Gazing at Neighbours: Travels Along the Line That Partitioned India

by Bishwanath Ghosh

In 1757, when the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali was returning home after raiding India for the fourth time, Sikh guerrillas waylaid his caravan and not only freed many of the captives but also relieved the invader of some of the loot. An enraged Ahmad Shah then anointed his nine-year-old son, Timur Shah, the ruler of Punjab, placing him under the care of a general called Jahan Khan, and ordered them to demolish Harmandir Sahib, which, at that time, was not known as the Golden Temple because it hadn’t been gold-plated yet. The Afghan soldiers razed the temple and desecrated the holy tank—the pool of nectar—by throwing carcasses of cows into it. At the time, Baba Deep Singh, seventy-six years old, was leading a retired life, having served as the first chief of the Damdama Taksal, the religious school several miles from Amritsar that, more than two centuries later, was headed by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. When Deep Singh heard of the desecration, he set out for Amritsar at once to seek revenge, collecting an army of saint-warriors along the way. One of them was Baba Naudh Singh, already over ninety years old. They were met by the Afghans in a village called Gohalwar and a fierce battle ensued. During a sword fight with Jahan Khan, Deep Singh’s head got nearly severed and he collapsed. When a fellow Sikh reminded him of his vow to reach the pool of nectar as a victorious man, he got up and, keeping his head in place with one hand, went on to slaughter the enemy with the othe...

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