The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c19.76

v4.c19.76

The first extensive outbreak of Hindu reaction against this policy of persecution took place among the sturdy Jāt peasantry of the Muttra district, where the local commandant ‘Abdun-Nabī was a bigoted oppressor. In 1669 the Jāts rose under a leader named Gokla of Tilpat, killed ‘Abdun-Nabī, and after keeping the whole region in turmoil for a year, were suppressed only after a bloody contest with a strong imperial force under Hasan ‘Alī Khān. In 1672 came the Satnāmī rising, which, by disturbing the Nārnaul district close to Delhi and interrupting the grain supply of the capital, produced a much greater sensation than its importance justified. These people, popularly called *Mundiyās* or "shavelings" from their practice of shaving off all the hair, even the eyebrows, from their faces, were a unitarian sect forming a close brotherhood among themselves, honest, industrious and earnest like the Puritans. A petty wrangle between a Satnāmī peasant and a foot-soldier of the local collector at once swelled into a mass-conflict through the soldier's violence and the solidarity of the Satnāmīs. The quarrel soon took on the colour of a holy war against the destroyer of Hinduism. An old prophetess appeared among the sectaries and promised them invulnerability through her spells. The movement spread like wildfire. The local officers sent out troops in small parties, which were successively defeated, and these victories only raised the confidence of the rebels and confirmed the tale of their magical powers. Nārnaul was looted and a rebel administration set up in the district around it. The alarm even reached Delhi. Superstitious terror of the Satnāmīs’ magical power demoralised the imperial troops. At last Aurangzīb was roused. He sent a large army under Ra‘dandāz Khān with artillery and a detachment of the imperial guards. The emperor, who had the reputation of a saint working miracles (*‘Alamgīr, zinda pīr*), wrote out prayers and magical figures with his own hand and ordered these papers to be sewed on to the banners of his army in order to counteract the enemy’s spells! After a most obstinate battle, two thousand of the Satnāmīs fell on the field, many more were slain in the pursuit, and the country was pacified.