1896 - 1915
Biography Few persons have been born in India who can be called revolutionary in true sense of the word. Kartar Singh's
name comes at the top among these few. Revolution lived in his veins. There was only one aim of his life, only one desire, only one hope - all that held meaning in his life was revolution. Kartar Singh Sarabha, a Ghadar revolutionary was born in 1896 in the village of Sarabha , in Ludhiana district of the Punjab in the house of Mangal Singh, a well-to-do farmer (Jutt).He was the only son of his parents.
He was still very young when his father died. His grandfather brought him up with great care.After receiving his primary education in his own village, Kartar Singh entered the Malwa Khalsa High school at Ludhiana for his matriculation. He was in tenth class when he went to live with his uncle in Orissa where, after finishing high school, he joined college.
It was the year 1910-1911,. this was also the time of nationalist movement. It was this political environment that aroused the feeling of patriotism in him. It was then that he decided that he must travel to America .
In 1912 he landed at the port of San Francisco in California and joined many of his compatriots in taking up work in the countryside of California as a farm labourer. There he came face to face with the exploitative attitude of the American farmers and the scorn of the average American worker for Indians He soon realized that slavery was the biggest curse heaved upon a nation.
Kartar Singh soon came in contact with Lala Har Dayal, Pandit Jagat Ram Rihana, Bhai Jawala Singh. They deliberated on the causes of continued enslavement of India . It was felt that a very strong organization was necessary to lead and carry on the battle for liberation.
The Ghadar Party was founded in March 1913 in Astoria in the state of Washington . Kartar Singh joined the party immediately.
The Ghadar, newspaper which made its appearance on 1st of November, 1913 owed a lot to his efforts. The newspaper was printed on a hand-operated machine and Kartar Singh not only wrote the Punjabi text but also operated the machine. Whenever he was tired running the press, he would sing:
Serving ones country is very difficult
It is so easy to talk
Anyone who walked on that path
Must endure millions of calamities.
A conference of representatives of Oregon , Washington and California was held at Stockton in California in February, 1914 which resulted in the formal representation of California in the Ghadar Party. This influx gave added vigour to the Ghadar movement and the party gained tremendous strength.
When the party decided to ask its members to leave for India to work for the revolution, Kartar Singh was in the first batch who boarded the ship for India . He did not come alone but brought along three American revolutionaries who were his friends. Two of them were men and one was a woman. He entered India through Colombo and engaged himself in revolutionary work.He met Shachinder Nath Sanyal and Rash Behari Bose through Mr. Pingley. He moved about freely outside Punjab in the company of Pingley and Sanyal. He would enter the army establishments very casually and propagate rebellion.
On the advice of Rash Behari Bose and incitement of Nawab Khan he agreed to committing dacoities. . Even while commiting dacoties, he was forthright in speaking of his mission. He would tell the affected that since there was no other source of money and it was necesary to throw out the British, they were compelled to do such acts and he promised that after liberation all the money now looted would be returned with interest.
One day, they went to a village for the purpose of carrying out a robbery. Kartar Singh was their leader. While robbery was in progress, there was a beautiful young woman in the house. Seeing her a heinous thought came in the mind of a sinner. He forcefully grabbed the woman by the hand. The woman shrieked out of fear. Kartar Singh immediately took out his pistol, reach that person, and place the pistol on his forehead, disarmed him and shouted, "You wretched man, your crime is very serious, you should be punished to die for that. But the circumstances force us to forgive you. But you fall on the feet of this woman, ask her forgiveness by saying, my sister, forgive me please. Then forgiveness for this fall of mine, If they forgive you, we will let you remain alive, otherwise you shall be shot dead." He obliged.
Preparation was made for revolt to take place in February 1915. In the first week (of Feb. 1915) he along with Pingle and some other friends went to Agra, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Meerut and other places to meet people and consult them about the coming revolt. Finally the day for which they waited so long was drawing near. February 21, 1915 was the day fixed for launching the revolt all over India . All preparations were being made according to that. But at the same time a rat was sitting at the root of the tree of their hopes branches was nibbling at it. Four or five days before (the appointed date) it was suspected that every thing would be ruined because of the betrayal by Kirpal Singh. Because of that suspicion Kartar Singh asked Rash Behari Bose to change the date of the revolt to February 19 instead of 21. Even after doing that Kirpal Singh came to know this. The result of the presence of one traitor within the revolutionary group was dangerous and grave. Ras Behari Bose and Kartar Singh had no real way to keep their plans secret. The misfortune of India can be the only reason for all this.
After the failure of the revolution-, the members who had escaped arrest decided to leave India . Kartar Singh, Hamam Singh Tundilat, Jagat Singh etc. were asked to go to Afghanistan and they did make a move towards that area. But his conscience did not permit him to run away when all his comrades had been held. He came back with two friends and went over to Chak No. 5 in Sargodha where there was a military stud and started propagating rebellion amongst the armymen. A Risaldar got him and his friends arrested.
After the prosecution witnesses had been examined, Kartar Singh Sarabha was asked to make his statement. He accepted his role in the movement and proudly proclaimed that whatever he did, he did with a sense of responsibility. He considered it his duty to rouse the people against British slavery. And his calling the army to rebel, preparing national flags and performing other revolutionary acts were towards fulfilment of his inalienable birth right to see India independent and free.
When the sentence of death was pronounced on Kartar Singh, he laughed and said in a loud voice: "Thank you".
The Jail Superintendent asked Kartar Singh if he wanted to make a mercy petition. , Kartar Singh replied that he was not interested in a mercy petition but an early execution of the sentence so that he could take rebirth and fight against slavery again..
On 16th November, 1915, the government decision to commute the death sentences of 17, other Ghadries to transportation Of life was communicated but Kartar Singh and six of his comrades were still condemned to be hanged, he was again asked to make a mercy petiton but his reply was the same. "Execute the sentence immediately".
Kartar Singh and six of his comrades were hanged to death in Lahore Central Jail on the morning of November 17, 1915 .That day too he was happy as always. His weight too increased. He embraced the hanging rope with the words, "Victory to Mother India."
Biography Few persons have been born in India who can be called revolutionary in true sense of the word. Kartar Singh's
name comes at the top among these few. Revolution lived in his veins. There was only one aim of his life, only one desire, only one hope - all that held meaning in his life was revolution. Kartar Singh Sarabha, a Ghadar revolutionary was born in 1896 in the village of Sarabha , in Ludhiana district of the Punjab in the house of Mangal Singh, a well-to-do farmer (Jutt).He was the only son of his parents. He was still very young when his father died. His grandfather brought him up with great care.After receiving his primary education in his own village, Kartar Singh entered the Malwa Khalsa High school at Ludhiana for his matriculation. He was in tenth class when he went to live with his uncle in Orissa where, after finishing high school, he joined college.
It was the year 1910-1911,. this was also the time of nationalist movement. It was this political environment that aroused the feeling of patriotism in him. It was then that he decided that he must travel to America .
In 1912 he landed at the port of San Francisco in California and joined many of his compatriots in taking up work in the countryside of California as a farm labourer. There he came face to face with the exploitative attitude of the American farmers and the scorn of the average American worker for Indians He soon realized that slavery was the biggest curse heaved upon a nation.
Kartar Singh soon came in contact with Lala Har Dayal, Pandit Jagat Ram Rihana, Bhai Jawala Singh. They deliberated on the causes of continued enslavement of India . It was felt that a very strong organization was necessary to lead and carry on the battle for liberation.
The Ghadar Party was founded in March 1913 in Astoria in the state of Washington . Kartar Singh joined the party immediately.
The Ghadar, newspaper which made its appearance on 1st of November, 1913 owed a lot to his efforts. The newspaper was printed on a hand-operated machine and Kartar Singh not only wrote the Punjabi text but also operated the machine. Whenever he was tired running the press, he would sing:
Serving ones country is very difficult
It is so easy to talk
Anyone who walked on that path
Must endure millions of calamities.
A conference of representatives of Oregon , Washington and California was held at Stockton in California in February, 1914 which resulted in the formal representation of California in the Ghadar Party. This influx gave added vigour to the Ghadar movement and the party gained tremendous strength.
When the party decided to ask its members to leave for India to work for the revolution, Kartar Singh was in the first batch who boarded the ship for India . He did not come alone but brought along three American revolutionaries who were his friends. Two of them were men and one was a woman. He entered India through Colombo and engaged himself in revolutionary work.He met Shachinder Nath Sanyal and Rash Behari Bose through Mr. Pingley. He moved about freely outside Punjab in the company of Pingley and Sanyal. He would enter the army establishments very casually and propagate rebellion.
On the advice of Rash Behari Bose and incitement of Nawab Khan he agreed to committing dacoities. . Even while commiting dacoties, he was forthright in speaking of his mission. He would tell the affected that since there was no other source of money and it was necesary to throw out the British, they were compelled to do such acts and he promised that after liberation all the money now looted would be returned with interest.
One day, they went to a village for the purpose of carrying out a robbery. Kartar Singh was their leader. While robbery was in progress, there was a beautiful young woman in the house. Seeing her a heinous thought came in the mind of a sinner. He forcefully grabbed the woman by the hand. The woman shrieked out of fear. Kartar Singh immediately took out his pistol, reach that person, and place the pistol on his forehead, disarmed him and shouted, "You wretched man, your crime is very serious, you should be punished to die for that. But the circumstances force us to forgive you. But you fall on the feet of this woman, ask her forgiveness by saying, my sister, forgive me please. Then forgiveness for this fall of mine, If they forgive you, we will let you remain alive, otherwise you shall be shot dead." He obliged.
Preparation was made for revolt to take place in February 1915. In the first week (of Feb. 1915) he along with Pingle and some other friends went to Agra, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Meerut and other places to meet people and consult them about the coming revolt. Finally the day for which they waited so long was drawing near. February 21, 1915 was the day fixed for launching the revolt all over India . All preparations were being made according to that. But at the same time a rat was sitting at the root of the tree of their hopes branches was nibbling at it. Four or five days before (the appointed date) it was suspected that every thing would be ruined because of the betrayal by Kirpal Singh. Because of that suspicion Kartar Singh asked Rash Behari Bose to change the date of the revolt to February 19 instead of 21. Even after doing that Kirpal Singh came to know this. The result of the presence of one traitor within the revolutionary group was dangerous and grave. Ras Behari Bose and Kartar Singh had no real way to keep their plans secret. The misfortune of India can be the only reason for all this.
After the failure of the revolution-, the members who had escaped arrest decided to leave India . Kartar Singh, Hamam Singh Tundilat, Jagat Singh etc. were asked to go to Afghanistan and they did make a move towards that area. But his conscience did not permit him to run away when all his comrades had been held. He came back with two friends and went over to Chak No. 5 in Sargodha where there was a military stud and started propagating rebellion amongst the armymen. A Risaldar got him and his friends arrested.
After the prosecution witnesses had been examined, Kartar Singh Sarabha was asked to make his statement. He accepted his role in the movement and proudly proclaimed that whatever he did, he did with a sense of responsibility. He considered it his duty to rouse the people against British slavery. And his calling the army to rebel, preparing national flags and performing other revolutionary acts were towards fulfilment of his inalienable birth right to see India independent and free.
When the sentence of death was pronounced on Kartar Singh, he laughed and said in a loud voice: "Thank you".
The Jail Superintendent asked Kartar Singh if he wanted to make a mercy petition. , Kartar Singh replied that he was not interested in a mercy petition but an early execution of the sentence so that he could take rebirth and fight against slavery again..
On 16th November, 1915, the government decision to commute the death sentences of 17, other Ghadries to transportation Of life was communicated but Kartar Singh and six of his comrades were still condemned to be hanged, he was again asked to make a mercy petiton but his reply was the same. "Execute the sentence immediately".
Kartar Singh and six of his comrades were hanged to death in Lahore Central Jail on the morning of November 17, 1915 .That day too he was happy as always. His weight too increased. He embraced the hanging rope with the words, "Victory to Mother India."
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