Guru Gobind Singh: Difference between revisions

{{about|the tenth Guru of Sikh religion |the recipient of the Victoria Cross|Gobind Singh (VC)|the Malaysian politician|Gobind Singh Deo}}

{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}

| religion          = [[Sikhism]]

| name              = Guru Gobind Singh

| alt                = Guru Gobind Singh Ji

| birth_name        = Gobind Rai

| birth_date        = 22 December 1666<ref name=eos/>

| death_date        = {{death date and age|1708|10|07|1666|12|22|df=yes}}

| other_names        = ''Tenth Nanak''<ref>{{cite book|author1=Pashaura Singh|author2=Louis E. Fenech|title=The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8I0NAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA311 |year=2014|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-969930-8|page=311}}</ref>

| known_for          = * Founding the [[Khalsa]]<ref name="MandairShackle2013p25"/><br /> composed the following :

* [[Akal Ustat]],

*  [[Chaupai (Sikhism)]]

Fought the following Battles :

* [[Battle of Bhangani]]

* [[Zorawar Singh (Sikhism)|Zorawar Singh]]

* [[Fateh Singh (Sikhism)|Fateh Singh]]

| parents            = * [[Guru Tegh Bahadur]]

* [[Mata Gujri]]

{{Sikhism sidebar}}

Among his notable contributions to [[Sikhism]] are founding the ''[[Sikh]]'' warrior community called ''[[Khalsa]]'' in 1699<ref name="MandairShackle2013p25">{{cite book|author1=Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair |author2=Christopher Shackle|author3=Gurharpal Singh |title=Sikh Religion, Culture and Ethnicity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D8xdAgAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-84627-4 |pages=25–28 }}</ref><ref name="BBC">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/people/gobindsingh.shtml|title=BBC Religions - Sikhism|publisher=BBC|date=26 October 2009|access-date=2011-07-30|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123020041/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/people/gobindsingh.shtml|archive-date=23 January 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=P Dhavan|title=When Sparrows Became Hawks: The Making of the Sikh Warrior Tradition, 1699-1799|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7HJ5idB8_QC&pg=PA45 |year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-975655-1 |pages=3–4 }}</ref> and introducing ''[[the Five Ks]]'', the five articles of faith that Khalsa Sikhs wear at all times. Guru Gobind Singh is credited with the ''[[Dasam Granth]]'' whose hymns are a sacred part of Sikh prayers and Khalsa rituals.<ref name=britdasam/><ref name="McLeod1990"/> He is also credited as the one who finalized and enshrined the ''[[Guru Granth Sahib]]'' as Sikhism's primary scripture and eternal [[Guru]].<ref name="MandairShackle2013p11"/><ref name=shelke199>{{cite book|author=Christopher Shelke|title=Divine covenant: rainbow of religions and cultures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmr71DjRNV8C |year=2009|publisher=Gregorian Press |isbn=978-88-7839-143-7 |page=199 }}</ref>

  |title = SODHI |last1 = Vanjara Bedi |first = S. S. |website = Encyclopaedia of Sikhism |publisher = Punjabi University Patiala |access-date = 20 August 2017 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170729230458/http://www.learnpunjabi.org/eos/index.aspx |archive-date = 29 July 2017 |df = dmy-all}}</ref> while his father was visiting [[Bengal]] and [[Assam]].<ref name=eos/> His birth name was Gobind Rai, and a shrine named [[Takht Sri Patna Sahib|Takht Sri Patna Harimandar Sahib]] marks the site of the house where he was born and spent the first four years of his life.<ref name=eos/> In 1670, his family returned to Punjab, and in March 1672 they moved to Chakk Nanaki in the Himalayan foothills of north India, called the Sivalik range, where he was schooled.<ref name=eos/><ref name="BBC"/>

The education of Guru Gobind Singh continued after he became the 10th Guru, both in reading and writing as well as martial arts such as horse riding and archery. In 1684, he wrote the [[Chandi di Var]] in Punjabi language – a legendary war between the good and the evil, where the good stands up against injustice and tyranny, as described in the ancient Sanskrit text [[Markandeya Purana]].<ref name=eos/> He stayed in Paonta, near the banks of river Yamuna, till 1685.<ref name=eos/>

* [[Second Battle of Anandpur]], The Mughal general was fatally wounded by Sikh soldiers, and the army withdrew. Aurangzeb then sent a larger army with two generals, Wazir Khan and Zaberdast Khan in May 1704, to destroy the Sikh resistance.<ref name="Jaques2007p48"/> The approach the Islamic army took in this battle was to lay a protracted siege against Anandpur, from May to December, cutting off all food and other supplies moving in and out, along with repeated battles.<ref name="FenechMcleodp9">{{cite book|author1=Louis E. Fenech|author2=W. H. McLeod|title=Historical Dictionary of Sikhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xajcAwAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-3601-1 |pages=9 }}</ref> Some Sikh men deserted the Guru during Anandpur siege in 1704, and escaped to their homes where their women shamed them and they rejoined the Guru's army and died fighting with him in 1705.<ref>{{cite book|author=Louis E. Fenech|title=Martyrdom in the Sikh Tradition: Playing the "game of Love"|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FI3XAAAAMAAJ |year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-564947-5 |pages=92 }}</ref><ref name=mcleod2009p43>{{cite book|author=W. H. McLeod|title=The A to Z of Sikhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgixwfeCyDAC |year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-6344-6 |pages=43 }}</ref> Towards the end, the Guru, his family and followers accepted an offer by Aurangzeb of safe passage out of Anandpur.<ref name="Prithi_PS_History">{{cite book  | last = Singh | first = Prithi Pal | title = The History of Sikh Gurus | publisher = Lotus Books | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-81-8382-075-2 | pages = 128–147}}</ref> However, as they left Anandpur in two batches, they were attacked, and one of the batches with Mata Gujari and Guru's two sons – Zorawar Singh aged 8 and Fateh Singh aged 5 – were taken captive by the Mughal army.<ref name="Rinehart2011p22">{{cite book|author=Robin Rinehart|title=Debating the Dasam Granth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=58AVDAAAQBAJ |year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-975506-6 |pages=22–23}}</ref><ref name=syanp220/> Both his children were executed by burying them alive into a wall.<ref name="FenechMcleodp9"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh|title=Sikhism: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8yWAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT84 |year=2011|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn= 978-0-85773-549-2|pages=84–85}}</ref> The grandmother Mata Gujari died there as well.<ref name="Rinehart2011p22"/>

* [[Battle of Sarsa]] (1704), against the Mughal army led by general Wazir Khan; the Muslim commander had conveyed Aurangzeb's promise of a safe passage to Guru Gobind Singh and his family in early December.<ref name=syanp220>{{cite book|author=Hardip Singh Syan|title=Sikh Militancy in the Seventeenth Century: Religious Violence in Mughal and Early Modern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9RzzxcEL4C0C |year=2013|publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-1-78076-250-0 |pages=220–222 }}</ref> However, when the Guru accepted the offer and left, Wazir Khan took captives, executed them and pursued the Guru.<ref name="Jaques2007p914"/> The retreating troops he was with were repeated attacked from behind, with heavy casualties to the Sikhs, particularly while crossing the Sarsa river.<ref name="Jaques2007p914">{{cite book|author=Tony Jaques|title=Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3amnMPTPP5MC |year=2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing  |isbn=978-0-313-33537-2 |pages=914 }}</ref>

* [[Battle of Muktsar]] (1705), the Guru's army was re-attacked by the Mughal army, being hunted down by general Wazir Khan, in the arid area of Khidrana-ki-Dhab. The Mughals were blocked again, but with many losses of Sikh lives – particularly the famous ''Chalis Mukte'' (literally, the "forty liberated ones"),<ref name=mcleod2009p43/> and this was the last battle led by Guru Gobind Singh.<ref name="Grewal1998p78"/> The place of battle called Khidrana was renamed about a 100 years later by [[Ranjit Singh]] to Mukt-sar (literally, "lake of liberation"), after the term "Mukt" ([[moksha]]) of the ancient Indian tradition, in honour of those who gave their lives for the cause of liberation.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sir Lepel Henry Griffin|title=Ranjit Síngh and the Sikh Barrier Between Our Growing Empire and Central Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/ranjitsnghandsi00grifgoog |year=1898|publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ranjitsnghandsi00grifgoog/page/n61 55]–56 }}</ref>

Aurangzeb died in 1707, and immediately a succession struggle began between his sons who attacked each other.<ref name="Dhavan2011p45"/> The official successor was Bahadur Shah, who invited Guru Gobind Singh with his army to meet him in person in the Deccan region of India, for a reconciliation but Bahadur Shah then delayed any discussions for months.<ref name="FenechMcleodp9"/><ref name="Dhavan2011p45">{{cite book|author=P Dhavan|title=When Sparrows Became Hawks: The Making of the Sikh Warrior Tradition, 1699-1799|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7HJ5idB8_QC&pg=PA45 |year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-975655-1 |pages=45–46 }}</ref>

According to Senapati's ''Sri Gur Sobha'', an early 18th century writer, the fatal wounds of the Guru was one below his heart. The Guru fought back and killed the assassin, while the assassin's companion was killed by the Sikh guards as he tried to escape.<ref name="Syan2013p223"/>