Birth of the Khalsa - part 2

Birth of the Khalsa: part 2

We saw how Guru Tegh Bahadur's son Gobind Rai cremated his father's head as a 9 year old and resolved to make the faith a martial one. He thought deep and hard as he grew up and in the meantime started modelling the Sikhs into a martial mode. He moved the court to Anandpur where he wrote and reared his family He pondered on the disunity and decadence in the movement by Guru Nanak and came up with new ideas. He did a few things:

1. The Gurus for Sikhs were living beings till him. Each Guru nominated the next one before he died, sometimes it was relations or progeny, some times complete strangers e.g. Guru Nanak chose Angad, a favourite disciple rather than his sons as the second Guru. Due to these selections, there were conflicts as a rival would inevitably stand up and there would be factions. It was also possible for the Mughals to capture and execute the Guru thus setting back the movement. Gobind Rai decided to replace the living Guru with a book, the Holy Guru Granth Sahib. The Granth became the Spiritual Guru of the Sikhs for all time to come. Gobind Rai proclaimed that he was the last living Guru of the Sikhs and the Granth would be the guide from now.

2. On matters other than the spiritual, there was the institution of the Panchayat which all Punjabis were familiar with. These were elected representatives of the community and they became the secular guides or gurus for the faith. Thus the faith became Guru Granth Panth. There was also the institution of masands who started off as missionary type people to spread the faith but over a period became their own institutions, mini Gurus, money lending, meddling in communities, often in the conflict after new Guru took over. Gobind Rai abolished this institution too and from then on, only the Granth and the Panchayat became the structure of the Faith.

3. Then came the fateful day at Anandpur. Gobind Rai had to give his people something positive to replace what he had destroyed. He had already created a martial spirit and expectancy of military action. He decided to go a step further. He invited all followers of the faith to Anandpur for the festival of first of Baisakh. Many came, he also asked specifically the Sikhs to come with their hair and beards grown.

He then appeared before the congregation and asked for five men to be sacrificed, drawing his sword. One man rose, he was taken into a tent. The Guru came out in some time with his sword dripping in blood and asked for one more victim. Thus, five men were taken into the tent for "sacrifice". Then the Guru came out with all 5 alive, it was goats who had been slaughtered. These 5 were called the panj pyare (beloved five) and were going to be the nucleus of the new community he would raise called the "Khalsa" or the pure.

He baptized the five men by mixing sugar in plain water, churning it with a dagger to the recitation of hymns. The 5 were asked to drink the water, to signify that they are all casteless now. They were all from different castes before this. Their names were changed and they were given one family name "Singh", their father was Gobind Singh (renamed after his own baptism).

We all know the 5 emblems for the Sikhs, Hair and beard (kes), Comb (kangha), Pair of breeches (kachcha), Steel bracelet (kada) and the sabre (kirpan). All members of the khalsa were to carry these. After the baptism of the 5, the Guru asked them to baptize him thus signifying no hierarchy and merging his entity into the Khalsa.

The khalsa spread especially among the Jat peasants who were strong and sturdy and the brave, fighter Sikhs we know of today emerged as a force over a period.

I think we need something for today's Hinduism, considering what has happened to this society. More on this tomorrow.

Reference: History of the Sikhs: Khushwant Singh: Volume 1