Banda Singh traveled north. He was not a general; he knew nothing of cavalry formations or artillery. But he had something more potent: the Guru’s hukam (order) and the silent rage of a subjugated people. He started with a few hundred outlaws, outcasts, and orphans who had lost everything to the Mughal tax collectors. He trained them in the hills of the Shivalik, teaching them guerilla warfare. He did not wear a king’s robes. He wore a simple blue tunic and a seli (woolen cord), the mark of a mendicant.
In 1709, he captured Samana, the town where the executioners of the Sahibzaade lived. For the first time, the Mughals felt fear. But Banda Singh did not plunder for wealth. He broke the locks of the jails and distributed the land to the tillers. chaar sahibzaade: rise of banda singh bahadur
Banda Singh grabbed the boy’s arm. “Look at the Guru’s sword!” he roared, pointing to Pothi Mai strapped to his back. “It does not retreat. It cuts. It cuts until justice is served!” Banda Singh traveled north
“You do not understand,” he said, spitting blood. “I am already a slave. I am the Banda —the slave of the true King. And a slave does not betray his master.” He started with a few hundred outlaws, outcasts,
His first target was not Sirhind. It was the smaller, corrupt chieftains who fed the Mughal beast. Village after village rose. The peasants who had bent their backs for centuries began to straighten them. They whispered his name: Banda Singh Bahadur . The hermit who fought like a lion.