Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
70 1675-1708.
seemed justified by success.
CHAP.
[II
A period of rest ensued,
during which, says Gobind, he punished such of his followers as were lukewarm or disorderly. But the aid which he rendered to the chief of Kuhlur was not forgotten, and a body of Muhammadan troops made an unsuccessful attack upon his position. Again an imperial commander took the field, partly to coerc2 Gobind, and partly to reduce the hill rajas, who, profiting by the example of Bhim Chand, had refused lo pay their usual tribute. A desultory warfare ensued; some attempts at accommodation were made by the hill chiefs, but these were broken off, and the expedition ended in the rout of the Muhammadans. Gobind's proceedings excite the suspicions of the hill chiefs,
and
cause the
emperor some anxiety, (about)
The success of Gobind, for all was attributed to him, caused the Muhammadans some anxiety, and his designs appear likewise to have alarmed the hill chiefs, for they loudly claimed the imperial aid against one who announced nimself as the True King. Aurangzeb directed the governors of Lahore and Sirhind to march against the Guru, and it was rumoured that the emperor's son, Bahadur Shah, would himself take the field
in their support.^ Gobind was surrounded at Anandpur by the forces of the empire. His own resolution was equal to any emergency, but numbers of his folGobind relowers deserted him. He cursed them in this world duced to straits at and in the world to come, and others who wavered he Anandpur. caused to renounce their faith, and then dismissed them with ignominy. But his difficulties increased, desertions continued to take place, and at last he found himself at the head of no more than forty devoted followers. His children His mother, his wives, and his two youngest children escape; but effected their escape to Sirhind, but the boys were are subsethere betrayed to the Muhammadans and put to death.quently put The faithful forty said they were ready to die with to death. their priest and king, and they prayed him to recall his curse upon their weaker-hearted brethren, and to restore to them the hope of salvation. Gobind said that 1701.
1 Malcolm (Sketch, p. 60, note) says that this allusion would place the warfare in a. d. 1701, as Bahadur Shah was at that time sent from the Deccan towards Kabul. Some Sikh traditions, indeed, represent Gobind as having gained the goodwill of, or as they put it, as having shown favour to, Bahadur Shah; and Gobind himself, in the Vichiir Natak, says that a son of the emperor came iv u'ppress the disturbances, but no name
is
given. Neither does Mr. Elphinstone {History, ii. 545) specify
Bahadur Shah; and, indeed, he merely seems to conjecture that a prince of the blood, who was sent to put down disturbances near Multan, was really employed against the Sikhs near Sirhind. ~ The most detailed account of this murder of Gobind's children is given in Browne's India Tracts, ii. 6, 7.
70 1675-1708.
seemed justified by success.
CHAP.
[II
A period of rest ensued,
during which, says Gobind, he punished such of his followers as were lukewarm or disorderly. But the aid which he rendered to the chief of Kuhlur was not forgotten, and a body of Muhammadan troops made an unsuccessful attack upon his position. Again an imperial commander took the field, partly to coerc2 Gobind, and partly to reduce the hill rajas, who, profiting by the example of Bhim Chand, had refused lo pay their usual tribute. A desultory warfare ensued; some attempts at accommodation were made by the hill chiefs, but these were broken off, and the expedition ended in the rout of the Muhammadans. Gobind's proceedings excite the suspicions of the hill chiefs,
and
cause the
emperor some anxiety, (about)
The success of Gobind, for all was attributed to him, caused the Muhammadans some anxiety, and his designs appear likewise to have alarmed the hill chiefs, for they loudly claimed the imperial aid against one who announced nimself as the True King. Aurangzeb directed the governors of Lahore and Sirhind to march against the Guru, and it was rumoured that the emperor's son, Bahadur Shah, would himself take the field
in their support.^ Gobind was surrounded at Anandpur by the forces of the empire. His own resolution was equal to any emergency, but numbers of his folGobind relowers deserted him. He cursed them in this world duced to straits at and in the world to come, and others who wavered he Anandpur. caused to renounce their faith, and then dismissed them with ignominy. But his difficulties increased, desertions continued to take place, and at last he found himself at the head of no more than forty devoted followers. His children His mother, his wives, and his two youngest children escape; but effected their escape to Sirhind, but the boys were are subsethere betrayed to the Muhammadans and put to death.quently put The faithful forty said they were ready to die with to death. their priest and king, and they prayed him to recall his curse upon their weaker-hearted brethren, and to restore to them the hope of salvation. Gobind said that 1701.
1 Malcolm (Sketch, p. 60, note) says that this allusion would place the warfare in a. d. 1701, as Bahadur Shah was at that time sent from the Deccan towards Kabul. Some Sikh traditions, indeed, represent Gobind as having gained the goodwill of, or as they put it, as having shown favour to, Bahadur Shah; and Gobind himself, in the Vichiir Natak, says that a son of the emperor came iv u'ppress the disturbances, but no name
is
given. Neither does Mr. Elphinstone {History, ii. 545) specify
Bahadur Shah; and, indeed, he merely seems to conjecture that a prince of the blood, who was sent to put down disturbances near Multan, was really employed against the Sikhs near Sirhind. ~ The most detailed account of this murder of Gobind's children is given in Browne's India Tracts, ii. 6, 7.
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