Mum! I am scared that....
A mother took her daughter to the marriage palace (hall) for a relatve's wedding party. But when the daughter saw prostitutes (women dancers) dancing and bearded Sardaars (men with turbans) throwing notes of money over them, the innocent daughter got scared and said to her mother, "Mum! I want to go home.... I want to go home." The mother asks the reason for her being scared. The innocent daughter said, "Mum! I am scared that Sukha Singh and Mehtab Singh are going to come somewhere here."
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| Bhai Mehtab Singh and Bhai Sukha Singh beheading Massa Ranghar |
The mother had shared stories from Sikh history with her child as she was growing up. The daughter remembered that Massa Ranghar, a Mughal government official took control of Sri Amritsar in 1740, and not only desecrated the holy Sarovar (pool) but also sat himself on a seat in Sri Darbaar Sahib, where usually Guru Sahib Ji would be prakaash, and where people would come and listen to Keertan and Gurbani, Massa Ranghar had dancing girls dance to lustful songs that were being played whilst he watched drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco and eating meat. When two Sikhs of the name- Bhai Mehtab Singh and Bhai Sukha Singh, were informed of this grave insult and disrespect, they travelled to Sri Amritsar in the guise of tax collectors coming to give tax. When they entered Sri Darbaar Sahib, they found the drunk Massa Ranghar watching women dance, listening to music and smoking. Bhai Mehtab said to him, "I have a gift for you in this bag, look inside." When the drunken Massa leaned over to look in, Bhai Mehtab Singh roared, "O sinner! The Khalsa is here to deliver your death for your evil actions" and then cut off his head, which fell in the bag and later held on their spear. No one knew what to do as these two Singhs ran back to thier horses. They arrived back to where a group of Sikhs were living in Rajasthan and presented Massa's head to the the Sangat.
The mother said to the daughter, "Dear daughter! What can I say? When your father became a Shaheed (martyr), then the descendents (vaaris) of Sukha Singh and Mehtab Singh closed down the brothels. Those who had daughters were happy and people didn't even mention from the mouth words like folk-dancing or folk-singing. But daughter....!" The innocent daughter replied, "Mother! But what?" The mother lovingly replied, "O child! Those were the good time when people had modesty and people lived in the loving-fear and respect of God. For this reason the BBC recognised Mata Bhaag Kaur as the most courages and fearless women in history. I gave you my word that from now on we will not go to house, marriage palace, hotel of someone getting married where you will get scared."
Note: Massa Ranghar made girls dance who were not his daughters, sisters, mother or relatives. Today Punjabi weddings have become a place where drunk men watch their sisters, mothers, and daughters dance to music with lustful and sexualised lyrics. Even worse, drunk men dance with their mothers, daughters and elders to songs of lust and romance, and even let strangers dance with them on the dance floor. Guru Sahib said our body is "Harmandir" (the Temple of God), so who is worse - Massa Ranghar or modern Punjabis? The Sikhs of the Guru through history showed the world how to respect women, keep dignity and high moral character, but what reply will we give to our Guru?
The above article was based on the following photo found on the Internet:
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