Lehal Library

The Call to Arms 69 Tegh Bahadur crossed the Brahmaputra and visited Sikh centres in Sylhet, ('..hittagong, and Sondip.2~ He was in Dacca when the news of the birth of his son (on 26 December 1666) in Patna was brought to him. From Bengal the Guru went on to Assam. He spent nearly three years in the province before returning to Patna to join his family. Tegh Bahadur did not spend much time with his infant son, Gobind Rai. There were urgent messages asking him to return to the Punjab. He left his family in Patna and returned to his homeland. He found the Hindus and Sikhs of the ~jab in a state of nervous agitation. Emperor Aurangzeb had embarked on a policy of religious persecution.24 There were stories of the demolition of temples and forcible conversions; ta,ces had been reimposed on Hindus visiting their places of pilgrimage. Tegh Bahadur's rivals had discreetly disappeared from the scene. It was left to him to instill confidence among hls own people and the Hindus, who had now begun to look to the Sikhs to protect them from the tyranny of officials. Tegh Bahadur undertook an extensive tour of the Punjab. Wherever he went he attracted great crowds and was given handsome donations by his admirers. His exhortation to the people to stand finn could not have been palatable to the government. He was summoned to Delhi. Mughal officers who carried the summons to Anandpur reported him missing. He was declared an absconder and a warrant was issued for his arrest. his wife during her confinement. It has also been suggested that he had earlierunden.aken lO accompany a Rajput general commanding Auranir.i:eb' s army invading Assam and was folfilling his engagemem. 23 For details of Sikh communiLie.!. in East Bengal al the time, see the articles 'Sikh Relics in East Bengal' by G. R Singh in Darm Rer.w. October/ November 1915; Januarr/ March 1916. 24 SirJadu Nath Sarkar, Histo1:i• ofAumngub, 111, 2671J'., gives an account or the repressive measures taken by the state against non-Muslims. He quotes Khafi Khan to the effect that "Aurangzeb ordered the temples and the Sikhs to be destroyed and the Gurn's agents (masa1ids}, for collecting the tithes and presents of the faithful, to be expelled from the cities.·