ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KIRP&#256N 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="KIRPN,MORCH"> <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">&#65279KIRP&#256N MORCH&#256, campaign started by the Sikhs to assert their right to keep and carry <i>kirp&#257n</i>, i.e. sword, religiously obligatory for them, which was denied to them under the Indian Arms Act (XI) of 1878. Under this Act, no person could go armed or carry arms, except under special exemption or by virtue of a licence. Whatever could be used as an instrument of attack or defence fell under the term "Arms." Thus the term included firearms, bayonets, swords, daggerheads and bows and arrows. Under the Act, a <i>kirp&#257n</i> could be bracketed with a sword. Early in the 20th century various Sikh religious bodies, particularly the Chief <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, made representations to the government demanding freedom for the Sikhs to keep <i>kirp&#257n</i> as enjoined by their religion. At the time of World War I, the British government, fearing that the ban on the keeping of <i>kirp&#257n</i> would affect the recruitment of Sikhs to the Indian army, thought it advisable to relax the enforcement of the provision. Thus between 1914 and 1918 by separate notifications issued by the Home government, the Sikhs were given the freedom of possessing or carrying a <i>kirp&#257n</i> all over British India. However, the terms of these notifications were vague; the size and shape of the <i>kirp&#257n</i> having remained undefined; prosecution of Sikhs for wearing, carrying and manufacturing the <i>kirp&#257n</i> continued.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;During the Gurdw&#257r&#257 Reform movement (I920-25) the <i>kirp&#257n</i> question became a major political issue. As the agitation started by the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee and Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal gained momentum, the British Indian government shelved the two notifications. Sikhs possessing <i>kirp&#257n</i> began to be prosecuted and imprisoned, and many of the Sikh soldiers in the armed forces were court-martialled for keeping <i>kirp&#257n</i> and dismissed from service.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Ak&#257l&#299 Dal's <i>kirp&#257n</i> agitation remained in full swing during the years 1921-22 when black turbans and <i>kirp&#257ns</i> became the symbols of the Sikh defiance. The Punjab government resorted to several measures : any Sikh carrying a <i>kirp&#257n</i> could be arrested without warrant. As an act of defiance, the Ak&#257l&#299s began carrying full sized <i>kirp&#257ns</i>. Thousands of Sikhs were sent to jail for contravening the Indian Arms Act. The <i>kirp&#257n</i> factories at Bher&#257 and Si&#257lko&#7789 were raided in 1921, all <i>kirp&#257ns</i> exceeding 9 inches in length were seized, and the owners of the factories put under arrest. Excesses were committed by police upon non-violent <i>kirp&#257n</i> carrying Sikhs who bore these with stoic resignation and unfaltering faith; by the Sikh religious organizations they were honoured with the title of Kirp&#257n Bah&#257dur, Hero of the Kirp&#257n. A weekly newspaper, the <i>Kirp&#257n Bah&#257dur</i>, edited by Sev&#257 Si&#7749gh, was launched in 1922 from Amritsar to support the agitation.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1922, the Punjab Governor opened negotiations with the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee. A compromise was arrived at according to which an announcement was made on behalf of the Punjab government that the Sikhs would not be prosecuted for wearing, keeping and carrying the <i>kirp&#257n</i>. In March 1922, the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee issued instructions to the Sikhs that they must carry <i>kirp&#257n</i> which was one of their religious emblems but it may be unsheathed and drawn out only for prayers (<i>ard&#257s</i>), initiatory ceremonies (<i>amrit prach&#257r</i>), and by the Five Beloved (Pañj Pi&#257re) leading a religious march. As a sacred symbol of the faith, it should not be unsheathed and brandished except on these occasions. In this manner ended the Kirp&#257n Morch&#257, a confrontation between the Sikhs and the British Indian government for the restoration to the Sikhs of their right to keep and carry <i>kirp&#257n</i>.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Josh, Sohan Si&#7749gh, <i>Ak&#257l&#299 Morchi&#257&#7749 d&#257 Itih&#257s</i>. Delhi, 1972<BR> <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> </ol><p class="CONT">R&#257jinder Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>