Glorious and inspiring has been the history of India and there has been one of countless incursions by Afghans into Hindustan and finally this came to a stop. To commemorate the martyrs of the Battle of Saragarhi fought on September 12,1897, a religious congregation is held at the memorial in Ferozepur every year on September 12, besides reunion of ex-servicemen.
The gurudwara was built in memory of 21 Sikh soldiers of the 36 Sikh Regiment (now the 4th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment) who laid down their lives defending the Saragarhi Fort in Wazirstan (now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, in Pakistan) on September 12,1897, against 10,000 Pathans.
The Battle at Saragarhi is one of eight stories of collective bravery published by UNESCO. About 10,000 Pathans surrounded the Saragarhi fort, which was being guarded by only 21 Sikh soldiers.
The battle continued for seven hours and Sikh soldiers kept felling one after another. No supplies came but the soldiers were told to stick to their guns. In the meantime, the Pathans asked the Sikh soldiers to surrender but they preferred to die fighting.
All the 21 Sikh non-commissioned officers and soldiers were posthumously awarded the “Indian Order of Merit”, the highest gallantry award of that time. This award is equivalent to today’s Param Vir Chakra.
Saragarhi was a small village where a defence post was established in the North-West Frontier Province of the erstwhile British India. The outpost served as a signalling post to communicate between two British forts and to alert against any surprise attack from the tribal warriors of Central Asia. On 12th September 1897, in this very location, 21 soldiers of the 36th Sikh Regiment fought against the ten thousand Pathans and Afghan tribesmen, and despite being outnumbered they chose to hold their ground and thwart the invasion of India.
The battle began on the morning of 12 September 1897, when Gurmukh Singh of the 36th Sikh Regiment noticed an enemy horde of 10,000 and 20,000 riflemen marching towards the outpost. The commanding officer- Ishar Singh grouped together his men to decide whether to surrender, abandon their post or fight. All chose to fight as a delay tactic so that in the meantime the neighboring forts would be in a position to prepare them.
The battle lasted 6 hours, from 9am to 3pm and during this ordeal, 21 Sikh soldiers held out against the massive horde of riflemen and heavy artillery. The enemy broke in through a meekly defended section of the outpost and set the fort to fire. The Sikhs retreated to make a stand from inside the fort. But Havildar Singh stayed put to distract the enemy and buy time for his men to retreat. It was when the inside section of the forts was breached that the outnumbered Sikhs made an epic last-stand till their last breath.
The enemy shifted their attack to the nearby forts but as the latter had been alerted and had time to brace themselves, the attack was not successful. The enemy at the end of the day lost despite its colossal numbers and weapons.
The British recognised the bravery of the 21 at Saragarhi and did a lot to promote it – memorial Gurdwaras were built just a few years after the battle in Amritsar and Ferozepur to remind people of the bravery – and a battle honour day awarded to the 36th Sikh Regiment. The descendant of that regiment – 4 Sikh – continues to mark the occasion and memory of Saragarhi but the factual narrative of the battle has been long outside of military circles.
Frankly speaking, the matters which concern the making of history have always been a controversial subject. Due to politicization, history has often been abused by those at the helm to promote their interests over the general masses. History when serves as a life-force of a community’s existence, if it is rendered null and void, one can imagine the consequent grave repercussions.
In our country there are scores of such occurrences which despite their indispensable significance are still trailing in the dark. But such episodes needs to be pen down and made a part of history syllabus to put wiser the generations to come, as a source of inspiration to fight for a cause.
Let’s remember to keep alive the history of daring soldiers
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HARISH MONGA, Staff Correspondent & Feature Writer
harishmongadido@gmail.com
Phone No. : 9815087107
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