The 1857 War of Independence--Part III

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1857 WAR - CAUSES PART III- THE HARYANA SARV KHAP

 

 

 

(F) THE ENGLISH GOVERNEMENT OPPOSES THE SARVKAHP PANCHAYAT.

 

 

In 1857 the territory of the SarvKhap Panchayat was all around Delhi,

for over 150 miles in every direction. The individuals Khaps were in

all areas.

 

In 606 AD the Jat Emperor Harshvardhan of Kanauj, had united the Jat

Khaps from Sutlej to Bareilly (Western UP) to Madhya Pradesh, and

formed the republic of "HARYANA" He coined the term " Haryana

SarvKhap Panchayat."

 

[sarv Khap Panchayat. The term stands for the supreme Panchayat;

(today this is called a parliament). A Khap stands for a unit of

territory, commonly of 84 villages. . This Sarv Khap Panchayat had

about 300 subsidiary Khaps under it. This would indicate that that

the territory had over 25,000 villages in it. The boundaries in

today's terms were from the Sutlej River in the Punjab, to Western

UP, to Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan)

 

>From that time 600 AD to 1857 the Sarv Khap managed its affairs

independently. It had its own standing army, which protected the

individual Khaps. Its system of Law and Justice was renowned. Every

citizen of the republic lived free.

 

 

People from all communities lived in this territory of the Republic

of Haryana, and served in the army of the Haryana Sarv Khap. However

as the Jats were maximum in number, in the Sarv Khap army too, the

Jats were more in numbers. The main communities were Jat, Ahir,

Gujar, Rajput etc.

 

The accounts of the wars of the Sarv Khap with Ghazni, Ghori and the

support to patriotic leaders Prithviraj Chauhan, to Sadashiv Bhau are

given elsewhere.

 

The first opposition to the British came from the Haryana Sarv Khap.

The British had implemented many policies against the Panchayat.

 

1. The British committed atrocities against the poor farmers. They

would snatch their harvest by force. They would seize goods from the

farmers and the poor. They would refuse to allow the artisans to see

their wares in outside markets. They destroyed many small trades and

enterprises.

 

2. They brought their own system of Law and Courts, and destroyed the

panchayat judicial system. The disputes between the people, which

were formerly settled in the Panchayat, now started to go to the

British Courts. The poor were looted. Corruption spread. People

became oppressed.

 

3. Th Sahukar (moneylender) increased their atrocities on the poor

farmers.

 

4. The British goods were now been sold by force. Their monopoly was

enforced by brute force. Local trade was destroyed.

 

5. Respected and responsible clans and families were put down.

 

6. The leaders of the Panchayat were demeaned and insulted.

 

It was because of these reasons the Haryana Sarv Khap was the first

to raise the flag of Resistance.

 

The Haryana SarvKhap was divided into two parts, divided by the

Yamuna River.

The Panchayat treated Delhi as the centre, and threw off the

yoke/rule of the British, from both sides of the river- from the

areas of Meerut, Muzzafarnagar, Saharanpur, Bulandshahr, and

Bahadurgarh, Rewari, Rohtak, and Panipat. When the war of

independence was lost, the British retaliation caused great hardship

to the people. Their lands were seized and the lost lands and

property have not been returned until today.

 

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