Banda Bahadur (734)

Few characters in the history of India have had as spectacular and meteoric a life as Banda Bahadur. He paved the way for the foundation of the Sikh Kingdom. Born a Rajput in Jammu, he renounced the world to become a Bairagi. While living a secluded life by the banks of the river Godavari, he was told by Guru Gobind Singh - the last of the Sikhs' ten Gurus, to lead the revolt against Mughal tyranny. Banda planted the flag of rebellion within a few miles of the Imperial capital. For the next eight years, he ravaged the whole of North India and defeated the most powerful mercenary army of the time with his ill-equipped, untrained peasant militia. The havoc he created in the Indo-Gangetic plain was of such magnitude that the Mughals could never restore their administration. It paved the way for invaders like the Persian tyrant Nadir Shah and the Afghan, Ahmed Shah Abdali. From the ashes of the Mughals rose the Sikhs who became the eventual rulers of the Punjab.