ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>SIKH ARMY PAÑCH&#256YATS</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="SIKH,ARMY,PAÑCHYATS"> <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">&#65279SIKH ARMY PAÑCH&#256YATS, or regimental committees, were a singularly characteristic phenomenon of the post-Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh period of Sikh rule in the Punjab. Based on the Sikh principle of equality as well as of the supremacy of <i>sa&#7749gat </i> or the <i>sarbatt <u>kh</u>&#257ls&#257 </i>, they wielded great power during 1841-45. Like the rise of Soviets on the eve of the Russian revolution of 1917, <i>pañch&#257yats</i> in the Sikh army appeared spontaneously at a time of instability and declining administrative standards. The struggle of power between M&#257&#299 or dowager, Chand Kaur and Prince Sher Si&#7749gh after the death of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Kha&#7771ak Si&#7749gh and his son, Nau Nih&#257l Si&#7749gh, ended in victory for the Prince, but at the expense of military discipline. Sher Si&#7749gh had won over the army with promises of monetary reward which he was not in a position to fulfil. Charging the government with bad faith, the soldiers whose pay had been in arrears for several months, went on the rampage in the city of Lahore, the trouble spreading also to the provinces. Unpopular senior officers and corrupt paymasters and regimental accountants were their special targets. Sher Si&#7749gh and his prime minister, Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh called a meeting of the soldiers' representatives called <i>pañches</i> to discuss their demands and end the mutiny which continued intermittently for about six months. The troops had tasted power while the court had been weakened through jealousy and intrigue among <i>sard&#257rs</i> some of whom were also suspected of having links with the British. The soldiers, anxious to have their own voice heard in matters of state, introduced the familiar institution of <i>pañch&#257yat</i>. Each battalian, regiment and, in the case of artillery, <i>&#7693er&#257</i> had its own elected <i>pañch&#257yat</i> or committee of elders. Together the <i>pañch&#257yats</i> formed a council which called itself Sarbatt <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 or the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. A contemporary witness of court events and diarist, Sohan L&#257I S&#363r&#299, <i>'Umdat ut-Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u></i>, does not use the term <i>pañch&#257yat</i>, but refers to the representatives of the army variously as <i>Si&#7749ghs, <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, pañches</i>, officers of the <i>pal&#7789ans</i> or collectively as the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 j&#299</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Army <i>pañch&#257yats</i> after their first fit of fury in 1841 remained dormant for the rest of the rule of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Sher Si&#7749gh. They reappeared, however, with redoubled vigour immediately after the assassination, on a single fateful day (15 September 1843), of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Sher Si&#7749gh, the heir apparent, Ka&#7749var Part&#257p Si&#7749gh, and the prime minister, R&#257j&#257 Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh. R&#257j&#257 H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh, son of Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh, who emerged as a powerful person as the new Waz&#299r had to propitiate the <i>pañch&#257yats</i> with promises of a rise in pay and <i>ad hoc</i> rewards.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Broadly speaking, the <i>pañch&#257yats</i> performed a fourfold role : they, pressurized the government for more pay, helped to maintain discipline and morale in the ranks, assured sovereign authority in matters of state in the name of the people, the Sarbatt Kh&#257ls&#257, and they provided popular leadership to meet the British threat from across the southern borders. However sound in principle, the system could not have lasted for long. The <i>pañch&#257yats</i> lacked unity and tended towards contention and arbitrariness. With the defeat of the Sikhs in the first Anglo-Sikh war (1845-46), they lapsed. The British drastically reduced the strength of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 army and disbanded units wherein they suspected the slightest ill-discipline.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bajwa, Fauja Singh, <i>Military System of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1964<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, Vol.lI. London, 1966<BR> <li class="C1"> Hasrat, Bikrama Jit, <i>Anglo-Sikh Relations</i>, 1799-1849</i>. Hoshiarpur, 1968<BR> <li class="C1"> Chopra, Barkat Rai, <i>Kingdom of the Punjab</i>. Hoshiarpur, 1969<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Fauj&#257 Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>