gurbachan singh talib - guru gobind singh's impact on indian society

8/3/2019 Gurbachan Singh Talib - Guru Gobind Singh's Impact on Indian Society

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THE IMPACT OF GURU GOBIND SINGH ON INDIAN SOCIETY

by

GURBACHAN SINGH TALIB

ISBN 81-7380-564-4

1999

Copies : 1100

Price : 130-00

Published by Dr. Ranbir Singh, Registrar, Punjabi University, Patiala and

printed at Ram Printograph (India), New Delhi

FORWORD

The terc ente nary of the bi r th of the Kha lsa Pan th in 1999

provides us with an oppo rtuni ty to have a fresh look at our heritage,

reflect on what the Gurus had said with a view to relating it to the

prese nt , an d make a reappr a isa l of wha t the Gu rus did so as to

appreciate it in the modern day context. In this respect, the Punjabi

Univers i ty has decided to publish new t i t les and repr i nt some old

class ics havi ng a bear ing, direc t ly or indirec t ly, on the th eme of

Khalsa which Guru Gobind Singh had crea ted as a microscopic

form of the ideal socio-political str uct ur e of his vision.

Profe s sor Gurba c ha n S ingh Ta l ib ' s The impact of Guru

Gobind Singh on Indian society is an incisive and percepti ve stu dy

of the evol ut ion an d or ien ta t i on of cer ta i n socio-e thica l idea ls .According to the auth or, Si khism redefined and applied these ideals

to mundane human l i fe with such s incer i ty and fervour as had

inspired thou sand s upon thou sand s to lay down their lives to uphold

them . The au thor contend s tha t Sikhism gave to this land, for the

f irs t t ime perh aps , the sens e of such gr ea t va lu es with out which

individual and corpora te l i fe would become vulnerable to moral

and social degeneration.

The book was first publ ished , in 1966, by Guru Gobi nd Sir s;h

Foundati on, Cha ndigar h. The Univers i ty expresses i ts deep serve

of gra t i tu de to the Fou nda tio n for perm it t ing i t to br ing out this

repr int of the book which has contempo rary re levance and wil l beof imme nse int eres t and use to the s tude nts of Sikh Studi es .

Punjabi University, J. S. PUAR

fatiala Vice-Chancellor


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INTRODUCTION

This small book does not profess to be a historical study. I

must disavow at the outse t any c la im to an int imate or or iginalacquaintance with his tory. The his tor ica l fac ts lying in the

backg round of the discus s ions in this book are s uch as I be l ieve

are generally accepted and considered more or less to be authentic

by his tor ians who hav e worked in the f ie ld of medieval , and

part icu lar ly Mugh al his tory, with which the s tory of Sikh ism is

inter t wined. The scope of this book is fur th er l imited by i ts not

being an exposit ion of wh at may be called th e 'philcteophy' of

Sikhism or of the Ind ian re l igious tradi t ion in genera l . Suc h a

phi losophic a l a pproa c h would r e qui r e m uc h m ore de ta i l e d

knowledge of sources , par t ic ular l y in Sansk ri t , a nd an inf ini te ly

m ore a bs t ruse pre se nta t ion , th a n i s he re a t t e m p te d . Wi th the semain l imita t ions , and with the fur th er proviso, tha t the de ta i ls of

Guru Gobind Singh 's li fe, an d of the prec eding Gu rus are he re

accepted as they are current among scholars , and have not been

invest ig a ted afresh. As a matt er of fact , biogra phy of the Gu rus

enter s only occasionally and indirec tly into these pages, as bear ing

on the ir teachings and ac t ions .

Properly speaking, these chapters are to be considered as

discuss ions ( they are so a lso in the ir ma nn er of prese nta t i on) of

cer ta in ideas and ideals which Sikhism, and Guru Gobind Singh

as the Preceptor who brought them to perfection and culmination,

may be sa id to have emphasized and applied to individual and

corporate life. These ideas and ideals, trea ted here, a re not intend ed

to be tak en as an exhau st ive or def ini t ive s ta t eme nt of the gr ea t

work of Sikhis m. They are pres ent ed her e as a segm ent of the

tota l i ty of Sikhism in a spi r i t of tent a t iv e formula t ion of the ir

prec ise na ture , direc t ion and s ignif icance . As sa id ear her , the

philosophical, metaphysical and the spiritual are outside the scope

of these discuss ions . Thes e concern themsel ves mainly wit h the

evolut ion and or ient a t ion of cer ta i n socio-e thica l idea ls , wh ich i t


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(vi) TH E IMPACT OF GUR U GOBIND SING H ON INDIAN SOCIETY

is the glory of Sikhi sm to have res ta ted an d to have applied with

such s incer i ty and fervour , leading to the mart yrdo m of thous ands

upon thousands to uphold them. I t is c la imed here for Sikhism

that has given to this land, for the first time perhaps, the sense of

cer ta in grea t va lues , without which individual and corpora te l i fe

become corr upt and subjec t to a l l mann er s of moral and socia l

evils. It is in th e light of suc h an objective, th erefo re, t ha t thi s

book may be s tudied.

In view of the na tu re of its cont ents , th e book may pr ese nt tothe re ade r the cha rac t er of somet hin g l ike a thes i s . Such i t is

not in the formal academic sense perhaps, but in the general sense

of a point of view, sup port ed by accumu la t ed evidence a nd c lose

argument. Here and there , the reader may a lso fee l there is a

l i t t le over lap ping, b ut there is not ove rmu ch of i t . In view of the

character of the book as it grew, and of the time-span within which

it had to be prepared, to be ready before the grea t eventthe

te rc e nte na ry of Guru ' s b i r thp e rha ps suc h im pe r fe c t ions c ould

not be avoided.

The book is not documented, as a scholarly thesis would be.

The references are few, and mu ch of the his t or ica l information is

given in impressionistic and digested form. Quotations from Sikh

re l igious l i te ra ture ( in t ransla t ion ) are genera l ly referred to the ir

sourc e. As a matt er of fact, such referenc es are the mo st valu able

props of the a rgum e n t .

'Guru ' i s a n a nc ie n t Ind ia n c onc e pt m e a ning ge ne ra l ly

' teacher ' . Li tera l ly a lso, i t would not be inappro pria t e to render i t

as 'Enlightener ' , as has been done in the English transla t ion of

the Holy Granth by Dr. Gopal Singh. In this book i t is var iously

rendered as 'Teacher ' , 'Preceptor ' and 'Apostle ' . The Guru in

Sik hi sm is Tea che r as well as Apos tle (Me ssen ger of the Lord) ,

something l ike the sense in which in the Semitic fa i ths the

equivalents of 'Prophet ' a re used. But 'Guru' in no sense is avatar

or inca rnat ion of God. Such an idea is most vehe ment ly repudi ated

in S ikh t e a c hing .

The trans la t io ns of the hym ns and other pieces and phrase s

from the Adi Grath, Dasam Granth, Vars of Bha i Gurd a s a nd

othe r work s are my own. Althoug h a nu mbe r of t rans la t io ns into

English, par t icular ly of port ions of Adi Gra nth hav e been made, i t

cann ot be c la imed for any one of these vers i ons th a t f ina l i ty or

perfec t ion of expres s iven ess or def ini t iv eness be longs to i t . A

trans lati on, for whic h somet hin g like the finality of the Author ised

INTRODUCTION (vii)

Version of the Bible in Eng lis h may be claimed, does not yet exist.

I have , therefore , thought i t more useful to make such rende ring s

as I tho ugh t would more c lose ly convey the meani ng , an d

part icu lar ly the power of the or igi nal . Obviously, I do not c la im

finality for my own rend erin gs either. Transli terati on of the na me s

dra wn from Sikh, mythological and Muslim sources is tha t familiar

t o t h e a v e r a g e E n g l i s h - k n o w i n g I n d i a n . U l t r a - m e t i c u l o u s

rend ering of the var io us conso nant soun ds of Arabic a long with

elaborate diacritical marks has been avoided so as not to confuse

the genera l reader .GURBACHAN SlNGH TALIB


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CONTENTS

Introduction (v)

Chapter I THE IDEA OF GOD 1

Chapter I I EVOLUTION OF THE HER OIC CHARACTER 1 1

Chapter I I I INVOKING INDIA'S HEROIC TRADITIONS 3 1

Chapter IV RELIGION VIEWED AS UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD 6 4

Chapter V APOSTOLATE TO THE PEOPLE 90

Chapter VI ECCE HOMO 1 1 1


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CHAPTER 1

THE IDEA OF GOD

THE SUPREME BEING OF THE GURUS' CONCEPTION

The Sikh religion, like all dynamic religious movements, made

its impact on num ero us aspect s of life in India, an d influenced not

only tho ugh t about the na tu re of the Su prem e Being, but s t i r red

fa r - r e a c hing a nd r e volu t iona ry ide a s in the sphe re of the

re la t ionship be tween man and man, to which i t gave a new

hum ani tar ian and idealistic direction. It was, in other words, much

more th an the en unc iat ion of a new creed or th e foundin g of still

anot her sect, in the babel of myri ads of sects into whic h the people

of IndiaHindus as well as non-Hinduswere already divided. It

was, wh en we look closely upo n its char act ers, t he fou ndin g of a

new order, a new society, on the ba sis of a concept of God whi ch

should sa t is fy the highest spir i tu a l urges of man by d rawin g him

toward s the Inf ini te , ins t i l l ing in him the fee l ing of hu ma n

symp athy for all man kin d, th us mak ing for the foun ding of noble

and fulfilling social institutions, in place of the state of strife which

would obta in in the absence of such sympa thy . These var i ous

influences are dis cussed in some detail in oth er portio ns of thi s

book. What must not be forgotten is that the Sikh faith has had a

harmonious development, which proceeded from i ts or iginal

enunc iation in the vision of Gu ru Nan ak, of the im mort al, infinitechar acter of the Go dhead an d what (despite its triten ess) ma y be

called the Bro therh ood of man . These two cardin al ideas are seen

opera t ing and expand ing in the development of the Sikh Ch urch

and the Sikh people duri ng the five cent uri es since Gur u Nanak ,

the Founder, came into the world.

In the Creed which Gur u Nanak enun ciated in the first stanza

"Pu (popular ly ca l led Japuji), the bas ic Sikh prayer , which

means 'holy chanting' or 'rehearsing' and in an applied sense the

meditat ion of the Na me (Reality) of God, conceives of God as Infinite


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2 TH E IMPACT OF GURU GOBIND SINGH ON INDIAN SOCIETY

and Unbo und ed by Attr ibu tes , s ince to a t t r ibu te to Him any

qualities would be to limit and circumscribe Him. Hence the Creed

runs as : "He is the Sole and Indivis ible Om, 'Eternal Reali ty, the

C r e a t o r - P u r u s h a ,2

F e a r l e s s , R a n c o u r l e s s , T i m e l e s s F o r m ,

Unincarnated, Self-exis tent . Through His Grace a lone can He be

cont emplat ed." Thus is the Creed, brief an d self-exp lanatory . God

is Infinite, not subject to inc arn ati on, free from any fear of losin g

His sovere ignt y of the un iverse , as would be post ula t ed by the

various mythologies current among nations; f ree f rom rancourhenc e not the sole protec tor of an y race, nor the en emy of any

other , be the y be called by th e prejudice of ma n kafirs, malechhas

or gentiles or others . These an d other implications of the conception

of God in such ter ms shou ld be fa ir ly c lear to the mod er n

enlight ened mind . Ot her forms of the negative descr ipt io n of God,

which are confess ions of the he lp lessn ess of ma n to und ers tan d

Him, are : Again ( Inaccess ible) ; Agochar (Unknowa ble ) ; Alakh

( U n s u r p a s s a b l e ) ; Niranjan (Fre e f rom the t a in t o f m a t te r ) ;

Alekh ( B e y o n d C o m p u t i n g ) ; Abinashi ( I n d e s t r u c t i b l e ,

I m m o r t a l ) .

This conception of God with out Attri butes (nirguna) or withoutform (nirakar, or as current among the Sikhs {nirankar), however ,

does not preclude t he idea of a perso nal God who is the sour ce and

guardi an of t ru th and r ighteous ness and can be loved and responds

to man's love and yearning for him. Throughout the medita t ions

of Gu ru Na n a k a nd h i s suc c e s so r s in Guru shi p suc h ide a l

personali ty is assumed for God. Hence , He can be invoked to

succour , to grant and to fulf i l . He is addressed by the quest ing

human spir i t in the way in which a human personali ty would be

called upon, invoked, pr opit iated an d appeal ed to. He is called by a

vast var ie ty of name s, eac h the express i on of a l iving, responsive ,

lov ing soul , in te rve ni ng in the un i ve r se a l l th r oug h e te rn i ty to

suc c our R ight a nd Tru th whe ne ve r the se a re th re a te ne d by the

forces of Evil and Unr igh teo usn ess . The Ete rn al Being is th us

known, among others , by such names as these , a l l indica t ive of

ideal human quali t ies : Par-Brahman (Supreme Brahman); Thakur

(The Lord); Sahib (Master) ; Gosain (Lord of th e Ear th ); Sat-Guru

1. Om is the 'substantive' Name of God, the Infinite. In its connotation it

supersedes and rejects the idea of all other deities, conceived by the

mind of man in lower stages of spirituality.

2. Purusha, literally the male, is the creative Divine force of the universe,self-existent.

TH E IDEA OF GO D 3

3. karim also may mean 'Great'.

(E te rna l Ma s te r ) ; Swami (Lord); Parmeshwar (Supreme Lord) ,

Jagdishwar (Lord of th e Unive rse); Hari, Ram Narain, Madho,

Kesava, Gopal, Raghurai (all the se ar e n ame s of deiti es in the

Hindu Pantheon, adapted as synonyms to s tand sole ly for the

Infinite); Kartar (Creator) ; Wahguru (Hail, Lord!); Deva, (God),

etc. Besides, there are numerous attributive names, all indicative

of fa i th in the ul t imat e mercy and preser vatio n of God, inspir ing

the hope whi ch overcomes suffering and d eath , in the vision of the

life infinite. Among such names are Rahim a nd Karim (both from

the Arabic of cur ren t Islam , meani ng, re spective ly, Merciful and

Bountiful3

); Qadir (Almighty, also from the Arabic); Bhagat-

Vachhal (Popular form of Bhakt -vatsa la, Beloved of His devotees);

Murari (one of the a t tr ibuti ve name s of Krishna-Des troyer of the

Demon Mur); Kirpal (i.e. Kripal, Beneficent); Patit-Punit (Purifier

of th e fallen) and scores more .

All these attributes in their infinity belong to God : these do

not limit Him, b ut are only an infinitesimal po rtion of His infinity,

which the min d of man can un der s ta nd only in br ief gl impses of

spir i tua l i l lumination. These a t tr ibutes inspire man with hope,

and point towar ds the direc t ion which his endeav ours mu st take ,

th a t is , r ighteo us ac t ion.

GURU GOBIND SINGH'S ORIENTATION

OF THE IDEA OF GOD

In Gur u Gobind Singh 's compositi ons the idea of God is

reor iented and His a t t r ibutes are expanded so as to become a

ver i table t reasure-house o f the a t tr ibu tive na mes of the S uprem e

Being. The partic ular nam e of God which has such an appeal and

fascinat ion for him, is desc ripti ve of one as pec t of His infinity -Akal

or the Timeless. This existed already in the creed of Gur u Nanak 's

Japuji, quoted above. In this a t t r ib ute He is Uncreated, Immor ta l

and Infinite. This name, besides, came to acquire the heroic

overto nes given to it by the con texts in which th e Gur u was to use

it. It occurs in the Sikh battle-cry, inspiring the Sikhs to heroic

action and sacrifice to this day-'Sat Sri Akal' (True is the I mmor tal

Lord!). This cry has fervour and inspiring passion and rings with

a c c e n t s o f h e r o i c d e t e r m i n a t i o n . T h e G u r u ' s d e v o t i o n a l

composition, expressing in various terms and descriptive phrases

the att rib ut es of the Lord, is called 'Akal Ust ati ' (Praise of the

Timeless Lord). This name, Akal, therefore, may be taken to be in


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4 TH E IMPACT OF GUR U GOBIND SING H ON INDIAN SOCIETY THE IDEA OF GOD 5

it is 'dest royer of host s of bar bar ian s' (khal dal khandan). God is

Indra-In dran ( lord of Indras 4 ). He is Shah -sh aha n (King of Kings).

He is Sarab-Kar ta (Creator of all tha t exists); Sarb-h arta (Destroyer

of all); Dev-Deva (God of gods); Agha m-O gh -Ha rta (De stroy er of

Evil and Sin); Sarb-Gian (All-knowing); Sarb-Bhog (All-absorbing);

Bhana n-Bh an (Sun of suns) ; Garb-g anjan (Breaker of a rrogance);

Chh atr an Chhat r i (Hero of Heroes) ; Sarba tra -Jah o (Pervasive

Glory) ; Chatu r-Ch akra -Var t i (Lord of the universe) ; Anadam

Bibhu t (Of Ete rna l Glory). These are only a few of the h un dre ds of

attributes of glory contemplated by the inspired spiritual vision ofGuru .

(c) The most numer ous att rib utes of the Lord are those whi ch

express Hi s Inf ini ty in the n egati ve form, express ive of the

helplessn ess of the hu ma n mind to compass His Reali ty. In the

composit ions Jap a n d Akal Ustati these flow into verse with the

move ment of the tem pest uou s torrent . The opening l ines of the

Jap s tr ike the key-note of the whole compos it ion:

Without sign or ma rk and beyond caste and category;

His face and feature, shape and form, none can tell;

Beyond mutability, sensitiv eness-illumined, of illimitable

MightThe Lord S upreme of millions of Indr as; King of kings;

Lord of three univ erses, of gods, men an d demons;

His Infinite glory each leaf and grass-blade proclaims

Who may recount the roll of all His Names.

Content, the hu man spi rit with mention alone of His Attributes!

In a flood of pou rin g attr ibu tes , God is described as Arup

(formless) ; Anup (Incomparable) ; Alekh (Indescr ibable) ; Akai

(Form le s s ) ; A ja i (Unc re a te d) ; Aga nj , Abha nj (bo th m e a n

I n d e s t r u c t i b l e ) ; A n a m ( of t h e I n e f f a b l e N a m e ) ; A t h a m

( U n b o u n d e d ) ; A k a r m ( U n b o u n d e d b y a c t i o n s ) ; A d h a r m

(Unbounded by man- made re l igions) ; Aji t (Unvanquished); Abhit

( U n b o u n d e d ) ; A b a h ( N o t A c t i n g w i t h L i m b s ) ; A d h a h

(Indestruc t ible) ; Anil ( Immacula te) ; Anadi (Eternal) ; Achhed

(Indestructible); Agadh (Unfathomable); Abhut (Uncreated); Alok

(Unbounded); Ashok (Untouched by Sorrow); Nir-tap (Unoppressed

of Sickness ); Asarg (Uncr eated ); Ajat (Of no category); Ad hey a

(Not compassed by contemplation); Ajai (Ever-Emancipated); Na

Satra i na i Mitra i (Without Foe or Fr iend) .

4. Indra is the King of the Gods in Hindu mythology.

Gur u Gobind Singh's enuncia t ion of fa i th the su bstant ive nam e of

the Lord (in view of God's heroic aspect which for this Guru

overshadowed a l l others , i t would be more appr opria te to ment ion

Him by this awes ome na me of the Lord tha n the philosop hica l

Supr eme Being) . I t may be take n to answe r to the Gu ru's yearning

for heroi c end eav ou r in the way of th e Lord.

Amon g the var ie t ies of nam es for the Lord, co ntempl a ted by

Guru Gobind Singh, the fol lowing ca tegories may readily be

di s t ingui she d:

(a) Nam es a t tr ibu tive of heroic qua li t ies : so me such nam es

have exis ted s ince antiquity, as for example Mur ar i (des troyer of

the de m o n Mur ) , whi c h i s a pe r i phra s t i c na m e of Kr i shn a ,

conceived of as the Su pre me Being; Madh u- Su da n (des troyer of

the demo n Mad hu, a lso an a t tr i buti ve nam e of Kris hna) . In the

Adi Granth, which conta ins the hymns composed by the Gurus

who preceded Guru Gobind Singh in the Apostol ic sea t , God is

of ten invoke d by nam es evocative of His heroic qual i t ies as the

Destroy er of Evil and th e Succou rer of Right . Such, for example

as 'Gur Sura' (The Heroic Lord), 'Bhai Bhanjan' (Dispeller of

Fear) . The theme is constantly running through the Adi Granth

the de s t roying tyra n t s a nd in te rve ning to pre se rve the s a in t lyand the innocen t . This aspect of God, therefore , wa s well-kno wn

in the Indian re l igious tradi t ion and had been emphasized by the

predecesso rs of Gu ru Gobind Singh. He gave it part icul ar emph asis

in his s trug gle with the ty ran ts and oppr essors of his own day,

involving terrible suffering and sacrifice. In this struggle, he made

God his only supp ort : in meditatin g on the idea of God, he naturall y

gave prominent emphasis to His heroic a t t r ibutes . Thus , God is

Asipan (Wielder of the Sword); Sa ran g-P ani (Holder of the Bow);

Sri Kharag ( the Sacred Sword); Bhagauti ( the Sword); Sarb-Loh

(The All-Steel, that is, the Mighty); Maha Kal (The Supreme Lord

of Time); Pr ab h or Pra bh u (The Lord); Kal (Time or All-Time, th e

Etern al); Maha- Kali ka (The Migh ty Kali, th at is the, Divine Might

to de s t roy Evi l ) ; Pa rm a -Pura kh (The Supre m e Might ) ; Dha nur -

Pa n (The Holder of the Bow), Asiketu, Asidhuj , K hara g-k etu (All

these me an Holder of the Sword -Banner ) .

(b) A related series of attributes of God is expressive of His

glory and grandeur. Spread over the compositions of the Guru are

phrases an d compounds which can be subsumm ed under this head.

Thu s, God is destro yer of foes, protect or of the h umb le; th e Sword,

which is the symbol of His Migh t, is 'Ever Victorious' (jai tegham);


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5. In the Indian ethical philosophy, the human personali ty is conceived of

as being in one of the three states-Tarn, Raj and Satrespectively

Darkness, Activity and Spiritual poise.

6. Elsewhere His character as Purusha or the Father-Creator is

emphasized. He is both Father and Mother, in contradistinction to an

imagined Father (Shiva) and Mother (Shakti).

TH E IDEA OF GO D 7

'Namo Chandra Chandre;

Namo Bhan Bhane;

Namo Geet Geete;

Namo Tan Tane'

(I bow to the e, Moon of Moons ; I bow to thee , Su n of Su ns; I

bow to thee, S ong of Songs; I bow to the, H arm on y of Harmo nies! )

(e) One charac ter is t ic of the a t tr ibu tes of the S upr eme Being

as conceived by Guru Gobind Singh is the f ree and unres tr ic ted

use of Arabic te rminology which natura l ly would have s t rong

Muslim associa t ions . A s izeable Arabic and Pers ian vocabulary

had gained currency in the var ious languages spoken in the

nor ther n par ts of India s ince the es tabl ish ment of Musl im rule

and the growth of Musli m popula tions in Punj ab, the P ura bi are as

(modern U.P.), Bihar, Bengal and into the Central parts. In many

spheres the Pers ian or Arabic equivalents had dr iven from

currency the na t ive Sanskri t or Apabhransh (corrupted Sanskri t)

forms in popular par lance . Consequently, both in the secular and

re l igious l i te ra ture produced during the medieval ages in India ,

by Hindus as well as Muslims, there is a fair admixture of Arabic

and Pers ian , . This can be seen in such sa in ts as Kabir , Ravida s .Tuls ida s and Namdev, a mong others . In the composit ion s of the

Preceptors of Sikhism s ince Gur u Nanak, Arabi c-Pers ia n words ,

expressive of the attr ibu tes of God or of cert ain spi ritu al or ethical

experiences had been used with out any pre judice . As a matte r of

fact, the mai n direction of Sikh ism being to incu lcate th e spirit of

religious tolerance and goodwill among sects, such vocabu lary was

employed specifically to drive ou t exclusivism and fana ticism bot h

among Hindus and Muslims. Thus , amon g the a t tr ib utes or names

of God occur the Arab ic Rah im' (Merciful); 'Kar im' (Boun tiful);

'Qadir ' (Almighty); 'Khasm' (Master); Shah (King); Sultan (King);

Allah; (Khuda; Parv ardg ar (Cherisher); 'Mihrvan' (Gracious). Apar t

from the nam es and att ribu tes of God, words from Musl im context

were a lso used to descr ibe s ta tes of spir i tua l experi ence . For

e xa m pl e , 'A rz' (Pra ye r , Suppl ic a t ion) ; 'Ba nd a gi ' (Pra ye r ) ;

' M e h r a m a t ' ( M a r - H a m a t G r a c e ) ; ' A r d a s ' ( A r z- d a s h t

supplica t ion); 'Andesa ' ( thought , anxie ty) ; 'Pa l i t ' (Pal i dimpure ,

especially in the spritu al sense); 'Jama' (Robe, implying the hu ma n

body); 'Kateb' (KitabThe Koran); 'Murid' (Disciple); 'Muhtaji '

(La c k , Pove r ty) ; 'Kurba n ' ( s a c r i f i c e ) ; 'Furm a n ' ( c om m a nd,

ord ina nc e ) ; 'Lai J a wa ha r ' ( d ia m onds , pe a r l s , im ply ing noble

spirit ual qualities); Garib, maski n (gharib maskinthe meek and

These and many more such a t tr ibutes are the outpourings of

the mind which, deeply immersed in spir i tua l contempla t ion,

conceives of appro pria te t e rms to ex press t he inf ini ty of the Lord.

These formations , negative in the ir philosophica l Torm, are a l l

der ived from the tradi t i onal philosophica l learnin g of India .

(d) Ther e are , again, the a t tr i but es of the Lord, evocative of

m a n ' s ph i losophic a l a nd m ys t i c a t t e m p ts a t c om pre he ndin g H is

Realit y. This group of att rib ut es is also deri ved from the mystico-

philos ophical tradit ion of India. Th ese att rib ute s differ from thosein the precedi ng group in not be ing cas t in the neg ative form, so

as to expr ess the sen se of God's Inf ini ty, but a re red olen t of

emotional and mystica l experience , and express such a t tr ibutes

p a r t i c u l a r l y a s t h e h u m a n s p i r i t h a s a p p r e h e n d e d i n i t s

communion with the Inf ini te . In the Adi-Granth such a t tr ibutes

are, for example, 'Pritam' (The Beloved), 'Lalan' (The Cherished);

'Sajan' (The Noble Friend); 'Mukand' (The Emancipator); 'Karuna-

mai ' (The Merciful) , and many more .

In Guru Gobind Singh's compositions, such attributive names

are som ewh at more e labora te , in a l l l ike l ihood the result of an

att em pt to provid e a full th esa ur us of na me s of th e Lord to replacethe na mes of the gods and goddess es of the trad i t io nal pant heon ,

conceived to be personali t ies apar t f rom the Supreme Lord, the

Cre ato r : 'Tr igun a Ati t ' (Beyond the three a t tr ibu tes5

) is followed

by 'Sargu n samet ' (Of Divine Attr ibutes) . ' J ih Neti Nigam Kahant '

(He of wh om the Veda says, 'Not this '); 'Abi yakt Rup Ud ar ' (Of

Hidden Limit less Glory) ; 'Sadaieam Sada Sarb Sabatra Sneham'

(Endless All-pervasive Love); Sada Sacchadanand Sarbam Pranasi'

(Of Eter nal Spir i tua l Joy, All-des troyer) ; 'Namo Jog Joge shwa ram

Pa rm Sidhe ' (I bow to thee, Mys tic of Mystics, th e Supr eme Saint );

'Par m Jug t ' (Of Supr eme Inte l l igence) ; 'Sada Siddh ada Budd had a

Bridh a Karta ' (Giver of Ever- increas ing Saint l iness a nd Wisdom);

'Rag-Rup' (Harmony and Lovelines Surpassing); 'Parm Gyata' (The

Supreme Inte l l igence) ; 'Lok Mata ' (The Universa l Mother6

). In

the following stanza God's attribu tes of sup reme Be auty are pour ed

forth as in ecstasy :


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the hum ble ) .

There are , bes ides , numerous such words in the ir na t ive ,

c ur re n t form s , e m ploye d m e ta phor ic a l ly to e xpre s s sp i r i tua l

experience . Guru Gobind Singh gave even more emphasized

san cti on to th e use of suc h voca bula ry, specifically to incu lcate

the s pir i t of toleran ce of the Mu slim people as su ch amon g his

followers, the Sikhs, when he felt impelled to draw the sword

agai ns t the tyr ant s of his day, who hap pen ed to be the Musli m

rulers . Thus , his sons were ca l led Sahibzadas (Young Lords or

Princes) ; his banner was des ignated by the P ers ian word 'Nishan' ;

for Vic tory he mad e curr ent the Arabic 'Fa teh ' which is s t i l l par t

of the da i ly sa lu ta t i on of the Sik hs . Fo r the new order tha t he

crea ted, h e chose the name 'Khalsa ' (Khalis is Arabic for Pur e 7 ) ;

for constancy in faith he adopted the Arabic 'Sidq'; for a Sikh

observi ng a l l the ar t ic les of t radi t ion al disc ipl ine , the ph rase is

'tiyar bar tiyar' a phra se ma de up of repeti t i on of the Arabic word

for 'ready' or 'prepared'.

In enuncia t ing the a t tr ibu tes of the Lord, Guru Gobind Singh

at te mp te d a fresh sourc e of effect in expre ssio n. N ot only did he

in te r spe r se w i th a t t r ibu te s form e d f rom Sa nskr i t i s t i c lo rea t tr ibutive phrases formed from the Arabic , but fur ther made

comp oun ds between Sans kri t and Arabic or Pers ia n with Arabic

conjunctive , 'a l ' or 'ul ' used in Arabic grammar to make the

possessive form. This last category has not gained curren cy perhap s

because of the u tte r incompatibility of the tw o lang uage s combined,

but the a t tempt bespeaks e loquently the Guru's noble resolve to

inculca t e the spir i t of toleran ce and goodwill amon g people of

dif ferent re l igions by a kind of cul t ura l s ynth esis or fus ion. 8

Exa mpl es of compo unds from pure ly Arabic or Pers ian or

Arabic-Persian constituents are as follows: 'Rozi Razak' (Cherisher

and Bread Provider) ; 'Pak Beaib' (Pure and Immacula te) ; 'GhaibulGhaib ' (The Supr eme Secre t) ; "Afwal gun ah' (P ardo ner of s ins) ;

'Sh aha n Shah' (King of Kings) ; 'Hu snu l Wajuh, (Of Beaut eous

Countenance) , Tamam-ul-ra ju ' 9 'Mindful of all); 'Hame shu l Salam

7. I adhere to the view that Khalsa is Khalisa (Arabic for Pure), in the

literal-spiritual sense, and not in the legal sense of the Royal Troops. For

the Sanskrit-educated Nirmalas, the name of their Order is the

equivalent of the Arabic 'Khalsa' Nirmal too means PureNir = without

+mal = impurity. Both 'Khalsa' and 'Nirmala' were given by Guru Gobind

Singh as synonymous words.

8. There are Arabic-Pers ian compounds too, equally incombatible.

9. Strict ly Arabic would be 'Tamam-ur-raju'.

THE IDEA OF GOD 9

(Eternal ly secure) ; Ghanim-ul-Shikast ' (Vanquisher of Foes) ;

'Ta m iz ul - t a m a m ' (A l l -knowing Om nisc ie n t ) . Gha r ibul n iwa z '

(Cherisher of the Humble); 'Husnul Jamal' (Beauty and Loveliness

Ineffable); 'Zahir Zahur' (The Supreme Manifestation).

Among Sanskri t-Arabic compounds are , for example , the

following:

'Parm am-Fa him' (Of Sup reme Wisdom); 'Sarbam-Kalim' ( in

Communion with the universe) ; Raju-ul-nidhan' (Exp ender of His

teasures); 'Nir-Sharik' (Without a rival, close to the Koranic La-

Sharik) ; "Samastul-Kalam' (With the Universe in Communion);

'Aganjul-Ghanim' (Unvan quishable by an y foe); 'Samastu l-zuban'

(of Univ ersal Speech or Langua ges); 'Barrishtul- nivas' (Dweller in

Parad ise); Samastul-Azi z' (Beyond of all'Aziz' here mean in g not

'exalted' as in Arabic, but 'beloved' as in Hidustani'): 'Ajab-Sarup'

(Of Marvell ous Bea uty).

Certain other unconventional formations are exemplified below

: 'Ka rm a m -Ka r im ' (Of Might y Gra c e ) , 'Ane kul -T a ra ng ' (Of

Innumer able Waves) ; 'Samastul-nivas ' All-pervasive); 'Namast ul-

Pra nam e ' (Reverence and Obeisance to Him!)

The main conclusion which can be drawn from the foregoingd i s c u s s i o n a n d i l l u s t r a t i o n s i s t h e m o n o t h e i s m 1 0 whic h i s

uncompro misingly a t the bas is of the S ikh fa i th. This spir i t of

monoth eism is in harm ony with the ideal is t ic t radi t io ns of India

itself, an d its assertion a mids t the welte r of creeds an d sub-creeds,

each centred in nume rou s dei t ies of var io us conceptions is of

imme nse significance, as poin ting to the reconciliation of war rin g

sects and the universa l i ty of the re l igious ideal . Some thin kers

have been led to postu la te th a t the monothe ism of Gur u Nana k

and his successors had its inspiration in Islam. This hypothesis is

a l together wrong. The a t tr ib utes of the Su preme Being, inc luding

the a t ten dan t nomencl a ture are of Ind ian der iva t ionth e entire

conception is Indian. The Muslim GodAllahhas a t tr ibutes

whose or ienta t ion takes different l ines f rom those which can be

tra ced in the de velo pmen t of th e Sikh Ch urc h. In place of a God,

who is exclusive and mightily vindictive, Gur u Nanak 's conception

of God is of the U nivers a l Fathe r , Beneficent , th e Che rish er of

Right and Destroye r of Evil. Thi s Evil which constant ly calls forth

the des troyi ng han d of God is th e principle of Dar kne ss of Egoism

10. There is a philosophical view which would define the Sikh spiritual or

metaphysical position as 'monism'. It is perhaps more truly

Transcendental-Immanence-ism.


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10 TH E IMPACT OF GURU GOBIND SINGH ON INDIAN SOCD?TY

and Sin in i ts univer sa l aspects a nd not any host i le c reed or race

opposed to any par t icular fa i th. A kinship can be traced between

the Kar tar (Creator) or Par-B rah man of Gur u Nanak' s conception

and the h ighe st idea l is t ic teachi ngs of the sa ges of India .

Sikhism, while i t was the asser t ion of such monotheis m, was

also the br idge which the G ur u threw across th e gulf of ha t e and

misunders tanding among the different warr ing creeds . I t sought

to reconcile , to br ing peace where there was s tr i fe to teach true

religi on in place of hollow ceremo nial , an d to give a new, ethic al-

idealistic direction to the individual and to society. All these ideals

were given an intensified powerful impulse by Guru Gobind Singh

in whom the sa int and the hero-crusader were united. Guru

Gobind Si ngh br ough t to fulfilment not only the vision of the society

in which Right must asser t i tse lf to prevail but a lso tha t f laming

spir i t of God-consciousness which issued in the mighty Bani or

Word of Guru Na na k .

CHAPTER 2

EVOLUTION OF THE HEROIC CHARACTER

GURU GOBIND SINGH AND THE HERO IC TRADIT ION

In the personali ty of Gu ru Gobind Singh, th e aspect which

has rece ived a lmost exclus ive emphas is is th a t of the l ib era tor ,

the crusader agains t tyranny and oppress ion. This , no doubt , is

the most striking quality and it has ever appealed to the millions

who durin g the two an d a half centu ries an d over have s oug ht the

inspiration for their lives from his personality. In contradiction to

the other Precept ors of the S ikh fa i th he is thoug ht of as the

warr ior , the hero with a resple nden t knigh tly f igure f ighting

again st ty ran ts and evil-doers, somew hat like Saint George of theChris t ians . The descr ipt ive names by which he is known are

indicativ e also of glory, mig ht and heroi sm, suc h for ins tan ce as

the Lord of the P lum e, Th e Lord of the Ha wk, th e Prote cto r of

Fait hal l evocativ e of noble hero ism and chivalry. Hi s figure is

conceived of as the Rid er on the Bay Char ger, shooting gold-tipped

arrows and d estroying in single combat tigers and other wild beasts.

He is ever heroic in the thick of the batt le, fig htin g wit ho ut hate

or rancour, merciful even to the foe. In suffering he is always

unruffled, bearing misfortu ne wit h equanimi ty of spirit as destine d

by the Timeless Creator , who se nds to ma n life and deat h, joy and

sorrow, as i t may sui t His inscrutab le purpo ses . This fa i th bouys

him up even in the mid st of the gr ea tes t misfor tunes which a

morta l can be called upo n to bea rt he loss of all his dear an d

near ones, includin g all his children , and t he deat h in batt le of his

brave st followers, dear er tha n the child ren of his flesh. All th is is

enshrined in the popular imagination, and is substantia l ly the

true pic ture of his personali ty. Th is pic ture has been emphas ized

and re-emphasized a l l th rou gh these two and a ha lf cent ur ies of

l This chapter is substantially the same as read out at a seminar on GuruGobind Singh, arranged in September 1966 by the Indian Institute of

Advanced Studies, Shimla.


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12 THE IMPACT OF GURU GOBIND SINGH ON INDIAN SOCIETY

the his tory of the S ikhs a page in his tory which is unexcelled in

the record of the s truggl e of ma n for the p reserv at io n of his spir i t

unc onqu e re d a ga in s t ove rwhe l m ing forc e s of oppre s s ion a n d

tyra nny.

In this pic tu re of hero , c rusa der and l ibera tor , the e l emen t

which tend s to ge t som ewh at obscured is th a t of the sa int , the

ma n of God, who l ived every mome nt of his l ife in contempl a t ion

of the Eternal, and sought to guide his steps by His will and behest.Concentra t ed in the personali ty of the G uru was the fa i th and th e

spir i tua l vis ion evolved by his predecessors in the Sikh Church,

f rom i t s Founde r , Guru Na na k , onwa rds who ha d r e i t e r a te d

among the people the faith in the One Uncreated Being. Formless,

Unbounded by Attr ibutes ye t the source and concentra ted sum of

a l l A t t r i b u t e s t h e C r e a t o r , P r e s e r v e r a n d D e s t r o y e r t h e

cherisher of r ight eousne ss and destroy er of unrig hteou sness . I t is

by this faith and its ideals that th e peculiar quality of Gu ru Gobind

Singh's heroism was fostered. This made him the mighty libarator,

the crea tor of the chival rous order of the Kh alsa charge d with the

task of wagi ng re lentless war agains t tyra nts and oppress ors . To

trace the for mation of the heroic chara c ter as reveal ed in the

personal i ty of Gu ru Gobind Singh and the heroes and marty rs of

Sikhism through fa i th and spir i tua l and moral disc ipl ine , would

indeed be a highly re war din g s tudy in the deeper aspects of the

re l igious personali ty. The s tre ngt h of the hero is the s t ren gth of

his soul , in which puri ty of motive a nd purpo se lends to ma n the

s tre ngt h to face up to the d ema nd s of a li fe of re len tless s tru ggle

agains t pi t i less forces and to overcome them both as martyr and

as hero. This is in consonance with the Indian philosophica l

tradit ion, w hich has mytholog ized the migh t of Shiva or Rud ra as

a t ta ine d af ter aeon s of r igoro us penan ce in the f reez ing snows of

the Kailas or of the stony-hard limbs of the hero Hanuman moulded

after his long bhakti or devotion to Rama (the God-Man). It is the

ascet ic (yogi) Shiva and his warr ior-consort Durga who in her

incarnat ion as Chan di f ights the ba t t l es of the gods whe n they are

opp ress ed by th e evil force of th e asuras or Demons.

A NEW EMPHASIS

While the Ind ian tradi t ion has not chosen to mythologize any

episode of mart yrdo m, as this idea is unders t ood and abso rbed by,

for example , the Semitic or the modern mind, and has a lways

sho wn the oppresso r as des troye d by the inter vent ion of divine

EVOLUTION OF THE HERO IC CHARACTER 13

vengeance wh en bent upon his career of iniquity an d evil , the

Sikh r e l ig ion ha s provid e d nu m e r ou s e xa m pl e s of he ro ic

martyrdom and has enuncia ted a fa i th in which martyrdom is

viewed as a necessa ry process in ma ki ng the purp ose s of God

pre va i l . Thi s he ro i sm , bo rn of suc h sp i r i tua l ide a l i sm a n d

asceticis m is, of cours e, a kind of sword- arm of the Di vine Will,

and i t is through such heroism a lone tha t the universe is f rom

time to ti me rescu&ed from the gri p of evil an d is ma de to fulfil

God's purposes.

It is with such idealism and faith in the ultimate victory of

r ighteousness af ter war with evil tha t Guru Gobind Singh in his

powerful autobiographical narrative fragment Bachitra Natak (The

Wonderful Drama) has revealed his miss ion. There is prominent

emp has is on a long life of aus ter e spi ritu ality as the so urce of his

power to wage war again s t evi l. Thus the s tory run s :

'Now shall I narrate my own story; and how I performed

auster i t ies : At the spot where th e moun t of Hem Kun t is s i tua ted

is the peak of Sapt Shri nga . Thi s is the spot where the Pa nd ava s

pract ised yoga. Here i t was tha t for long I perfomed auster i t i es ,

and invok ed the aid of the Ti mele ss Might. Th rou gh the force ofsuch auster i t ies , my se lf was merg ed into the Divine Being. So

also did my father and mother contemplate the Inaccessible, and

perform the prac t ices of yoga; th en did the Divine Lord s hower

His pleasure on them. When the Divine Will was revealed to me,

I took bi rth in the K ali Yuga' . After giving in brief th e hist ory of

the abuse of the divine mission to convert mankind to the worship

of the Tru e Lord by the g enera l i ty of teacher s and prop hets , wh o

instead se t themselves up i nto de i t ies , the Gur u th us def ines the

miss ion entrus ted to him :

I have exalted thee to be my own son,

To propagated the true faith,Go thou into the world,

And turn mankind away from senseless practices.2

Further on the account proceeds in the Guru disc la iming

divine a t tr ibutes to himself :

Any who name me Supreme Being

Shall all fall into the pit of hell.

Know me to be His servant.

Understand this to be without a doubt true.

2- These extracts are also from Bachitra Natak. In the last extract an idea

similar to the Gita is expressed.


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3-4. These extrac ts are also from Bachitra Natak. In the last extract an idea

similar to the Gita is expressed.

EVOLUTION OF THE HER OIC CHARACTER 15

In this res is tance the Sikh re l igious movement played a

pivota l par t in the Punj ab. As a matte r of fac t, while res i s tance

was spora dic in othe r par ts of the la nd, or dyn asti c and feudal, as

in the case of a few Rajput clans, th e Sik h resistance wa s inspired

with a high sense of missio n whic h the G ur us and the ir followers

felt called to achieve and to fulfil. Hence, it was that this movement

acquired cer ta in unique fea tures . In the f irs t place , i t had a

continu ity and a s t amin a which enabled i t to carry on one of the

grimmes t s truggles in the his tory of ma n agains t the most savagetyr ann y for over thre e qu ar te rs of a century . The n i t was in the

true sense a people's movement, in which the leaders were thrown

up by the masses of peasan ts , a r t isan s and other c lasses ran kin g

low in the Hindu caste classification. All these leaders were not

only men of ability and charact er in the us ual political and military

sense , but owed the ir leadership pr imari ly to the ir be ing men of

religion and piety, who held uncomp romis ingl y even in the face of

horrible torture and death to the mission which they felt they had

been charged by the Guru to fulfil. It has been these features

which turned the Sikhs not only into s teadfas t , hardy warr iors

and martyrs , and es tabhshed among them something akin to a

democracy or federa t ion of c lans , but a lso mad e the enti re Sik h

people in to an app rox imat ion of th e idea of a nat ion at a tim e

whe n in India people had not yet developed the idea of nationho od,

in which the bon d of a commo n soil an d commonl y held ideals

might be the cementing force . In those t imes people thought a t

the mo st in te rm s of tri bal or sect loyal ties. Th is, of course, h as

not s tood in the way of the Sik hs merg ing thems elves int o the

concerns of the la rg er Indian nat i on, as his to r ica l forces during

the ni net een th cen tur y and af ter forged the idea of In dia n

nationhood. But tha t is another issue .

FORMATION OF THE HEROIC CHARACTER

Ther e has been a distin ct course of evolutio n within the Sik h

fa i th s ince the t ime when Guru Nanak preached the worship of

the Eter nal , Unb orn, Forml ess God and the supre macy of the

pure life over rituals and creeds. The evolution was towards what

i t would not be inappropria te to ca l l an expanding socia l and

natio nal consciousness . As has been sa id on many occasions , the

germs of the l a ter manifes ta t ion of heroism and a rmed res is tance

were presen t in the or iginal idea ls which Guru Na nak enuncia t ed

and preached. Only there was a changea vast and s ignif icant

change indeedin emphasis . Sikhism, while i t grea t ly s tressed

I am servant to the Supreme Being.

And have come into the world to witness its play.

I speak the Word as I have heard it from the Lord;

And suppress not Divine Truth for fear of mortal man. 3

Then, a f ter some more verses def ining his fa i th, the Guru

proc e e ds :

For this have I come into the world,

The Lord God sent me for the protection of Righteousness

(dharma);

That I spread the truth everywhere,

And defeat and destroy the wicked and evil-doers.

For this mission have I taken birth;

Let all holy men know this in their inmost minds;

To spread the truth, to uphold holy men,

And to extirpate the wicked root and branch. 4

This long ish ext irp ate will help in forming a clear idea of the

crusadi ng mission again st the forces of tyr ann y and evil establishe d

in the age in which the G uru l ived. The his tory of Indi a durin g

the la ter Mughal per iod, par t icular ly the re ign of Aurangzib, is a

record of re l igious fanat ic ism an d oppress ion le t loose by an

oligarchy which exercised its unbridled despotism over the masses

of the I ndian people . Th e only sanction which might res t ra in such

oppress ion was arm ed revolt on the par t of such sec t ions of the

people as could so r ise . All despotism an d tyra nn y is , of course ,

humi lia t ing to the sufferers and by a malevo lent law of hu ma n

nat ure , the re is a s trong e leme nt of sadi sm in a l l exerc ise of

arbitrary power. There was in the proces of this exercise of power

l i t t le spa r ing th e fee l ings of the H ind us , and as a mat ter of fac t,

non -Sun ni Mus l im s too . In the da y s of the e a r l i e r Mugh a l

Emperors something l ike a countrywide peace prevailed, and

alt hou gh the H in du s suffered some of the d isabilities of aliens in a

soil which was by r ight the irs , things did somehow continue for

centur i es without f la r ing up into a re l igious war . The humil ia t in genactments of Aurangzib, such for examples as the re imposit ion

of the J izy a , th e demoli t i on of Hin du places of worsh ip, th e

imposit i on of res tr i c t ion s on erec t in g new templ es and on the

teach ing of the H in du fa i th and such other ac ts roused the spir i t

of venge ance am ong the vic t ims an d a movem ent of res is ta nce

bega n which ul t imate ly des troy ed the fabr ic of Mug hal rule .


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the pur i ty an d integr i ty of the ind ivid ual l i fe , has a t the sam e

tim e alwa ys set its face again st the life of th e recluse. I t would not

take long to es tablish this manifes t thes is . The Gurus were

themselves all householders, and encouraged their followers to set

up in var ious ca l l ings , t rades and occupations . Religion was tob e

the insp ir in g spir i t in a man' s da i ly li fe, a nd not an over-arc hing

influence which mi ght wean him aw ay from the world of corporate,

socia l l i fe . Guru Nanak and a l l his fol lowers r ight up t i l l Guru

Gobind Si ngh have been cr it ica l of the au ster i t ies and r i tua l is t i cpract ices whi ch obscure from ma n the nee d for a life of pur ity an d

vir tue . The ma n of God is to l ive in this world, to prac t ise

r igh teou snes s and truth , but not to be of i t . He must bear i 1 his

h e a r t vairag or renuncia t ion, but must on no account re trea t f rom

the scene of ac t ion. His renun cia t ion mu st consis t in his refusa l

to immer se himse lf in the pl easu res of life, whic h are the source of

se lf ishness an d s in. 'This ear th is the ho me of the True Lord' ,

says the Holy Granth, ' the Lord has His abode in i t ' . Hence the

injunc tion again s t i ts renu cia t io n. The consequ ence of such an

att i tu de was tha t the Sikh Ch urch was a lways extremely sensi t ive

to the social and political milieu, as it was shap ing in contemp orar y

India under Mughal rule . While asce t ics and rec luses were not

immune from persecution and tyranny, as is clear from the stories

of the persecution of such men, both Hindu and Muslim, like Kabir,

Na m de v, Sa rm a d the m ys t i c a nd num e rous o the r s , the S ikh

Church with i ts potentia l i ty for becoming a force which in t ime

mig ht become dangero us , did not escape the watchfu l eye of the

Mugha l r ide r s . He nc e , i t wa s tha t J a ha ngi r found a pre te x t to

send to de ath th e holy Guru Arjan, f i fth in the l ine , the sa int l y

an d divin e sing er of hy mn s of th e glory of God an d of overflowin g

love and tenderness for a l l mankind. In Guru Arjan's t ime the

SikH fa i th was acquir ing an organiza t ion and form which made

the rulers look upon it as a potential political force. Henceforth, asis well-known, th e Sikhs tho ugh t of the Sw ord in addit ion to the

Rosary, e ach symbolica l of a cer ta in a t t i tu de tow ard s l i fe. The

Swor d and the Rosary, of course, as has been state d earlier, n ever

got separ ted, and heroism continued and continues s t i l l , among

the Sikhs, to be spiritually and religiously inspired. This fusion of

the se two forces kept the Sik h spir i t of hero ism ideal is t ic , an d

de spi t e m a n y de via t ions a t the ha nds of a m bi t ious ind iv idua l s ,

ha s kept it close to its original fount of ins pir atio n and ha s largely

insula ted pub lic li fe again s t the inroad s of corruptio n.

EVOLUTION OF THE HEROIC CHARACTER 1 7

THE ROSARY AND THE S WORD

In the re l igious wri t ing s of the found ers of Sikhis m, an d in

the his tory of the Sik hs , a t leas t whd e the re l igious inspira t i on

was powerful, and influences like empire with their tendencies to

change the des cendan ts of heroes and ma rty rs into feudal chiefs

had not brought in confusing note , two dis t inc t s tra ins are

not icea ble: The se are first, a spiri t of ideal ism and humi lit y and

secondly, the conviction of a mission with which the man of God

fe lt charged in this world to combat and destroy unright eousn ess

and tyra nny . There has been a change of emph asis f rom one to

the other s tra in, par t icular ly af ter witness ing the martyrdom at

the h and s of the t yrann ica l power of the ru lers of two of the holy

Guru sGur u Ar ja n a nd Guru Te gh Ba ha dur . The se out r a ge s

convinced this growin g sect of peaceful, religious-minded peop le of

the need to add the sword to the rosary as the symbolical equipmen t

of the ir fa i th. Thus , G uru Hargob ind, son of the mar ty red Gu ru

Arjan, on occupying the seat of Gur ush ip replac ed the trad itio nal

rosary by two swords , symbolis ing spir i tua l and tem poral power.

His seat, in ste ad of bein g called the 'cot' as heretofore w as now

called a ' throne 'which spot has s ince served as the centra lca the dra l of Sikh spir i tua l authori ty. This is the famous Etern al

Throne (Akal Takht) , fac ing the Hari mandir or Golden Temple

at Amritsar . Guru Hargobind was deta ined too for a per iod by

order of Jaha ngi r , bu t was la ter on freed. He fought severa l

skir mishe s with the royal t roops , and ul t imat e ly re trea ted into

the hi l ls beyond easy reach of autho ri ty. His son, Gur u Tegh

Bah adu r, the nin th in the line of Guru ship , was beheade d by order

of Aurangzib in Delhi in 16 7 5 , leaving behin d him his young son,

nine years old, who was later to create the heroic force of the

Khals a and to leave such impress on the his tory of India . G uru

Tegh Bah adu r se t himself up to crea te res is tan ce to Mugha l

persecut ion amon g the people of Punj ab, of wh at is now cal led

Haryana and the areas surrounding Delhi . This res is tance was

intend ed, of course , to spre ad and to br ing to an end the he lpl ess

suffer ing of people . This was u ndou btedl y the f irs t ins tance of

suc h resista nce to the policies of a power ful empi re in Ind ia, on

such a vas t sca le . I ts charac ter was a lso dis t inc t , inasmuch as

th at it was aro use d neith er by ruli ng chiefs, as in the case of th e

few Rajput princes who revolted, nor by a feudal lord, such as

Shivaji Bhonsle was, but by a widely respected saint, whose only

hold over the people was his holy way of life and his persuasive


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word. I t was , thu s , in modern par l ance a t rue people 's movement.

That obviously a larmed the Mughal authori t ies , and by the usual

proces s of obta inin g a verdi ct again st the Gur u from th e ulem a as

spreading opposi t ion to Is lam, he was beheaded af ter tor ture and

disgrace in Chandni Chowk.

SIKH ISM AND THE HER OIC PAST OF INDIA

To revert now to the two strains which are visible all through

the ideas which were moul ding the S ikh charac ter , i t wil l as well

be useful to relate the se to th e tradi tio ns of religion as these hav e

grown in India for th ou san ds of year s. As ha s been implie d earlier,

according to the I ndi an point of view, her oism is th e f rui t of the

pen ance a nd pray er of th e ma n of God, of whic h the ar chet ype a nd

symbol is Shiva . Th e pr inc iple of Inc arna tio n or Avtar s , whi ch is

the ba s i s o f t r a d i t ion a l H induism , pos t u la te s the a s sum p t ion of

human or other forms by Vishnu, the preserver , to res tore the

ba la nc e of t ru th a nd r igh te ou sne s s in the un ive r se , whe n the se

are dis turbed and menaced by rampant evi l . That is what comes

out , among other numerous texts , in the famous declara t ion of

the Lord in the Gita , th a t He take s bir t h when ever r igh teous ness

is seen to fall into decline. Sikhism does not inculcate faith in thedoctr ine of Inc arna tio n of the Crea tor as a mat ter of fac t, a l l

t h r o u g h t h e S i k h S c r i p t u r e s u c h a n i d e a i s e m p h a t i c a l l y

repudia ted. But while the idea tha t the Divine ever assumes the

human or other shape is rejected, and holy men are assumed to be

spiritual guides, preceptors and heroes rather than gods, the ethical

idea underl ying this doctr ine is re i te r a ted in the teachin gs of the

Gur us most forceful ly. To a l i te ra l fa i th in the Inc arna tio n of the

Divine , the e thica l-spir i tua l interpre ta t io n is given (and about the

charac te r and assumpti ons of such interpre ta t ion no ambigu ity is

allowed to remain) , th at the sway of evil is eternall y challeng ed by

the s pirit of ideal ism in man, whi ch despit e suffering in sacrifice,must fulfil its function so as to challange evil. This faith and

vis ion is integra l to Sikhism, and the Gurus , as has been sa id

earlier , far from pre ach ing a re tr ea t from the affairs of the wo rld

in the way of the rec luse , ha ve const antly ac ted and s t r ive n to

brin g into the world the re ign of t ru th. G uru Na na k ha s given

express ion in some of his hy mn s5

to the agon y and suffering of his

soul a t the spectac le of the d es truc t i on and dep rada tion caused in

the Pun jab by Babar, the found er of Mug hal rule. This is, however,

5. Quoted below in excerpt s.


6. Guru Granth, p. 360

7- All the references, unless stat ed otherwise, are to Adi Granth.

not a mere sta tic lame nt, bu t is of the na tu re of a profou nd

meditation on the moral law which operates in shaping the history

of na t i ons and peoples : Defeat and degr adatio n is the re sult of a

life of selfish indu lgen ce and godl essness. Th ose who are indiffere nt

to the dem an ds of the mo ral life must suffer as did th e Pa th an

rulers of Indi a in their encou nter with Babar . Bab ar is the scou rge.

His invasio n is the sou rce of so muc h suffering to th e inno cent

and the guil ty a l ike . Myster i ous are the ways of the Lord who

shall a rgue wit h Him? But, in words the pa t hos of which s t i l lwrings the hear t a f ter these centur ies , the Guru addresses the

question to the Cre ator : These (the India n people) have wailed and

cried under the conqueror 's lash, dids t thou not fee l pi ty for

the m ?

Such was, as the Guru expressed it, the mysterious dynamics

of history . Ther e is evil and ther e is suffering. Man has con stan tly

to strugg le to defeat thi s evil. The ma n of God mus t not shr in k

from tak in g on himself suffering, if nece ssar y. In this stru ggl e,

God will, of course , be on th e side of the ri ght eou s and th e holy.

His purposes must prevail , but whereas in the tradi t ional Indian

mythology the rakshashas, symbolizing evil, are destroyed by the

miraculo us interv entio n of the de i ty or the avatar, whose bolt

smites the head of the demo n jus t whe n he is about to per pet ra te

the most he inous outrage , i n the Sikh re l igious tho ugh t only the

ult imat e t r iu mph of good is assured, a f ter long tra vai l and

suffering, an d self-sacrifice on the par t of th e good and th e holy.

This is what introduces into Sikh thoug ht the idea of mart yrd om

as the mea ns toward s the re-assertion of Good. The image ry of the

composit ions of the Gu rus is so powerful ly evocativ e of the

experience of suffering that it leaves no room for the illusion that

suffering is something distant or unreal or that it can be annulled

by a miracle. The faith expressed by the Gurus is not in the

ann ulm ent of suffer ing, but in the p a t ien t bear ing of suffer ing as

the myster ious way in which r ighteousness must t r iumph. To

the ma n of God joy and sorrow are alike, a nd his spiri t is att un ed

to pass ing through the one as through the other with the same

equan imity. The experience of suffer ing is one of the co nstan tly

recurr i ng the mes of the medita t ion s of the Gu rus . Says Guru

N a n a k 7 :


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The soul hungers after the True Name :

By such hun ger are all sorro ws consumed . (Asa, page 9)

In another hymn again :

Fear has gripped my heart; to whom shall I express my

travail?

My only recours e is to the Ann ull er of suffering, th e Ever-

Bounti ful Lord. (Dhanasari-page 660)

The fou rth Gur u, in th e course of a hy mn, s ays :

If tho u sende st me hun ger , 0 Lord, I feel,

stil l filled, an d in suff ering too find joy. (page 757)

The Word of Guru Arjan, who was subjec ted to unbearable

tort ures by the fiendishly sadistic minions of Jahang ir, is a const ant

antic ip a t ion of suffer ing to be unde rgon e in God's cause , y e t his

Word is a lso a consta nt pa ean of joy in God and in submis s ion to

His will. Wh at is at the basi s of suc h expres sion of bliss is not the

hope of a miraculous ann ul men t of suffering, but the trans mut ati on

of inevitable suffer ing throug h res iga t ion and submi ss ion into the

expe rien ce of bliss . Below are a few excerpt s from the hy mn s of

Gu ru Arjan, i l lus tra t ive of this the me :

1. One who is in the extreme of difficulties, without succour and support

from anyone,

And is beset by implacable foes, and deserted even by his kit h andkin;

Is bereft of all shelter and hope of finding refugeIf such a one

contemplate th e Supr eme Lord, not a breat h of hot air shall touch

him. (page 70)

2. One in whom is the love of the Lord,

All suffering, pai n and doub t shal l flee from him. (page 186)

3. Lord, those who have Thy succour

No suffering shal l touch the m. (page 188)

4. Und er the wing of the Lord not a hot

brea th of wind will touch me;

I am begirt with the miraculous

protective Arc of Ramasuffering fails to penetrate to me.

(page 819)5. Saith Nanak, my life has been one long joy. This life's night has

been a time of bliss . (page1209)

6. Wha tev er be Thy will, 0 Lord, it is sweet to me :

All I crave for is the weal th of Thy Nam e. (page 394)

7. He who leans on the strength of the Lord,

All his desir es are fulfilled; no suffering touch es him. (page 1223)

Gur u Arjan, who could bear with unruff led peace in hu ma n

tor tur e at the ha nd s of persecutor s, lived such a life as is expres sed

EVOLUTION OF THE HER OIC CHARACTER 21

in one of the sublimest pas sage s in all religious poetry by a devotee,

Bhai Gurdas , who was c lose ly associa ted with him a l l through

life. It is alone from a life so lived th at such mar ty rdo m can come.

As the fish are one with the waves of the river,

so was the Guru immersed in the River tha t is the Lord :

As the mot h merges itself at sight into th e flame,

so was the Guru's light merged with the Divine light.

In the extremest hours of suffering

he was aware of noth ing except the Divine Lord,

like the deer who hear s no sound but the beat of the hu nter 's

drum;

Like the bee who is wrapped inside the lotus he passed the night

of this life as in a casket of joy;

Never did he forget to utter the Lord's Word, even as the chatrik

never fails to utter its cry;

To the man of God joy is the fruit of devotion and meditat ion with

equanimity in holy company.

May I be a sacrifice unto this Guru Arjan!'

(Var 24)

The the me of res ignation an d se lf-surrender to the Lord is a t

the core of the teachi ng of the G uru s . Op en the Holy Gra nt h a t

any page, an d in hy mn after hy mn is express ed the ideal of life as

issuing for th in the spir i t of humil i ty and submi ss ion. As ag ains t

egoism, the spir i t of viewing a l l l i fe in te r ms of pam per in g the

self, and th e consequen t att itu de of disco ntent an d dissatisfaction,

the Gu rus preach ed what is a t the core of a l l India n ideal ism

re nunc ia t ion a nd hum di ty . Only in the i r sys te m re nunc ia t ion

involved not a re trea t f rom the nor mal concerns of exis tence , b ut

the sacrifice of inordinate desire, and freedom from the five forms

of evd enume rate d by the tra di t i onal e thica l philosophy of Indi a .

Through innumerable s imiles and images this point is brought

home to th e devotee. The m an of God is like the hansa, the Swan,

who has the power to sepa ra te t he milk of spir i t ua l i ty f rom the

water of worldliness. Thu s does the man of God reject the ep heme ral

ple asu re of th e world, and en rich hi s soul only wit h the joy in th e

Eter nal . By ano ther s imde, th a t of the lotus , th e ma n of God is

seen as res t in g on the water of the ma ter i a l world without be ing

touched by i t . Says Guru Arjan in his famous composit ion,

Sukhmani.

The saint is ever undefiled as the lotus,

Untouched by the wat er on which it floats.

Spir i tua l bl iss and joy imperishab le , whic h overcomes a l l


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suffer ing as experienced and bodied for th in the ir Word by the

Gur us , is the f rui t of this spir i t of renu ncia t ion of man. They are

view ed as fugitives from life, which de ma nd s of ma n a pe rpe tua l

stru ggl e with evil with in the self an d in th e outs ide world, so tha t

righteousness can be made to prevail. In his discussion on matters

spir i tu a l with the s iddhas (sa ints) on the he igh ts of the Himalay s ,

Gur u Nan ak is repor ted in the word s of Bhai Gur das to have

expo stula t ed with the m on the ir re tr ea t f rom the world :

'The Saints have returned to the mountain heights :who may then bring salvation to mankind?' (Var I)

Not a ret rea t away from the th eat re of the perp etu al struggle

against evil in the world, but endeavour in the way of a pure life;

to seek sa lvat ion and to br ing sa lvat i on to the ideal as envisag ed

by the Gu rus . At the end of his philosophical-spi ritual composition,

Japuji (Prayer Recita t ions) , Guru Nanak sums up thus the end of

the spir i tua l l i fe :

Those who have meditated on the Name, have indeed made heroic

endeavour;

Saith Nanak, their faces are illumined with the light divine, and

through them countless others have obtained salvation.

Th e accent is on the ma n of God sca tte rin g th e seed of his

spir i tua l i ty a l l a roun d, so tha t other s may par t ic ipa te in his God-

consiousness and ideal ism.

H u m i l i t y 8 is s tressed as the quint essenc e of the noble an d

reighteous life. To forgive and to live at peace with all mankind is

the way of godliness . The Guru s have expre ssed themselves th us

o n t h i s t h e m e :

1. Make forgiveness and patience thy milch-cow; Thus will the

calf of thy soul be fed with the milk of spiritual bliss.

(Guru Nanakpage 1329)

2. Humi lity is my mace; self-effacement is the spear I bear.

(Guru Arjanpage 628)

3. With forgiveness , se lf -disc ipl ine , noble conduct and

contentment as my support,

Neither sickness nor the torments of death afflict me.

(Guru Nanakpage 223)

4. The lowliest of the lowlyth e most despised among the

castes

Nanak stands by themhe emulates not the great and the

8. Bhai Gurdas in his First Var or Canto states that Guru Nanak returned

from the sight of God with 'the ninefold wealth of the Name and Humility.'

{nau-nidh nam garibi pai).


proud.

Lord, Thy grace and mercy fall on the land wher e the lowely are

cherished. (Guru Nanakpage 15)

The a t tr ibute by which Guru Nanak is known most is patit-

pavan, th e Sanctifier of the Fa llen . This tru ly reflects his vision

and ideal . This theme, as sa id ear l ie r , is pervasive in the

composit ions of the Gu rus an d the Bhak tas l ike Kabir , Namde v,

Ravidas , Far id and others whose hymns were approved for

inclusio n in the body of th e Holy Gran th by th e compiler, Gu ruArjan.

Ideal ism in the form of non -a t tach ment is a lso a constant ly

recurr ing theme in the spir i tua l a nd e thica l composit ions of Gur u

Gobind Singh, who combined wit h his chara cter of hero th e ideals

of sain tly life. As a mat te r of fact, thi s fusion of th e sai ntl y

chara cter with the heroic is th e special feature of th e evoluti on of

Sikhis m, which it is the end eav our of the pre sen t cha pte r to show

in its different facets.

Herois m is no less the perva sive the me of the Si kh Script ural

texts, b ut this is such hero ism as is the final rewa rd of a life of

t ru th and r ighteousness . The m en of God are des ign ated by Guru

Nan ak in the wonderful concluding port ion s of the Japuji as

'mighty heroes, in whom is infused the spirit of Lord. ' The be are rs

of heroic vir tue amo ng the wom en are l ike Sita , 'whose noble

beauty is beyond description. '

Again, t he ma n of God, wit ho ut fear of word ly powe r and

app rehe nsio n of wh at the evil of ma n can do, is the t rue h ero . It is

out of men bear ing such a charac ter tha t mart yrs an d heroes are

m a de . The m a n of God c ont in ue s f e a r le s s on the pa th of

righteousness, secure in the faith that God covers him over like a

shield. On e of the fav ours whi ch the m an of God ask s of th e Lord

is to be rendered fearless. Man is in fear as long as he is attached;

i t is his moral weak ness wh ich presen ts to hi m to spectre of fear .In Sukhinani, God is called "dispeller of fear, effacer of un ri gh teo us

thinking, a nd the protec tor of the unpro tec ted. '

Gu ru Arjan reiter ates it as th e especial favour of the Lord to

His serv an t to send him th e gift of fearl essne ss.

Guru Nanak emphasises t ruthfulness to be the especia l

a t tr ibu te of the pure in spir i t . Only those who have a t ta in ed true

heroism dare u t ter the tru e word in the face of tyr ann y and

persecution. This is the them e of the Guru 's hymn, ad dres sed to

his host , the humbl e carpent er Lalo, in the mi dst of the carn age

m i tic i iv u -r t i i u r V J U K U C r U B L N D O I N G H O N IN D I A N S O C I E T Y

EVOLUTION OF THE HEROI C CHARACTER 25


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by Babar 's vic tor ious hordes . Sparing nei ther Babar , the tyrant ,

nor the defeated rul ers and people of India, wh o had forgotten God

and r ighteousness , the Guru says , in words f laming with the

sp i r i tua l pa s s ion:

I utter what the Lord puts into my mouth : Babar has

descended upon India with his wedding part y of lust, and

unrigh teously deman ds the surre nder of the womanhood of

India.

Decency and religion have hid their faces from sheer terror;

unrighteousness struts about in triumph.

Muslim and Hindu priests are all thrust aside; the Devil is

making unholy marriages:

Nanak, in this carnage everywhere rise wails and laments.

Blood flows all around to serve for ritual saffron; Spare notto speak.

Just, however, is the Lord and just is His doom ; He is justever.

(Those who live in sin) their life's garment shall be torn to

tatters and shredslet India remember my warning !

(page 722-23)

THE TRANSFORMATION UNDER GURU GOBIND SINGH

The transformation effec ted by Guru Gobind Singh in the

Sikh charac ter , seen in the tota l backgrou nd of Sikh tho ugh t and

the prevai l ing ideals would app ear to be in the na t ur e of the

fulf i lment of an urge which h ad a l l a long been t he ba s is of the

fa i th communicated by the Gurus to the ir fol lowers . Prominent

in the Sikh mi nd was the imag e of the C rea tor as th e foe an d

aveng er of tyr ann y and evil .9

This fa i th was , of course , ha nd ed

down to the Gurus and the Sikh people f rom the ancient pas t of

India . Scat tered a l l through the Guru-Bani or Scr ipture is the

fa i th in God as the rescuer an d succourer of th e pure an d the

innocent f rom tyran ts and oppressors . In the I ndia n pas t this idea

ha d be e n t r a n sm u te d in to mythology , a nd num e rou s l e ge nds of

the des t ruc t i on of demo niac powers a t th e han ds of the var ious

forms that Divine Retributi on took, were curr ent amon g the people.

Belonging to the pr imeva l pas t a re the legends of the des tru c t ion

of asuras l ike Sum bha a nd N isum bha , Ma hikha sur a nd suc h

other s a t the han ds of Dur ga or Devi ( the go ddess par excellence)

known by va r ious na m e s suc h a s Bha va ni , Cha ndi , Bha ga ut i ,

Cha mun da, Maha kali and numero us more . This legend has been

9. This is the point in emphasizing which Sikhism distinctly stands out

from the other medieval religious movements, labelled as Bhakti.

EVOLUTION OF THE HEROI C CHARACTER 25

10. In the great epic Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, Guru Arjan is reported

also to have preached thus :

Fight with the tyrants who oppress the humbletherein lies true piety.'

poetized again an d again by Gur u Gobind Sin gh himself and by

the poets residing at his court. This legend with its power to instil

heroism, and brea t hing in f ie rce intensi t y the s pir i t of ende avou r

was treated as the basic symbolic epic, to rouse the spirit of

crusading zeal and sacrifice among those whom the Guru wished

to prepar e to take the sword agai ns t the oppress ors of his own

day.

There are then, the legends of the Avatar Narsimha, destroyer

of the godle s s ty ra n t Ha r ina k a shya pa or Ha rna ka s h; o f Ra m a

who humb led the pr ide of the ar rog ant Rava na, an d of Krish na ,

the des troyer of the mur der er Kansa and other tyran ts . In the

Sikh tradition are embedded more recent stories of the men of God

succoured by Him, such as the sa in t of Mah ara sht ra , N amd ev,

who was trad uced before the Sul tan of his day; and th e grea t

Kabir , a rra igne d as a here t ic . Gu ru Ram Das, th e fourth Apostle ,

was s landere d by a Khatr i of the Ma rw ah a c lan, but his s lande r

only recoded on him. The Guru has narra ted the inc ident in a

hymn of thank sgivi ng. His son Gur u Arjan was sou ght to be

attacked by a petty commander, Su lahi Khan , un der the instigation

of his own e lder brother Pr i thi a , sma rt i ng with chagrin a t be ing

passed over in nomination to the Guruship because of his crookedworldl iness . I t happ ened th a t Sulahi , whd e he was proceeding to

attack the Guru with a force, fell into a burning brick kiln, and

was char red to death. G uru Arjan ha s sung a song of than ksgi vin g

on this de l iverance . Note the imag ery express ive of the mi ght of

the Lord to destroy and uproot tyran ts. Su ch imagery is significant,

as coming from Guru Arjan, whose hear t was overf lowing with

ge nt le ne s s :

Sulah i is rendered powerless to do harm ; he has died wrapped in

impurity.

The Lord, at one stroke of the axe smote his head; in a moment he

was reduced to ashes.

He was destroyed, involved in his evil designs;God who created him pushed him on to hi s death .

The power of his arms an d his support ers, h is wealth

all shall cease to be; he has been wrested away from kith an d kin.

Saith Nanak, I am a sac; lfice to the Lord who made good the word

of his ser vant. 10



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14. Page 663

The God worshipped by the G uru s has the a t tr ib ute of might

to des troy evil when i t is rampant and becomes a menace to the

exis tence of r ighteousness . This charac te r comes out in numero us

hy mn s : Gu ru Arjan , for exa mpl e , refe rs to God as 'might y to

s u c c o u r . ' 1 1 Gu ru Na n a k , in a n e xa l t e d v i s ion , r e f e r s to the

de s t r uc t i on of e v i l a nd tyra n ny a ge a f t e r a ge . Thu s runs one

suc h hym n :

The beloved Lord created Kri shn a in the form of the child -hero

and gave him the strength to drag by the hair the tyrants Kamsa

and Chan dur; He is the true Might,d estroyer of the power ofintoxicated brutes.

The Lord who made the universe, has kept all its affairs in Hisown power;

The universe is on His leash; He drags it withersoever He pleases;

The proud tyrant shall inevitably be destroyed; while the saint

meditat ing on Him shall be merged in Him. (page 606)

I n a n o t h e r h y m n o n a s i m i l a r t h e m e , G u r u N a n a k

enu mer at es the tyran ts of mythology and legend such as the

arrogant Ravana des troyed by Rama, Madhu-Kaitabh, Mahikhasu r

and Raktabij des troyed by Durga , Harnakash torn to pieces with

the c laws by the Lord as the Lion-Man; Jar as an dh a destroyed by

Krishna and such others 1 2 . In the wor ds of Gu ru Arjan elsewhere,

God 'de s t roys a nd uproot s a r roga nt s . ' Anyone c onte m pla t ing

aggress ion on the meek and the poor , sha l l by the Lord be

con sume d in the f ire of His wrath . ' 1 3

Such hymns, to reiterate a point made before, but which will

b e a r r e p e t i t i o n , e x p r e s s f a i t h i n t h e u l t i m a t e t r i u m p h o f

r igh teou sness , as again s t the faci le be l ief encou raged by the

mytholo gical tales preval ent in India, incul catin g the belief in the

mirac ulou s inter vent ion of the Lord whenev er the innocent and

the sa int ly are fac ing oppress ion. The form that the fa i th in the

ul t im a t e t r iu m ph of r igh te ousne s s ha s t a ke n in S ikhi sm i s to

view such tr i ump h as the consequence of the fear less and heroics trug gle of the godly again s t the tyr ann y of the ungodly. In th e

rend erin g of the mythologica l ta les of the epic f ights be tween the

forces of the gods an d the demons by G ur u Gobind Singh an d the

poets a t his court , s ignif icantly, the ba t t les are long drawn out ,

a t t end ed with te rr ible carnag e and the vic tory of the gods is

11. Gur-Sura, liter ally the Heroic Lord (Page 293)

12. Pa ge 224

13. Page 199

extremel y hard won. Th e see-saw of ba t t l e is descr ibed in de ta i l

and with grea t gustothe d emons a l l but winning, but ul t imate ly

wors ted agains t Durga or Rama or Krishna , as the contending

deity may be . Ther e is nowh ere a hint of the easy, mirac ulou s

victory of the pop ular imagi nat ion . The strugg le is terrib le, full of

trava il and is the fruit not only of sup rem e heroism. I n this featur e

is implic i t the whole lesson which Sikhism was to inculca te

regar ding the tr ue charac t er of heroi sm both as a dedica t ion and

a course of self-invited sufferi ng and tra vai l in th e purs ui t of th e

ideal , which is to r id the world of evi l and tyran ny.

Ther e are antic ipa t ions of such heroism in the composit ions

of the Gurus who preceded Guru Gobind Singh, and of some of the

sa in ts whose hymn s are inc luded in the Holy Granth. S ays Gur u

Nanak while enuncia t ing the hard path which the man of God

mu st t readth e pat h of se lf -dedica t ion and sacr if ice , ' shou ldst

tho u cherish the desire to partic ipat e in the play of tur e love, place

thy head on the pa lm of thy ha nd : th en a lone mayst thou ente r

this quar ter : Shouldst thou put thy foot forward on this pa th,

hes ita te not to give up thy head. ' (page 1412)

The m an of God is def in ed as one who can 'be ar the

unbear able . ' His s teadfa s tness in the face of the tem pta t io ns of

the wor ld a nd h i s e ndura nc e in suf f e r ing m us t a lm os t be

sup erh uma n. Bhai Gur das , th e ear l ies t of the chronic lers of the

Guru s, ha s characterized the Hous e of Gu ru Ram Das, from whic h

were descended all the subs equen t Gurus, as marke d for its capacity

above a l l 'to bear the unbear able ' . This was in par t a prophecy of

the mart yrdo m, heroic suffering and r ighteo us endeavo ur of the

success ive occupants of the th ron e of Guru ship .

Guru Na na k ha s r e pr im a nde d the Ka sha t r iya s 1 4 of his da y,

proud of the ir mart i a l descent and the ir role as heroes , of mak in g

abjec t surrender to the rul ing Muslim c lans , whose language,

ways and customs they adopted to curry favour with th em. While

Guru Nanak did not lead an armed crusade himself , his Word

contin ued to be the seed from whic h spran g th e later heroic histo ry

of Sikh res is tance to the tyran ny unl eashed by Aurang zib and his

successors .

The sa int ly Kabir in words which continue to this day to

inspir e the Sik hs with the zea l an d fervour of holy and patr iot i c

war, h as made wh at sounds like a clarion call to heroic endeavo ur.


19/70


15. Sikh history furnishes examples of thousands of martyrs, who in the

spirit of the teachings of their religion underwent the most inhuman

tortures without flinching. There is thus t he story of Baba Ajit Singh,

Guru Gobind Singh's eldest son, who with a body of Sikhs rescue d a

Brahmin woman from a petty Muslim dignitary and restored her to her

family. There is simil ar incident in the life of the great warrior Jassa

Singh Ahluwalia, who rescued Hindu women from the aggressive Nawabof Kasur, when a supplication was laid before the Khalsa (the Sikh

People) at t he A

gurbachan singh talib - guru gobind singh's impact on indian society

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