The few: days they had to live are at an end ; they shall be cat down like a ripe crD^>,; , 1 t
They shall be spoken of according, to their acts.
The slave Nanak’s Master is great; He is the Lord of all. 1
Painda Khan’s voice was soon heard inciting the troops to make a sudden charge and surround the Guru. Qutub Khan again counselled patience and the dispatch of an envoy to endeavour to make peace. This was at last agreed on, and Anwar Khan was the envoy selected. Anwar Khan thought to pitch his tent near the Guru, and thus find a convenient opportunity of treacherously slaying him. The Guru, however, took care that Anwar Khan should not continue long in too close proximity to him. And though Anwar Khan was provided with many presents for the Guru* yet the Guru refused to accept them.
A goldsmith came to the Guru with unusually rich offerings. He presented golden dice set with gems and an embroidered chaupar-board with variegated pieces formed of sapphires, rubies, and topazes. Although the Guru did not approve of such articles as tended to divert men’s- minds from God, and were sources of falsehood, sin, and trouble, yet he accepted them, so that he might preserve the goldsmith in his faith and devotion. The imperial envoy on seeing the presents said to the Guru, ‘ Thou acceptest the offerings of all other Sikhs, but not mine. What is the cause ? ’ The Guru replied, ‘ The Guru’s house is like a sea of milk. The offerings of the Sikhs are like streams which flow into it of their own accord, and blend with it* But thy heart is not sincere, and therefore, if put into the Guru’s sea of milk, would turn it acid and cause it to ferment,’ Anwar Khan rejoined, ‘ Wazir Khan frequently sent me with gifts to thee, and thou didst
* 1 Gauri kv War 1.
LIFE OF GURU BAR GOBIND 201
always accept them:’ The Guru said that they were •gifts of love which easily amalgamated with the Guru’s milk. • ; '
Whfen Anwar Khan failed to persuade the ■ Guru to take his presents, he challenged to play him at chaupar. The Guru replied that such play was not suitable for a priest. Anwar Khan pressed his proposal, and laid the chaupar-board before him. He had formed an idea that, if he conquered the Guru at the game, it would be a presage of victory for his arrAy, and if the Guru defeated him, his army would also be defeated. The Guru at last consented to play with the envoy. Anwar Khan lost the first time, the second, and the third also, and then losing his temper with his game said to the Guru, ‘Thou art a cheat, thou hast won by trickery! Why have I always had threes ? ’ The Guru replied, ‘ Cheating, deceit, and falsehood are the principal stock of thy house, while I am a faqir.’ Anwar Khan retorted, ‘ A fine faqir thou art, hunting and enjoying thyself and practising warfare for thine own amusement. Thou art a great deceiver, and so have been all the Gurus from Baba Nanak down.’
The Guru could endure the insults to himself, but not the defamation of his predecessors. ‘ If there is any Sikh of the Guru present, let him remove this fellow from my presence.’ Bidhi Chand duly obeyed the Guru’s order. Some Sikhs then on their own account administered Anwar Khan shoe-beatings until he fainted. The Guru interceded for him and allowed him to depart without renewed punishment.
Anwar Khan on his return to his Chief reported the ill-treatment he had received, and advised an immediate attack on the Guru who had not one- tenth of the strength of the imperial army. Kale Khan was very pleased with this suggestion. Painda Khan too was for immediate action. Qutub Khan, however, was not so sanguine. The Guru had already had great experience of war; and it was
not likely that he would be now off his guard. It was, however, determined by a large majority of the generals to attack his position that very nighti The Guru knowing'their designs ordered Bidhi Ghand to be on the alert. The Guru' had by this time eighteen hundred regular fighting men who were supplied by his friends in Kartarpur. The whole force was so marshalled and disposed as to prevent surprise and capture.
Meantime dissension was brewing in the Guru’s camp. Dhir Mai, his grandson, accepting the evil forebodings of the masands, said that the Guru would certainly be defeated. The imperial army had arrived like a flight of locusts. The Guru’s army was insignificant. It did not bear the same ratio to the imperial army as condiment to the viands of a feast. ‘ The Guru,’ continued Dhir Mai, ‘ is in one of his fits of obstinacy, and knoweth not the enemy’s prowess and strategy. I shall, therefore, probably attain my object and succeed him in his holy office.’ Dhir Mai’s mind having been thus perverted, he sat down and wrote the following letter:—* Brother Painda Khan, my grandfather hath expelled and disgraced thee without cause, but I know thee to be my friend, and I will do the best for thine interests. If thou come to-night and make a sudden attack, the fort and its treasure will fall into your hands, for here there is no preparation made. I will render thee every assistance.’
Needless to say that Painda Khan was highly pleased on receiving this letter. He showed it to the other generals, who were also pleased, particularly when they learned the dissension in the Guru’s family. An immediate charge was ordered. The soldiers, heated with wine, began to boast and use ribald language. Dust arose and obscured the moon and stars. The earth shook beneath the tramp of ! the army*. Sweets and offerings were vowed to Muhammadan saints for success. The
LIFE OF GURU HAR GOBIND 203
Chief ordered that the whole army should assemble near Chhotamir, and thence they would assault Kartarpur and capture the Guru. It happened that, before the imperial army could enter Chhotamir, an earthquake occurred which swallowed the village with the greater portion of its inhabitants. Those who did not perish were plundered by the imperial troops. Painda Khan did his utmost to protect his fellow-citizens, but in vain.
The Guru arose earlier than usual, and after bathing began his devotions. He repeated the Japji, and prepared sacred food. He then read the Anand, the third Guru’s song of rejoicing, and uttered a prayer suitable to the occasion. Sacred food was then distributed, and after partaking of it his soldiers received a substantial meal, upon which arms were served out to them. Jati Mai announced that the imperial army was approaching like a dust storm in an Indian summer. When the Guru heard this and other similar expressions of warning or dismay, he calmly said, ‘ Have no anxiety, stand fast, be united, put on your armour. The Creator will act for the best.’
On receiving the Guru’s orders, Jati Mai, Ami Chand, Mihr Chand, and Bhai Lakhu, taking five hundred men, advanced and showered bullets and arrows at. the enemy. Baba Gurditta asked his father’s permission to enter the battle, but was ordered to keep guard in the village until daylight. The discharges of matchlocks were like fireworks at a wedding. The armies soon came to close combat when, it is said, twelve thousand of Kale Khan’s army slept their final sleep. Twenty thousand imperial troops then advanced. Kale Khan told them that the Guru’s army was insignificant, and, if they finished the fighting, they might plunder as much as they pleased. This permission greatly stimulated their bravery. Then ensued the usual carnage. Bows twanged, arrows hissed like sriakes, bullets fell like hail. Here and there men engaged
204 ' 1 ' ’ THE SIKH 'RELIGION'
in ! close combat with swords, knives, and daggers. Horses fell or fled without their riders, Elephants Wandered in quest of their drivers and stable cora^ panions. The wounded became so attached to the battle-field that they could not rise. The dead fell in rows like corn laid by reapers.
! Qutub Khan, seeing the destruction of his troops, addressed Kale Khan, * We have made a great mistake in engaging at night. Want of sleep hath disabled our brave soldiers. The darkness and the dust, too, have led to our troops turning against one another. Our Pathans are retreating before the Sikhs.' Our losses are very serious, while the Guru’s are practically none.’ Painda Khan said, ‘ Make one charge and the battle shall be at an end. Know ye any men among the Sikhs able to resist your onset ? ’ Kale Khan, the Chief, was not of this opinion, and replied, ‘ Are the Sikhs sweet food which we can gulp down ? Our army hath all been slain or routed. The Sikhs have made our teeth so bitter 1 that we cannot eat any more. No Pathan will now advance. Lead thyself.’ Then Painda Khan and his son-in-law, Asman Khan, taking lighted torches advanced at the head of their troops, but they were only seeking their own destruction. Kartarpur was like a lamp round which they were fluttering as moths.
Bidhi Chand, Jati Mai, Lakhu, and Rai Jodh ranged themselves and their troops on the four sides of Kartarpur. Qutub Khan, Painda Khan, Asman Khan, and Kale Khan, at the head of their respective detachments, advanced against them. The Pathans were, however, powerless against the brave Sikhs fighting for their religion and their Guru. Bidhi Chand was seen as usual fighting bravely and practising with signal success the skill in archery which he had acquired during an eventful life of
; The Sikhs have inflicted such injury on us that tfe cannot bear w ldbk at them again.
LIFE OF GURU HAR GOBIND 205
foray and warfare. There was seen the Guru in ghttering armour, mounted on Dil Bagh, once the Emperor’s pride. Fortunate, says the chronicler, were the Pathan chiefs that they obtained the priceless advantage of beholding the Guru on his beautiful charger with his resplendent armour and trappings.
Bidhi Chand discharged an arrow at Anwar Khan which struck him between the eyebrows, as if it were applying a Hindu sacrificial mark to his forehead. He fell to the earth as if he were doing obeisance to the Guru, or begging his forgiveness and suing for salvation. The Guru's order went forth that nobody who was fleeing should be put to death. The Sikhs were only to fight after challenging the enemy face to face. The Guru’s arrows passed through the Muhammadan chiefs, Pathans, Mughals, and Saiyids, as if these men were only pancakes. Jati Mai and Qutub Khan encountered each other in the darkness and dust-cloud, but under the circumstances the contest between them remained undecided.
Chapter XX
Morning dawned on the combatants to find the Guru dispatching his enemies as the sun’s rays put darkness to flight. The Pathans died like sparrows struck by hail or lightning. Their hopes of victory were abandoned, and their spirits could not revive. They began to say to one another, * Fine friendship hath Painda Khan shown for Islam and fine booty have we got! While trying to empty the Guru’s treasury we have emptied the Emperor's. We have awakened, a sleeping tiger and sacrificed our lives and property. Thousands of brave Muhammadans have perished as the result of our espousing the cause of an ungrateful villain. Now we can neither flee away nor conquer. But it is better to turn
zo6 ‘ / THE SIKH RELIGION
our- face to the enemy and die than disgrace ourselves by flightt’
The generals also conferred among one another 4 . They had. been fighting, they said, for six hours, and far from having succeeded, half their army had perished. It was inexplicable how the Guru had become such a soldier. Let Painda Khan, who boasted that it was through him the Guru had obtained his former victories, and that he would at once capture him, now show his prowess and put his word to the proof. Painda Khan replied, ‘ I am going to advance ; come and support me. In one bound I will catch the Guru as a tiger fasteneth on an elephant.’ Asman Khan followed up his father- indaw’s boasting: ‘ I, single-handed, will capture and bring the Guru with his sons and all his Sikhs.’ Saying this, Painda Khan and Asman Khan entered the battle-field. The Muhammadan army then rallied and discharged arrows like rain in the Indian month of Sawan.
Nanaki watched the battle from the top story of her house. She was delighted as she saw her son, Teg Bahadur, wielding his sword and dealing out destruction to the enemy. Baba Gurditta, the Guru’s eldest son, also fought valiantly, and made the Muhammadans feel the strength of his powerful and well-practised arm. Asman Khan, seeing his troops dying by Gurditta’s hands, discharged arrows at him from afar, but it is said the Baba cut them with his sword as they flew in the air. Qutub Khan, putting a cannon in position, fired at the Sikhs- but nothing could restrain the havoc they were dealing among the Muhammadans. The Guru displayed prodigies of strength, bravery, and martial skill, and the enemy were not able to cope with himeveft single-handed.
The Muhammadans again began to bewail their evil destiny: ‘Alas! alas! why have we come ■> e cannoV, however, tecaW ‘the *t¥flhe N&vsfi
LIFE OF GURU HAR GOBIND 207
we left our homes, our wives, and- our children. What will the Emperor say.? Fine dresses of honour we shall obtain ! We are undone ourselves and have undone our army.’ Qutub Khan advanced gnashing his teeth with rage as he observed the Guru shining like a sun on his favourite charger. Bhai Lakhu, seeing Qutub Khan’s onset, discharged an arrow at him which caused him to fall swooning to the ground. Seeing this a body of Pathans moved against Lakhu. For the space of three-quarters of an hour he kept the opposing forces at bay. The Musalmans surrounded Bhai Lakhu and killed his horse. Shouting victory to the true Guru, he still defended himself with his sword. The Muhammadans said to one another, ‘ Thousands of us have been vanquished. This one man fighteth with his sword alone, and will not allow lances, arrows, or daggers to touch his body. He hath yet no need of the maids of paradise who bestow happiness on departed heroes.’ While men were thus speculating, Qutub Khan, who by this time had recovered consciousness, struck Bhai Lakhu on the forehead with an arrow, which caused him to reel and fall to the ground. Qutub Khan, then drawing his sword, struck the fallen hero as he lay wounded, and severed his head from his body.
Bhai Lakhu’s death was a boon for the Muhammadans, and cheered their flagging spirits. Kale Khan again addressed Painda Khan, who seemed to have been playing the laggard: ‘ Painda Khan, half the day is now over and our army is perishing. Thou art the cause of this disaster: go forward and withstand the Guru. We will support thee.’ Accordingly Kale Khan, Qutub Khan, and Asman Khan, putting Painda Khan in front, advanced against the Guru. The Guru, on seeing his deadly enemy Painda Khan, curbed his wrath and bided his opportunity. Bidhi Chand engaged with Kale Khan, and Baba Gurditta with Asman Khan. Painda Khan with his drawn sword confronted - the Guru,
and: thus addressed his former friend and master, ‘Stand, I will mow revenge the ignominy thou hast caused me, and thus coci my burning breast. If thou desire to come to terras, do so at once, and I will take thee to the Emperor and induce him to pardon thy many offences,’
The, Guru replied, ‘ Painda Khan, why use haughty language ? Now that the sword is in thy hand and that thou art ready to do or die, what time is it to talk of peace ? The man who runneth away and turnethhis back to the foe, hath no longer regard for his religion. As to what thou talkest of revenge, I am here, alone prepared to afford it thee. Thou mayest even strike the first blow, otherwise thou mayest regret it afterwards.’ Painda Khan, on hearing this, became enraged and brandished his sword. Inclining his body, he aimed a blow at the calf of the Guru’s leg. The Guru turned his horse aside to avoid it, but the sword struck his stirrup. He smiled and said, ‘ O Painda Khan, strike me where thou pleasest, seize me, bind me, that thou mayest have no cause for repentance. Fear not that I shall flee thee.’ Painda Khan made another stroke at the Guru, which he received on his shield. The Guru was merely showing his science, for hitherto he had not intended to kill his adversary. Painda Khan then tried to seize the Guru’s bridle, and take him and the famed Dil Bagh to the Emperor’s general. As Painda Khan was making his attempt, the Guru kicked him so forcibly as to cause him to stagger, He, however, recovered himself and again assumed the offensive. He had sufficient insolence to provoke the war, but he could not look straight in the face of the Guru whose presents he, had received, whose leavings he had eaten, and whose cast-off clothes he had worn. It was the Guru’s wish that Painda Khan should even now admit that he, had erred. iand he would then restore* him to his former position..
LIFE OF GURU HAR GOBIND 209
Instead of that the ill-starred man made another blow of his falchion at the Guru. His weapon parted from the handle and fell on the ground. The Guru, deeming it a point of honour not to take advantage of the misfortune of his enemy, alighted and said, ‘ Ingratitude and slander, both of which thou hast been guilty of, are very serious crimes, but to kill the person I have cherished is not a course I desire to adopt.’ Painda Khan mockingly replied, ‘ Come, I will take thee to the Emperor.’ The Guru, under all the provocation, drew his two-edged scimitar and struck Painda Khan so forcibly that he fell prone on the ground. The Guru said, * Thou art a Musal- man. Now is the time to repeat thy creed.’ Painda Khan, repenting, replied, ‘ O Guru, thy sword is my creed and my source of salvation.’
The Guru, on seeing Painda Khan’s dead body, was filled with pity and regret. He took his shield, and put it over his victim’s face so as to shade it from the sun, and bursting into tears, said, ‘ Painda Khan, I cherished thee, I reared thee, and I made thee a hero. Though men spoke ill of thee, I forgot thy failings, and evil to thee never entered my mind; but evil destiny so misled thee that thou broughtest an army against me. It is thine own acts of ingratitude and insolence that have led to thy death at my hands. It is impossible to digest offerings without serving the saints and worshipping God, otherwise they ruin the understanding, become deadly poison to the body, and lead to man’s ultimate damnation. Though thou hast been ungrateful and untrue to thy salt, I pray the Almighty to grant thee a dwelling in heaven.
Good men are honoured for their greatness; God also adjusteth the affairs of the evil:
He saveth sinners and those who fall away from Him.’ J
Asman Khan advanced, discharging arrows, and was confronted by Baba Gurditta, who showered
P