Guru Gobind Singh Ji

In this picture of hero, crusader and liberator the element that tends to somewhat get obscured in that of the saint, the man of God who lived every moment of his life in contemplation of the eternal. Concentrated in the personality of Guru Ji were the faith and the spiritual vision evolved by his predecessors, from the founder Guru Nanak Dev Ji onwards, who had reiterated among the people the faith in the one Uncreated Being, formless, Unbounded by attributes yet the source and concentrated sum of all Attributes – the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer – the cherisher of righteousness. This made Guru Gobind Singh Ji the mighty liberator, the creator of the chivalrous order of the Khalsa charged with the task of waging relentless war on the tyrants and oppressors.

The history of India during the later Mughal period, particularly the reign of Aurangzeb, is a record of religious intolerance, fanaticism and oppression let loose on a mass of people who had been in servitude for hundreds of years. In the earlier days of the Mughal Emperors something like a countrywide peace was in existence if only superficially. The Hindus still suffered the indignity of aliens in a soil which was by rights theirs, things did somehow continue for centuries without flaring up into a religious war. Although efforts have been made on many fronts to present Aurangzeb as a religious and tolerant ruler, the truth is that his imposition of the Jizya, the demolition of Hindu places of worship, the imposition of restrictions of erecting new temples, on teaching the Hindu faith, even down to the banning of Hindus to ride horses and the banning of music and singing roused the spirit of vengeance among the victims and a movement began which would ultimately destroy the fabric of Mughal rule.

Even though it is much often overlooked by historians, in this resistance the Sikh religious movement played a pivotal role. As a matter of fact, while resistance was sporadic in other parts of the land, or dynastic and feudal, as in the case of some Rajput clans, the Sikh resistance was inspired with a high sense of mission. Hence it was that this movement acquired certain unique features.

First, it had a continuity and stamina which enabled it to carry on one of the grimmest struggles in the history of man against the most savage of tyranny. Secondly, it was in the true sense a peoples movement, in which the leaders were thrown up by the masses of peasants and other classes ranking low in the Hindu caste classification. All these leaders were not only men of ability and character but owed their leader ship primarily to their being men of religion and piety, who held uncompromisingly - even in the face of horrible torture and death – to the mission which they felt they had been charged by Guru Gobind Singh Ji to fulfil. It was these features that turned Sikhs not only into steadfast, hardy warriors and martyrs , and established among themselves something akin to a democracy , but also made the entire Sikh people to aspire to an idea of a nation at a time when in India people had not yet developed the idea of nation hood.

The germs of heroism and armed resistance were present in the original ideals of Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s preaching, however there was a change in emphasis. Although Sikhism stressed purity and integrity in the individual life, it has always moved away from the life of a recluse. The Gurus were themselves householders and encouraged their followers to follow suit. Religion was to be the inspiring spirit in a man’s daily life, and not an influence which might wean him away from social responsibilities. Guru Nanak Dev Ji to Guru Gobind Singh Ji have all been critical of the austerities and ritualistic practices which obscure from man the need for a life of purity and virtue. The man of God is to live in this world, to practice righteousness and truth, but not to be part of it. He must bear in his heart ‘Bhairag’ or renunciation, but on no account retreat from the scene. His renunciation must consist in his refusal to immerse himself in the pleasures of life, which are the source of selfishness, ego and sin. Guru Granth Sahib Ji states “ This earth is the home of the True Lord, and the Lord has His abode in it.”, hence the injunction against renunciation.

There had been a change in emphasis from the saint to the soldier, particularly after the martyrdom of Guru Arjun Dev Ji, fifth in line. This outrage convinced the growing faith of peaceful, religiously minded people of the need to add the sword to the rosary as the symbolic equipment of their faith. Thus, Guru Hargobind Ji, son of the martyred Guru Arjun Dev Ji on occupying the of Guru ship replaced the traditional rosary with two swords, symbolizing spiritual and temporal power. The seat now became a “throne” and named the Akal Takhat , facing the Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar. Guru Hargobind Sahib fought four battles with the Mughal troupes, routing them each time. His son, Tegh Bahadur would become ninth in line and would hand over the guruship to nine year old Gobind Rai who later created the Khalsa which was to leave such an imprint on the history of India.

The Hindu, no doubt, had declared the invading muslim to be on the level of an untouchable of his own society, but that did not spirit away the ugly facts of oppression and tyranny. Muslim rule was firmly established over the major portions of the vast land of India and whatever resistance the Hindu princes had put in the beginning was rendered futile by their own petty rivalries and the lack of either a unified vision or a powerful central authority whose resources could cope with the onslaught of the foreign invaders.
Muslim rule in India took the well known lines of development which had taken place elsewhere. India was perhaps too vast a country for the kind of total cultural conquest which the muslims were able to effect in comparatively smaller lands. While hatred and resistance was met by the muslims in other conquered lands, but the institutionalised boycott that they encountered of untouchability for all muslims was a peculiar phenomenon in India. 

Nevertheless the muslims were able to convert sizable portion of the Indian population, if only by outward appearances. It was in this social fabric that Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji immobilised the Sikhs. His seat was called “takht” or throne and marks of royalty and power were initiated. The faith had to make itself militant in order to resist the mughal onslaught. Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji held court and those who flocked to him brought gifts and offerings of arms and horses. Guru Jis battles with Janhangirs forces led to open hostility, the Sikhs in the meantime were acquiring the character of a militant force, which was later given , with the inspiration and thoroughness of genius, such a powerful turn by Guru Gobind Singh Ji, grandson of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji. In Guru Gobind Singh Ji the might and force of India, till then lying dormant and helpless, rose with the splendor of a powerful flood and swept off the meek sufferings of centuries.

How painful it is then, that such a rich and glorious history is often swept under the carpet by the same people who owe their very existence to the magnificence of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji had not only to contend with the powerful and vastly resourceful empire of Aurangzeb backed by aroused muslim fanaticism, but also with the apathy and active hostility of elements within the native royalty, the very people who Guru Ji was trying to inspire to throw off the shackles of oppression and servitude. The fight of Guru Gobind Singh Ji was not against muslims as such, nor against islam but against the occupying forces who happened to be muslim.

However peaceful and broad-based in universal terms Guru Sahib Jis appeal might be, his fight against Mughal persecution was sooner or later bound to arouse the general opposition not only of the muslim nobility but also of the muslim masses. This was inevitable, but more surprising was the Hindu opposition. Sikhism was not just another sect within Hinduism, if it had been then it would have drawn a loosely assorted Hindu following, but because of the separate nature of Sikhism and its opposition and challenges to many Hindu rituals and long standing beliefs, then the opposition by the Hindu nobility can be understandable.

Sikhism made for a general realistic approach to the problems of life. The Hindu outlook was thorough its mythological past, uncritical in its approach to problems to which it reacted unrealistically. Nevertheless, as long as the main emphasis of Sikhism till the time of Guru Ajun Dev Ji was on Bhagati (Devotion), simran (meditation) and general piety, them the Hindu could still recognise in it something not very unfamiliar. Consequently during this period Hindus particularly of the Kharti caste came under its influence. But with the revolutionary turn towards resistance and militarism which Sikhism appeared to take, it presented the average Hindu a somewhat unfamiliar emphasis.

While Hinduism had a noble past, it ceased to have a realistic appeal because of the mythological manner of its presentation of war. The Hindu failed to realise that the Asuras and Rakshasas (Demons and monsters) of legends of religious figures were here and now, in the shape of invaders and tyrants. Hence to the average Hindu, Sikhism was strange and startling. The dynamic view of history, which he did not have could have alone justified Sikhism to him. Hence, while Guru Hargobind Sahib and his son and grandson, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji and Guru Gobind Singh Ji, engaged the enemy oppressor in a mighty crusade, the Hindu stood generally aloof. It was those who generally stood outside the orthodox Hinduism – the Jats, Kalals, carpenters and other artisans, who mainly carried the burden of the new revolutionary programme of the Gurus.