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What Akshay Kumar’s Kesari won’t tell you: The real military account of Battle of Saragarhi

The battle is recorded in the Digest of Service of 36 Sikh (now 4 Sikh) and I was its custodian for two years as the Adjutant.

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The Battle of Saragarhi of 12 September 1897, recently dramatised in Akshay Kumar-starrer Kesari, is one of the greatest ‘last stands’ in military history.

The account of the battle is recorded in the Digest of Service of 36 Sikh (now 4 Sikh) and I was its custodian for two years from 1971 to 1972 as the Adjutant. The battle is also described in the personal letters of Lt Col John Haughton, who was the commanding officer of the unit, as reproduced in his biography The Life of Lieut.Col. John Haughton.

The battle saw one non-commissioned officer, Havildar Ishar Singh (played by Akshay Kumar in the movie), 20 other ranks and one ‘follower’ (civilian employed for menial tasks), Daad, of 36 Sikh fighting the Pashtuns till the ‘last man last round’.

But as it often happens, many myths come to be associated with great ‘last stands’, and the Battle of Saragarhi is no exception.

Here is what really happened in the Battle of Saragarhi.


Also read: Kesari sees Akshay Kumar’s rebirth as an action hero as the actor dies


Events leading up to the battle

The Battle of Saragarhi was fought between two sub-nationalities of the subcontinent – the Sikhs, who were in the service of the British, and the Pashtuns, who were fighting for their freedom.

The Sikh-Pashtun rivalry went back 150 years, beginning with the first invasion of Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1748. For the next 50 years, a bitter struggle ensued for the control of Punjab. By 1800, the Sikhs had prevailed and over the next 30 years, they had pushed the Afghans to the later-era Durand Line (1893), which forms the present western boundary of Pakistan. These were the boundaries that the British inherited after they defeated the Khalsa Army in 1849.

In 1893, the Durand Line to demarcate the border between British India and Afghanistan was created, dividing the Pashtun heartland. This led to a simmering discontent among the tribes whose homeland had been divided. Apart from garrisoning the area, the British had to send military expeditions to quell the tribal rebellion.

In January 1897, half of 36 Sikh was deployed on the Samana Ridge. The battalion headquarters and one company plus a platoon, 168 all ranks, occupied Fort Lockhart at the eastern end. One company plus a platoon, 175 all ranks, were located at Fort Gulistan, 5.2 km to the west.

But the two forts lacked inter-visibility, and therefore, a post was set up at Saragarhi, named after the destroyed Pashtun village of Saragarh, which acted as a heliograph (signalling device using sunlight and reflectors) communication post.


Also read: As Indians watch Uri, time for Army to talk about other daring and unsung operations


Three more posts – Dhar, Sangar, Sartop with 37, 44, and 21 all ranks respectively – were occupied to guard the flanks of Fort Lockhart. Rest of the battalion was deployed 80 km further west, in the area of Parachinar.

In August 1897, the Mulla of Hadda gave a call for ‘Jehad’ against the British and the Afridis, Orakzais and Shinwaris, the Pashtuns of the Tirah region, rose up in rebellion. While the British Indian Army was building up its force in Kohat (garrison town), the Orakzais and Afridis focused their attention on the Samana ridge.

The Tirah region had an estimated 20,000-25,000 Afridis and Orakzais. Of them, nearly 10,000 started surrounding the forts on the Samana Ridge held by 36 Sikh. Between 28 August and 11 September, Fort Gulistan and the outposts around Fort Lockhart were attacked a number of times without success.

The battle & many accounts

On the morning of 12 September, a part of the Pashtun rebels invested the vulnerable small fort at Saragarhi. The battle began at 9 am and ended a little after 3:30 pm with the entire garrison killed in action. Since there was no survivor, little is known of what actually happened at Saragarhi.

The military account is based on the visual observations made with binoculars/telescope from Fort Gulistan and Fort Lockhart, 2.8 km and 2.4 km away respectively from Saragarhi.

Many accounts give a minute-by-minute description of the battle by signaller Sepoy Gurmukh Singh through the heliograph. The official accounts mention only two such messages – one at 12 noon, giving a factual report, and the other just after 3 pm, seeking permission to close the heliograph and join the battle.

There is no record of any Pashtun account of the battle. Hence, most non-military accounts of the Battle of Saragarhi are imaginary and speculative.

However, since it was a literal ‘last man, last round’ battle, which lasted six-and-a-half hours, there should be no doubt that all that can be imagined in terms of individual and collective bravery and human emotions would have been on display.


Also read: How I captured and saved India’s first prisoner of war in 1971


What military account says

I have read and re-read the Digest of Service of 36/4 Sikh and most accounts of the battle written in the last 122 years. The actual Pashtun force that attacked the Saragarhi post comprised 1,000-1,500 rebels.

Saragarhi had a cliff facing towards the south and a narrow spur linking it to the ridge. It was not practical for more than 80-100 men to attack at one time, but adequate reserves were available for repeated attacks. Rest of the Pashtuns were cutting/blocking the route to Lockhart and Gulistan and also investing Gulistan and other forts.

The Pashtuns initially tried to rush to the post but were unsuccessful. They retreated and took cover behind the boulders and continued firing at the post.

As observed from the Gulistan Fort, two Pashtuns had stayed behind to dig under the fort wall to make it collapse to create a breach. Being at a dead angle, they could not be seen by the defenders at Saragarhi. Gulistan tried to warn the post, but the message never reached.

At 12 noon, the signaller reported that one sepoy had been killed, one non-commissioned officer wounded and three rifles damaged due to firing. Lt Col Haughton sent Lt George Munn with 12 soldiers to create a diversion by firing from a distance, but it had no effect. Between 12 noon and 3 pm, the Pashtuns made two more attacks with 80-100 men each, but were again repulsed with heavy losses.

At 3 pm, Lt Col Haughton with Lt Munn and 98 other ranks set out to create a diversion and ease the pressure on Saragarhi. He had barely moved a kilometre when part of Saragarhi’s wall collapsed due to the digging by the two Pashtun men who had stayed behind, and the final assault was launched.

Just after 3 pm, Sepoy Gurmukh Singh sent his last message seeking permission to join the battle. At 3.30 pm, it was all over.

A great saga of bravery had been enacted. Most ‘last stands’ are rarely literal as there are always some survivors. Saragarhi was literally and metaphorically a great ‘last stand’. Each of the 21 soldiers was awarded the Indian Order of Merit (IOM), the highest decoration awarded to the Indian soldiers by the British till 1911.

A 30-feet pyramidal cairn, using stones from the ruins, was constructed at Saragarhi and a more formal obelisk was built at Lockhart as memorials. Two gurdwaras, one each in Amritsar and Firozpur, were built in their honour.

Myth vs fact

Most writers estimate Pashtun casualties in the Battle of Saragarhi to be around 600 to 1,000.

Pashtuns/Pathans were masters of field craft and minor tactics and never indulged in foolhardy head-on attacks on well-defended positions. As per official assessment, Pashtun casualties on the Samana Ridge were 400 killed and 600 wounded, and of them, 180 died in the Battle of Saragarhi.

The IOM has been equated with the Victoria Cross by most writers. No doubt, it was the highest award given to Indian soldiers, but the fact that in addition to 21 IOMs for the Saragarhi braves, 36 Sikh was also awarded another 14 IOMs in the battle at Samana and for the Tirah campaign that followed dilutes the comparison.

Writer-filmmaker Jay Singh-Sohal in his book Saragarhi: The Forgotten Battle busts two more myths – that there was a standing ovation in British House of Commons for the Battle of Saragarhi, and it is listed by UNESCO as one of the seven epic battles. Sohal found no records for both these claims.


Also read: Have a slew of recent Bollywood films changed the way Indians view war?


According to the military account, soldiers of the Sikh Regiment did not have free-flowing beards but kept them rolled. They also did not carry kirpans (swords) into the battle as shown in movies and documentaries made on the event. Sikh Regiment soldiers of that era wore khaki turbans and not kesari turbans as shown in the movie Kesari. The Akshay Kumar-starrer film delves into the personality of Havildar Ishar Singh, but no such detailed records on him are available in the military account.

The number of men killed at Saragarhi was 22 and not 21. Most accounts are ignorant about ‘follower’ Daad’s presence. As the handyman of the post, he would have cooked for the soldiers and cleaned the fort on most days, but on the fateful day, he joined the battle – a tradition 36/4 Sikh still follows. He remains the unsung hero of Saragarhi.

Lt Gen H S Panag PVSM, AVSM (R) served in the Indian Army for 40 years. He was GOC in C Northern Command and Central Command. Post retirement, he was Member of Armed Forces Tribunal.

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92 COMMENTS

  1. I am waiting for the print to publish how brave the pathans n afridis were. They can also add that there were no casulties on afghan side, one crow died and few trees uprooted. Your real masters will throw one more piece on bone to chew as the reward.

  2. I was holding my breath for the general to spill the ,’classified imperial secret’. And I am still holding it. That said I go by the movie’s yarn for now.😁

  3. R.D. …just for your knowledge, you should thank British for bringing all the states together and naming the country India. Before their invasion their was no India. So even if you want to claim that Indian soldiers were only part of british Army, then what’s wrong. Its better to fight for someone who brought the whole country together unlike the own. Indian kingdoms dividing each other apart. British also build hospitals, English teaching schools, railway tracks, parliamentary building and so on. The fact that you are able to write read and speak in English, thank the Britishers, otherwise sanskrit is all you would have spoken.

  4. It is good for all that different views and versions emerge and are expressed, so the cinematic version is not taken as the sole view of history. Who brings out what interpretation of the history is immaterial. Multiplicity of views is important because reality is never unilateral.

    For me, the British Indian Army was British Army in India and it was the occupying force in India. It never was and never will be Indian Army for me since Indians employed therein worked for the British throne and helped serving the British cause. They were not patriots fighting for the dignity of their motherland. It is fine for British to applaud and honour their contribution to further British interests. Indian fighters were brave and loyal…. to the queen and she rewarded them.

    As a citizen of independent India, I do not take pride in my ancestors serving the British occupying forces for whatever reasons. I take pride in rebels and freedom fighters who were declared terrorists and enemies by the rulers and in Indian National Army which was fighting to free India from British rule.

    In any war or sport, you support one of the teams. I choose not to support the British team.

    Despite all the Indian obsession with the whites, the truth is that they have been the biggest occupying and genocidal force in the world- several times worse than Hitler. They were responsible for the ethnic annihilation of native citizens like Red Indians in U.S. and Aborigines in Australia, slave trading in Africa and the Great Bengal famine and partition back home.

    I choose not to honour people who played for their team and helped them accomplish their mission. Whatever be their compulsions, they can be pitied but not honoured because a soldier’s death is honourable only when he or she dies fighting for a noble and an honourable cause of greater good. Else he is just a skilled or unskilled fighter.

  5. Dear TJ, Lt. Gen Panang is a distinguished Sikh (ex) army man. But I agree with everything else you have written about the article, the “unbearable pain”, the myth-busting. I’d have expected Army Generals like him to extol the efforts of Akshay Kumar who is the son of a serviceman and has contributed with films like “Holiday- a soldier is never off duty”. Like you, I too marvel at the ability of The Print editors in pushing articles that stoke controversies. Much to Gen. Panag’s discomfiture the Akshay Kumar starrer Kesari has done more than 100 cr. business in ten days. With the details General Saheb has gone into, only a documentary could have been produced. Well done Akki, Singh is King.

    • Sadly that is a sentiment widely expressed by Lt Gen in articles on other sites. Links I posted somehow do not show in my responses (search for panag as authors on IDR website. Clearly those articles will never be published by print. We come to the print for keeping watch on contrarian threads and antics techniques of the day. More extreme is the wire. Thanks to all those contributors with alternative facts.

  6. Lt Gen Panag,
    Now that you endeavor to educate civies on military history., I wonder if you have a dispassionate response to some of the critical data backed feedback in this thread. I have read through your articles linked on IDR. The print demands a particular contrarian political attitude, so it may not permit a neutral stance. So IDR could be another forum.

  7. The print and Lt.gen Panag have brought disrepute to our golden history. They should apologize for spreading fake account of the real history just to satisfy their personal hatred towards sikh community.. Everyone knows The print is a mouthpiece of Congress party, the party responsible for the genocide of the Sikhs and nothing useful can be expected from such a mediahouse

  8. Everyone please stop justifying your claims. I personally do not agree with Mr. Panag’s report as he has not revealed the documents. And I don’t think they are viable source. Movie is dramatized to make the viewers engaged but then again all movies are whether in Hollywood or Bollywood. Take 300 for example. But keeping all that aside, 21 sikh soldiers vs 10000 is something no normal human can imagine. Reality is even more brutal and the fact that these 21 men knew they were going to fight till death and beyond bravery. Those who claim Pashtun were fighting for freedom, its false. Saragarhi was fort built by Ranjit Singh and the border was lined since then. Mr. Panag’s claim are false even if you read the accounts of British. Here is a very brief documentary because I know everyone has valuable things to do in life.
    https://youtu.be/pXVEnXocWUw

    • Pashtuns were fighting for freedom because sikhs were with British army the durrand line was manufactured by the british people will laugh at you if you claim 21 sikhs took on 10000 pashtun fighters lol the soviets couldnt deal with pashtuns and the americans couldnt deal with them even in Pakistan they have there own code and law

  9. Twitter response from Panag who claims to have seen the documents of 36 military accounts.
    rajendra bist

    @bistrajendra

    ·

    Mar 21

    Replying to

    @rwac48

    Woow – can you please share some of the account or atleast some key rememberences

    Lt Gen H S Panag(R)

    @rwac48

    ·

    Mar 22

    Least you can do is just punch Saragarhi once on google. You will get 100s of articles documentaries

    So these are LT. Panag’s military document he claims hahaha 🙂

  10. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saragarhi

    The battle is considered worlds No 2 last stand. Ravi Aggarwal, the pashtuns were from the famous warrior tribes. Calling them inexperienced? Insane.

    Sepoy Gurmukh Singh, who communicated the battle to Haughton, was the last surviving Sikh defender. He is stated to have killed 20 Afghans, the Pashtuns having to set fire to the post to kill him. As he was dying, he was said to have yelled repeatedly the Sikh battle cry “Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal!” (“One will be blessed eternally, who says that God is the ultimate truth!”).

    Having destroyed Saragarhi, the Afghans turned their attention to Fort Gulistan, but they had been delayed too long, and reinforcements arrived there in the night of 13–14 September, before the fort could be captured.[1] The Pashtuns later admitted that they had lost about 180 killed[15] and many more wounded[16] during the engagement against the 21 Sikh soldiers, but some 600 bodies[8] are said to have been seen around the ruined post when the relief party arrived 

  11. Forgot to add that when I say racist and hatred for other ethnic groups, Ravi Aggarwal is an example. It’s the report that is suiting your taste because of the hatred within you. Not me. I go by the source which is by the British accounts as they were the only ones there to witness it. Not jerks like Panag here.

  12. All these above who support you Panag, they are ones misguided by people like you and obviously online racist individuals of other religions and other ethnic groups.
    I am a Gujrati and I have read the British accounts of the battle and it’s not consistent with LT Panag’s. It’s a shame that a retired LT of India is spreading non confirmed accounts of unknown military to his own fellow Indians to dignify the bravery of the great Sikh warriors. Yes the Sikhs were part of British army and fought many wars for them but this last stand was different. British accounts clearly states that the 21 Sikhs had all option to escape. Even the Afghans gave them the ultimatum to leave the form with no bullets shot but they didn’t. Why? Because they fight for not being considered coward. They fought for their pride. They fought for their honor. And we Indians should embrace and salute such bravery. LT Gen Panag is clearly a disgrace as he doesnt want to recognize these 21 Sikhs bravery because they were part of British Army. It’s a shame that LT like Panag is dividing the country and it’s people with such inaccurate accounts. You ever wonder why terrorists enter the country? It’s because of LT like him. LT Panag is one of those Indian Army LT who fights war behind a closed closet and comes out only when it’s over and takes retirement with healthy pension to sit back and write fake account articles like these. It’s a shame. And Shame on you LT General. Need real accounts, go read the British Military accounts that shows that Ishar Singh killed 28 in a hand to hand combat communicated through Gurumukh Singh. Gurmukh killed 20 before yelling the sikh pride slogan of Bole soh nihal which was heard by COL. Haughton himself. So like I said many times earlier, shame on you and being a disgraced LT of our country.

  13. Respected Lt General HS Panag. Please excuse us civies. Our Lily lowered vanity is too fragile to handle reality or discussion with data. We have never stared death in the face! Let alone as a career. Like children we count it, That’s how far we have learnt so far through media.
    Folks. We have the only army in the world where officers lead from the front. Yes be proud of it, for the right reasons, for they have the right mix of Josh in their heart yet realism in the head.

  14. Respected Lt General HS Panag. Please excuse is cities. Our Lily lowered vanity is too fragile to handle reality or discussion with data. We have never stared death in the face! Let alone as a career. Like children we count it, That’s how far we have learnt so far through media.

  15. The reality of war is frustrating fantasy of war. Whilfantasy inspires us… The reality teaches us. The numbers game and chest thumping always wins after the fact for couch potatoes., but it does not diminish anything for those who have killed, taken decisions to commit colleagues to be martyred, and live with aftermath. Check out records action during 1971 to kargil by said general, and vote? Who would you want leading your division! Yourself the critic or lt. General?

  16. Mr panag, I respect you because you were a part of our army. But this article is just a shame. If you were there at the saragarhi, you definitely chose to escape than to fight. It’s always the courage behind when you fight especially when you know that you are not going to survive this war. My heartiest salute to saragarhi martyrs and I think everybody is proud is to be. So Stop defaming our martyrs and use your writing skills to improve the present day situation of our country. Very disappointing after reading this..Our history is full of bravery because of the sacrifice of many more lives that we are living in this free India . Don’t ever defame their bravery and sacrifice . Expecting something positive and constructive next time Mr. Panag!!!

  17. First if all I would condemn the statements made by Jignesh Patel and others defaming a lieutenant general who served Indian Army for 40 years. You just don’t wanna accept this fact coz report isn’t suiting your taste. The skilled sikhmen killed unskilled pathans ,having no proper knowledge of any war. As always the lokkathas are like fairytales and movies exaggerated. They just wanna add masalas to their ideas as accounted in other biographies too. So I hope that if you don’t have any viable proof and if a ‘legal and solid’ proof is provided then your taste doesn’t matter at all.
    Saying the same thing 4-5 times won’t change the fact. If you think you’re right then provide its proof rather than debating and defaming armymen.

  18. Dear World famous historian panag
    The print and you both are a wonderful combination of the most bitter truth of Indian Media. I didn’t expect anything better than this from this duo. A new breed of Indians like you are busy counting dead bodies and the amount of damage done. This video game generation equates everything with their virtual encounters perhaps. Please visit the army camps and stay on the borders for a month. Your respect for army and all nationalistic people will rise in spite of all your vested interests. ” How to demean heroism” and “ask for proof” are two worst faces of few journalists. These are two self destructive strategies of a section of Indian media. We know why you are afraid of “hyper nationalism”. Hona bhi chahiye. Tum jaise logon ko yaad rakhna chahiye, nation first. Besides you are working on counter productive line. The more you write such nuisance, the more people will rise to oppose you. You under estimate India, not us.

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