T. V. Kapali Sastry provides an overview of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Guru Nanak and Guru Govind Singh
The incentive to increase the Khalsa came from the combined forces of the hill-chiefs who attacked it many a time at Anandpur and during the Guru’s absence on occasions. The Guru advised them to receive the Nectar and fight the Moslem foes, and this was the response they gave. When they were repulsed and tasted the mighty steel of the master, they petitioned to the great Moghul and Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sarhind was authorised to besiege Anandpur and bring the Guru to the Emperor’s Court. Many of the Sikhs deserted the Guru who fought the imperial forces with the help of the few faithful left with him. At last he left Anandpur and on his way to Chamkaur he was again attacked. The first two of his young sons died the hero’s death. His last two sons with their grandmother had escaped. But they were betrayed by a Brahman mercenary and put to a cruel death when they refused to embrace Islam. The Guru with three Sikhs went alone, halting at many places. Some of the deserters repented and joined him again; he defended himself against far larger forces sent to capture him. The Battle of Muktasar was fought by forty Sikhs against thousands of the Emperor’s forces. A woman, Mai Bhago, played a marvellous part in this battle. The Guru then received a letter from Aurangzeb giving his assurances and asking for a personal meeting. The Guru’s Zafarnama or the epistle to the Emperor is a notable document showing how in weal and woe he was the same undaunted hero. In that letter, the Guru accused him of treachery and said that he could not believe in his professions of religion, and that he was very ungodly in all his religious practices and policy. It is said that Aurangzeb was touched by that letter, and soon after he died. By the help of the Guru, Bahadur Shah became Aurangzeb’s successor and after his installation, the Guru travelled to the South and at Nander in the Nizam’s State) he established himself reproducing another Anandpur. Here a Bairagi became the Guru’s devotee and "Banda”, slave. He received the Guru’s commission to avenge the wrongdoers in the North and he did his work splendidly as the temporal head of the Khalsa.
The incentive to increase the Khalsa came from the combined forces of the hill-chiefs who attacked it many a time at Anandpur and during the Guru’s absence on occasions. The Guru advised them to receive the Nectar and fight the Moslem foes, and this was the response they gave. When they were repulsed and tasted the mighty steel of the master, they petitioned to the great Moghul and Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sarhind was authorised to besiege Anandpur and bring the Guru to the Emperor’s Court. Many of the Sikhs deserted the Guru who fought the imperial forces with the help of the few faithful left with him. At last he left Anandpur and on his way to Chamkaur he was again attacked. The first two of his young sons died the hero’s death. His last two sons with their grandmother had escaped. But they were betrayed by a Brahman mercenary and put to a cruel death when they refused to embrace Islam. The Guru with three Sikhs went alone, halting at many places. Some of the deserters repented and joined him again; he defended himself against far larger forces sent to capture him. The Battle of Muktasar was fought by forty Sikhs against thousands of the Emperor’s forces. A woman, Mai Bhago, played a marvellous part in this battle. The Guru then received a letter from Aurangzeb giving his assurances and asking for a personal meeting. The Guru’s Zafarnama or the epistle to the Emperor is a notable document showing how in weal and woe he was the same undaunted hero. In that letter, the Guru accused him of treachery and said that he could not believe in his professions of religion, and that he was very ungodly in all his religious practices and policy. It is said that Aurangzeb was touched by that letter, and soon after he died.
By the help of the Guru, Bahadur Shah became Aurangzeb’s successor and after his installation, the Guru travelled to the South and at Nander in the Nizam’s State) he established himself reproducing another Anandpur. Here a Bairagi became the Guru’s devotee and "Banda”, slave. He received the Guru’s commission to avenge the wrongdoers in the North and he did his work splendidly as the temporal head of the Khalsa.
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