ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>BUDDH SI&#7748GH B&#256B&#256 (1819-1906)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="BUDDH,SIDGH,BB,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279BUDDH SI&#7748GH, B&#256B&#256 (1819-1906), to his followers 'Gur&#363' Har&#299 Si&#7749gh, was the younger brother of B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh, founder of the N&#257mdh&#257r&#299 or K&#363k&#257 movement. He was born on Ass&#363 <i>sud&#299</i> 3, 1876 Bk/22 September 1819, the son of Bh&#257&#299 Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh and M&#257&#299 Sad&#257 Kaur of Rilpur R&#257&#299&#257&#7749 (now Bhai&#7751&#299 S&#257hib) in Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 district. He lived the life of a householder in his native village till the time his elder brother, on the Bais&#257kh&#299 day of 1857, formally declared himself to be the initiator of the N&#257mdh&#257r&#299 movement. Buddh Si&#7749gh was among the first batch of disciples to be initiated by B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh, and he undertook the responsibility of looking after the ever increasing stream of devotees who flocked to Bhain&#299 S&#257hib to have a glimpse of the new leader and to receive '<i>n&#257m</i>' or initiation into the new sect. B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh had no male offspring. Therefore when he was seized by police on 18 January 1872 for transportation to Burma, B&#257b&#257 Buddh Si&#7749gh took over the reins of the nascent community as its caretaker religious head. It was during 1874 that one Darb&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh, a K&#363k&#257 devotee, met B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh at Rangoon and brought from there the latter's <i>hukamn&#257m&#257</i> or written order formally nominating Buddh Si&#7749gh as his successor and renaming him Har&#299 Si&#7749gh.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With the ruthless suppression by the British of the N&#257mdh&#257r&#299s, banishment of B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh, and posting of a police picket at Bhai&#7751&#299 S&#257hib, the movements of B&#257b&#257 Buddh Si&#7749gh (Har&#299 Si&#7749gh) were restricted to the village itself. While this limited active religious preaching by him, he did not abandon the anti-British policies and programme of his predecessor. The boycott of British goods, courts and educational institutions by K&#363k&#257s continued and contacts with the rulers of Kashm&#299r and Nepal, already established, were maintained. These contacts had not been fruitful because the British were too powerful for these insignificant local states to be partners in any plot against them or to permit any anti-British activity within their territories. However, a new situation was developing across the northwestern borders of India of which B&#257b&#257 Buddh Si&#7749gh decided to take full advantage. Europe's sleeping giant, Russia, had risen from a long slumber and was stretching its limbs to the West and the East. After her ambitions in the West had been frustrated by her defeat at the hands of the British in the Crimean War (1854-56), Russia diverted her attention to Central Asia. Bo<u>kh</u>&#257r&#257 became a dependency of Russia in 1866, Samarkand was acquired in 1868, followed by <u>Kh</u>&#299v&#257 in 1873. A new province of Russian Turkist&#257n bordering on Afghanistan was formed and a Russian base established at Tashkent. British involvement in the second Anglo-Af<u>gh</u>&#257n war from 1878 onwards brought the British face to face with their strong rival, Russia. B&#257b&#257 Buddh Si&#7749gh deputed S&#363b&#257 Gurcharan Si&#7749gh, a K&#363k&#257 preacher who knew Pashto and Persian, to contact the Russians. It is not known how many times and with what success Gurcharan Si&#7749gh visited the Russians, but a letter from a British spy, Gul&#257b <u>Kh</u>&#257n, confirms his return from Central Asia to Afghanistan on 1 May 1879, and his being honoured by the Russians during a subsequent visit on 1 October 1879. He was told on this latter occasion "to return to the Punjab and strengthen the friendship between the Russians and the K&#363k&#257s. " A later statement of the spy mentions that "on 9 April 1880 Gurcharan Si&#7749gh sent another letter to Samarkand. . . This was from B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Si&#7749gh, but in the handwriting of his younger brother (B&#257b&#257 Buddh Si&#7749gh alias Har&#299 Si&#7749gh). " Gul&#257b <u>Kh</u>&#257n, the spy, met Gurcharan Si&#7749gh at Pesh&#257war and won his confidence posing as a Russian secret agent and got from him two letters for Russian officers which he made over to the Commissioner of Pesh&#257war. Gurcharan Si&#7749gh, however, was not arrested there and was allowed to return to Bhai&#7751&#299 S&#257hib, in India, and was ultimately apprehended at his native village Chakk Pir&#257&#7751&#257 (or Chakk R&#257md&#257s) in Sialko&#7789 district. Gul&#257b <u>Kh</u>&#257n also met B&#257b&#257 Buddh Si&#7749gh on 3 January 1881 and won the latter's full confidence. The detention of Gurcharan Si&#7749gh did not dampen the B&#257b&#257's enthusiasm for secret negotiations with the Russians. These continued through another K&#363k&#257 missionary, S&#363b&#257 Bishan Si&#7749gh. Upon the arrival of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh in Russia in 1887, Bishan Si&#7749gh met him and the two together made up plans to secure Russian support for invading the Punjab. The invasion, however, never took place, and B&#257b&#257 Buddh Si&#7749gh's plans aborted.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; From 1890 onwards, B&#257b&#257 Buddh Si&#7749gh diverted his attention to preaching N&#257mdh&#257r&#299 doctrines and consolidating the K&#363k&#257 movement in the Punjab. He died at Bh&#257in&#299 S&#257hib on Saturday, Je&#7789h <i>vad&#299</i> 10, 1963 Bk/ 19 May 1906.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bajwa, Fauja Singh, <i>Kuka Movement</i>. Delhi, 1965<BR> <li class="C1"> Vahim&#299, Taran Si&#7749gh, <i>Jass-J&#299van</i>. Rampur (Hissar), 1971<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">M. L. &#256hl&#363w&#257l&#299&#257<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>