Guru Har Rai Ji.

Within a year of assuming the Guruship, Guru Har Rai Ji had to leave Kiratpur to the relative safety of a small village in Sirmoor state. The absence of the Guru from the main centres of Sikh activity, the hostility of the disappointed claimants to the guruship and a general disintegration of the masands meant that Guru Sahib Ji had to undertake a tour of all the centres and reorganise the missions and brought many into the Sikh fold.

At the end of 1658, Guru Sahib Ji returned to Kiratpur. Guru Ji became friendly with Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of the Emperor Shah Jahan. Dara Shikoh was a sufi and preferred the company of holy men. When the war of succession began Guru Ji’s sympathies lay with Dara rather then the bigoted Aurangzeb. But Dara was defeated and fled northwards to the Punjab. He called on Guru Har Rai Ji for assistance. This was sufficient to arouse the wrath of the Emperor and he summoned Guru Sahib Ji to Delhi. Guru Ji sent his son Ram Rai to represent him. Ram Rai succeeded in winning the confidence of the Emperor. Aurangzeb decided to keep Ram Rai in Delhi in the belief that, with the future incumbent of the guruship in his power, he would become the arbiter of the destinies of the Sikh community. The all knowing Guru, Guru Har Rai Ji proclaimed his intention of passing the guruship to his younger son, Har Krishan Ji.
Aurangzeb encouraged Ram Rai in his pretensions for the guruship but it was not to be, Har Krishan Ji at the age of five years became the eighth Guru of the Sikhs.

Guru Har Krishan Sahib Ji.

The passing of the Guruship to Har Krishan Sahib Ji did not suit Aurangzeb who wanted to play a decisive role in the Sikhs. He summoned Guru Sahib Ji to Delhi with his intentions of arbitrating between Guru Ji and Ram Rai. After sometime Guru Ji arrived at Delhi and rested at the house of Mirza Raja Jai Singh in the suburb of Raisina. Aurangzeb was in no hurry to announce his arbitration (nor would the Sikhs have paid any heed to it) but he has happy to have Guru Har Krishan Ji under surveillance. Guru Ji was however stricken with smallpox. Before Guru Ji ascended the heavens he indicated that the next guru would be found in a village of Bakala.

Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib Ji.

It was quite clear that by the words “Baba Bakale” Guru Harkrishan Sahib Ji had meant his grand-uncle, Tegh Bahadur, nevertheless a whole contingent of claimants set themselves up at Bakala as the next Guru.

A sea merchant, Makhan Shah of Lubana had prayed to the Guru for his safe return from the seas and had promised an offering of 500 gold coins. Upon reaching Bakala he was confused at seeing all the would-be Gurus. He placed two coins in-front of each and bowed. Each blessed him. Knowing this was not the right Guru, Makan Shah moved to the next one, when he had gone through all the pretenders he felt very sad and despondent. Upon hearing of a holy person living in a ramshackle hut he decided to pay a visit. Inside Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji was in deep meditation. Placing two coins Makhan bowed. Guru Ji spoke “You promised 500 gold coins but you offer only two.” With this Makhan Shah had found the Guru and in a fit of happiness he climbed a building and shouted out “Guru ladho ray, Guru ladho ray ” – I have found the Guru , I have found the Guru.

Tegh Bahadur was a man of retiring habits who did not wish for comfrontation. But this very reluctance turned the Sikh masses in his favour. Guru Ji left Bakala for Amritsar where the doors of Harmindar Sahib were slammed shut by the corrupt masands. Guru Sahib Ji moved on and bought some land about five miles outside of Kiratpur and built a small village there and called it Anandpur (the haven of bliss). Here people flocked by there thousand to pledge allegiance to the Guru, and Guru Sahib Ji took extensive tours managing the centres.

Guru Sahib Ji left Anandpur Sahib and toured eastwards in Uttar Pardesh. Guru Ji travelled to Agra and arrived at Patna in the state of Bihar wherever he went he blessed the crowds that thronged to him. Here in 1666 Mata Gujri Ji gave birth to a son, Gobind Rai. Guru Sahib Ji could not spend much time with the infant as he had to return to the Punjab due to the religious persecution that Emperor Aurangzeb had embarked upon. As time went by the Hindus were being oppressed and persecuted even more, taxes were being levied upon them due to being non-muslim and they suffered much hardship.

In 1675 a delegation of Hindus from Kashmir had come to meet with the Guru carrying grave news. The Hindus of Kashmir were being put to death by the thousand if they did not accept Islam, they needed protection and they have come to the House of Guru Nanak. Gobind Rai, now aged nine years walked in on his father who was in deep thought. Asking what the matter was Guru Sahib Ji replied that the Hindus were in great threat and it needed a noble act of sacrifice from a very holy person. Gobind Rai responded by saying “What greater place is there then the House of Guru Nanak, go and protect their religion.” So, Guru Tegh Bahadur not being a Hindu himself made the ultimate sacrifice. Guru Ji travelled to Agra where together with a band of Sikhs they were captured by the imperial forces and brought infront of the Emperor.

Guru Sahib Ji said that if he converted then the whole of Kashmir would submit before the Emperor, but if he stood fast then the Kashmiri Hindus must be set free.

"Hinduism may not be my faith, and I may not believe in their sacred thread, caste system and idol worship, but i will fight for the right for all Hindus to live with honour and freedom to practice their faith according to their beliefs."

The Sikhs that accompanied Guru Sahib Ji were first tortured and put to death. Bhai Mati Das Ji was sawed in two, Bhai Sati Das Ji was wrapped in wool and set on fire, Bhai Dayala Ji was boiled in a cauldron, such were the sacrifices that the Sikhs made. Then the tormentors turned their attention to Guru Sahib Ji. First they tortured him and then executed the Guru. This took place on November 11th, 1675 at Chandni Chawk, Delhi.

Gobind Rai at the age of nine now became the tenth Guru. Later in life Guru Gobind Singh Ji in his autobiography The Bachittar Natak, writes of this most noble of acts :

Gobind Rai succeeded the guruship at the tender age of nine. He spent his boyhood learning Persian, Sanskrit, Braj and Urdu and learning martial skills. Guru Ji describes his mission in the following words :

'To uphold righteousness in every place and destroy sin and evil; that righteousness may triumph, that good may live and tyranny by uprooted from the land'.

He taught his Sikhs the morality of of the use of force when it was for the cause of truth.
'When all modes of righting a wrong having failed, it is righteous to draw the sword'.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji made Sikhism into an active movement to fight the tyranny and injustice of emperor Aurangzeb. His goal was to create a nation that would be pure and strong enough to free itself from the oppression of priests and rulers alike. He had 52 poest in his court who would translate the hindu texts. Guru ji himself wrote extensively, the main theme being the gloryfication of the Almighty. When the battle of Bhangani was forced upon him by the surrounding hill chiefs , he fought them boldly and inflicted a crushing defeat upon them. But all the will Guru Ji thought how he should shape his Sikhs in to such a force that none could withstand it.

On the day of Baisakhi 13th April 1699 a momentus event took place, the young Guru assembled his Sikhs, numbering 200,000 - 250,000, at Anandpur Sahib. Guru Ji demanded a head of a Sikh, a Sikh stepped forward. Guru Ji took him into a small tent and severed his head. The blood seeped out from under the tent, the crowd looked on in stunned silence , four more times Guru Ji with fiery eyes demanded the head of a Sikh, each time a Sikh submitted his life to the will of his Guru. After a small interval Guru Ji brought out all five Sikhs, alive and well, dressed in saffron clothing.

The Panj Piyarai or five beloved ones were :

Guru Ji baptised the five with Amrit. Amrit was prepared by stirring water from the nearby river and sugar in an iron or Sarbloh vessel with a Khanda (double edged sword), while reciting the five proscribed bani's or prayers. The five prayers being :

The Five Beloved became the first members of the brotherhood of the Khalsa, or the pure. The word Khalsa coming from the sanskrit word khaals meaning pure.

	Guru Ji prepares the Amrit. Mata Sahib Devan adds the patasey (suger candy)

All five from different castes drank the Amrit out of the same bowl and their last names were replaced by the suffix 'Singh' meaning lion, and Kaur for the ladies meaning princess, thus removing all caste barriers. The significance of this cannot be underestimated. For members of different castes to drink from the same bowl would have been unheard of, yet Guru Ji in his great wisdom and forethought brought together castes and communites into the one Khalsa.

They were enjoined to observe the five K's.These five emblems of Sikhism being Kesh, uncut hair, a natural gift from God that gave them a distinct identity, Kungha , a comb to keep the hair tidy, Kasha, undergarment shorts,worn by soldiers of the time but also to dipict chastity and personel hygene, Kara, steel bracelet, symbolic connection with God, and they were always to carry a Kirpan or a sabre ready to uphold righteousness and defend the weak.

Many explanations have been given for the ceremony of baptism. Apart from the profoundly spiritual nature of the communion , making people of different castes drink Amrit from the same bowl broke down some orthodox Hindu practices. Guru Ji gave the final form to the Sikh faith. He declared the institution of the Guruship at an end and ordered all Sikhs to bow down infornt of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji the holy scriptures of the Sikhs.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji's life was a long series of battles fought against heavy odds. Guru Ji laid the foundations of the Sikh military might by setting up a tradition of reckless valour which became a distinguished feature of Sikh soldiery. They came to believe in the triumph of their own cause as an article of faith, and like their Guru asked for no nobler end then on the battlefield. What Guru Ji succeeded in doing was to 'teach the sparrow to hunt the hawk and one man fight a legion'.

Guru Ji was a prolific writer and a poet of rare quality, in everything he wrote or spoke there was a note of buoyant hope and the conviction then even if he lost his life, his mission would succeed.

After Guru Gobind Singh ascended to the heavens in 1708, his ardent follower, Banda Singh Bahadur (1670-1716) a Hindu ascetic converted to Sikhism set about trying to create a Sikh homeland in the Punjab. In a series of ferocious and bloody battles he managed this, if be it temporarily. But his ragged army impressed their adversaries with their often suicidal valour. Overwhelming odds only served to put them on their mettle, and their prowess in the field of battle filled the Moghals, the Afghans and later the British with wonder and an almost superstitious dread.

Nadir Shah was a Persian chieftain who made repeated invasions into India through the Punjab plains in his attempts to subdue the moghal government. In the 1750's the Sikhs numbered no more then 100,000 but they resisted each and every battle they faced. On one of his expeditions after defeating the Moghals he was returning to his native country of Iran with thousands of captives and looted gold and valuables including the famous peacock throne. Upon reaching the Punjab the Sikhs harassed him all the way lightening his load of booty and rescuing many of the slaves. Nadirs forces were no match for bands of 30-50 Sikhs who would use guerilla tactics to attack from the sides do their damage and rescue more of the captives. In one instance Nadir ordered his forces to follow them for as long as it takes. The Sikhs attacked and when they retreated the forces followed them, suddenly the Sikhs turned and fought head on mercilessly killing all the pursuers. The Persian was astonished by the daring exhibited by the Sikhs.
He called a halt at Lahore and questioned the Governor Zakariya Khan (who had a price on the head of every Sikh , dead or alive) 'Whence come these long haired barbarians who dare to molest me?' he demanded, 'Who are these mischief makers ?' Zakariya Khan replied ' they are a group of fakirs (godly people) who visit their Guru's tank of Amrit twice a year , and, after bathing in it, disappear'. 'Where do they live?' asked Nadir Shah. 'Their homes are the saddles on their horses, they exist by eating the leaves of the trees' came the reply. 'Take care' said Nadir ' the day is not too distant when these rebels will take possession of your country'.

The struggle with the Moghals and afghans continued and was instrumental in weakening the Moghals and also the Afghan hold over the North-West. The Sikhs began to spread and gain control of the Punjab including important cities such as Lahore in 1764. At the same time they were starting to formalize and politicise their own structure. The body of the Khalsa was formed into the Buddha Dhal (army of veterans) and the Taruna Dhal (army of youth). The Buudha Dhal were given the responsibility of looking after the Sikh holy sites and the women and children, while the Taurana Dhal began a process of territorial acquisition. They split into five self-contained yet interconnected units called Misls, and by the end of the 18th century these had expanded to twelve. Their levels of strength and power differed greatly, some numbering a few hundred men while others contained tens of thousands. In 1792 Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) (see picture in the Gallery) the heir to the Sukerchkia misl had succeeded to its leadership, he was to change the face of the Punjab. He incidentally employed American, French and Italian officers in his army, some who had fought in the Napoleonic wars. By 1801 Ranjit Singh had carved out a Kingdom and was anointed Maharaja.