Jump to content

gooligat

Members
  • Posts

    12
  • Joined

  • Last visited

gooligat's Achievements

  1. Shaeehdiyan, Are there nihungs still around who belong to the original Ramgarhia Misl and if so, do these Nihungs work as carpenters, masons or smiths? Fateh
  2. Shaheediyan If all Ramgarhia Gurdwara committees open up to all Sikhs and the golden period Ramgarhia term explained-should the term Ramgarhia be retained, for all Sikhs to celebrate? Or...change the name.....How about Gurdwara Sahib Guru Ram Das Ji (this would retain the original inspiration for the Ramgarhia title). Who is the most senior individual in the Ramgarhia Council-I'd like to approach him to have a discussion. I am aware of cases where some Ramgarhia gurdwaras are going to have succession planning problems because no youth are around to take on the responsibiliy from old committee members, who are ailing because of poor health. What do you think?
  3. Is it Ok if I write a personal lareevar gutka in calligraphic style, on nice quality paper and get it bound properly ? The format I was considering was left page gurmukhi-right page English. What do folks consider is the best English translation available that is most nearest in meaning to the original Gurmukhi meaning? Gurfateh
  4. I concur with shaheediyan. When 1 Jat gets into the committee.......the numbers grow exponentially and before you know it..hey presto-the Gurdwara committee becomes all Jats (chak de phatay brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa). The Hitchin situation is not surprising at all. I too have come across numerous AKJers who exercise caste discrimination. I've had a conversation with an AKJer who openly said to me that he would never dream of getting his daughter married to a 'chumaar', but that he might ratify a marriage to a 'tharkhaan'. My jaw dropped open when i heard such awful comments. Punjabis are very castist...no wonder the 3 HO Sikhs feel sorry for us. How can one raise ones consciousness if we continue to identify with a 'better team'? Jaat and Jot sound very similar yet how far apart they are. Satnam Jee
  5. Does anybody know Davinder singh panesar's e-mail please. I'd like to contact him to come and speak at the local gurdwara. Gurfateh jee.
  6. Debate: Does the title ‘Ramgarhia’ have any place in the present Sikh world? Some basic facts: Ramgarhia is derived from 3 words ‘Ram’ ‘Garh’ ‘ia’ ‘Ram’ after ‘Guru RamDas Ji’ the 4th Master. ‘Garh’ meaning ‘fort / castle’. ‘Ia’ meaning ‘of’ Literal meaning is ‘those of the fort of Guru Ram Das Ji’. Historical perspective: The first Khalsa fort erected by Sikh masons was called Ram Rauni. The fort was later called ‘Ram-Garh’. Every civilisation has had its engineers, masons, carpenters and blacksmiths……we all need basic shelter and places to worship in. Every city in the world stands as a testimony to the skills of such talented humans who have designed and built to serve humanity. The Dal Khalsa wanted to give Baba Jassa Singh a badge of recognition for his role in the battle of RamGarh that changed the course of Sikh history….so the Dal Khalsa got together and bestowed upon Baba Jassa Singh the title ‘Ramgarhia’, with Baba Jassa Singh Aluwalia (Sultan-e-Quam) ratifying the title. The Misl of which Baba Jassa Singh was the baron, also took on the same name. So, Ramgarhia is a ‘Dal Khalsa’ term, derived from the name of Guru RamDas Ji. I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions of its derivation. The Misl was made up of Khalsa from all backgrounds-masons/smiths/carpenters/farmers/lubanas/hide workers/water carriers…... They were all proud of fighting for the Khalsa under the ‘Ramgarhia’ banner. Note therefore that during this golden period in Sikh history-Ramgarhia had no mono-caste connotation. It was a name of a Misl (the name just to re-iterate blessed and ratified by the Dal Khalsa) that just happened to be under the leadership of Baba Jassa Singh, who just happened to be of a carpentry background. It is also likely that those who were of different professional backgrounds learned the trades of the masons/carpenters/smiths so that they could help erect forts, build gurdwaras, make shasters and artillery, make kangas, kirpans, karas, palkees and tanti-saaz instruments. If you observe the surnames of those who served in the Misl, they reflect all ‘jaat-paats’ and therefore was truly an all inclusive Khalsa institution. Ranjit Singh’s period. He destroyed 360 Khalsa forts that had been erected by the Ramgarhia Misl. No doubt he considered them a threat to his rising power. He liked the term ‘Ramgarhia’ and bestowed upon some of his bravest horseman of the erstwhile Ramgarhia Misl, the term ‘Ramgarhia Brigade’. Baba Jodh Singh Ramgarhia was his advisor for major campaigns. East Africa Many Sikhs who were skilled masons/carpenters/smiths left Punjab, after the British passed the discriminatory land act that only allowed ‘zameendars’ to own land. This law hit non-zameendars very hard and many fell into poverty. Zameendars often referred to the masons/carpenters/smiths as ‘goolighat’- a very derogatory phrase, akin to a white person calling someone from the subcontinent ‘paki or nigger’. The British required skilled Sikhs in East Africa, to build the railways and to build cities in Kenya/Uganda/Tanzania. Large numbers migrated to these countries. Sikhs built the major cities of East Africa and its infrastructure. They established beautiful gurdwaras and for the first time, called some of them ‘Ramgarhia’ Gurdwaras, to honour the original Misl, but I guess also to boast that the smiths/carpenters/masons were for the first time, in a majority. However, people must have started to associate the term ‘Ramgarhia’ with these jaat paats. So whilst Ramgarhia actually means ‘those of the fort of Guru Ram Das jee’, it now became ‘masons/smiths/carpenters of the fort of Guru Ram Das Ji’. This has lead to the modern day erroneous interpretation that Ramgarhia=tarkhans/mistrees/smiths This modern day hijacking is used by those committees who run ‘Ramgarhia’ gurdwaras, by letting them possess constitutions barring ‘non-Ramgarhias’ from the committee. This is quite bizarre because the original Misl was open to all backgrounds and indeed the surnames of the ‘hijacker’ Ramgarhia committee-valey reflect all jaat paats, a legacy of those Sikhs of all backgrounds who joined the original Misl. So the bottom line is that if you didn’t join the ‘Ramgarhia’ Misl during Jassa Singh’s time, you have no chance of joining a Ramgarhia committee if you have never been associated with the Ramgarhia Misl. How sad and a simple reflection of ignorance of ‘modern’ day ‘Ramgarhia Misl members’. Contributions of the Ramgarhia Misl to Khalsa history. We have seen that the term Ramgarhia is a Khalsa term…no one can deny this. The Misl built the first Khalsa fort (Ram Rauni-later Ramgarh), built the Bunga with the 2 watch towers adjacent to the Harimandir Sahib that bears the Misls name (the implications of the name are that it captures the original meaning and not the modern day implication), Baba Atal Tower, Tarn Taran Sahib, Hazoor Sahib, commenced the Shaheed Gurdwara of Baba Deep Singh and numerous other historical shrines. The Misl gave birth to great sant-sipahees, such as Jassa Singh, Jodh Singh, Tara Singh (a master of Gatka), great saints such as Baba Nand Singh and Baba Puran Singh Kericho-wale, panth-ratan puratan kirtanees such as Baba Jwala Singh, Bhai Avtar Singh, Bhai Sujan Singh, Bhai Balbir Singh and this legacy goes on in the modern day ‘Gurmat Sangeet’ revival. Much of the stone work and fresco paintings in Darbar Sahib and other historical gurdwaras was done by those who hailed from the Misl. So back to the original question: It is clear that the old ‘Ramgarhia’ term meant something completely different to the ‘modern-day’ Ramgarhia term. The only way in which the ‘golden age’ Ramgarhia term can be revamped is to open up the Ramgarhia Gurdwara committees to all Sikhs. Should the name of ‘Ramgarhia Gurdwaras’ be changed if the committee membership becomes all inclusive..this is a moot point. If all Sikhs are made aware of what the name actually means and the fact that it is a ‘Khalsa’ invention and the fact that the only surviving bunga has ‘Ramgarhia in its name; (I don’t need to remind folks that in the daily ardaas, we say ‘ chowkian, jhunday, bungay, jugo jag atal…….)-then the name can remain and every Sikh can celebrate it. If the name continues to be an advert that means ‘nobody apart from mistrees/tarkhans/lohaars can apply for committee membership’, the result is further discrimination and further derision / mockery. The cause of the mockery lies firmly with the current committee members in all Ramgarhia Gurdwaras, who have hijacked this Khalsa term to give themselves pseudo-political prominence to simply gain personal chairs and to ultimately pervert the message of the great Baba Jassa Singh Ramgarhia. I sincerely hope that the youth who attend Ramgarhia Gurdwaras do prachar to remind the elders of what ‘Ramgarhia’ actually means and to start the ball rolling. WJKK WJKF
  7. How many of you think that Ramgarhia gurdwaras will fizzle out in a few years, unless they change their names and open up the committees ?
  8. Dear Chatanga Saab Jassa Singh was not guilty of infanticide. This is a fallacy that has been perpetuated by, sadly 'jat sikh mindset' historians to discredit the spartan character of Sardar Jassa Singh Jee. I apologise sincerely if this grates against your views. I do not wish to be Jassa Singh's advocate, but one can smell historical 'bullshit' from a mile. kind regards wjkk wjkf
  9. jassa singh jee Please could you clarify what you mean by 'got sharap of khalsa panth twice'........ Kind regards wjkk wjkf
  10. wjkk wjkf How much Sikhi prachaar is going on in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda at this point in time? What are the jatha / samparda affiliations of the current East-African Sangat? The Sikhs who left East Africa-with which jathas / sampardas are they now associated? Which sampardas / jathas were the East African sangat affiliated to before GNNSJ (ie early pioneer days) ? Forgive the questions...just doing some research and soul searching.
  11. To which panthic samparda / body are ramgarhia gurdwaras affiliated? wjkk wjkf
×
×
  • Create New...