Singh, Gobind

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Guru Gobind Singh Summary

Singh, Gobind

SINGH, GOBIND (1666–1708), the last of the ten gurūs ("teachers") of Sikhism. After his death the Sikh gurū was understood to be the Ādi Granth, the sacred book. Until Gobind Singh, the Sikh community, whose religious ideals and practices were a North Indian combination of Vaiṣṇava devotional movements from South India and elements of Islamic Sufism, had been led by a series of gurūs beginning with Nānak (1469–1539) and passing through to Gobind Singh's father, the ninth gurū, Tegh Bahādur.

Gobind Singh (originally Gobind Rāi) is known as the paradigm of the chivalrous, proud, martial, and loyal religious ideal to which members of the Sikh Khālsā, "the community of pure ones," aspire. In fact, it was Gobind Singh who established the Khālsā, and gave all male Sikhs the surname Singh ("lion") and Sikh women the name Kaur ("lioness"). Gobind Singh is further known as the reported author of the Dasam Granth (Tenth Volume), an epic work that stands second only to the Ādi Granth in prestige in the Sikh community. Under Gobind Singh's rule (1675–1708) Sikhism was transformed from a persecuted sect to a powerful religious community that has stood as the political and economic mainstay of the Punjab ever since.

Gobind Singh was born at Patna (in the Indian state of Bihar) on December 26, 1666, the only child of Tegh Bahādur and his wife Gujari. He spent the first few years of his life in Bihar before returning to his ancestral home, Anandpur, in the foothills of the Himalayas. He was nine years old when his father was summoned by the Mughal emperor to answer charges of extortion, and was executed in Delhi on November 11, 1675. Before he died, he proclaimed Gobind as his successor. Fearing further reprisals, the young gurū and his entourage moved farther back into the mountains and set up their camp at Paonta, on the banks of the Yamuna River. Here Gobind was taught Sanskrit and Persian (in addition to the Punjabi and Braj he had learned at Patna) and the arts of war. He spent much time hunting and composing poetry. His favorite themes were based on Hindu mythology, notably the exploits of the goddess Caṇḍī, the destroyer of demons.

In his autobiography, Bicitra nātak (The wonderful drama), Gobind wrote, "I came into the world charged with the duty to uphold the right in every place, to destroy sin and evil … that righteousness may flourish: that the good may live and tyrants be torn out by their roots." As he grew into manhood Gobind decided to organize his followers into a fighting force. Soon he raised a small army that came into conflict with neighboring Rajput chiefs. Gobind defeated their combined forces at Bhangani in 1686 and those of the Mughal governor of Punjab at Nadaun a year later. His increasing strength alarmed the Mughals, and the emperor Aurangzeb sent his eldest son, Prince Moazzam, against him. The prince discreetly decided to leave Gobind alone and directed his generals to reduce the hill chieftains. Gobind utilized these years to fortify Anandpur by building a chain of fortresses. He married three wives, who bore him four sons.

Gobind gave religious sanction to practices introduced by his father, Tegh Bahādur, and his grandfather, the sixth gurū, Hargobind. Early in 1699 Gobind sent out hukumnāmahs (orders) to the Sikhs to present themselves at Anandpur on the Hindu New Year's day with their hair and beards unshorn, as was customary among certain ascetic sects.

On April 13, 1699, after the morning service, Gobind drew his sword and asked for five men to offer their heads for sacrifice. He took them behind a tent and reappeared before the congregation, his sword dripping with blood, but then revealed that instead of the men he had slaughtered five goats. He addressed the volunteers as the "five beloved," panj piyāre, who were destined to become the nucleus of a new community, the Khālsā (from the Persian khālis, "the pure ones"). He baptized the five men (who came from different Hindu castes) by making them drink, from a single bowl, amrit (nectar) he had churned with a double-edged dagger. He gave them a new family name, Singh ("lion"), and after his own baptism changed his name from Gobind Rāi to Gobind Singh. Five emblems (kakkār or the "five ks") were prescribed for the Khālsā: to wear their hair and beards unshorn (kais); to carry a comb (kanghā) in their hair to keep it tidy; to wear the knee-length breeches (kachhā) then worn by soldiers; to wear a steel bracelet (karā) on their right wrist as a symbol of poverty and pledge to their gurūs; and always to carry a saber (kirpān) to defend their faith. In addition to these five emblems, the converts were forbidden to smoke or chew tobacco, to consume alcoholic drinks, to eat the flesh of animals slaughtered by being bled to death (as was customary among Jews and Muslims); they were permitted only jhatkā meat, that of an animal dispatched with one blow. Because their adversaries were largely Muslims, the Khālsā were forbidden to molest their women. The idea, in short, was to raise an army of sant sipāhis (soldier-saints).

The vast majority of the gurū's followers underwent baptism and became hirsute Kesādhāri Khālsā, as distinct from the Sahajdhari Sikhs ("those who take time to adopt"). The eruption of this militant force alarmed the neighboring Hindu chieftains as well as the Muslim Mughals. Gobind was compelled to evacuate Anandpur. No sooner had he left than his two youngest sons were captured and executed. The gurū was left with forty men who stockaded themselves at Chamkaur. In the skirmishes that ensued the gurū was able to escape, but his two elder sons fell in battle. Tradition holds that despite these adversities Gobind sent the emperor a defiant poem entitled Zafarnāmā (The Epistle of victory). There he wrote, "What use is it to put out a few sparks when you raise a mighty flame instead?"

Gobind eluded his pursuers and found safe refuge at Muktsar. He spent a year in the region baptizing large segments of the Hindu peasantry, including those of the Phulkian States: Patiala, Nabha, Jind, and Faridkot. With the assistance of a disciple, Manī Singh, he prepared a definitive edition of the Sikh scripture, the Ādi Granth, compiled by the fifth gurū, Arjun, in which he inserted compositions of his father, Tegh Bahādur. He also collected his own writings in the Dasam Granth.

It is not clear whether or not Gobind intended to complain to the emperor against Wazir Khan, governor of the Punjab, about the murder of his infant sons, but he was on his way to the Mughal capital when he received news of the emperor's death and the conflict over succession between his sons. The gurū decided to back Prince Moazzam, and a detachment of Sikh soldiers fought a victorious battle on his side at Jajau on June 8, 1707. Later Gobind visited the new emperor at Agra and stayed on for several months. The emperor did not take any action against his governor of the Punjab, and when he marched to his southern domains against his rebellious brother, Kam Baksh, the gurū followed him as far as Nander (now in Maharashtra). At Nander two young Pathans who were in his entourage entered his tent and stabbed him. It is most likely that the assassins were hirelings of the Punjab governor. Before he succumbed to his wounds on October 7, 1708, Gobind proclaimed an end to the succession of gurūs and exhorted the Sikhs to look upon the Ādi Granth as the symbolic representation of their ten gurūs.

Gobind Singh remains the beau ideal of the Khālsā Sikhs, the paradigm of chivalry combined with valor, poetic sophistication, and generosity. He is referred to as dasam padshāh ("tenth emperor"), nīle ghorey dā asvār ("rider of the roan stallion"), citiān bājān vālā ("lord of white hawks"), and kalgi dhar ("wearer of plumes").