Battle of Saragrahi ; Glorious Page in History of Indian Army
Introduction
I will, in this article, narrate the account of a famous last stand by the Sikh Regiment of the Indian army on 12 September 1897 at Saragrahi, now in Pakistan. We have heard, read and seen on celluloid the feat of 300 Spartan soldiers who held at bay a much larger Persian force. This episode has been made into a film by Hollywood titled "300" and showcases the bravery of the soldiers of Sparta who held a force of 50000 Persian soldiers under the command of Emperor Xerxes at the mouth of a pass at the Messina mountains.
Unfortunately, hardly anybody is aware of a similar act of bravery where 21 Sikhs of the British Indian army under Havildar Karam Singh fought a force of over 3,000 Muslim tribesmen, The Sikhs numbering just 21 fought this force of Jihadi Muslim soldiers for an entire day and died fighting to the last man and bullet, with the end coming with a bayonet charge by the last man, a signaller.
The Battle of Saragrahi is recognized by UNESCO as one of the 10 greatest stands in the military history of the World.
The Battle
In 1896-97, the restive Afghan and Pushtoon tribes revolted against British rule. Their leader Gul Pasha declared "Jihad" against the British. Pushtoon tribes were up in arms against the infidels. The situation was particularly bad in the Orkazi division. Here the British had 2 forts on two hill crests. These forts were earlier built by Hari Singh Nalwa, the Sikh general when he was fighting the Afghans.After the defeat of the Sikhs, these forts were taken over by the British. Both these forts were out of the line of sight of each other. To facilitate communication between the forts another smaller fort was located at Saragrahi. This was a heliographic communication unit and it passed messages between the forts. The unit at Saragrahi was housed in a small fortress and was manned by 21 Sikhs of the British Indian army under the command of Havildar Karam Singh.
The tribesmen surrounded the British forts and a large contingent of some 3,000 proceeded to attack the fortress of Saragrahi. the Sikh wiki puts the figure of the tribesmen at 10,000, but my estimate is that perhaps there were about 3000 of them. The decision to attack Saragrahi was a sound military decision as Gul Shah the leader was aware that in case he destroyed the fortress at Saragrahi, his chance of success against the other two forts was greater.
On 12 September 1897, the Afghan and Pashtoon tribesmen launched a frontal assault against Saragrahi. The attacks commenced at first light. Gul Shah had expected an easy victory but even after a dozen assaults the Sikhs inside the fortress held firm. The Afghans in the meantime had hundreds killed by accurate fire from the fort. By 10 am the fortress had still not been captured.
Gul Shah now offered a truce and safe passage to Punjab to the Sikh troops in case they surrendered. This offer was spurned and the Tribesmen had no choice but re-commence the assault. Inside the fortress,the 21 Sikh ranks were slowly being depleted as one by one the Sikhs died fighting.
The Pathans continued the assault and suffered heavy casualties. However, a stage came when only one Sikh soldier was left. He was the signalman and with no ammunition. He requested his CO to carry out a bayonet charge. The Commanding Officer Col Haughton who was in one of the forts gave his assent. He had watched the fight the entire day from his fort, but could do nothing as his fort was surrounded by the Muslim horde.
The Signalman died making the bayonet charge and finally Gul Shah could enter the fortress. Seeing the bodies of the 21 Sikh soldiers he wondered why they did not surrender when he had offered them safe passage to Punjab.The fortress was burnt down by the Pushtoons and Afghans. By evening, the British could break out from the fortress and attacked the Afghan tribesmen. It was a swift counterattack, spearheaded by ethnic English soldiers and Sikhs and the Muslim tribesmen were defeated and soon were routed. The British restored order in the region and the Jihad movement was ruthlessly crushed.
Colonel Haughton reached the fortress and saw that it had been burnt to earth. He was impressed by the bravery of the Sikh soldiers and accordingly informed the British government. All the 21 Sikhs were awarded the Star of India the highest military decoration at that time.
Last Word
The British were generous and gave land grants to the next of kin of all the 21 Sikhs. They also built a Gurudwara at Ferozepur. This is known as the Saragrahi gurudwara and has the names of the 21 Sikh soldiers who died that day inscribed on a marble plaque. Queen Victoria was informed of the bravery of the Sikhs and a special session of both the Hose of Lords and Commons rose up to honor the memory of the brave Sikhs. The British chose 12th September as the raising day of the Sikh regiment and this is now celebrated as regimental day by all Sikh regiments.There is also a 'mela' every year at Ferozepur to commemorate the glorious last stand by 21 Sikh soldiers.
After independence, the Indian government led by Nehru had no idea of military valor and the concept of military power as an instrument of state policy. In fact, we had ludicrous statements like the one made by Dr. Rajendra Prasad the then President of India who called for the army to be disbanded. This incident was never publicized.
Times have changed and now the Indian government has woken up to this incident and this story is included in the school textbooks in Punjab. There is now greater awareness and credit must go to the change of government. The best part is that Bollywood is also making a film on this battle and if I remember the film will star Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgan.
The battle is now consigned to history, but every Indian must know about it. A stand by a small contingent of 21 Sikh soldiers against a horde of 10,000 is the stuff of legends.
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