Sodhis cont'd

Dhirmals decedents Bhar Chand, Niranjan Rai, Bikram Singh Ji, Ram Singh Ji, Vadbhag Singh etc. capitalized on the fact they had the text considered by many Sikhs as the original ‘Guru Granth’. They established their own ‘Guru Gaddi’ (seat of the Guru). A reconciliation between the Dhirmalias and Guru Khalsa occurred during the time of Sodhi Bikram Singh.

Penti-Akhar
The 35 symbols of the Gurmukhi script as written by
Akali Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj, the second of the Khatri Sodhi Sikh Gurus

By the time of Sodhi Vadhbhag Singh there were complete relations between Akali Nihang Khalsa Panth and Dhirmalias. Around the early 1750s, Nasir Ali the military governor of Jullander, burnt the sacred Sikh shrine ‘Tham Sar’. Vadbhag Singh got together with the deposed Moghal governor of Punjab, Adina Beg, to capture and destroy the Afghans of Jullander.

Jullander
Washermen on the outskirts of Jullander, postcard from
'Aunty Valmay's Postcards from India', circa mid 19th century

Rattan Singh Bhangu writes how the Sodhi Guru summoned ‘Dal Khalsa’ (combined forces of Budha and Tarna Dals) to assist him take Jullander:

The Akali Nihangs drinking ‘Sukha’ writes Ratan Singh, took Jullander. Vadbhag Singh demanded complete the massacre and dishonor of Jullander. Adina Beg and his Moghals did not come to the rescue of their co-religionists. In the past, these Afghans had perpetuated atrocities on Adina Beg. The Jullander Afghans had also been indiscriminately kidnapping and raping Sikh and Hindu women. By order of Vadbhag Singh, those Afghans who had perpetuated these crimes had their women taken away by the Khalsa. The women were made to eat pork, and marry the Khalsa by simple ceremony of circumventing a small Sikh prayer book on top of a spear or given over to low caste Sikh Hindus.

Punjabi Women
Hindu, Sikh and Muslim women from Punjab, postcard from
'Aunty Valmay's Postcards from India', circa mid 19th century

Nasir Ali, who had died, writes Rattan Singh, had his grave desecrated and pig’s flesh put in his dead corpse’s mouth. Nasir Ali had beaten Vadbhag Singh to inch of his life and desecrated the Sikh shrines at Kartarpur by slaughtering cows in them and burning them. Sodhi Vadbhag Singh the extractor of this terrible revenge on Jullander died in 1819.

Gurdwara Tham Sahib
Built during Akali Guru Arjan Dev Ji's time in Kartarpur, District Jullander