User talk:Nandan21

sikh reached assam almost 400 yrs back...in da yr 1668,sikh's ninth 'guru" Tag bahadur came assam with da mughal general Ram singh.,,but Assamese sikh spread only after burmeese Invasion...that was the third Burmeese Invasion under the leadership of General Mingimaha Tilwa.Later Burmeese king ,Bagyidaw sent in reinforcements under Mingimaha Bandula who finally defeated the forces of Sworgodeow Chandrakanta singha in April 1822. Chandrakanta singha fell back to Guwahati, and finally to Hadirachaki

it was during time,Ranjit Singh the ruler of Punjab dispatched 500 sikh soilders under the leadership of Chaitanya Singh..Chandra Kanta Singha, built up defenses at Hadirachaki with armies under the command of the Sikh general Chaaitanya Singh, the Ahom general Charu, the Muslim general Mirdaulla nd another Assamese general named Krishnaram. nd the battle of Haidarchaki was fought but unfortunately they were defeated Chandrakant Singha had to further retreat into the British territory. After this victory, the Burmese invasion of Assam was complete

however even defeated General Chaitanya, along with his army, fought gallantly against the Burmese in a pitched engagement at Hadirachaki, and laid down his life for the cause of Assam. Chaitanya, on the eve of the battle said to the Ahom King, "Moharaj, I shall lay down my life along with my army for upholding your cause."True to his words Chaitanya kept his promise. Assam remembers him with gratitude and honor even to this day. This poignant saga has been clearly mentioned in the monumental novel ‘Monomati’ written by Rajani Kanta Bordoloi, a leading novelist of repute,,he wrote this novel in 1897 taking Barpeat in it one of the bases,,,The third Assamese film was made on this novel in1941....

Sailadhar Rajkhowa (1892-1962) mentioned about the Fullara and Chatala hills in a poem, ‘Pashan Pratima’ (stone images).."Chatala and Fullara are two young girls who fell in love with Chaitanya Singh and his associate, the Assamese hero, Krishnaram. They were ready to wait for the battle to end but the two heroes were slain in the battle. The two hills appear as two cursed daughters of gods who witness the death of Assamese independence

Chaitnya Singhs wife Mataji sailed throuh Brmhaputra with a few soldiers,2 canons,few manuscripts,some "kripan"(dagger??) ets.. then they established thier cant. near Roha, in the juncture of Kolong n Kopili river.... they used 2 worship under a huge tree....local assamese ppl gave them al posible help n thus da 2nd gurudwara was established in assam... this gurudwara became famous as Mataji gurudwara..The Sikhs first settled at Chaparmukh and later on they moved to Barkola, Hatipara, Lanka (all in Nowgaon district of Assam). The largest numbers of Assamese Sikh families (about 150 families) now live at Borkola. It is popularly believed that the first Sikh Sardar who came to Borkola to reside was Sardar Ram Singh. The Population of Assamese Sikhs in the State is at present about 5000

the remaining articles that those sikhs had have since been carefully preserved in the Mataji Gurudwara, Chaparmukh Singh Gaon, Nowgaon (Assam).. this included a few copies of religious scriptures, two cannons and a number of swords (Kirpans). mataji Gurudwara is the second historical Gurudwara in Assam....Mataji Gurudwara was in bad shape nd due to lack of funds it was not able to be repaired but now under the auspices of the Assamese Sikh Association, and able leadership of Dhyan Singh, President of the Association, the work of renovation of Gurudwara Mataji has been taken up with kind donations from gurpremi sadh sangat..

Himadri Banerjee holds the Guru Nanak Chair in Indian History at Jadavpur University's Department of History. His primary area of interest is Sikhs and Sikhism in eastern India

he has been closely monitoring this minority Community fears that if proper care and support is not given by the Government this historical Community may even go extinct.

he visited two Sikh villages in Assam ie Borkola nd Chapormuk.. nd came across at least three distinct trends among Assamese Sikhs

1.A small section of them nowadays show their keenness to learn more about the Punjabi Sikh tradition, e.g. learning to read Punjabi in order to gain direct access to the sacred text...this thing has come up recently,, Earlier this was not that popular, Recently, this point was repeatedly articulated by some residents of Chaparmukh village. It has create a sharp differentiation within the community

2. small section - albeit part of what appears to be a growing trend - does not keep kes [unshorn hair] subsequent to marriage with Assamese women and identify themselves as Assamese rather than Assamese Sikhs.

3. The majority, however, identify themselves as Assamese Sikhs and are not all that attached to the Punjabi Sikh tradition. They claim to be sons of the soil (Assam) and, therefore, do not feel much affinity toward the Punjab...they consider Assam as their motherland .They played a significant role in their efforts to defend and serve the cause of the State at various levels from time to time..Although the Assamese Sikhs have their own gurudwaras they also take part in All Assamese festivals like Bihu,the birth and death anniversaries of Shankar Dev and Madhav Dev etc..They speak Assamese and generally follow the local code of conduct regarding marriage, food, social discipline, and dress. They, however, are no less aware of their Sikh identity and do wear the five Ks. Their gurdwaras(often called namghars) follow some of the Sikh traditions and try to make room for the local style of worship as well

the Sikhs in Nagaon have created their own organization known as "Assamese Sikhs association" to look into their problems.. they have now been able to maintain three Gurudwaras where Sikh spirituality and religious practices survive amidst a rural Assamese environment they call their Gurudwaras as Namghar,a popular name given to place of worship among Asameese community.their identification with local Assamese is complete to the extend that they speak Assamese,identify themselves as Assamese in census nd even send their schools to Assamese medium schools,,till few decades they were mostly farmers nd they are good farmers,,,among other crops, sugarcane, out of which is produced the famous jaggery of the region,,,however quite a few of them have served as academics in colleges and universities. Others have excelled in police service and in administration.

The Assamese Sikhs also have their share of problems. The mainstream Punjabi Sikhs do not generally consider the Assamese Sikhs of their own community.,it is due to the fact that the Punjabi Sikhs follow Punjabi culture nd speaks Punjabi whereas Assamese Sikhs follows the Assamese culture nd speaks Assamese.. The Punjabi Sikhs are well-built while the Assamese Sikhs have slighter physiques. The Assamese Sikhs aremainly rice eaters while the Punjabi Sikhs primarily eat wheat. Assamese Sikhs are often closer to local Hindurituals relative to the Punjabi Sikhs,,,due to which the Punjabi speaking Sikhs dont give their daughter to them,,,so they mostly marry within their community or other local Assamese girls.. there is another preson named Indu Kaur who is providing help to these Assamese Sikhs .Indu Kaur is a young Sikh woman whose parents were originally from Punjab and worked in a firm called OIL INDIA LTD in Assam. she married an Assamese Civil Services officer nd now sttled in Tinisukia...she mentioned that the following steps could be taken immediately in favor of the community:

1. Granting of the Status of Minority, which the community deserves badly for upliftment of their status socially and economically.

2. Financial support to educate the new generations of Assamese Sikhs on Sikhism in Assamese language

3. Organization of Excursion tours to Punjab and other parts of the Country for the Assamese Sikhs so that they learn and identify themselves with the history and teachings of Sikhism.

4. To teach Gurmukhi language to Assamese Sikhs so that they are able to read and write the language in which the religious scriptures are written.

5. Maintenance of the historical gurdwaras of Assam, which could be important tourist destination for the Sikhs living outside Assam.

following is the image of an Assamese Sikh couple from Nagaon who have accepted Assamese culture,language nd Assamese dresss code..