Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
66
They should have one the devotion of the sincere. form of initiation, he said, the sprinkling of water by
1675-1708.
Lustration by water.
visible
•'
The exclii-
Unshorn locks; the title
of
Singh;
and devotion to
arms.
the faithful;^ they should worship the One, InGod; they should honour the memory of Nanak and of his transanimate successors; - their watchword should be, Hail Guru! but they should revere and bow to nought visible save the Granth, the book of their belief.^ They should bathe, from time to time, in the pool of Amritsar; their locks should remain unshorn; they should all name themselves 'Singhs', or soldiers, and of material things they should devote their finite energies to steel alone.'' Arms should dignify their person; they should be ever waging war, and great would be his merit who fought in the van, who slew an enemy, and who despaired not although overcome. He cut off the three sects of dissenters from all intercourse: the Dhirmalis, who had laboured to destroy Arjun; the Ram Rais, who had compassed the death of his father; and the Masandis, who had resisted his own authority. He denounced the 'shaven', meaning, perhaps, all Muhammadans and Hindus; and for no reason which bears clearly on the worldly scope of his mission, he held up to reprobation those slaves of a perverse custom, who impiously take the lives of their infant daughters.^ five of
Reverence for Nanak.
mation. Hail Guru
CHAP, III
!
Gobind had achieved one victory, he had made himself master of the imagination of his followers; but a more laborious task remained, the destruction of the empire of unbelieving oppressors. He had established the Khalsa, the theocracy of Singhs, in the midst of Hindu delusion and Muhammadan error; he had confounded Pirs and MuUas, Sadhs and Pandits, but he ha^ yet to vanquish the armies of a great emperor, and to subdue the multitudes whose faith he impugned. The design of Gobind may seem wild and senseless to those accustomed to consider the firm sway and regular policy of ancient Rome, and who daily witness the power and resources of the well-ordered governments 1
See Appendix: XI.
-
The use of the word 'transanimate' may perhaps be
allow^ed. The Sikh belief in the descent of the individual spirit of Nanak upon each of his successors, is compared by Gobind in the Vichitr Natak to the imparting of flame from one lamp to another.
See Appendix XII. Obeisance to the Granth alone is inculcated in the Rahat Nama or Rule of Life of Gobind, and he endeavoured to guard against being himself made an object of future idolatry, by denouncing (in the Vichitr Natak) all who should regard him 3
4
as a god. 5 See
Appendix XIII.
^
gee Appendix XIV.
66
They should have one the devotion of the sincere. form of initiation, he said, the sprinkling of water by
1675-1708.
Lustration by water.
visible
•'
The exclii-
Unshorn locks; the title
of
Singh;
and devotion to
arms.
the faithful;^ they should worship the One, InGod; they should honour the memory of Nanak and of his transanimate successors; - their watchword should be, Hail Guru! but they should revere and bow to nought visible save the Granth, the book of their belief.^ They should bathe, from time to time, in the pool of Amritsar; their locks should remain unshorn; they should all name themselves 'Singhs', or soldiers, and of material things they should devote their finite energies to steel alone.'' Arms should dignify their person; they should be ever waging war, and great would be his merit who fought in the van, who slew an enemy, and who despaired not although overcome. He cut off the three sects of dissenters from all intercourse: the Dhirmalis, who had laboured to destroy Arjun; the Ram Rais, who had compassed the death of his father; and the Masandis, who had resisted his own authority. He denounced the 'shaven', meaning, perhaps, all Muhammadans and Hindus; and for no reason which bears clearly on the worldly scope of his mission, he held up to reprobation those slaves of a perverse custom, who impiously take the lives of their infant daughters.^ five of
Reverence for Nanak.
mation. Hail Guru
CHAP, III
!
Gobind had achieved one victory, he had made himself master of the imagination of his followers; but a more laborious task remained, the destruction of the empire of unbelieving oppressors. He had established the Khalsa, the theocracy of Singhs, in the midst of Hindu delusion and Muhammadan error; he had confounded Pirs and MuUas, Sadhs and Pandits, but he ha^ yet to vanquish the armies of a great emperor, and to subdue the multitudes whose faith he impugned. The design of Gobind may seem wild and senseless to those accustomed to consider the firm sway and regular policy of ancient Rome, and who daily witness the power and resources of the well-ordered governments 1
See Appendix: XI.
-
The use of the word 'transanimate' may perhaps be
allow^ed. The Sikh belief in the descent of the individual spirit of Nanak upon each of his successors, is compared by Gobind in the Vichitr Natak to the imparting of flame from one lamp to another.
See Appendix XII. Obeisance to the Granth alone is inculcated in the Rahat Nama or Rule of Life of Gobind, and he endeavoured to guard against being himself made an object of future idolatry, by denouncing (in the Vichitr Natak) all who should regard him 3
4
as a god. 5 See
Appendix XIII.
^
gee Appendix XIV.
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