From Jatpura the Guru moved on to Dina, a village near Nabha in Patiala. As the news of the Guru’s presence in Dina spread through the Punjab, his followers flocked to the village. The murder of the Guru’s young sons was being talked about all over Punjab and had angered the Sikhs, and they were determined to avenge this terrible crime. They came, armed with whatever weapons they could lay their hands on, and offered their services to the Guru. The core of the new army was provided by three brothers, Shamira, Lakhmira, and Takht Mal.
When Wazir Khan heard reports of this new gathering of the Sikhs, he sent a message to Shamira to surrender the Guru to him, failing which Shamira himself would be killed. Shamira wrote back to say that he was ready to give up his life in his Guru’s defence. Wazir Khan now began to prepare for battle.
The Guru heard of Wazir Khan’s preparations. He had been welcomed by the people of Dina with open arms and had been given both great love and great loyalty by them. He did not wish to turn their home into a battlefield and so he moved on to Kotkapura near Bhatinda. Here too large numbers of Sikhs came to offer their services to the Guru. During this time, he was able to bring together all the Sikhs who had been scattered after the evacuation of Anandpur. In addition, many non-Sikhs were influenced by the Guru and his teachings, by his great courage and composure in the face of such intense suffering, and had become his followers. After a while, the Guru moved on from Kotkapura. It was during this time that he made peace with the descendants of Prithi Chand, the eldest brother of Guru Arjan Dev. Baba Kaul, the direct descendant of Prithi Chand, who lived in Dhilwan in Kapurthala, received Guru Gobind Singh with affection and gave him new robes. The Guru finally discarded the blue robes that he had worn to help him to escape from Gulaba’s house. These tattered robes were taken up by a group of Nihangs (also called Akalis, are an armed Sikh order); and it is from them that the blue dress of the Nihangs came into being. Baba Kaul’s grandson took amrit and so this branch of the descendants of the fourth Guru was brought back into the mainstream.
When the Guru reached Khidrana, the forty Sikhs who had abandoned him in Anandpur, came back to fight by his side. They had been consumed by feelings of guilt and shame ever since they had deserted the Guru and did not have the courage to offer their services to the Guru again. It was the woman warrior, Mai Bhago, who convinced them that the Guru would forgive them and led them back to the Guru.
The enemy was approaching. The Guru placed a small band of Sikhs in the grove of trees around the water tank and asked them to spread sheets and coverlets over the trees so that from a distance it seemed that the Guru’s army was camping here. The Guru and his main army took up position on a hill nearly a mile away.
Wazir Khan and his army drew near and stopped a little way away from the water tank. Seeing what looked like tents, Wazir Khan was sure that the Guru himself was camped amongst the trees. He exhorted his men to give of their best in this final battle of their war against the ‘infidel’.
A fierce battle followed. The Guru and his soldiers rained arrows and spears on Wazir Khan’s army. The Mughal soldiers were confused because they had not expected an attack from this quarter. The small band of forty Sikhs in the forest, fought with great courage because they were determined to show the Guru that they were not cowards and to wipe away the memory of what they had done at Anandpur.
The Mughal force suffered great losses because they did not know how to cope with the Guru’s attack from the hill. At the end, overwhelmed by thirst and exhaustion, they retreated from the battlefield.
There was great rejoicing amongst the Guru’s soldiers, but when they came down to the tank they were greeted with dead silence. As they rode among the trees, they found that every single member of that band of brave soldiers had been killed.
The Guru found Mai Bhago, the leader of these Sikhs, severely wounded but still alive. She was carried back to the camp and her wounds were tended to: She was the sole survivor of the Khidrana Sikhs.
The Guru said a special prayer for the forty martyrs and blessed them as the Chalis Mukte or the Forty Immortals. They are remembered by all Sikhs in the ardas that is said at the conclusion of all Sikh religious ceremonies. Khidrana came to be known as Muktsar, or the ‘pool of salvation’, in memory of the muktas and every year a big fair is held in Muktsar to commemorate not only this battle, but also the redemption of the forty Sikhs.
The Guru spent a year travelling around Muktsar. This region is the Malwa region and the inhabitants are mostly Jats – simple, hardworking and straight-forward people, people who revel in the freedom of both of thought and action. They found the Guru’s teachings to be simple and practical and that they gave freedom to people who had been bound for centuries by caste and by ceremonies and rituals. As a result many of the people from this region joined this new faith.
The Guru camped in Lakhi jungle, a forest between the towns of Bhatinda and Kotkapura, for a while, and then moved on to Talwandi Sabo, where he was greeted with great warmth by Bhai Dalla, the landlord. Dalla extended all hospitality to the Guru and made the Guru and his followers welcome to his home, and the Guru decided to stay for some time in Talwandi. Talwandi soon came to be known as Damdama Sahib, (or ‘the breathing space’), and the Guru was visited by a large number of followers who brought him gifts, mainly of horses and weapons. New followers continued to join the Khalsa in ever-increasing numbers and Dalla himself was baptized.
Damdama also became the centre of great literary and cultural activity. Many of the poets and musicians, who had been with the Guru at Paonta and Anandpur, came here and joined the Guru and it seemed that the spirit of Anandpur had now come to abide in Damdama.
It was at Damdama that Mata Sundari and Mata Sahib Devan rejoined the Guru. They had been, all this time in Delhi and when their host was sure that the troubled times were over, he escorted them from Delhi to Damdama. The two ladies were overcome with grief when they heard of the loss of their four sons. But the Guru consoled them. ‘Look around you,’ he said, indicating the thousands of Sikhs who lived in Damdama. ‘You have thousands of sons still alive. Do not mourn for what you have lost. Instead, rejoice at what still remains to you,’ he added.
From Damdama, the Guru wrote a long letter to Aurangzeb who was still in the Deccan. He told the emperor the story of his flight from Anandpur and how he was attacked by the Mughal forces from behind. He accused the emperor of betrayal as the emperor had promised him safe passage if he left Anandpur. He also described, in the letter, the cruelty of Wazir Khan towards his younger sons, which was an act against the teachings of Islam. This letter was carried to Aurangzeb by Daya Singh and Dharam Singh.
Guru Gobind Singh’s stay in Damdama was marked by the fortunate arrival of Bhai Mani Singh, a great scholar and a childhood friend of the Guru. The Granth compiled by Guru Arjan Dev had been copied over and over again but these copies were not always rechecked against the original Granth. As a result many mistakes and discrepancies had come into these copies and there was great need for making a new, authorized copy of the Granth, which would be free of all these mistakes. The Guru asked Bhai Mani Singh to undertake this task.
Months were spent in copying the Granth and correcting all the mistakes. The Guru also added 115 hymns composed by his father Guru Tegh Bahadur to the original text compiled by Guru Arjan Dev. He did not include any of his own compositions, however.
The Guru wrote many poems while he was in Damdama. These poems along with much of his earlier work were compiled by Bhai Mani Singh into another granth called the Dasam Granth, or Dasven Padsah ka Granth. Most of the works included in the Dasam Granth were written in Anandpur. The Dasam Granth is a compilation of eighteen works, among them Bichitar Natak, Chandi di Var, Shabad Hazare, Zafarnama, and Japji Sahib. They are written in four languages – Braj Bhasha, Hindi, Persian, and Punjabi. They contain stories from Hindu mythology, poems which are religious in nature and are used in Sikh religious ceremonies. Some works are philosophical in nature. There are also some works like the Bichitar Natak and the Zafarnama which are autobiographical and tell us about the Guru’s life and personality, and about the times he lived in.
Bhai Mani Singh took nine years to complete this work, which he undertook after the Guru’s death. There are many versions of the Dasam Granth in existence but the one written in Bhai Mani Singh’s own handwriting is the one that is generally recognized as authentic.
The work on the new version of the Granth and the Guru’s own poetic work inspired all the other scholars and writers in his group. There was great literary activity and Damdama soon came to be known as Guru ki Kashi. For a long time after the Guru’s death, Damdama continued to live up to this title and there was a very strong and distinct tradition of scholarship, specially related to Sikh studies. Teachers and scholars from Damdama were regarded with special respect and copies of the Granth which had been written in Damdama, were much sought after.
Looking back now, the literary achievements in Damdama seem almost miraculous because Guru Gobind Singh’s stay in Damdama was no longer than a few months. In a few short months, men who were known mainly for their skills in battle, for their courage in the face of the enemy, had set up a centre of learning and literary activity. Damdama is thus a measure of the extent to which the Guru was able to inspire his followers.
The day of the Baisakhi festival came around while the Guru was at Damdama. From Guru Amar Das’ time, Baisakhi had become the most important festival for the Sikhs and Guru Gobind Singh had added a special dimension by making it the day of the birth of the Khalsa. The past year had seen resurgence in the Sikh faith, the number of devotees had increased manifold and the devotion of the Khalsa to their Guru and to their faith had grown from strength to strength. After having fought a series of fierce battles, the Sikhs at last had peace. They gave expression to all this in the fervour and joy with which they celebrated their festival. Thousands of people thronged to Damdama and the fields around the town became one big fair-ground. Since then, the celebration of Baisakhi at Damdama has become a very important occasion for the Sikhs.
Aurangzeb was still in the Deccan, in Ahmednagar. He was now ninety years old and had become frail and was so ill that he was largely confined to bed. With his age and his long illness, his mind had begun to wander.
His son, Azam, was with him in the Deccan and took care of his father. Azam was an ambitious man and hoped to be the next emperor. He knew that his brothers Muazzim and Kam Baksh nurtured a similar ambition. By keeping the news of the emperor’s illness and of his impending death a secret, Azam would keep the power in his own hands. When the emperor did, finally, die, his brothers would be totally unprepared; he would declare himself emperor and strengthen his position even before the news of the emperor’s death could reach his brothers. Because of this, Aurangzeb was kept under very strict guard and only his very close relatives and attendants were allowed to meet him. All other communications with the emperor had to be made through Azam.
When Daya Singh and Dharam Singh reached the emperor’s court, they were asked to hand over the Guru’s letter to Azam. This they refused to do. They said that their Guru’s instructions were to deliver the letter to the emperor personally. The two Sikhs waited patiently and came each day to the court and requested to see the emperor and each day, this request was turned down. The days rolled into months and at last, when it seemed that they would never be admitted into Aurangzeb’s presence, they sent a message to the Guru explaining their predicament. He wrote back to advise them that they should stay on in the court till such time as they were able to meet the emperor. The Guru also wrote to some very influential Sikhs in Ahmednagar asking them to use their good offices in the court to get permission for Daya Singh and Dharam Singh to meet the emperor. One of these Sikhs knew an official, Manzar Khan, from the emperor’s court whom he requested to put in a word with the emperor so that the Guru’s messengers would be able to deliver the letter personally. The official waited for the right moment to speak to the emperor.
The opportunity the official had been waiting for at last presented itself.
Suddenly the emperor’s eyes flew open. His bony hand searched out and caught the official’s wrist in a vice-like grip.
‘Tell me, why doesn’t anyone come to see me?’ asked Aurangzeb.
‘You are sick, my lord. You need all the rest that you can get. This is why Prince Azam has forbidden any visitors from coming in to you. It is out of consideration for you,’ the official replied.
‘Consideration for me or consideration for himself? Has he already set himself up as the emperor? Or is this merely a way of keeping my sickness from his brothers?’ Aurangzeb asked.
The official realized that at this moment the emperor’s mind was as lucid and clear as it had ever been. He realized that this was the oppurtunity that he had been waiting for and he seized it without a moment’s hesitation and said, ‘If it is the lack of visitors that troubles you, your majesty, this can be remedied immediately. You have two visitors outside who have been waiting for three months for an audience with you.’
The two Sikhs, who had been waiting for so long, were finally admitted to the emperor’s presence. Manzar Khan read the Guru’s letter in his deep baritone voice, ‘Hail Aurangzeb, emperor of Hindustan. King of Kings, expert swordsman and rider, Aurangzeb you are handsome and intelligent. You have proved that not only are you skilled in battle but also a clever administrator. You are generous to people who follow your religion and firm in crushing your enemies. You have given away much land and wealth. Your generosity is great and in battle you are as firm as the Pole Star. You are the king of kings and ornament of the thrones of the World.’
The letter further read, ‘You are the monarch of the world, but religion remains far away from you. He who respects his religion never breaks his promise. I have no faith in your promises. Anyone who respects your oath will be a ruined man. You made God your witness and gave me a promise. Yet you broke this promise. This means that you do not know God and believe not in Muhammad. If the Prophet was present in this world, I would make it my special mission to tell him of your treachery. Because you are not a man of God, your Governors and officers are not men of God. They deny Mohammad, everyday they go against the teachings of Islam. They violate the basic rules which have made Islam one of the greatest religions of the world. What Wazir Khan did to my children is common knowledge, every one knows of this. Was this in keeping with the teaching of Islam? And yet he remains unpunished. He rules as the Governor of Sirhind and is marked for special favour by you. Perhaps he did what he did at your command…’
‘No, no,’ the emperor said. His voice was shrill and loud and his entire frame shook with emotion. ‘I swear I had no knowledge of this terrible deed. I swear I was not party to it. Believe me Gobind Singh. I know not who I am, where I shall go and what will happen to this sinner full of sins. My years have gone by profitless. God has been in my heart but my darkened eyes have recognized not His light. I have greatly sinned and know not what torment awaits me in the Hereafter. But believe me Gobind Singh, sinner as I am, that is one sin that I am not guilty of – I did not kill your sons, I did not kill your sons,’ Aurangzeb added. His body shook with sobs but no tears flowed in his eyes to give him relief. Many of his listeners wept, even the Sikhs were touched by the old man’s remorse.
But the emperor had not finished yet. He asked his scribe Manzar Khan to write a letter to Munim Khan, his wazir in Delhi.
‘Tell him that we are very impressed by Gobind Singh’s honesty and courage, by his deep and abiding faith in God, and his justice. Tell him that henceforth, all friendliness is to be shown to Gobind Singh and to his Sikhs. He must invite Gobind Singh to Delhi. Here he must convey to him our royal firman, inviting him to come to us here in the Deccan. Instruct Munim Khan to give him as much money as may be needed for his expenses and also to give him a royal escort so that all will know he comes as our cherished guest. Muhammad Beg, you will personally carry this letter and see that it is delivered to our Wazir. Now go,’ he said waving impatiently to all those around him.
They bowed to the ailing emperor and stepped away from his chamber, the two Sikhs amongst them. They were happy that their mission had been accomplished. Mohammad Beg, the emperor’s trusted macebearer, left for Delhi with the emperor’s letter, and shortly afterwards Daya Singh and Dharam Singh also set out to bring the good news of the emperor’s change of heart to their Guru.
However, the Guru had no idea of the two Sikhs’ success at the court. At Damdama, the Guru waited for news from his two disciples. He felt that he himself must go to the Deccan. Once having taken his decision, the Guru wasted no time in carrying it out.
Dalla Singh and the other Sikhs made every effort to dissuade the Guru but, at last, they knew that they could not hold their Guru in Damdama any longer. They bowed their heads in grief and accepted the Guru’s decision to leave.
The Guru knew that the journey would be difficult. He was also not sure of what awaited him once he reached Ahmednagar. So he decided to spare Mata Sundari and Mata Sahib Devan the difficulties of the journey and the uncertainty of the future. He decided that the ladies would go back to Delhi, where they would remain, till it was safe for them to join him.
Mata Sundari went about making preparations for the departure with self-confidence and authority. She carried her grief at her impending separation from the Guru with quiet dignity.
Mata Sahib Devan stood on the fringe of the crowd to catch one last glimpse of her lord as he rode away. As the Guru turned to mount his horse, he caught sight of her and hesitated. Once again she had merged herself with the crowd. She knew that she might not see him again for a long time and yet she had made no deliberate effort to come into his presence. She had remained as self-effacing as always; content merely to be under the same roof as her Guru. The Guru raised his foot to the stirrup and found that he could not go away like this; he had to acknowledge her presence, acknowledge all that she had done. He freed his foot from the stirrup and brought it down to the ground again and turned to her.
‘You wait on the fringe of the crowd to see me go. Yet you make no effort to come and meet me, to say goodbye. You know that is your right,’ the Guru said.
‘No my Lord. That is not my right. It never was. I gave up that right in order to marry you and I have never desired it, never needed it. It was enough for me to know that you were there,’ replied Sahib Devan.
‘Don’t you ever feel cheated; feel that your husband has been able to give you so little compared to what other husbands give their wives?’ asked the Guru.
‘It is enough that you should question this. In the flush of your generosity you forget how much you have given me. Till the end of time whenever a Khalsa receives amrit and you are named as his father, I will be remembered as his mother. You have made me immortal, you have made our relationship immortal, and you have made my motherhood immortal. Can any wife be given more; can any wife ask for more?’ Saheb Devan replied.
There was nothing more to say. The Guru placed his hand on Sahib Devan’s head and blessed her. Then he turned and mounted his horse and rode out of Damdama.
The Guru was accompanied by a small band of selected Sikhs. He had forbidden all others from accompanying him. The Guru rode through Rajasthan and camped at a place called Bhangaur. It was here that he was met by Daya Singh, who was returning from Ahmednagar. Daya Singh gave the Guru details of his meeting with Aurangzeb and of the emperor’s orders to the Wazir of Delhi. Shortly afterwards, came the news of the emperor’s death.
Almost at once, a war of succession broke out. Prince Azam lost no time in declaring himself the emperor and began to make preparation for the battle that he knew he would have to fight with his brothers and marched towards Delhi.
Muazzim, the eldest son, was away in Afghanistan, leading a campaign. When news of his father’s death reached him, he too marched back immediately towards Delhi. Both brothers knew that whoever gained control in Delhi would strengthen his claims to the throne. Bhai Nand Lal, who had at one time been Muazzim’s secretary and close friend, wrote to him, advising him to seek the Guru’s help in his fight against his brother. The Guru was near Delhi when he received Muazzim’s appeal.
Muazzim was the eldest son of the emperor and the throne was rightfully his. When he had come to the Punjab to subdue the hill rajas, he had carefully maintained his peace with the Guru and this had given the Guru twelve valuable years in which to prepare his army. Muazzim was influenced by the teachings of the Sufi saints and was not only liberal-minded but also tolerant of other religions. The Guru decided to help Muazzim.
A detachment of Sikh soldiers, under the command of Dharam Singh, was sent to assist Muazzim. The two brothers faced each other at Jajau near Agra, on 8 June 1707 and a fierce battle raged for three days in which Azam was defeated and killed. Muazzim became the emperor and took the title of Bahadur Shah I, and sent a special messenger to the Guru to convey the news of his victory and also to thank him for his help.
The Guru set out to visit the holy cities of Mathura and Brindaban after this. While he was camping in a garden outside Agra, the emperor heard of his arrival and sent a special invitation to the Guru to visit him.
It was a very warm and cordial meeting. The emperor showed a lot of affection and respect for the Guru and thanked him for accepting his invitation and for his timely help in the battle of Jajau. Cordial relations were established and the emperor requested for another meeting. When they parted, the emperor gave the Guru many expensive presents, including a kalgi, a jewelled dagger, and a robe of honour.
The Guru felt that this was the beginning of a new chapter in the relationship between the Mughals and the Sikhs and was hopeful, that under the liberal Bahadur Shah, the Sikhs would, once again be allowed to live in peace. With this hope, the Guru stayed on in the area and met the emperor a number of times. He hoped that some positive agreement would be reached between him and the emperor before he returned to the Punjab.
But news came that Bahadur Shah’s youngest brother Kam Baksh had risen in rebellion against the emperor, and the emperor left for the Deccan to suppress this rebellion. He invited the Guru to accompany him. The invitation was accepted by the Guru.
Their subsequent meetings, however, did not fulfill the promise that the earlier meetings had held out. The emperor talked vaguely of liberalism and tolerance but was not prepared to make any concrete promises and the Guru soon realized that further meetings would serve no purpose. It also became apparent that the emperor had asked the Guru to accompany him because he hoped for the Guru’s support, not only against his brother, but also against the Marathas. The Guru realizing that the Sikh cause would not be served by accompanying the emperor’s party any further, so he said goodbye to the emperor and broke away.
The Guru reached Nanded in Maharashtra and was charmed by the beauty of the place, especially river Godavari. It was in Nanded that the Guru met a sadhu who had renounced the world, a Bairagi by the name of Madho Das.
Madho Das came often to listen to the Guru and was greatly influenced by his teachings. One day he fell at the Guru’s feet and said, ‘I am your Banda.’ The Guru baptized him and he entered the Khalsa Panth and was given the name of Gurmukh Singh. But he was to become famous as ‘Banda Bahadur’, one of the most heroic figures in Sikh history.
Once the news of the Guru’s presence began to spread, Sikhs in ever-increasing numbers flocked to Nanded to get his blessings. Many Hindus and Muslims also came to listen to the teachings of the Guru. Meanwhile in Sirhind, Wazir Khan had heard reports of the help that the Guru had given to the new emperor, and of the emperor’s growing affection for the Guru. He felt that at some stage, the Guru might ask the emperor to punish him for the cowardly murder of his two young sons and the emperor, in a misplaced burst of affection and gratitude might agree to do so. The only way to forestall this was to take the initiative and to murder the Guru.
He called upon the services of two loyal young Pathans, Gul Khan and Jamshed Khan. These two Pathans travelled from Sirhind and caught up with the Guru’s party at Nanded. They became frequent visitors to the Guru’s daily prayer-meetings and even accepted prasad from the Guru’s hands. In this manner they allayed all suspicions and were soon allowed free access to the Guru’s chambers.
After a few days, the two entered the Guru’s room while the Guru was resting. Gul Khan stabbed the Guru twice with his dagger. The Guru reacted with the speed of lightning and, with one stroke of his sword, he beheaded the Pathan. The Sikhs outside the room heard the noise, came rushing in and killed Jamshed Khan.
The Guru’s wounds were deep and there was a great deal of bleeding. But through it all, the Guru remained calm and told his followers not to panic.
Almost as soon as the attack was made, one of the Guru’s visitors galloped off to Bahadur Shah who was camping nearby. Bahadur Shah immediately despatched his most experienced surgeon, Dr. Cole, to help the Guru. The surgeon examined the wounds, stitched them up and gave the Guru some medicines. When he came again to examine the Guru after a few days, the wounds had healed completely and the bandages were removed. The Guru now began to follow his normal routine. The sangat held special prayer meetings to thank God for the Guru’s quick and complete recovery.
One of the Guru’s devotees had presented him with a heavy bow. The Guru, who had always had a special love for weapons of all kinds, could not resist the temptation to try out his new bow. When he stretched the bow, the wounds burst open again. He bled profusely. He was given the best medical aid, but he knew that his end was near.
He asked his Sikhs to collect around him and when they had all assembled, he spoke to them, ‘The one thing men dread most is death. I have always lived close to death and looked it in the face. So should each one of you, who claims to follow me. I will ride to my death as a bridegroom rides to the house of his bride. So do not grieve for me.’
He recited the Japji Sahib, the morning prayer and led the ardas. Then he went four times around the Granth Sahib, and as was the custom when a new Guru was appointed, he made an offering of five copper coins and a coconut. He told the Sikhs that they should now look upon the Granth as the spiritual representation of the Guru. The Granth would be their Guru and the teachings contained in it represented the spirit of the Gurus. Henceforth, it would no longer be the Adi Granth but the Guru Granth Sahib. He reminded them again of what he had told them at the birth of the Khalsa in Anandpur.
‘Where there are five true Sikhs assembled, there will I be. Henceforth the Guru shall be the Khalsa. The spirit of the Gurus has passed into the Khalsa,’ were his last words.
The Guru breathed his last in the early hours of 7 October 1708. The Sikhs put their grief behind them and conducted the funeral with great dignity. The sacred body was placed on the funeral pyre, hymns were recited, prayers said, and the pyre was lit.
For the first time the Sikhs were without a living Guru to lead them, to give them a sense of direction. This gave them a feeling of emptiness and of helplessness. Then they remembered what Guru Gobind Singh had told them before he died, and they turned with renewed faith to the Guru Granth Sahib. They read the teachings of their Gurus with great care and practised these teachings with firmness and dedication. This helped to fill up the void within them and they realized that their Guru had been right; they were as strong as they had been when he was alive.