# The Sikhs (Gordon)/Chapter 6

CHAPTER VI.
THE SIKH CONFEDERACIES EVOLUTION OF THE SIKH SARDARS.
On the dispersal of the Sikhs a few years after Govind's death they were left without a head to direct them in war. Following on the Persian invasion in 1738, when they again took the field, they organised themselves in bands. Every village produced a sardar or chief with his followers, the boldest and most successful among whom attracted to his banner free-lances from elsewhere to join his party, which gradually grew into a larger one, with greater possessions, by means of raids and plunder under the old simple plan of "let him take who has the power, let him keep who can."
A SIKH SARDAR.
​invaders taught them the necessity of some measure of union, so these various parties were later on leagued together in twelve confederacies or misls, signifying similitude, to imply equality whatever their strength, each being under a chief sardar. Most of these misls were called after the villages of their founders, a few being given personal and other names connected with their origin. Every sardar was personally known by the name of his native village. None were admitted as members of these misls, which constituted the Khalsa or governing body, unless active horsemen and proficient in arms. After a successful expedition the boldest would ride far and wide to mark the villages they annexed by throwing into them some article to prove the identity of the captor. It was the aim of the daring Jat youths to qualify for admission to a misl, and considered by them a religious honour to receive the pahal of the Singhs at the hands of a renowned leader. The path to eminence was then open to them.
​These sardars did not exercise absolute supremacy over their misls, the constitution of which was very democratic and the authority of the chiefs limited. The fighting men exacted a share in the land seized proportionate to the service they had rendered, and merely looked upon the chiefs as leaders in war and arbiters in peace. Many of these chiefs were men of humble birth,—ploughmen, shepherds, or artisans,—all bold stirring men who won their way to be heads of bands of marauding horsemen. They administered according to the law laid down in the 'Granth,' and levied tribute or protection-money from the subdued tracts. All booty taken was divided equally among the chiefs, who in turn subdivided it among their men, who were free to abandon the profession of arms or to transfer their military allegiance from one chief to another,—ever ready to welcome them,—a system of volunteering which was calculated to secure for them good treatment from their chiefs.
​The sardars agreed by common consent that some one from among themselves should from time to time be appointed by the popular voice of the Khalsa to the head of Church and State in the National Council at Amritsar, and to be guided by him in all matters requiring united action, thus forming a federal union. The Akalis (Immortals), already referred to, the stern class of zealots which originated as a special body under Guru Govind Singh, formed a National league at Amritsar to maintain the primitive doctrines and reformed worship of the Sikh Church and to watch over the general conduct of the Khalsa. They exercised a fierce scrutiny as censors in upholding strict compliance with the militant creed of the Singhs, constituted themselves defenders of the faith against all innovations, took a prominent part in the Councils, in the planning and arranging of expeditions for averting national danger, and in educating the people in the doctrines of the Sikh religion.
​At these Councils business was preceded by the distribution of consecrated bread equally to all present, the "love feast" of the brotherhood, in commemoration of the injunction of Nanak, all bowing the head before the 'Granth,' the Akalis exclaiming, "The Khalsa is of the Lord; victory is of the Lord." When the link of a common enemy was removed the misls were often at war among themselves, mutually plundering and disposing of rivals; but notwithstanding the multiplicity of chiefs and their independence, they well understood that union was strength, and that the paramount duty of one and all was to act unitedly in defence of religion and country, being bound by the law laid down in their holy Scriptures to aid one another in the common cause.
AN AKALI SIKH.
​held by minor chiefs. Their strength lay in mobility, most of the Sikhs being good horsemen, armed with sword, spear, matchlocks, and bows. The footmen were employed in holding forts and in following up the cavalry to bring away plunder. The Akalis, always dressed in the sacred blue garments, were heavily armed, and in addition carried several thin sharp-edged quoits (the ancient discus) round their turbans, with which they cut down an enemy at a short distance. They kept up the fighting spirit when affairs were not going well, and were the forlorn-hope in many a fight. Some of the misls had a few guns taken from the débris of retiring armies, but beyond the prestige attached to their possession they were not used in the field. From all accounts these misldars were hard drinkers in their times of ease. Tobacco and snuff being Mahomedan indulgences, were expressly forbidden by Govind to his Sikhs, but as a set-off in the way of stimulants they were allowed to drink spirits, prohibited to Moslem and Brahman ​by their religion, and for this the authority of Nanak was quoted:—
"Eat and give others to eat, Drink and give others to drink, Be happy and make others happy."
These drinking-bouts are another relic of their Scythic origin.
Now that the Sikhs were the masters, they treated the Mahomedans with scant consideration, in revenge for former persecution at their hands. They were little better than serfs, only employed as menials, or at best as tenants, to till the ground they had owned. Those who had embraced the religion of Govind did not fare much better than those who had adhered to their faith. As a rule they were from the class who had been forcibly converted to Mahomedanism by the Afghan, and the Sikhs despised them for having refused to die for their religion. Despite the strong democratic sentiment in the misls, which at first selected their chiefs, the position of sardar became hereditary in families. They seem to have drifted towards ​this just as the Guruship, which commenced as a democratic institution, became hereditary, thereby firmly establishing the Sikh religion. Political influence and power thus fell into the hands of a military aristocracy—an oligarchy based on republican principles. There were no wide distinctions between class and class. Powerful as was the influence of bold independent action which brought fame and rank, it was an influence which pervaded all, and in which none was too poor to share. Friendship or a distant relationship made the minor chief partake the feeling of his feudal superior, and he in his turn formed a link between the highest and his own humble dependants. Simplicity of habits was the habit of all. The owner of twenty acres was as proud and independent as he of hundreds, boasting the same descent and the same exclusive possession of arms and land. They wove into the interpretation of Govind's stern creed their own military characteristics. The articles of that creed nursed all the strength of national ​feeling, and evolved an individuality built upon traditions, the brotherhood bond of the pahal, and a common cause, resulting in a distinct type of mind, character, and physique. They became a select ruling race, self-confident and independent, the bone and sinew of the mass of the people. At the close of the eighteenth century the Sikh confederacies formed an unruly republic in which arms more than laws prevailed, and courage preferably to equity and justice was the virtue most valued and respected.