Tempo:
72 1675-1708.
Summoned by Aurangzeb to his presence.
Replies to the emperor in a
denunciatory strain.
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
CHAP. Ill
and his recollections or visions of his antecedent existence. All he had done, he said, had been done with the aid of the Almighty; and to 'Loh', or the mysterious virtue of iron, he attributed his preservation. While thus living in retirement, messengers arrived to summon him to the emperor's presence, but Gobind rephed to Aurangzeb in a series of parables admonitory of kings, partly in which, and partly in a letter whicJi accompanied them, he remonstrates rather than humbles himself. He denounces the wrath of God upon the monarch, rather than deprecates the imperial anger against himself; he tells the emperor that he puts no trust in him, and that the 'Khalsa' will avenge him. He refers to Nanak's religious reform, and he briefly alludes to the death of Arjun and of Tegh Bahadur. He describes his own wrongs and his childless condition. He was, as one without earthly link, patiently awaiting death, and fearing none but the sole Emperor, the King of Kings. Nor, said he, are the prayers of the poor ineffectual; and on the day of reckoning it would be seen how the emperor would justify his manifold cruelties and oppressions. The Guru was again desired to repair to Aurangzeb's presence, and he really appears to have proceeded to the south some time before the aged monarch was removed by death. ^
Aurangzeb dies, and Bahadur Shah succeeds, A. D, 1707.
Gobind proceeds to the south of India.
Enters the imperial
Aurangzeb died in the beginning of 1707, and his Bahadur Shah, hastened from Kabul to secure the succession. He vanquished and slew one brother near Agfa, and, marching to the south, he defeated a second, Kambakhsh, who died of his wounds. While engaged in this last campaign, Bahadur Shah summoned Gobind to his camp. The Guru went: he was treated with respect, and he received a military command in the valley of the Godavari. The emperor eldest son,
perhaps thought that the leader of insurrectionary Jats might be usefully employed in opposing rebellious Marathas, and Gobind perhaps saw in the imperial service a ready way of disarming suspicion and of reorganizing his followers.^ At Dam-Dama he had ^ In this narrative of Gobind's warlike actions, reference has been mainly had to the Vichitr Natak of the Guru, to the Guru Bilas of Sukha Singh, and to the ordinary modern compilations in Persian and Gurmukhi; transcripts, imperfect apparently, of some of which latter have been put into English by Dr. Macgregor (History of the Sikhs, pp. 79-99). 2 The Sikh writers seem unanimous in giving to their great teacher a military command in the Deccan, while some recent Muhammadan compilers assert that he died at Patna. But the liberal conduct of Bahadur Shah is confirmed by the contemporary historian, Khafi Khan, who states that he received rank in the Mughal army (see Elphinstone, Hist, of India, ii. 566
Summoned by Aurangzeb to his presence.
Replies to the emperor in a
denunciatory strain.
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
CHAP. Ill
and his recollections or visions of his antecedent existence. All he had done, he said, had been done with the aid of the Almighty; and to 'Loh', or the mysterious virtue of iron, he attributed his preservation. While thus living in retirement, messengers arrived to summon him to the emperor's presence, but Gobind rephed to Aurangzeb in a series of parables admonitory of kings, partly in which, and partly in a letter whicJi accompanied them, he remonstrates rather than humbles himself. He denounces the wrath of God upon the monarch, rather than deprecates the imperial anger against himself; he tells the emperor that he puts no trust in him, and that the 'Khalsa' will avenge him. He refers to Nanak's religious reform, and he briefly alludes to the death of Arjun and of Tegh Bahadur. He describes his own wrongs and his childless condition. He was, as one without earthly link, patiently awaiting death, and fearing none but the sole Emperor, the King of Kings. Nor, said he, are the prayers of the poor ineffectual; and on the day of reckoning it would be seen how the emperor would justify his manifold cruelties and oppressions. The Guru was again desired to repair to Aurangzeb's presence, and he really appears to have proceeded to the south some time before the aged monarch was removed by death. ^
Aurangzeb dies, and Bahadur Shah succeeds, A. D, 1707.
Gobind proceeds to the south of India.
Enters the imperial
Aurangzeb died in the beginning of 1707, and his Bahadur Shah, hastened from Kabul to secure the succession. He vanquished and slew one brother near Agfa, and, marching to the south, he defeated a second, Kambakhsh, who died of his wounds. While engaged in this last campaign, Bahadur Shah summoned Gobind to his camp. The Guru went: he was treated with respect, and he received a military command in the valley of the Godavari. The emperor eldest son,
perhaps thought that the leader of insurrectionary Jats might be usefully employed in opposing rebellious Marathas, and Gobind perhaps saw in the imperial service a ready way of disarming suspicion and of reorganizing his followers.^ At Dam-Dama he had ^ In this narrative of Gobind's warlike actions, reference has been mainly had to the Vichitr Natak of the Guru, to the Guru Bilas of Sukha Singh, and to the ordinary modern compilations in Persian and Gurmukhi; transcripts, imperfect apparently, of some of which latter have been put into English by Dr. Macgregor (History of the Sikhs, pp. 79-99). 2 The Sikh writers seem unanimous in giving to their great teacher a military command in the Deccan, while some recent Muhammadan compilers assert that he died at Patna. But the liberal conduct of Bahadur Shah is confirmed by the contemporary historian, Khafi Khan, who states that he received rank in the Mughal army (see Elphinstone, Hist, of India, ii. 566
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