ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>R&#256M RAU&#7750&#298</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="RM,RAUF*"> <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">&#65279R&#256M RAU&#7750&#298 later known as R&#257mga&#7771h Fort, was a small mud fortress built in April 1748 near R&#257msar, in Amritsar, to provide shelter to scattered Sikh <i>jath&#257s</i>, in Mu<u>gh</u>al Punjab. Sikh <i>sard&#257rs</i>, along with their bands, assembled at Amritsar on the Bais&#257kh&#299 day of 1748 and set to building a <i>rau&#7751&#299</i> or enclosure. According to Ratan Si&#7749gh Bha&#7749g&#363, <i>Pr&#257ch&#299n Panth Prak&#257sh</i>, the Sikhs themselves were the masons and carpenters. The structure consisted of an enclosure of mud-walls, with rudimentary watch towers, and a hastily constructed moat around it. The fortress, named after Gur&#363 R&#257m D&#257s, the founder of the city of Amritsar, became a rallying point for the Sikh bands against the recurrent onslaughts of the Mu<u>gh</u>al satraps of Lahore and the Jalandhar Do&#257b. When the Sikhs assembled at Amritsar to celebrate the D&#299v&#257l&#299 festival of 1748, Mu&#8217in ul-Mulk (M&#299r Mann&#363), the severest of the Mu<u>gh</u>al governors, led out a force against them. He also summoned from Jalandhar &#256d&#299n&#257 Beg who blockaded R&#257m Rau&#7751i where nearly 500 Sikhs had taken shelter, the rest hiding themselves in the bushes near R&#257msar. The siege continued for three months, from October to December, and, reduced to extreme straits, Sikhs wrote to Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh R&#257mga&#7771h&#299&#257, then known as Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh &#7788hok&#257 (carpenter) who was in the service of &#256d&#299n&#257 Beg, to come to their rescue. Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh, responding to the appeal of his Sikh brethren, left &#256d&#299n&#257 Beg to join them. The siege was ultimately lifted at the intervention of D&#299w&#257n Kau&#7771&#257 Mall, M&#299r Mann&#363's minister, who had his sympathies with the Sikhs.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After the death of M&#299r Mann&#363 in 1753, the Sikhs rebuilt the fortress. Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh R&#257mga&#7771h&#299&#257 took a leading part in fortifying it. Renamed R&#257mga&#7771h, it became the base of Sikhs' future operations. In 1758, when &#256d&#299n&#257 Beg became the governor of the Punjab under the Mar&#257&#7789h&#257s, he let loose a reign of terror in an effort to exterminate the Sikhs. R&#257mga&#7771h was invested by his deputy, M&#299r 'Az&#299z Ba<u>kh</u>sh&#299. The Sikhs were led by warriors such as Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh R&#257mga&#7771h&#299&#257, Nand Si&#7749gh Sa&#7749ghnia and Jai Si&#7749gh Kanhaiy&#257, but they were severely outnumbered. They put up a brave fight, but had to evacuate the fortress in the end. However, not long afterwards, they reassembled at Amritsar. R&#257mga&#7771h was repaired and regarrisoned, and continued to serve as a bulwark for the defence of the holy city of the Sikhs. The R&#257mga&#7771h&#299&#257 <i>misl</i> derived its name from the fortress which its leader, Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh, had redesigned.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bha&#7749g&#363, Ratan Si&#7749gh, <i>Pr&#257ch&#299n Panth Prak&#257sh</i>. Amritsar, 1914<BR> <li class="C1"> Ga&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh, <i>Sard&#257r Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh &#256hl&#363v&#257l&#299&#257</i>. Patiala, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Gupta, Har&#299 R&#257m, <i>History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. IV. Delhi, 1978<BR> <li class="C1"> Gandhi, Surjit Singh, <i>Struggle of the Sikhs for Sovereignty</i>. Delhi, 1980.<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">B. S. Nijjar<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>