has its name inscribed in the Sikh history in golden letters. The village is proud of the supreme sacrifice of their ancestor,
, a follower of the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru.
Badh Khalsa village is located 13 miles from Sonipat and about 50 miles from Delhi. The total geographical area of village is 257 hectares. Badh Khalsa has a total population of 2,642 people with about 529 houses belonging mostly to the Dahiya clan of Haryanvi Jaats.
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Badh Khalsa Village, Haryana
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Background
Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru of the Sikhs is revered as the Hind di Chaadar, literally means the "Honor of India". The period from 1658 to 1707 is considered a dark period in India's history when Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor ruled India enforcing Sharia law with ruthless fanatical zeal. He authorized compilation of Hanafi Sharia law by the work of several hundred Qazis, called Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, a sharia based compilation on state laws, general ethics, military strategy, economic policy, conducts of slaves, justice and punishment. The compilation served as the law and principal regulating the administration of the Mughal Empire,
The honor of India was at stake and Indians were considered inferior as the conquered slaves with no dignity or human rights. There was a ban imposed on music and religious hymns, Hindu temples were destroyed, and Hindus converted to Islam by force. Folklore records that Aurangzeb would only eat his dinner after certain number of Hindus were converted by measuring the weight of the Janeu, the sacred Hindu threads discarded by the new converts.
Kashmir became his focus of attention and
Kashmiri Pundits were terrorized and coerced in to accepting Islam.
Pundit Kripa Ram Dutt led a delegation of Kashmiri Pundit elders to Anandpur Sahib seeking intervention by the Sikh Guru.
Guru Tegh Bahadur listened to their plea and volunteered to take up their cause to Aurangzeb. On his journey to Delhi, the Guru was arrested by the Mughals in Sirhind and then taken to Delhi. Here he was imprisoned at the
Kotwali, or the police station of
Chandni Chowk just outside the Red Fort.
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Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur
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Islamic
Da’Wa or the declaration of the supremacy of Islam and how it surpassed and replaced previous revelations, was used to coerce the Guru to convert. When proselytic attempts by Islamic clerics to convert Guru Teg Bahadur failed, the Mughals tried terror as the last resort. Three of Guru's disciples -
Bhai Mati Das,
Bhai Sati Das, and
Bhai Dayala were tortured and executed in front of the Guru. When this failed, the Guru was beheaded in public to terrorize the Indians. To further humiliate the Indian conscious, the empirical order was announced that no one was allowed to pick up the remains of Guru's body as it lay in open display of religious bigotry. The locals were wailing at the macabre sight but no one dared to disobey the royal order.
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| Lakhi Shah Vanjara and Sons |
That night, a blinding sandstorm (Kali Andhi) struck Delhi. The Mughal soldiers on guard lost their bearings and a man called
Jaita took them by surprise. He picked up the head of the guru and fled into the night.
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Gurdwara Sis Ganj, Delhi
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Simultaneously,
Lakhi Shah, a contractor of the Mughal Court, came with a bullock cart and carried away the body, under the cover of darkness. They drove past the Red Fort arriving at their home in
Raisina Hill. The house were set on fire to offer an honorable cremation. Today, the site of the house which was set on fire is marked by
Gurdwara Rakabganj located opposite the Indian parliament.
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Gurdwara Rakabganj, New Dilhi
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Dahiyas of Sonipat
Bhai Jaita wrapped the Guru’s severed head in a cloth and ran towards
Anadpur Sahib in Punjab hills. On his long journey, he took rest in the
Rai Garhi village in Sonipat. He was being pursued by the Mughal soldiers who soon reached village looking for him.
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Bhai Jaita
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Kushal Singh Dahiya, an elder of this village assessed the situation and offered his head to fool the Mughals as his face bore resemblance to the Guru, He ordered his son to sever his head and give it to the Mughal soldiers of Aurangzeb, who wanted to retrieve the head of the guru being taken to Anandpur Sahib.
Bhai Jaita managed to escape with the help of the villagers and reached Anandpur Sahib and the Mughal soldiers mistakenly took the severed head of Kushal Singh Dahiya back to Delhi. Upon reaching Delhi, the Mughals
The village was later destroyed by the Mughals in retribution for this act of deceit. Several people were killed while others fled and years later, some families came back and the village's name was changed from Rai Garhi to Badh Khalsa.
Bhai Kushal Singh Memorial
Ram Chander Dahiya and Rajesh Dahiya, Badkhalsa residents, told Tribune Chandigarh that after the selfless sacrifice of Bhai Kushal, Garhi was renamed Kushal Garhi and then it was named Badkhalsa. "Now, the village has a Guru Tegh Bahadur memorial to mark the place where Bhai Jaita rested," says Rajesh Dahiya, a farmer in the village.
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Guru Tegh Bahadur Memorial, Badh Khalsa
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Each year, Badkhalsa holds an annual fair to remember Bhai Kushal Singh Dahiya. Villagers organize religious functions and ‘Nagar Kirtans’ in the memory of Guru Teg Bhadur, Bhai Jaita, and Bhai Kushal Singh Dahiya.
“There is no record of the direct lineage of Bhai Kushal, therefore the entire village considers itself a direct descendant of the martyr,” they said.
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Inscription on Kushal Singh Dahiya Statue
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The Haryana Government has constructed a memorial in the name of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur in an area of around two acres on the GT Road. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on November 2017 unveiled the statue of Kushal Singh Dahiya who made the sacrifice of his own life to ensure that the head of Guru Tegh Bahadur could reach Anandpur Sahib. The statue was unveiled at Badhkhalsa Memorial Complex, Rai, in Sonipat.
While dedicating the statue of Kushal Singh Dahiya to the people, the Chief Minister urged them to draw inspiration from the sacrifice made by Kushal Singh.
References
Is there any contemporary or near contemporary reference to Khushal Singh Dahiya?
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