The Satnami Revolt

5/15/24, 1:50 PM The Satnami revolt - Haryana PCS Exam Notes
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The Satnami revolt
The Satnami revolt
An offshoot of the medieval Bhakti movement, the Satnami movement had its origin
in the Sadhs, a Unitarian sect founded in 1543 by Birbhan, of the village Bijesar of
Narnaul pargana} It was probably a branch of the Raidasi jamayat (organization)
founded after the famous saint Raidasa. Birbhan although claimed to be inspired by
Uddhava Dasa, a pupil of Raidasa, like Kabir seems to ‘have wandered rather far from
Vaishnava teachings of Ramananda, Raidasa’s master’. The Sadhs call upon God
under the name Satnama (the True Name) and among themselves employ Satnami as
the name of the sect. They were nick named ‘Mundiyas’ or ‘Shavelings from their
habit of shaving the body clean of all hairs.
The Sadhs, under the name of Satnamis appear to have been heroes of the revolt of
Hindu devotees against the oppression exercised by Aurangzeb’s revenue officials.
‘The revolt of the Satnami faqirs (May 1672)’ writes J.N. Sarkar, ‘has gained a place in
the history of Aurangzeb out of all proportions to its size or political importance.
Unlike the popular disturbances of the reign it appealed to the vulgar craze for the
supernatural and sent a short thrill of fear through the capital itself. Hence, men
greatly marvelled at it and it became the talk of the age’. Their mendicant militancy
and puritan professionalism even drew the attention of Khafi Khan who observed
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One of the remarkable occurrences of this year (May, 1672) was the outburst of the
Hindu devotees called Satnamis, who are also known by the name of Mundihs (i.e.,
clean shaven fellows). There were four or live ihousand of these, who were house-
holders in the parganas of Narnaul and Mewat. These men dress like devotees, but
they nevertheless carry on agriculture and trade, though their trade is on a small
scale. In tfe way of their religion they have dignified themselves with the title of
‘Good Name’, this being the meaning of Satnam, They are not allowed to acquire
wealth in any but a lawful calling. If any one attempts to wrong or oppress them by
force, or by exercise of authority, they will not endure it. Many of them have weapons
and arms.
Iswara Das Nagar, a contemporary historian, on the other hand, presents quite a
contradictory account. He wrote:-
The Satnamis are extremely filthy and wicked. In their rules they make no distinction
between Hindus and Musalmans, and eat pigs, and other unclean animals. If a dog is
served up before them, they do not show any disgust at it! In sin and immorality they
see no blame.
The observation, evidently of an orthodox Hindu need not be given any credence in
view of the more reasonable and realistic accounted of Khafi Khan. It may be as
pointed out by Grierson ‘false and libellous attacks on a Hindu heresy which
acknowledged no caste and refused worship the customary Hindu deities’.
The Satnamis, as is evident from one of their texts (Pothi Giydn Bdnl Sadh Satndmi)
denounce caste, begging, hoarding and servitude of the rich. As put by Irfan Habib
their injunction ‘do not harass the poor, shun the company of an unjust king and
wealthy and dishonest man, do not accept a gift from them or from kings has a
revolutionary ring’. It was essentially a social revolt of the lower classes in a common
fraternity irrespective of caste, creed or region. It started with a small incident which
was symbolic of widespread Notes  Tests
discontent among PDFpeople,
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and inspired their actions
that followed. A Satnami peasant of Narnaul having a quarrel with a piada (foot-
soldier) on duty was struck by the latter with a staff. This was the signal for the
Satnamis who gathered there in large numbers, to beat the piada. Being informed of
the incident, the Shiqdar of Narnaul sent additional force to arrest the offenders. The
party could not cope with the large number of Satnamis, was beaten and its arms
snatched. Further, as narrated by Manucci:
[An old sorceress told them that if they would follow her orders she would make
them masters of Delhi, the king not having more than ten thousand horsemen,
because all his other troops had gone with Shah Alam on the expedition against
Shivaji.]
The morale of the Satnamis became high and their numbers large. The swiftness of
the movements can very well be gathered from the remarks in the Madsir-h Alamgiri
describing the movement as ‘A malignant set of people, inhabitants of Mewat,
collected suddenly as white ants spring from the ground, or locusts descend from
the sky’. They soon routed the troops of Kartalab Khan, the Faujdar of Narnaul, killed
him and captured the towns of Narnaul and Bairat which provided them secure bases
for further operation. They demolished mosques and established their own
administration in the district, holding it by means of outposts and collecting the
revenue from the peasants. Commenting on the initial success of the Satnamis and
the worry of Aurangzeb Manucci wrote
[They (the Satnamis) marched with such vigour that when the news reached the court
Aurangzeb was particularly disturbed in mind, and sent out against them his ten
thousand horsemen. The Mundas fought with such vigour, upheld by the sorceress
of the old woman, that they routed Aurangzeb’s army. At this result he was more
disturbed than ever. They had already arrived within fifteen leagues of Delhi, when he
ordered out all the troops he had been able to raise. Continuous reports were to be
sent to him of what went on.]
The Satnami revolt despite its religious origins cannot be turned as merely a Hindu
revolt, which would be minimizing its secular character. The refusal of some Muslim
as well as Rajput commanders of the Mughal army to fight with them justifies
It is no wonder that the movement assumed larger proportion and stories became
current that it was sustained by magical and supernatural power. The insurgents after
closing in on Delhi cut off its grain supplies. A large army was then sent to repel
them but as it reached Rewari it lost heart and fled. The emperor finally decided to
send a strong force under his best commanders Radandaz Khan, Hamid Khan, Yahya
Khan, Najib Khan, Rumi Khan, Kamaluddin, Purdil, Isfandyar Bakshi, under the overall
command of Prince Muhammad Akbar. To keep high morale of his armies Aurangzeb
himself wrote hymns and magical figures on papers ‘and sent them to be hung on
the heads of the elephants and horses, and on the standards, fatiguing himself
greatly with the preparation of all these papers’. (Aurangzeb) wearied himself thus’,
writes Manucci, ‘it was from the great importance of the matter, for it was a question
of losing kingdom and life, since, without exaggeration, Aurangzeb found himself at
this moment in greater danger than at any time in the rest of his life’.
A deadly encounter between the contending parties took place at \irnaul. Although
inadequately equipped and lacking in discipline and training, the Sun imis put a
heroic resistance to their oppressors. ‘They the Satnamis) enacted the scene of the
great war of the Mahabharata’. Though ultimately overpowered by numbers, they fell
fighting to their last man. About 5000 Satnamis are estimated to have sacrificed their
lives for their cause. The casualities on the Mughal side were no less. ‘Many of the
Muslims were slain or wounded’. Bishnu Singh Kachhwa, who had fought most
gallantly, had his elephant wounded at seven places. Thus ended one of the most
spectacular popular rising of the region against oppressive rule of Aurangzeb.
Although failed to produce a heirarchy of able leadership which could have revived it
even after disaster, it left the field open for other people of the region to continue
the struggle against oppression for long time to come.
Aurangzeb’s policy of intolerance did not end with the suppression of the Mewatis
and the Satnamis. It now turned to the destruction of the sacred places of the region
(a notorious administrative measure of that reign). Several temples were destroyed at
Kurukshetra and a castle (called Mughalpura) was built in the midst of a lake from
where Mughal soldiers could fire upon pilgrims who came to bathe there. Near the
Sarvesvara Mahadeva temple, the remains of a castle with pillars on four sides are
still visible testifying to Aurangzeb’s oppressive rule. According to local tradition, the
castle was demolished later  Notes  Tests
on by the  PDF
Marathas  Care
who also removed the pilgrim tax
which required the Hindu pilgrims to pay one rupee for a small pot of water of the
holy tank and five rupees for a dip in it {eka rupaya lota aurapaficha rupaya goto)
and that the Marathas rebuilt the Sthanesvara Mahadeva temple which had been
destroyed and replaced by a mosque during this period. A careful look at the present
temple reveals the existence of Muslim structures — a mosque with domes and
beautifully painted arches. It appears that at a still later stage further attempt was
made to remove the Muslim signs by putting Hindu religious paintings in the walls.
The Akhhardt (the official news bulletins of Aurangzeb’s (court) throw light on the
destruction of some religious establishments at Thanesar. The Akhbar dated 30 May,
1667 reports:-
The Brahmins of pargana Thanesar presented a complaint that the sons of Shaikh Mir
on their way from Lahore dismantled the places where Hindus used to sit on the
tank. The sons of the Shaikh petitioned that the Hindus were indulging greatly in
irreligious acts. It was ordered that the tank should be destroyed so that water could
not be stored there.
Thanesar formed a part of the jagir of Hoshdarkhan, governor of Akbarabad (Agra),

whose agent thought that the tank was indispensable for cultivation.
The Akhbar of I June, 1667 reports a similar complaint. Aurangzeb summoned the
Qazi of Thanesar to his court. After hearing the Qazi, the Emperor ordered Abdul Aziz
Khan, Faujdar of Thanesar, that ‘the waters of the tank be released from all the four
quarters so that after this the Hindus may not gather there. It seems that this order
was not immediately implemented for the Akhbar dated 18 June, 1667 records that
‘Abdul Aziz Khan who had been ordered to destroy the tank at Thanesar was
reported (by Hoshdarkhan) to have harassed the ryots who were greatly benefited by
the tank. The Emperor also referred to a similar request previously made by Begam
Saheb. The Emperor, however, ordered (although without having received any formal
complaint) the suppression of the aforesaid irreligious acts, but allowed the tank to
be restored to its former condition.
As early as 24 October, 1754 by a special of Alamgir (the Mughal Emperor), the

Hingne Brothers, Peshwa’s agents at Delhi, were authorised to lookafter Kurukshetra
and Gaya, the two holy places of the Hindus. The temples at Kurukshetra were built,
reconstructed or renovated during Maratha rule in Haryana which lasted from 1784-
1803. The local tradition attributes this credit to Sadashiv Rao Bhau but the latter had
no time to visit Kurukshetra.
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5/15/24, 1:50 PM The Satnami revolt - Haryana PCS Exam Notes

Haryana PCS Exam Notes

The Satnami revolt

Thanesar formed a part of the jagir of Hoshdarkhan, governor of Akbarabad (Agra),

As early as 24 October, 1754 by a special of Alamgir (the Mughal Emperor), the

For any doubt, Just leave us a Chat or Fill us a querry––

Save my name, email,and website

I'm not a robot

PSC Notes- PSC Exam

HAS Prelims 2024

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