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ELEPHANT BRINGS DESTRUCTION IN THE BATTLEFIELD
On the other hand at Siri Anandpur Sahib, Bhim Chand and Kesri Chand were full of vigour and enthusiasm. They had avowed to clear Lohgarh of Sikhs in a single day. Many warriors were accompanied with them in fighting the Sikhs out of Lohgarh. The plan was to break the gate and fight the Sikhs out of there.
They brought the intoxicated elephant that was very big and powerful. He crushed whoever came his way. They covered the elephant in Sarbloh shields and only a small part of his trunk was left uncovered. Then they took a long sword and tied it to his trunk so firmly that it would not come off. The elephant was fully trained to bring destruction in the battlefield. When the elephant was fully ready it was released in the battlefield. It trumpeted and screamed loudly. The Sikhs and Guru Sahib inside the fort heard it. The Sikhs pleaded before Guru Sahib to do something to contain the new threat.
BHAI BACHITTER SINGN IS CHOSEN TO FIGHT THE ELEPHANT
Siri Guru jee had a special squad of chosen warriors as his personal guards. These Singhs were 25 in total and stayed extremely alert when on duty. These Singhs were tyaar-bar-tyaar with all their weapons on their bodies and Naam on their lips. They were the personal guards of Siri Guru jee. One of the Singhs out of these 25 Singhs was Bhai Bachitter Singh. He was a very formidable warrior and always dominated the enemy during a fight. He had a Rajput background. His face was adorned with large, manly handlebar moustache (Muchhail Chhail jaaniye Sooraj Parkash). He always carried kirpan and dhal with him. He used to wear Poshash Patt bahu Rang ki i.e. different kind of attire mostly made of silk and for this reason Siri Guru jee used to call him Bahuroopia out of love.
Siri Guru jee looked at Bhai Bachitter Singh very lovingly and thought that this Singh is extremely faithful and always obeys Gur-hukam. He is very intelligent and is skilled in spear fighting. Siri Guru jee called him near and said, Come O great warrior Bachitter Singh. We are going to give you the task of crushing the enemy elephant. You are my lion and I will crush the pride of that elephant and his owners through you. I will give you the powerful Nagni spear and you will crush that elephants pride with it. You will hit the elephant so strongly that he will never come towards our fort again and will run back crushing his own army. Keep your calm, dont get worried and have no doubt. Dont have fear of death and keep faith, and your good name will be known for generations.
Hearing Siri Guru jee speak so kindly to him, Bhai Bachitter Singh was overcome with love and bairaag. He joined his hands and extremely respectfully said to Satguru jee, Maharaj, if you place your hand on my head, I have nothing to fear. What to talk about this elephant, if you are on my side, I can kill Araavat, the elephant known to be of Raja Indra in Swarg. (Araavat is the elephant of Raja Indra and is known for his prowess and strength. Raja Indra rides this elephant when in battlefield.)
Saying this Bachitter placed his head at the lotus feet of Satguru jee. Siri Guru jee was greatly pleased with Bhai Bachitter Singh and immediately dispatched a Singh to get the Nagni spear from his personal weapon treasure. This Nagni was extremely strong and was very expensive. It was adorned with jewels and was simply beautiful. In those days 17000 (probably worth a fortune today) had been spent on it and it looked like Baasak himself. Baasak is the king of Naags (Cobras) and his name appears in Ramkali ki Vaar twice. Satguru jee placed the Nagni in both of his hands and measured the weight and balance of the Nagni. Siri Guru jee showed Bhai Bachitter Singh many times how to strike the elephant in the head. Guru Sahib filled the already skilled mind of Bhai Bachitter Singh with all skills of spear fighting.
One more time, Bhai Bachitter Singh jee with extreme humility addressed Guru Sahib, Maharaj, I dont know victory and defeat. Where ever you send me, I will go and whatever task you ask me to do, I will do with best effort. If you are with me, I have no worry about dying. I just beg that you always stay on my head. I know you will help me beat this elephant just like Siri Krishna helped Bhim in beating Jarasandh and Siri Rama helped Sugreev in beating Bali.
UDAY SINGH IS CHOSEN TO TAKE ON KESRI CHAND
Guru Sahib patted his back and he felt great energy in himself. He said fateh to all Singhs and got all his weapons. He had one hand on the Nagni spear that Guru Sahib gave him, and the other on his moustache. His lips were moving with Naam and his gait was full of confidence. He looked at his beautiful horse with love and saying Vaheguru he sat on it. Siri Guru jee and Sikhs like Bhai Uday Singh went on top of the fort to see the fight between Bhai Bachitter Singh and the intoxicated elephant.
Siri Guru jee and other Sikhs from the fort saw the intoxicated elephant. It was a frightful sight. He was totally covered in Sarbloh. The long kirpan that was fastened to his trunk looked like lightening when he moved his trunk. There were tens of thousands of warriors accompanying the elephant. Carrying latest weapons was the star warrior of the enemy army Kesri Chand. Kesri Chand was reminding his soldiers of his vow to seize the fort today.
Alam Singh who was with Siri Guru jee on top of the fort heard Kesri Chand speak in vanity and expressed his thoughts to Guru Sahib, Maharaj, if Kesri Chand can be killed today, it would make the enemy very weak. Then victory is ours for sure.
Siri Guru jee responded saying that just like Bachitter Singh is going for the elephant, some Soorma Singh (warrior Singh) will take on Kesri Chand too. Siri Guru jee said that three times. When Maharaj said it the third time, Bhai Uday Singh who was sitting there humbly said, Do kirpa on me Maharaj, I will fight this formidable enemy.
Siri Guru jee was very pleased with Bhai Uday Singh and himself blessed him with one of the best swords from his personal treasure and sent him off to the battlefield to kill Kesri Chand.
BACHITTER SINGH IN THE BATTLEFIELD
The battle started in the morning. Singhs came out of the fort and fought the enemy who was trying to get near the fort. Many were shot before coming too close to the fort. Kesri Chand along with his elephant was moving closer to the fort. Thousands of men were following the elephant. Many Singhs and enemy soldiers died in the process. At one point, the elephant came close to the gate and the enemy were not very close to the elephant. This is the time when Bhai Bachitter Singh saw an opening to attack the elephant. He quickly ordered the gatekeeper to open the door.
Very swiftly, Bhai Bachitter Singh moved out and rushed towards the elephant. He rushed towards the elephant as a lion jumps on his victim. His eyes were red with Bir Rass and his countenance had a special laali (redness). He had such spirit in him at that time that it was hard to look at him. He stood up on the saddles of the horse and with all his might, using both hands and all his body weight, hit the elephant right in the head.
The Nagni, went through the Sarbloh shield and hit the head of the elephant. Maha Kavi Santokh Singh Chooramani in his book Sooraj Prakash has compared this hit in the head of elephant with the hit that Kartikay hit Himalays grandson in the battle of Kronch like snake king Basak went into the hole of a mountain seeing Garur coming toward it.
The elephant after it was hit with Nagni spear was as if thinking, why did I come here. Then Bhai Sahib pulled out the Nagni and this too caused great pain to the elephant. He cried out loud. He screamed and trumpeted and moved back to run backwards. From the back, Bhai Sahib hit him again with his spear and this greatly agitated the elephant. He briskly ran back and crushed many of his own men in doing so. Now the elephant also started swinging his sword and killed many more of his men. What need was there for Khalsa to kill the enemy when the elephant alone was killing many of them.
Even to this day, if a friend or a family members turns against his family, he is called Jaswaran ko Haathi i.e. the elephant who killed its own family.
Bhai Bachitter Singh returned to the fort feeling greatly satisfied that Guru Sahib had taken so much sewa from him. For obeying Guru Sahib hukam, his name will always remain alive amongst Khalsa for all ages to come. Guru Sahib personally patted his back and showered him with his Kirpa.
From this sakhi we learn many lessons:
1) If we do sewa of Guru Sahib as Bhai Bachitter Singh used to do by standing guard with utmost alertness, Guru Sahib would surely bless us with big sewa as Bhai Bachitter Singh was blessed with the sewa of fighting the mad elephant. Guru Sahib himself blesses us with sewa and himself ensures that we are able to execute the sewa to his satisfaction.
2) Even if we have the ability and power to do something, we should still be humble before Guru Sahib just as Bhai Bachitter Singh was. He was a great warrior but he still stayed humble and begged for strength to fight the elephant. Gurmukh Nimaana hoh.
Kulbir Singh
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2007 07:42AM by admin.
