ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>MAZHAB&#298 SIKHS</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="MAZHAB*,SIKHS"> <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">&#65279MAZHAB&#298 SIKHS, commonly pronounced as Mazhb&#299 Sikhs, is the name given to Sikh converts from the Ch&#363h&#7771&#257 community, among the lowest in the Hindu caste order. Ch&#363h&#7771&#257s in medieval Punjab, corresponding to Bh&#257&#7751g&#299s of the Hindi-speaking regions, were the village menials who received customary payment in kind at harvest time for such services as sweeping and scavenging. They lived in separate quarters, sequestered from the main village population, and were allowed neither instruction nor entry into places of worship. They were the "untouchable" class, for a mere touch by anyone of them "polluted" members of the upper castes. With the advent of Islam, some of them sought amelioration of their social status in conversion gaining the title of <i>mihtar</i>, Persian for chief, but the bulk still remained in the Hindu fold. The teachings of Gur&#363 N&#257nak and his nine spiritual successors, with their rejection of distinctions based upon caste or birth and their emphasis on equality of all human beings, had a special appeal for them. Those of them who joined the new faith gained admittance along with others to <i>sa&#7749gat</i>, religious congregation, and <i>pa&#7749gat</i>, commensality. They received the high-sounding designation of Ra&#7749ghre&#7789&#257, reminiscent of Ra&#7749gha&#7771s, R&#257jp&#363t converts to Islam. A special honour was earned for the community by Bh&#257&#299 Jait&#257, a Ra&#7749ghre&#7789&#257 Sikh when he boldly lifted the severed head of Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur, martyred in the Ch&#257ndn&#299 Chowk in Delhi on 11 November 1675, and brought it to K&#299ratpur, covering a distance of 300-odd km in five days. Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, coming out of Anandpur to receive him at K&#299ratpur, embraced him warmly, and exalted his whole tribe by conferring on it the blessing : "<i>Ra&#7749ghre&#7789e Gur&#363 ke be&#7789e,</i>" Ra&#7751ghre&#7789&#257s are the Gur&#363's own sons.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Upon the creation of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 in 1699, Bh&#257&#299 Jait&#257 took the rites of the double-edged sword and was renamed J&#299van Si&#7749gh. Several others of his caste also took <i>kha&#7751&#7693e d&#299 p&#257hul</i> and joined the order of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The new spirit infused by <i>kha&#7751&#7693e d&#299 p&#257hul</i> added to the native tenacity and hardiness of the Ra&#7749ghre&#7789&#257s as a class and during the troubled eighteenth century, they suffered and fought valiantly hand in hand with other Sikhs. Bh&#257&#299 Bot&#257 Si&#7749gh, who with nothing but a heavy club in his hand dared the Mu<u>gh</u>al might and proclaiming the sovereignty of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 started levying toll on the main Punjab highway, had a Ra&#7749ghre&#7789&#257 Sikh, Garj&#257 Si&#7749gh, as his sole comrade-in-arms. Attacked by a punitive contingent sent by the governor of Lahore, the two stood back-to-back fighting until their last breath. This was in 1739. Earlier, in 1735, when Naw&#257b Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh, the chosen leader of the Dal <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, as the guerrilla force of the Sikhs was called, reorganized the Dal into five <i>jath&#257s</i> or fighting bands, one of them consisted exclusively of the Ra&#7749ghre&#7789&#257 Sikhs. According to Ratan Si&#7749gh Bha&#7749g&#363, <i>Pr&#257ch&#299n Panth Prak&#257sh</i>, B&#299r Si&#7749gh, the leader of this <i>jath&#257</i>, commanded 1300 horse.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With the virtual establishment of their sovereignty in the plains of the central Punjab, as the Sikhs slowly reverted to their traditional village life, with farming as their main occupation, the Ra&#7749ghre&#7789&#257 Sikhs resumed their old role of scavenging and field labour, but they were no longer the outcastes they had been. They wore unshorn hair and abstained from tobacco and <i>hal&#257l</i> meat, i.e. flesh of animals slaughtered in the Muhammadan way. They were endearingly called Mazhab&#299 Sikhs (lit. Sikhs steadfast in their religious faith), the term Ra&#7749ghre&#7789&#257 gradually falling into disuse.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; During the reign of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, Mazhab&#299 Sikhs were freely enlisted in the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 army, especially in the infantry, and were generally deployed for duty on the north-western frontier. Demobilization followed the annexation in 1849 of the Sikh country to the British dominions. Many of the Mazhab&#299 soldiers, no longer content with their former station as village menials, resorted to highway robbery, theft and dacoity so that the British government declared them to be a criminal tribe. About 1851, Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Gul&#257b Si&#7749gh of Jamm&#363 and K&#257shm&#299r raised a corps of Mazhab&#299 Sikhs. The British recruited them for a coolie corps meant for road construction. In 1857, they were also enlisted, 1200 of them, to form the 23rd, 32nd and 34th Pioneer Regiments. Their extraordinary bravery and endurance earned them a high reputation as soldiers. They were no longer considered a criminal tribe and formed a significant component of the regular Indian army. In 1911, there were 1,626 Mazhab&#299 Sikhs out of a total strength of 10,866 Sikhs in the Indian army. Thus 17 per cent of the Sikh soldiers were Mazhab&#299s. Mazhab&#299 Sikhs were also employed on canal-digging and road-construction projects in the new canal colonies in West Punjab, to which a large number of them had migrated for permanent settlement as farm hands and agricultural tenants. A number of them, mostly retired soldiers, were even allotted lands in the lower Chen&#257b colony. This brought them a better economic and social status as a class. In the Chen&#257b colony (Ly&#257llpur and Gujr&#257ñw&#257l&#257 districts), Mazhab&#299 Sikhs were officially declared to be an agricultural caste and in the census reports they were reckoned separately from Ch&#363h&#7771&#257 Sikhs, i.e. those who had not received the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 baptism. The Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257, launched in 1873 with the object of reforming Sikh practice and ceremonial, preached against caste distinctions and brought further prestige to Mazhab&#299 Sikhs. Many more now opted for the rites of initiation. The population of the Mazhab&#299 Sikhs increased from 8,961 in 1901 to 21,691 in 1911 and 169,247 in 1931. During the Second World War (1939-45), Mazhab&#299 Sikhs along with R&#257md&#257s&#299&#257 (Cham&#257r) Sikhs recruited to the newly raised Mazhab&#299 and R&#257md&#257s&#299&#257 battalions, later redesignated as the Sikh Light Infantry. Their pioneer regiments had already been amalgamated in the Bombay Engineers Group.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mazhab&#299 Sikhs, as an integral part of the Sikh community, took an active part in the Gurdw&#257r&#257 Reform movement and the freedom struggle. After Independence, when the Constitution of India was being framed, the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal, in order to obtain for the Sikh backward classes benefits and privileges being provided for similar sections of the Hindus, insisted and secured the inclusion of Mazhab&#299 Sikhs (along with Ramd&#257s&#299&#257, Kab&#299rpanth&#299 and Sikl&#299gar Sikhs) among the scheduled classes. Although this was not consistent with the basic Sikh doctrine of casteless ness, Mazhab&#299 and other backward Sikhs have benefited from the concessions statutorily provided to them in the field of education, employment and political representation.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Marenco, Ethne K., <i>The Transformation of Sikh Society</i>. Portland, Oregon, 1974<BR> <li class="C1"> Rose, H.A., <i>A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province</i>. Lahore, 1911-19<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Park&#257sh Si&#7749gh Jamm&#363<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>