Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 877: Rāja Tantram : Autonomous state of Khalsa Raj

Akhand Bharatiya Empire

News of the newly acquired territory quickly spread across the Bharatiya Empire through the nation's newspapers. However, public reaction was far from unanimously positive. When it became known that the territory would not be fully integrated into the empire but instead remain a separate entity managed autonomously by the central government, it caught many by surprise. This realisation sparked widespread and heated debate across society.

"Why did the government make such a decision? Wouldn't it be better to simply integrate the new territory into the empire? What is happening?"

"Who knows, maybe it's because of the majority of Old Testament Muslims in the region, or it could be because of the harsh terrain of the acquired land. It's difficult to guess."

Such conversations were happening all over the empire. Anyone who had even a bit of political acumen came to their own conclusions, some reasonable, others unreasonable. But no matter how outrageous the speculations got, there wasn't any movement or reply from the government, so the news slowly began to lose steam in the face of the upcoming Bharatiya Premier League.

However, that was only until fresh news was made public by the government declaring the whole state as a Sikh development zone, providing the Sikhs scattered all over the Middle East in different parts of Persia, Lalishsthan, and even in some pockets of Central Asia a home to call their own.

Consequently, the government released various research materials they have collected about how Sikhs, Parsis, Yezidis, and Jews are treated in the regions dominated by Old Testament Muslims all over the world.

The research consists of several thousand stories of real-world cases where all the minorities were oppressed under the tyranny of the sultanates.

When the news was made widespread through various articles in different newspapers, people in the empire 30 years or older didn't find the news very surprising since they had experienced such situations when they were young, as 30 years ago, the subcontinent was still struggling under the claws of the Mughal Empire. But the young people, the vast majority of young people in the empire who are under 20 years of age, were stunned and shocked by the atrocities.

This drastically led to a change in public opinion, where it went from people being doubtful and not happy with the decision of the government to being completely supportive of it.

It got so big that even major newspapers in the empire hosted several articles every day talking about the exact same topic.

"The government took a really good initiative to rescue all the minorities in the Old Testament Islam-dominated regions of the Middle East."

"Thousand years ago, the Middle East was filled with diverse cultures and societies, which used to be called the cradle of ancient civilisations, including part of our own. But with the conquests of Islamic rulers, all the diversity was killed, becoming the graveyard of empires and civilisations. Ancient ethnicities like the Sumerians, Akkadians, Amorites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Zoroastrians, Jews, etc., have almost gone extinct, as the faith of the people was completely monopolised by a single organisation called Old Testament Islam."

"When the invaders came and started a cultural purge, most people, when faced with life and death, succumbed and gave in, but there were some resilient ones that continued to move on, and these minorities are such people. Their will and determination have to be respected, and I fully support the initiative taken by the government to provide a home for them."

Sushmita Goel, Professor of History at Raya University, said in an interview with Bharatam Daily.

" In fact, if you look closely, you can find ruins of Hindu, Buddhist, and more recently, Sikh temples scattered across the Middle East. This is because, before the rise of Islam, much of the region was a stronghold of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, dating back to the Kushan Empire over 1,500 years ago (1st century CE). This influence stretched from the Persian Gulf to Central Asia, nearly reaching the Mongolian plains. At one point, even the king of Turkey was a Sanathani—an indication of just how far our cultural and spiritual reach had spread. "

"Myself, as well as my colleagues, are 100 percent supportive of the Empire's efforts to bring those poor minorities who have been persecuted for centuries into a new home. If possible, our institute would like to set off on an expedition to discover cultural relics of the past as a start to reignite the cultural and historic heritage of the land and bring back its diversity."

Bajirao Sharma, a prominent media figure and a senior researcher in the Institute of Archaeology under the Taksashila Institute of Human Exploration, said in an interview with the Times of Bharath.

The news steadily gained traction, reaching more people as prominent figures gradually entered the public spotlight to share their opinions. However, the issue only reached a fever pitch a few weeks later, when journalists dispatched by major newspapers to the Middle East returned with reports that shattered the government's official narrative. The reality faced by minorities was far more brutal than anyone had imagined.

Reading about these atrocities, even adults familiar with the harshness of conquest, trembled with rage.

The blood of the youth boiled when they learned that minority women were routinely raped, men mysteriously disappeared, and hundreds were slaughtered each month under accusations of blasphemy—among countless other horrors. A wave of righteous anger swept through the Sikh community and other minority groups within the empire.

Interestingly, during this period, crime within the empire sharply declined. Young adults, fueled by fury and a sense of justice, took to the streets hunting down criminals themselves. This phenomenon even made headlines, inspiring more youth to adopt a similar self-appointed role.

It was amid one of these incidents—when the youth effectively took over the duties of the police—that a word, born in some remote northern cities, began to spread throughout society: "Khalsa."

No one knew where the word came from, but its principles quickly caught on, especially among the youth, and even more so within the Sikh community.

As time went on, the word Khalsa took on a life of its own, and it became a movement within the empire which was now termed by the major newspapers as the Khalsa movement.

The Chairman of the newly formed Sikh and Minority Liberation Council, which was a newly formed committee chaired by prominent Sikh figure, spoke out on the Khalsa movement in an interview.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Virendra Jhat, former gold medal wrestler in Aikyotsava, Minister of Sports Yudheya Nagari (Punjab) —or rather ex-minister since I resigned a week ago—to chair the Sikh and Minority Liberation Council."

"I know everyone is wondering why I would suddenly resign from my post that was so prestigious and respected. The short answer is I found more purpose and satisfaction in helping out my fellow brothers and sisters in the Middle East, to give them a new home and to provide them with a better living environment. "

"Even before the council was formed with the blessing of His Majesty, I was bringing my fellow Sikhs, Parsis, and Jewish brothers and sisters from under the nose of the Ottomans and helping them get suitable jobs to support themselves. But now, when the opportunity arose in front of me to do what I like as a full-time profession, I could not resist, so I decisively resigned."

"Anyway, putting my personal matters which are mostly irrelevant aside, in respect to the recent Khalsa movement making waves in this society, I wholeheartedly, representing the Sikh and Minority Liberation Council as its chairperson, am thankful to whoever brought it forward."

"People might not know, but the word Khalsa comes from the Arabic word khalis, meaning pure. This is a very apt name for the movement, as in the Middle East, tainted by extremist ideologies, the minorities survive as pure beacons of light, unwilling to go out."

"Our society admires these warriors and the movement formed for them, and for a movement focused on making their story known, we are very supportive of it."

When the interview was coming to an end, Virendra raised a book in front of the journalist.

"This book called *Khalsa Raj* is penned by several prominent Sikh gurus and intellectuals in the empire after being inspired by the recent events. It is the guiding light for the Sikh youth of the empire to live their life."

"Make no mistake, this is not a book asking our youth to emigrate to the new autonomous state, no, but this is the Book of Enlightenment for us Sikhs."

Finally, he did a namaskara,

"Thank you!!"

The interview was published in almost half a section on the front page of *The Times of Bharat*, *The Observer*, *Bharatham Daily*, and other national newspapers.

Driven by the publicity, the book *Khalsa Raj* immediately became popular in the empire, especially in the state of Yudhayanagari.

The contents of the book were very dense. It was not like a novel, but like a rigorous piece of philosophy. Although the young Sikh boys and girls did not understand the messaging in the book, several slogans and mottos got their attention, causing their eyes to go wide and igniting their hearts with blazing flames.

"Deg Tegh Fateh"

"Victory to Charity and Arms"

"Sarbat Da Bhala"

"Welfare of All"

"Akal Sahai, Khalsa Raj Karega"

"With the Timeless One as Support, the Khalsa Shall Rule."

"Nirbhau, Nirvair, Nyay"

"Fearless, Without Hatred, Just."

Especially the last one—it became the brightest beacon guiding the confused youth forward. The idea of facing challenges fearlessly, without hatred in their hearts, and with righteousness deeply ingrained in their souls, resonated powerfully.

The movement reached a new level when a designer in Yudhayanagari designed a new flag for the movement, with its colour palette being navy blue, saffron, and white, and the emblem being a silver Khanda (double-edged sword) in the centre, surrounded by a chakra and two kirpans.

The flag was directly adopted by the Sikh and Minority Liberation Council, and one day, all the members of the council showed up to another interview wearing clothes stitched with the flag of Khalsa Raj.

Clothes with such designs became popular all over the nation, where even the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist youth saw it as a symbol of the fight against oppression.

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When all of this was going on in the empire, Vijay was constantly receiving intelligence about the transpiring events from the Bharatiya Internal Pragya.

He was so interested in how the movement was going because he was the one who orchestrated everything. When he held the meeting with the cabinet ministers a few weeks ago, it suddenly dawned on him that to bring together a certain group of people, nothing could be more convincing than a movement, and that is exactly what he did.

He brought out the word Khalsa, which had been the symbol of the Sikh community's show of bravery and righteousness in his last life to this life several decades beforehand. The word Khalsa should have only appeared in the year 1699, founded by Guru Gobind Singh to represent the spiritual and temporal unity of the Sikh community, to make them a fearless, disciplined aggregate force dedicated to truth, justice, and service. But unfortunately, due to the changes in this timeline where the Marathas shifted to the region of his previous life's Punjab to continue their life, he did not find any Guru Gobind Singh in this life, who was supposed to be a young boy at this time.

Unwilling to let Guru Gobind Singh's lifelong vision fade into obscurity, Vijay took it upon himself to bring it to life. However, he wanted to remain anonymous, knowing that the movement could grow to become one of the largest in the empire's history, especially with covert government support, potentially surpassing even the Quit India Movement of 1942. He could not bear the thought of anyone discovering that the entire movement was, in fact, propaganda designed to encourage migration to the new territory.

So, in order to be completely foolproof, just like he altered the holy book of Islam into a new Testament version, he used a few people to spread the news and had them assassinated after they outlived their usefulness. Thankfully, though, this time he did not feel guilty since the people he chose were Hindu extremist death row criminals who "escaped" after knowing some state "secrets."

The initial origin of Khalsa was started by them, but the version they spread was very violent, which involved ending all Islamic life on earth. After they were assassinated, he used the royal intelligence department to mellow out the intention and slowly bring out its original meaning, like him bringing back all the famous quotes, helping the Sikh and Minority Council covertly, and other things. Everything that happened later was organic.

He had to say that his plan was very successful, as voluntary migration had started in the Sikh community to the new territory on a large scale, just like he wanted. Not to mention, as icing on the cake, a powerful ideology was formed within the Sikh community that would act as a magnet to all minorities in the Middle East, becoming more powerful as time went on.

"Let's see, now that the goal is achieved, it is finally time to make the name of the new territory official."

Vijay picked up a pen and paper, wrote his royal edict, and directly passed it on to the parliament.

A few hours later, the name of the new state was made public, which caused the Sikh community to boil over in ecstasy.

"Khalsa Raj Declared Autonomous State — A Historic Milestone Officially Proclaimed by the Akhand Bharatiya Empire!"

P.S. It's taking me longer to write and edit the novel. It's either that I'm getting rusty or I'm getting better — hopefully, it's the latter.

P.S. Anyway, check out the comments, ill include the flag of Khalsa Raj if i can.