When the Governor of the Dihli jail reported that three of the Guru’s Sikhs had escaped, the Emperor ordered the Guru to be locked in an iron cage, and a sentry with a drawn sword placed on guard over him. The Guru on hearing this order calmly replied with a hymn of Guru Arjan :—
They who commit sin shall assuredly be ruined ;
Azrail shall seize and smite them ;
The Creator will put them into hell, and the Accountant there will ask for their accounts.[1]
The Guru in reply to the further demand of the [ p. 384 ] officer sent by the Emperor answered as he had done on a former occasion—‘ I will not accept thy law or thy religion, and I will not abandon my faith. The glory of the Turkish power is now at an end since thou art forcibly depriving men of their religion. I will dig up the roots of the Turks and throw them into the briny ocean, since what is melted with salt never reviveth, and they shall never again have sway in Hindustan.’ The Guru is said to have also quoted the hymn of Guru Nanak :—
When kings, lions, headmen, and dogs,
Instead of watching, rest in sleep,
King’s servants inflict wounds with their nails,
And taste and drink the subjects’ blood.
Bhai Gurditta who was still fettered was allowed to wait on the Guru. Soon after this a messenger arrived bearing a letter from his wife and son. After making inquiries regarding them, the Guru wrote his first slok for the general instruction of his followers :—
He who singeth not God’s praises rendereth his life useless ;
Saith Nanak, worship God, O my soul, as the fish loveth water.
He then wrote the fiftieth slok for his wife Gujari’s special consolation :—
Ram passed away, Rawan passed away with his large family ;
Saith Nanak, nothing is permanent ; the world is like a dream.
For all in sorrow he wrote the fifty-first slok :—
Be anxious only regarding what is not expected ;
It is the way of the world, Nanak, that nothing is permanent.
To his son he sent the fifty-third slok :—
My strength is exhausted, I am in chains, and have no resource. [ p. 385 ]</span
Saith Nanak, God is now my refuge ; He will succour me as He did the elephant.
And also the fifty-fifth :—
My associates and companions have all abandoned me ; no one remaineth with me to the last ;
Saith Nanak, in this calamity God is mine only support.
It is believed that the Guru during his captivity composed most of his other sloks and hymns, and sent them with the above by the messenger. The Guru said to him at parting: ‘ My end hath come; console all my people. We must all be satisfied with God’s will. Take this letter quickly, and bring me an answer.’
Gobind Rai replied to the slok addressed to him with the fifty-fourth slok in the collection bearing the name of the ninth Guru in the Granth Sahib :—
Strength is thine ; thy fetters are loosed ; thou hast every resource ;
Nanak, everything is in thy power ; it is only thou who canst assist thyself.[2]
The Guru was very pleased at receiving this slok and message from his son, and remarked that he was fit for the Guruship. He sent into the city of Dihhi for five paise and a coco-nut to forward him in token of his appointment to the Sikh spiritual sovereignty. When the five paise and the coco-nut arrived, the Guru placed them in front of him, meditated on his distant son, and bowed to him. He sent the articles to Gobind Rai with the fifty-sixth slok :-—
The Name remaineth, saints remain, Guru Gobind remaineth ;
Saith Nanak, few are they who in this world follow the Guru’s instruction.
Before the messenger reached Anandpur the Guru’s [ p. 386 ] family was in great distress on account of a vision which his wife had had. She thought that she saw the Guru place five paise and a coco-nut before his son Gobind and bow to him in token of his appointment, and then she beheld the Guru’s head separated from his body. She requested her son to send a Sikh at once to ascertain 1f the vision had any reality. If the messenger met on the road the Sikh who was expected from Dihli, he was to let him come on, and himself proceed to Dihli to obtain the latest information regarding the Guru.
Meanwhile the Emperor kept his thoughts on the Guru’s conversion. He sent for a Muhammadan priest and told him to take one of the nobles with him to the prisoner with this message, “ Thou art to accept the Muhammadan religion or work a miracle. If thou work a miracle, thou mayest remain a Guru as thou art. If thou accept Islam, then shalt thou be advanced to an exalted position, and be happy. If thou fail to accept these offers, thou shalt be put to death. This is my final decision.’
The Guru replied in the same purport as before, and added—‘ I will never abandon my faith. I want no honour in this life ; I want honour hereafter. The threat of death possesseth no terrors for me, since I must one day assuredly leave this perishable body. For death I am prepared and I cheerfully accept it.’
The Emperor on hearing this reply was greatly incensed, and ordered that the Guru should be executed.
Meantime the messenger from the Guru’s son and wife arrived from Anandpur. The Guru said to him: ‘My last hour hath come. Stand thou near me. My head shall fall into thy lap. Fear nobody, but take it to Anandpur, and cremate it there.’ On hearing this not only the Sikh, but the Muhammadan governor of the jail began to weep. The Guru gave them religious instruction, and consoled them. Then turning to his faithful companion, [ p. 387 ] Gurditta, he said: ‘Thou shalt be released after my death.’ Gurditta replied, ‘O great king, it is at thy feet I wish to leave my body.’ The Guru rejoined : —O my brother, thy cremation-ground shall be where Bhai Budha used to graze the horses of Guru Har Gobind when he was in the fortress of Gualiar. The place is only about six miles distant. Thou shalt leave thy body there, and come to me in heaven.’
Then came Saiyid Adam Shah with a warrant for the Guru’s execution, accompanied by all the Emperor’s courtiers and Muhammadan priests of Dihli. Adam Shah, who revolted from the office of executioner of the Guru, asked him why he was bent on losing his life in vain, and begged him to embrace Islam. The Guru replied :—‘ The Sikh religion is dearer to me than life, and I cannot renounce it even under the pressure of immediate and certain death. The Guru was then taken out of his cage, and allowed to perform his ablutionsat a neighbouring well. There appeared a great crowd to witness the execution. The Guru, leaving the well, went and sat under a banyan-tree, still extant, where he recited the Japji. He then told Adam Shah to take his sword and strike his neck when he bowed to God at the conclusion of his devotions. Adam Shah did so. It is said that the Guru’s head flew off into the faithful Sikh’s lap.
It is recorded that immediately afterwards a great storm arose which filled every one’s eyes with dust. The Sikh unobserved by any one took away the Guru’s head to Anandpur, hasting with it as fast as his feet could carry him. The execution of Guru Teg Bahadur occurred on the afternoon of Thursday the fifth day of the light half of the month of Maghar in the Sambat year 1732 (A.D. 1675).