ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>NIHA&#7748GS</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="NIHADGS"> <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">&#65279NIHA&#7748GS or Niha&#7749g Si&#7749ghs, originally known as Ak&#257l&#299s or Ak&#257l&#299 Niha&#7749gs, are endearingly designated the Gur&#363's Knights or the Gur&#363's beloved, for the military ambience they still carry about them and the heroic style they continue to cultivate. They constitute a distinctive order among the Sikhs and are readily recognized by their dark blue loose apparel and their ample, peaked turbans festooned with quoits, insignia of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 and rosaries, all made of steel. They are always armed, and are usually seen mounted heavily laden with weapons such as swords, daggers, spears, rifles, shot-guns and pistols.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Etymologically, the term <i>Niha&#7749g</i> is traced back to Persian <i>niha&#7749g</i> (alligator, sword) or to Sanskrit <i>nih&#347a&#7751ka</i> (fearless, carefree). In the former sense, it seems to refer to the reckless courage members of the order displayed in battle. The word could also be a modified form of <i>nisa&#7749g</i> often used in the Sikh scriptures to mean <i>nirlep</i> (unsmeared, sinless, not attached to anything). In Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's <i>V&#257r Sr&#299 Bhagaut&#299 J&#299</i>, 47, it is used for swordsmen warriors of the vanguard. Whatever its origin, the term signifies the characteristic qualities of the clan &#8212 their freedom from fear of danger or death, readiness for action and non-attachment to worldly possessions.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There are three different accounts current about the origin of the Niha&#7749gs. One of these recalls an amusing prank by Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's infant son, Fateh Si&#7749gh (1699-1705), who once appeared in the Gur&#363's presence dressed in a blue <i>chol&#257</i> (loose shirt hanging skirt-like below the knees), fastened at the waist with a linen girdle, and a large blue turban with a <i>dum&#257l&#257</i> (piece of cloth forming a plume). The Gur&#363 was pleased to see his son so arrayed and, remarked that that was a dress fit for Ak&#257l&#299s, the soldiers of God. This, according to some, was how a band of warriors sworn to this regalia arose. Another view is that Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh after his escape from Chamkaur donned blue dress as a disguise which, upon reaching the village of &#7693hilv&#257&#7749, near Ko&#7789 Kap&#363r&#257, in December 1705, he discarded and burnt. M&#257n Si&#7749gh, his attendant, saved a piece of the blue garment and stuck it on top of his turban. This, it is said, led to the vogue among some to take to blue and wear a <i>dum&#257l&#257</i> on the head following the style of M&#257n Si&#7749gh. According to yet another version, the adoption of peaked turban and <i>dum&#257l&#257</i> is traced to Nai&#7751&#257 Si&#7749gh Ak&#257l&#299, one of the leaders of Nish&#257n&#257&#7749v&#257l&#299 (lit. standard bearing) <i>misl</i> which provided ensigns to the Dal <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, the eighteenth-century confederated Sikh army. Nai&#7751&#257 Si&#7749gh introduced a tightly-tied tall turban with a <i>dum&#257l&#257</i> signifying the flag so that the ensign would be conspicuous even when his standard is broken or destroyed. The style, it is surmised, gained currency and those who adopted it were ranked as Ak&#257l&#299 Niha&#7749gs.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As Sikh <i>misls</i> or chiefships which had in the latter half of the eighteenth century established their sway in the Punjab succumbed in course of time to mutual rivalries and to self-aggrandizement, the Ak&#257l&#299 or Niha&#7749g bands (they were affiliates mainly of the Nish&#257n&#257&#7749v&#257l&#299 and Shah&#299d divisions) kept themselves aloof from the race for power or property. This self-discipline and the privilege they had gained of convening at the Ak&#257l Ta<u>kh</u>t general assemblies of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, brought them importance far out of proportion to their numbers or political authority. In the time of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh (1780-1839), who established a sovereign State superseding the scattered principalities, the Ak&#257l&#299 Niha&#7749gs maintained their independent existence. By their puritan standards and disregard of material advantage, they had acquired a rare moral prestige. Their leader Ak&#257l&#299 Ph&#363l&#257 Si&#7749gh Niha&#7749g, then custodian of the Ak&#257l Ta<u>kh</u>t, was the voice of the religious and moral conscience of the State and at times he censured and chastised the Sovereign himself. The shrewd Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 valued their qualities of valour and persuaded them (they would not become salaried servants of anyone) to join a special wing of his army. Niha&#7749g troops under Jathed&#257r S&#257dh&#363 Si&#7749gh and Ak&#257l&#299 Ph&#363l&#257 Si&#7749gh performed a crucial role in some of the arduous military campaigns of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257, such as those of Kas&#363r (1807), Mult&#257n (1818), Kashm&#299r (1819) and Nowsher&#257 (1823).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Decline in the influence of Niha&#7749gs set in with the death of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. During the Sikh rule, Niha&#7749gs had been openly antagonistic towards the European officers of the State and towards the occasional embassies sent out to the Punjab by the British East India Company. The Britishers, as they came into power in the Punjab, dealt with them harshly. The process of suppression had in fact started even before the annexation of the Punjab in 1849. In 1848 a Niha&#7749g leader, Ga&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh, who refused to vacate one of the minarets adjoining the Golden Temple, was arrested along with his men, and taken to Lahore. Ga&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh and two of his close companions were sentenced to death and the rest were imprisoned for seven years.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Niha&#7749gs are today divided into several groups, each with its own <i>chh&#257o&#7751&#299</i> (cantonment), but are loosely organized into two dals (forces) &#8212 Bu&#7693&#7693h&#257 Dal and Taru&#7751&#257 Dal, names initially given the two sections into which the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 army was divided in 1733. The Bu&#7693&#7693h&#257 Dal, calling itself Chhi&#257nave&#7749 Karo&#7771&#299 Chald&#257 Vah&#299r (960-million-strong column ever on the move), has its headquarters at Talva&#7751&#7693&#299 S&#257bo, in Ba&#7789hi&#7751&#7693&#257 district, while the principal <i>chh&#257o&#7751&#299</i> of the Taru&#7751&#257 Dal Niha&#7749gs is at B&#257b&#257 Bak&#257l&#257, in Amritsar district. Anandpur S&#257hib, the birthplace of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, remains the main centre of Niha&#7749g gatherings. They assemble there in their thousands in March every year to celebrate Hold Mahall&#257, a Sikh festival introduced by Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. On that occasion, they hol&#257 tournaments of military skills, including mock battles. The most spectacular part of the Hol&#257 Mahall&#257 at Anandpur is the magnificent procession of Niha&#7749gs on horses and elephants and on foot in their typical costumes carrying a variety of traditional and modern weapons and demonstrating their skill in using them.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Apart from their distinguishable mode of dress, the Niha&#7749gs try to preserve the form and content of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 practice established by Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh and strictly observed by the early Ak&#257l&#299s of the eighteenth century. Rising early, a Niha&#7749g recites <i>nitnem</i> (daily prayers) which includes <i>b&#257n&#299s</i> from Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, the <i>Dasam Granth</i> and the <i>Sarab Loh Granth</i>. He then joins the <i>sa&#7749gat</i> in the <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> where <i>k&#299rtan</i> (hymn-singing) and <i>kath&#257</i> (discourse) take place. He tends his horse and performs other acts of <i>sev&#257</i> or self-abnegating service to which he may be assigned by his <i>jathed&#257r</i> or leader. These may include working in the Gur&#363 k&#257 La&#7749gar or community kitchen and foraging for the camp's cattle and horses. Niha&#7749gs are strict teetotallers, and will not stand smoking in their presence even by non-Sikhs. Yet they are fond of <i>Sukkh&#257</i>, a potion of Indian hemp thoroughly crushed with heavy wooden pestle in a mortar, and do not object to opium eating. <i>Sukkh&#257</i> to them is <i>deg</i> (the kettle or sacrament) or <i>sukh-nidh&#257n</i> (treasure of comfort). Mostly non-vegetarians, they would not buy meat from the market but must slaughter the animals themselves. Faithful to the <i>sarab-loh</i> (all-steel) symbolism propounded by Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, all accoutrements of Niha&#7749gs, Niha&#7749g's weapons, utensils, trappings, even rosaries, must be of steel. Besides the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, the Niha&#7749gs accord a high place to the <i>Dasam Granth</i> in their religious ministration. They reserve special veneration for the <i>Sarab Loh Granth</i>, which depicts in primordial symbols the eternal fight between good and evil &#8212 in this instance between Sarab Loh, All-Steel incarnation of God, and Brijn&#257d, the king of demons. Likewise, they are attached to Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's poem <i>Cha&#7751&#7693&#299 d&#299 V&#257r</i>, describing the titanic contest between the gods led by the goddess Durg&#257 and the demons, and they daily recite it with deep fervour to recreate for themselves that martial tempo.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Niha&#7749g today lives in his own world of past memory, not divorced from fancy. Besides his traditional investiture, his tall pyramidical turban, the ensemble of weapons he carries on his person and his lanky horse, what helps him to sustain him in his isolated domain is the magniloquent patois he has acquired. This vocabulary, coined in the hard days when he suffered fierce persecution at the hands of the Mu<u>gh</u>al rulers, indicates how light he made of adversity. He still dreams of armies, and he thinks in lakhs. If he is alone he will say, " A lakh and a quarter (1,25,000) <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 are present." You ask him how he is, he will reply, "The <i>army</i> is well." You enquire from where he is coming. He will say, "The &#8216army' have been marching from Muktsar." If he is eating parched gram, he will say he was eating almonds. For him hunger is intoxication, a miserable pony an Arab and Iraqi steed, begging would be raising revenue and dying would be proceeding on an expedition. Expressing his disdain for worldly goods, he would call money husks, an elephant a buffalo-calf, and sugar, a rare luxury for men in exile, ashes. He will add the word <i>si&#7749gh</i> as an affix to all substantives and sometimes to other elements of speech as well, and he will transpose all feminine nouns into the masculine gender.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Gargi, Balwant, ed., <i>Nihangs : Knight Errants of the Guru</i>. Chandigarh, n.d.<BR> <li class="C1">&#8220Tradition and Customs of Nihangs,&#8221 in <i>The Spokesman Weekly</i>. 13 February, 1978<BR> <li class="C1"> Cunningham, Joseph Davey, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>. London,1849<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Si&#7749gh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. I. Princeton, 1963<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">K. S. Ka&#7749g<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>