The ancient village where followers of Prithviraj Chauhan settled and that nurtured brave soldiers and numerous militants too, moves towards development, albeit slowly. Varinder Walia and P. K. Jaiswar trace the history and passage of time for the village

How could anyone ever turn the clock back in Sultanwind? How could members of main communities living in a 800-year old village ever go back to being nails and flesh — of the same finger? Drive through Sultanwind now and see how. That dark phase is not even a blip on anybody’s mind.

Named after “Pir” Sakhi Sultan, Sultanwind is four centuries older than the city of Amritsar. Situated on the old Golden Temple road, Sultanwind was once a Muslim-dominated village before Partition. The ancestors of the villagers, who were followers of king Prithviraj Chauhan, fought valiantly Mohammad Ghori before settling down here.

A number of mazars in the village periphery show that a large number of Muslims who lived there left for the newly-created Pakistan after the bloodshed of the Partition.

Guru Arjan Dev visited Sultanwind to rescue his follower Bhai Manjh after he had tumbled down a well while bringing wood from a forest.

Guru Hargobind stayed here during his marriage. Other prominent religious figures who visited the place included Baba Budda Ji, Bhai Gurdas Ji, Bhai Bahlo Ji, Bhai Salo Ji and Bhai Bidhi Chand.

An old tree of “Karir”, where the sixth Guru tied his horse, still exists in the gurdwara.

But the gurdwara, now under the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), is not properly maintained.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh had constructed two “burjis” (minarets), on the old Golden Temple road. This was how the adjoining village Doburji was named. However, both the ‘burjis’ – the grand landmarks, have been demolished.

Long ago the present city of Amritsar was a dense forest. Several villages fringed the forest. Many legendary and mythological references are attached to this land owned by adjoining villages of Tung, Sultanwind, Gumtala and Gilwali.

Dr Guravtar Singh, who belongs to this village, claimed that the land of Sultanwind started from Gurdwara Dukh Bhanjni Beri (in the Golden Temple premises). The location of the Golden Temple was a low-lying area with a big pond surrounded by dense jungle. It was next to the city of Lahore, then the capital of Punjab. A highway connecting India to some central Asian countries also ran through this piece of land.

The price of real estate here has, of late, increased manifold. The price of land, which had crashed during the peak of militancy, is once again picking up. A PUDA approved Kanwar Enclave, named after slain Khalistan Commando Force Chief, Kanwarjit Singh Sultanwind, is fast coming up. The upward swing of land prices is mind-boggling. At present, it is between Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000 per yard.

Interestingly, there was hardly any takers for the land when the gun-totting Kanwarjit Singh was alive.

Following the restoration of normalcy, real estate business has seen an unexpected swing. The village that provided a sanctuary to the terrorists has become much sought after by the colonisers these days. A number of terrorists belonged to this village. Militancy became the reason for the non-development of the region.

The village is divided into 12 “patties” (zones). These include Patti Mansoor, Patti Balol, Dadujalla, Bhainiwal, Malka, Sau, Sultan, Pandora and Shaho Ki. The area was recently brought under the Amritsar South constituency. Earlier it was under the Jandiala constituency.

According to a rough estimate, the village has a population of about 40,000, and has 25,000 registered voters.

Sultanwind came under the Municipal Corporation in 1972. However, there is nothing to show in the name of development.

Interestingly, immediately after World War I, the British government made the labyrinthine lanes of the area “pacca”, as a reward for the bravery shown by the villagers during the war. The Chitti Gali was completely marbled. It is in a bad shape now. The four-km long stretch was never repaired. It is marked by large potholes.

Since the village is located across the Sultanwind canal, it got deprived of development.
An old house made with Nanakshahi bricks in a narrow lane stands in mute testimony to passage of time in the 800-year-old Sultanwind village.

Recently, the Punjab government decided to construct a gate and repair the road in the memory of late Lance Naik Gurmit Singh, killed during the Kargil War.

The authorities started the construction with much fanfare on April 14 this year. However, the work progressed further than the platform for the gate.

According to information, the corporation passed a grant of Rs 26 lakh for the purpose. But the completion of work still seems to be a distant dream.

The area is now marred by water seepage that has clogged the village damaging residences and important building like Gurdwara Atari Sahib where the sixth Guru is believed to have stayed.

Waiting for development

The literacy rate of the village is low. However, few educated persons who have brought laurels to Amritsar feel concerned about the lack of development of their ancestral village. Mr Sum Dutt Vasudeva, Additional Advocate General, Himachal Pradesh, and Dr Guravtar Singh, a government veterinary officer, who belongs to this village said there had been no development worth its name since Sultanwind village was included in the Amritsar Municipal Corporation.

The road connecting the village to the city as also with Daburji village on the main GT Road (Amritsar-Jalandhar Road) is full of potholes. Neither is there any water supply scheme nor any sewerage system.

Dr Guravtar Singh said heaps of domestic waste could be seen littered in the main bazaar and drains remained full of filth. “There is neither a dispensary nor any library.

The corporation as well as the state government has completely overlooked this village since it ahs no godfather,” he rued.

Dr Guravtar Singh was one of the two doctors from the country to have participated in the regional training of meat inspection in Asia held at Veterinary Management Institute in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The story of Bhai Manjh
 
 A painting depicts Bhai Manjh, follower of Guru Arjan Dev, who tumbled into a well but saved the wood that he was carrying for ‘Guru ka langar’.

Bhai Manjh whose real name was Teertha used to do the seva by bringing wood as fuel for preparing langar. He was a staunch devotee of Pir Sakhi Sultan and had two mazaars of the pir at his residence. He was one of the rich zamindars of the area and was also the head of the village.

However, after listening to the spiritual discourses of the fifth Guru, he razed down the two mazaars. Despite opposition by the residents of area, he did not abandon the path shown by the Guru.

One day, while carrying wood he tumbled into a well following a storm. Guru Arjan Dev found that despite his predicament, Bhai Ji had saved the wood from getting wet. The Guru honored his disciple by saying: “Manjh is beloved of the Guru and the Guru of the Manjh”.

However, the ancient well in which Bhai Manjh had tumbled has been covered with a marble structure at the cost of its historicity.

Guru Hargobind visited this village when their barat stayed here on its way to Baba Bakala from Guru Ki Wadali and had tied his horse to a killa (wooden nail) that turned into a tree.

Supreme sacrifices
 
 
The villagers made Sultanwind proud by making supreme sacrifices in all the fields –World Wars, Jaiton Morcha, Morcha of Guru Ka Bagh or freedom struggle.
Over 1,38,000 Indian troops fought in Belgium and France during World War I, many of them Sikhs. The marble slab outside the police station displays that 135 residents of this village participated in World War I. Out of them, seven had sacrificed their lives.

In the first battle of Ypres at Flanders in 1914, a platoon of Sikhs died fighting to the last man, who shot himself with his last cartridge rather than surrender.

Sikhs still made up a disproportionate quantity of the forces that India gave to the war effort. Sikhs again fought on a number of fronts, where Sikh units were largely deployed.

The British government established a police post as reward for the bravery of the villagers who had participated in World War I.