| Ram Singh (Bhai or Baba)
was born in 1826 in the village of Bhaini in the
District of Ludhiana in the Punjab. His father,
Jassa Singh, belonged to the lower middle-class
and worked as a carpenter in his village. Not
much is known about Baba Ram Singh’s early
career, but it appears that he got his early education
in Gurmukhi and Gurbani. When he grew up, he got
himself enrolled in the Khalsa army and served
for serveral years in the Risala of Kanwar Nau
Nihal Singh, grandson of Ranjir Singh.
During the period of his service he fell under
the spell of a Sikh saint Hazro, Baba Bakal
Singh. Under the influence of his spiritual
master’s teachings about a simple and pure
life, he got disgusted with the deteriorating
state of affairs around him, and, bidding goodbye
to service, he went home. Thereafter, for some
years he tried to eke out his living by engaging
on one or another form of business.
In 1857, the year of the great Indian Revolt,
he founded what he called the Sant Khalsa which
became the nucleus of his Namdhari or Kuka Movement.
A few years later, in 1863, he issued a code
of discipline for his followers. This code had
both religious and social aspects. Religiously,
it stressed that “Guru Gobind Singh’s
Granth (Adi Granth) is the only true one, written
by inspiration and is the only sacred writing
extant.” When different Gurus was a rallying
cry for all Sikhs. All those who worshipped
at shrines other than of the one true God and
who adored Gurus other than the recognized Sikh
Gurus, were denounced.
He declared the Redis, Sodhis, Mahants, Brahmins,
etc., as false gurus. Devidwaras, Shivdwaras
and Mandiras were to him a means of extortion,
to be held in contempt. Idols were regarded
as insulting to God and hence idol-worshippers
were unpardonable. Socially, he was for abolishing
all distinctions of caste among the Sikhs; advocated
marriage between different castes and classes,
and also marriages of windows; enjoined abstinence
from liquors and drugs and condemned infanticide
and sale and exchange of daughters in marriage.
All followers of the Baba were distinguished
by a uniform white dress, a straight turban
and a woollen rosary. They were devoted to Gurbani
(hymns of the holy Granth) and to their leader.
The Baba made extensive tours through the Punjab
and his Dewans (religious assemblies) attracted
huge crowds. As his teachings contained critical
references to several aspects of the Western
impact on India, such as education and cow-slaughter,
the British authorities were alarmed and they
interpreted his movements as a bid to restore
the Khalsa Raj in the Punjab. In 1863 Baba Ram
Singh and his followers were placed under police
surveillance. This act of official repression
proved a blessing in
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disguise for the movement,
which thereafter made rapid strides and took the
form of a political revolutionary organization.
The Kukas were now asked to boycott all British
institutions, such as schools and colleges, courts
and post and telegraph offices, and steps were
taken to establish alternative institutions which
had the appearance of a parallel government. The
Province was divided into twenty-two divisions
and each division was placed under a Suba or Governor.
When the Government learnt about the rapid growth
of the movement, it saw wisdom in removing the
ban on the activities of the Kukas in 1869. This
gave further, encouragement to them. Some of them
made raids on graves, cremation grounds and samadhis
(memorials raised over cremation spots)., all
of which were objects of woraship by superstitious
people.
In 1871, a programme of raids on slaughter-houses
and butchers was adopted. Such attacks were made
on the slaughter-houses of Amritsar and Rai Kot,
as a result of which several butchers were killed
at both the places. The assailants were traced
out and hanged after summary trials. The most
important attack was, however, reserved for Malerkotla
in 1872, in the course of which the Kukas killed
ten men and wounded seventeen, their own losses
being Kukas were rounded up. Out of them, sixty-five
were blown up from the mouths of guns and one
was cut to pieces by the sword.
The years 1869 to 1872 were also marked by
attempts on the part of Baba Ram Singh to establish
contacts with the rulers of Nepal and Kashmir
with a view to strengthening his anti-British
movement.
After the Malerkotla affair, the entire Kuka
movement was outlawed, a police post was set
up at Bhaini, the headquarters of the movement
were occupied and all prominent leaders including
Baba Ram Singh were taken into custody. Baba
Ram Singh was deported first to Allahabad and
then to Burma, where he remained as a State
prisoner till death in 1885.
During the period of his incarceration in Burma,
Ram Singh continued to maintain contact with
his people in the Punjab through letters and
personal messengers. The main theme of his letters
and messages was the prediction that they would
soon be free from the yoke of the ferangis (Britishers).
Thinking that Russia was opposed to the British
empire in India, he sent a letter in Gurmukhi
addressed to the Russian Government. This letter
was carried to Russia by a Kuka Suba. Later
on, this letter as well as the Russian reply
to it fell into the hands of a spy who handed
them over to the British authorities.
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