Lohgarh - Khalsa Rajdhani, Lohgarh fort - Lohgarh Trust by S. Daljeet Singh Bajwa (books that read to you .TXT) 📕

Who was the owner of the Lohgarh Fort, Dabar Zone and the land around it?

Lakhi Rai Vanjara was the owner of perhaps 80 villages i.e. the land on the foothills of the Lohgarh Fort (he had given this land to his employees; later, they too came to be known as Vanjaras).This fact of his ownership is proven by the evidence that he had constructed deep wells in all these villages. Though a large number of wells have been filled or covered or have disappeared due to one or another reason, but still some of them have survived; so far 52 such villages have been identified,

e.g. Banda Bahadurpur, Garhi Varan, Garhi Vanjara, Sandhaya, Machchrouli2, Chhchhrauli, Balachour, Marwa Kurd, Sarwan, Lakhi Bas, Bani Bahadurpur, Niwarshi, Lohara, Garhi Sikkandra, Kaserla, Ranipur, Mughalawali, Sunder Bahadur, Mehilawali, Dayalgarh, Laharpur , Jihwerhari, Sudhal , Budhi, Vansantoor, Shahjadwala etc still have Lakhi Rai’s wells. These wells are about 50 feet deep and are made of Nanakshahi bricks and finely cut rocks (there were no drilling machines in those days). These bricks and rocks were finely stacked and were filled with lime etc. To dig so many wells and construct them on the pattern of Egyptian pyramids was a terrific job. History has no answer to such splendid work. In fact, Lakhi Rai Vanjara, who was the greatest trader of those times, had his business spread between Central Asia and Sri Lanka; hence he had knowledge of every type of architectural work and building construction. He must have imported not only materials but also masons, workers and other experts from various parts of the world. In some of these villages, Lakhi Rai had built some small Fortresses as well, e.g. at Burhia, Garhi Vanjara, Dialgarh, Sooh, Deen, Mullana, Mansoorpur etc.

As far as Lohgarh Fort is concerned, only a wealthy person like Lakhi Rai could have built it. He had a force of hundreds of thousands of

young workers (who had military training as well). A huge quantity of stones, lime and bricks were used to build this Fort. Such a massive stock of construction materials could not have been brought by a couple of hundred persons. A ‘tanda’ (trade caravan) of hundreds and thousands of persons might have brought all this. Lakhi Rai Vanjara already had an experience of building Forts and palaces. He had been a supplier of building materials (stone, lime and timber) for the construction of Red Fort Delhi and some Maratha Forts. He had built his own palace, known as Matia Mahal, in Delhi and some other buildings as well. So, it seems that Guru Har Rai Sahib had given this duty to Lakhi Rai Vanjara who supplied material and provided force to build this big Fort.

Not only building the Fort but even clothes, blankets, quilts, grains, hand mills, oil pressers etc. must have been supplied by Lakhi Rai and his sons and grandsons. Some Persian writers mention that when the Sikhs abandoned the Lohgarh Fort, the Mughal soldiers entered the Fort and plundered silk clothes. The silk clothes must have been brought by Lakhi Rai from China and other parts of Central Asia, otherwise there could not have been such precious clothes in that zone, where people did not have even enough food.

As has been mentioned above, Lakhi Rai’s sons and grandsons were a part of Banda Singh’s army, and, all of them died in battles against the Mughals. When all of them had died, only then, the Mughlas might have captured this Fort. The Mughal soldiers demolished the Fort and carried the stones and bricks on the carts far away from that zone, so that the Sikhs might not build this Fort again.

Who Built Lohgarh Fort & On How Much Time Did It Take to Build ?

Most of the historians say that a Fort existed there at the time of Banda Singh Bahadur. After having captured some Forts (Samana, Ghurham, Kapuri, Shahbad etc.) he must have captured this Fort as well. He got it repaired and renovated, and, established his capital here. But, this is just like a joke. The Fort is spread in at least 7000 acres of area on dozens of hills; hence it could not have been built in some months or

years. It must have taken 70 to 80 years to complete it. Even if all the stones, bricks, lime and timber, etc. was supplied by Lakhi Rai Vanjara it must have taken a very long time to carry all these things from far of places to so many levels of the hills.

It seems that the building of the Fort had begun at the time of Guru Hargobind Sahib when he had moved to Keeratpur in 1635. But, most of the work for this Fort must have been done during the time of Guru Har Rai Sahib. According to Dabistan-I-Mazahib (by Maubad Zulfiqar Ardastani), Guru Har Rai spent about 13 years (1645 to 1657) in the Thapal village (in the old state of Nahan3/Sirmaur, in Lohgarh zone). The Guru had 2200 horses (that means an equal number of soldiers). This area was a good grazing ground where the horses could get grass and water in plenty.

During his stay here, Lakhi Rai Vanjara used to visit him. Here, the Guru must have monitored the activities of the construction of the Fort. The central part of the Lohgarh Fort is about 15 km from here (and by modern roads, it is about 25 kilometers) from here. In between Thapal and Paonta Sahib, there is only Kalesar forest (now known as Kalesar Wild Life Sanctuary). Another passage to Lohgarh is via Sukhchainpura (this village is known after some Sukhchain Singh; he might be a descendant of Lakhi Rai Vanjara).

As mentioned earlier it seems that all the stones, bricks, lime etc were brought here by the trade caravan of Lakhi Rai Vanjara, it is very likely that he set up brick kilns here. Nanakshahi bricks have been used in dozens of hills. Though the Mughals had removed all the stones, rocks and bricks from most of the area of the Fort still signs of Nanakshahi bricks can be found everywhere, not only in one or two hills but in almost all the hills and at all the levels of the hills.

Who was Lakhi Rai Vanjara4?

Most of the students of the Sikh history remember Bhai Lakhi Rai Vanjara for his act of carrying the headless body of Guru Tegh Bahadur from Chandni Chowk and cremating it by torching his house. He is popularly known as Bhai Lakhi Shah Vanjara. But, they do not know that Bhai

Lakhi Rai’s family (his father and grandfather and others) has been a part of the Sikh faith since the time of Guru Nanak.

In 1508, when Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana, during their first udasi (missionary journey) were moving from place to place, they reached a place (now known as Tanda)5 where the traders were busy in celebrating the birth of a baby boy in the family of one of its chiefs; the Guru made a stopover there and began singing hymns; the Vanjaras (traders) were so busy in celebrations that nobody even bothered to listen to the hymns of the Guru; they did not even offer them food; after some time, the Guru left the place and began his journey onwards. As luck would have it, the new born child died amidst celebration; everyone plunged into sorrow; the celebrations turned into wailings. Then, suddenly, one of them said, ‘We did not bother for the two faqirs who had been singing hymns near our place of celebrations; they might have cursed us, or, it might be god’s curse that we did not attend to the saintly person;’ this was seconded by some more persons. Now they sent some horsemen to find them (the Guru and Bhai Mardana); they had not gone very far when one of the horsemen found them and begged pardon of the Guru and requested them to return to their place;

when they insisted, the Guru and Bhai Mardana joined them.

When the Guru reached there, the chief of the Vanjaras begged pardon for not attending to them earlier and requested the Guru to make prayers so that the dead child may come to life again. The Guru told them that life and death are both in the hands of God; none has power to change it; if God had given a few hours life to the baby why should one pray to God to change his will; there is no occult power and there are no miracles; if there are miracles or occult power then it would mean that God’s command is not final. With this he sang a hymn: “We are mortal beings with one breath (i.e. we don’t know about the next breath; we do not know the date and time (of our death). Nanak prays, “let us serve the One who owns our life and breath”

Now, the Vanjaras realized the truth and after this Guru made prayers to God seeking peace of mind for the parents, relatives and well-wishers of the baby. The Vanjaras requested him to spend some

days with them; the Guru agreed and held morning and evening congregations every day and preached his mission. Then, Bhai Thakar (father of Godhu and grandfather of Lakhi Ra Vanjara) joined Guru Nanak’s faith; and, since then, this family remained a part of the Sikh world, serving the Panth during the time of all the Gurus and even Banda Singh Bahadur and the Misls’ leaders.

History of the Sikh Vanjaras

Up to the eighteenth century, most of the trade was carried out by the Vanjaras (literally: traders), who used to carry goods of different types from one place to another. These goods included foodstuff, clothes, construction materials and every possible movable thing. These goods were transported with the help of camels, elephants, horses, oxen and mules, etc. During the seventeenth century there were three major trade groups in South Asia and Central Asia: 1. Bangeshri (Parmar Rajput) family headed by two sons of Bhai Ballu: Bhai Mai Das (father of Bhai Mani Singh) and Bhai Nathia 2. Bhai Makhan Shah Lubana (Tomar Rajput) family 3. Bhai Lakhi Rai Vanjara (Yadav Rajput) family. All the three had hundreds of thousands of camels, elephants, horses, oxen and mules. To manage and defend their goods, money and animals, each of them had employed a force of hundreds of thousands of youth. Among these three trader families, Lakhi Rai Vanjara (4.7.1580 – 28.5.1680), son of Godhu and grandson of Thakur (Chandarbansi, Atrish Yadav, Barhtia Kannaut clan) was the richest.

As per Bhat Vahi Karsindu, Lakhi Rai was born at village Khairpur Sadat, tehsil Muzzafarpur, district Alipur, presently in Pakistan, on Saravanbadi Ashtami Sammat 1637 (04-07-1580), in the house of Naik Goddu. Some Vanjaras of Narnaul (Haryana) claim that he was born in South Haryana and later shifted to Delhi for business.

He was an owner of lands in various parts of South Asia. Villages Raisina, Malcha, Narela, Bara Khamba and the forest area around these villages (now a part of New Delhi) were part of his property. Similarly, all the land of the Lohgarh Fort belt between Kala Amb and Yamuna river was also his property. It was, in fact, his kingdom (and for this

kingdom he had built Lohgarh Fort and many Fortresses in this area). Lakhi Rai Vanjara had more than fifty thousand bull-carts, three to four hundred thousand camels, elephants, horses, oxen and mules and other livestock and he had a number of youth as his workers. Lakhi Rai Vanjara used to deal in livestock like camels, elephants, horses, oxen, buffaloes, goats and mules as well