Medieval and early modern periods 1206
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- Bu sahifa navigatsiya:
- Armed legion of Sikh soldiers
- Establishment of Ayurvedic hospital
- Reform of Masand system and expansion of Manji missions
- Journeys 375 |
- Martyrdom of Guru by Aurangzeb
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Guru Hargobind had no regard for idol worship. One of his followers cut off the nose of an idol; on complaints from various neighboring chiefs, he summoned the Sikh to his presence; the culprit denied the act, but added, ironically, that if the idol bore witness against him, he would accept punishment willingly. "O fool," replied the chiefs, "how will the idol speak?" Replied the Sikh, "If he can't save his head, then how will he avail you?"
The following is a summary of the main highlights of Guru Har Gobind's life: Transformed the Sikh fraternity by introducing martial arts and weapons for the defence of the masses. Carried two swords of Miri and Piri. Built the Akal Takht in 1608 – which is now one of five Takhts (Seats of Power) of the Sikhs. Founded the city of Kiratpur in District Jalandhar, Punjab. He was imprisoned in the fort of Gwalior for one year and on release insisted that 52 fellow prisoners be freed as well. To mark this occasion, the Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas. The first Guru to engage in warfare. The city Hargobindpur, in Majha region of Punjab, is named after him, which he won over from Mughals after defeating them in a battle.
1.
Battle of Rohilla 2.
Battle of Amritsar (1634) 3.
Battle of Kartarpur 4.
Battle of Kiratpur 5.
Battle of Gurusar 6.
Battle of Hargobindpur Guru Har Rai Armed legion of Sikh soldiers Although, Guru Har Rai was a man of peace, he never disbanded an army of more than 1200 Sikh warriors ( which was a lot at that time ), who earlier were maintained by his grandfather, Guru Hargobind. He always boosted the military spirit of the Sikhs, but never indulged in any direct political or armed war with the Mughal Empire.
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Once, Dara Shikoh, came to Guru Har Rai asking for help in the war of succession launched by his half-brother Aurangzeb. Guru Har Rai had promised his grandfather to use the Sikh cavalry only in defense. Therefore, he used it to help Shikoh escape safely from the hands of Aurangzeb's armed forces by having his Sikh warriors hide all the ferry boats at the river crossing after they had been used by Shikoh during his escape. No weapons were fired. War with Mughals Once, while Guru Har Rai was returning from a tour of the Malwa and Doaba regions, Mohammad Yarbeg Khan (son of Mukhlis Khan, who had been killed by Guru Hargobind when he had led his forces against the Sikhs), attacked Guru Har Rai's kafila (entourage) with one thousand armed men. The attack was repulsed by a few hundred Sikh. Khan's forces suffered a heavy loss of life and fled the scene. Guru Har Rai often bestowed Sikh warriors with robes of honor in reward. Due to Rai's help in Shikoh's escape, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb framed charges against Har Rai and questioned the verses of Guru Granth Sahib as anti-Muslim blasphemy.
Guru Har Rai also established an Ayurvedic hospital and a research center at Kiratpur Sahib, where he also maintained a zoo. Once Shikoh fell seriously ill by some unknown disease. The court Hakims (physicians), both Indian and European attempted cures, but there was no improvement. At last the emperor made a request to Guru Har Rai for the treatment of his son. Guru Har Rai, sent some medicinal herbs, then available only in his Ayurvedic Medical Center, back with the emperor's messenger. Shikoh was cured of his near fatal illness. The emperor thanked Guru ji and offered a Jagir (title to land and villages and a portion of the revenue tax called lagaan derived from it), which Rai declined. Travels Guru Har Rai visited the Doaba and Malva regions of Punjab where he preached to the Sikhs in huge numbers. Guru Har Rai also visited Lahore, Sialkot, Pathankot, Samba, Ramgarh and many places in the Jammu and Kashmir region. Reform of Masand system and expansion of Manji missions Guru Har Rai sahib faced some serious difficulties during the period of his guruship. The corrupt Masands, Dhir Mal and Minas always tried to preclude the
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advancement of the Sikh religion. Third Sikh Guru Amar Das started the Manji and Piri system by appointing 94 men as Manji and 52 women as Piris for the spread of Sikhism.[2] To reform the Masand system, Guru Har Rai expanded the Manji system by establishing additional 360 Sikh 'missionary' seats called Manjis. He also tried to improve the old corrupt Masand system and appointed pious and committed personalities, such as Suthre Shah, Sahiba, Sangtia, Mian Sahib, Bhagat Bhagwan, Bhagat Mal and Jeet Mal Bhagat (also known as Bairagi), as the heads of Manji's.
One day the Sikhs asked Guru Har Rai whether those who read the Gurus' hymns without understanding them, derived any spiritual advantage from it. He gave no reply at the time, and next morning went hunting. En route, he came across a broken pot which had held butter. The rays of the sun were melting the butter on the broken pot fragments. He took one of these fragments in his hand and said, "Look my Sikhs, broken pot shreds — when heated, the butter that had adhered to them readily melts. As the grease adheres to the potshreds, so do the Gurus' hymns to the hearts of his Sikhs. At the time of death the Gurus' instruction shall assuredly bear fruit. Whether understood or not, it has within it the seed of salvation. Perfume still clings to a broken vase." The meaning of the parable is that whosoever daily reads the Gurus' shabads shall assuredly obtain peace. And even though he may not fully understand them, God will undoubtedly assist him. Guru Ram Das has said: "The shabad is the Guru, and the Guru in the shabad, and in the Word is the essence of ambrosia."
Though framed and prosecuted by Aurangzeb,Guru Har Rai died of natural causes. He appointed his 5 years old younger son Har Krishan as the eighth guru before his death Guru Har Krishan Early days Har Krishan was born in Kiratpur Sahib, Rupnagar, Punjab, India to Guru Har Rai and Kishan dei (Mata Sulakhni). Before His death in October 1661, Guru Har Rai designated his younger son Har Krishan as the next Guru. Har Rai chose Har Krishan, rather than his elder son Ram Rai, because Ram Rai was in collusion with the Mughal Empire. Har Krishan was only five years old when he succeeded his father as Guru.
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It is said that when Guru Har Rai was asked which of his two sons Ram Rai and Har Krishan would be the next guru, he said that although both of them followed the same religion and recited the same bani, there was softness in the heart of Har Krishan and Ram Rai was rough from the heart. For the enlightenment of any person or to be named as the guru, softness was of prime importance. Thus, the next Guru came to be Guru Har Krishan at the age of 5, the youngest guru in sikh history.
At Panjokhra, near Ambala, Haryana, there stands a magnificent gurudwara in memory of the miracle done by Guru Har Krishan. it is told [3] that doubting the abilities of a small child to be a Guru, a local pandit (learned man) challenged him to translate and explain the Sanskrit verses of Bhagvad Gita. At that time, Sanskrit was read & studied only by eminent people. He brought with him a completely illiterate man with limited mental ability named Gangu Jheevar. Guruji pointed a stick on Gangu's head as a blessing and that disabled illiterate man started uttering the sermons of the sacred text to the perfection.
When they reached Delhi, Guru Har Krishan and his party were the guests of Raja Jai Singh II. Every day, large numbers of Sikh devotees flocked to see the Guru. A epidemic was then raging in Delhi. Guru Har Krishan helped to heal many sick people. Guru Har Krishan, being soft and kind hearted, served the ill and is said to have taken smallpox upon himself. On March 30, 1664, Guru Har Krishan decided to name his successor. He called for five coins and a coconut. He took them, and being too weak to move, waved his hand three times in the air, and said Baba Bakala, meaning his successor was to be found in Baba Bakala town. Guru Har Krishan then died of at the age of 8, as he had refused treatment. One of the historic gurdwaras in India, the Bangla Sahib in Delhi, was built on the site where Guru Har Krishan helped the sick. Guru Har Krishan died at Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, Delhi. Guru Tegh Bahadur 373 | P a g e
Guru Tegh Bahadur was born in a Sodhi Family. The Sixth guru, Guru Hargobind had one daughter Bibi Viro and five sons: Baba Gurditta, Suraj Mal, Ani Rai, Atal Rai and Tyaga Mal Khatri. Tyaga Mal Khatri was born in Amritsar in the early hours of 1 April 1621. The name Tegh Bahadur (Mighty Of The Sword), was given to him by Guru Hargobind after he had shown his valour in a battle against the Mughals. Amritsar at that time was the centre of Sikh faith. As the seat of the Sikh Gurus, and with its connection to Sikhs in far-flung areas of the country through the chains of Masands or missionaries, it had developed the characteristics of a state capital. Guru Tegh Bahadur was brought up in Sikh culture. He was trained in the martial-arts of archery and horsemanship, and was also taught the old classics. He underwent prolonged spells of seclusion and contemplation. Tegh Bahadur was married on 3 February 1633, to Mata Gujri. Stay at Bakala In the 1640s, nearing his death, Guru Hargobind said to his wife Nanaki, to move to his ancestral village of Bakala in Amritsar district, together with Guru Tegh Bahadur and Mata Gujri. Bakala, as described in Gurbilas Dasvin Patishahi, was then a properous town with many beautiful pools, wells and baolis. Guru Tegh Bahadur meditated at Bakala for about twenty years (1644-1664) and lived there with his wife and mother. He spent most of his time in meditation, but was not a recluse, and attended to family responsibilities. He made visits outside Bakala, and also visited the eighth Sikh guru Guru Har Krishan, when the latter was in Delhi.
In March 1664 Guru Har Krishan contracted smallpox. When asked by his followers who would lead them after him, he replied Baba Bakala, meaning his successor was to be found in Bakala. Taking the advantage of the ambiguity in the words of the dying Guru, many installed themselves as the new Guru. Sikhs were puzzled to see so many claimants. The Sikh tradition has a legend on how Guru Tegh Bahadur was found and chosen as the ninth guru. A wealthy trader, Baba Makhan Shah Labana, had once prayed for his life and had promised to gift 500 gold coins to the Sikh guru if he survived. He arrived in search of the ninth Guru. He went from one claimant to the next making his obeisance and offering two gold coins to each Guru, believing that the right guru would know that his silent promise was to gift 500 coins for his safety. Every "guru" he met accepted the 2 gold coins and bid him farewell. Then he discovered that Guru Tegh Bahadur, who also lived at Bakala. Labana gifted Tegh Bahadur the usual offering of two gold coins. Tegh Bahadur gave him his blessings and remarked that his offering was considerably short of the promised five hundred. Makhan Shah Labana forthwith 374 | P a g e
made good the difference and ran upstairs. He began shouting from the rooftop, "Guru ladho re, Guru ladho re" meaning "I have found the Guru, I have found the Guru". In August 1664 a Sikh Sangat arrived in Bakala and anointed Tegh Bahadur as the ninth guru of Sikhs. The Sangat was led by Diwan Durga Mal, and a formal "Tikka ceremony" was performed by Bhai Gurditta on Tegh Bahadur conferring Guruship on him. As had been the custom among Sikhs after the execution of Guru Arjan by Mughal Emperor Jahangir, Guru Tegh Bahadur was surrounded by armed bodyguards. He himself lived an austere life. Works He contributed many hymns to the Guru Granth Sahib]including the Saloks, or couplets near the end of the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Tegh Bahadur toured various parts of India, and was asked by Gobind Sahali to construct several Sikh temples in Mahali. His works include 116 shabads, 15 ragas and his bhagats are credited with 782 compositions that are part of bani in Sikhism. His works are included in Adi Granth, from pages 219 to 1427. They cover a wide range of topics, such as the nature of God, human attachments, body, mind, sorrow, dignity, service, death and deliverance. For example, in Sorath rag, Guru Tegh Bahadur describes what an ideal human being is like, jo na dukh mein dukh nahin manney, sukh snehh ar bhai nahi ja kai, kanchan maati
manney na
nindya nehn
usttat ja
kai lobh
moh abhimana harakj sog tey rahey niaro nahen maan apmana, aasa mansa sagal tyagey jagg
tey rahey
nirasa, kaam
krodh jeh
parsai the
ghatt brahma
niwasa
One who is not perturbed by misfortune, who is beyond comfort, attachment and fear, who considers gold as
dust. He neither speaks ill of others nor feels elated by praise and shuns greed, attachments and arrogance. He is indifferent to ecstasy and tragedy, is not affected by honors or humiliations. He renounces expectations, greed.
He is neither attached to the worldliness, nor lets senses and anger affect him. In such a person resides God. — Guru Tegh Bahadur, Sorath 633 (Translated by Gopal Singh), Journeys 375 | P a g e
Guru Tegh Bahadur travelled extensively in different parts of the country, including Dhaka and Assam, to preach the teachings of Nanak, the first Sikh guru. The places he visited and stayed in, became sites of Sikh temples. During his travels, Guru Tegh Bahadur spread the Sikh ideas and message, as well as started community water wells and langars (community kitchen charity for the poor). The Guru made three successive visits to Kiratpur. On 21 August 1664, Guru went there to console with Bibi Rup upon the death of her father, Guru Har Rai, the seventh Sikh guru, and of her brother, Guru Har Krishan. The second visit was on 15 October 1664, at the death on 29 September 1664, of Bassi, the mother of Guru Har Rai. A third visit concluded a fairly extensive journey through northwest Indian subcontinent. His son Guru Gobind Singh, who would be the tenth Sikh guru, was born in Patna, while he was away in Dhubri, Assam in 1666, where stands the Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. He there helped end the war between Raja Ram Singh of Bengal and Raja Chakardwaj of Ahom state (later Assam). He also visited the towns of Mathura, Agra, Allahabad and Varanasi. After his visit to Assam, Bengal and Bihar, the Guru visited Rani Champa of Bilaspur who offered to give the Guru a piece of land in her state. The Guru bought the site for 500 rupees. There, Guru Tegh Bahadur founded the city of Anandpur Sahib in the foothills of Himalayas. In 1672 Guru Tegh Bahadur travelled through Kashmir and the North-West Frontier, to meet the masses, as the persecution of non-Muslims reached new heights. Martyrdom of Guru by Aurangzeb In 1675 Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed in Delhi on 11 November under the orders of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. No contemporary detailed accounts of the circumstances of his arrest and execution have survived either in Persian or Sikh sources. The only accounts available are those written about a 100 years later, and these accounts are conflicting. According to the official account of the Mughal Empire, written 107 years later by Ghulam Husain of Lucknow in 1782, Tegh Bahadur, the eighth successor of (Guru) Nanak became a man of authority with a large number of followers. (In fact) several thousand persons used to accompany him as he moved from place to place. His contemporary Hafiz Adam, a faqir belonging to the group of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi's followers, had also come to have a large number of murids and followers. Both these men (Guru Tegh Bahadur and Hafiz Adam) used to move about in the Punjab, adopting a habit of coercion and extortion. Tegh Bahadur used to collect money from Hindus and Hafiz Adam from Muslims. The royal waqia navis (news reporter and intelligence agent) wrote to the Emperor Alamgir [Aurangzeb] of their manner of activity, added that if their authority increased they could become even refractory. 376 | P a g e
— Ghulam Husain, Mughal Empire records, Satish Chandra cautions that this was the "official justification", which historically can be expected to be full of evasion and distortion to justify official action. Another Muslim scholar, Ghulam Muhiuddin Bute Shah wrote his Tarikh-i-Punjab in 1842, over a century and half after the death of Guru Tegh Bahadur, saying that there was ongoing hostility from Ram Rai, the elder brother of Guru Har Kishan, against Guru Tegh Bahadur. Ghulam Muhiuddin Bute Shah said that "Ram Rai represented to the Emperor that Guru Tegh Bahadur was very proud of his spiritual greatness and that he would not realise his fault unless he was punished. Ram Rai also suggested that Guru Tegh Bahadur be asked to appear before the Emperor to work a miracle, if he failed, he could be put to death." Satish Chandra and others say that this account is also doubtful as to the circumstances or cause of Guru Tegh Bahadur's execution. Sikh historians record that Guru Tegh Bahadur had become a socio-political challenge to the Muslim rule and Aurangzeb. The Sikh movement was rapidly growing in the rural Malwa region of Punjab, and the Guru was openly encouraging Sikhs to, "be fearless in their pursuit of just society: he who holds none in fear, nor is afraid of anyone, is acknowledged as a man of true wisdom", a statement recorded in Adi Granth 1427. While Guru Tegh Bahadur influence was rising, Aurangzeb had imposed Islamic laws, demolished infidel schools and temples, and enforced new taxes on non-Muslims. The main substantive record however comes from Guru Tegh Bahadur's son, Guru Gobind Singh in his composition, Bachittar Natak. This composition is recited in every Sikh place of workshop on the occasion of the Guru's martyrdom. According to records written by his son Guru Gobind Singh, the Guru had resisted persecution, adopted and promised to protect Kashmiri Hindus. The Guru was summoned to Delhi by Aurangzeb on a pretext, but when he arrived, he was offered, "to abandon his faith, and convert to Islam". Guru Tegh Bahadur refused, he and his associates were arrested. He was executed on November 11, 1675 before public in Chandni Chowk, Delhi.
William Irvine states that Guru Tegh Bahadur was tortured for many weeks while being asked to abandon his faith and convert to Islam; he stood by his convictions and refused, he was then executed. Sikh tradition says that the associates of the Guru were also tortured for refusing to convert: Bhai Mati Das was sawed into pieces and Bhai Dayal Das was thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, while Guru Tegh Bahadur was held inside a cage to watch his colleagues suffer. The Guru himself was beheaded in public.
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