Bidhi Chand, Rai Jodh, and Jati Mal went to congratulate the Guru on his victory. The battle, which had begun at midnight, lasted for eighteen hours on the 16th of Maghar, Sambat 1688 (A.D. 1631). The Guru allowed Hasan Khan to return to Lahore with the survivors of the imperial army. [ p. 187 ] The plunder obtained from the bodies of the deceased Turks was divided among the poor. A descendant of Marhaj appropriated to himself a costly sword belonging to a fallen Pathan. When the Guru heard of it, he called upon the Sikh to relinquish it, for it was not proper to retain booty. The Sikh denied all knowledge of it. The Guru said that the sword should ply in the family of him who had stolen it. It turned out that the members of his family died within a year by mutual slaughter. The Guru established the scene of the battle as a place of pilgrimage. It is now called Gurusar, or the Guru’s tank. It lies near the village of Nathana, about three miles from the Rampura Phul railway station. The Raja of Nabha has at considerable expense built an imposing temple on the spot where the Guru encamped. The bard, Abdulla, composed a dirge on the battle, which is no longer extant.
It was noticed that the horse Dil Bagh was very distressed at the absence of his mate. The Guru addressed him words of consolation: ‘Such births as thine have been obtained and lost by sin. By sin hast thou obtained the body of a beast. Thy brother hath gone to heaven, have no more anxiety.’ It is said that upon this the horse recovered his usual spirits. Hasan Khan carried to the Emperor the news of the death of his generals and of the defeat of his army. The Emperor was in a fury. Wazir Khan was as usual ready with special pleading for the Guru: ‘ The Guru’s predecessors, from Guru Nanak down, had either done the Emperor’s line favours, or had been on good terms with them, and what was now to be gained by falling out with the Guru? This was the third time that the Emperor’s forces had been defeated by his army. What then was the advantage of carrying on the contest and aggravating the enmity ? I pray thy Majesty, let this be the end of it, and let bygones be bygones. Let another officer be appointed [ p. 188 ] instead of Lala Beg the deceased chief.’ Upon this the Emperor, by the Guru’s occult inducement, gave Hasan Khan a dress of honour, and appointed him to a high office.
After the Guru’s return to Kangar from the war, he went shooting in the adjoining forest. A hissing python crawled near his party. The Sikhs wanted to destroy it as vermin, but the Guru interposed and ordered them to allow the animal to approach him. The Guru touched it with his toe, whereupon it burst and died, and worms issued from its body. The Guru explained that it had been in a previous birth a very proud Mahant who used to embezzle his disciples’ property. He had not repeated God’s name or repented, so he became a python, and his victims in order to torture him, became the worms which now appeared. The Guru, quoting the following lines of the first Guru, granted him salvation :—
They who give disciples hats[1] are fools, and they who receive them very shameless.
A rat cannot go into its hole if there be a winnowingfan tied to its belly.[2]
By this the Guru meant that hypocritical priests who make disciples are fools and make fools of their disciples, and that man cannot obtain salvation so long as he is entangled with mammon. The Guru also quoted the following pauri from Gur Das :—
Though one wear man’s five garments ;[3]
Though his moustaches and whiskers appear beautiful and his dress be very effective ;
Though he wear a hundred arms and associate with the elect ; [ p. 189 ]
Though he be skilled in courtly graces, and known in many lands,
Yet without virile power he cannot be deemed a man. What can a woman do with him ?
So if a man without virtues be called a guru, who shall do him obeisance ? [4]
When the Guru was leaving Kangar, Rai Jodh expressed a wish to remain for ever in his service. The Guru did not encourage him in this, but told him to abide in his village. He then promised that when he became Guru Gobind Singh, he would pay an affectionate visit to Rai Jodh’s family. He crossed the Satluj and proceeded to Kartarpur, whither he had sent his family and the Granth Sahib from Daroli.
Preparations were now made for the marriage of the Guru’s son Teg Bahadur to Gujari, daughter of Lal Chand and Bishan Kaur. The ninth of Phagun, Sambat 1689, was fixed on as a suitable time for the purpose, and the marriage was then celebrated with great munificence and rejoicings.
There was at that time one copy of the Granth with the Guru, and another at Mangat made by Bhai Banno. Bidhi Chand asked and obtained the Guru’s permission to make a third copy.
One day as the Guru was hunting he had everything white on and about his person. He was clothed in white muslin, he was protected from the sun’s rays and the dust by a white umbrella, he carried his white hawk on his hand, rode on a white horse, and his groom waved a white chauri by his side. To him thus arrayed a father and son, Sikhs of Amritsar, presented themselves. The father represented that the son had with severe study learned the art of painting, and they were both ready to perform any service the Guru might desire. Bidhi Chand suggested that the youth should paint [ p. 190 ] a picture of the Guru. The young man fixed his attention on the work, and drew a satisfactory likeness of the Guru. The Guru presented the picture to Bidhi Chand. It is unfortunately no longer in existence.
On the approach of the Baisakhi festival several Sikhs, including Rai Jodh, went to visit the Guru. A Sikh named Chitar Sain made him a present of a horse, a hawk, a dress, and some military weapons. The Guru gave all the offerings to Painda Khan except the hawk, which he reserved for his own son Gurditta. The dress and arms Painda Khan put on to adorn his person. He then appeared a magnificent warrior, and began to consider himself a very superior being. The Guru ordered him to appear before him always in that style. He mounted the horse which he had received, rode swiftly to his village, and showed himself to his admiring relations. Asman Khan, his son-in-law, asked him for all the presents given him by the Guru, but he very properly refused.
Asman Khan then tried to steal them by suborning Painda Khan’s wife. He said that if he did not get them, he would either became a fagir or drown himself. She told this to Painda Khan, and represented how sad it would be if their daughter, Asman Khan’s wife, became a widow. Painda Khan, however, did not wish to displease the Guru by transferring the presents he had made him to another. Were the Guru to dismiss him, how could he maintain himself? Painda Khan’s, wife disregarding his strong remonstrance, stood up, and gave the sword, shield, and clothes which he had just taken off to her son-in-law, saying to her husband as she did so, ‘Thou needest nothing; the Guru will give thee other presents. May I not claim so much from thee ?’ She then laughed away her husband’s displeasure. Asman Khan at once put on his father-in-law’s dress, buckled on his [ p. 191 ] sword and shield, mounted his horse, and went forth to amuse himself with the chase. Painda Khan seeing this stared in blank astonishment at his wife who had robbed him in his own house. He threw himself on his bed, heaved cold sighs, and considered what the Guru would say to him for parting with his presents. He felt for the time mentally disorganized and unable to pay his respects to the Guru.
It happened that Gurditta, taking the hawk which had been presented to the Guru, went hawking on that very day. In opposition to the advice of his attendants, he let fly the bird at a time when it was not hungry. The hawk consequently did not return, but flew off to the village of Wadamir, where Asman Khan happened to be resting from the fatigue of the chase. Asman Khan captured it, thinking to himself that if he took it to the Emperor instead of the one the Sikhs had formerly appropriated, he should be rewarded with a grant of land.
Asman Khan, on returning home, told his motherin-law all the events of the day. She said, ‘ Conceal the hawk. If the Guru hear that thou art in possession of it, he will not fail to punish thee. Painda Khan said, ‘If thou give me the hawk I will take it to the Guru, and obtain his pardon for letting thee have his presents.’ Asman Khan laughingly said, ‘ Thou art ever prating of losing thine appointment. I want this hawk to enable me to obtain a tract of country from the Emperor. Why shouldst thou be dependent on infidels for thy subsistence ? Pray to God to support thee.’ Father-in-law and son-in-law spent the whole night wrangling over the hawk, but without arriving at any satisfactory settlement.
When the Guru heard that his son Gurditta’s hawk had been taken possession of by Asman Khan, he said, ‘ The will of God is very powerful. Worldly love destroyeth the understanding. Five days have [ p. 192 ] now elapsed, and Painda Khan through shame hath not come near me.’ Painda Khan did not venture to go near the Guru during the Baisakhi fair, which is generally a time of universal enjoyment. The Guru again remarking his absence sent for him. He appeared looking dejected and wearing dirty clothes. The Guru inquired the cause of his altered appearance. Where were the clothes and the horse he had received ? Was he in possession of Gurditta’s hawk ? If he told the truth he should be pardoned and recelve presents to make amends for those he had lost.
Painda Khan, fearing his wife’s and son-in-law’s ire, falsely replied, ‘The horse and clothes thou gavest me are in my possession. As soon as thine order reached me, I hastened to come to thee without even thinking of my appearance. Were I in possession of the hawk, I would surrender it to thee. I would never detain thy property. Do me justice and listen not to slanderers.’ The Guru said, “Falsehood pleaseth me not. I have heard that thy son-in-law hath seized the hawk. There is even yet time for thee to make a full confession.’ Painda Khan swore by the Guru that he had not seen the hawk. Upon this the Guru whispered to Bidhi Chand to go and bring the hawk with all the offerings that had been presented to Painda Khan. Bidhi Chand found Asman Khan asleep, and quietly took all the property he had misappropriated. The Guru again pressed Painda Khan to tell the truth, but he swore for the third time that he knew nothing of the hawk, and that he was in full possession of the Guru’s presents. Upon this the Guru called on Bidhi Chand to produce the hawk, the sword, and the dress he had taken from Asman Khan’s house. The Guru then in presence of his Sikhs charged Painda Khan with having sworn falsely three times in succession. When Painda Khan could make no reply, the Guru ordered him [ p. 193 ] to be expelled from the darbar. The presence of Painda Khan had never been agreeable to the Sikhs, and they obeyed the Guru’s order with alacrity. They seized Painda Khan and submitted him to very rough treatment. He could not bring himself to ask the Guru’s pardon. On the contrary he thus addressed him: ‘I will go and complain to the Emperor. Thou shalt suffer as thy father did, and then I shall have my revenge.’ The Guru simply replied, ‘Go by all means and complain to thy heart’s content. Thou shalt reap the reward of thine acts.’ The Guru then caused him to be forcibly expelled from the precincts of Kartarpur.
When Painda Khan reached home he found his son-in-law Asman Khan weeping for the loss of the hawk. On seeing Painda Khan crestfallen and hearing him curse his fate, Asman Khan inquired the cause. Painda Khan then gave him all the details of his treatment at the hands of the Guru and his Sikhs, and vowed that he would have his revenge. He then went from his village of Chhotamir to the Muhammadan village of Bassi. A resolution was there passed at his instigation, that the priest of the Sikhs was a great tyrant, that his power daily increased to the public detriment, that he received countless offerings and possessed boundless wealth, and that the Emperor should be invited to send an army to reduce him to subjection and take possession of all his property. Some people laughed, and said Painda Khan was an ungrateful scoundrel, who returned evil for good, and must one day inevitably receive his deserts.
Painda Khan was able, under the promise of plunder, to induce five hundred horsemen to join him. Some far-seeing men among them, however, suggested that the advice of his cousin Qutub Khan, who was now governor of Jalandhar, should be taken before war was declared against the Guru. They accordingly proceeded to Jalandhar, where Painda [ p. 194 ] Khan laid his case before his cousin, and said, ‘A generous man is tested in famine time. Join me and assist me.’ Qutub Khan was surprised, and asked why such a crowd had favoured him with a visit. Painda Khan told him of the ill-treatment he had received, and begged him to induce the Emperor to send an army to punish the Guru. His cousin replied, ‘Thou sinner, masters are ever chastising their servants. What if the Guru hath taken his own property ? Thou hast eaten his salt and been brought up by him. Whatever desirable things the Guru obtaineth he ever bestoweth on thee. Disgrace not the Pathans by fighting with such aman. If thou do, the world will call thee ungrateful. If thou desire thie own advantage, make peace with the Guru.’
Painda Khan angrily replied, ‘ Perhaps thou hast eaten the Guru’s sacred food, and it speaketh within thee.’ Qutub Khan rejoined, “ Thou oughtest to be ashamed of thy words. I have never eaten the Guru’s food, sacred or profane ; but thou, having eaten it over and over again, hast been nourished on it. Everybody knoweth that thou desirest to fight with him whose menial thou hast been the greater part of thy life.’ Painda Khan then thought it proper to adopt a more concilatory tone, ‘ Deeming thee to be a Musalman and brother I have come to thee.’ Qutub Khan jeeringlyretorted, ‘Fine Musalman thou art to desire to do evil to him whose salt thou hast eaten!’ Painda Khan ingeniously gave a new turn to the discussion, ‘I am waging a religious war. The Guru hath stolen thy master’s horses from the Lahore fort and ridden them. I desire to avenge that wrong.’ After much debate of this description Outub Khan said, ‘I have only been making trial of thee. True it certainly is that the Guru is an enemy of the Emperor. Proceed and I will follow and assist thee.’ Painda Khan and his cousin then swore fidelity to each other, and Painda Khan and [ p. 195 ] his son-in-law proceeded to Lahore to lay their complaints in person before the Emperor. Qutub Khan promised to follow them.
It was and still is the custom in India for a religious teacher to take off his hat and put it on the head of his disciple as part of the ceremony of initiation. ↩︎
Malar ki War. ↩︎
The five garments of Gur Das’s time were paejama (drawers), kurta (shirt), angarkha (long coat), kamarband (waistband), dastar (turban). ↩︎
War XXXVI. ↩︎