ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>GUR&#362 K&#256 B&#256GH MORCH&#256</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="GURj"> <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">&#65279GUR&#362 K&#256 B&#256<u>GH</u> MORCH&#256, one of the major compaigns in the Sikhs' agitation in the early 1920's for the reformation of their holy places. Gur&#363 k&#257 B&#257<u>gh</u> in Ghukkev&#257l&#299 village, about 20 km from Amritsar, has two historic <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> close to each other, commemorating the visits respectively of Gur&#363 Arjan in 1585 and Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur in 1664. The latter is laid out on the site of a <i>b&#257<u>gh</u></i> (garden) which gave the place its name. Like most other <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i>, the management of these two had passed into the hands of <i>mahants</i> or abbots belonging to the monastic order of Ud&#257s&#299 Sikhs. The grant of <i>j&#257g&#299rs</i> to such sacred places in Sikh times and the offerings of the devotees had made the custodians wealthy and prone to luxury.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1921, one Sundar D&#257s Ud&#257s&#299 was the <i>mahant</i> of Gur&#363 k&#257 B&#257<u>gh</u>. He was indifferent to his ecclesiastical duties and lived a dissolute life, squandering the resources of the <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i>. To save the shrine from being occupied by reformist Sikhs, he however signed a formal agreement with them on 31 January 1921, promising to make a new start and receive the rites of <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 initiation and to serve under an eleven member committee appointed by the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee. But seeing how the government was everywhere supporting the <i>mahants</i>, he repudiated part of the agreement and said that, though he had surrendered the <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> to the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Committee, the piece of land known as Gur&#363 k&#257 B&#257<u>gh</u> attached to it was still his property. He objected to Sikhs cutting down for the <i>la&#7749gar</i> (<i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> kitchen) firewood from that land. The police, willing to oblige him, arrested on 9 August 1922 five Sikhs on charges of trespass. The following day the arrested persons were hurriedly tried and sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment. This sparked off the agitation, and the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee decided to send every day a batch of five Sikhs to chop firewood from the grove of trees on the land of Gurdw&#257r&#257 Gur&#363 k&#257 B&#257<u>gh</u> and court arrest if prevented from doing so. From 22 August, police began to arrest <i>jath&#257s</i> on charges of theft, riot and criminal trespass. The arrests gave a fillip to the movement and more and more Sikhs came forward to join protest. On 25 August, Am&#257vas day, the gathering was so large that S.G.M. Beatty, Additional Superintendent of Police, ordered the police to disperse it by a <i>l&#257&#7789h&#299</i>-charge .</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Government violence led the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Committee to increase the size of the <i>jath&#257s</i>. On 26 August the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar issued warrants for the arrest of eight members of the executive of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee. A council of action, headed by Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh Samundr&#299, now took over charge of the Ak&#257l&#299 <i>morch&#257</i>. The government banned the assembling of people at Gur&#363 k&#257 B&#257<u>gh</u>, and police pickets were posted on roads and bridges to intercept volunteers coming into Amritsar. Yet <i>jath&#257s</i> of black-turbaned Ak&#257l&#299s chanting the sacred hymns reached the spot every day to be mercilessly beaten by police until they fell to the ground to a man. This happened from day to day. Political leaders, social workers and reporters came to witness what was described as an ideally non-violent protest. A.L. Verges, an American cinematographer, prepared a film of the proceedings under the caption, Exclusive Picture of India's Martyrdom. English missionary and educationist C.F. Andrews (1871-1940) visited Gur&#363 k&#257 B&#257<u>gh</u> and saw, as he put it, "hundreds of Christs being crucified." He sent to the Press a detailed report on what he witnessed on 12 September 1922:</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It was a sight which I never wish to see again, a sight incredible to an Englishman. There were four Akali Sikhs with black turbans facing a band of about a dozen policemen, including two English officers... They were perfectly still and did not move further forward. Their hands were placed together in prayer and it was clear that they were praying. Then, without the slightest provocation on their part, an Englishman lunged forward the head of his lathi which was bound with brass. He lunged it forward in such a way that his fist which held the staff struck the Akali Sikh, who was praying, just at the collar bone with great force. It looked the most cowardly blow as I saw it struck...</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The blow which I saw was sufficient to fell the Akali Sikh and send him to the ground. He rolled over and slowly got up once more, and faced the same punishment over again. Time after time one of the four who had gone forward was laid prostrate by repeated blows, now from the English officer and now from the police who were under his control. The others were knocked out more quickly... I saw with my own eyes one of these police kick in the stomach a Sikh who stood helplessly before him. For when one of the Akali Sikhs had been hurled to the ground and was lying prostrate, a police sepoy stamped with his foot upon him, using his full weight; the foot struck the prostrate man between the neck and the shoulder.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The vow they had made to God was kept. I saw no act, no look, of defiance. It was true martyrdom for them as they went forward, a true act of faith, a true deed of devotion to God..</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They believe intensely that their right to cut wood in the garden of the Guru was an immemorial religious right, and this faith of theirs is surely to be counted for righteousness, whatever a defective and obsolete law may determine or fail to determine concerning legality...</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sir Edward Maclagan, Lt-Governor of the Punjab, visited Gur&#363 k&#257 B&#257<u>gh</u> on 13 September 1922. Under his orders, the beating of the volunteers was stopped. Mass arrests, imprisonments, heavy fines and attachment of properties were resorted to. In the first week of October, the Governor-General Lord Reading held discussions with the Governor of the Punjab at Shiml&#257 to find a way out of the impasse. The good offices of a wealthy retired engineer, Sir Ga&#7749g&#257 R&#257m, were utilized to resolve the situation. Sir Ga&#7749g&#257 R&#257m acquired on lease, on 17 November 1922, 524 <i>kan&#257ls</i> and 12 <i>marl&#257s</i> of the garden land from Mahant Sundar D&#257s, and allowed the Ak&#257l&#299s access to it. On 27 April 1923, Punjab Government issued orders for the release of the prisoners. Thus ended the <i>morch&#257</i> of Gur&#363 k&#257 B&#257<u>gh</u> in which, according to Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee records, 5, 605 Sikhs went to jail.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Prat&#257p Si&#7749gh Gi&#257n&#299, <i>Gurdw&#257r&#257 Sudh&#257r arth&#257t Ak&#257l&#299 Lahir</i>. Amritsar, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"> Josh, Sohan Si&#7749gh, <i>Ak&#257l&#299 Morchi&#257&#7749 d&#257 ltih&#257s</i>. Delhi, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"> Mohinder Singh, <i>The Akali Movement</i>. Delhi, 1978<BR> <li class="C1"> Teja Singh, <i>Gurdwara Reform and the Sikh Awakening</i>. Jalandhar, 1992<BR> <li class="C1"> Sahmi, Ruchi Ram, <i>Struggle for Reform in Sikh Shrines</i>. Ed. Ganda Singh. Amritsar, n.d.<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">R&#257jinder Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>