is best when alone ; pure is his body and pure his mind ; but where there is a householder with a large family, his house is still purer, and so are his body, mind, and understanding/
The Guru duly met the Emperor Bahadur Shah in Agra. The Emperor thanked him for such assist- ance as he had given him in obtaining the throne, made him costly presents, and invited him to spend some time with him. The Guru was pleased to accept the invitation.
One day as the Guru and a high officer were seated together, a Saiyid of Sarhind asked the Guru if he could perform a miracle. The Guru replied that miracles were in the power of the Emperor. He could raise a humble person to the highest office and dignity, or degrade him therefrom. The Saiyid said he knew that, but had the Guru himself the power of working any miracles ? Upon this the Guru drew forth a gold coin and said that it was a miracle, for everything could be purchased with it. The Saiyid asked if he could show any further miracles. In reply the Guru drew his sword, and said that that also was a miracle. It could cut off heads and confer thrones and empires upon those who wielded it with dexterity. Upon this the Saiyid hung down his head and asked no further questions.
Some rajas of Rajputana came to visit the Guru. He told them they did one very regret- table thing, namely, they gave their daughters in marriage to Muhammadan emperors and princes. He made them swear that they would for the future desist from the practice.
One day in conversation with the Guru the Emperor maintained that if any one were to repeat the Muhammadan creed, he should not be consigned to hell. The Guru denied that the creed had that efficacy. If any one after repeating it were to do evil, the repetition of the creed would not avail him.
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 233
The Emperor asked how he was to be assured of that. The Guru rephed, * The creed is stamped on thy rupee ; we shall see the effect thereof.' The Guru secretly sent a bad rupee to the market-place to be changed. The money-changer applied to at once rejected it as counterfeit. It was then taken to the other money-changers with the same result. The Guru then addressed the Emperor : ' See, in thine empire, even in thine own market-place, no one hath paid any regard to thy creed engraved on this rupee, so how shall it conduct men to heaven ? Thou to-day enjoyest empire, and canst do what thou pleasest. If here in thy presence this bad rupee even with the creed on it cannot pass, how can it be accepted by another monarch ? In God's court gilding availeth not. The counterfeit and the genuine are there distinguished, and men obtain the reward or punishment due to their acts. Thy creed, therefore, as in the present case, cannot avail thee for admission into heaven without good works. When all accounts are called for by the Great Examiner, it is only those who show balances to their credit who shall be delivered.'
The Guru and the Emperor's conversation turned on the subject of Hindu pilgrimages. The Guru said he himself had no concern with them. Next day when he visited the Emperor, the latter said there were two ways — the Hindu and the Musal- man — in the world, and inquired which the Guru preferred to follow. The Guru said he was well disposed towards both, and he instructed every one as he found him. The Emperor replied : * There is one God and one faith. On what dost thou rely ? ' The Guru smiled and said, * My brother, there are three Gods.' The Emperor inquired where that was written, and added, ' A child born yesterday knoweth there is only one God.' The Guru continued, * Why did thine ancestors hinder the Hindus from wor- shipping Ram, Narayan, and tell them they must
only utter Maula Pak or Khuda^ ? Thou proclaimest that heaven is made for Moslems and hell for the Hindus. Hindus will not associate with any one who adoreth Maula Pak or Khuda. Such is the quarrel between the two sects. Know that my religion is that regarding which there is no con- troversy. The Hindus have a God whom Moslems do not acknowledge, and I have a God whom neither of them acknowledge.'
The Emperor one day preached the Guru a sermon against Hindu superstitions. The Guru agreed with him, but at the same time would not flatter the Muhammadan reHgion. He said that as the Hindu worshipped stones, so did the Muhammadans wor- ship departed saints and even a black lifeless slab at Makka ; and as the Hindus when at prayer turned their faces to the east, the Muhammadans turned their faces to the west. The Muhammadans supposed that their prophet could mediate for them, but he had become ashes, and what advantage could his ashes or those of his saints confer on men ? The Guru thus found fault with both the Hindu and Muhammadan religions, and said that he had struck out a religion of his own, the basis of which was the worship of the sole immortal God. Some discus- sion arose on the subject of the Guru's discourse, but he promptly answered all objections.
The Guru now explicitly stated the request he had several times hinted that he desired to make. It was to deliver up to him Wazir Khan who had killed his children at Sarhind. The Emperor natur- ally desired to know what the Guru proposed to do with him. The Guru candidly replied that he would have life for life, according to the law of retaliation contained in the Emperor's sacred book. The Emperor shuddered on hearing this request, but gave no direct refusal. He said he would reply after consulting his ministers. At the same time ^ Muhammadan names of God.
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 235
he felt that if he surrendered a viceroy to the Guru, a popular rebellion'' and a mutiny of his Muham- rhadan army would be the result. The Emperor therefore requested the Guru to wait for a year until his rule was more firmly estabhshed, and then he would consider the request made. The Guru on this reproached the Emperor with falsehood, and said that a Sikh^ should arise who should call the false and counterfeit to account, who should seize and kill the Emperor's viceroys, priests, and magistrates, and contribute to the ruin of the Mughal empire.
Notwithstanding this blunt language and undis- guised menace, the Emperor invited the Guru to go with him on a visit to Jaipur and other cities. The Guru promised to join him on the march. After a few days he set out and overtook the Emperor. They both visited Jodhpur and Chitaur. Each raja sent his envoy to conciliate and do homage to the Guru. At Chitaur there arose a quarrel between the Sikhs and the Rajputs on account of some grass the former had taken for their horses. The Guru censured his Sikhs, and ordered them to take nothing for the future without payment.
The Emperor and the Guru continued their journey to the Narbada river. The quarrel between the Sikhs and the Muhammadans was kept ahve by the Emperor's escort, many of whom were relations of the imperial soldiers slain by the Sikhs at Anand- pur. The Guru sent Man Singh, one of his Five Beloved, to adjust the difference between both parties. While on his mission of peace the brave Man Singh, one of the surviving heroes of Cham- kaur, who had never parted from the Guru, was assassinated by a fanatic. The Emperor was much distressed on hearing of his death, and ordered that his murderer should be seized and given up to the Guru for punishment. The Guru pardoned him,
^ No doubt Banda was meant.
and thus gained great praise from the Muham- madans for his mercy and clemency.
The Emperor and the Guru continued their march to Burhanpur on the Tapti river. The inhabitants had prepared a house there for the Guru, where he passed some time. A holy man came to visit him and said, ' O Guru, I was present with thy father on the bank of the Brahmaputra when thou wert born in Patna. He said that thou shouldst afterwards travel to the south of India. The prophecy having nOw been fulfilled, I have come to meet and wel- come thee.' He then gave the Guru hospitable entertainment.
The Emperor continued his journey and left the Guru at Burhanpur. After some days the Emperor wrote to him to join him, and he acceded to his request. Both then proceeded to Puna and thence to Nander on the margin of the river Godavari in the present state of Haidarabad and about one hundred and fifty miles north-west of its capital.
Chapter XXX
The original name of Nander was Nau Nand Dehra, because it is said that nine rikhis dwelt there in prehistoric times. It is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient city of Tagara described by the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea. In the middle of the fourth century it was still a place of importance and the capital of a petty kingdom. Its fortifications have long since been dismantled or have perished by lapse of time ; and there is now no trace of any ancient buildings save a few old temple pillars preserved in a small mosque near the court of the sub-collector. The country is diversified by dale and hillock along the lazily flowing Godavari.
The Guru arrived in Nander in Sawan (July- August), A. D. 1707, with some infantry and two or
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 237
three hundred cavalry equipped with lances. He went to the hut of Madho Das, a Bairagi hermit. Finding the Bairagi absent, and hearing that he possessed such skill in magic that he could over- throw any one who sat on his couch, the Guru proceeded to sit thereon and make himself at home. He shot one of the Bairagi's goats and cooked and ate the flesh. A disciple went to inform the Bairagi of the Guru's proceedings. It was a sacrilege to kill an animal at the Bairagi's seat, and another sacrilege to take possession of the couch which served him as a throne. He came to demand an explanation of the intruder's strange conduct. The Bairagi represented that the place had been first his guru's seat, then his own, and he did not desire to have it usurped by an unknown stranger, who moreover committed violence and sacrilege. The Guru repHed that he had arrived fatigued in Nander, and having heard of the Bairagi's hospitahty and philanthropy, took the liberty of testing the favourable accounts he had received. The Bairagi accepted the Guru's explanation, recognized from his words and manner that he was a great man, and called himself his Banda— slave— the name by which he was subsequently known.
Banda, whose original name was Lachmandev, was son of Ramdev Rajput and native of Rajauri in the Himalayan State of Punch. Before he adopted a religious role he had been a zamindar or cultivator. In early years he practised the use of firearms and was devoted to the chase. Once when he shot a female deer he found two young ones in her womb. He was so distressed at what he had done, that he decided to renounce the world and became a disciple of a faqir named Janki Prasad. As a wandering mendicant he made his way to the source of the Godavari at Nasik. He there made himself a hut and began to perform austerities.
A Jogi called Luni visited him and instructed him
238 . THE SIKH RELIGION
in the science of Jog and incantations. Being thus accompUshed, he set out again on his travels, and followed the source of the Godavari until he arrived in Nander. There he became known as a holy man in possession of many charms for the acquisition of spiritual and temporal advantages. He used to pray and perform penance on a little mound over- looking the Godavari, and thence at intervals watch its slow and dreamy motion as if it were loth to lose itself in the open sea.
The Guru was pleased with the position and seclusion of Nander, and decided to make it his permanent abode. He used to sit in prayer and meditation on a small stone structure on the margin of the river. Near it is a little larger building where the Granth Sahib was read. It is now and has been for years in a state of dilapidation.
The Guru instructed Banda in the tenets of his religion, and in due time baptized him according to the new rites. On that occasion Banda received the name Gurbakhsh Singh, but continued to be known as Banda. He conceived a great affection for the true religious guide he had at last found, and one day asked him if there were any service he could perform for him. The Guru after reflection found that he had an account to settle with the Muhammadans of the Panjab, and replied, ' I have come into the world to consolidate the faith and destroy oppressors. Art thou prepared to assist me ? ' Banda promised to undertake any enterprise suggested by the Guru. Upon this he was enjoined to proceed to the Panjab and wreak vengeance on the enemies of the Khalsa. ' Thou hast called thy- self my slave,' said the Guru, * but thou shalt be the most exalted of all.'
Saying this the Guru presented him with five arrows and thus addressed him, ' As long as thou remainest continent, thy glory shall increase. He who is continent, turneth not away from the combat.
b
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 239
and his opponents cannot withstand him. The continent man succeedeth in everything. Once thou forsakest the Khalsa principles and associatest un- lawfully with woman, thy courage shall depart.' He then ordered Banda to proceed towards the Jamna, wait at a little distance from Buria for reinforce- ments which he would cause to be sent him, then go to Sadhaura — Buria and Sadhaura are both in the present district of Ambala — and plunder and devastate it. The reason was that the Muham- madans of the place had caused Budhu Shah and his disciples to be executed by the Emperor for the offence of having assisted the Guru at the battle of Bhangani. When Banda had disposed of the Guru's enemies at Sadhaura, he was to proceed to sack some more Muhammadan cities, then march to Sarhind, and put its governor Wazir Khan to death. The Guru gave him instructions to cut off Wazir Khan's head with his own hands, and not entrust this pious duty to any subordinate. This done Banda was commissioned to go to the hills and search for the hill Rajas who had so often and so cruelly persecuted the Guru, and mete out to them the same justice as to the Mughal enemies of the Khalsa.
With Banda the Guru dispatched Baba Binod Singh, his son Baba Kahn Singh — descendants of Guru Angad — and Baz Singh, a descendant of Guru Amar Das, who were all three to give Banda further instructions in the new religion he had adopted. With these the Guru sent five other Sikhs to assist in the enterprise and support the martial fame of the Khalsa.
After Banda' s departure the Guru lived at various places in the immediate neighbourhood — at the Shikar Ghat, or game ferry, whence he used to go hunting, at the Nagina Ghat, where a Sikh presented him with a valuable signet ring which he flung into the river, at the Hira Ghat where he disposed in
a similar manner of a valuable diamond ring pre- sented him by the Emperor while in Nander, and at the spot now called the Sangat Sahib, where he used to give reHgious instruction to his followers and expound to them the Granth Sahib.
While at the Sangat Sahib, a Multani Sikh brought the Guru an offering of a bow and two arrows. He was much pleased, and put the bow to the test by discharging one of the arrows from it. He sent one of his followers to inquire where the arrow had fallen. On being informed of the spot he said that was where he wished to reside. The Muhammadans objected, but their objection was overruled by the Emperor, who made the Guru a present of the land. He went and abode there, and made it the scene of his propaganda. It is the place on which his shrine was subsequently erected.
After some time a Pathan one day came and claimed from the Guru a sum of eleven thousand rupees as the price of horses he had supplied him. The Guru had not sufficient funds to discharge the debt. He said that thirty years after his decease the Sikhs should be in power, and the Pathan had only to present the Guru's acknowledgement of the debt to their leaders, when he should receive the amount many hundredfold. The debt was duly dis- charged by the Sikhs under happier and more pros- perous circumstances.
Chapter XXXI
The Guru feeling that his end was approaching desired to send Sahib Kaur, to her co-wife Sundari whom he had left in Dihli on his departure to the south of India. He knew that she could not endure the shock which his demise would cause her. She at first refused to leave Nander, saying that she had made a vow never to take her daily food without seeing the Guru, and how could she
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 241
fulfil her vow if she were to part from him ? The Guru then gave her six weapons which had belonged to his grandfather Guru Har Gobind, and told her to look at them whenever she desired to behold him. With these and other inducements he at last persuaded her to depart. She was accompanied by Bhai Mani Singh and both were enjoined to com- fort and console Sundari.
The current Sikh account of the Guru's death is that he was stabbed by Gul Khan, a grandson of Painda Khan, in revenge for the death of the latter at the hands of Guru Har Gobind.^ More probable is the account given in one of the re- censions of Bahadur Shah's history : — The Guru was in the habit of constantly addressing as- semblies of worldly persons, religious fanatics, and indeed all varieties of people. One day an Afghan, who frequently attended these meetings, was sitting listening to him, when certain expressions which were disagreeable to the ears of the faithful fell from the Guru's tongue. The Afghan was en- raged and, regardless of the Guru's dignity and importance, stabbed him twice or thrice with a poniard.
ond*ei sen gfo Senza parlarmi, si com' io stimo ; Ed in cio m'ha e' fatto a sh piu pio.
Dante's Inferno. Several Sikhs suppose that Gul Khan was specially deputed by the Emperor Bahadur Shah to assassinate the Guru because he had importuned him to fulfil a promise solemnly made. It has been thought the Emperor believed that if he could remove the Guru from his path, all troubles would be at an end.
The Emperor on hearing of the outrage dispatched some of his most skilful surgeons to attend to the Guru's injuries ; and so skilfully did they perform their duty that the Guru's wounds were nearly healed in a fortnight, after which the surgeons took their leave as being no longer required. In a short time the Emperor again sent to inquire after the Guru's health and made him several offerings which included two bows. A discussion arose whether the Guru could bend them. On this he took up one and on bending it burst open his imperfectly healed wounds. Blood began to flow copiously. The wound was bound up by the Guru's attendants, but this time it was past medicament.
The Guru set apart five hundred rupees for the preparation and distribution of sacred food and one hundred rupees to purchase sandal-wood and what- ever else was necessary for his obsequies. His Sikhs came to him, and said that while he was alive they had the benefit of his presence, but they required instruction which might remind them of him hereafter and guide them to salvation. The Guru replied, * O dear and beloved Khalsa, the immortal God's will can never be resisted. He who is born must assuredly die. Guru Arjan hath said, '* Everything we behold shall perish." Night and day are merely expressions of time. It is the immortal God alone who ever abideth. All other beings, however holy and exalted, must depart when the last moment allotted them arriveth, for none can escape the primordial law of corporeal dissolution. All this world, composed of the five elements, is Death's prey. When the materials perish, how can the fabric remain ? God the Creator and Cherisher of all is alone immortal. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiv, and the other gods of the Hindus perished at their appointed time. Of what account is man ? Wherefore, O my friends, it is not good to be unduly enamoured of this fragile body. Know that the light of the imperishable God whose attri-