In Punjab – ‘Bhumishayan’

Sultanpur Lodhi is one of the three holy cities of the Sikhs in Punjab. The other two are Sri Amritsar Sahib and Sri Anandpur Sahib.

‘Sultanpur Lodhi’ is the place where Guru Nanak Dev Ji lived for 14 years. Sultanpur Lodhi is a Sikh-majority area. In the schools in that area, 90% of the children are Sikhs.

Last year, between December 20 and 30, a campaign was conducted to acquaint schoolchildren with the glorious Sikh history. The film ‘Chaar Sahibzaade’ was shown in the school. The program continued for the entire 10 days. The children made projects. Google and YouTube were searched extensively.

The children were given homework to hear the story of the martyrdom of the four Sahibzadas from their grandparents, maternal grandparents, and parents and then write it in their own words.

The results that came in were shocking. The children came to school and reported that most of the elders and parents themselves do not know anything… to the extent that they do not even remember the names of the four Sahibzadas.

According to the principal… in such a large school, not a single child is named Ajit Singh’, Jujhar Singh, Zorawar Singh or Fateh Singh!! In the entire school, there is only one child named Jujhar Singh.

The parents of this child named Jujhar Singh are NRIs and live in Italy. Jujhar’s sister’s name is Olivia. In the entire school, not a single child is named Gobind Singh or Harikishan Singh. Whereas these are the people who sacrificed their lives in defense of the community and religion.

This is the state of a school in Sultanpur Lodhi where there are 14 major gurdwaras and it is an extremely important pilgrimage site for Sikhs….. You can estimate the situation in the rest of Punjab yourself.

Why is this happening after all? Is this not a failure of our education system? Why have we forgotten our history?

Once upon a time, there was a tradition in Punjab that during this one week (20 to 27 December), people would practice ‘Bhumishayan’ (sleeping on the ground) (because Mata Gujri and the two younger Sahibzadas had been imprisoned in the Thanda Burj of the Sirhind Fort, and all three had spent those three cold nights shivering) In their mourning or honor, the people of Punjab would sleep on the ground for this one week, but now Punjabis have forgotten even this. No wedding celebrations were held during this one week, but on the day that was the martyrdom day of the two younger Sahibzadas, Sikhs were seen dancing at a party in Jalandhar with glasses of alcohol placed on their heads.

When we ourselves are gradually forgetting the glory of our ancestors, do we have any right to blame anyone else!!?
(courtyesy-QUORA)