Purnima Dhavan’s book When Sparrows Became Hawks: The Making of the Sikh Warrior Tradition, 1699-1799 (published by Oxford University Press) in 2011 tries to trace the origins of the Khalsa tradition and how this identity evolved from 1699 to 1799. There have always been gaps in the accounts of Guru Gobind Singh and the Khalsa history. Many of the primary sources of the Sikh community from the later decades were written by non-Sikhs who were typically hostile toward this emerging community and had little interest in finding out about the community’s past. Even the widely acknowledged date of the Baisakhi celebration of 1699, which is considered to be the founding day of the Khalsa, is mentioned only in later sources. 

Dhawan uses primary textual materials and narratives in both Gurmukhi and Persian to portray the story of Punjabi and Sikh history in the eighteenth century. She digs into the primary works that are used to refer to Guru Gobind Singh, like Bachitra Natak and Sainapati’s Gur Sobha. These two writings discuss the tensions that arise from the masand system turning into an authoritarian structure and worsening the already tense relationship between the Sikhs and the Mughals. Guru Gobind Singh’s life and his choice to found the Khalsa were directly impacted by these divisions within the Panth.

The first few chapters of the book provide a concise yet in-depth overview of how Sikhism was practised following the passing of Guru Nanak. She highlights the disparities that exist between the written (rahit) norms of conduct and how they are put into reality. The book demonstrates how, within a century, the practices of the Khalsa gave rise to a more recent martial community, which in turn gave rise to the magnificent courtly culture. This happened as a result of a dynamic process of discussions, courtly culture, the diversity and influence of the Rajput and Mughal dynasties, and the emergence of disputes between Sikh lords and peasants.

The book takes us to the historical narratives back to the fifteenth century, starting with Sikhism. Guru Nanak established Sikhism in 1469, during the Lodhi dynasty’s rule over the subcontinent. Emerging at a period when the Bhakti movement was thriving, Guru Nanak’s newfound philosophy promoted Nirguna Bhakti,which went against social conventions and established customs. Later, the community started to flourish under his successors, and the adherents of Guru Nanak became known as Sikhs, a translation of the Sanskrit word shishya, which means disciple. This community was active in Punjabi cities and villages as well as several Mughal empires within a century after his death. Its evolution is also intimately associated with the organisation of Guruship. The practice of silent meditation and scholarship was carried on by the first four gurus. In spiritual tradition, the collection of the Sikh Scriptures known as the Adi Granth was initiated by Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth guru. The naming of marriage and funeral rites in Sikh devotion has now placed a strong emphasis on this scripture. After being built, the principal Sikh shrine, Harminder, quickly rose to prominence as a hub for Sikh activity. These actions provided Sikh Panth with tangible markers of a corporate identity. The policy of Miri Piri, later developed by the sixth guru Har Gobind, proclaimed the Guru’s supremacy over the Panth’s spiritual (piri) and material (miri) matters. This marked the beginning of Sikh Panth’s institutionalisation.

Minas or dissident groups affiliated with the rival guru lineages continued to lay claim to the authority of the Guru and the control over Sikh shrines and resources. Over the 17th century, the Gurus came to depend more and more on agents known as Masands, who served a variety of purposes for the Panth: they led individual congregations to visit the Guru during ceremonies in the hills during Baisakhi and Diwali, collected dues from the congregation on the Guru’s behalf, and initiated Sikhs into the Panth. This enhanced the Masands’ ability to act as middlemen. At this point, the competing networks established by organisations like the Minasas also gained ground. The ongoing existence of dissidents within the Guru lineages created pressures, and these challenges persisted for fifty years before the founding of the Khalsa, creating difficulties for each succeeding guru and exacerbating the already tense relationship between the Mughals and the Sikhs. Guru Gobind Singh’s life and his choice to found the Khalsa were directly impacted by these divisions within the Panth.

Due to Guru Gobind Singh’s establishment of the Khalsa at the end of the seventeenth century, the majority of Sikhs, including those in other faiths, were restricted to Punjab and the Punjab highlands for two centuries. The name Khalsa, which comes from Persian, originally denoted territory that was directly ruled by the dynastic ruler and was not granted to a lesser king for maintenance and tax collection. In other words, pure land of the king. Khalsa was not necessarily created to be distinct from the original Sikhism given by Guru Nanak, but rather it was created for different purposes and in different socio-political and historical settings due to the drastically different set of problems and social-political circumstances. Since the development and expansion of the major institutions occurred throughout the eighteenth century, it has great relevance for Sikhs living in the current era. It is crucial to comprehend the circumstances surrounding the evolution of Khalsa and the factors that contributed to its current interpretation.

Moreover, the book also discusses the story of Banda Singh Bahadur, who became significant following Guru Gobind’s passing. Despite their failure, his uprisings had a significant influence on the development of Khalsa culture. Banda Bahadur’s failed Sikh uprising gained the support of peasants, many of whom were not Khalsa Sikhs, by using Sikh symbols and a newly expanded understanding of dharamyudh. Current evidence indicates that the majority of Banda’s followers were from regions where there were a sizeable population of Jatts. Some of them were Sikhs, primarily farmers. These peasants joined this new society after experiencing hardships with the state and its zamindari systems. Large numbers of young men joined the Khalsa despite increasing state efforts to put an end to their raids and other activities.

The advent of Sikh courts led to the development of new cultural norms and legal procedures that further shaped the Khalsa identity. These leaders performed frequent raids and collected revenues from conquered lands. Strong fraternal ties among misals, the development of biradari systems, and marriage alliances are further significant aspects. Their identities are rooted in a variety of cultural practices, such as the exchanging of turbans and the concept or construction of izzat, or masculine honour. Sikh religious authorities, Sadhus, and Brahmans all presided over these events. In brief, Brahmans had a significant role even in these courts. The local customs of upper caste Hindus and Sikhs were blended whereas in Rahitnams such a mesh of customs and lavish practices were condemned, which once again draws a contradiction between the two. These cultural traditions have a variety of roots. Several ideas about feuding, honour, and masculinity have their origins in Punjabi rural tradition. Other customs were introduced from the courts of the Mughals and Rajputs. This also makes it evident that the Khalsa identity was developed in relation to Jatt kinship patterns and with a focus on the new warrior ethos that all Khalsa Sikhs adopted. By the century’s end, the Jatt Khalsa Sikhs rose to prominence as leaders in both politics and religion, eventually establishing a dominant role. The upward mobility is a notable feature of pre-colonial peasant communities in South Asia.

Dhawan also notes how, throughout Punjabi history, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs frequently shared their origin stories and cultural ideas. Several Muslim opponents of the Khalsa Sikhs, for instance, asserted that they were descended from the same Jatt or supposedly Rajput tribes as their Sikh counterparts. In Punjab, the boundary between the peasant castes like the Jatts and the martial tribes or castes like the Rajputs was not clearly defined. Each of these groupings shared a common origin, at least in oral traditions, when British census authorities tried to sort out the tribal or castes and caste divisions amongst Gujarat’s, Jatts, Pathans, and Rajputs in the 19th century. It was discovered that contrary to what the British had assumed, the majority of Punjabis from various religious communities had a lot more in common. They subsequently divided the groups according to their respective occupations. As a result, some Hindu or Sikh communities, like the Sidhu Brar Jatts, were classified as castes, while other nearby communities, like the Bhattis, were classified as tribes despite being pastoral nomads with comparable oral narratives of their ancestry, giving it a communal lens.

Thus, Dhawan’s book is able to bring out how the Khalsa identity was not formed in a cultural vacuum and is relevant for both historians and sociologists.

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Navpreet Kaur is an undergraduate student at the Thapar School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (TSLAS), Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET), Patiala.