Lehal Library

From the Pacifist Sikh to the Militant Khalsa 75 that the only reason I took birth was to see that righteousness may flourish: that the good may live and tyrants be tom out by their roots.• In an epistle be later addressed to the Mughal emperor, he justified the method he adopted to fulfil this end. 'When all other means have failed,' he wrote in the Zafamama, 'it is permissible to draw the sword.•~ Gobind Rai drew the sword while be was still at Paonta. Like his grandfather Hargobind, he let it be known that he would welcome offerings in arms and horses; and, more than the offerings, he would welcome able-bodied men willing to join his crusade. Also like his grandfather, he made sure that his crusade would not be wrongly construed as one of Sikhs against Muslims: the nucleus of his private army consisted of five hundred Pathan mercenaries. The Guru's troubles came from an unexpected quarter. He had been encouraged by the Rajput chtefs of the hills to helieve that they would support him against the Mughals. But as soon as he started organizing his army, Raja Bhim Chand ofBilaspur, in whose territory Anandpur was located, turned hostile and successfully pressed the chiefs of several neighbouring hill states to trr and expel the Guru from their midst. They did not like the growing power of the Guru in their region, nor, what appeared to them as an even greater danger, the increasing insubordination of the lower castes, who had begun to turn to the castelcss fraternity of the Sikhs for leadership. When threats failed to dislodge the Guru, the chiefs tried to eject him by force. TI1ey bought over Gobind's Pathan mercenaries and then attacked him. Gobind Singh met their combined forces six miles out of Paonta at a place called Bhangani. Despite the desertions and nunmical superiority of the Rajputs and Pathans, the Sikhs (most of whom were Hindus of the trading castes) carried the day. 5 Cu kiir tu hamii hila1, dar gu.r.a{t haliil o st burdan ba famiir dasL When all avenues have been explored. all means tried, it is rightful to draw the sword out of the scabbard and ~ield it with your hand.