The Guru fought back and killed the assassin, while the assassin's companion was killed by the Sikh guards as he tried to escape. The Guru died of his wounds a few days later on 7 October Guru Gobind Singh Ji Quotes. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about the tenth Guru of Sikh religion. For the Malaysian politician, see Gobind Singh Deo.
Portrait of Guru Gobind Singh, holding a falcon and escorted by Sikhs.
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Archived from the original on 18 October Retrieved 30 December The Sikhs of the Punjab. Archived from the original on 29 July Retrieved 20 August The Oxford handbook of Sikh studies. The Routledge handbook of religion and security. Facts on File, Inc. Archived from the original on 23 September Retrieved 14 September Retrieved 16 August Fighting for faith and nation dialogues with Sikh militants. University of Pennsylvania Press. Owen; Sambhi, Piara Singh Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. All the battles I have won against tyranny I have fought with the devoted backing of the people.
Through them only have I been able to bestow gifts, through their help I have escaped from harm. The love and generosity of these Sikhs have enriched my heart and home. Through their grace, I have attained all learning, through their help in battle I have slain all my enemies. He also promoted education among the citizens, and established several gurdwaras and schools, besides an orphanage.
Punjabi Suba movement In the s, Singh entered politics when he started supporting the concept of "Punjabi Suba", a separate state for the Punjabi speakers in India. In , he was arrested for anti-Government protests following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He was awarded a sentence in the Andaman jail, but was later released after the announcement of the royal clemency.
In , a jatha vol He was considered one of the greatest contemporary writers in Punjabi and his book Mera Pind is regarded as a classic. It is now in its 14th edition and has been in print continuously since He was also a pioneering journalist, the Owner-Editor of Parkash a Punjabi language newspaper — Giani Gurdit Singh graduated as "Giani" from Punjab University, Lahore in and he specialised in literature, divinity, history and folklore.
He was a member of the Punjab Legislative Council from to In Burma, on 2nd March, , the Japanese were holding a strong position astride the road Kamye-Myingyan. Two Companies of the 15th Punjab Regiment carried out successfully a wide encircling move Gurbux "Gurbaksh" Singh born February 11, is a former field hockey player from India who was a member of the India national field hockey team that won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics.
For his outstanding contribution to the country in the field of sports, Gurbux was given the Arjuna Award in the year After the partition, the family first moved over to Lucknow, then to Mhow and finally to Meerut from where Gurbux Singh did his graduation. He moved to Calcutta in , a city which was to ultimately become his permanent home and where his sports career was to take shape.
Gurbux initially tried his hand at badminton but then started playing hockey for his school in Lucknow. Gurbux started hockey at the age of He represented Agra Universit Gurmit Ottawan Singh born 24 March ; Punjabi: He was prominently a full-time Mediacorp artiste from to Gurmit is married to Melissa, a Cantonese Chinese. He died in an air crash in Delhi on 31 May Later he served as the president of the Bar Association, there.
During the partition of Punjab, Singh moved to Punjab, India. He retired from this post in Guru Gobind Singh Gurmukhi: Known as the "protector of Hindus"; his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam,[6][7] Guru Gobind Singh was formally installed as the leader of the Sikhs at age nine, becoming the tenth Sikh Guru. Guru Gobind Singh also continued the formalisation of the religion, wrote important Sikh texts,[14][15] and enshrined the scripture the Guru Granth Sahib as Sikhism's eternal Guru.
Major Hercharn Singh Punjabi: Hercharn had told reporters: He is revered as the "Hero of Nathula" by soldiers of the Indian army, who built a shrine in his honour. He was accorded the status of saint by believers who refer to him as the "Baba" saintly father. Many of his faithful - chiefly Indian army personnel posted in and around the Nathu La and the Sino-Indian border between the state of Sikkim and Chinese Tibet - have come to believe his spirit protects every soldier in the inhospitable high-altitude terrain of the Eastern Himalayas.
As with most saints, the Baba is believed to grant favours to those who revere and worship him. He is said to be protecting the country even after death. Hirdesh Singh born 15 March , known by this professional name, Yo Yo Honey Singh or Honey Singh,[1] is an Indian music director , songwriter ,Indi-pop singer , music producer and film actor.
He started as a session and recording artist, and became a bhangra music producer. He has also begun to produce music for Bollywood films. He studied music at the Trinity School in the United Kingdom. In March , he attributed his 18 month long absence from the public to his bipolar disorder. Harmeet Singh born 12 November is a Norwegian international footballer who plays professionally as a defensive midfielder for the Norwegian club Sarpsborg 08 in Eliteserien.
He is nicknamed "The Norwegian Iniesta" by international media. Singh's goal on 23 September against Molde in the semi-final of the Norwegian Football Cup,[3] was nominated Goal of the Year in Norway in He graduated with honors from the institution in After earning his bachelors, he continued his education at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, earning an MBA in Born at Nenwan, in a sikh family, he was the first Sikh to receive the Victoria Cross. The citation was published in a supplement to the London Gazette of 25 November When the convoy protection tr Despite its small budget, upon release the film was a commercial success.
Inderpal Singh has conceptualised and enacted in various commercial series. Television and early career Inderpal Singh started his career as television actor. He started a p He ascended the throne of Kapurthala state on 16 October He assumed full ruling powers on 24 November and then commenced a career as a world traveller and Francophile. He received the title of Maharaja in He built palaces and gardens in the city of Kapurthala; his main palace Jagatjit Palace there was modelled on the Palace of Versailles.
He also built in the Kapurthala city's mosque and a handsome gurudwara at Sultanpur Lodhi, sacred to Guru Nanak. He gained acclaim together with his wife, another renowned Indian ghazal singer Chitra Singh in the s and s. Their combination album comprising music from the films, Arth and Saath Saath is the HMV's largest selling combination album of all time. Sajda An Offering, , Jagjit Singh's magnum opus double album with Lata Mangeshkar holds the same record in non-film category. He sang in numerous languages. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the government of India in In February , Government of India released a set of two postal stamps in his honour.
Jaswinder Singh is a new age Ghazal singer from India. He has performed over live concerts. Jaswinder Singh also specializes in several Sufi and Punjabi songs, usually performed toward the end of his concerts. Early life Jaswinder Singh was born in Mumbai. He is the son of Kuldeep Singh, who composed ghazals such as Tumko dekha to ye khayal aaya and Itni shakti hame dena daata, and wrote music for the movies Saath-Saath and Ankush. Ajay Pohankar, and the classical sin Though heavily outnumbered, he led his troops in the face of the enemy and defended his post until he was wounded and captured.
He spent his childhood in the same village. His father Sher Singh Sahnan belonged to an agricultural Saini Sikh family which had relocated to Mahalakalan from the village Munaka in Hoshiarpur district. Guru Gobind Singh with his four sons. Early life Like his elder brother Sahibzada Ajit Singh, he started training in martial arts such as the Gatka along with the study of the religious texts. In , when he was eight years old, he received the rites of Khalsa initiation, called the Amrit Sanchar Ceremony. By the time of the siege of Anandpur by a powerful and combined host of Mughals and hillmen in December , Jujhar Singh, nearing the completion of his fifteenth year, was an experienced young warrior, strong and fearless.
The band comprised his father, He has acted in Hindi and Punjabi films. Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar Mr. In , he received a Harkness Fellowship to study the relations of urban institutions with their local communities in the United States. Karamjit Singh is a Malaysian professional race driver in rallying. He has been rallying professionally since Kartar Singh Sarabha 24 May — 16 November was a Sikh revolutionary who was among the most famous and reputed martyrs of Punjab.
He was 17 years old when he became a member of Ghadar Party, then came up as a leading luminary member and started fight for an independent India. GuruAngad 17 3. GuruAmarDas 19 4. GuruRamDas 24 5. GuruAwun 25 6. Guru Hargobind 35 7. GuruHarRai 46 8. GuruHarKrishan 49 9. Guru Tegh Bahadur 50 Guru Gobind Singh 58 Part two: Events leading up to Sarhind 78 2.
Conquest of Sarhind 80 3. Invasion of the Gangetic Doab 86 4. Occupation of the Jullundur Doab 88 5. Haidri Flag Crusade 89 6. Clash with Royal Forces. Banda in the Hills 91 8. Last stand at Gurdas-Nangal 94 9. The Man and his Achievements Part Three: Persecution Leads to Power 1. Sikh history reveals die gradual making and development of a natio'n in the hands of ten successive leaders, called Gurus. They had much in common with other contemporary reformers who were doing so much to purify religion and enrich vernacular literature; but these reformers appear to have been so impressed with the nothingness of this life that they deemed it unworthy of a thought to build up a new order of society.
In the words of Joseph Cunningham, 'they aimed chiefly at emancipation from priestcraft, or from the grossness of idolatry and polytheism They perfected forms of dissent rather than planted germs of nations, and their sects remain to mis day as they left them. It was reserved for Nanak to perceive the true principles of reform, and to lay those foundations which enabled his successor Gobind to fire the minds with a new nationality, and to give practical effect to the doctrine that the lowest is equal with the highest, in. Some of the other features distinguishing Sikhism from the general Vaishnav movement prevailing in the country were: Narang, ; and Linguistic and Oriental Essays, byR.
There would seem to be no break, no digression in the programme of Sikh Life. It was like an organism experiencing change even while it performed its work, developing new organs and functions, because it was daily challenged to exercise new energies. Its principle of life remained die same, though it underwent a constant transfiguration not transformation', as some writers have put it , assuming a great variety of forms, caused solely by local and occasional circumstances.
At the age of seven Nanak was put to the village school under a Brahmin teacher from whom he learnt arithmetic and book-keeping, besides reading and writing in Devnagri. He soon exhausted the stock of learning that the village teacher possessed, and went to a local Maulvi 2 for the study of Persian and Islamic literature. When he grew up, he supplemented his knowledge by associating with the saints and hermits found in the neighbouring forest.
He was deeply interested in Indian lore in general and in die writings of the contemporary bhagats in particular, whose teachings he compared with his own and criticised in passing. His scholarly attainments were considerable as shown by his erudite compositions like the Japji, Asa-di-Var, Sidh Gcshf and Onkjir. During his long tours he visited different centres of Hindu and Muslim faiths, and acquainted himself with their systems. He often referred to ancient 1.
Even those books like Ninak Prakish, which support Kartik Purnima, give the age of the Guru at his death as 70 years, 5 months and 7 days, which worked back brings the date to Vaisakh Sudi 3, 1 S26 Bk. The Sikh Gurus 3 writers, 1 made apt use of classical stories, 2 and had philosophical discussions with earned Yogis, Pandits and Sufis, whom he was always able to convince by his deep, learning and hard common- sense. The architectural design of his compositions and his epigrammatic style, closely packed with reflective thought on great problems of life, bear ample witness to his being a scholarly writer.
His mind was so fixed on God that, for some time, he would do nothing but sing His praises and meditate on His Name. His father suspected that he must be suffering from some physical disease, and brought in a physician to treat him. Nanak laughed at this ' misconception and said: The Creator alone who has given me this pain can remove it. He was sent to Chuharkana, a neighbouring town, with some money to buy goods of common use and sell them at profit He, however, spent the money in feeding 1. See for example Gauri Ashtpatk, ix; Vir Rimkali, xiv. His wisdom was practical, derived mainly from actual e xp erience of life, as may be seen from his maxims found here and there jn his writings; "Sweetness and humility are the essence of all virtue.
Truth never gets okf Rimkali. Truth is higher than everything, but higher still is true-living' Sri Rig. He considered it a 'profitable business,' and returned home. The place is still called Sacha Saudi or 'good bargain'.
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There are many stories of a similar nature designed to show Nanak's other- worlcHiness, but most of them seem to be only settings provided for the word-pictures drawn by him in his verses. Mehta Kalu, not satisfied with his son's conduct, allowed him to be taken to Sultarrpur, where Nanak's sister, Bibi Nanaki, was married. Nanak was put in charge of the state granary, where the corn collected as a part of the land revenue was stored and sold out to people. Nanak discharged his duties efficiently and removed the wrong impression which his previous conduct had given to his parents.
He even married he was eighteen then , and had two sons, Sri Chand and Lakhmi Das. But in spite of his good management of business his love for God was as intense as ever. When, in the course of weighing' out grain to customers, he came to the number 13, which is pronounced as Teri and which also means "thine', he would enter into a trance and go on repeating Teri Teri Thine, Thine until his attention was drawn back to the mathematical meaning of the word.
At night he would sing the praises of God, in which Mardana, a Mohammedan drummer, would accompany him on his rebeck. He takes up his mission: Early one morning as usual he went to bathe at the neighbouring river of Baeen. The scene so struck his poetic mind that he went into a trance and communed with the Spirit pervading the whole universe.
He felt that he stood before the throne of the Almighty, and received from Him the message of his mission. When he reappeared after three days, he 1. According to some writers the Guru was indiscriminately squandering the property of the Governor, and others who are more sympathetic, introduce miracles to show that in spite of his lavishness in charity the Guru's accounts showed a credit balance in his favour. The fact appears to be that the Guru received his salary in kind, and as he spent very little upon himself, he could easily afford to give away most of his share in charity and still remain in credit The Such Gurus 5 was a changed man.
He gave away all he had to the poor, and kept silent.
Whenever he was urged to speak, he only said: There is no Hindu, no Mussalman. His utterance created a stir in the town, and on a complaint made by the Qazi he was summoned before the Governor, who asked him to explain himself. In order to make himself clear, Nanak went with his critics to die mosque where the Qazi led die faithful in prayer. Nanak told the Qazi and the Governor that their prayers were not acceptable to God, because while they were mechanically repeating the prayer, their minds were wandering away from it.
One was thinking ofhis new-born filly, and the other of purchasing horses in Kabul. Both were thus no good Mussalmans. Nanak sang his own hymns, 1 in which he showed what was expected of a true Muslim. All who heard him said, 'God speaks through the mouth of Nanak. He left the service of Daulat Khan, and entered on his mission as a teacher of the world. This took place in , when he was 27 years old. He took Bhai Mardana, his rebeck-player and devoted follower, 2 with him. He was very fond of music, and most ofhis messages were sung to his audiences to the accompaniment of six-stringed rebeck, called rabab, which was his own invention.
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Mere gossip turned into severe criticism when Guru Nanak refused to participate in die grand feast given by Malik Bhago, a Hindu t. The same book ascribes the invention of Sarandi another stringed instrument, to Guru Amar Das. The Guru was called by the Malik who remonstrated with him for perferring to dine with a low- caste carpenter andjefusingJo accept the invitation of a high-caste man like himself.
The Guru called for a dish from the sumptuous feast of the Malik and also a piece of coarse bread from the house of his poor host. Holding the two in his hands he said that he saw wholesome milk issuing from the honestly-earned bread of Lalo and red blood of torturned humanity trickling from the rich dainties of Malik Bhago. There is only one brotherhood, that of humanity; and only one pollution, that of separateness. He next visited Tulamha, near Multan, where he reclaimed a professional Thug, Sajjan by name. To all appearances he was a holy man, calling himself a Sheikh and maintaining a temple for the Hindus and a mosque for the Mussalmans.
He provided food and lodging for travellers, and practised Thuggee under the guise of saintliness. He fell upon his unsuspecting guests ataight, and relieving them of their valuables would throw them into a secret well.
He intended to play the same trick on Guru Nanak and his companion. But the Guru proved a hard pigeon to pluck. Before retiring for the night he sang a hymn' specially designed to deal with a case like that of Sajjan. The heart-searching verses of the Guru struck the tender chords of Sajjan's otherwise stony heart, and he was converted. The criminal's den became a temple for God's worship. It was the first Dharamsala or Sikh Gurdwara established by the Guru with Sajjan as a missionary to preach his Master's gospel in the south and west His Udasls or Tours: After this Guru Nanak proceeded on his long tours, called Udasis odyssies.
The first tour was towards the east, which included his visits to the important centres of the Hindu religion. To avail himself of the opportunities of contacting large multitudes of people, he attended holy places on festive occasions. His method of approach was dramatic rather than discussional. He wore a strange motley dress, 2 consisting of a long 1. The Sikh Gurus 7 ochre-coloured gown, with a white waist-band, a conicol cap on his head, a garland of bones round his neck, a pair of shoes of different designs on his feet, and a saffron mark on his forehead.
With such a dress there was no need for him to advertise his arrival. At Kurkshetra, during a solar eclipse, he began to cook venison which a disciple had presented to him. This horrified the priests and the pilgrims, who rushed towards him to give him a thrashing. But he kept his presence of mind and sand hymns, 1 in which he reminded his audience that their ancestors used to kill animals and offered them to gods, and that they could not avoid the use of flesh, as long as they used water, which was the source of all life. Passing through Panipat and Delhi, he proceeded in a northeasterly direction and arrived at Hardwar, where a large number of Hindus had assembled to wash away their sins by a dip in the sacred waters of the Ganges.
While standing in the river they were throwing handfuls of water towards the rising sun as oblations to their departed ancestors. The Guru stood among them and began to throw water towards the west. This brought about him a crowd of pilgrims who questioned him as to what he was doing. He replied that he was watering his newly-sown fields in the Panjab.
They laughed at him and said, 'How can your handfuls of water reach your fields which are over two hundred miles away? The Pandit was made to realise that God resided in every human heart, and could be adored in the form of the Holy Name. Chatur Das along with many others became a Sikh, and as a missionary did much tc spread Sikhism in the locality.
The place is now marked with a Gurdwara called Guru-ka-Bagh. The Guru passed through Gaya, and then through Patna where he converted a jeweller, named Salis Rai, whom he appointed his missionary and 1. He was able, however, to convince them that beauty was not for sensuous enjoyment but for attracting conjugal love, and true wealth and charm lay in storing excellences in one's character.
During these travels Guru Nanak and Mardana entered a village where they were not well received. The Guru blessed the people, saying, 'May your village flourish! When departing the Guru said, 'May the populace be scattered! The latter replied, The churlish inhabitants of the former village would carry with them their evil influence wherever they went. They should therefore remain where they are. The inhabitants of the other village, on the other hand, if scattered, would spread their virtue abroad. At Puri he visited the famous temple of Jagannath, where arti was being performed before the image.
The Guru did not join the service, and on being asked the reason sang a hymn of his own, 4 in which he told the hearers that a wonderful serenade was being sung by Nature before the invisible altar of God. The sun and the moon were lamps, placed in the salver of the firmament, and the fragrance wafted from the Malayan mountains were serving as incense. There was no need of offering artificial worship to Him. The Guru then returned to the Panjab, passing through Central India and preaching his humanising gospel to the aboriginies, who were living the life of cannibalism.
He spent some time in the Panjab. Crossing the Ravi he 1. Nanak Prakash, purbaidh, ch. Out in the waste near Jafarabad there is a well and ruins of a Sikh temple, which mark the place visited by Guru Nanak. See Sikh Review, July, At Lahore he was invited by a millionaire Khatri, named Duni Chand, to a rich banquet given by him on the occasion of his father's sharadh ceremony. He humorously exposed the futility of this ceremony by asking, 'What if your father's soul has gone into the body of a wolf? How would he appreciate your pudding and cakes7 The Guru now thought of going on another long journey outside the Panjab, but before going he wanted to provide a home for his family which was putting up at Pakhoke, with his father-in-law.
Just opposite this p'ace, on the right bank of the Ravi, he founded a new town on a piece of land offered by a disciple named Karori of Lahore. The place was called Kartarpur or the Creator's City. This itinerary is marked by a long line of Gurdwaras dotting the whole length of the peninsula down to Ceylon. In due time Guru Nanak paid him a visit, and left a big congregation of converts with him. He returned by the western coast to the Punjab. The indefatiguable Guru next turned his attention to the North, which was the home of Yogis. Wearing a strange dress, mainly I.
In spite of Dr. Trumpp's scepticism about the visit of Guru Nanak to the South, the fact is well-established by the discovery of a manuscript of Akbar's time laying down the itinerary of a pilgrim to the Sikh temples in Southern India and Ceylon. Traversing the sub-montane tracts of the Lower Himalayas and visiting many places he came to Gorakhmata, where he met Yogis of the Gorakh order. He criticised before them the hollowness of wearing forms without leading a pure and spiritual life: Religion does not consist in a patched coat, a yogi's staff, or in ashes smeared on the body.
Religion does not consist in mere words; He who looks on all men as equals is religious.
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Religion does not co. It does not consist in wandering to foreign lands or in bathing at sacred places. Abide pure amid the impurities of the world, thus shalt thou find the way of religion — SuhT. After some further discussions the Yogis were completely vanquished, and the place became a centre of Sikh mission, with Nanakmata as its name. They were astonished to find him there, and asked him how things were going on in the plains below.
He replied, "The darkness of Falsehood prevails throughout; the moon of Truth is invisible. I have set out in search of it. The earth is groaning under the load of Sin. The Yogis have 1. After Guru Nanak the place remained out of touch with the Panjab, and in the course of time the Yogis began to give trouble to the Sikh custodians of the temple. Guru Hargobind had to go personally there to reclaim the place from the Yogi usurpers.
Traces of the Guru's visit to these high regions have been found by many travellers. See he Divine Master, by Sewaram Singh, pp. The Guru is said to have met Gorakhnath. Machhindamath Matsyandranath , etc. But these saints existed much earlier, before the 12th century A. So the Guru must have seen some later Yogis bearing the same names, which are so common among them. The Sikh Gurus 1 1 retired to the mountains, and knowing nothing better are busy in rubbing ashes on their bodies. Who should save the world? Without a true Guru, it is sunk in ignorance.
Their love of miracles he described as 'an irrelevant taste' Japji, xxix , having no connection with religion. When asked to perform a miracle, he said, 'I rely on nothing but the Sacred Word and the Holy Fellowship. The fourth itinerary of Guru Nanak was to the West. He was accompanied by Mardana. He travelled by sea, and visited Mecca, carrying a prayer-carpet under one arm, a book under the other, and holding in his hands an ablusion-pot and a pilgrim's staff — to complete the picture of a regular Haji.
On the way, wherever he met children, he would join them in their sports and share their jovialities. On his arrival in the holy city, being weary and foot-sore, he quietly lay down in the mosque and fell asleep, with his feet stretched towards the Kaaba. This very much annoyed the people, and they remonstrated with him. One of them kicked him, saying, 'Who are you? Why should you be so rude as to turn your feet towards the House of God?
Turn my feet in a direction where God is not. Allah is the east and the west, So whithersoever ye turn, there is the face of Allah' ch. They questioned him whether he was a Muslim or a Hindu. He said, '1 am neither of the two. I'm only a plaything made of five elements. Bhai Gurdas, Var i. It is strange thai i. Banerjee in his The Evolution of the Khalsa, 1. Both would suffer if they had no good actions to recommend them. There a platform is shown to mark the place where he had sat while talking to Shah Bahlol, a local fakir.
The following inscription 1 is found on the wall behind the platform: Its rendering 2 would be: The blessed disciple has produced a spring of grace — year H. Babar at this time invaded the Panjab for the third time. This invasion, according to Guru Nanak's 3 own words, took place in B. See Ac Gurdwara Reform Movement, pp. The translation given in Banerjee's The Evolution of the Khalsa is obviously wrong, being due to an attempt to prove that the Guru was a disciple of a Muslim fakir.
It was not the habit of the Gurus to hide the name of their spiritual guide: The Sikh Gurus 13 A D. The Guru was an eye-witness to the sack of Saidpur and the wholesale massacre of its inhabitants. According to the Memoirs of Babar 'the inhabitants of Saidpur, who resisted, were put to the sword, their wives and children were carried into captivity, and all their property plundered. God took Khurasan under His wing, and exposed India to the terrorism of Babar.
The Creator takes no blame to Himself; it was Death disguised as a Mughal that made war on us. When there was such slaughter, such groaning, didst Thou not feel pain? Creator, Thou belongest to all. If a powerful party beat another powerful party, it is no matter for anger; But if a ravenous lion fall upon a herd of cows, then the master of the herd should show his manliness. What would he not have done, this master of the herd, had he been in the position of Gum Gobind Singh? He could then only utter a cry and wish that the cows should become lions, but what would he not have done, if he had a nation at his back?
He had no nation at his back. He and his successors had yet to create it. Still he had not sit down in impotent rage and utter idle jeremiads. He did as much as was possible to do in the circumstances. Estimate of his Work: It is usual to say that Guru Nanak was a man of devotion and peace, and did not think of the worldly needs of his people. This is entirely a wrong notion. The Guru did think of the social and political disabilities of his people; otherwise he would not have said: Sin is the king, Greed the minister, Falsehood the mint-master, And lust the deputy to take counsel with; they sit and confer together.
The blind subjects, out of ignorance, pay homage like dead men. Asa-di-Var, xvi He rebuked 'the masters of the herd', the Lodhi Pathans, for 1. Leyden and Erskine's translation O. See other hymns composed on the same occasion in Macauliffe, I. To quote his own words: The dogs of Lodhis have thrown away the priceless inheritance; when they are dead, no one will remember them with regard.
Asa He complained that the people were so cowed down in spirit that 'they mimicked the Mohammedan manners', 'ate meat prepared in the Mohammedan fashion', and 'wore blue dress in order to please the ruling class' VarAsa. Even their language had changed. When asked by his companion, Mardana, why such a suffering had come to the people during the foreign invasion, he replied: He felt sure that, as long as men were steeped in ignorance and corruption, nothing could be done for them. He freed them from the bondage of so many gods and goddesses, and led them to accept one Supreme Being as the crejtfor and sustainer of all.
He could not be worshipped in the form of an image; the devotee was to practise His presence by dwelling on His Name. There were no incarnations, no special revelations. Man was the highest manifestation of God, who spoke more fiequently through the heart of man than through scriptures. With the uplift of man, woman also received her due. She was declared not only not inferior to man but as having an equal esponsibility for her actions before God VarAsa.
To give a practical shape to the idea of equality, the Guru instituted the custom of intcrdining in a common mess attached to every place of worship. No devotion or programme of life was genuine which did not lead to the love of mankind, which in practice must mean social service. He laid down very simple rules of conduct, which did not forge any new shackles in place of the old ones, and left the people to work out their social conscience themselves: Put away the custom that makes you forget the Loved One Wadhons. My friend, the enjoyment of that food is evil.
The Skh Gurus 15 Which gives pain to the body and evil thoughts to the mind. By adopting the vernacular 1 of the country for religious purposes he, in a way. It was strengthened by the community of thought and ideal, daily realised in the congregational singing of the same religious hymns. It also improved the understanding of the people. The high truths conveyed to them in their own tongue made them conscious of new powers of thought in themselves.
To this was added the illumination of intellect which comes with the sincerity and enthusiasm of a newly- found faith. In order to work out his ideas in practice, Guru Nanak set a personal example of pure life lived in the midst of the world. In his youth he was a store-keeper under the government, a good householder and a loving brother. In old age, after several years spent in travelling and preaching, he settled down at Kartarpur as a farmer. He had done all this, but much had still to be done before a people morally and physically degraded could lift up their heads and come into their own again.
The religion he had founded was not to remain content with the salvation of a few individuals. It had far nobler potentialities in it. It was to organise itself as a world-force, and evolve a living and energetic society for the uplift of mankind. That the Guru was not a mere reformer but the founder 2 of a new religion is clear from the fact that he travelled abroad to non-Hindu 1.
It is wrong to say, as a writer has done in the Modern Review of July 1 , p. In fact, Panjabi is not the only vernacular used in the writings of the Gurus, but Hindi is used much more frequently, and that was understood all over Northern and Central India. Besides, Sikhism spread much beyond the Panjab. If, later on, its scope was restricted, it was due to political struggles engaging the attention of the Sikhs and confining their activities to the homeland. See also Qazi Nur Mohammad's Jangnama, p. He tested his Sikhs and his sons, and his followers saw what the had done.
It was when Lehna was tested and purified that Guru Nanak consecrated him. He died soon after, on September 22, 1 VSr Ramkali, by Satta and Balvand. He had tested his own and his brother's sons, his sons-in-law, his relatives and other people round-about, and disillusioned them of their own importance.
The 3rd Guru also rejected his sons and, while yet alive, consecrated Ram Das as his successor, not because he was his son-in-law, but because through constant service and general ability he had proved himself to be the only fit person to be appointed. By the time of the 4th Guru the lesson had been brought home to the Guru's sons that merit alone would count, and therefore after that they tried to qualify themselves for the onerous duties.
One thing to be remembered is that the test was applied to the Sikhs and sons alike, Why should the sons have been excluded from the test? And if they were included and were found successful, how could they be rejected? Bhai Gurdas, even as late as the time of the 6th Guru, notes the distinction between the practice of kings and the Sikh Gurus in the appointment of successors.
While in the one case succession was regulated by the rule of primogeniture, in the other only fitness counted VSr xxvi. To promote this fitness it was found necessary the experience that the choice of the successor should not be postponed to the very end of a Guru's life, but should be made sufficiently early, so that the candidate might receive, some training to prove his fitness. The choice was always happy. Even Guru Harkishan was very promising.
It was not the fault of the chooser if the young Guru died early. The Sikh Gurus 17 Yet a little, ere it fled, Did he resign his high and holy soul To images of the majestic past, That paused within his passive being now. As he lay on his death-bed at Kartarpur, the different scenes of Talvandi in the Bar, his homeland, came up before his mind's eye one after another, and reminded him of his early surroundings.
Guru Nanak belonged to the whole world, but he also belonged to the Punjab, particularly to that part of it which is called the Bar. Guru Angad Guru Angad continued his work for about thirteen years. Born on March 31,1 , he was the son of Pheru, a petty trader living in the village of Matte-di-Sarai, in the present district of Ferozepore. The family, on account of poverty, shifted to Hari-ke and then to Khadur, which is near the important town of Tarn Taran.
There at the age of 1 5 he was married to Khivi, a native of the place. By her he had two sons and two daughters. Lehna was a devout worshipper of the goddess Durga, and used to lead every year a party of pilgrims to Javalamukhi, a place sacred to the goddess in the lower Himalayas, where fire issues from the mountain. He was introduced to the hymns of Guru Nanak by a Sikh named Jodha, and once while proceeding to Javalamukhi he broke his journey at Kartarpur and saw the Guru.
He was so impressed by Guru Nanak's personality and the beauty of his teachings that he gave up the worship of the goddess and became a follower of the Guru. He served his Master with great devotion, and after a series of tests was appointed Guru. He spent some time in retirement outside Khadur. At the request, however, of some leading Sikhs, like Bhai Budha, he came forward to give active lead to his people. He held regular meetings of Sikhs and explained to them the mission of Guru Nanak.
He also continued the practice of maintaining the common kitchen which, presided over by his wife Khivi, 'supplied delicious dishes like rice I. He was very fond of seeing children at play, and occasionally wrestling matches of young men at a place now called the Mai Akhari. From the games he drew lessons for his congregations. His chief quality, as a disciple, had been implicit obedience, and the same quality he imparted to his own followers.
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His writings, which are scanty as compared with those of the other Gurus, are variations on the same theme. Satta and Balvand, 1 the musicians who used to sing daily before the assembly of Sikhs, were taught obedience when they became proud and struck work. Amar Das himself, when he had yet to learn his true role, had constantly to be on the watch in order not to forget this lesson.
A hypocritical monk, called the Tapa of Khadur, was severely punished by the villagers for his cruelty to the Guru; and Amar Das, forgetting the orders of his Master, had countenanced the violence of the villagers. Guru Angad felt much grieved at this, and said, 'Thou canst not endure things difficult to endure. What thou didst, thou didst to please the rabble.
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Thou shouldst have endurance like the earth, steadfastness in woe and wear like a mountain; thou shouldst bear pardon in thy heart and do good to everyone, irrespective of his actions. He took the sayings of his Master, and got them recorded in a special script called Gurmukhi. One of them, Satta, lived up to the time of Guru Hargobind. They composed verses in honour of each Guru at the time of his accession. That the story belongs to the time of Guru Angad is clear from the internal evidence of the Ode. It contains eight passages, out of which as many as five are in praise of Guru Angad; and the self condemnation and penitence is expressed by the bards in the passage 5th addressed to that Guru.
This alphabet is generally supposed to have been invented by Guru Angad, but the fact that at the time of his accession Bhai Paira Mokha of Sultanpur was asked to transcribe the horoscope of Guru Nanak from Shastri Devanagri letters into Gurmukhi shows that these letters existed before Guru Angad. It reminded those who employed it of their duty towards their Guru, and constantly kept alive in their minds the consciousness that they were something distinct from the common mass of Hindus'. The effect felt in a generation or two was, as Mohsin Fani in his Dabistan p.
They do not venerate their temples of idols, nor do they esteem their Avtars. They have no regard for the Sanskrit language, which according to the Hindus is the speech of gods. Guru Angad, like his predecessor, subjected his sons and Sikhs to severe tests before choosing his successor, and found in Amar Das.
He died at the age of 48, on March 29, He was born on May 5, , at Basarke in the present district of Amritsar. He lived by agriculture and trade. At the age of 24 he was married and had two sons, Mohan and Mohri, and two daughters, Dani and Bhani. He was a staunch Vaishnavite, and used to pay annual visits to the Ganges. He also practised severe austerities to subdue his mind. When returning from the twentieth visit he was told by a monk that he could have no hope for spiritual bliss unless he had a Guru. This kindled a new desire in fconld from previous page] Guru Nanak's composition called Asa Paul contains exactly 35 letters, including the latter r which is peculiar to Gurmukhi.
There were at that time three kinds of alphabet current in the Panjab: Shirda in Kashmir , Thakri in the eastern hills , and Bhatakshri in the plains.