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Category: unsung hero’s

  • For a handful of Bajra I almost lost the entire kingdom of HINDUSTAN:Sher Shah Suri.                                  

    The untold story of jaita and kumpa.

    A pic of Sher Shah Suri

    After driving out the Mughal from India Sher Shah Suri was running high with continuous victories. He wanted to be an undisputed Lord of whole of Indian subcontinent.

    To achieve this Sher Shah very well knew that he have to bring Rajput kingdoms of North India to there knees and he also wanted to teach them a lesson for helping the young Mughal king Humayun.

    He decided to attack the most formidable Rajput kingdom that was the kingdom of Marwar  under the king Maldeo Rathore with it’s capital as jodhpur. He marched from Delhi with around 1 lakh soldier’s. 

    Among all the king’s of medival India Sher Shah Suri had developed the most strongest  and effective spy network. They gave him 100% accurate news of his enemies strength and weakness. As per his spy network it was impossible for him to win a head on clash by directly attacking Maldeo’s capital Jodhpur.They also informed him about the rajput’s valor and way of fighting wars. With this information he learned that 30 to 40 thousand rajput army is enough to annihilate his army of 1 lakh and Maldeo Rathore maintained a ready to fight army of 60 thousand troops and 10 to 12 thousand semi trained civilians who can join whenever he needs them.

    Sher Shah immediately ordered his army to halt near a place called Giri Sumel about 90 kms from Jodhpur. Hearing this Maldeo came out of jodhpur with 50 thousand strong force and stationed his army at the out skirts of Sumel. Both army did not attack each other as both sides were not sure of there winning possibilities.

    One month passed like this and Sher Shah position became critical due to food scarcity as he had marched a long distance from delhi and his supply line was badly stretched. He had two option either to attack immediately which was not possible as Rajput army was well prepared for this or to retreat which would have severely hampered his Prestige.

    Sher Shah was very cunning he started thinking other treacherous ways and ordered his spies to drop letter’s in name of Jaita and kumpa near Maldeo Rathore tent. In these letters he hand thanked Rajput general’s for theiy help and promised gold coin and regions that he would allot them after his victory.

    Maldeo Rathore was decieved and he believed that the letters were true and at once ordered his general’s to retreat and himself retreated with his personal body guard. Knowing this Jaita and Kumpa were greatly hurt.In the afternoon they sat infront af a lake and began thinking about what would be their future step as their king had lost faith upon them.At that time they heard local women’s talking about the conflict and saying that they have nothing to worry as long as Rajput army is there at Sumel hearing this both of them decided to stay and confront Sher Shah army even if their king had retreated.By that afternoon 42 thousand of Rajput armymen had left the camp and retreated following Maldeo’s order,only 8 thousand men loyal to Jaita and Kumpa stayed back.

    This new’s spread like a wild fire in Sher Shah camp and at night there was a joyfully and relax environment in his camp. Sher Shah and his men believed that they had won this battle. A confident Sher Shah called his general’s and said that a handful of bajra is there in the field go bring it to me.

    By the next day morning Afghan army was ready to follow Sher Shah order and prepared for the battle.

    Jaita and Kumpa with 8 thousand men waited for the enimies calmly. Sher Shah watched from a distance and ordered his army to attack.In the first wave of attack 20 thousand of Sher Shah men comprising of both cavlary and infantry attacked the small Rajput formation.

    To his astonishment 8 thousand Rajput men under Jaita and Kumpa not only put up a strong resistance,but within hours they cut down almost the entire first wave. Seeing this Sher Shah ordered his top general’s  to attack with the remaining 80 thousand forces.

    But Jaita and Kumpa were determined to give a stiff fight they boosted their men moral by reminding them of their responsibility towards their land which was inhabitated by their ancestors. Rajput men stormed towards the incoming Afghan forces and inflicted heavy casualties upon them. They started pushing back the huge Sher Shah army and by afternoon end almost half of the Sher Shah army had perished and Sher Shah himself feared that he was going to loose this battle as he saw Jaita and Kumpa had started attacking his formation of personal guards.

    He mounted his horse and was about to retreat when he got the news that his personal guards had killed exhausted Jaita and Kumpa. As the battle ended he went in to assess his losses and found that more than 50 thousand of his men and many of his top generals had been killed.

    He appreciated the bravery of Jaita and Kumpa and said to his minister what a battle it was for a hand full of bajra I almost lost the entire kingdom Hindustan.

  • Sleepy hollow of India:BABA DEEP SINGH.

    In the year 1756 Ahmed Shah Abdali invaded India again for the fifth time.The Afghans decimated the already weak Mughal forces and started looting Delhi and surrounding North Indian provinces. The process carried on for several months & finally in 1757 the Afghans started marching back with huge Indian wealth,young men and women as slaves. Even the Mughal king’s daughter was taken as slave.

    Word about the afghans sexual harassment of women and their loot spread like wild fire but no one had the courage to face the Afghans. Finally a battle hardened group of Nihang Sikhs of the Shaheedan Misl under their leader Baba Deep Singh got this news. Seventy five years old Baba Deep Singhji had retired himself from active war fare but was actively leading the group as its leader by imparting Martial arts training and making war strategy for the group. He immediately ordered his men to attack the returning Afghans.

    The Sikh group successfully attacked and freed a large no of women and children. They were also able to siege huge wealth that was looted by Afghans.

    Upon hearing this Ahmed Shah got furious. He decided to teach the whole Sikh community a lesson & ordered his son Timur Shah Durrani  to masscare the Sikhs in Amritsar, fill the holy pond with cow carcass and to demolish the Golden Gurdwara. He left a force of ten thousand men and an experienced general named Jahan khan to complete this task. Afghans started carrying out their masters order and thousands of Sikhs were put to death and holy pond was filled with blood and dead bodies of animals and Sikh men.

    That very night Baba Deep Singh saw a bad dream that Golden temple is being demolished and he is responsible for that. In morning news reached him about the ongoing Afghan atrocities in Amritsar. He felt guilty that he could not save the holy shrine & decided to come out of his self restricted retirement and use  his 15 kg khanda after years. The 75 years old man began his March towards Amritsar with 500 hundred Sikhs as the group passed through villages they were joined by numerous selfless volunteers with sickles and axes in hand. When they reached Amritsar its strength had swollen above 5000 but mostly Sikh villagers with sickles and axes.

    All of them had vowed to free the holy shrine and Baba himself vowed not to die till he reaches the shrine.

    The battle began from the periphery of Amritsar. At one side was a battle hardened well trained Afghan army that had brought many strong rivals to there knees while at the other side was an army of sikhs mostly semi trained civilians led by a 75 year old man.

    As the Sikh group pushed through the city Afghan resistance became more strong. It was looking like the Afghans will overshadow the sikhs. But with heavy casualties Sikh group managed to come within the viewing distance from holy shrine. The view of the demolished Harmandir Saheb(the golden shrine) charged up the sikhs. At that very moment two Afghan commanders delivered a deadly blow to Baba Deep Singhji’s neck area and he fell on the ground with his head slightly joined to his neck.

    The remaining Sikh warriors realised the gravity of the situation as they knew that without Baba they will lose this battle. They reminded a mortally wounded BABA of his vow. Miraculously Baba Deep Singhji upon hearing this stood up and used his left hand to support his almost decapitated head and right hand to balance his 15 kg khanda(Double edged sword) and charged through the strong Afghan forces cutting them into pieces as if a farmer was cutting in a paddy field. This type of  heavenly  unimaginable  valour displayed by BABA DEEP SINGHJI boosted the moral of the remaining sikhs and they started fighting like immortals. Many severly wounded sikhs got up and started fighting.

    Upon seeing this prince Timur shah Durrani decided to lead himself and brought in Afghan Royal guard who stood in formation guarding the way to the holy shrine.

    Baba Deep Singh pierced through the formation of afghan Royal guards and gave a deadly blow to Timur shah. Timur shah was mortally wounded and was whisked away by his personal guards.

    Finally Baba Deep Singhji reached the periphery of the sacred pond and took his last breath. In the ensuing battle Sikhs emerged victorious and the holy shrine was freed from Afghans.

    Today after three centuries not only Sikhs but people from different communities from around the world come to the Golden Temple and pay homage to the spot where Baba Deep Singhji laid his head. His 15 kg khanda is still preserved at AKAL TAKHAT as a symbol of Sikh bravery.