Daya Singh and others prayed the Guru to escape by some means, and leave them to contend with the enemy. If the Guru were saved, the seed of religion would remain. Six more of the Guru's warriors, Muhar Singh, Kirat Singh, Anand Singh, Lai Singh, Kesar Singh, and Amolak Singh asked permission to go forth and try their strength with the Turks. The six brave warriors were all killed. Nahar Khan, one of the recently arrived imperial officers, attempted to scale the little fort, but was shot down by the Guru. Ghairat Khan, another officer of the new army, then advanced, and was also slain by the Guru. After this none of the Muhammadan officers had the courage to attempt the fatal ascent. They formed a plan, however, to rush and seize the Guru. In this they utterly failed, for the Guru shot them down in numbers and held at bay the multitudinous Muhammadan host.
The Guru's son Ajit Singh now asked permission to go forth and fight single-handed with the enemy. He said he was the Guru's Sikh and son, and it was incumbent on him to fight even under desperate circumstances. The Guru approved of this proposal. Ajit Singh took with him five heroes, namely, AHm Singh, Jawahir Singh, Dhyan Singh, Sukha Singh, and Bir Singh. Ajit Singh performed prodigies of valour, and Muhammadans fell before him as shrubs before the wind. His companions all fought bravely and desperately. Zabardast Khan, the Lahore vice- roy, was greatly distressed on seeing so many of his men slain, and called on his army to at once destroy the handful of Sikhs who were causing such havoc in the imperial ranks. When the
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swords of the Sikhs were broken and their arrows spent, they spitted the enemy with their spears. Ajit Singh broke his spear on a Muhammadan. The enemy then made a fresh attack and fatally wounded him, defenceless as he was. He realized, however, that he had acted as befitted his race. He fell and slept the sleep of peace on his gory bed. The Guru on his death said, ' O God, it is Thou who sentest him, and he hath died fighting for his faith. The trust Thou gavest hath been restored to Thee.* The five Sikhs who accompanied him were also slain. • Zorawar Singh, the Guru's second son, on seeing his brother's fate could not restrain himself, and asked his father's permission to go forth and fight as Ajit Singh had done and avenge his death. The youth took five more Sikhs with him and proceeded to commit havoc among the enemy. The chronicler states that Zorawar Singh made his way through the Muhammadan army as a crocodile through a stream. The enemy dropped like rain in the month of Sawan and Bhadon, until Zorawar Singh and his five companions fell overpowered by numbers.
His remaining Sikhs, seeing that all hope was at an end, again advised the Guru to effect his escape. He agreed, seated near him Daya Singh, Dharm Singh, Man Singh, Sangat Singh, and Sant Singh, who alone remained of the army, and proceeded to entrust the Guruship to them. He said, ' I shall ever be among five Sikhs. Wherever there are five Sikhs of mine assembled they shall be priests of all priests. WTierever there is a sinner, five Sikhs can give him baptism and absolution. Great is the glory of five Sikhs, and whatever they do shall not be in vain. They who give food and clothing to five Sikhs, shall obtain from them the fulfilment of their desires.' Saying this the Guru circumam- bulated them three times, laid his plume and crest in front of them, offered them his arms, and cried out, * Sri Wahguru ji ka Khalsa ! Sri Waghuru ji
ki fatah ! ' Sant Singh and Sangat Singh offered to remain in the fort while Daya Singh, Dharm Singh, and Man Singh determined to accompany the Guru. The Guru gave his plume to Sant Singh, clothed him in his armour, and seated him in the upper room which he was about to vacate. The Guru and his three companions escaped during the night. He told them, if perchance they separated from him, they were to go in the direction of a certain star which he indicated.
When the Guru was escaping he bade his men stand firm. He said he was going to awaken the enemy, so that they might not say he had absconded. The Turkish sentries were immediately on the alert. He discharged two arrows at them. The arrows at first struck torches which they held in their hands and then passed through their bodies. In the darkness, which followed the extinction of the lamps, the Guru and his companions escaped, but did not travel together. He proceeded barefooted on his journey, and on becoming tired sat down to rest, on the margin of a lake in the Machhiwara forest between Ropar and Ludhiana.
Sant Singh and Sangat Singh, who were left behind in the little fort, inflicted great loss on the enemy. The Muhammadans, however, succeeded in scaling the building and believed they were going at last to capture the Guru whose plume and arrow Sant Singh wore. Khwaja Mardud gave orders that Sant Singh and Sangat Singh should be beheaded and their heads sent to regale the Emperor's eyes. The Muhammadans were much disappointed to subse- quently learn that Sant Singh was not the Guru, and that the Guru had escaped. They sent men to the known abodes of all faqirs in the country to search for him, but in vain.
After this the armies dispersed. Zabardast Khan who was wounded in the recent battle retired to his viceroyalty of Lahore. Wazir Khan departed
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for Sarhind, and Khwaja Mar dud went with the remnant of his army to reinforce the Emperor who was still campaigning in the south of India.
The Guru's three Sikhs followed the star he had pointed out to them, and they all four met at the place now called Bir Guru in the Machhiwara forest. His Sikhs found him sleeping with a waterpot for his pillow. They awakened him and told him that the Muhammadan army would probably be on them by daybreak. The Guru said he could not save him- self, as his feet were bhstered. He told the Sikhs that they might seek shelter in a neighbouring garden. Man Singh took the Guru on his back and proceeded thither. The Guru found there a Sikh called Gulaba, who treated him and his faithful attendants with kindness and hospitality.
Gulaba gave the Guru shelter in a top story which he had recently built to his house. The Guru wanted meat the next day, and a he-goat was pro- vided for him which he killed by shooting. Gulaba was alarmed lest some of the neighbouring Brahmans and Saiyids might have heard the report of the gun. As a matter of fact one Brahman did hear it, and suspected the presence of the Guru in the village. He looked and saw the Guru on the top story of Gulaba's house. It turned out, however, that the Brahman was friendly. He had previously visited the Guru in Anandpur and enjoyed his hospitahty. He now in return put some sweets and a sacrificial thread of the Hindus on a plate, and sent them as an offering to the Guru. The offering of the sacri- ficial thread was a deHcate hint to the Guru that the Brahman would like to lead him back to the ancient reUgion of India. The Guru returned the sweets and the thread with a present of five gold muhars from himself. Gulaba consulted with his brother as to the disposal of the Guru. They feared for their own safety should it be further known that he was among them.
To Gulaba's house now came two Muhammadans, Ghani Khan and Nabi Khan, who had previously known and visited the Guru. On hearing that the imperial troops were scouring the country in quest of him, they determined to go and offer him their humble services. The Guru requested them to remain with him, and they readily consented.
Gulaba and his family spent an anxious night. In the early morning he waited on the Guru with a present of five gold muhars, which he meant as a parting offering. He represented the danger he had incurred in entertaining his guest, and begged him to take compassion on him and arrange for his departure.
It happened that while the Guru was in Gulaba's house a Sikh woman also came to visit him. She had previously seen him and vowed that she would spin and weave cloth for him, which she would keep until his arrival in her village. The Guru had the cloth dyed blue, and a robe and sheet made from it in imitation of the dress of a Muhammadan pil- grim. He then departed from Gulaba's village. He was borne on a litter which Ghani Khan and Nabi Khan lifted in front, and Man Singh and Dharm Singh in rear, while Daya Singh waved a chauri over him. They informed all inquirers that they were escorting Uch ka Pir. The expression Uch ka Pir meant either high priest as a general rehgious title, or priest of Uch, a well-known Muhammadan city in the southern part of the Panjab. The Guru and his carriers on arriving at Lai in the Patiala State accidentally came on a detachment of the imperial army which had been searching for him. The general suspected that the pilgrim was no other than the Guru, and determined to make trial of him by what he ate. A sumptuous dinner was pre- pared for the party. The Guru told his Sikhs that they might eat what the Musalman cooks had prepared, and they did so after touching the food
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 193
with their swords. A friendly Saiyid from Nurpur near Machhiwara who was at the time an officer in the detachment, stated that the Guru was really Uch ka Pir. Upon this the general gave an order for the Guru's immediate release.
Chapter XXIV
The Guru no longer travelled with the imperial army, but proceeded to Kanech in the eastern part of what is now the Ludhiana district. There one Fatah came to pay him his respects and ask if he could do him any service. The Guru asked for his best mare to aid him in his escape. Fatah, who had not been sincere in his protestations of friendship, put him off with excuses. It is said that when he left the Guru and went home, he found the mare had died of snake-bite. This was understood to be the result of his hypocrisy and churlishness to the Guru.
The Guru thence proceeded to Hehar, also in the Ludhiana district, where lived Kripal, the Udasi Mahant who had so distinguished himself in the battle of Bhangani. The Guru on meeting him dis- missed Ghani Khan and Nabi Khan, after giving them presents and a letter recommending them to the consideration of the faithful. Though Kripal had been previously so devoted to the Guru, he now feared to entertain him lest the Muhammadans should be informed that he was sheltering an out- law. He accordingly advised the Guru to move on towards the villages of Lamma and Jatpura.
On the way thither the Guru met a Muhammadan called Kalha, a rich and important person who was Chaudhri of Jagraon and Raikot, two considerable towns of the Ludhiana district. Kalha entertained him at Jatpura. The Guru requested him to send a messenger to Sarhind to inquire the fate of his mother and his two youngest sons. The Guru
remained at Jatpura until the messenger's return. Jatpura is about fifty miles distant from Sarhind. This distance the messenger is said to have traversed in an incredibly short space of time.
The following is the messenger's story, one of the most painful in history. It has been already stated that the Guru's mother entrusted herself and the two grandsons, who accompanied her, to a Brahman. He with sweet words took them to his house and induced them to put faith in him. When the Guru's mother went to sleep, he stole her money, which she carried in a saddle-bag and buried it. He then went to her and told her there were several thieves prowling about the neighbourhood, and she must be careful of her valuables. He said he gave her this information so that she might not afterwards blame him. She called her servant and told him what she had heard. He almost immediately afterwards in- formed her that her saddle-bag was missing. As no one had entered the house but the lady's party and the Brahman, she interrogated the latter on the subject. He pretended to be furious at suspicion having been directed against him, and said that that was the result of doing good and of enter- taining homeless wayfarers and outlaws. He had saved the Guru's mother and children from death, and the return they made him for his trouble and hospitahty was to charge him with theft as if he were a vulgar malefactor. Then saying that he could not trust her and her children, he ordered them to leave his house.
The Brahman with loud cries proceeded to the Chaudhri, or chief civil official of Kheri, and in- formed him that the Guru's mother and sons had just come to his house, and both he and the Chaudhri would obtain a large reward for delivering them to the imperial authorities. The Brahman and the Chaudhri then went to the next highest official, a Ranghar, the governor of Murinda. He proceeded
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 195
with them to the Brahman's house, and thence they took the Guru's mother and her two grandsons to Wazir Khan, Viceroy of Sarhind. He ordered them to be confined in a tower. People thronged next day to see them, and cursed and abused the treacherous Brahman to their hearts' content. Wazir Khan ordered the children to be brought before him. When the Guru's mother heard the order, it stung her like a sharp arrow.
One Suchanand Khatri, who had vainly sued for one of the Guru's sons as a husband for his daughter, now came forward and said the children were cer- tainly the progeny of the serpent, that is, sons of the Guru, and that when they grew up they would be as destructive as their father. The governor of Murinda told Mata Gujari, in order to pacify her, that he would send the children back after showing them to Wazir Khan. Not beUeving him, she put one of them at each side ot her, and tried to conceal them with her dress. The Guru's son Jujhar Singh on hearing the Ranghar's voice stood up and said to his grandmother, * The Turks have ever been our enemies. How can we escape from them ? There- fore let us go to the viceroy.' Saying this he took his younger brother Fatah Singh and went with the Ranghar. When they reached the viceroy's court, the Ranghar, in order to add to their sufferings, told them that their father, their two eldest brothers, and their companions had all been killed in Cham- kaur. He added, ' Your only hope of escape now is to bow before the Viceroy and accept Islam ; and perhaps he will spare your lives.'
Jujhar Singh when confronted with the viceroy thus addressed him : ' My father, the holy Guru Gobind Singh is not dead. Who can kill him ? He is protected by the immortal God. If any one say that he can tear down heaven, how is that possible ? Were a storm to attempt to drive a mountain before it, could it ever do so ? Were any one to try to
grasp the sun and moon, it would be a feat im- possible to accomplish. Were the Guru to desire it, he could destroy every trace of you, but he deemeth it his first duty to obey the laws of heaven. When we have dedicated our heads to our father who is such a Guru, why should we bow them before a false and deceitful sinner ? ' On hearing this the people all cried out that the children ought to be allowed to go unharmed. The misnamed Suchanand now interposed, and repeated that these were the offspring of a cobra, and from their heads to their feet filled with venom. ' See my friends,' he said, ' they have not the least fear, and are so proud that they even insult and defy the Viceroy'.
Wazir Khan then reflected that if the children became Muhammadans, it would be a gain and glory to his faith. He told them that, if they would accept his faith, he would grant them an estate, marry them to the daughters of chiefs, and they would become happy and be honoured by the Emperor. Jujhar Singh then looking at his younger brother said, * My brother, the time to sacrifice our lives, as our grandfather Guru Teg Bahadur did, hath now arrived. What thinkest thou ? ' Fatah Singh replied, * Brother dear, our grandfather parted with his head but not with his religion, and he ordered us to follow his example. Now that we have received the baptism of the spirit and the sword, what care we for death ? Wherefore it is best that we should give our lives, thus save the Sikh religion, and bring down God's vengeance on the Turks.'
Jujhar Singh again spoke on the same subject : ' My brother, our grandfather Guru Teg Bahadur spurned the Muhammadan religion. Here is this noble family of ours — a man Hke Guru Gobind Singh our father, a man hke Guru Teg Bahadur our grand- father, a man like Guru Har Gobind our great- grandfather. We, who are their descendants, can- not attach a stigma to their memories.' The young
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boy waxing still more angry, continued, * Hear, O viceroy, I spurn thy religion and will not part with mine own. It hath become the custom of our family to forfeit Ufe rather than faith. O fool, why seekest thou to tempt us with worldly ambition ^ We will never be led astray by the false advantages thou offerest. The indignities inflicted by the Turks on our grandfather shall be the fire to consume them, and our deaths the wind to fan the flame. In this way we shall destroy the Turks without forfeiting our holy faith.*
The Muhammadan viceroy could not endure out- spokenness of this description, and, in the words of the chronicler, began to burn hke sand in a fiery furnace. He said he must put the children to death. They had no fear of any one, and their words were liable to cause disaffection and religious apathy in others. Suchanand was ready to support the viceroy, and suggested additional reasons for putting the children to death. He said they had spoken insolently before the Viceroy, and when they grew up they would follow their father's example and destroy armies. What good could be expected from them ? They would be always exciting revolts. They were prisoners with no right of pardon ; and, if they were released, no one knew what they would do. There were no means for their repression but death.
Then out spoke the Nawab of Maler Kotla, ' O Viceroy, these children are still drinking milk in the nursery, and are too young to commit an offence. They know not good from evil. Wherefore be pleased to allow them to depart.' This representa- tion the Viceroy heeded not, but cast about for some one to kill the children. His servants who were present said they were wilhng to sacrifice their lives for him, but they were not executioners. He turned to right and left, but all his staff hung down their heads in token of refusal and pity for the children. At last looking behind him he espied a Ghilzai who,
with the cruelty of his race, offered to do the san- guinary deed. It is a general belief among the Sikhs that the children were bricked into a wall and suffered to die in that position, but the authors of the Suraj Parkash and of the Gur Bilas both state that the children were put to death in the order of their ages by the sword of the Ghilzai executioner. They vied with each other as to who should first have the honour of martyrdom. The two children Jujhar Singh and Fatah Singh, aged nine and seven years respectively, perished on the 13th of Poh, Sambat 1762 (a. d. 1705).