The pen that writes Sikh history is filled with the ink made from the Ichor of countless martyrs.
Thoughts
The first week of June is a time of heavy reflection for many Sikhs across the world who remember their martyrs. Few possess the strength of being able to sacrifice their life for Dharam. This article is of a Sikh martyr that walked on the path that his Gurus and fellow Singhs had walked on before him. The following description of Bhai Lachman Singh’s martyrdom relies on accounts from both the Khalsa advocate and Khalsa Samachar whom had presented the account in a martyrological framework, and this writing also relies on Fenech’s Martyrdom in the Sikh tradition. This article seeks to similarly present the account of the Bhai Sahib in the same framework that the Singh Sabha had presented the story in their papers.
Martyrdom
5:30 am June 10th 1909
It was a bright morning in Gujranwala. The Sun had awoken from its great slumber to greet a martyr that was bound for the heavens. Lachman Singh had answered the call to the gallows. Thousands had gathered to gain the sacred sight - ਦਰਸ਼ਨ - of such an exalted figure.
Lachman Singh was sentenced to hanging for the murder of 3 Muslims that were responsible for polemically converting a Hindu ਲੰਬਰਦਾਰ - a powerful village chief- to Islam. The atmosphere during the early 1900’s had started to become very religiously charged. Conversions were much more than losing someone to another faith rather they were a signal of a community losing political power that was based on religious representation during the British Raj. It is said that Lachman Singh became infused with a zeal for Dharam during a heated religious debate with the preachers. This zeal had caused him to slaughter the 3 Muslims. The police had subsequently arrested Lachman Singh and placed him behind bars. The government had seen him as a murderer but his kinsmen held him in a special light. The prison’s dreadful atmosphere was transformed by Lachman Singh into ਸ੍ਵਰਗ - the celestial abode of the gods. His fellow inmates wept joyfully as all of their discomforts in the jailhouse were dispelled. The men and women who visited Bhai ji became awestruck at his illuminous face. Furthermore, his steady, fearless and uplifting composure had wooed countless people. His discourse on hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib and preaching the Dharam of the Khalsa to even clean-shaven Sehajdhari Sikh prisoners had begun moving many. Such a man reminded the people of the countless exalted martyrs that had come before him.
Despite being given the death sentence Bhai Lachman Singh did not waver. As a matter of fact, once he had gotten his sentence this had caused him to start preaching even more zealously. His commitment to Dharam was such that he even asked his skin to be stripped off his body, once he had passed, and be made into leather shoes for some of the Panthic workers he had mentioned - Bhai Lal Singh, Bhai Sohan Singh, Bhai Teja Singh. Once his time had came he was brought outside to be hanged publicly. A huge crowd, in the thousands, had gathered to bid him farewell.
As he approached the noose he recited the blessed Japji Sahib. Once he had finished his recitation he then garlanded himself with the noose and then began to utter his last words pleading everyone to remain steadfast in their Dharam and to never fear death. The lever was pulled. The Singh had departed for the realm of the martyrs. The crowd had continuously shouted charged Jaikare in the memories of the Sikh martyrs before him. Afterwards thousands of people took the body of Bhai Lachman Singh to a nearby Gurudwara to wash before his last rites. He was bedecked with garlands upon garlands of flowers and sprinkled with rose water as he was placed on the pyre. Finally, as he was cremated the people had consecrated him with the title of Shaheed and the following day all the Hindu shops in the area had closed as a sign of respect for Bhai Lachman Singh’s martyrdom.
For a Sikh, death loses all terrors - Bhai Lachman Singh.