Banda Singh Bahadur - The Valiant Sikh

Banda Singh Bahadur was a Sikh warrior and military commander. Lachman Das, Lachman Dev, or Madho Das, were his other names. He was born on 1670 in Rajauri, India and died on June 1716, Delhi. He was the first Sikh military commander to start an offensive war against the Mughal rulers of India and temporarily extended the Sikh empire.

As a youth, he had decided to be a Samana (ascetic) and he was known as Madho Das. In the year 1708, he became a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh, who initiated him into the Sikh brotherhood. And gave him the name Banda Singh Bahadur. 

He became a respected general. He came to Khanda in Sonipat and began assembling an army and then started the struggle against the Mughal Empire. 

His first major attack was the sacking of the Mughal provincial capital, Samana, in November 1709. After establishing his authority and Khalsa rule in Punjab, Banda Singh Bahadur abolished the zamindari system and granted property rights to all farmers of the region. Banda Singh was captured by the Mughals and tortured to death in 1715-1716.

His win in the Deccan led the Mughal forces to send their forces against him. After an eight-month siege, the fortress town of Gurdas Nangal came under the Mughals in 1715. Banda Singh and his men were taken as prisoners to Delhi in a procession with 780 Sikh prisoners, 2,000 Sikh heads hung on spears, and 700 cartloads of heads of martyrs Sikhs and used it to terrorise the people of the kingdom so that no one dares to revolt against the Mughals. They were put in the Delhi fort and pressured to give up their faith and convert into Muslims.

The prisoners did not deter. On their firm refusal, they were ordered to be executed. Every day 100 Sikh soldiers were brought out of the fort and beheaded in front of the public. But the most intriguing part was that each one of his men wanted to be executed first. This continued for approximately seven days.

The Mughals gave Banda Singh a last opportunity to convert to Islam, then he would be spared. But he refused.

Finally, when his own turn came for execution, he stated to the Muslim judge that this fate befell him just because he had failed his beloved Guru Gobind Singh. 

After three months of confinement, on 9 June in 1716, Banda Singh's eyes were gouged out with red-hot iron rods, his limbs were cut and his skin was removed and tortured to death.

Banda Singh Bahadur died a martyrs' death. He had shown the highest level of patriotism and unquestionable devotion to his motherland and his guru Shri Gobind Singh Ji.