A glimpse of Sikh history

Speech in Lok Sabha [Indian Parliament] November 17, 1965 
Hon’ble Shri Kapur Singh MP:

“When this battle was lost [third battle of Panipat, 14th January 1761, when Marathas faced the Afgan invader, Ahmed Shah Abdali], it was one of the most unfortunate events of Indian history. About 5,000 Maratha women of the highest Brahmin caste and of princely classes fell into the hands of the Abdali. He stayed there at Panipat for many weeks and he made this specific offer that, if proper ransom could be given to rescue those women, he was prepared to let them go. Nobody came forward with ransom. And then these women were taken by the invader to Afganistan. When the Sikhs came to know of it, and although they were not well organised, they fell upon the invader at the river crossing at Goindwal of Beas river and rescued as many as 2,200 young women. The Khalsa horsemen delivered each Maratha sister safely to her home in Maharashtra, thousands of miles away. The women rode all the way on their horses while the Sikhs were content to walk alongside.

In European equivalences it means, Germans rescuing Russian women from Saracans in Paris and restoring
them in Moscow.

Cunningham, in his History, calls it as “the greatest act of chivalry in the East”. Perhaps, it is the greatest act of chivalry in the world’s history.”