Lehal Library

90 The Puajab and the Birth of Sikhism him. The Guru now had enough men with him to make a stand. At the village of Khidrana, he turned on his pursuers and scattered them. The village was renamed Muktsar (the pool of salvation). The Gum spent almost a year in the country around Muktsar, The stay was most fruitful, for hundreds of thousands ofJats of the Malwa region accepted baptism and joined the Khalsa fraternity; among them were the ancestors of the houses of Patiala, Nabha, and Jind whose families had already become Sikhs. Gobind retired for some time to the village of Talwandi Sabo (now called dam dama, 'breathing place'), where he busied himself with his disciple Mani Singh, preparing a definitive edition of the Granth 55 and collecting his own writings which were subsequently put together by Mani Singh and entitled DasTJe[j Piidsiih kii Granth (the Granth of the tenth emperor) or the Dasam Gran.th, distinct from the first or the Adi Granth. 56 The months of intense literary activity gave Dam Dama the new title guru k.'i kiisi (Benares of the Guru).)17 From Dam Dama Gobind sent a letter58 to the Emperor telling him of the perfidy of his officials, particularly of the crime committed by Wazir Khan of Sirhind. Gobind's emissary travelled to the Deccan and succeeded in handing the lener to the Emperor. Aurangzeb was apparently moved by the contents of the letter and issued orders that the Guru was not to be molested any further. But Aurangzeb either did not want to or was unable 35 It is generally believed that the only version of the Granth incorporating his falher's writings was dictated by the Guru at TaJwancli Sabo. This is not correct, for at least two manuscript copies containing the hymns of the ninth Guru are available, and both were compiled before the Guru's arrival at Ta1wandi Sabo. See Appendix 4. 36 See Appendix 4. 37 It is said !hat one day the Guru flung a handful of reed pens over the heads of the congregation, saying: 'Here we will create a pool of literature. No one of my Sikhs should remain illiterate.' The Rahatnama of Desa Singh states: 'Brother, the letters of the Gunnukhi alphabet, let one Sikh learn from another.' 38 This was obviously nOl the 'lafarnamii. 39 BaMdur Shah Nama (2 August 1707).