Men of God

THE GLORIOUS COURT

These soul-stirring songs of the glorious deeds of the Hindu heroes in the past sung by the bards in the Guru’s Durbar formed part of the daily programme and they lifted from the lowly depths to a sublime and heroic eminence the spirit of the hearers who were mostly from the lower strata of society-washermen and barbers, sweepers and confectioners who had never seen a sword or handled a gun. When music and art were banished from the Delhi Court since the personal religion of Aurangzeb could not brook such luxuries, many artists and men of talent took service with the Guru. Offerings to the Guru poured from loyal Sikh devotees even from distant places and some of these presents were unique and magnified the glory of the Guru’s Durbar at Anandpur. One or two of them may be mentioned here. A Sikh from Kabul offered a tent on which scenes of beauty and objects of marvel were embroidered in gold and silver and its magnificence is said to have surpassed that of the Emperor’s tent. Raja Rattan Rai of Assam with his mother came to pay his respects to the Guru. Among his offerings were five horses with splendid trappings; a singular weapon (specially prepared knowing the Guru’s fondness for weapons) out of which five sorts of arms could be turned out: club, lance, sword, dagger and pistol; and a wonderful elephant which "waved a fan or chauri over the Guru, held a jug of water in its trunk while the Guru’s feet were being washed, wiped his feet with a towel, placed his shoes in order, fetched the arrows shot by him and did many other things that astonished the spectators."

The glory of the Guru was increasing; he brought about by quiet and steady attempt the transformation of his followers into saint-soldiers; he introduced a new form of drill for them and took his food after personally supervising the langar or free kitcher distributing food to all his men who were treated as equals without caste distinction. A new war-drum was introduced and beaten at appropriate hours. Every day new recruits were enlisted in his army and the whole atmosphere of Anandpur breathed the spirit of heroism fed by religious fervour.