Lehal Library

92 The Punjab and the Birth of Sikhism and the Sikhs were thereafter to look upon the Grantb12 as the symbol of all the ten Gurus and their constant guide. The Guru died an hour and a half after midnight on 7 October 1708.4., Guru Gobind Singh was the beau iaial of the Puajabis. He was a handsome man, whose feats as a cavalier, swordsman, and archer were enough to endear him to a people who set store by physical prowess. Stories of his prodigious strength and valour multiplied, and he became a legendary figure in his lifetime. The tips of his arrows were said to be mounted with gold to provide for the family of the foe they transfixed, and he was reputed to be able to send his shafts as far as the eye could see. The Punjahis pictured him leading them to battle on his roan stallion. On one hand fluttered his white hawk; in the other flashed his sabre. Their favourite titles for him were, the rider of the blue horse ( n.ile ghore dii asvar), the lord of the white hawks (ci#ii!! hajii!l valii), and the wearer of plumes (kalgi-dhar). While Gobind's picture was in the minds of the people, his words were on their lips. For the amant, there was the sensuous poetry of the earlier days at Paonta; for the downcast, there was the inspiration and reaffirmation of faith; for the defeated, there was the Epistle of Victory (Zafarnii:mii.), breathing defiance in every line; for the crusader, there were the heroic ballads fuH of martial cadence in their staccato lines with a beat like that of a wardrum. Above all, in everything he wrote or spoke or did there was a note of buoyant hope ( carhdi kal.ii) and the conviction that even if he lost his life, his mission was bound to succeed. 0 Lord, these boons of Thee I ask, Let me never shun a righteous task, Let me be fearless when I go to battle, 42 IL should be not.ed that Lhe Gran.th that was installed as the Guru was the Adi-the first Granth-and nol the compilation of his own works. 43 The account of the Guru's travels from Dam Dama, his note to Aurangzeb, his meeting with Bahadur Shah, and his assassination a.re based on the acc~t of a contemporary writer, Saina Pat, recorded io his Gt.tr &Jbha.. This is at variance with the OllTent Sikh tradition. See Days of Guro Gobind Singh, by Ganda Singh, and A Slwrt Skarh of the Life and Wtris of Guru Gobind Singh, by Bhagat Lakshman Singh. uzst