Lehal Library

From the Pacifist Sikh to the Militant Khalsa 87 extremely nervous. They realized that if they did not do something about it, the wrath of the Mughal government would fall on them. The Raja of Bilaspur consulted his fellow chiefs, and they agreed that the Guru should be ejected from the hills. They first tried to provoke him. Bilaspur asked him to pay rent for the territory he occupied. Gobind replied that the lands had been bought freehold by his father and no rent was due. The hillmen encircled Anandpur and stopped supplies of food grains. The Sikhs, led by Gobind's eldest son, Ajit Singh, who was only a lad of fourteen, broke through the cordon more than once, but eventually the difficulty of getting supplies regularly could not be overcome and the Guru moved out of Anandpur to a small village called Nirmoh near Kiratpur. The Raja of Bilaspur tried to ambush his forces but was defeated and paid the price of having several of his villages plundered in retaliation. The hill chiefs realized that the Guru was too strong for them, and they petitioned the Emperor for help. Mughal forces from Sirhind and Lahore joined the hillmen and invested the Guru at Nirmoh. The Khalsa held them at bay and, after twenty-four hours of continuous fighting, broke through the besiegers. They also defeated an attempt by the Mughals to ciraunvent them. The Guru found refuge in Basali. The Raja of Bilaspur made one more attempt to annihilate his forces but, badly beaten, made terms with the Guru, and the Khalsa returned to Anandpur. Gobind Singh began to prepare himself for the more serious trouble which he knew lay ahead of him. Until then Anandpur was only a fortress in name with a few turrets on the sides of a steep hill. He bad it surrounded by a massive wall and stocked it with weapons of war. The trouble he had anticipated was not long in coming. The hill rajas again approached the Emperor and warned him of the growing power of the Guru. Aurangzeb ordered the subedars (district governors) of Sirbind and Lahore to help the rajas destroy the Khalsa. Anandpur was again besieged by a combination of hillmen and Mughals. The stock of food in Anandpur ran out and the attempts to break out of the town were frustrated.