Page 85 - Lohgarh

Banda Singh Bahadur’s Actions from the Lohgarh Fort w 85

punished all the criminals and cruel officials, but he did not trouble any
innocent person; he did not take revenge from anyone; he did not punish
even the Sheikhs of Nakshbandi cult who had provoked the Mughal
Emperors to execute Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur, and had
celebrated their (Gurus’) killings.
In fact, the Sikhs’ war was not against any person, religion or cult; it
was against injustice, cruelty and inhumanism; that is why Banda Singh
did not destroy any Muslim shrine, mosques, mausoleum, tomb or grave.
Even today, in 2017-18, dozens of Muslim shrines and memorials of
that period are still intact in old Sarhind: including the tomb of Sheikh
Ahmad Sarhindi (known as Roza Sharif, which is considered as one of
the most holy shrines by some Muslims), Laal Masjid (built by
Aurangzeb), and the mosque of Sadna, as well as the makbaras (tombs)
of Ustad and Shagird, tomb of Meir-I-Miran and several others. These
monuments speak of the Sikhs’ respect for the faith of even enemies.
Had the Sikhs been anti-Islam, they would have demolished at least the
memorials of the fanatic Muslims who were the cause of cruelties
against the Gurus and the Sikhs. On the other hand, whenever the
Muslims had a chance, they attacked, demolished or at least damaged
the shrines of the non-Muslims.

Banda Singh Moved to His Capital Lohgarh
Banda Singh appointed Baj Singh as the Governor of Sarhind. He handed
over the control of Thanesar to Ram Singh and Binod Singh. After this
he moved to Lohgarh, the Capital of the Sikh Kingdom. All the money
that he had collected till then, was also taken to the State Capital at
Lohgarh. According to more than one source, it was about three crore
rupees. Kamvar believes it was two crore rupees from the treasury of
Sarhind; the wealth captured from Sucha Nand’s palace was separate
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from it. According to an entry of Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-Mualaa, Rustam
Dil Khan had told the Emperor that Banda Singh deposited this money
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with the ruler of Nahan. According to another entry, there was a great
amount of gold coins in Sikh state’s treasury at Lohgarh. When Banda
Singh came to know about the Mughal army’s attack (of 30 November