Tempo:
80
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
CHAP, ni
1708-16.
and restrictions were resisted by the more zealous Sikhs, and they may have caused the memory of an able and enterprising leader to be generally neglected.^
The Sikhs
After the death of Banda an active persecution was kept up against the Sikhs, whose losses in battle
generally much depressed after the
death of Banda.
All who could be had been great and depressing. had to suffer death, or to renounce their faith. A price, indeed, was put upon their heads, and so vigorously were the measures of prudence, or of vengeance, followed up, that many conformed to Hinduism; others abandoned the outward signs of their belief, and the more sincere had to seek a refuge among the recesses of the hills. Or in the woods to the south of the Sutlej. The Sikhs were scarcely again heard of in history for seized
the period of a generation.^ Recapitulation.
Nanak.
Amar Das. Arjun.
Har Gobind.
Gobind Singh.
Thus, at the end of two centuries, had the Sikh faith become established as a prevailing sentiment and guiding principle to work its way in the world. Nanak disengaged his little society of worshippers from Hindu idolatry and Muhammadan superstition, and placed them free on a broad basis of religious and moral
Amar Das preserved the infant community from declining into a sect of quietists or ascetics; Arjun purit}^;
gave his increasing followers a written 'rule of conduct and a civil organization; Har Gobind added the use of arms and a military system; and Gobind Singh bestowed upon thqm a distinct political existence, and inspired them with the desire of being socially free and No further legislation was nationally independent. required; a firm persuasion had been elaborated, and a vague feeling had acquired consistence as an active principle. The operation of this faith become a fact, is only now in progress, and the fruit it may yet bear cannot be foreseen. Sikhism arose where fallen and corrupt Brahmanical doctrines were most strongly acted on by the vital and spreading Muhammadan belief. It
has now come into contact with the civiliza-
1 Cf. Malcolm, Sketch, pp. 83, 84. But Banda is sometimes styled Guru by Indians, as in the Siar ul Mutakharin (i. 114), and there is still an order of half-conformist Sikhs which regards him as its founder. Banda, it is reported, wished to establish a sect of his own, saying that of Gobind could, not endure; and he is further declared to have wished to change the exclamation or salutation, 'Wah Guru ke Fateh!' which had been used or ordained by Gobind, into 'Fateh Dharam!' and 'Fateh Darsan!' (Victory to faith! Victory to the sect!). Cf. Malcolm, Sketch, pp. 83, 84.
- Cf. Forster (Travels, i. 312. 313), and Browne Tracts, ii. 13), and also Malcolm (Sketch, pp. 85, 86).
(India
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
CHAP, ni
1708-16.
and restrictions were resisted by the more zealous Sikhs, and they may have caused the memory of an able and enterprising leader to be generally neglected.^
The Sikhs
After the death of Banda an active persecution was kept up against the Sikhs, whose losses in battle
generally much depressed after the
death of Banda.
All who could be had been great and depressing. had to suffer death, or to renounce their faith. A price, indeed, was put upon their heads, and so vigorously were the measures of prudence, or of vengeance, followed up, that many conformed to Hinduism; others abandoned the outward signs of their belief, and the more sincere had to seek a refuge among the recesses of the hills. Or in the woods to the south of the Sutlej. The Sikhs were scarcely again heard of in history for seized
the period of a generation.^ Recapitulation.
Nanak.
Amar Das. Arjun.
Har Gobind.
Gobind Singh.
Thus, at the end of two centuries, had the Sikh faith become established as a prevailing sentiment and guiding principle to work its way in the world. Nanak disengaged his little society of worshippers from Hindu idolatry and Muhammadan superstition, and placed them free on a broad basis of religious and moral
Amar Das preserved the infant community from declining into a sect of quietists or ascetics; Arjun purit}^;
gave his increasing followers a written 'rule of conduct and a civil organization; Har Gobind added the use of arms and a military system; and Gobind Singh bestowed upon thqm a distinct political existence, and inspired them with the desire of being socially free and No further legislation was nationally independent. required; a firm persuasion had been elaborated, and a vague feeling had acquired consistence as an active principle. The operation of this faith become a fact, is only now in progress, and the fruit it may yet bear cannot be foreseen. Sikhism arose where fallen and corrupt Brahmanical doctrines were most strongly acted on by the vital and spreading Muhammadan belief. It
has now come into contact with the civiliza-
1 Cf. Malcolm, Sketch, pp. 83, 84. But Banda is sometimes styled Guru by Indians, as in the Siar ul Mutakharin (i. 114), and there is still an order of half-conformist Sikhs which regards him as its founder. Banda, it is reported, wished to establish a sect of his own, saying that of Gobind could, not endure; and he is further declared to have wished to change the exclamation or salutation, 'Wah Guru ke Fateh!' which had been used or ordained by Gobind, into 'Fateh Dharam!' and 'Fateh Darsan!' (Victory to faith! Victory to the sect!). Cf. Malcolm, Sketch, pp. 83, 84.
- Cf. Forster (Travels, i. 312. 313), and Browne Tracts, ii. 13), and also Malcolm (Sketch, pp. 85, 86).
(India
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