One day Guru Teg Bahadur thought of his death, and determined to send ior his son Gobind so that he might come to cherish and protect Anandpur in the day of its bereavement. At the same time Gobind Rai in Patna was thinking of his father. He said to his mother that when his father was leaving for Anandpur he promised to write on arriving at his destination, but as yet they had not heard from him. The boy expressed his desire to go to the Panjab. His mother replied that they would go when the Guru ordered it. The boy then urged that it seemed good to leave Patna with which he was not pleased. Huis mother informed him that the masands in and around Patna were good and obedient men, and satisfied their wants, but they would have great difficulties in the Panjab where they would find envy and jealousy, and where, moreover, they would be in danger from the hostility of the Emperor. His mother would not therefore consent to leave Patna.
Gobind Rai sent for a scribe to whom he dictated a letter to the masand Bulaki, who was employed to collect the Sikh offerings of Dhaka, ordering him to make a very costly palki and ornament it with gold andivory for hisjourney. This article Bulaki caused [ p. 365 ] to be made as quickly as possible by the best artists the country could afford. The boy’s mother was highly pleased on seeing it, and pointed it out as an instance of the obedience and good-will of the masands in that part of India. Gobind Rai, however, on examining the palki found that what the masands represented to be gold work only contained one part of gold to nine of copper, and to prove what he said he had it promptly and publicly burned. He made the dishonesty of the masands a reason for again urging on his mother the necessity of going to the Panjab where he said he had many things of importance to do. At that very time his father’s letter arrived summoning him, his mother, and his Sikhs to Anandpur. When the news of Gobind’s intended departure had spread, several persons came with offerings, and among others a banker called Jagat Seth, who offered him the shelter and hospitality of his many houses on the way northward—an offer which the boy was not disinclined to accept.
Before Gobind Rai departed, a deputation waited on him and begged him to leave his cradle as a memorial behind him. When they urged that there was nobody left to confer spiritual benefits on them, he told them that whatever supplications they addressed to God with a pure mind should be accepted.
The first place of any importance at which Gobind Rai halted on his route was a town south of Banaras called Chhota Mirzapur. On reaching Banaras, the ancient stronghold of Hinduism, crowds came with offerings to him. They were enchanted as well with his mental as his physical beauty. They said they were beggars and had come to beg of him. Their applications were not in vain. Whereupon everyone praised him and said: ‘ How generous and how young!’ He remained there for several days. He used to hold court in the morning and then delight in sitting in a boat on the Ganges, from which he [ p. 366 ] admired the scenery, the verdure on the one hand, and on the other the stately and picturesque temples and mansions rising from the margin of the sacred river.
From Banaras Gobind Rai proceeded to Ajudhia. There crowds came with offerings to behold him, and on seeing his beauty were loud in their praises and foretold his greatness asa hero. The Sikh historian relates that flocks of monkeys—animals so cherished at the Hindu shrine of Ajudhia—went to the Guru’s tent. He first fed them with parched gram and then threw a lump of molasses among them, for which they all began to fight, some using their teeth and others their hands. The boy on seeing the simian combat was delighted, for even at that early age he loved the battle and the fray.
Gobind Rai then proceeded with his mother and followers to Lakhnau (Lucknow), then as now the capital of Awadh (Oude), where they were all hospitably entertained by Baba Fatah Chand, the religious superior of the Sikhs, to whom the party gave a letter of thanks for his hospitality—a letter still preserved by the Sikh Mahant of that city. Gobind Rai and his party then proceeded towards Anandpur. On the way they tarried at Lakhnaur, a town about nine miles from Ambala in the Panjab. There Bhai Kripal, the Guru’s uncle, went in advance of the party to procure conveyances for the remainder of the journey to Anandpur.
While Gobind Rai was at Lakhnaur his favourite amusement was playing at mimic warfare. Under the tutorship of Magan he used to form the boys of the town into opposing armies and engage them in sham fights and martial exercises. While Gobind Rai was thus engaged he was visited by Saiyid Bhikan Shah—owner of the villages of Kuhram and Siana four miles from Lakhnaur—who had previously gone to see him at his birth in Patna, and knew that the boy was destined one day to bestow the Mughal [ p. 367 ] empire on the Sikhs. Bhikan Shah had obtained the village of Thaska from the Emperor, and he came to beg Gobind Rai to allow him to remain in undisturbed possession of it during the Sikh Government which was to follow. Gobind Rai promised that no one should molest him. Upon this Saiyid Bhikan Shah fell at his feet. When he as a Musalman was reproached for prostrating himself before a Sikh child, he justified his action by saying that the boy was on the spiritual throne of Guru Nanak, that he should be seen hereafter in God’s court, and that whatever God did now He did through Gobind Rai’s mediation. The boy had assumed birth to establish the Khalsa religion, and overthrow the empire of the Turks.
In due time Bhai Kripal Chand arrived with horses and carriages to take Gobind Rai and his mother and grandmother to Anandpur. Before his departure he went on a shooting excursion accompanied by his uncle’s huntsmen. On that occasion one Ghogha, who lived in the neighbouring village of Naneri, came to him to beg forgiveness for an offence formerly committed. Once when Guru Teg Bahadur had gone on a pilgrimage to preach the faith, Ghogha abducted his female servant. He came now to make his peace with God and the Guru. He prayed Gobind Rai to go to his house and bless it with his presence. Gobind Rai in view of the man’s sincere repentance generously pardoned him.
The young boy set out, and was followed by his mother and the remaining members of the family. After a few nights’ journey they arrived at Kiratpur. Here Gobind Rai was met by Gulab Rai and Sham Das, grandsons of his uncle, the late Suraj Mal. They escorted him to their house and treated him with: respect and affection. At Kiratpur Gobind visited the shrines of Baba Gurditta, Guru Har Gobind, and Guru Har Rai. As he approached Anandpur, the women and men of the city came [ p. 368 ] forth to escort him. They were all astonished and fascinated on seeing the beauty of the young Guru. Kripal Chand pointed out to him the hill of Naina Devi and the Satluj flowing by, places with which he was afterwards to be so intimately associated. He was affectionately received by his father who at once ministered to his physical and intellectual wants.