NISHAAN SAHIB (the Sikh flag)
Nishaan means: sign, mark, seal, flag and Sahib (literally: the Master) is a term used to show respect; hence, a Sikh ‘Nishan Sahib’ means: ‘the blue Sikh national flag’. Nowadays, there is a Nishaan Sahib unfurled at every Gurdwara building. The height of the flagpole is not fixed but it is always taller than the building of the Gurdwara or it should be fitted at the top of the building. At the top of the pole, nowadays, there is, usually, an iron or steel Khanda (insignia).
The origin of the Nishaan Sahib is not known but during the time of Guru Hargobind, the Sikh army used to be led by blue Sikh flag. History has recorded the same about the flag of the Sikh army during the time of Guru Gobind Singh. During the time of Misls too, the Sikh flag was blue. It was blue flag that was unfurled at Lal Qila (in Delhi) on March 11, 1783.
During the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, his Brahmin and Dogra generals gave saffron colour flags to their army units. The flags of the rest of the Sikh states remained blue. The Nihangs (Akalis) too continued to carry the Guru’s blue flag.
At the time of the Sikh rule, there were not many Gurdwaras and no Gurdwara had any flag. There was no flag even at Darbar Sahib. In between the building of Akal Bunga and Darbar Sahib, on the left side, there was a building known as ‘Jhanda Bunga’ (because a jhanda/flag stood outside that building; this flag belonged to udaasi sect and had been set up by Santokh Das, an udaasi mahant). In 1840s, the pole of this flag became hollow and it fell down. Per chance, on that day, Kanwar Naunihal was on a visit to Darbar Sahib. When he saw the broken flag, he gave money to set up a new flag, and also expressed desire to have two flags instead of one.
Later, the Nirmala priests and managers of the Gurdwaras adopted them as Sikh flags; and, much later, the Sikhs began calling them Miri and Piri flags of the Guru.
Sometimes between 1830 and 1870, most of the caretakers of the Gurdwaras imitated the flags of Drabar Sahib and they too adopted the Udaasi-Nirmala flags and hoisted yellow flags on all the Gurdwaras. With the passage of time, the colour of the flags was changed from yellow to saffron (the Rajput colour).
In November 1920, when the Sikhs got their shrines liberated from the Udaasi and Nirmala Mahants, they forgot to stop several of the un-Sikh practices, which had been started/adopted by the Mahants with their ulterior motives. The Nihangs, who were the Nishanchis (nishaan/brrier carriers) of the
Sikh nation, however, preserved the original blue colour of the time of Guru Gobind Singh.
Also see: Khanda.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)