Vol. IV — Life of Guru Teg Bahadur, the Ninth Guru, Chapter XI

When the Governor of the Dihli jail reported that three of the Guru's Sikhs had escaped, the Emperor ordered the Guru to be locked in an iron cage, and a sentry with a drawn sword placed on guard over him. The Guru on hearing this order calmly replied with a hymn of Guru Arjan :—

They who commit sin shall assuredly be ruined ; Azrail shall seize and smite them ;

The Creator will put them into hell, and the Accountant there will ask for their accounts.1

The Guru in reply to the further demand of the

officer sent by the Emperor answered as he had done on a former occasion—-' I will not accept thy law or thy religion, and I will not abandon my faith. The glory of the Turkish power is now at an end since thou art forcibly depriving men of their religion. I will dig up the roots of the Turks and throw them into the briny ocean, since what is melted with salt never reviveth, and they shall never again have sway in Hindustan.' The Guru is said to have also quoted the hymn of Guru Nanak :—

When kings, lions, headmen, and dogs,

Instead of watching, rest in sleep,

King's servants inflict wounds with their nails,

And taste and drink the subjects' blood.

Bhai Gurditta who was still fettered was allowed to wait on the Guru. Soon after this a messenger arrived bearing a letter from his wife and son. After making inquiries regarding them, the Guru wrote his first slok for the general instruction of his followers : —

He who singeth not God's praises rendereth his life useless ;

Saith Nanak, worship God, O my soul, as the fish loveth water.

He then wrote the fiftieth slok for his wife Gujari's special consolation :—

Ram passed away, Rawan passed away with his large family ;

Saith Nanak, nothing is permanent ; the world is like a dream.

For all in sorrow he wrote the fifty-first slok : — Be anxious only regarding what is not expected ; It is the way of the world, Nanak, that nothing is per manent.

To his son he sent the fifty-third slok :— My strength is exhausted, I am in chains, and have no resource.

LIFE OF GURU TEG BAHADUR 385

Saith Nanak, God is now my refuge ; He will succour me as He did the elephant.

And also the fifty-fifth :—

My associates and companions have all abandoned me ; no one remaineth with me to the last ;

Saith Nanak, in this calamity God is mine only support.

It is believed that the Guru during his captivity composed most of his other sloks and hymns, and sent them with the above by the messenger. The Guru said to him at parting : ' My end hath come ; console all my people. We must all be satisfied with God's will. Take this letter quickly, and bring me an answer.'

Gobind Rai replied to the slok addressed to him with the fifty-fourth slok in the collection bearing the name of the ninth Guru in the Granth Sahib :—

Strength is thine ; thy fetters are loosed ; thou hast every resource ;

: Nanak, everything is in thy power ; it is only thou who canst assist thyself.1

The Guru was very pleased at receiving this slok and message from his son, and remarked that he was fit for the Guruship. He sent into the city of Dihli for five paise and a coco-nut to forward him in token of his appointment to the Sikh spiritual sovereignty. When the five paise and the coco-nut arrived, the Guru placed them in front of him, meditated on his distant son, and bowed to him. He sent the articles to Gobind Rai with the fifty-sixth slok :—

The Name remaineth, saints remain, Guru Gobind remain eth ;

Saith Nanak, few are they who in this world follow the Guru's instruction.

Before the messenger reached Anandpur the Guru's