When Aurangzeb died, his eldest son, Bahadur Shah, was engaged in a military expedition in Afghanistan.[1] When his younger brother Tara Azim usurped the throne, Badadur Shah hastened back [ p. 230 ] to India to claim and do battle for his heritage. He consulted Nand Lal, a friend of his, as to how he should be successful. Nand Lal advised him to seek the Guru’s assistance. The Guru, on being appealed to, promised him not only assistance but sovereignty if he agreed to a request he was about to make, and did not prove false like his father. Bahadur Shah was pleased to accept these vague conditions, and informed the Guru accordingly.
The Guru sent Dharm Singh with some trusty Sikhs to render him all possible assistance, and, feeling anxiety regarding the grave political circumstances of the country, deemed it advisable to retrace his steps to the north in the hope of meeting and conferring with the Emperor.
When Bahadur Shah had fully equipped his army, he marched to Agra. Tara Azim, who was at the time in distant Ahmadnagar, on hearing of his brother’s operations, marched by Gualiar to contend with him for empire. Bahadur Shah advanced to meet him and encamped at Jaju near Dhaulpur (Dholpur) where the opposing armies met.[2] After a fight of three days’ duration, not only Tara Azim, but several of his principal officers were slain. Upon this his army fled and victory remained with Bahadur Shah. He, now undisputed monarch of India, returned to Agra and dispatched Dharm Singh to inform the Guru of his victory.
On the Guru’s arrival in Dihli he encamped on the left bank of the Jamna. His Sikhs thought it unsafe for him to enter that strong Muhammadan and imperial centre. He erected a temple on the spot where his father Guru Teg Bahadur had been cremated. On hearing of Bahadur Shah’s victory the Guru resolved to go to Agra to congratulate him, and made arrangements to leave his wives in Dihli under the protection of his Sikhs. Upon hearing this Mata Sundari wept copiously. The Guru [ p. 231 ] consoled her with the arguments and reflections he had previously employed at Damdama on the transitoriness of human life and the bliss in which her son abode as a mighty hero and religious martyr.
A goldsmith residing in Dihli came to the Guru to pray him to grant him the favour of a son. One day as the Guru went to the chase accompanied among others by the goldsmith, they saw a woman abandon her male infant in the forest. The Guru told the goldsmith to take and rear the child. The goldsmith said he could not afford a wet-nurse. The Guru directed him to take some water, recite Wahguru over it, and wash his wife’s breasts therewith. When she took the child in her lap milk would at once come in abundance. The goldsmith accepted the Guru’s advice, and the promised result was obtained. When the child was five years of age, he was seen by Mata Sundari, who found in him a marvellous likeness to her martyred son, and duly adopted him.
Sahib Kaur importuned the Guru to allow her to accompany him. At last he yielded to her entreaties. Bahadur Shah sent a messenger to the Guru to expedite his departure. The messenger informed him that the Emperor feared the bigotry of his coreligionists were he himself to pay the first visit.
The Guru on the third day after his departure from Dihli arrived at Mathura and encamped at Suraj Kund, on the banks of the Jamna. He made a tour through Bindraban and visited all its famous and interesting places.
On his journey to Agra the Guru wanted water. One of his Sikhs fetched it from the house of a barren woman of the priestly class, and told the Guru that, there being no children there, the water must be pure. The Guru would not admit that children defiled water, and asked it to be brought him from some house, where there were sons and daughters. On that occasion he said, ‘A hermit [ p. 232 ] is best when alone; pure is his body and pure his mind; but where there is a householder with a large family, his house is still purer, and so are his body, mind, and understanding.’
The Guru duly met the Emperor Bahadur Shah in Agra. The Emperor thanked him for such assistance as he had given him in obtaining the throne, made him costly presents, and invited him to spend some time with him. The Guru was pleased to accept the invitation.
One day as the Guru and a high officer were seated together, a Saiyid of Sarhind asked the Guru if he could perform a miracle. The Guru replied that miracles were in the power of the Emperor. He could raise a humble person to the highest office and dignity, or degrade him therefrom. The Saiyid said he knew that, but had the Guru himself the power of working any miracles? Upon this the Guru drew forth a gold coin and said that it was a miracle, for everything could be purchased with it. The Saiyid asked if he could show any further miracles. In reply the Guru drew his sword, and said that that also was a miracle. It could cut off heads and confer thrones and empires upon those who wielded it with dexterity. Upon this the Saiyid hung down his head and asked no further questions.
Some rajas of Rajputana came to visit the Guru. He told them they did one very regrettable thing, namely, they gave their daughters in marriage to Muhammadan emperors and princes. He made them swear that they would for the future desist from the practice.
One day in conversation with the Guru the Emperor maintained that if any one were to repeat the Muhammadan creed, he should not be consigned to hell. The Guru denied that the creed had that efficacy. If any one after repeating it were to do evil, the repetition of the creed would not avail him. [ p. 233 ] The Emperor asked how he was to be assured of that. The Guru replied, ‘ The creed is stamped on thy rupee ; we shall see the effect thereof.’ The Guru secretly sent a bad rupee to the market-place to be changed. The money-changer applied to at once rejected it as counterfeit. It was then taken to the other money-changers with the same result. The Guru then addressed the Emperor: ‘See, in thine empire, even in thine own market-place, no one hath paid any regard to thy creed engraved on this rupee, so how shall it conduct men to heaven ? Thou to-day enjoyest empire, and canst do what thou pleasest. If here in thy presence this bad rupee even with the creed on it cannot pass, how can it be accepted by another monarch ? In God’s court gilding availeth not. The counterfeit and the genuine are there distinguished, and men obtain the reward or punishment due to their acts. Thy creed, therefore, as in the present case, cannot avail thee for admission into heaven without good works. When all accounts are called for by the Great Examiner, it is only those who show balances to their credit who shall be delivered.’
The Guru and the Emperor’s conversation turned on the subject of Hindu pilgrimages. The Guru said he himself had no concern with them. Next day when he visited the Emperor, the latter said there were two ways—the Hindu and the Musalman—in the world, and inquired which the Guru preferred to follow. The Guru said he was well disposed towards both, and he instructed every one as he found him. The Emperor replied: ‘ There is one God and one faith. On what dost thou rely ?’ The Guru smiled and said, ‘ My brother, there are three Gods.’ The Emperor inquired where that was written, and added, ‘ A child born yesterday knoweth there is only one God.’ The Guru continued, ‘ Why did thine ancestors hinder the Hindus from worshipping Ram, Narayan, and tell them they must [ p. 234 ] only utter Maula Pak or Khuda[3]? Thou proclaimest that heaven is made for Moslems and hell for the Hindus. Hindus will not associate with any one who adoreth Maula Pak or Khuda. Such is the quarrel between the two sects. Know that my religion is that regarding which there is no controversy. The Hindus have a God whom Moslems do not acknowledge, and I have a God whom neither of them acknowledge.’
The Emperor one day preached the Guru a sermon against Hindu superstitions. The Guru agreed with him, but at the same time would not flatter the Muhammadan religion. He said that as the Hindu worshipped stones, so did the Muhammadans worship departed saints and even a black lifeless slab at Makka; and as the Hindus when at prayer turned their faces to the east, the Muhammadans turned their faces to the west. The Muhammadans supposed that their prophet could mediate for them, but he had become ashes, and what advantage could his ashes or those of his saints confer on men ? The Guru thus found fault with both the Hindu and Muhammadan religions, and said that he had struck out a religion of his own, the basis of which was the worship of the sole immortal God. ‘Some discussion arose on the subject of the Guru’s discourse, but he promptly answered all objections.
The Guru now explicitly stated the request he had several times hinted that he desired to make. It was to deliver up to him Wazir Khan who had killed his children at Sarhind. The Emperor naturally desired to know what the Guru proposed to do with him. The Guru candidly replied that he would have life for life, according to the law of retaliation contained in the Emperor’s sacred book. The Emperor shuddered on hearing this request, but gave no direct refusal. He said he would reply after consulting his ministers. At the same time [ p. 235 ] he felt that if he surrendered a viceroy to the Guru, a popular rebellion‘ and a mutiny of his Muhammadan army would be the result. The Emperor therefore requested the Guru to wait for a year until his rule was more firmly established, and then he would consider the request made. The Guru on this reproached the Emperor with falsehood, and said that a Sikh[4] should arise who should call the false and counterfeit to account, who should seize and kill the Emperor’s viceroys, priests, and magistrates, and contribute to the ruin of the Mughal empire.
Notwithstanding this blunt language and undisguised menace, the Emperor invited the Guru to go with him on a visit to Jaipur and other cities. The Guru promised to join him on the march. After a few days he set out and overtook the Emperor. They both visited Jodhpur and Chitaur. Each raja sent his envoy to conciliate and do homage to the Guru. At Chitaur there arose a quarrel between the Sikhs and the Rajputs on account of some grass the former had taken for their horses. The Guru censured his Sikhs, and ordered them to take nothing for the future without payment.
The Emperor and the Guru continued their journey to the Narbada river. The quarrel between the Sikhs and the Muhammadans was kept alive by the Emperor’s escort, many of whom were relations of the imperial soldiers slain by the Sikhs at Anandpur. The Guru sent Man Singh, one of his Five Beloved, to adjust the difference between both parties. While on his mission of peace the brave Man Singh, one of the surviving heroes of Chamkaur, who had never parted from the Guru, was assassinated by a fanatic. The Emperor was much distressed on hearing of his death, and ordered that his murderer should be seized and given up to the Guru for punishment. The Guru pardoned him, [ p. 236 ] and thus gained great praise from the Muhammadans for his mercy and clemency.
The Emperor and the Guru continued their march to Burhanpur on the Tapti river. The inhabitants had prepared a house there for the Guru, where he passed some time. A holy man came to visit him and said, “O Guru, I was present with thy father on the bank of the Brahmaputra when thou wert born in Patna. He said that thou shouldst afterwards travel to the south of India. The prophecy having now been fulfilled, I have come to meet and welcome thee.’ He then gave the Guru hospitable entertainment.
The Emperor continued his journey and left the Guru at Burhanpur. After some days the Emperor wrote to him to join him, and he acceded to his request. Both then proceeded to Puna and thence to Nander on the margin of the river Godavari in the present state of Haidarabad and about one hundred and fifty miles north-west of its capital.