Bedis cont'd

Akali Nihang Baba Santa Singh, present Jathedar of the Akali Nihang Singh Khalsa, maintains that Sahib Singh Bedi too had been initiated into the Khalsa, by the Budha Dal at Kes Garh Sahib. Even Baba Neschal Singh and the Bedis themselves concede that Baba Sahib Singh, by being initiated into the Khalsa was under the control of the Akali Nihang Singh Khalsa Budha Dal.

Sriman 108 Baba Neschal Singh Ji Sewa Panthi
Baba Neschal Singh (seated center) with his elder brother Sant Mehtab Singh (seated left), along
with many other 'Mahapursh' (holy souls) including Sant Amar Singh, Sant Harcharan Singh, Sant Gareeb Singh,
Sant Jaidiaal Singh, Sant Mangal Singh, Sant Deva Das, Sant Baba Lakkha Singh, and finally, Sant Baba Kartar Singh

‘Samparda Bhindra’-educated, and former S.G.P.C.-elected Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Giani Kirpal Singh states in a book published after his death:

Therefore, we can see that Baba Sahib Singh Bedi was well linked, and acknowledged as a great holy man all around the Sanatan Sikh world. This can also be attributed to the fact that during his lifetime he traveled throughout Punjab initiating ‘Sehajdhari’ and Khalsa Sikhs, yet he was not just a holy man but also a considered to be a great warrior.

Baba Sahib Singh Bedi
An old etching of Baba Sahib Singh Ji Bedi

Baba Sahib Singh always kept a small, well-armed army with him. On hearing of the atrocities committed by Attula Khan, the Nawab of Malerkotla, he decided to attack Malerkotla. There were a two further incentives for attacking Malerkotla.

1. At the time Akali Nihang Guru Gobind Singh was under attacked at Anandpur, and the Nawab of Malerkotla during this time had been Shere Muhammad Khan. He had kidnapped a servant of Guru’s household known affectionately as ‘Mai Ji’. She may have been a close relative of the Guru, but Khan had mistaken her for being one of Guru’s wives. He then attempted to convert her to Islam, and on her refusal, she was executed by archers and buried in a graveyard in Malerkotla. Baba Sahib Singh Bedi requested that Nawab Attula Khan return the remains of Mai Ji to the Sikhs. The Nawab had refused.

2. In 1762, the ‘Vada Ghalloghahra’ (the great massacre) of Sikhs took place at Kot Rihra. The Afghan armies of Ahmad Shah Abdali, with the assistance of the Nawab of Malerkotla, had massacred a great number of Sikh women and children.

Ahmad Shah Abdali
Photograph of one of the many Masjids built in India by the Afghan
warlord, Ahmad Shah Abdali, also known as Ahmad Shah Durrani (inset)