Hindus have been the largest majority in India as far back as you may want to check history. Yet they have always been attacked, plundered and ruled by foreign invaders who came in much smaller numbers.
There are several reasons for this that come to mind right now, although these may not be the only reasons.
(1.) Hindus have never been united, and one of the many reasons for this is that they don’t really have what we may want to call as a singular religion. What we call as Hinduism, and what even the Supreme Court of India refrains from calling a religion but a tradition, is actually an amalgamated umbrella of all those thousands of cultures and subcultures, of all those varying traditions that have existed in India for several thousand years. In all probability, perhaps their chances of ever uniting as a single communal entity even in future is a far-fetched idea.
(2.) Certain kingdoms themselves invited invaders to come and help them conquer neighboring territories. This was particularly true for certain Rajput kingdoms. This sort of treachery hasn’t vanished to this day from the genetic pool of India.
(3.) Short-lived Hindu empires such as the Marathas never really saw Rajputs and Jaats as fellow-Hindu brothers/allies and always had a sense of arrogance which degraded the very existence of both Rajputs and Jaats. This puffed up ego always proved to be detrimental in achieving whatever possible level of unity they might have aimed for.
(4.) Lack of any prescribed commandments as part of their faith. A meat-eating person as well as a vegetarian, both can be Hindus. An idol worshiper, or an Arya Samaji who abhors idols, or even an atheist, all can be called Hindus. There is no definite or fixed definition, nor is there a specified dos-and-donts document. These type of conflicting cultural aspects have always obstructed any possible unity. To add onto that, no Hindu will ever be able to name a single historical individual who can be called as the founder of Hinduism, or the founding father. All this causes a mindset that is confused about one’s identity.
(5.) A vast range of differing traits all over India, be it in terms of culture, language, music, food, art, architecture, social customs, status of women, there is little or no uniformity. Indians like to boast and proclaim this as “unity in diversity”, but truth be said, neither there is unity nor diversity. There is hostility and antagonism at the grass-root level. The only 2 instances you will ever find Indians united is when there is a cricket match against Pakistan or there is a terrorist attack. Imagine, these folks need an outsider foe to come and unite them, that too after creating an ugly scene!
Contrast this with the Khalsa. The population of Sikhs was a mere 17% during the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Hindus were 13% and Muslims formed the largest 70% majority. This in itself should suffice to prove that if a GurSikh abides by and adheres to the Rehit ordained and prescribed by SatGuru Sache Patshah, he/she does not need to be subservient to numbers. Those Muslims who eliminated Buddhism from Central Asia, they lived under Khalsa rule. Those Hindus who were always an oppressed majority all over India lived under Khalsa rule. Both these non-Sikh communities infact thrived during Khalsa rule. We don’t need to give any detail of how Hindus were treated during Islamic rule in India, or the status of Muslims under current Hindu rule in India.
Numbers never had any significance for Sikhs anyways. There are 7 battles I am aware of where Sikhs had fractional numbers when compared to enemy forces yet they fought head on. Perhaps there are much more. At Sri Anandpur Sahib in December 1704, 10,000 Sikhs faced 1 million enemies. That number at Sri Chamkaur Sahib became 40 versus 1 million. At Gurdas Nangal in December 1715, 4,000 Sikhs faced 100,000 enemies. At the Battle of Vaan in 1726, 22 Sikhs faced 2,000 enemies. In 1764 while defending Sri Darbar Sahib, 30 Sikhs fought 30,000 enemies. On September 12, 1897, 21 Sikhs fought 10,000 Afghans at Saragarhi. In June 1984, 170 Singhs gave 12,000 Indian troops their worst nightmare. I repeat, there might be several more such battles which at the moment I don’t know about.
A Rehitvaan Sikh of Dasmesh Pita jee can both fight as well as rule inspite of numbers not in his/her favor.
Next time any non-Sikh shows you numbers and asks “What can Sikhs do? They are so small in numbers compared to Hindus, Muslims or any community?”, tell them what exactly we can do and how.
History tells us that it was greed, ego, treachery and hostility which always caused the downfall and eventual slavery for Hindus and thereby all Indians. Lets always make sure that these symptoms don’t affect us, and that we inject our minds with detachment from materialism, humility, loyalty and unity as antidotes.
We are heirs to the True Master’s Kingdom. Lets start acting that way and be blessed with achieving it.
Mehtab Singh
Jan. 27, 2017
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥