day long celebration of Nauroz in the walled city. It throws light on the rich cultural life, which revolved around the promotion of learning, academic debates and the sale of books. It seeks to investigate the ways in which Pir Hassu Teli acquired unprecedented popularity. It was equally concerned with the Jesuits, who employed novel ways to propagate the tenets of Christianity. No study of the urban life will be complete without uncovering the negative features. Contemporary writings do not conceal the incidents of heinous crimes, besides the large involvement of citizenry in social tensions. Chapter 10 examines the changing fortunes of the Mughal State during the seventeenth century. At the outset, it looks at its success in suppressing the revolt of Khusrau, noting the active collaboration of the zamindars with the ruling class. The imperial wrath was directed against holy men (Ibrahim Baba and Nizam Thanesari), who had large followings. We are faced with diverging views and inadequate evidence on the executions of Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur, besides Guru Hargobind’s relations with the Mughal State. The chapter describes the long drawn out military operations for the occupation of Kangra and suppression of Raja Jagat Singh’s revolt. It notes the absence of any anti-Mughal movement during the next fifty years. This chapter traces the revival of resistance under Guru Gobind Singh, while the hill chiefs displayed shifting loyalties in a fluid situation. It explores the erosion of Mughal authority on account of the widespread rebellion of Banda Bahadur. Relying on the evidence from Mughal newslet­ ters, it delves into the attitude of hill chiefdoms in a period of turmoil. The discussion concludes with the account of numerous zamindar uprisings that arose in the countryside and engaged the attention of local officers.

 FEATURES OF PRIMARY SOURCES 

Babur’s autobiography is indispensable in reconstructing the developments in Panjab during the early sixteenth century. His acute observations revolved around three distinct zones—north-western, central and north-eastern. The Sind Sagar Doab, bearing a complex topography, was inhabited with three tribes (Jud, Janjuha and Gakkhar) who relied on strong fortifications and benevolent rule. The tract between the Jhelam and Chenab, being well-settled and agriculturally rich, was the cause of disagreement between the Timurids and Afghans. In the central Panjab, Babur’s officers struggled against the opposition of Daulat Khan Lodi. Toward the north-east, he marched from Malot to Kahlur, leaving an account of the Duns lying between low hills. He has also described his military operations against the political fragments of the crumbling Afghan State. From Mirza Haidar Dughlat, we come across a proposal to parcel out the Panjab hills among the Mughal nobles, who would temporarily shift there in the face of an Afghan revival. Abbas Khan Sarwani, who had close family ties with Sher Shah, describes the Afghan measures in the north-western and southwestern Panjab. In the former, Sher Shah devastated the Gakkhar territory and extended patronage to the Baloch chiefs and Afghans of Roh, particularly the Sarwanis. In the latter, he subjugated the Baloch and Langah chiefs, while continuing with the existing Langah apparatus of land tax. Khwaja Niamatullah Haravi has described the Afghan punitive expeditions against the Gakkhars and Niazis, besides the construction of new Afghan forts of Rohtas and Mankot. Shaikh Rizqullah Mushtaqi, while supplementing these accounts, took a keen interest in the crime scene prevailing in the city of Lahore. Abul Fazl, the official historian Akbar’s reign, enables us to trace the consolidation of the Mughal State in Panjab. Apart from the campaigns against Hemu at Panipat and Sikandar Khan at Mankot, he describes the incursions of Mirza Hakim into the region. He has penned the story of Mughal success in assimilating the Gakhkars into the mansab system. 

He has described the numerous Mughal expeditions into the Panjab hills, without concealing the protracted resistance of the chiefs, who often formed large confederacies to oppose the Mughal State. In his Ain-i Akbari, Abul Fazl provides statistical information on the military resources and revenue potential of the sub-districts (parganahs) in the plains, besides the chiefdoms in north-eastern Panjab. Allahdad Faizi Sirhindi, while describing Shaikh Farid Bokhari’s campaign in the hills, surpassed Abul Fazl in presenting a graphic picture of the adversaries of the Mughals. Abdul Qadir Badauni, in Muntakhab ut-Tawarikh, has widened the scope of his interest in the sixteenth century and, in doing so, has thrown light on phenomena that would have remained in the dark. He closely followed the last phase of Mirza Kamran’s career, with reference to his humiliating experience in the Afghan camp and his flight through the Panjab hills with the assistance of chiefs and zamindars. Badauni was intimately familiar with the intellectual and religious currents in Panjab. Not only did he trace the rise of the early Qadiris in Uch, he rose to be the spiritual successor of Shaikh Daud of Shergarh. Equally significant was his knowledge about Lahore’s scholars and judges, who promoted learning through teaching students and writing books. In addition, Badauni has taken a lively interest in the smaller towns that also nurtured scholars, saints and poets. He also made a serious attempt to gauge the influence of the Mahdawis in Panjab. Jahangir, in his personal memoirs, narrated his son Khusrau’s revolt and his Kangra expedition. Motamad Khan and Khwaja Kamgar Husaini covered largely the same ground. By the early seventeenth century, a specific pattern was established in official chronicles. Starting with an account of the predecessors of the reigning emperor, the author recorded the events of successive regnal years. The accounts of military achievements were interspersed with references to the appointment and promotion of officers, celebrations of emperor’s lunar and solar weighing, besides the marriages of princes and birth of royal children. For example, Abdul Hamid  Lahori and Muhammad Saleh Kamboh have described the protracted military operations against Jagat Singh, besides the construction of buildings and gardens at Lahore. During Aurangzeb’s reign, the political epicentre shifted to the Deccan. In the early eighteenth century, the chronicles, ranging from Muntakhab ul-Lubab to Imad us-Saadat, described the meteoric rise of Banda Bahadur and the caste composition of Sikh warrior bands. However, the Mughal newsletters (Akhbarat-i Darbar-i Mualla) constituted a distinct category of evidence. Originally preserved in the Jaipur State Archives, their authenticated copies were available at the Shri Natnagar Shodh Samsthan, Sitamau. The large corpus has been chronologically arranged in accordance with regnal years and these have been put together in leather-bound volumes. Bearing a date at the top, each bulletin briefly noted the proceedings at the Mughal court and dispatches from the different parts of the Mughal State. Selections from newsletters, pertaining to Panjab, were also preserved at Sikh History Research Department, Khalsa College, Amritsar and Prof. Ganda Singh Collection, Punjabi Reference Library, Punjabi University, Patiala. Of the 18 provinces in the Mughal State, Sujan Rai Bhandari’s description of the province of Lahore (Panjab) was the most detailed. He has traced the routes of Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelam and Indus. These rivers, rising from different peaks in the Himalayas, flowed southwest through the plains and joined each other before falling into the Arabian Sea. He has paid a considerable attention to the urban centres of Lahore, Jalandhar, Sialkot, Sodhara, Gujarat and Shamsabad. Each town arose in specific circumstances and attained prominence for its industrial products. In the jurisdiction of Jalandhar, a variety of textiles were produced in Bajwara and Sultanpur, while horses were bred in Patti Haibatpur. Sialkot was noted for producing paper, silks, turbans, waistcloths, embroideries and daggers. Lime was mined in Jammu, while rock salt was extracted from 300 deep tunnels in Shamsabad (Salt Range). Every town presented a rich multicultural scenario, which revolved around its scholars, saints, buildings, tombs and tanks. Tombs were dedicated to Ali bin Usman Hujweri in Lahore, Shah Nasiruddin in Jalandhar, Imam Ali Haq in Sialkot and Sakhi Sarwar in Dhaun­ kal. Shah Daula of Gujarat was remembered for constructing bridges, mosques, wells and tanks. The seminary of Abdul Hakim Sialkoti, who had written marginal notes to numerous books, attracted students from far and wide. In addition to the famous temples at Nagarkot and Jwalamukhi, pilgrims visited the sacred sites at Purmandal (near Sialkot), Khatachha (near Makhiala) and Tilla Balnath (near Rohtas). 

The tombs of the legendary lovers Hir and Ranjha were found at Hazara near the Chenab. Their love story, which the people of Panjab had versified, was sung in melodious notes. Since Bhandari hailed from Batala, he has provided a detailed description of the town and its neighbourhoods. For a long time, the area was unsettled owing to a massive flood and Mughal invasions. Its foundation was attributed to Rai Ramdev Bhatti, a zamindar of Kapurthala who, during the reign of Bahlol Lodi, acquired the contract (ijarah) of the entire province for nine lakh tankahs. With the cutting of forests and settlement of villages, there was an expansion of cultivation, population and revenues. Local Mughal officers constructed buildings, tanks and gardens. A number of people like Sujan Singh Qanungo, Banki Rai, Qazi Abdul Haq and Gangadhar raised residential quarters, inns, wells and mosques. Amar Singh Qanungo laid out a three-terraced garden on the lines of Shalimar. Around the town were found the tombs of saints such as Shihabuddin Bokhari, Shah Kharab, Shah Ismail, Shah Niamatullah, Shaikh Allahdad and Shah Badruddin. Shamsuddin Dariayi, who was famous for his miraculous powers, lay buried at Dipaliwal near Kalanaur, where a Hindu family served as the hereditary attendants. At Dhianpur was found the shrine of Baba Lal, whose verses were sung by innumerable followers. Bhandari has provided a brief account of the Sikh Gurus, besides their teachings and devotional practices. He has painted a graphic picture of the annual weeklong carnival at Achal, a sacred place associated with Swami Kartik. Attended by lakhs of pilgrims and thousands of mendicants, it was noted for the performances of musicians, dancers, wrestlers and acrobats. Bhandari pays a close attention to the areas south of the Satluj. Its eastern segment, comprising the districts of Sirhind and Hissar Firoza, was attached to the province of Delhi. Panipat was noted for the mausoleum of Bu Ali Qalandar, who settled here after extensive travels in West Asia. In Sirhind, two saints, Fariduddin Sani and Muhammad Masum Kabuli, attracted numerous devotees. The sacred reservoir of Kurukshetra was found in the ancient town of Thanesar. During the solar and lunar eclipses, droves of Hindus arrived from different parts to take the holy dip and make lavish offerings. The chief of Sirmur, designated as the Barfi Raja, expressed his submission to the Mughal State by dispatching ice on boats to the emperor and his nobles. In the neighbouring foothills, the old temple of Bhimdevi was found in Pinjore, where Fidai Khan Koka laid a five-terrace garden with fountains and pavilions. During Shahjahan’s reign, the pleasant town of Mukhlispur was developed, where the Jamuna emerged from the hills into the plains. Apart from a fort, the site boasted of bungalows, streets and bazaars. A canal, taking off from here, went up to Delhi, irrigating the intervening lands and orchards. West of Bathinda, the arid tract up to the merger of rivers, constituted the province of Multan. The city of Multan, with its brick fort and tombs of Suhrawardis, produced textiles and received horses from Qandhar. The region was dotted with the shrines of Baba Farid at Pakpattan, Jalaluddin Bokhari at Uch and Sakhi Sarwar beyond the Indus. During monsoons, waters of the Satluj and Beas flooded the tract of Lakhi Jungle, which enabled the Wattus, Dogars and Gujjars to live in a state of rebellion. On the western border of Multan, two warring Baloch tribes, Dudai and Hot, exercised autonomy. Maintaining vast retinues of thousands horsemen and foot soldiers, they paid tribute to the Mughal State and posted their representatives at the governor’s court in Multan. Sufi literature was available in the form of letters (maktubat), biographies (tazkirahs), discourses (malfuzat) and poetry. According to the perusal of Maktubat-i Quddusi, Shaikh Abdul Quddus Gangohi had written nearly 44 out of 193 letters to his chief disciple Shaikh Jalaluddin Thanesari.

 These letters sought to explain the doctrinal and devotional aspects of mysticism from the Sabiri Chishti perspective. Elaborating the possibilities of divine vision, they underlined the importance of discipleship (piri-muridi) and interpreted the symptoms of esoteric experiences. Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, in addition to half-a-dozen monographs, wrote 534 letters. Assembled in three volumes (313, 99 and 122 letters) with the editorial assistance of his disciples, they were arranged in chronological order, with the name of the addressee and the subject of discussion. Meant for a wide readership, 90 per cent of them dealt with Islamic mysticism and Islamic law, though some passages were obscure. In 1643, Abdul Baqi bin Jan Muhammad completed a biography of Shaikh Daud. His maternal grandfather Miyan Abdullah Abubakri was one of the senior disciples of the saint. The author portrayed him as an extraordinary man, who was wedded to severe austerities and eccentric behaviour. At every step, he received guidance from the spirit of Abdul Qadir Jilani, besides communicating with the successors of Baba Farid and Bahauddin Zakariya. Weaving miracles into the narrative, the author referred to political events involving the local tribal chiefs. Coincidentally, Abdul Baqi completed this work when Dara Shukoh wrote the Sakinat ul-Auliya, an account of Miyan Mir and his disciples. The writer had an intimate bond with Miyan Mir, though he acquired the numerous facts about the master from his disciples. Apart from discussing the nature of his mystical practices and training of disciples, the work provided vivid details of his meeting with the Mughal rulers. Dara Shukoh, in his Risalah-i Haqnuma, described the prime recitation (sultan ul-azkar), which was a significant contribution of Miyan Mir to the development of the Qadiri path. To M. Athar Ali belongs the credit of discovering Pir Hassu Teli for the students of medieval India and, in the processes, introducing Surat Singh’s poetic biography of the saint. Surat Singh belonged to Nanesar, a town in the jurisdiction of Patti Haibatpur. Situated 8 farsakhs to the south of Lahore, it was found on the RohiwalQasur Road. All inhabitants, including the poet, belonged to the Kamboj caste, also known as Sarang. All of them were engaged in the avocation of trade. Surat Singh was the son of Duni Chand and grandson of Jogi Das. In Mohalla Talla of Lahore, he owned a house, which had been purchased for Rs. 700. On one side, the neighbour was a Sufi named Abdul Karim and, on the other side, there stood the imposing bungalow of Nizam Khan. Surat Singh, like his brother Ganga Ram, served as a petty functionary. He owed allegiance to Shaikh Kamal, the closest disciple of Pir Hassu Teli. A distinguished scholar of Persian, he was no mean poet. Toiling for over three years (1644-7), he produced a versified account of Pir Hassu Teli and Shaikh Kamal. Interestingly, the task was completed at the shrine of Baba Haji Rattan at Bathinda, where the poet was posted.27 Its only manuscript has been preserved in the library of the Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Recently, the department has brought out the facsimile of the manuscript. Running into 350 pages, it comprised nearly 7,000 couplets (17 per page) in the same meter. The narrative has been divided into 178 sections, each beginning with a heading. It aimed at building the spiritual excellence of Pir Hassu because of his innumerable miracles. Rambling in content, it often digressed into administrative matters and cultural trends. For example, it described the poet’s picnic to the picturesque resort of Hiran Minar and the circumstances in which the needy individuals were drawn to the saint. The poet, endowed with a broad social outlook, was eminently suited to reconstruct the life of a Muslim saint, who was trained as a Jogi at Tilla Balnath and went on to attract followers belonging to diverse socio-religious backgrounds. European travellers took a lively interest in the Indian society, economy and culture. In early 1581, Father Monserrate, marching with Akbar’s army from Agra to Kabul, passed along the highway up to Ludhiana and advanced along the foothills from Nagarkot to Rohtas. Provision for the multitude was acquired from the towns through special officers, giving incentives to merchants and conciliating the chiefs. As sappers cleared the road, temporary bridges were built on the rivers. At Tilla Balnath, Monserrate observed a community of 300 Jogis, who lived in accordance with strict rules of celibacy and an elaborate internal organization. In 1641, Fray Sebastien Manrique hired a cart to cover the 21-day journey from Agra to Lahore. The inns were found strongly built and suitably supplied with provisions. Manrique was impressed at a temporary bazaar in the outskirts of Lahore, while the city itself was congested due to the presence of the court. A nine-day festival of Nauroz, which was celebrated in the fort, revealed the magnificence of the audience hall and Mughal military might. The same extravagance was witnessed at the palace of Asaf Khan, who hosted a lavish banquet for Shahjahan. Francois Bernier, who could not bear (1665) the scorching heat of Lahore, noted the adverse impact of heavy rains and a receding Ravi on the buildings. Niccolao Manucci described the circumstances in which he established a successful medical practice at Lahore. Having lived here for seven years (1670-6), he was a witness to its fruit orchards, brisk trade and presence of foreigners. In 1604, Guru Arjan finalized the compilation of the Adi Granth, though the work had been evolving since long. Guru Amar Das, on the one hand, kept out the non-authentic verses and, on the other, included the verses of the low caste saints. This basic text, with subsequent additions and editorial improvements, culminated in the final scripture. Its middle portion, comprising 1,339 of the 1,430 pages, was organized in 31 units according to musical modes. In every mode, the hymns of the Gurus were followed by those of other authors. In terms of numbers of compositions, Namdev had 61, Kabir had 537, Ravidas had 40, Dhanna had 3, Sadhna and Sain had one each. Bhai Gurdas, who inscribed the Adi Granth under the supervision of Guru Arjan, participated in the evolution of the Sikh Panth. In 39 ballands (vars), he has provided insights into the lives of the Gurus and elaborated their teachings. In the eleventh ballad, he noted the caste background of prominent Sikhs. With repetitive emphasis, he described the functions of the pious congregation (sadhsangat), wherein caste inequalities were erased like the disparate ingredients in betel leaves. Guru Gobind Singh’s autobiography (apni katha) formed a small part of a larger composition entitled Bachhittar Natak. It traced the rise of the Guru as a potent political force in the Panjab hills. After describing the battles of Bhangani and Nadaun, it provided an account of many Mughal punitive expeditions.

 It uncovers the fluid politics in the area, where political alliances kept on changing with circumstances. While showing the inability of the Mughal State to establish its supremacy, it points to the Guru’s disciplinary action against the deserters from his force. During the medieval centuries, two streams of Panjabi literature in the form of Sufi poetry and lovelore have grown side by side. Sometimes, they tended to overlap and, othertimes, they appeared inseparably intertwined. Very often, they were engaged in achieving the same objective. They explored the phenomenon of love in its purity and passion. They narrated the struggle of the seeker, who faced numerous trials and tribulations. Sufi poets, from Shah Husain to Khwaja Ghulam Farid and romantic balladeers (qissakars), from Damodar Gulati to Bhagwan Singh, wielded their pens with gusto. Before the arrival of the printing technology, wandering minstrels sang these lyrics at seasonal fairs and social gatherings. With the coming of the printing press, the rare manuscripts became available to an increasing readership. From the early twentieth century, literary histories of Panjabi, as reconstructed in the pioneering works of Maula Bakhsh Kushta and Bava Budh Singh, recognized the significance of Sufi poetry and qissa versification. Political developments—fabrication of religious boundaries, the territorial division of 1947 and recent waves of religious fundamentalism—have failed to dampen the interest in the legacy of medieval Panjab. Critical editions and fresh reprints have been appearing without break. A new life has been infused into this trend with the teaching of Panjabi at graduate and postgraduate levels, besides the activities of semi-autonomous cultural organizations and government information departments. In this context, we must acknowledge the contribution of folk singers on both sides of the Radcliffe Line. They have been engaged in retrieving the ethnic strands of Panjabi culture from the gathering dust of times. 

They have remained stubbornly insulated from the bitterness generated by sectarian politics such as the solidification of religious boundaries in the wake of socio-religious reform movements, Partition riots and rise of ultra-nationalist ideologies. In the Indian Panjab, we have Lal Chand Yamla Jat, Muhammad Siddique and Kuldip Manak. At the same time, singers of Sufiyana Kalam, particularly those based in and around Nakodar—Puran Shahkoti, Bibi Nooran, Barkat Sidhu and Hans Raj Hans—have stood against the onslaught of crass consumerism and kept alive the hallowed Panjabi cultural traditions. Beyond the Ravi, we have Alam Lohar, Ashiq Husain Jatt, Sharif Ragi, Pathaney Khan, Abida Parveen and Arif Lohar. However, the versatile and majestic Tufail Niazi (1916-90) stands in a class of his own. He was born in a family of traditional musicians (pakhawajis) in a village of Jalandhar in undivided Panjab. As member of a cultural troupe, he travelled all over the Indian subcontinent, rendering the role of folk heroes. Migrating to Pakistan in 1947, he scaled great heights and became a living legend. While working hard to establish the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Arts (Lok Virsa), he explored the rural areas of Panjab and discovered the rarest of folk lyrics, tunes and singers. Endowed with a mellifluous voice and mastery over Hindustani classical music, he sang Panjabi folk songs and Sufiyana Kalam with equal ability. With his mesmerizing performances and the sheer emotion of his words, he could make the listeners dance with joy and cry with sadness. All these singers have contributed to reconstructing the non-denominational Panjabi culture, which has evolved across the centuries. These voices, in addition to that of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, have been the inspiration behind the writing of this book.  

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