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He kept alive the torch of
liberty and equality
Dr.
Madan Jit Kaur
GURU Gobind Singh is an
unparalleled hero in the history of the world. Guru Gobind Singh filled the
42- year short span of his life with tremendous activities and achievements of
far-reaching consequences. The Guru was a creative genius and a divine soul.
He presents a unique combination of higher spiritual attainment and excellence
in secular endeavours.
Guru Gobind Singhs
contributions had left imprints of deep impact on the canvas of Indian history
and world civilisation. The Guru met the challenges of his time with undaunted
courage and unflinching faith. In the life and death struggle for the
fulfilment of his mission, Guru Gobind Singh not only preserved the glorious
secular heritage of India but also kept alight the torch of equality, liberty
and freedom at the cost of supreme sacrifices made by his family.
Guru Gobind Singh not only
preached ideals of humanitarian commitments but also raised a new breed of men
in India to protect the honour and independence of the country and its people
at the cost of their lives. What were the ideals and teachings of the Great
Guru? What were the innovations implemented by him which transformed the
ordinary man into a warrior? What are the traditions founded by him which
brought transformation and positive social change in the fixity of the
caste-based hierarchical structure of the Indian society? All these issues
demand greater attention of the historians, anthropologists, sociologists and
scholars of comparative religion to concentrate seriously on the contributions
of Guru Gobind Singh on the occasion of tercentenary celebrations of the
Khalsa.
Gobind Rai (Guru Gobind Singh
after the initiation of Amrit, ceremony of Sikh baptism) was a child when his
father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was martyred for the cause of protection of freedom
of worship by the Mughal state in 1675. The execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur was
very staggering for the young Gobind. He realised that the adversary meant to
destroy the very essence of the secular humanitarian and universal doctrines
of the Sikh faith and it was his duty to resist the enemy with all the means
at his disposal, for it was the battle of survival not only of the life but of
idealism. His mission of life became clear to him. Guru Gobind Singh began to
prepare himself for the future responsibility of the Sikh Panth and to
take up the cause of the oppressed against the tyranny of the autocratic state
which was imposing forced conversion and all sorts of atrocities on the
people. In his autobiography (Apni Katha) which forms a part of the
Bachittra Natak, incorporated in Dasam Granth, the idea of
Dharam Yudh (the battle for the sake of righteousness) is clearly evident
in his compositions. Guru Gobind Singh announced:
"I came into the world
charged with the duty
to uphold the right in every
place,
to destroy sin and evil.
O ye holymen, know it well in
your hearts that the only reason,
I took birth was to see that
righteousness may flourish,
that the good may live and
tyrants to be torn out by their very roots."
Guru Gobind Singh started
defensive preparations for his mission. As soon as the Guru started
reorganising his army trouble aroused from the quarters of the local Hindu
Rajput chiefs, Raja Bhim Chand of Bilaspur (in whose territory Anandpur Sahib
was located) turned hostile and made coalition with the neighbouring hill
chiefs to expel the Guru from their territory. The real cause of their anxiety
to remove Guru Gobind Singh from their area was that they got apprehensive of
the growing popularity of the Guru and influx of the local people, specially
of the lower classes, to the casteless fraternity of the Sikhs for leadership
as a danger to their sovereignty. They bought over Guru Gobinds Pathan
mercenaries and attacked him. The battle was fought at Bhangani, six miles out
of Paonta in 1688. The Guru defeated the hill chiefs. Without following up his
victory with any political advantage, Guru Gobind Singh returned to Anandpur
Sahib.
The first thing the Guru did
was to fortify his headquarters. He brought the neighbouring land and built a
chain of fortresses Anandgarh, Kesgarh, Lohgarh and Fatehgarh to keep the
hill states in check. Gradually, the Guru became more powerful than the hill
chiefs.
The Guru got respite of more
than a decade. Secured in his territory the Guru started the task of
consolidation of Sikh organisation with greater vigour and care. This period
was also full of intellectual pursuit and literary activity.
Guru Gobind Singh was himself
well versed in Indian classical languages, Puranic literature, Hindi poetics,
Persian, Arabic, Punjabi and various arts of indigenous education. Besides, he
had attained excellence in martial arts, hunting and horse- riding. As a child
he had enjoyed the privilege of good schooling and tutoring at Patna. The Guru
himself informs in his autobiography (Apni Katha)that his father, Guru
Tegh Bahadur had given him instructions of various kinds. Besides schooling
and hunting, the writing of verse was also the passion of young Guru Gobind
Singh. During his stay at Paonta (in Nahan State), where he reclined for a few
years after the martyrdom of his father, Guru Gobind Singh pondered over the
destiny of his nation groaning under the atrocities of oppressive and unjust
rule. There sitting on the bank of the river Jamuna, he thought of the way to
free his country from the agony and bonds of sin and suffering. He applied
himself to self-education. He went through the whole range of the Puranic epic
literature in Sanskrit and composed rich variety of poetry in Hindi (Braj)and
Punjabi.
Most of the bani
(devotional poetry) of Guru Gobind Singh is in Braj, the common
vernacular of the country. This helped to disseminate his message far and wide
and inspired his followers to be dedicated to the service of the country.
Through his writings the Guru impressed upon the essential unity underlying
the obvious diversity of our culture. This is how Guru Gobind Singh
transcended barriers of time and space and presented the image of a cosmic
man.
His ode in blank verse in
Punjabi, Chandi Di Var is a unique example of personification of a myth
into deity of power, symbolic of the victory of virtue over vices and glory of
righteousness in this mundane world. In Hindi (Braj)he developed a
style and form, which for its martial format, richness of imagnination and
variety of similies and metaphors from old Puranic literary traditions has
remained unsurpassed since his times.
Guru Gobind Singh has greatly
enriched the literary heritage of India. His poetic vision depicts the
glorious epitome of medieval Indian literary traditions. His creative genius
formulated in emotions motivates for higher action and breaks out against
superstition and hypocrisy into humour and irony as we find in his Chaubis
Avtars. His emotions, often projected with intellectual exercise by the
lessons of wrongs done by the past, is raised to the highest pitch of ecstasy
when he communes with God in Akal Ustat and points to the eternal unity
of human existence with the Cosmos.
The idea of divine intervention
in human history, is deeply rooted in his writings. In is Bachitra Natak
he declared that God has commissioned him to uphold righteousness and to
destroy all evil-doers root and branch. While believing in his
heaven-ordained mission, he took care to see that his followers did not fall
into the web of the Hindu doctrine of Avtarvad (theory of
re-incarnation). He emphatically asserted that he was human, and that to pay
divine honours to him would be blasphemous. The Guru announced in his Apni
Katha in Bachittar Natak.
"Whoever says I am the God,
shall fall into the pit of hell.
Recognise me as Gods servant
only.
Have no doubt whatever about
this.
I am a servant of the Supreme
Lord, a beholder of the Wonder of his Creation."
Guru Gobind Singh fully
enhanced the importance of patriotic genre as motivating force. He placed
literary activity in the forefront of his programme of national
reconstruction. He translated classical and ancient stories of Indian heroes
as found in the Puranas, the Ramayan and the Mahabharta
and engaged 52 poets to help him in this heavy task. The Guru extended
generous patronage to scholars and men of letters.
Under his patronage
considerable literature was composed at his court. The Guru also selected five
of the most scholarly of his disciples and sent them to Banaras (Kanshi) to
learn Sanskrit and Hindi religious text and Vedantic philosophy in order to be
better equipped to interpret the Puranic epics as well as the writings of the
Guru which were full of allusion in Hindu mythology. The keynote of this vast
literature, some of which is preserved in the Dasam Granth is optimism,
freedom from superstitions, rituals, polytheism and strong faith in the unity
of God and unity of mankind. The Guru recognised oneness of all humanity
irrespective of racial, genetic, linguistic, geographical and cultural
plurality. For his attitude of universal humanism the Guru commands in Akal
Ustat as:
"Let all human beings
understand,
that they belong to the One
and the same caste.
I recognise none but the One
God,
There is no duality.
Except in the protection of
the One sole God,
nowhere is salvation.
the temple and the mosque are
the same;
the Hindu and the Muslim
forms of worship are the same.
all men are the same,
although they appear
different under different
local influences.
The bright and the dark, the
ugly and the beautiful.
The Hindus and the Muslims
have developed themselves;
according to the conditions
of different countries.
All have the same eyes, the
same ears, the same body and
the same build-compound of
the same five elements.
The Puran and Quran
are the same,
and they proclaim in essence
the same message."
At the time the country was
passing through crisis of political and religious disintegration. The writings
of Guru Gobind Singh specifically stress the need to revive the inherent
pluralistic society of our cultural heritage. Guru Gobind Singh was fully
aware about the crucial issue of integration and harmony in our pluralistic
society. For the purpose of national unity he repeatedly stressed on the need
to strengthen the spirit of religious toleration, secular attitude and
national integration. Besides, his purpose in producing patriotic literature
was to infuse feeling of confidence among his countrymen to come out of
despair and like man of action steel their hearts against oppression and fight
for righteousness against injustice and tyranny.
In his poetry, Guru Gobind
Singh created a new metaphor of the sword. The sword was the symbol of
Shakti, Kalika or Durga and of Akal Himself. God has been described
as Sarbloh (All-steel). In fact, the selection of this symbol was
intended to give a new orientation to the psyche of the people, demoralised by
subjugation to foreign rule and the streak of passivity in their very nature.
The people yoked under slavery of the alien rule needed a new forceful
vocabulary and a new principle of faith. This incentive was provided by Guru
Gobind Singh by introducing new signs and symbols as medium of communication
for spiritual inspiration. In the opening part of the Bachittar Natak
sword has been divinised as God. The Guru invokes the Almighty as:
"I bow with love and devotion
to the holy Sword.
Assist me that I may complete
my task."
God and sword are mentioned
here synonymously. Then follows a ringing and soulfully rendered invocation,
to the sword. The diction, a form of Prakrit, is so powerful that it
reproduces the clangorous rhythm of clashing swords with such a verve that the
mere concentration of the recitation of verses inspire for heroic endeavour
and chivalrous action. For example in Bachittar Natak the Guru
acclaims:
"Thou art the Subduer of
kingdoms,
the destroyer of the armies
of the wicked
In the battlefield thou
adorenest the brave.
The arm is infragile, Thy
brightness refulgent
Thy radiance and splendour
dazzle like the sun.
Thou bestowest happiness on
the good and virtous,
Thou terrifiest the evil.
Thou scatterest sinners.
I seek thy protection.
Hail!Hail to the Creator of
the World
The saviour of creation, my
Cherisher.
Hail to Thee, O Sword."
In Guru Gobind Singhs
anthology of the Supreme Reality, God and sword become interchangeable terms.
The preamble to the Sikh daily Ardas, or supplication, which begins
with the words Pritham Bhaguati Simer Ke Guru Nanak lai Dayai, meaning
thereby "Having first remembered the Bhagauti meditate on Guru Nanak... The
indication is attributed as a composition of Guru Gobind Singh. The Sikh
Ardas is addressed to Almighty God. Literally Bhagauti is sword, what it
meant in the religious parlance of the Sikhs is Almighty God. We have to
remember that describing such features of the Almighty, Guru Gobind Singh was
not trying to alienate other attributes of God as preached by Guru Nanak. When
Guru Gobind referred to God as Sarbloh, the Guru was not obvious of the
attributes of love, compassion and mercy of the God. In his Jap Sahib,
these divine attributes have been specifically highlighted by Guru Gobind
Singh. The Guru says:
I bow to Thee, Lord, who art
the wielder of the sword,
I bow to Thee, Lord, who art
the possessor of arms.
I bow to Thee, Lord, who
knowest the ultimate secret,
I bow to Thee, Lord, who
lovest the world like a mother."
In the poetry of Guru Gobind
Singh, God is predominantly described as symbolised in the weapons of war. He
is depicted as the punisher of the evil and the destroyer of tyrants. But the
benevolent aspect is also simultaneously and equally forcefully emphasised.
God is invoked as the Fountain-head of mercy, the kingman of the poor, and the
bestower of Felicity. Thus fusion of the devotional and martial, of the
spiritual and the heroic ethos was the most important feature of the literary
works of Guru Gobind Singh as well as that of his charismatic leadership. The
Guru made all sorts of arrangements to generate this spirit among his
followers. At his Darbar (court), every evening, the Sikhs heard
ballads extoling the deeds of warriors who had defied tyranny by the power of
arms. A martial atmosphere blended with the spiritual fervour came to pervade
the Gurus Darbar at Anandpur Sahib.
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ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਦੇ ਆਸ਼ੇ ਸਿਧਾਂਤ ਅਤੇ
ਹੁਕਮ
ਆਦਿ ਅੰਤ ਏਕੇ ਅਵਤਾਰਾ, ਸੋਈ ਗੁਰੂ ਸਮਝਿਯਹੁ ਹਮਾਰਾ। (ਚਰਿਤ੍ਰ 405,
385)
ਹਮ ਇਹ ਕਾਜ ਜਗਤ ਮੋਂ ਆਏ, ਧਰਮ ਹੇਤ ਗੁਰਦੇਵ ਪਠਾਏ। (ਬਚਿਤ੍ਰ, 5,
42)
ਮੈਂ ਹੋ ਪਰਮ ਪੁਰਖ ਕੋ ਦਾਸਾ, ਦੇਖਨਿ ਆਯੋ ਜਗਤ ਤਮਾਸਾ। (ਬਚਿਤ੍ਰ, 6,
33)
ਨਮਸਕਾਰ ਤਿਸਹੀ ਕੋ ਹਮਾਰੀ ਸਕਲ ਪ੍ਰਜਾ ਜਿਨਿ ਆਪ ਸਵਾਰੀ। (ਚਰਿਤ੍ਰ
405, 386)
ਅਸਿ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾਣ ਖੰਡੋ ਖੜਗ ਤੁਪਕ ਤਬਰ ਅਰ ਤੀਰ। ਸੈਫ ਸਰੋਹੀ ਸੈਹਥੀ ਯਹੈ
ਹਮਾਰੇ ਪੀਰ। (ਸਨਾਮਾ, 3)
ਪੰਥ ਚਲੇ ਤਬ ਜਗਤ ਮੈ ਜਬ ਤੁਮ ਕਰਹੁ ਸਹਾਇ। (ਬਚਿਤ੍ਰ, 6, 30)
ਆਦਿ ਪੁਰਖ ਜਿਨ ਏਕੁ ਪਛਾਨਾ, ਦੁਤੀਆ ਭਾਵ ਨ ਮਨ ਮਹਿ ਆਨਾ। (ਚੌਬੀਸ,
21)
ਜੇ ਹਮ ਕੋ ਪਰਮੇਸਰ ਉਚਰਿ ਹੈ, ਤੇ ਸਭ ਨਰਕਿ ਕੰਡ ਮਹਿ ਪਰਿ ਹੈ। ਮੋ ਕੋ
ਦਾਸੁ ਤਵਨ ਕਾ ਜਾਨੋ, ਯਾ ਮੈ ਭੇਦ ਨ ਰੰਚ ਪਛਾਨੋ। ।(ਬਚਿਤ੍ਰ 13, 32)
ਜਿਸਨੋ ਸਾਜਨ ਰਾਖਸੀ ਦੁਸਮਨ ਕਵਨ ਬਿਚਾਰ। ਛ੍ਵੈਂ ਨ ਸਕੇ ਤਿੰਹ ਛਾਂਹਿਕੋ
ਨਿਹਫਲ ਜਾਇ ਗਵਾਰ। (ਬਚਿਤ੍ਰ 13, 24)
ਜਾਂਤੇ ਛੁਟਿ ਗਯੋ ਭ੍ਰਮ ਉਰਕਾ ਤਿਹ ਆਗੈ ਹਿੰਦੂ ਕਿਆ ਤੁਰਕਾ। (ਚੌਬੀਸ,
19)
ਦਸਮ ਕਥਾ ਭਾਗੌਤ ਕੀ ਭਾਖਾ ਕਰੀ ਬਨਾਇ, ਅਵਰ ਬਾਸਨਾ ਨਾਹਿ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਧਰਮ
ਜੁੱਧ ਕੇ ਚਾਇ। (ਕ੍ਰਿਸ਼ਨਾਵ, 2491)
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