Meanwhile the Guru was preparing for his defence at Dina, but in order that the innocent villagers might not suffer from warlike operations directed against him, he pitched his tent in the neighbouring forest. It would appear that he approached, if he did not actually enter, the present village of Jalal, for it is recorded that the inhabitants of that village gave him supplies and a lance for defence. They complained that the inhabitants of a neighbouring village bore them enmity. There were always affrays between the two villages, and the inhabitants of Jalal were always worsted. The Guru told them to obey and believe in him, and they should always be victorious. They trusted him and obta‘ned several victories. Subsequently, however, the inhabitants of Jalal forgot their promises to the Guru, and stole horses belonging to the Sikhs. The offenders were punished and expelled from their village by those whom they had wronged. They subsequently begged the Sikhs’ pardon, and were allowed to dwell at Gurusar[1], where the Guru had encamped.
The Guru thence proceeded to the village of Bhagta in the present state of Faridkot. The village had been called after Bhai Bhagtu, a grandson of Bhai Bahilo, who was a distinguished Sikh in the time of Guru Arjan. Bhagtu had five sons, Gurdas, Tara, Bhara, Mihra, and Bakhta. They presented a fully caparisoned steed to the Guru. Gurdas and [ p. 208 ] Tara are the men we have already described as masands of Ram Rai. By this time they had returned to their native village. The Guru remained in Bhagta for three days, and on the fourth travelled to Wandar in the present district of Firozpur. Thence he proceeded into a dense forest where he met a nephew of Kapura, the Chaudhri of several villages round Kot Kapura in the present state of Faridkot. The nephew complained that his uncle had expelled him. He was, he said, marching to do battle with him, but, on hearing of the Guru’s arrival, he first went to pay him his respects, that being a more holy object than making war on his uncle. The Guru said that Kapura’s troops would arrive on the morrow, but his nephew must not at present engage in a combat with them. His troops would subsequently conquer those of Kapura. The nephew following the Guru’s advice decided to remain at home on the morrow. His wife, however, on seeing him thus ingloriously inactive, asked for his sword and turban, offered him her petticoat, and said she would go and fight herself. This taunt roused her husband to action. In disregard of the Guru’s advice he went to battle and was killed by his uncle’s forces.
The Guru thence proceeded to Bahiwal and Sarawan and billeted his Sikhs on the villages. One Sikh, named Maliagar Singh, was fed by a poor villager on pilun, the tiny fruit of the jal-tree. He told the Guru that he had had an excellent dinner. The Guru on subsequently discovering that he had dined on pilun and thus received only indifferent food, complimented him on his contentment, and said that Sikhs ought ever to act as he had done, and never dispraise food offered them. The Guru continued, ‘ If any one come to a Sikh, and receive not food from him, know that that Sikh hath sinned. If any one beg food from a sikh, he too hath sinned because of his greed.’
[ p. 209 ]
The Guru then visited Kot Kapura, and put up outside the city under a pipal-tree, which is still pointed out to the traveller. It is in a little promontory in the centre of a lake formed by the excavation of earth to build the town. Kapura came to see him, and brought him a fully caparisoned horse and other presents. Next day Kapura again visited him and found him seated on one couch, while his weapons were laid before him on another. He reverenced arms because, he said, they who wore them and practised their use became brave and conquered their enemies.
The Guru begged Kapura’s permission to take shelter in his fort. Kapura replied that he had no power to withstand the imperial army, and no desire to wander a fugitive like the Guru. The Guru then said the Muhammadans would take his fort, put his head into a bag of ashes, and then hang him. Kapura left in anger, and going home closed the gates of the fort, so that the Guru might not enter by surprise.
The Guru heard that Wazir Khan’s army was now in hot pursuit. He accordingly set out from Kapura, and sought shelter in Dhilwan, a village about four miles to the south-east of it. There Prithi Chand’s descendants had been settled for some time. One of them called Kaul, now a very old man, visited the Guru and made him a present of a suit of clothes. Upon this the Guru threw off and burned the greater part of the blue dress which he had been using for disguise. In the Asa ki War occurs the line :—
Nil bastar le kapre pahire Turk Pathani amal kiya.
The Turks and Pathans put on blue clothes and reigned.
For this_the Guru read :—
Nil bastar le kapre phare ; Turk Pathani amal gaya.
I have torn the blue clothes which I wore ; the rule of the Turks and Pathans is at an end.
[ p. 210 ]
The Guru meant the alteration as a curse on the Turks and Pathans. It was deemed an impious act to alter any part of the Granth Sahib. This the Guru did not deny, but said he hoped that the murder of his father and of his own children and the grievous sufferings of his Sikhs were a sufficient atonement. A piece of his blue clothes which the Guru did not consign to the fire he preserved in memory of his troubles. It is said to have subsequently suggested the blue dress of the Akalis or Nihangs.
The Guru soon left Dhilwan and pitched his tent in a forest between Maluka and Kotha. Thence he proceeded to Jaito in the present state of Nabha. There Kapura arrived on a hunting excursion. He complained of perturbation of mind on account of the curse the Guru had uttered. The Guru, however, refused to retract his words. On the contrary he said that Kapura should ever remain a puppy of the Muhammadans, and have great suffering in consequence.
While the Guru was in this locality, a messenger arrived with the news that Wazir Khan’s army was marching hither, and would arrive in a few. days. The Guru asked Kapura for a guide. Kapura sent an officer called Khana and some troopers with instructions to show him the way as far as Khidrana, but not engage in any combat, and if possible hinder the Guru from doing so. Next morning the Guru escaped to Ramiana in the Faridkot state. On the way he found a man gathering the fruit of the wild caper. The Guru tasted, but not relishing it, told the man to throw it away. The man would not do so altogether. The Guru said it had been his intention to banish drought from that part of the country, but now he could not do so owing to the man’s obstinacy and disregard of his orders. From Ramiana the Guru proceeded towards Khidrana.
All the contests and sufferings of the Guru became [ p. 211 ] known in the Manjha, and the Sikhs who dwelt there censured themselves for having listened to Duni Chand and abandoned the Guru at Anandpur. They now began to consider how they could make reparation and assist their spiritual master in his dire extremity. They were, however, of the opinion of the Sikhs of Lahore that the Guru should adopt the way of Baba Nanak and cease all hostilities. They sent a large deputation to press their advice on him, and promised that, if he accepted it, they would use influence with the Emperor to pardon him ; otherwise they would not consider themselves his Sikhs or him their Guru.
The Guru on the way:to Khidrana arrived at a village owned by a Khatri called Rupa, who warned him off through fear of the Emperor’s displeasure. The Guru had a Bairar named Dan Singh as his clerk and chamberlain. Dan Singh’s son.saw the enemy approaching, and duly informed the Guru. The Guru took no notice, but continued to walk his horse… The warning was repeated, but the Guru heeded it not. The youth then struck the Guru’s horse with the object of quickening his pace. At this the Guru became angry and uttered words of censure. Dan Singh interceded for his son. The Guru replied that he treated Dan Singh’s son as his own, and a father’s censure would not affect his children. The Guru instanced the case of a tigress removing her cubs from a burning forest. When she takes them in her mouth, every one thinks she is going to devour them, but this is not so. Her act is prompted by love.
The deputation of the Manjha Sikhs found the Guru after much search. On hearing their representation he said, ‘ If you were my Sikhs, you would receive and not give me instruction. I do not require you. You deserted me formerly. Who hath sent for you now? You have come to adjust my quarrels, but where. were you when I needed your [ p. 212 ] assistance ? You used no influence with the Emperor when Guru Arjan was tortured to death, or when Guru Teg Bahadur was beheaded. On this account, my brethren, I cannot listen to your advice. When I am again in difficulty, you will betray me as before. Put on record that you renounce me and go to your homes.’ Upon this the deputation drew up a formal document to the effect that they renounced the Guru unless he ceased to contend with the Turks.
A Sikh who had been put on a tree to keep watch said, ‘I see the enemy approaching, and they will soon see us.’ The Guru took up his bow and arrows and mounted his horse. He was advised by Kapura’s guide to go to Khidrana, where there was water of which he could hold possession, and where the Muhammadans, if they ventured thither, would die of thirst. The Guru said, ‘There is dust in the eyes of the Muhammadans and earth in their mouths. They may stare as much as they please, but when I remember the holy Baba Nanak they cannot see mie.’
Five of the Manjha Sikhs repented of their renunciation of the Guru, and decided to return and render him all assistance. They induced thirty-five more of their number to return with them. The Guru thus obtained an unexpected reinforcement of forty good and earnest fighting men. They were joined by a heroine named Bhago, who through zeal for the Sikh cause had donned man’s attire and vowed to suffer death if necessary on the bloodstained field of danger on behalf of the Guru. The Guru and his personal guard preceded them to Khidrana in the present Firozpur district of the Panjab, but on finding no water there, the tank having run dry, moved on into the neighbouring forest, where they deemed they should be in greater safety, and whence they could more easily escape if overpowered. The forty men of the Manjha on arriving at Khidrana [ p. 213 ] decided to cover the trees in the neighbourhood with clothes, so that the enemy might think they were encamped in great numbers, and not make a sudden attack on them. Kapura appeared in the enemies’ ranks. He overtly came to show them the way by which he had instructed his officer to take the Guru and his forty Sikhs to their destruction.
Wazir Khan ordered his army to charge the Sikhs who stood to oppose him, and in whose ranks he believed the Guru to be concealed. They received the charge with the utmost bravery. The Muhammadans were giving way when Wazir Khan rallied them by asking if they were not ashamed to fly before such a handful of men. Five Sikhs who advanced to the front were riddled with bullets. Ten more advanced on the imperial army, and cleared the field wherever they went. When they were cut down, the enemy took courage and advanced nearer the remaining Sikhs. Eleven Sikhs then rushed on the enemy and smote them down. They were, however, unable to cope with superior numbers and fell under the swords of the Muhammadans. The woman Bhago fought heroically in their ranks, disposed of several of her Muhammadan opponents, and transmitted her name as an Indian heroine for the admiration of future generations.
The Guru and his body-guard had taken up their position on a sand hill about two miles distant. He discharged arrows from there with fatal effect against the Muhammadans who could not see from what quarter destruction was raining on them. At the conclusion of the engagement Wazir Khan thought the Guru was killed, and ordered his men to search for his body.
The tank at Khidrana, as already stated, having become dry, Wazir Khan’s army was in great straits for want of water. Kapura told him that it could only be obtained at a distance of thirty miles in front and ten miles in rear, and advised him to [ p. 214 ] march back and save the lives of his men and horses, otherwise they would all perish. To such distress was the Muhammadan army reduced, that they abandoned their dead and wounded, and relinquished their search for the body of the Guru. Wazir Khan boasted that he had killed him, and that the Emperor on. hearing the joyful intelligence would greatly honour and reward him.
On finding that the Muhammadan army had departed, the Guru went to see the. battle-field, relieve the wounded, and perform the obsequies of the slain. He went about wiping the faces of both dead:and wounded, and extolling. their. unsurpassed valour. Copious tears flowed from his eyes. He said the dead had given up their lives for him, and they should abide in bliss in the Gurus’ paradise. He found Mahan Singh breathing heavily and desiring a last sight of his spiritual master. The Guru told him to open his eyes, and when he did so his strength returned. The Guru invited him to ask for any boon he desired from empire to salvation. .Mahan Singh thought it was best to ask for the cancellation of the deed of renunciation of the Guru drawn up by the Manjha Sikhs. The Guru at first refused, but on being pressed consented to cancel it. He drew the document from his pocket and destroyed it. Mahan Singh then breathed his last… The Guru ordered the Bairars he had recently enlisted to collect the slain and cremate them. He promised that all Sikhs who visited the place on the first of Magh, the anniversary of the battle, should become filled with the martial spirit of their sires. Khidrana-has since that time been called Muktsar, or the tank of salvation, because those who fell on that spot were no more subject to transmigration.
In the process of collecting the. slain it was found that another person showed signs of life. This was the heroine Bhago. The Guru addressed her : [ p. 215 ] ‘Taking off thy woman’s dress thou didst come to me with the Manjha Sikhs. It is well that thou hast fought here. Blessings on thy life! Arise and come with me.’ She detailed the story of. her departure from her home in the company of the Sikhs of the Manjha, and then continued: ‘I obtained possession of a strong spear. When all the Sikhs were dead the Turks advanced on me. I spitted several of them. Others directed their weapons against me, but thou didst extend thine arm to save me. Now that I have seen thee I am happy, and have no further desire than to abide with thee.’
This is not the Guriisar the scene of Guru Har Gobind’s engagement with the imperial army. ↩︎