While the Guru was at Damdama he dictated the whole of the Granth Sahib to Bhai Mani Singh, and added for the first time the hymns and sloks of his father Guru Teg Bahadur with a slok of his own.[1]
It is said that the Guru used to have baptismal water prepared and thrown among the bushes. He explained that he did so in order that the Malwa Sikhs might increase: in number and spring from every forest shrub. He used also to have pens made and scattered in different directions. By’ this he meant that the inhabitants of the place should become learned and expert penmen.
The Guru while at Damdama used in the afternoon to go into the forest and sit under a jand-tree. The place was hence called Jandiana. A_ temple was subsequently erected there. At night the Guru used to return to Damdama. It was while in this neighbourhood he baptized Dalla and one hundred other Sikhs.
[ p. 224 ]
The Guru sent for Tilok Singh and Ram Singh who had performed the obsequies of his two sons Ajit Singh and Zorawar Singh, fallen at Chamkaur. They came to visit him and made him large offerIngs. The Guru was well pleased with them and blessed them and their offspring. It may be here mentioned that Ram Singh is the ancestor of the Chief of Patiala, and Tilok Singh the ancestor of the chiefs of Nabha and Jind.[2]
One day the Guru said to Dalla, ‘ That is a fine field of wheat I see.’ Dalla replied, ‘ That is grass, O true Guru, wheat groweth not here. Had we wheat the Muhammadans would oppress us. Say that moth and bajra [3] are growing here.’ Another day the Guru said, ‘O Dalla, I see excellent sugarcane here.’ Dalla made the same reply as before when the Guru said he had seen wheat. The Guru said, ‘ Thou knowest not thine advantage. I desire to make thy land as fertile as Sarhind. The Turks whom thou fearest shall soon perish, and the soil of Malwa in time bear wheat and sugar-cane.’ This prophecy has been fulfilled. Canals made by the British Government have since fertilized that part of the country.
It was here the Guru heard that Kapura had been [ p. 225 ] put to death by Isa Khan of Kot Isa Khan in the Firozpur district. The cause and manner of hs death were as follows :—Kaul, a descendant of Prithi Chand, had established a religious fair at Dhilwan ; Kapura attended it and became involved in a drunken brawl with some of the pilgrims. Kaul sent a great-grandson of his to interpose, but the youth was killed. Another great-grandson whom he dispatched on a similar errand met with the same fate. On this Abhai Ram, the father of the youths slain, became furious with Kapura, desired that the Guru’s curse on him might speedily take effect, and his line be extirpated. Isa Khan with all haste employed a party of men to attack Kapura, whom he suspected to be a friend of the Guru. The latter tried to defend himself, but was worsted, and then tried to conceal himself in a haystack. Isa Khan dragged him forth, and made him a prisoner. When taking him away he thought he would be only an encumbrance, so he ordered him to be hanged on the nearest tree. Kapura himself remembered the Guru’s curse, that his head should be put into a bag of ashes, so he requested that it should be done before his execution, that the words of the Guru might be fulfilled, and that he might be thus saved from further transmigration.
On one occasion a question arose as to what the earth rested on. The theories of the Hindus and other sects were put forward. The Guru concluded the discussion by saying that the earth was supported by the power of God who alone was true and permanent. He on that occasion repeated the sixteenth pauri of the Japji.
Daya Singh and Dharm Singh, whom the Guru had sent with the Zafarnama to the Emperor, succeeded in delivering it, and were furnished with a parwana of safe conduct for their return journey. The perusal of the Zafarnama is said to have sottened the Emperor’s heart and led him to repent ; [ p. 226 ] hence his permission to the Guru’s messengers to return to their own country in peace and safety. They, however, received no verbal or written reply to the Guru’s letter.
The Guru asked Dalla to accompany him to the south of India. Dalla replied that he considered his humble couch at Damdama was equal to the throne of Dihli, and he pressed the Guru and his Sikhs to remain with him. The Bairars in the Guru’s service also endeavoured to dissuade him from his contemplated journey. He refused to listen to them, and on this several of them left his service. The Guru was now left with only Dalla Singh ; the two great-grandsons of Bhai Bhagtu, namely, Ram Singh and his brother Fatah Singh; Param Singh and Dharm Singh, descendants of Bhai Rupa; and Bhai Mani Singh, the Sikh biographer and arranger of the Ad Granth and the tenth Guru’s Granth.
Their first march was to Kewal, thence to Jhorar, thence to Jhanda, and thence to Sarsa. Param Singh and Dharm Singh had a new bed provided for the Guru at every march. Dalla Singh to every one’s intense amazement absconded during the march in the dead of night, and took with him a Sodhi and several Bairars. The Guru dismissed Fatah Singh on Ram Singh’s representation that his services and assistance were required at home.
The Guru thence proceeded to Nauhar, a town of Bikaner about twenty miles south-west of Sarsa. Though the inhabitants were very rich, they do not appear to have been forward in providing supplies for the Guru and his few remaining followers. On the contrary, there was great commotion in the town because one of his Sikhs had accidentally killed a pigeon. When the Guru went into the marketplace he saw that the inhabitants were very proud of their wealth, and he foretold that it should all soon vanish. In A.D. 1756 a Sikh expedition was [ p. 227 ] directed against Charupur (Chainpura), but on finding the water on the march brackish, the soldiers made a diversion and plundered Nauhar.
Thence the Guru proceeded to Bahaduran. There he gave Param Singh and Dharm Singh a horse each and also arms for their defence. On arriving at Sahewa (Saio) the Guru noticed that through respect for him they were taking the arms on their heads and walking beside their chargers as being a Guru’s gifts. The Guru said that they should obtain whatever they required, and that their tongues should be to them as arms. On bidding them farewell he presented them with a religious work containing the morning and evening divine services of the Sikhs.
The Guru’s next march was to Madhu Singhana. He thence proceeded to Pushkar, a place of pilgrimage sacred to Brahma. A Brahman called Chetan showed the Guru the sacred places of Ajmer. The Guru while in that neighbourhood was often severely heckled on the subject of his dress. People said it was neither Hindu nor Muhammadan. The Guru admitted the fact, and said it was the dress of the third distinct sect which he had established.
Thence the Guru proceeded to Narainpur, generally known as Dadudwara, where the saint Dadu had lived and flourished. His shrine had by this time descended to a Mahant called Jait, who quoted two lines of Dadu to the Guru :—
Dadu, surrender thy claim to every worldly thing ; pass thy days without claims.
How many have departed after trading in this grocer’s shop ! [4]
The Guru said these lines were applicable to the invention of a religion, but ill suited to its preservation. Kather should the lines be read :—
[ p. 228 ]
Asserting thy claim in the world plunder the wicked. Extirpate him who doeth thee evil.
The Mahant quoted two other lines to the Guru :—
Dadu, taking the times as they come, be satisfied with this Kal age.
If any one throw a clod or a brick at thee, lift it on thy head.
The Guru would not admit the last line, and altered it thus :—
If any one throw a clod or a brick at thee, angrily strike him with a stone.
The Guru then explained the principles of his own religion to the Mahant: ‘This age is very evil. The wicked rule in it, and cause suffering to saints and holy men. Tyrants therefore deserve to be punished. They will not refrain as long as they are pardoned. O Mahant, they who bear arms, who remember the true Name and sacrifice their lives for their faith, shall go straight to paradise. Therefore I have established the Khalsa religion, given my followers arms, and made them heroes.’
The Guru was censured by his staff for lifting his arrow in salutation of Dadu’s shrine. Man Singh quoted the Guru’s own written instructions, Gor marhi mat bhul na mane—Worship not even by mistake Muhammadan or Hindu cemeteries or places of cremation. The Guru explained that he saluted the shrine to test his Sikhs’ devotion and their recollection of his instructions. The Guru, however, admitted that he had technically rendered himself liable to a fine, and cheerfully paid one hundred and twenty-five rupees.
The Guru thence went to Lali, thence to Magharoda, and thence to Kulait. Here he met Daya Singh and Dharm Singh returning from their embassy to Aurangzeb. It is probable the embassy reached the Emperor when he was ill. The envoys [ p. 229 ] told the Guru that when they left the Emperor’s court they heard he had been seized with a colic.
The Guru thence proceeded to Baghaur. Here he heard of Aurangzeb’s death and the accession of his second son Tara Azim, called Muhammad Azim Shah by Muhammadan historians. The inhabitants of Baghaur refused supplies and quarrelled with the Guru’s escort. A camel belonging to the Guru trespassed on one of the town gardens. The gardeners beat the camel and abused the camel-driver. Upon this the Sikhs went in a body and assaulted the gardeners. This led to a counter assault and fighting which lasted two days. By this time the Sikhs had stormed and plundered the city, but the fort remained to be captured. By the advice of Ratan Singh, a Sikh whom the Guru must have met on his travels, a cannon was placed on a hill commanding the fort. After a brief cannonade the occupants held out a flag of truce. Peace was proclaimed, but on the arrival of the raja of the place, who had been absent when the fighting began, hostilities were resumed. Dharm Singh killed the raja’s commander-in-chief, and the Guru killed the raja himself. The Baghaur army then fled, and was pursued by the Sikhs until the Guru recalled them. Upon this the Guru resumed his march. On setting out he told the Sikhs that the Turks should soon fight against one another, and that the usurper, Tara Azim, should be killed.
Slok LIV. It may here be stated that there were three editions of the Granth Sahib. The first was written by Bhai Gur Das, the second by Bhai Banno, and the third by Bhai Mani Singh, under the superintendence of Guru Gobind Singh. The first two are believed to exist still, one being at Kartarpur in the Jalandhar District, and the other at Mangat in the Gujrat District of the Panjab. Guru Gobind Singh’s copy of the Granth Sahib was the most complete. It is unfortunately not now extant. It was either destroyed or taken away as booty by Ahmad Shah Durani when he despoiled and profaned the Golden Temple at Amritsar.
The Granth of the tenth Guru was really the Daswen Padshah ka Granth. The large volume which now bears that title, was compiled from various materials twenty-six years after his demise. ↩︎
It is stated by several Sikh writers that Tilok Singh was present at the battle of Chamkaur. Though inexperienced in war, he conceived a desire to engage in it, and went into the thick of the combat. A Pathin endeavoured to pierce him with a lance. He snatched the lance from the Pathan’s hands and cut off his head with his sword. He then took the head on the Pathan’s lance to the Guru. The Guru on seeing him approach cried out, Ao, Zilok Sing, sang ke lare— Come, Tilok Singh, Bridegroom of war.
Tilok Singh and Ram Singh had been hereditary Sikhs, and were ever regarded affectionately by the Guru, as is evidenced by his letter of the 2nd of Bhadon, Sambat 1753 (a. D. 1696), in which he wrote, Meri tere upar bahut khushi hai, aur tera ghar mera hai, that is, I am very well pleased with you, my house is yours, and your house is mine. This letter is now preserved with other relics of the Guru in the Sikh state of Nabha. ↩︎
Moth and bajra are inferior Indian cereals only consumed by the poorest classes. ↩︎
That is, the world. ↩︎