Bhai Bota Singh & Bhai Garja Singh
Bhai Bota Singh’s & Bhai Garja Singh’s names cannot be separated, let’s see how?
Bhai Bota Singh belonged to village Bharana near Amritsar in Punjab. He used to live in jungles in the daytime with some of his Sikh fellows. During the nighttime, they used to come out of their hides to gather food from nearby dwellers and have a dip in the holy tank of Darbar Sahib. One day in the morning he and his fellow Bhai Garja Singh were going back in the jungle. They noticed some people passing nearby. So, both of them hide in the bushes nearby. Those people who were passing also noticed the noise. One doubts that there might be some Sikhs in bushes. The other said that no, there must not be a Sikh because if there was a Sikh he would not have concealed himself and there is no Sikh left after the government’s persecution. He might be some coward pretending to be a Sikh because Guru made Sikh fearless. Bhai Bota Singh and Bhai Garja Singh were close enough to hear their conversation.
These words hit both and they immediately came out of bushes and said that yes, we are Sikhs and we are not yet vanished. Then both Bhai Garja Singh & Bhai Bota Singh thought that if they hide, people might think that there is no Sikh left. It will give a wrong message about his community. So, they decided to come forward and sacrifice their lives for creating awareness among the people that Sikhs are alive and still stand for their rights.
So they took some cloth from one of their Kamarkassa (Cloth tied around the waist), which was in blue, and put it on a stick as Nishan Sahib (flag). They established a check post of the Khalsa Empire in front of a place called Noor Dee Saraan about 6 kilometers from Taran Taran in Punjab. It was one of the busy areas because this post was on the main road connecting Lahore to Delhi. No one was allowed to pass that checkpoint without paying tax, named Khalsa’s Royal Tax. The tax they impose was one Aana (currency of the time, nickel) to bull cart and one Taka(currency of the time, penny) to a donkey passing through their check post.
Impose tax and wave flag are the features of an independent state. So, two Sikhs established Khalsa Empire. On the other side of two Sikhs, was one of the biggest power of Asia at that time. It was Nader Shah, who invaded Punjab and Zakariya Khan was given control of Lahore. The area of check post was also under him. The tax imposed by Khalsa Empire was not opposed by anyone. Bota Singh and Garja Singh wanted to send the challenging voice of the Khalsa Empire to the tyrant rulers. They got this chance when government officials passed through that check post. Khalsa Royal Tax was imposed upon them too. Officials gave the tax but warned them that they will report this to Zakariya Khan at Lahore. Khalsa take it as an opportunity and wrote a letter and gave it to the government officials and asked them to hand over this letter to Zakariya Khan. After 10 to 12 days of their tax collection, finally, the time was heading toward that point which both Singhs’ were waiting for. Their letter was a challenge. Its wording was as follows.
“Chithi likhtam Singh Bota, hath hai sota, wich rah khalota, Anna gadda, paisa khota, jaa akhee bhabo khano nuo, aaon akhe Singh Bota”
The letter means “Tell poor Khan That Baba Bota Singh is ruling the state with his whip, He charges one nickel for a cartload and a penny for a donkey load.”
This letter was a direct challenge to the governor which he could not ignore.
Zakaria Khan came to know about the Khalsa Empire established by just two Sikhs and the arms in their possession are one strong stick and one sword. He ordered his army general Jalaluddin to take two hundred soldiers and arrest both alive so that he can give them some exemplary punishment.
It was the day of 27 July 1739, when a troop of 200 soldiers set to catch two representatives of the Khalsa Empire. Both sensed the approaching danger from the sound of troops and the dust touching the sky. They got ready for their final battle. The soldiers encircle them and both Singhs join their backs with each other’s and challenged the soldiers. First Jalaluddin ordered a few soldiers to move forward. Then within a few minutes, he lost eight soldiers. The Khalsas’ asked Jalaluddin to send more soldiers and thus, he lost twelve more. After losing 20 soldiers to the opposition of two, Jalaluddin ordered the remaining 180 to attack them at a time. Even then both Bota Singh and Garza Singh were fighting so bravely and skilfully that they killed any soldiers. Realizing that the situation is going out of control, Jalaluddin ordered to fire at both Sikhs from a distance. Both Sikhs were having only one sword and a club as weapons. The bullets were being fired from all around on them.
Finally, both Bota Singh & Garza Singh won martyrdom. The 200 soldiers were unable to catch them alive. Both Sikhs established that the Sikhs are alive and still have the same spirit to fight against tyranny.