Page 71 - Lohgarh

Banda Singh Bahadur’s Journey from Nanded to Lohgarh w 71

Although all others had surrendered, Usman Khan was defiant, still
inside the Fort. A long struggle and large scale sacrifices might have
enabled the Sikhs to capture this Fort. But, Banda Singh did not like to
make so many sacrifices to capture this Fort. His final goal was Sarhind
and not Sadhaura. But, here too, the relatives of Pir Budhu Shah played
their role: some of them were inside the Fort too. They opened one of
the doors of the Fort for the Sikh army, which stormed it with great
zeal. Usman Khan tried to fight against the Sikhs but he could not do it
for long, and finally, he was captured and given the death sentence. 18
Sadhaura was a rich fiefdom; here the Sikhs confiscated lakhs of rupees,
a lot of gold and diamonds, thousands of arms and horses. This made
the Sikhs armory and the army still richer.
After the capture of Sadhaura, the Sikhs did not leave the town
and remained there for several days during which they planned attack
Sarhind. One day, some Sikhs who were grazing their horses, saw a camel
running about and around in a field. To save the crops from the camel
the Sikhs tried to drive it away from the fields. In the meanwhile they
saw a man walking by the side of that field. He had a bamboo stick in
his hands. The Sikhs took hold of his stick and hit the camel with it to
make him go away. The stick being hollow broke and a letter fell out of
it. One of the Sikhs knew Persian and he could read it. This letter had
been written by the umbra of Sadhaura to Wazir Khan, the Governor of
Sarhind. It said, “You should attack Sadhura. Banda Singh and his
companions trust us. We shall keep the Sikhs’ attention busy with trivial
things so that they should not be prepared for a fight. If Banda Singh is
not captured in this attempt, he will, at least, flee the town and we shall
regain it from the Sikhs.”
The Sikhs arrested the person carrying the letter and produced him
before Banda Singh. Banda Singh called a meeting of all the prominent
Muslims of Sadhaura. Here, he asked them, ‘What should be the
punishment for a traitor, who backs out of his promises.’ All the people
said, in one voice: ‘Such persons should be given a death sentence.’
Now Banda Singh showed them the letter. Seeing this letter several of
the umraa began trembling and beseeched their mercy. They swore by