The Guru feeling that his end was approaching desired to send Sahib Kaur, to her co-wife Sundari whom he had left in Dihl on his departure to the south of India. He knew that she could not endure the shock which his demise would cause her. She at first refused to leave Nander, saying that she had made a vow never to take her daily food without seeing the Guru, and how could she [ p. 241 ] fulfil her vow if she were to part from him? The Guru then gave her six weapons which had belonged to his grandfather Guru Har Gobind, and told her to look at them whenever she desired to behold him. With these and other inducements he at last persuaded her to depart. She was accompanied by Bhai Mani Singh and both were enjoined to comfort and console Sundari.
The current Sikh account of the Guru’s death is that he was stabbed by Gul Khan, a grandson of Painda Khan, in revenge for the death of the latter at the hands of Guru Har Gobind.[1] More probable is the account given in one of the recensions of Bahadur Shah’s history :—The Guru was in the habit of constantly addressing assemblies of worldly persons, religious fanatics, and indeed all varieties of people. One day an Afghan, who frequently attended these meetings, was sitting listening to him, when certain expressions which were disagreeable to the ears of the faithful fell from the Guru’s tongue. The Afghan was enraged and, regardless of the Guru’s digmity and importance, stabbed him twice or thrice with a poniard.
[ p. 242 ]
The Emperor on hearing of the outrage dispatched some of his most skilful surgeons to attend to the Guru’s injuries ; and so skilfully did they perform their duty that the Guru’s wounds were nearly healed in a fortnight, after which the surgeons took their leave as being nolonger required. Inashort time the Emperor again sent to inquire after the Guru’s health and made him several offerings which included two bows. A discussion arose whether the Guru could bend them. On this he took up one and on bending it burst open his imperfectly healed wounds. Blood began to flow copiously. The wound was bound up by the Guru’s attendants, but this time it was past medicament.
The Guru set apart five hundred rupees for the preparation and distribution of sacred food and one hundred rupees to purchase sandal-wood and whatever else was necessary for his obsequies. His Sikhs came to him, and said that while he was alive they had the benefit of his presence, but they required instruction which might remind them of him hereafter and guide them to salvation. The Guru replied, ‘O dear and beloved Khalsa, the immortal God’s will can never be resisted. He who is born must assuredly die. Guru Arjan hath said, “ Everything we behold shall perish.” Night and day are merely expressions of time. It is the immortal God alone who ever abideth. All other beings, however holy and exalted,. must depart when the last moment allotted them arriveth, for none can escape the primordial law of corporeal dissolution. All this world, composed of the five elements, is Death’s prey. When the materials perish, how can the fabric remain ? God the Creator and Cherisher of all is alone immortal. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiv, and the other gods of the Hindus perished at their appointed time. Of what account is man ? Wherefore, O my friends, it is not good ‘to be unduly enamoured of this fragile body. Know that the light of the imperishable God whose attributes [ p. 243 ] are permanence, consciousness, and happiness, shineth ever in you. Wherefore always abide in cheerfulness, and never give way to mourning. God is ever the same. He is neither young nor old. He is not born, neither doth he die. He feeleth not pain or poverty. Know that the true Guru abideth as He. Creatures who are steeped in bodily pride are very unhappy, and night and day subject to love and hate. Ever entangled and involved in the deadly sins, they perish by mutual enmity and at last find their abode in hell. Yet for the love of such creatures the Guru assumed birth to deliver them. He hath instructed them in the true Name, and very fortunate are they who have received and treasured his instruction. By it they are enabled to save themselves and others from the perils of the world’s ocean. As when after drought rain falleth and there is abundance, so the Guru, seeing human beings suffering and yearning for happiness, came to bestow it on them and remove their sorrows by his teaching. And as the rain remaineth where it falleth, so the Guru’s instruction ever abideth with his disciples. The Sikhs who love the true Guru are in turn beloved by him. O Khalsa, remember the true Name. The Guru hath arrayed you in arms to procure you the sovereignty of the earth. Those who have died in battle have gone to an abode of bliss. I have attached you to the skirt of the immortal God and entrusted you to Him. Read the Granth Sahib or listen to it, so shall your minds receive consolation, and you shall undoubtedly obtain an abode in the Guru’s heaven. They who remember the true Name render their lives profitable, and when they depart enter the mansions of eternal happiness.’
When the Sikhs came again to take their last farewell of the Guru, they inquired who was to succeed him. He replied, ‘I have entrusted you to the immortal God. Ever remain under His protection, and trust to none besides. Wherever there are five [ p. 244 ] Sikhs assembled who abide by the Guru’s teachings, know that I am in the midst of them. He who serveth them shall obtain the reward thereof—the fulfilment of all his heart’s desires. Read the history of your Gurus from the time of Guru Nanak. Henceforth the Guru shall be the Khalsa and the Khalsa the Guru. I have infused my mental and bodily spirit into the Granth Sahib and the Khalsa.’
After this the Guru bathed and changed his dress. He then read the Japji and repeated an Ardas or supplication. While doing so, he gave instructions that no clothes should be bestowed as alms in his name. He then put on a muslin waistband, slung his bow on his shoulder and took his musket in his hand. He opened the Granth Sahib and placing five paise and a coco-nut before it solemnly bowed to it as his successor. Then uttering ‘Wahguru ji ka Khalsa! Wahguru ji ki fatah!’ he circumambulated the sacred volume and said, ‘O beloved Khalsa, let him who desireth to behold me, behold the Guru Granth. Obey the Granth Sahib. It is the visible body of the Guru. And let him who desireth to meet me diligently search its hymns.’
The Guru went to an enclosure formed of tent walls where his bier had been erected. In the end of the night—a watch before day—he lay on his bier, and directed all his Sikhs except Bhai Santokh Singh,[2] who was specially attached to him, to go to their homes. He then gave his last orders to hislast attendant. ‘ Keep my kitchen ever open, and receive offerings for its maintenance. If any one erect a shrine in my honour, his offspring shall perish.’ Bhai Santokh Singh represented that the Sikhs were few at Nander, and how were offerings to be obtained? The Guru replied, ‘O Bhai Santokh Singh, have patience. Singhs of mine of very great eminence shall come here and make copious offerings. Everything [ p. 245 ] shall be obtained by the favour of Guru Nanak.’ He then, in grateful acknowledgement of the spiritual benefactions of the founder of his religion, uttered a Persian distich, the translation of which is :—
Gobind Singh obtained from Guru Nanak
Hospitality, the sword, victory, and prompt assistance.[3]
The Guru then breathed his last. The Sikhs made preparations for his obsequies as he had instructed them, the Sohila was solemnly chanted, and sacred food distributed.
While all were mourning the loss of the Guru a hermit arrived and said, ‘ You suppose that the Guru is dead. I saw. him this very morning riding his bay horse. When I bowed to him he said, ‘“Come, O hermit, let me behold thee. Very happy am I that I have met thee at the last moment.” I then asked him whither he was wending his way. He smiled and said he was going to the forest on a hunting excursion. He had his bow in his hand, and his arrows were fastened with a strap to his waist.’
The Sikhs who heard this statement arrived at the conclusion that it was all the Guru’s play, that he dwelt in uninterrupted bliss, and that he showed himself wherever he was remembered. He had merely come into the world, they said, to make trial of their faith, and remove the ills of existence. Wherefore for such a Guru who had departed bodily to heaven, there ought to be no mourning. The ashes of his bier were collected and a platform built over them. The Khalsa, to whom the Guruship had been entrusted, declared that all those who visited the spot should receive due spiritual reward.
The Guru departed from the scene of his earthly [ p. 246 ] triumphs and reverses on Thursday, the fifth day of the bright half of Kartik, Sambat 1765 (A.D. 1708), having exercised spiritual and temporal sovereignty over the Sikhs for three and thirty years, and resided in Nander for fourteen months and ten days.
The Sikh temple at Nander, called Abchalnagar, is an imposing structure with a cupola and two minarets. The interior is surrounded by a wall of martial implements emblematic of the militant side of the Guru’s character. It was built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1832 in defiance of the Guru’s interdiction. Additions are being continually made to the edifice by the contributions of devout Sikhs.[4]
Thucydides, the Greek historian, cites a proverb to the effect that the gratification of revenge is the sweetest feeling among mortals— Αμα δ εχθρονς άμυνασθαι εκγενησόμανον ημίν, και το λεγομινον που ηδίστον ειναι—and even one of the most Christian of poets thought it not unbecoming his religion and philosophy to approve of the anger of one of the denizens of his Inferno for his unavenged death. His passion for revenge and his resentment at the inaction of his poetic relative only enhanced pity and estimation for him—
ond’ ei sen gio
Senza parlarmi, st com’io stimo;
Ed in cid m’ha e’ fatto a sé piu pio.
Dante’s Inferno.
Several Sikhs suppose that Gul Khan was specially deputed by the Emperor Bahadur Shah to assassinate the Guru because he had importuned him to fulfil a promise solemnly made, It has been thought the Emperor believed that if he could remove the Guru from his path, all troubles would be at an end. ↩︎
This is a different man from the author of the Suraj Parkash. ↩︎
These lines were impressed on a seal made by the Sikhs after the Guru’s demise, and were adopted by Ranjit Singh for his coinage after he had assumed the title of Maharaja. ↩︎
The state of Haidarabad has set aside the revenue of five villages, namely, Bishanpuri, Bari, Bansari, Masor, and Eki, for the maintenance of the shrine. The yearly revenue of these villages amounts to about eighteen thousand rupees. The Sikh custodians of the shrine receive a similar sum from the State for their own maintenance.
It may here be mentioned that all places of worship in the Haidarabad territory receive state assistance. A Hindu temple at the capital receives an annual subsidy of seventy thousand rupees. In every village Hindu as well as Muhammadan temples are treated as objects of the Nizim’s munificence. Even Christian and Parsi churches have to acknowledge his bounty.
There are twelve hundred Sikhs, including cavalry and infantry, commanded by twelve Risaldars, in the Nizim’s army. The Risaldars reside at Nander each in turn for a whole year to protect the shrine and the Sikhs who have gathered round it from different countries. There are also three or four hundred Sikhs in the State Constabulary. ↩︎