Tempo:
CHAP. Ill
SIKHISM UNDER GOBIND
<)1)
Gurkhas and the English. He had likewise a retreat i675-i708. Anandpur-Makhowal, which had been established and leagues by his father/ and a third at Chamkaur, fairly in the with the plains and lower down the Sutlej than the chosen chiefs of haunt of Tegh Bahadur. He had thus got strongholds ^^^ Lower which secured him against any attempts of his hill Himalayas, neighbours, and he would next seem to have endeavoured to mix himself up with the affairs of these halfindependent chiefs, and to obtain a commanding influence over them, so as by degrees to establish a virtual principality amid mountain fastnesses to serve as the basis of his operations against the Mughal government. As a religious teacher he drew contributions and pro- His influcured followers from all parts of India, but as a leader ence as a he perceived, the necessity of a military pivot, and as religious a rebel he was not insensible to the value of a secure ^^^^her. at
•
retreat.
Gobind has himself described the several actions oobind which he was engaged, either as a principal or as quarrels an ally.- His pictures are animated; they are of some ^'**^ *^^ value as historical records, and their sequence seems Nah^an*and more probable than that of any other narrative. His Naiagarh. first contest was with his old friend the chief of Nahan, aided by the Raja of Hindur, to whom he had given offence, and by the mercenary Pathans in his own service, who claimed arrears of pay, and who may have hoped to satisfy all demands by the destruction of Gobind and the plunder of his establishments. But the Guru was victorious, some of the Pathan leaders fell, and Gobind slew the young warrior, Hari Chand in
with his own hand. The Guru nevertheit prudent to move to the Sutlej; he Aids the became the ally of Bhim ^{^j^^^^^^^ Anandpur, and strengthened Chand of Kuhlur, who was in resistance to the impe- other""cMefs The Muhammadan against the rial authorities of Kot Kangra. commander was joined by various hill chiefs, but in imperial the end he was routed, and Bhim Chand's rebellion forces. of Naiagarh,
less
deemed
1 Anandpur is situated close to Makhowal. The first name was given by Gobind to his own particular residence at Makhowal, as distinguished from the abode of his father, and it signified the place of happiness. A knoll, with a seat upon it, said Gobind was wont to is here pointed out, whence it is discharge an arrow a coss and a quarter about a mile and
—
two-thirds English, the Punjabi coss being small. - Namely, in the Vichitr Natak, already quoted as a portion The Guru Bilas, by Sukha Singh, of the Second Granih. corroborates Gobind's account, and adds many details. Malcolm (Sketch, p. 58, &c.) may be referred to for translations of some portions of the Vichitr Natak bearing on the period, but Malcolm's own general narrative of the events is obviously contradictory
and inaccurate.
SIKHISM UNDER GOBIND
<)1)
Gurkhas and the English. He had likewise a retreat i675-i708. Anandpur-Makhowal, which had been established and leagues by his father/ and a third at Chamkaur, fairly in the with the plains and lower down the Sutlej than the chosen chiefs of haunt of Tegh Bahadur. He had thus got strongholds ^^^ Lower which secured him against any attempts of his hill Himalayas, neighbours, and he would next seem to have endeavoured to mix himself up with the affairs of these halfindependent chiefs, and to obtain a commanding influence over them, so as by degrees to establish a virtual principality amid mountain fastnesses to serve as the basis of his operations against the Mughal government. As a religious teacher he drew contributions and pro- His influcured followers from all parts of India, but as a leader ence as a he perceived, the necessity of a military pivot, and as religious a rebel he was not insensible to the value of a secure ^^^^her. at
•
retreat.
Gobind has himself described the several actions oobind which he was engaged, either as a principal or as quarrels an ally.- His pictures are animated; they are of some ^'**^ *^^ value as historical records, and their sequence seems Nah^an*and more probable than that of any other narrative. His Naiagarh. first contest was with his old friend the chief of Nahan, aided by the Raja of Hindur, to whom he had given offence, and by the mercenary Pathans in his own service, who claimed arrears of pay, and who may have hoped to satisfy all demands by the destruction of Gobind and the plunder of his establishments. But the Guru was victorious, some of the Pathan leaders fell, and Gobind slew the young warrior, Hari Chand in
with his own hand. The Guru nevertheit prudent to move to the Sutlej; he Aids the became the ally of Bhim ^{^j^^^^^^^ Anandpur, and strengthened Chand of Kuhlur, who was in resistance to the impe- other""cMefs The Muhammadan against the rial authorities of Kot Kangra. commander was joined by various hill chiefs, but in imperial the end he was routed, and Bhim Chand's rebellion forces. of Naiagarh,
less
deemed
1 Anandpur is situated close to Makhowal. The first name was given by Gobind to his own particular residence at Makhowal, as distinguished from the abode of his father, and it signified the place of happiness. A knoll, with a seat upon it, said Gobind was wont to is here pointed out, whence it is discharge an arrow a coss and a quarter about a mile and
—
two-thirds English, the Punjabi coss being small. - Namely, in the Vichitr Natak, already quoted as a portion The Guru Bilas, by Sukha Singh, of the Second Granih. corroborates Gobind's account, and adds many details. Malcolm (Sketch, p. 58, &c.) may be referred to for translations of some portions of the Vichitr Natak bearing on the period, but Malcolm's own general narrative of the events is obviously contradictory
and inaccurate.
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