DHARAM YUDH
Literally: ‘war of faith’.
It is duty of a Sikh ‘to always chant the Name of God (from mouth), i.e. to always keep God in mind, and always be prepared for a war for Righteousness’.
Dharam Yudh presupposes that the ‘war’ must be a struggle for Righteousness, and, secondly, the Sikh war-ethics must be strictly followed during the course of such a struggle: there should not be feeling of revenge or enmity; the ambition should not be acquiring power only; the participants must join it for promotion of justice and not for material gains (their goal should be Sewa and not show of force); minimum (but necessary) force should be used during the war; arms should be taken only when all other means have failed.
The Sikh nation, during the eighteenth century, undertook a Dharam Yudh for the freedom of the Sikh Homeland. In 1982, the Akaali Dal began an agitation in the name of Dharam Yudh Morcha (though it was not so in the strict sense of term). The Sikhs’ struggle for their sovereignty (in 1980s and 1990s) may also be considered as a Dharam Yudh (though, here too, the Sikh war-ethics had not been followed).
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)