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Warrior groups outside Panjab regarded the Sikh chiefs as upstart peasants addicted to predatory warfare, as distinct from the norms of honorable warfare. “Predatory” practices such as raiding and honor feuds were crucial to retaining the loyalty of the rural soldier by enhancing pay and honor (izzat) as warriors, but were inimical to the goal of creating an elite Sikh warrior community. Elite rivals of the Sikhs in the military labor market expressed a grudging acknowledgement of Sikhs’ prowess as soldiers, despite their criticism of such practices. Sikh chiefs strove to create ceremonies that would allow them to publically demonstrate solidarity with each other, since few individual chiefs had the resources necessary to defend themselves. Over time, such rituals created the illusion of Sikh unity, but also widened the gap between powerful commanders and peasant soldiers. The illusion of a cohesive Sikh power prompted many groups to seek alliances with them.

Two martial traditions existed by the mid-eighteenth century within the Khalsa. Peasants had had a history of earning livelihoods as soldiers in the armies of local chiefs and Mughal officers. As Khalsa Sikhs began to define their own code of conduct for soldiers, they came to view such paid mercenary service (naukari) as contemptible. Texts written to instruct Khalsa Sikhs attempted to reduce the complicated choices facing Sikh soldiers and commanders or sardars to a stark moral view that valorized fidelity to the Khalsa while strongly condemning any collaborations with non-Sikhs. By examining how two chiefs in this time period attempted to navigate the complicated realities of surviving the civil conflict while still demonstrating respect for Khalsa ethical injunctions (rahit), this chapter highlights the complex ways in which such competing pressures shaped the actions of Sikh chiefs.

This chapter questions the conventional understanding of the creation of the Khalsa warrior community. The argument that Khalsa culture and practices emerged fully formed during the lifetime of Guru Gobind Singh is historically untenable. Recent scholarship has demonstrated that the widespread participation of peasants in the military labor market in South Asia was frequently a path to upward social mobility, but it is not clear how the Khalsa Sikhs fit into this picture. By examining the evidence of the influence of Panjabi peasants, Sikh scholars, and Khalsa chiefs in transforming and transmitting Khalsa culture at different moments during the eighteenth century, it is possible to see the gradual evolution and coalescing of some of the key practices and beliefs of Khalsa Sikhs. This chapter reveals how the competing worldviews of multiple groups grounded the radical social vision of the Khalsa in older social and political practices.