Lehal Library

74 The Punjab and the Birth of Sikhism Jumna, He was taught Sanskrit and Persian (in addition to the Hindi and Punjabi which he had been learning in Patna). He learned to ride and shoot, and he spent a great deaJ of bis time hunting. The classical education and the life in the mountain retreat brought out the poet in Gobind. He began to compose verses in tbe four languages he had learned, sometimes using all fou1· in the same poem. He rewrote the stories of Hindu mythology in his own words. his favourite being the exploits of the goddess Can<;li, the destroyer of demons. 3 He wrote of moonlit nights made heavy with the fragrance of wild jasmine and of Jovers' trysts by thejumna, sparkling like a stream of quicksilver through the black mountains.~ Besides schooling, hunting, and the writing of verse, there was aJso the se1ious aspect of life--Gobind's responsibilities as the leader of his community. He learned of the peaceful mission of Nanak and his four successors. He was also told of the martyrdom of Arjun and of how Arjun's son, Hargobind, had taken up anus to avenge the killing. As he grew into manhood, he was able to disentangle one strand which ran through the confusion of ideas: that aJthougb love and forgiveness are stronger than hate and revenge, once a person was convinced that the adversary meant to destroy him, it was his duty to resist the enemy with alJ the means at his disposal, for then it was a battle of the survival, not only of life, but of idcaJs. Jt became the dhanna yudh (the battle for the sake of righteousness). His mission in life became clear to him. In bis autobiography (Apni Katha), which fo1ms a part of the Bidtra Natak, he wrote: '1 came into the world charged with the duty to uphold the right in every place, to destroy sin and evil. 0 ye holy men, know it well in your hearts 3 1l1is, and the fact that the Gllru vi.sited the temple of Naina Devi near Anandpur, have led some Hindu wiiters to conch1de that Gobind became a worshipper of Durga (both Cai1<;li and Naina DeVJ being reincarnations of the goddess of destrnclion). This is wholly inaccurate. In more than one passage Gobind describes himself as 'the breaker of idols'. There is also an anecdote of his making 1im nf hill rajas who had procested against one of Gobind's Sikhs cutting off the nose of the Devi. 4 See Appendix 4, on Dasani Grant11.