i fc 
 
BERKELEY 
 
 .IBRARY 
 
 TY OF 
 CALIFORNIA J 
 
SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 THE SIKHS; 
 
 Si lingular Ration, 
 
 WHO INHABIT THE 
 
 PROVINCES OF THE PENJAB, 
 
 SITUATED BETWEEN 
 
 C6e Etocttf 3[umna anD 3[ntw& 
 
 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL MALCOLM, 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE POLITICAL SKETCH OF INDIA. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, 
 
 By James Moyes, Greville Street, Hatton Garden. 
 
 1812. 
 

 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 This Sketch has already appeared in the eleventh 
 volume of the Asiatic Researches : but, as that va- 
 luable work is not in common circulation, it is now 
 republished ; and may prove acceptable, as a short and 
 clear account of an oriental people, of singular religion 
 and manners, with whose history the European reader 
 can be but little acquainted. 
 
 076 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 W^HEN with the British army in the 
 Penjab, in 1805, I endeavoured to collect 
 materials that would throw light upon the 
 history, manners, and religion of the Sikhs. 
 Though this subject had been treated by 
 several English writers, none of them had 
 possessed opportunities of obtaining more 
 than very general information regarding 
 this extraordinary race; and their narra- 
 tives therefore, though meriting regard, 
 have served more to excite than to gratify 
 curiosity. 
 
 In addition to the information I col- 
 lected while the army continued within the 
 
2 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 territories of the Sikhs, and the personal 
 observations I was able to make, during 
 that period, upon the customs and manners 
 of that nation, I succeeded with difficulty 
 in obtaining a copy of the Adi-Grant'h *, 
 and of some historical tracts, the most 
 essential parts of which, when I returned 
 to Calcutta, were explained to me by a 
 Sikh priest of the Nirmala order, whom I 
 found equally intelligent and communi- 
 cative, and who spoke of the religion and 
 ceremonies of his sect with less restraint 
 than any of his brethren whom I had met 
 with in the Penjab. This slender stock 
 
 * The sacred volume of the Sikhs. The chief, who 
 gave me this copy, sent it at night, and with either a 
 real or affected reluctance, after having obtained a pro- 
 mise that I would treat it with great respect. I under- 
 stand, however, that the indefatigable research of 
 Mr. Colebrooke has procured not only the Adi- 
 Grant'h, but also the Dasima Padshah ka Grant'h : 
 and that, consequently, he is in possession of the two 
 most sacred books of the Sikhs. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 3 
 
 of materials was subsequently much en- 
 riched by my friend Dr. Leyden, who has 
 favoured me with a translation of several 
 tracts written by Sikh authors in the Pen- 
 jabi and Duggar dialects, treating of their 
 history and religion ; which, though full of 
 that warm imagery which marks all oriental 
 works, and particularly those whose authors 
 enter on the boundless field of Hindu my- 
 thology, contain the most valuable veri- 
 fications of the different religious institu- 
 tions of the Sikh nation. 
 
 It was my first intention to have endea- 
 voured to add to these materials, and to 
 have written, when I had leisure, a history 
 of the Sikhs ; but the active nature of my 
 public duties has made it impossible to 
 carry this plan into early execution, and 
 I have had the choice of deferring it to 
 a distant and uncertain period ; or of giv- 
 ing, from what I actually possessed, a short 
 and hasty sketch of their history, customs, 
 and religion. The latter alternative I have 
 
4 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 adopted : for, although the information I 
 may convey in such a sketch may be very 
 defective, it will be useful at a moment 
 when every information regarding the Sikhs 
 is of importance ; and it may, perhaps, sti- 
 mulate and aid some person, who has more 
 leisure and better opportunities, to ac- 
 complish that task which I once con- 
 templated. 
 
 In composing this rapid sketch of the 
 Sikhs, I have still had to encounter various 
 difficulties. There is no part of oriental 
 biography in which it is more difficult to 
 separate truth from falsehood, than that 
 which relates to the history of religious 
 impostors. The account of their lives is 
 generally recorded, either by devoted dis- 
 ciples and warm adherents, or by violent 
 enemies and bigotted persecutors. The for- 
 mer, from enthusiastic admiration, decorate 
 them with every quality and accomplish- 
 ment that can adorn men : the latter mis- 
 represent their characters, and detract from 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 5 
 
 all their merits and pretensions. This general 
 remark I have found to apply with pecu- 
 liar force to the varying accounts given, by 
 Sikh and Muhammedan authors, of Nanac 
 and his successors. As it would have been 
 an endless and unprofitable task to have 
 entered into a disquisition concerning all 
 the points in which these authors differ, 
 many considerations have induced me to 
 give a preference, on almost all occasions, 
 to the original Sikh writers. In every re- 
 search into the general history of mankind, 
 it is of the most essential importance to 
 hear what a nation has to say of itself; and 
 the knowledge obtained from such sources 
 has a value, independent of its historical 
 utility. It aids the promotion of social 
 intercourse, and leads to the establishment 
 of friendship between nations. The most 
 savage states are those who have most 
 prejudices, and who are consequently most 
 easily conciliated or offended: they are 
 
6 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 always pleased and flattered, when they 
 find, that those whom they cannot but 
 admit to possess superior intelligence, are 
 acquainted with their history, and respect 
 their belief and usages : and, on the con- 
 trary, they hardly ever pardon an outrage 
 against their religion or customs, though 
 committed by men who have every right to 
 plead the most profound ignorance, as an 
 excuse for the words or actions that have 
 provoked resentment. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY AND PRESENT STATE 
 OF THE SIKHS ; WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR 
 RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS, USAGES, MANNERS, 
 AND CHARACTER. 
 
 Nanac Shah, the founder of the sect, 
 since distinguished by the name of Sikhs*, 
 was born in the year of Christ 1469, at 
 a small village called Talwandi-f, in the 
 district of Bhatti, in the province of Lahore. 
 His father, whose name was CaldJ, was of 
 
 * Sikh or Sicsha, is a Sanscrit word, which means a 
 disciple, or devoted follower. In the Penjabi it is 
 corrupted into Sikh : it is a general term, and appli- 
 cable to any person that follows a particular teacher. 
 
 f This village, or rather town, for such it has 
 become, is now called Rayapur. It is situated on the 
 banks of the Beyah, or Hyphasis. 
 
 J He is called, by some authors, Kalu Vedi ; but 
 Vedi is a name derived from his tribe or family. 
 
8 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 the Cshatriya cast, and Vedi tribe of 
 Hindus, and had no family except Nanac, 
 and his sister Nanaci, who married a Hindu 
 of the name of Jayaram, that was em- 
 ployed as a grain-factor by Daulet Khan 
 Lodi, a relation of the reigning emperor of 
 Delhi. Nanac was, agreeably to the usage 
 of the tribe in which he was born, married 
 to a woman of respectable family, at an 
 early age*, by whom he had two sons, 
 named Srichand and Lacshmi Das. The 
 former, who abandoned the vanities of the 
 world, had a son called Dherm Chand, 
 who founded the sect of Udasi ; and his 
 descendants are yet known by the name of 
 Nanac Putrah, or the children of Nanac. 
 Lacshmi Das addicted himself to the plea- 
 sures of this world, and left neither heirs 
 nor reputation. 
 
 * Several Sikh authors have heen very precise in 
 establishing the date of the consummation of ihis mar- 
 riage, which they fix in the month of Asarh, of the 
 Ilind6 aera of Vicramaditya, 1545. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 9 
 
 Nanac is stated, by all Sikh writers, to 
 have been, from his childhood, inclined to 
 devotion ; and the indifference which this 
 feeling created towards all worldly concerns, 
 appears to have been a source of continual 
 uneasiness to his father ; who endeavoured, 
 by every effort, to divert his mind from the 
 religious turn which it had taken. With a 
 view to effect this object, he one day gave 
 Nanac a sum of money, to purchase salt at 
 one village, in order to sell it at another; 
 in the hope of enticing him to business, 
 by allowing him to taste the sweets of com- 
 mercial profit. Nanac was pleased with 
 the scheme, took the money, and pro- 
 ceeded, accompanied by a servant of the 
 name of Bala, of the tribe of Sand'hu, 
 towards the village where he was to make 
 his purchase. He happened, however, on 
 the road, to fall in with some Fakirs, (holy 
 mendicants,) with whom he wished to com- 
 mence a conversation; but they were so 
 weak, from want of victuals, which they 
 
10 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 had not tasted for three days, that they 
 could only reply to the observations of 
 Nanac by bending their heads, and other 
 civil signs of acquiescence. Nanac, af- 
 fected by their situation, said to his com- 
 panion, with emotion : " My father has 
 " sent me to deal in salt, with a view to 
 " profit ; but the gain of this world is 
 " unstable, and profitless ; my wish is to 
 " relieve these poor men, and to obtain 
 " that gain which is permanent and eter- 
 " nal." His companion* replied: " Thy 
 " resolution is good : do not delay its exe- 
 " cution." Nanac immediately distributed 
 his money among the hungry Fakirs ; who, 
 after they had gained strength from the 
 refreshment which it obtained them, entered 
 into a long discourse with him on the unity 
 of God, with which he was much delighted. 
 He returned next day to his father, who 
 
 * Bala Sand'hu, who gave this advice, continued, 
 through Nanac's life, to be his favourite attendant and 
 disciple. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. H 
 
 demanded what profit he had made ? " I 
 " have fed the poor," said Nanac, " and 
 " have obtained that gain for you which 
 " will endure for ever." As the father hap- 
 pened to have little value for the species of 
 wealth which the son had acquired, he was 
 enraged at having his money so fruitlessly 
 wasted, abused poor Nanac, and even 
 struck him ; nor could the mild repre- 
 sentations of Nanaci save her brother from 
 the violence of parental resentment. For- 
 tune, however, according to the Sikh nar- 
 rators of this anecdote of their teacher's 
 early life, had raised him a powerful pro- 
 tector, who not only rescued him from 
 punishment, but established his fame and 
 respectability upon grounds that at once 
 put him above all fear of future bad usage 
 from his low-minded and sordid father. 
 When Nanac was quite a youth, and em- 
 ployed to tend cattle in the fields, he hap- 
 pened to repose himself one day under the 
 shade of a tree ; and, as the sun declined 
 
12 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 towards the west, its rays fell on his face, 
 when a large black snake*, advancing to 
 the spot where he lay, raised itself from the 
 ground, and interposed its spread hood 
 between Nanac and the suns rays. Ray 
 Bolar-f , the ruler of the district, was pass- 
 ing the road, near the place where Nanac 
 slept, and marked, in silence, though not 
 without reflection, this unequivocal sign of 
 his future greatness. This chief overheard 
 Calu punishing his son for his kindness 
 to the Fakirs. He immediately entered, 
 and demanded the cause of the uproar ; 
 and, when informed of the circumstances, 
 he severely chid Calu for his conduct, and 
 
 * The veneration which the Hindus have for the 
 snake is well known ; and this tradition, like many 
 others, proves the attachment of the Sikh writers to 
 that mythology, the errors of which they pretend to 
 have wholly abandoned. 
 
 f Ray, a title inferior to that of a Rajah, generally 
 applied to the Hindu chief of a village, or small 
 district. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 13 
 
 interdicted him from ever again lifting his 
 hand to Nanac, before whom, to the asto- 
 nishment of all present, he humbled himself 
 with every mark of the most profound vene- 
 ration. Though Calu, from this event, was 
 obliged to treat his son with more respect 
 than formerly, he remained as solicitous as 
 ever to detach him from his religious habits, 
 and to fix him in some worldly occupation ; 
 and he prevailed upon Jayram, his son-in- 
 law, to admit him into partnership in his 
 business. Nanac, obliged to acquiesce in 
 these schemes, attended at the granary of 
 Daulet Khan Lodi, which was in charge of 
 Jayram ; but though his hands were em- 
 ployed in this work, and his kindness of 
 manner made all the inhabitants of Sultan- 
 pur, where the granary was established, his 
 friends, yet his heart never strayed for one 
 moment from its object. It was incessantly 
 fixed on the Divinity ; and one morning, as 
 he sat in a contemplative posture, a holy 
 Muhammedan Fakir approached, and ex- 
 
14 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 claimed : " Oh Nanac ! upon what are thy 
 " thoughts now employed ? Quit such oc- 
 " cupations, that thou mayest obtain the 
 " inheritance of eternal wealth." Nanac is 
 said to have started up at this exclamation, 
 and after looking for a moment in the face 
 of the Fakir, he fell into a trance ; from 
 which he had no sooner recovered, than he 
 immediately distributed every thing in the 
 granary among the poor* : and, after this 
 act, proceeded with loud shouts out of the 
 gates of the city, and running into a pool of 
 water, remained there three days ; during 
 which some writers assert he had an inter- 
 view with the prophet Elias, termed by the 
 Muhammedans, Khizzer, from whom he 
 learnt all earthly sciences. 
 
 While Nanac remained in the pool, 
 
 * This remarkable anecdote in Nanac's life is told 
 very differently by different Sikh authors. I have 
 followed the narrative of Bhacta Malli. They all 
 agree in Nanac's having, at this period, quitted the 
 occupations of the world, and become Fakir. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS 1$ 
 
 abstracted from all worldly considerations, 
 holding converse with a prophet, poor 
 Jayram was put in prison by Daulet Khan 
 Lodi, on the charge of having dissipated 
 his property. Nanac, however, returned, 
 and told Daulet Khan that Jayram was 
 faultless ; that he was the object of punish- 
 ment ; and that, as such, he held himself 
 ready to render the strictest account of all 
 he had lost. The Khan accepted his pro- 
 posal : Jayram's accounts were settled ; 
 and, to the surprise of all, a balance was 
 found in his favour ; on which he was not 
 only released, but reinstated in the employ- 
 ment and favour of his master. We are 
 told, by the Sikh authors, that these won- 
 derful actions increased the fame of Nanac 
 in a very great degree ; and that he began, 
 from this period, to practise all the au- 
 sterities of a holy man ; and, by his frequent 
 abstraction in the contemplation of the 
 divine Being, and his abstinence and virtue, 
 
16 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 he soon acquired great celebrity through 
 all the countries into which he travelled. 
 
 There are many extravagant accounts re- 
 garding the travels of Nanac. One author*, 
 who treats of the great reform which he 
 made in the worship of the true God, 
 which he found degraded by the idolatry 
 of the Hindus, and the ignorance of the 
 Muhammedans, relates his journey to all 
 the different Hindu places of pilgrimage, 
 and to Mecca, the holy temple of the Mu- 
 hammedans. 
 
 It would be tedious, and foreign to the 
 purpose of this sketch, to accompany Na- 
 nac in his travels, of which the above-men- 
 tioned author, as well as others, has given 
 the most circumstantial accounts. He was 
 accompanied (agreeable to them) by a cele- 
 brated musician, of the name of Merdana, 
 and a person named Bala Sand'hu ; and it 
 
 * Bhai Guru Vali, author of the Gnyana Ratnavali, 
 a work written in the Sikh dialect of the Penjabi. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 17 
 
 is on the tradition of the latter of these 
 disciples, that most of the miracles* and 
 wonders of his journies are related. In 
 Bengal, the travellers had to encounter all 
 kinds of sorcerers and magicians. Poor 
 Merdana, who had some of the propensities 
 of Sancho, and preferred warm houses and 
 good meals to deserts and starvation, was 
 constantly in trouble, and more than once 
 had his form changed into that of a sheep, 
 and of several other animals. Nanac, 
 however, always restored his humble friend 
 to the human shape, and as constantly 
 read him lectures on his imprudence. It 
 is stated, in one of those accounts, that 
 a Raja of Sivanab'hu endeavoured to tempt 
 Nanac, by offering him all the luxuries of 
 the world, to depart from his austere habits, 
 but in vain. His presents of rich meats, 
 
 * Though his biographers have ascribed miracles to 
 Nanac, we never find that he pretended to work any : 
 on the contrary, he derided those who did, as deriving 
 power from evil spirits. 
 
 C 
 
18 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 splendid clothes, and fair ladies, only af- 
 forded the Sikh teacher so many oppor- 
 tunities of decrying the vanities of this 
 worid, and preaching to the Raja the bless- 
 ings of eternal life ; and he at last succeeded 
 in making him a convert, and resided at 
 Sivanab'hu two years and five months ; 
 during which period he composed the Pran 
 Sancali*, for the instruction of his fol- 
 lowers. After Nanac had visited all the 
 cities of India, and explained to all ranks 
 the great doctrines of the unity and omni- 
 presence of God, he went to Mecca and 
 Medina, where his actions, his miracles, 
 and his long disputations with the most 
 celebrated Muhammedan saints and doc- 
 tors, are most circumstantially recorded by 
 his biographers. He is stated, on this oc- 
 casion, to have maintained his own prin- 
 ciples, without offending those of others ; 
 always professing himself the enemy of dis- 
 
 * It is believed th.it this work of Nanac has been 
 incorporated in the first part of the Adi-Grant'li. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 19 
 
 cord, and as having no object but to recon- 
 cile the two faiths of the Muhammedans 
 and Hindus in one religion ; which he en- 
 deavoured to do by recalling them to that 
 great and original tenet, in which they both 
 believed, the unity of God, and by reclaim- 
 ing them from the numerous errors into 
 which they had fallen. During his travels, 
 Nanac was introduced to the emperor 
 Baber*, before whom he is said to have 
 defended his doctrine with great firmness 
 and eloquence. Baber was pleased with 
 him, and ordered an ample maintenance to 
 be bestowed upon him ; which the Sikh priest 
 refused; observing, that he trusted in him 
 who provided for all men, and from whom 
 alone a man of virtue and religion would 
 consent to receive favour or reward. When 
 Nanac returned from his travels, he cast 
 
 * This interview must have taken place in 1526 or 
 1527 ; as it is stated to have been immediately after 
 Daulet Khan Lodi had visited Paniput, in 1526; 
 where that prince had fought, and subdued Ibrahim, 
 emperor of Hindustan, 
 
20 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 off the garments of a Fakir, and wore plain 
 clothes, but continued to give instructions 
 to his numerous disciples ; and he appears, 
 at this period, to have experienced the 
 most violent opposition from the Hindu, 
 zealots, who reproached him with having 
 laid aside the habits of a Fakir, and with 
 the impiety of the doctrines which he 
 taught. These accusations he treated with 
 great contempt ; and an author, before 
 cited, Bhai Guru Das Vali, states, that 
 when he visited Vatala, he enraged the 
 Yogis waras* so much, that they tried all 
 their powers of enchantment to terrify him. 
 " Some," says this writer, " assumed the 
 " shape of lions and tigers, others hissed 
 " like snakes, one fell in a shower of fire, 
 " and another tore the stars from the firma- 
 " ment;" but Nanac remained tranquil: 
 and when required to exhibit some proof 
 of his powers that would astonish them, he 
 
 * Recluse penitents, who, by means of mental and 
 corporeal mortifications, have acquired a command 
 over the powers of nature. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 21 
 
 replied : " I have nothing to exhibit worthy 
 " of you to behold. A holy teacher has 
 " no defence but the purity of his doctrine : 
 " the world may change, but the Creator 
 " is unchangeable." These words, adds the 
 author, caused the miracles and enchant- 
 ments of the Yogiswaras to cease, and they 
 all fell at the feet of the humble Nanac, 
 who was protected by the all perfect God. 
 
 Nanac, according to the same authority, 
 went from Vatala to Multan, where he 
 communed with* the Pirs, or holy fathers of 
 the Muhammedan religion of that country. 
 " I am come," said he, when he entered 
 that province, " into a country full of Pirs, 
 " like the sacred Ganga, visiting the ocean/' 
 From Multan he went to Kirtipur*, where 
 he threw off his earthly shape, and was 
 buried near the bank of the river Ravi, 
 which has since overflowed his tomb. Kir- 
 tipur continues a place of religious resort 
 
 * Kirtipur Dehra, on the banks of the Ravi, or 
 Hydraotes. 
 
22 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 and worship ; and a small piece of Nanac's 
 garment is exhibited to pilgrims, as a sacred 
 relic, at his Dharmasala, or temple. 
 
 It would be difficult to give the character 
 of Nanac* on the authority of any account 
 we yet possess. His writings, especially the 
 first chapters of the Adi-Crant'h, will, if 
 ever translated, be perhaps a criterion by 
 which he may be fairly judged ; but the 
 great eminence which he obtained, and the 
 success with which he combated the oppo- 
 sition which he met, afford -ample reason to 
 conclude that he was a man of more than 
 common genius : and this favourable im- 
 pression of his character will be confirmed 
 
 * He is, throughout this sketch, called Nanac. 
 Muhammedan historians generally term him Nanac 
 Shah, to denote his being a Fakir, the name of Shah 
 being frequently given to men of celebrity in that 
 sect. The Sikhs, in speaking of him, call him Baba 
 Nanac, or Guru Nanac, father Nanac, or Nanac the 
 teacher; and their writers term him Nanac Nirinkar, 
 which means Nanac the omnipresent. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 23 
 
 by a consideration of the object of his life, 
 and the means he took to accomplish it. 
 Born in a province on the extreme verge 
 of India, at the very point where the reli- 
 gion of Mnhammed and the idolatrous 
 worship of the Hindus appeared to touch, 
 and at a moment when both these tribes 
 cherished the most violent rancour and ani- 
 mosity towards each other, his great aim 
 was to blend those jarring elements in 
 peaceful union, and he only endeavoured 
 to effect this purpose through the means 
 of mild persuasion. His wish was to recall 
 both Muhammedans and Hindus to an 
 exclusive attention to that sublimest of all 
 principles, which inculcates devotion to 
 God, and peace towards man. He had 
 to combat the furious bigotry of the one, 
 and the deep-rooted superstition of the 
 other; but he attempted to overcome all 
 obstacles by the force of reason and hu- 
 manity. And we cannot have a more con- 
 vincing proof of the general character of 
 
24 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 that doctrine which he taught, and the inof- 
 fensive light in which it was viewed, than 
 the knowledge that its success did not rouse 
 the bigotry of the intolerant and tyrannical 
 Muhaminedan government under which he 
 lived. 
 
 Nanac did not deem either of his sons, 
 before mentioned, worthy of the succession 
 to his spiritual functions, which he be- 
 queathed to a Cshatriya of the Trehun 
 tribe, called Lehana, who had long been 
 attached to him, and whom he had initiated 
 in the sacred mysteries of his sect, clothed 
 in the holy mantle of a Fakir, and honoured 
 with the name of Angad*, which, accord- 
 ing to some commentators, means own 
 body. 
 
 Guru Angad, for that is the name by 
 
 * This fanciful etymology represents the word 
 Angad as a compound of the Sanscrit Jug, which 
 signifies body, and the Persian Khiid, which signifies 
 own. This mixture of language is quite common in 
 the jargon of the Penjab. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 25 
 
 which he is known by all Sikhs, was born 
 at the village of Khandur, on the bank of 
 the Beyah, or Hyphasis, in the province 
 of Lahore. His life does not appear to 
 have been distinguished by any remarkable 
 actions. He taught the same doctrine as 
 Nanac, and wrote some chapters that now 
 form part of the Grant'h. He left two 
 sons, Vasu and Datu, but neither of them 
 was initiated ; and he was succeeded, at 
 his death*, which happened in the year 
 A. D. 1552, and of the Sam vat 1609, by 
 Amera Das, a Cshatriya of the tribe of 
 B'hale, who performed the duties of a me- 
 nial towards him for upwards of twelve 
 years. It is stated, that the daily occu- 
 pation of Amera Das was to bring water 
 from the Beyah river, a distance of six 
 miles, to wash the feet of his master ; and 
 that one night, during a severe storm, as he 
 
 * Angad died at Khandur, a village about forty 
 miles east of Lahore. 
 
26 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 was returning from his journey, his foot 
 slipped, and he fell and broke the vessel 
 that contained the river water, opposite the 
 door of a weaver, who lived next house 
 to Angad. The weaver, startled at the 
 noise, demanded, in a loud voice, of his 
 wife, from whence it proceeded. The 
 woman, who was well acquainted with the 
 daily toils and the devotion of Angad's 
 servant, replied, " It was poor Amera Das, 
 " who knows neither the sweets of sleep by 
 " night, nor of rest by day/' This conver- 
 sation was overheard by Angad ; and when 
 Amera Das came, next morning, to per- 
 form his usual duties, he treated him with 
 extraordinary kindness, and said : " You 
 " have endured great labour; but, hence- 
 " forward, enjoy rest/' Amera Das was 
 distinguished for his activity in preaching 
 the tenets of Nanac, and was very suc- 
 cessful in obtaining converts and followers ; 
 by the aid of whom he established some 
 temporal power, built Kujarawal, and sepa- 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 27 
 
 rated from the regular Sikhs the Udasi sect, 
 which was founded by Dherm-Chand, the 
 son of Nanac, and was probably con- 
 sidered, at that period, as heretical. 
 
 Amera Das had two children, a son 
 named Mohan, and a daughter named M6- 
 hani, known by the name of B'haini; re- 
 garding whose marriage he is stated to have 
 been very anxious : and as this event gave 
 rise to a dynasty of leaders, who are almost 
 adored among the Sikhs, it is recorded 
 with much minuteness by the writers of 
 that nation. 
 
 Amera Das had communicated his wishes, 
 regarding the marriage of B'haini, to a Brah- 
 men, who was his head servant, and di- 
 rected him to make some inquiries. The 
 Brahmen did so, and reported to his master 
 that he had been successful, and had found 
 a youth every way suited to be the husband 
 of his daughter. As they were speaking 
 upon this subject in the street, Amera Das 
 
28 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 asked what was the boy's stature ? " About 
 " the same height as that lad," said the 
 Brahmen, pointing to a youth standing 
 near them. The attention of Amera Das 
 was instantly withdrawn from the Brahmen, 
 and intently fixed upon the youth to whom 
 he had pointed. He asked him regarding 
 his tribe, his name, and his family. The 
 lad said his name was Ram Das, and that 
 he was a Cshatriya, of a respectable family, 
 of the Sondi tribe, and an inhabitant of the 
 village of Gondawal. Amera Das, pleased 
 with the information he had received, took 
 no more notice of the Brahmen and his 
 choice of a son-in-law, but gave his daughter 
 to the youth whom fortune had so casually 
 introduced to his acquaintance*. Amera 
 
 * Though a contrary belief is inculcated by Nanac, 
 the Sikhs, like the Hindus, are inclined to be predesti- 
 narians, and this gives their minds a great tendency to 
 view accidents as decrees of Providence; and it is 
 probable that this instance of early good fortune in 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. %g 
 
 Das died in the year A. D. 1574, and of the 
 Sam vat 16*31, at the village of Gondawal, 
 in the province of Lahore, and was suc- 
 ceeded by his son-in-law, Ram Das*, whom 
 he had initiated in the sacred mysteries of 
 his holy profession, and who became famous 
 for his piety, and still more from the im- 
 provements he made at Amritsar, which 
 was for some time called Rampur, or Ram- 
 daspu'r, after him. Some Sikh authorities 
 ascribe the foundation of this city to him, 
 which is not correct, as it was a very 
 ancient town, known formerly under the 
 
 Ram Das, by impressing his countrymen with an idea 
 of his being particularly favoured of Heaven, gave rise 
 to an impression that promoted, in no slight degree, 
 that success which it anticipated. 
 
 * No dates of the events which occurred during the 
 rule of Ram Das are given in any of the authorities 
 from which this sketch is drawn. One author, how- 
 ever, states, that he lived in the time of Akber, and was 
 honoured with the favour of that truly tolerant and 
 great emperor. 
 
30 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 name of Chak. He, however, added much 
 to its population, and built a famous tank, 
 or reservoir of water, which he called Ara- 
 ritsar, a name signifying the water of im- 
 mortality, and which has become so sacred, 
 that it has given its name, and imparted its 
 sanctity, to the town of Ramdaspur, which 
 has become the sacred city of the Sikh 
 nation, and is now only known by the name 
 of Amritsar. 
 
 After a life passed in the undisturbed 
 propagation of his tenets, in explanation of 
 which he wrote several works, he died, in 
 the year A. D. 1581, and of the Samvat 
 1638, at Amritsar, leaving two sons, Ar- 
 junmal and Bharatmal. He was succeeded 
 by the former*, who has rendered himself 
 
 * Arjunmal, or Arjun, as he is more commonly 
 called, according to B'hai Guru Das B'hale, the author 
 of the Gnyan Ratnavali, was not initiated in the 
 sacred mysteries of his father. This author says, that 
 Arjun, though a secular man, did not suffer the office 
 of Guru, or priest, to leave the Sondi tribe. " Like a 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 31 
 
 famous by compiling the Adi-Grant'h *. 
 The Adi-Grant'h, or first sacred volume of 
 the Sikhs, contains ninety-two sections : it 
 was partly composed by Nanac and his 
 immediate successors, but received its pre- 
 sent form and arrangement from Arjunmalf, 
 
 " substance," he adds, " which none else could di- 
 " gest, the property of the family remained in the 
 « family." 
 
 * Grant'h means book ; but, as a mark of its supe- 
 riority to all others, is given to this work, as " The 
 " Book." Adi Grant'h means, the first Grant'h, or 
 book, and is generally given to this work to distin- 
 guish it from the Dasama Padshah ka Grant'h, or the 
 book of the tenth king, composed by Guru Govind. 
 
 f Though the original Adi-Grant'h was compiled by 
 Arjunmal, from the writings of Nanac, Angad, Amera 
 •Das, and Ram Das, and enlarged and improved by his 
 own additions and commentaries, some small portions 
 have been subsequently added by thirteen different 
 persons, whose numbers, however, are reduced, by the 
 Sikh authors, to twelve and a half: the last contri- 
 butor to this sacred volume being a woman, is only 
 admitted to rank in the list as a fraction, by these 
 ungallant writers. 
 
32 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 who has blended his own additions with 
 what he deemed most valuable in the com- 
 positions of his predecessors. It is Arjun, 
 then, who ought, from this act, to be deemed 
 the first who gave consistent form and order 
 to the religion of the Sikhs : an act which, 
 though it has produced the effect he wished, 
 of uniting that nation more closely, and of 
 increasing their numbers, proved fatal to 
 himself. The jealousy of the Muhammedan 
 government was excited, and he was made 
 its sacrifice. The mode of his death, which 
 happened in the year of Christ 1606, and 
 of the Samvat 1663, is related very dif- 
 ferently by different authorities : but several 
 of the most respectable agree in stating, 
 that his martyrdom, for such they term it, 
 was caused by the active hatred of a rival 
 Hindu zealot, Danichand Cshatriya, whose 
 writings he refused to admit into the Adi- 
 Grant'h, on the ground that the tenets incul- 
 cated in them were irreconcileable to the 
 pure doctrine of the unity and omnipotence 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 33 
 
 of God, taught in that sacred volume. 
 This rival had sufficient influence with the 
 Muhammedan governor of the province to 
 procure the imprisonment of Arjun ; who 
 is affirmed, by some writers, to have died 
 from the severity of his confinement ; and, 
 by others, to have been put to death in the 
 most cruel manner. In whatever way his 
 life was terminated, there can be no doubt, 
 from its consequences, that it was consi- 
 dered, by his followers, as an atrocious 
 murder, committed by the Muhammedan 
 government ; and the Sikhs, who had been, 
 till then, an inoffensive, peaceable sect, took 
 arms under Har Govind, the son of Arjun- 
 mal, and wreaked their vengeance upon all 
 whom they thought concerned in the death 
 of their revered priest. 
 
 The contest carried on by Har Govind 
 against the Muhammedan chiefs in the 
 Penjab, though no doubt marked by that 
 animosity which springs from a deep and 
 implacable sense of injury on one part, and 
 
 D 
 
34 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 the insolence and violence of insulted power 
 on the other, could not have been of great 
 magnitude or importance, else it would 
 have been more noticed by contemporary 
 Muhammedan writers ; but it was the first 
 fruits of that desperate spirit of hostility, 
 which was soon after to distinguish the 
 wars between the followers of Nanac and 
 those of Muhammed : and, from every ac- 
 count of Har Govind's life, it appears to 
 have been his anxious wish to inspire his 
 followers with the most irreconcileable hatred 
 of their oppressors. 
 
 It is stated, that this warlike* Guru, or 
 
 * Several historical accounts of the Sikhs, par- 
 ticularly that published by Major Browne, which is, 
 in general, drawn from authentic sources, appear to be 
 in error with regard to the period at which this race 
 first took arras, which the last author states to have 
 occurred under Guru G6vind; but several Sikh au-> 
 thors, of great respectability and information, agree in 
 ascribing to the efforts of Har Govind, the son of 
 Arjun, this great change in the Sikh commonwealth; 
 and their correctness, in this point, appears to be placed 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 35 
 
 priest militant, wore two swords in his 
 girdle. Being asked why he did so : " The 
 " one/' said he, " is to revenge the death 
 " of my father ; the other, to destroy the 
 " miracles of Muhammed." 
 
 beyond all question, by a passage in the Ratnavali of 
 B'hai Guru Das B'hale ; who observes, " That five phials 
 " (of divine grace) were distributed to five Pirs (holy 
 " men), but the sixth Pir was a mighty Guru (priest). 
 " Arjun threw off his earthly frame, and the form 
 " of Har Govind mounted the seat of authority. The 
 " Sondi race continued exhibiting their different forms 
 " in their turns. Har Govind was the destroyer of 
 " armies, a martial Guru (priest), a great warrior, and 
 " performed great actions." The mistake of some 
 European writers on this subject probably originated 
 in a confusion of verbal accounts ; and the similarity 
 of the name of Har Govind, the son of Arjunmal, and 
 Govind, the last and greatest of the Sikh Gurus, the 
 son of Tegh Bahadur. In the Persian sketch, which 
 Major Browne translates, the name of Har Govind is 
 not mentioned. The son of Arjunmal is called Guru 
 Ram Ray, which is obviously a mistake of the author 
 of that manuscript. 
 
3(5 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 Har Govind is reputed, by some authors, 
 to have been the first who allowed his fol- 
 lowers to eat* the flesh of all animals, with 
 the exception of the cow : and it appears not 
 improbable that he made this great change 
 in their diet at the time when he effected a 
 still more remarkable revolution in their 
 habits, by converting a race of peaceable 
 enthusiasts into an intrepid band of sol- 
 diers -f. He had five sons, Babu Guru- 
 daitya, Saurat Singh, Tegh Bahadur, Anna 
 Ray, and Atal Ray. The two last died 
 
 * Nanac had forbidden hog's flesh, though a com- 
 mon species of food among the lower tribe of Hindus, 
 in compliance with the prejudices of the Mu- 
 bammedans, whom it was his great wish to recon- 
 cile to bis faith by every concession and per- 
 suasion. 
 
 f It is stated, by a Sikh author named Nand, that 
 Har Govind, during his ministry, established the prac- 
 tice of invoking the three great Hindu deities, Brahma, 
 Vishnu, and Siva: but this is not confirmed by any 
 other authority which I have seen. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 37 
 
 without descendants. Saurat Singh and 
 Tegh Singh, or Tegh Bahadur, were, by 
 the cruel persecution of the Muhammedans, 
 forced to fly into the mountains to the 
 northward of the Penjab. His eldest son, 
 Gurudaitya, died early, but left two sons, 
 Daharmal and Har Ray ; the latter of whom 
 succeeded his grandfather, who died in the 
 year A. D. 1644, and of the Samvat 1701. 
 It does not appear that Har Ray enjoyed 
 much temporal power, or that he entered 
 into any hostilities with the Muhamme- 
 dans : his rule was tranquil, and passed 
 without any remarkable event; owing, pro- 
 bably, to the vigor which the Muham- 
 medan power had attained in the early 
 part of the reign of Aurungzeb. At his 
 death, which happened in the year A.D. 
 1661, and of the Samvat 1718, a violent 
 contest arose among the Sikhs, regarding 
 the succession to the office of spiritual 
 leader; for the temporal power of their 
 ruler was, at this period, little more than 
 
38 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 nominal. The dispute between his sons, 
 or, as some Sikh authors state, his son and 
 grandson, Har Crishn and Ram Ray, was 
 referred to Dehli, whither both parties went ; 
 and, by an imperial decree of Aurungzeb, 
 the Sikhs were allowed to elect their own 
 priest. They chose Har Crishn, who died 
 at Dehli in the year A. D. 1664, and of the 
 Samvat 1721 ; and was succeeded by his 
 uncle, Tegh Behadur. He, however, had 
 to encounter the most violent opposition 
 from his nephew, Ram Ray*, who remained 
 
 * The violent contests of the Sikhs are mentioned 
 by most of their writers ; and, though they disagree 
 in their accounts, they all represent Tegh Behadur as 
 falling the innocent sacrifice of Muhammedan des- 
 potism and intolerance ; which, from the evidence 
 of all respectable contemporary Muhammedan au- 
 thors, would appear not to be the fact. Tegh Be- 
 hadur, agreeable to them, provoked his execution 
 by a series of crimes. He joined, they state, with a 
 Moslem Fakir, of the name of Hafiz ed Din ; and, 
 supported by a body of armed mendicants, commit- 
 ted the most violent depredations on the peaceable 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 39 
 
 at Dehli, and endeavoured, by every art 
 and intrigue, to effect his ruin: he was 
 seized, and brought to Dehli, in conse- 
 quence of his nephew's misrepresentations ; 
 and, after being in prison for two years, 
 was released at the intercession of Jayasingh, 
 Raja of Jayapur, whom he accompanied 
 to Bengal. Tegh Behadur afterwards took 
 up his abode at the city of Patna* ; but 
 was pursued, agreeable to Sikh authors, to 
 his retreat, with implacable rancour, by the 
 jealousy and ambition of Ram Ray ; who 
 at last accomplished the destruction of his 
 rival. He was brought from Patna, and, 
 by the accounts of the same authors, pub- 
 licly put to death, without even the alle- 
 gation of a crime, beyond a firm and 
 
 inhabitants of the Penjab. The author of the Seir 
 Mutakhherin says he was, in consequence of these 
 excesses, put to death at Gwalior, and his body cut 
 into four quarters, one of which was hung up at each 
 gate of the fortress. 
 
 *■ A Sikh college was founded in that city. 
 
40 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 undaunted assertion of the truth of that 
 faith of which he was the high priest. 
 This event is said to have taken place in 
 the year A. D. 1675, and of the Samvat 
 1732 : but the Sikh records of their own 
 history, from the death of Har Govind to 
 that of Tegh Behadur, are contradictory 
 and unsatisfactory, and appear to merit 
 little attention. The fact is, that the sect 
 was almost crushed, in consequence of their 
 first effort to attain power, under Har Go- 
 vind ; and, from the period of his death to 
 that of Tegh Behadur, the Mogul empire 
 was, as has been before stated, in the zenith 
 of its power, under Aurungzeb : and the 
 Sikhs, who had never attained any real 
 strength, were rendered still weaker by 
 their own internal dissensions. Their writers 
 have endeavoured to supply this chasm in 
 their history by a fabulous account of the 
 numerous miracles which were wrought by 
 their priests, Ram Ray, Har Crishn, and 
 even the unfortunate T6gh Behadur, at 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 41 
 
 Dehli, all of whom are said to have asto- 
 nished the emperor and his nobles, by a 
 display of their supernatural powers : but 
 their wide difference from each other, in 
 these relations, would prove, if any proof 
 was wanting, that all the annals of that 
 period are fabricated. 
 
 The history of the Sikhs, after the death 
 of Tegh Behadur, assumes a new aspect. 
 It is no longer the record of a sect, who, 
 revering the conciliatory and mild tenets of 
 their founder, desired more to protect them- 
 selves than to injure others ; but that of a 
 nation, who, adding to a deep sense of the 
 injuries they had sustained from a bigotted 
 and overbearing government, all the ardour 
 of men commencing a military career of 
 glory, listened, with rapture, to a son glow- 
 ing with vengeance against the murderers 
 of his father, who taught a doctrine suited 
 to the troubled state of his mind, and called 
 upon his followers, by every feeling of man- 
 hood, to lay aside their peaceable habits, to 
 
42 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 graft the resolute courage of the soldier on 
 the enthusiastic faith of the devotee, to 
 swear eternal war with the cruel and haughty 
 Muhammedans, and to devote themselves 
 to steel, as the only means of obtaining 
 every blessing that this world, or that to 
 come, could afford to mortals. 
 
 This was the doctrine of Guru Govind, 
 the son of Tegh Behadur; who, though 
 very young at his father's death, had his 
 mind imbued with the deepest horror at 
 that event, and cherished a spirit of im- 
 placable resentment against those whom he 
 considered as his murderers. Devoting his 
 life to this object, we find him, when quite 
 a youth, at the head of a large party of his 
 followers, amid the hills of Srinagar, where 
 he gave proofs of that ardent and daring 
 mind, which afterwards raised him to such 
 eminence. He was not, however, able to 
 maintain himself against the prince of that 
 country, with whom he had entered into 
 hostilities; and, being obliged to leave it, 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 43 
 
 he went to the Penjab, where he was 
 warmly welcomed by a Hindu chief in re- 
 bellion against the government. This chief 
 gave Govind possession of Mak'haval*, and 
 several other villages, where he settled with 
 his followers, and repaid his benefactor by 
 aiding him in his depredations. Govind 
 appears, at this moment, to have been uni- 
 versally acknowledged by the Sikhs, as their 
 Sat-gurti, or chief spiritual leader ; and he 
 used the influence which that station, his 
 sufferings, and the popularity of his cause, 
 gave him, to effect a complete change in 
 the habits and religion of his countrymen-)-. 
 It would be tedious and useless to follow 
 the Sikh writers through those volumes of 
 fables in which they have narrated the 
 wonders that prognosticated the rise of this, 
 
 * A town on the Satlej. 
 
 + Guru Govind is stated, by a Sikh author of re- 
 spectability, B'hai Guru Das B'hale, to have been 
 fourteen years of age when his father was put to 
 death. 
 
44 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 the most revered of all their priests, to 
 power; or to enter, at any length, into 
 those accounts which they, and Govind 
 himself, for he is equally celebrated as an 
 author and as a warrior, have given of his 
 exploits. It will be sufficient, for the pur- 
 pose of this sketch, to state the essential 
 changes which he effected in his tribe, and 
 the consequences of his innovations. 
 
 Though the Sikhs had already, under 
 Har Govind, been initiated in arms, yet 
 they appear to have used these only in self- 
 defence : and as every tribe of Hindus, from 
 the Brahmen to the lowest of the Sudra, 
 may, in cases of necessity, use them without 
 any infringement of the original institutions 
 of their tribe, no violation of these insti- 
 tutions was caused by the rules of Nanac ; 
 which, framed with a view to conciliation, 
 carefully abstained from all interference 
 with the civil institutes of the Hindus. But 
 lus more daring successor, Guru Govind, 
 saw that such observances were at variance 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 45 
 
 with the plans of his lofty ambition ; and 
 he wisely judged, that the only means by 
 which he could ever hope to oppose the 
 Muhammedan government with success, 
 were not only to admit converts from all 
 tribes, but to break, at once, those rules by 
 which the Hindus had been so long chained ; 
 to arm, in short, the whole population of 
 the country, and to make worldly wealth 
 and rank an object to which Hindus, of 
 every class, might aspire. 
 
 The extent to which Govind succeeded 
 in this design will be more fully noticed in 
 another place. It is here only necessary to 
 state the leading features of those changes by 
 which he subverted, in so short a time, the 
 hoary institutions of Brahma*, and excited 
 
 # The object of Nanac was to abolish the distinc- 
 tions of cast amongst the Hindus, and to bring them 
 to the adoration of that Supreme Being, before whom 
 all men, he contended, were equal. Guru Govind, 
 who adopted all the principles of his celebrated prede- 
 cessor, as far as religious usages were concerned, is 
 
46 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 terror and astonishment in the minds of the 
 Muhammedan conquerors of India, who saw 
 the religious prejudices of the Hindus, which 
 they had calculated upon as one of the 
 pillars of their safety, because they limited 
 the great majority of the population to 
 peaceable occupations, fall before the touch 
 of a bold and enthusiastic innovator, who 
 opened at once, to men of the lowest tribe*, 
 the dazzling prospect of earthly glory. All 
 who subscribed to his tenets were upon a 
 
 reported to have said, on this subject, that the four 
 tribes of Hindus, the Brahmen, Cshatriya, Vaisya, 
 and Sudra, would, like pan (betle-leaf), chunam (lime), 
 sitpari (betle-nut), and khat (terra japonica, or catechu), 
 become all of one colour, when well chewed. 
 
 * Some men of the lowest Hindu tribe, of the occu- 
 pation of sweepers, were employed to bring away the 
 corpse of Tegh Behadur from Dehli. Their success 
 was rewarded by high rank and employment. Several 
 of the same tribe, who have become Sikhs, have been 
 remarkable for their valour, and have attained great 
 reputation. They are distinguished, among the Sikhs, 
 by the name of Ran-Rata Singh. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 47 
 
 level, and the Brahmen who entered his sect 
 had no higher claims to eminence than the 
 lowest Sudra who swept his house. It was 
 the object of Govind to make all Sikhs 
 equal*, and that their advancement should 
 solely depend upon their exertions: and 
 well aware how necessary it was to inspire 
 men of a low race, and of groveling minds, 
 with pride in themselves, he changed the 
 name of his followers from Sikh to Singh, 
 or lion; thus giving to all his followers 
 that honourable title which had been before 
 exclusively assumed by the Rajaputs, the 
 first military class of Hindus : and every 
 
 * That is, equal in civil rights. He wished to re- 
 move the disqualifications of birth, and do away cast. 
 That he did not completely effect this object, and 
 that some distinctions of their former tribes, par- 
 ticularly those relating to intermarriage, should still 
 be kept up by the Sikhs, cannot be a matter of asto- 
 nishment to those acquainted with the deep-rooted 
 prejudices of the Hindus upon this point; which is as 
 much a feeling of family pride as of religious usage. 
 
48 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 Sikh felt himself at once elevated to rank 
 with the highest, by this proud appellation. 
 The disciples of Govind were required to 
 devote themselves to arms, always to have 
 steel about them in some shape or other ; to 
 wear a blue dress ; to allow their hair to 
 grow ; to exclaim, when they met each other, 
 Wd ! Gurdji kd khdlsah ! Wd ! Guruji ki 
 futteh ! which means, " Success to the 
 " state of the Guru! Victory attend the 
 " Guru* ! The intention of some of these 
 institutions is obvious : such as that prin- 
 ciple of devotion to steel, by which all were 
 made soldiers ; and that exclamation, which 
 made the success of their priest, and that 
 of the commonwealth, the object of their 
 hourly prayer. It became, in fact, the 
 watchword which was continually to revive, 
 in the minds of the Sikh disciple, the obli- 
 gations he owed to that community of 
 
 * Spiritual leader. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 49 
 
 which he had become a member, and to 
 that faith which he had adopted. 
 
 Of the causes which led Govind to enjoin 
 his followers to regard it as impious to cut 
 the hair of their heads, or shave their 
 beards, very different accounts are given. 
 Several Muhammedan authors state, that 
 both this ordination, and the one which 
 directed his followers to wear blue clothes, 
 was given in consequence of his gratitude 
 to some Afghan mountaineers, who aided 
 his escape from a fort, in which he was 
 besieged, by clothing him in a chequered 
 blue dress, and causing him to allow his 
 hair to grow, in order to pass him for one 
 of their own Pirs, or holy fathers ; in which 
 they succeeded. This account, however, 
 is not supported by any Sikh writer; and 
 one of the most respectable and best in- 
 formed authors of that sect states, that 
 when Guru Govind first went to Anandpur 
 Mak'haval, which was also called Cesgher, 
 or the house of hair, he spent much of his 
 
 E 
 
50 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 time in devotion, at a temple of Durga 
 Bhavani, the goddess of courage, by whom 
 he was directed to unloose his hair and 
 draw his sword. Govind, in consequence 
 of this pretended divine order, vowed he 
 would preserve his hair, as consecrated 
 to that divinity, and directed his followers 
 to do the same*. The origin of that blue 
 chequered f dress, which was at one time 
 worn by all Govind's followers, and is still 
 worn by the Acalis, or never-dying, (the 
 most remarkable class of devotees of that 
 sect,) is differently stated by different au- 
 thors : but it appears probable, that both 
 these institutions proceeded from the policy 
 
 f The goddess Durga Bhavani is said, by a Sikh 
 author, to be represented, in some images, with her 
 hair long and dishevelled. 
 
 f This institution is also said to be borrowed from 
 the Hindu mythology. Bala Ram, the elder brother 
 of Crishna, wore blue clothes ; from which he is called 
 Nilambar, or the clothed in dark blue ; and Shitivas, or 
 the blue clothed. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 51 
 
 of Govind, who sought to separate his fol- 
 lowers from all other classes of India, as 
 much by their appearance as by their reli- 
 gion : and he judged with wisdom when 
 he gave consequence to such distinctions; 
 which, though first established as mere 
 forms, soon supersede the substance of 
 belief; and, when strengthened by usage, 
 become the points to which ignorant and 
 unenlightened minds have, in all ages of the 
 world, shown the most resolute and uncon- 
 querable adherence. 
 
 Guru. Govind inculcated his tenets upon 
 his followers by his preaching, his actions, 
 and his works ; among which is the Dasama 
 Padshah ka Grant'h, or the book of the 
 tenth king or ruler; Guru Govind being 
 the tenth leader of the sect from Nanac. 
 This volume, which is not limited to reli- 
 gious subjects, but filled with accounts of 
 his own. battles, and written with the view 
 of stirring up a spirit of valour and emu- 
 lation among his followers, is at least as 
 
52 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 much revered, among the Sikhs, as the 
 Adi-Grant'h of Arjunmal. Govind is said 
 to have first instituted the Guru Mata, or 
 state council, among the Sikhs ; which 
 meets at Amritsar. The constitution and 
 usages of this national assembly will be 
 described hereafter: it is here only neces- 
 sary to observe, that its institution adds 
 one more proof to those already stated, of 
 the comprehensive and able mind of this 
 bold reformer, who gave, by its foundation, 
 that form of a federative republic, to the 
 commonwealth of the Sikhs, which was 
 most calculated to rouse his followers from 
 their indolent habits, and deep-rooted pre- 
 judices, by giving them a personal share in 
 the government, and placing within the 
 reach of every individual the attainment of 
 rank and influence in the state. 
 
 It could not be expected that Guru 
 Govind could accomplish all those great 
 schemes he had planned. He planted the 
 tree ; but it was not permitted, according to 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 53 
 
 Sikh writers, that he should see it in that 
 maturity which it was destined to reach : 
 and this, these authors state, was foretold 
 to him by some Brahmens, skilled in necro- 
 mancy. It would be tedious to dwell on 
 such fables*; and it is time to return to the 
 
 * One of the most popular of these fables states, 
 that in the year of the Hijerah 1118, Guru Go- 
 vind, agreeably to the directions he had received 
 from two Brahmen necromancers, threw a number of 
 magical compounds, given him by these Brahmens, 
 into a fire, near which he continued in prayers for 
 several days. A sword of lightning at last burst from 
 the flame of fire; but Govind, instead of seizing this 
 sword in an undaunted manner, as he was instructed, 
 was dazzled by its splendour, and shrunk from it 
 in alarm. The sword instantly flew to heaven ; from 
 whence a loud voice was heard to say, " Guru G6- 
 " vind! thy wishes shall be fulfilled by thy posterity, 
 " and thy followers shall daily increase." The Brah- 
 mens were in despair at this failure ; but, after deep 
 reflection, they told Govind, there was still one mode 
 of acquiring that honour for himself, which appeared, 
 by the decree that had been pronounced, doomed for 
 his posterity. If he would only allow them to take off his 
 
54 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 political life of Go vine! , which is marked 
 by but few events of importance. These are 
 either related by Muhammedan authors, 
 who detract from all the pretensions of this 
 enemy of their faith and name ; by his dis- 
 ciples, .who exalt the slightest of his actions 
 into the achievements of a divinity ; or 
 by himself, for he wrote an account of his 
 own wars. This last work, however, is 
 more calculated to inflame the courage of 
 his followers, than to convey correct in- 
 formation of actual events. 
 
 Guru Govind Singh, in the Vichitra Na- 
 tac, a work written by himself, and inserted 
 in the Dasania Padshah ka Grant n, traces 
 lhc descent of the Cshatriya tribe of Sondi, 
 to which he belongs, from a race of Hindu 
 
 head, and throw it into the fire, he would he resus- 
 citated to the enjoyment of the greatest glory. The 
 Guru excused himself from trying this experiment, 
 deelaring that he was content that his descendants 
 should enjoy the fruits of that tree which he had 
 planted. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 55 
 
 Rajas*, who founded the cities of Casur 
 and Lahore. He was born, he stales, at 
 Patan, or Patna, and brought up at Madra 
 Des, in the Penjab. lie went, after his 
 father's death, to the banks of the Cal'mdi, 
 or Yamuna, and addicted himself to hunt- 
 ing the wild beasts of the forest, and other 
 manly diversions : but this occupation, he 
 adds, offended the emperor of Dchli, who 
 ordered chiefs, of the Muhammedan race, 
 to attack him. Guru Govind describes, in 
 this work, with great animation, his own 
 feats, and those of his friends -j-, in the first 
 
 * These Rajas appear, from the same authority, to 
 be descended in a direct line from Hindu gods. 
 
 f The following short extract from the translation 
 of the Vichitra Natac, will show that Govind gave his 
 friends their full meed of praise, and will also exhibit 
 the character of his style : " Cripal rages, wielding his 
 " mace : he crushed the skull of the fierce Hj'at 
 " Khan. He made the blood spurt aloft, and scat- 
 " tered the brains of the chief, as Crishna crushed the 
 " earthen vessel of butter. Then Nand Chand raged 
 " in dreadful ire, launching the spear, and wielding 
 
56 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 of his actions ; in which, by his account, 
 the arrows of the Sikhs were victori- 
 
 " the sword. He broke his keen scimitar, and drew 
 u his dagger, to support the honour of the Sondi race. 
 " Then my maternal uncle, Cripal, advanced in his 
 u rage, and exhibited the skilful war-feats of a true 
 " Cshatriya. The mighty warrior, though struck by 
 " an arrow, with another made a valiant Khan fall 
 " from his saddle, and Saheb Chand, of the Cshatriya 
 " race, strove in the battle's fury, and slew a blood- 
 " thirsty Khan, a warrior of Khorasan." After record- 
 ing the actions of many others, Govind thus describes 
 his own deeds : " The blood-drinking spectres and 
 ¥ ghosts yelled for carnage; the fierce Vetala, the 
 " chief of the spectres, laughed for joy, and sternly 
 " prepared for his repast. The vultures hovered 
 " around, screaming for their prey. Hari Chand, (a 
 " Hindu chief in the emperor's army,) in his wrath, 
 " drawing his bow, first struck my steed with an 
 " arrow : aiming a second time, he discharged his 
 " arrow; but the Deity preserved me, and it passed 
 " me, and only grazed my car. His third arrow struck 
 " my breast : it tore open the mail, and pierced the 
 " skin, leaving a slight scar; but the God whom 1 
 " adore saved me. When I felt this hurt, my anger 
 " was kindled; I drew my bow and discharged an 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 57 
 
 ous over the sabres of the Muhamme- 
 dans *. 
 
 This first success appears to have greatly 
 increased the number of Guru Govind's 
 followers, whom he established at Anand- 
 pur, Khilor, and the towns in their vici- 
 nity ; where they remained, till called to 
 
 " arrow : all my champions did the same, rushing 
 " onwards to the battle. Then I aimed at the young 
 " hero, and struck him. Hari Chand perished, and 
 " many of his host ; death devoured him, who was 
 " called a Raja among a hundred thousand Rajas. 
 " Then all the host, struck with consternation, fled, 
 " deserting the field of combat. I obtained the vic- 
 " tory through the favour of the Most High; and, 
 " victorious in the field, we raised aloud the song of 
 " triumph. Riches fell on us like rain, and all our 
 " warriors were glad." 
 
 * Hyat Khan and Nejabet Khan are mentioned as 
 two of the principal chiefs of the emperor's army that 
 fell in this first action. Govind, speaking of the fall 
 of the latter, says : " When Nejabet Khan fell, the 
 " world exclaimed, Alas ! but the region of Svvarga 
 " (the heavens) shouted victory." 
 
58 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 aid the Raja of Nadon*, Bhima Chand, 
 who was threatened with an invasion by 
 the Raja, of Jammu ; who had been excited 
 to hostilities by Mia Khan, a Mogul chief, 
 then at war with Bhima Chand. 
 
 Guru Govind gives an account of this 
 war, which consisted of attacking and de- 
 fending the narrow passes of the moun- 
 tains. He describes Bhima Chand and him- 
 self as leading on their warriors, who ad- 
 vanced, he says, to battle, " like a stream 
 " of flame consuming the forest." They 
 were completely successful in this expe- 
 dition ; the Rajd of Jammu, and his Mu- 
 
 * A mountainous tract of country, that borders on 
 the Penjab. It lies to the N. W. of Srinagar, and the 
 S. E. of Jammu. The present Raja, Sansar Chand, is 
 a chief of great respectability. His country has lately 
 been overrun by the Raja of INcpal and Gorc'ha. 1 
 derived considerable information regarding this family, 
 and their territories, from the envoy of Sansar Chand, 
 who attended Lord Lake, in 1805, when the British 
 army was in the Penjab. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 59 
 
 hammedan allies, having been defeated, 
 and chased with disgrace across the Satlej. 
 Guru Govind next relates the advance 
 of the son of Dilawer Khan against him. 
 The object of the Muhammcdan chief 
 appears to have been, to surprise Govind 
 and his followers at night : but, when that 
 project was defeated, his troops were seized 
 with a panic, and fled from the Sikhs with- 
 out a contest. The father, enraged at the 
 disgraceful retreat of his son, collected all 
 his followers, and sent Ilusain Khan, who 
 made successful inroads upon the Sikhs, 
 taking several of their principal forts *. A 
 
 * Though the account of this war is given iti a 
 style sufficiently inflated for the wars of the demons 
 and angels ; yet, as Govind relates, that Husain Khan 
 returned a messenger, which one of the principal liajas 
 had sent him, with this message to his master ; " Pay 
 " down ten thousand rupees, or destruction descends 
 " on thy head ;" we may judge, both from the demand, 
 and the amount of the contribution, of the nature of 
 this contest, as well as its scale. It was evidently one 
 of those petty provincial wars, which 4 took place in 
 
50 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 general action at last took place, in which 
 the Khan, after performing prodigies of 
 valour, was defeated, and lost his life. Guru 
 Govind was not present at this battle. 
 " The lord of the earth/' he says, " de- 
 " tained me from this conflict, and caused 
 " the rain of steel to descend in another 
 " quarter/' 
 
 Dilawer Khan and Rustam Khan next 
 marched against the Sikhs, who appear to 
 have been disheartened at the loss of some 
 of their principal chiefs, and more at the 
 accounts they received of Aurungzeb's 
 rage at their progress, and of his having 
 detached his son to the district of Madra*, 
 
 every remote part of the Indian empire, when it was 
 distracted : and, at this period, Aurungzeb was wholly 
 engaged in the Dek'hin, and the northern provinces 
 were consequently neglected, and their governments 
 in a weak and unsettled state. 
 
 # This must have been in the year 1701, when 
 Bahader Shah was detached from the Dek'hin to take 
 charge of the government of Cabul, and was probably 
 ordered, at the same time, to settle the disturbances in 
 the Penjab. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 61 
 
 in order to take measures to quell them. At 
 the prince's approach, " every body," says 
 Guru Govind, " was struck with terror. 
 " Unable to comprehend the ways of the 
 " Eternal, several deserted me, and fled, 
 " and took refuge in the lofty mountains. 
 " These vile cowards were," he adds, " too 
 " greatly alarmed in mind to understand 
 " their own advantage; for the emperor 
 " sent troops, who burnt the habitations of 
 " those that had fled." He takes this oc- 
 casion of denouncing every misery that 
 this world can bring, and all the pains and 
 horrors of the next, on those who desert 
 their Guru, or priest. " The man who 
 " does this," he writes, " shall neither have 
 " child nor offspring. His aged parents 
 " shall die in grief and sorrow, and he 
 " shall perish like a dog, and be thrown 
 " into hell to lament." After many more 
 curses on apostates, he concludes this ana- 
 thema by stating, that the good genius 
 of prosperity in this world, and eternal 
 
62 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 blessings in the next, shall be the certain 
 reward of all who remain attached to their 
 Guru : and, as an instance, he affirms, that 
 not one of those faithful followers, who had 
 adhered to him at this trying crisis, had 
 received the least injury*. 
 
 Guru Govind closes his first work, the 
 Vichitra Natac, with a further representa- 
 tion on the shame that attends apostasy, 
 and the rewards that await those that prove 
 true to their religion ; and he concludes 
 by a prayer to the Deity, and a declaration 
 of his intention to compose, for the use 
 of his disciples, a still larger work ; by which 
 
 * There is a remarkable passage in this chapter, in 
 which Guru Govind appears to acknowledge the 
 supremacy of the emperor. " God," he says, " formed 
 " both Baba (Nanac) and Baber (the emperor of that 
 " name). Look upon Baba as the Padshah (king) of 
 " religion, and Baber, the lord of the world. He 
 " who will not give Nanac a single damri, (a coin the 
 " sixteenth part of an ana,) will receive a severe 
 a punishment from Baber." 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 5*3 
 
 the Sikhs conceive that he meant the rest 
 of the Dasama Padshah ka Grant'h, of 
 which the Vichitra Natac forms the first 
 section. 
 
 An account of Govind's war with the 
 Raja of Kahilur*, is found in a work writ- 
 ten in the Dugar, or mountain dialect of 
 the Penjabi tongue, which gives an account 
 of some other actions of this chief. Though 
 this account is greatly exaggerated, it no 
 doubt states some facts correctly, and there- 
 fore merits a brief notice. According to 
 this authority, the Rajas of Kahilur, Jiswal, 
 and others, being defeated and disgraced in 
 several actions, applied to the court of 
 Aurungzeb for aid against Guru Govind, 
 from whom, they stated that they had 
 received great injuries. When the emperor 
 
 * Kahilfir, or Kahlore, is situated on the Satlej, 
 above Mak'haval. It is near the mountains through 
 which that river flows into the Penjab. Another 
 place of the name of Kahlur, or Kahlore, is situated a 
 short distance from Lahore, to the N. E. of that city. 
 
64 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 asked who made the complaint, the answer 
 was: " It is the chief of Kahilur, thy 
 " servant, who has been despoiled of his 
 " country by violence, though a faithful 
 " Zemindar (landholder), and one who has 
 " always been punctual in paying his con- 
 " tributions." Such were the representa- 
 tions, this author states, by which they 
 obtained the aid of an army from the 
 emperor. 
 
 Their combined forces proceeded against 
 Guru Govind and his followers, who 
 were obliged to shut themselves up in 
 their fortresses, where they endured every 
 misery that sickness and famine can bring 
 upon a besieged place. Govind, after 
 suffering the greatest hardships, deter- 
 mined to attempt his escape. He ordered 
 his followers to leave the fort, one by one, 
 at midnight, and to separate the moment 
 they went out. The misery of this separa- 
 tion, which divided the father from the 
 child, the husband from the wife, and 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 6$ 
 
 brothers from sisters, was horrible; but it 
 was the only chance which they had of 
 safety, and his orders were obeyed. He 
 himself went, among the rest; and, after 
 undergoing great fatigue, and escaping 
 many dangers, he arrived at Chamk6ur, by 
 the Raja of which place he was received in 
 a kind and friendly manner. His enemies 
 had entered the fortress which Govind left, 
 the moment he fled, and made many pri- 
 soners ; among which were his mother and 
 his two children, who were carried to 
 Foujdar Khan, the governor of Sirhind, 
 by whose orders they were inhumanly mas- 
 sacred*. The army of the emperor, aided 
 by the Rajas hostile to Govind, next marched 
 to Chamkour, and encompassed it on all 
 sides. Govind, in despair, clasping his 
 hands, called upon the goddess of the 
 sword -j\ " The world sees," he exclaimed, 
 
 * The Muhammedan authors blame Vizir Khan for 
 this unnecessary and impolitic act of barbarity, 
 f Bhavani Durga. 
 
 F 
 
66 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 " that we have no help but thee ! " saying 
 which, he prepared, with his few followers, 
 to make the most desperate resistance. 
 
 The emperor's army, employed at this 
 period against Govind, was commanded by 
 Khwajeh Muhammed and Nahar Khan, 
 who deputed, at the commencement of the 
 siege, an envoy to the Sikh leader, with the 
 following message : "This army is not one 
 " belonging to Rajas and Rands : it is that 
 " of the great Aurungzeb : show, therefore, 
 " thy respect, and embrace the true faith." 
 The envoy proceeded, in the execution of 
 his mission, with all the pride of those he 
 represented. " Listen/' said he, from him- 
 self to Guru Govind, " to the words of the 
 " Nawab : leave off contending with us, 
 " and playing the infidel ; for it is evident 
 " you never can reap advantage from such 
 " an unequal war." He was stopped by 
 Ajit Singh, the son of Govind, from saying 
 more. That youth, seizing his scimetar, 
 exclaimed : " If you utter another word, I 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 67 
 
 " will humble your pride : I will smite 
 " your head from your body, and cut you 
 " to pieces, for daring to speak such lan- 
 " guage before our chiefs/' The blood of 
 the envoy boiled with rage, and he returned 
 with this answer to his master. 
 
 This effort to subdue the fortitude and 
 faith of Govind having failed, the siege 
 commenced with great vigour. A long 
 description is given by B'hai Guru Das 
 B'hale and other Sikh authors, of the ac- 
 tions that were performed. Amongst the 
 most distinguished, were those of the brave, 
 but unfortunate, Ajit Singh*, the son of 
 
 * In the Penjabi narrative of B'hai Guru Das 
 B'hale, the actions of Ajit Singh, and Ranjit Singh, 
 sons of Govind, are particularly described ; and, from 
 one part of the description, it would appear that the 
 family of Govind, proud of their descent, had not laid 
 aside the zunar, or holy cord, to which they were, as 
 belonging to the Cshatriya race, entitled. Speaking 
 of these youths, the author says : " Slaughtering every 
 " Turk and Pahlan whom they saw, they adorned 
 
68 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 Guru Govind, whose death is thus recorded r 
 " A second time the Khan advanced, and 
 " the battle raged. Some fought, some 
 " fled. Ajit Singh, covered with glory, 
 " departed to Svvarga (heaven). Indra*, 
 " first of the gods (Devatas), advanced 
 " with the celestial host to meet him ; he 
 " conducted him to Devapur, the city of 
 " the gods, and seated him on a celestial 
 " throne : having remained there a short 
 " time, he proceeded to the region of the 
 " sun. Thus/' he concludes, " Ajit Singh 
 " departed in glory ; and his fame extends 
 
 " their sacred strings, by converting them into sword- 
 " belts. Returning from the field, they sought their 
 " father, who bestowed a hundred blessings on their 
 " scimetars." 
 
 * The Sikh author, though he may reject the super- 
 stitious idolatry of the Hindus, adorns his descriptions 
 with every image its mythology can furnish ; and 
 claims for his hero the same high honours in Swarga, 
 that a Brahmen would expect for one of the Pandu 
 race. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 69 
 
 " over three worlds, for the fame of the 
 " warrior lives for ever/' 
 
 Though Govind showed an invincible 
 spirit, and performed prodigies of valour, 
 having killed, with his own hand, Nahar 
 Khan, and wounded Khwajeh Muhammed, 
 the other leader of the emperor's troops, 
 it was impossible to contend longer against 
 such superior numbers ; and he at last, 
 taking advantage of a dark night, fled from 
 Chamkour, covering his face, according to 
 the Sikh author, from shame at his own 
 disgrace. 
 
 This sketch of the life of Govind is com- 
 piled from his own works, and those of 
 other Sikh writers, such as Nand and B'hai 
 Guru Das ; and the events recorded, allow- 
 ing for the colouring with which such nar- 
 ratives are written in the East, appear to be 
 correct : the leading facts are almost all 
 established by the evidence of contemporary 
 Muhammedan writers, to whom we must 
 trust for the remainder of his history ; as 
 
70 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 the authorities we have followed end at the 
 period of his flight from Chamkour. 
 
 Most accounts agree that Guru Govind, 
 after his flight, was, from a sense of his 
 misfortunes, and the loss of his children, 
 bereft of his reason, and wandered about 
 for a considerable time in the most de- 
 plorable condition. One account states, 
 that he died in the Penjab; another, that 
 he went to Patna, where he ended his days ; 
 a third, taken from a Sikh authority*, as- 
 serts that Gtiru Govind, after remaining 
 some time in the Lak'hi-Jungle, to which 
 he had fled, returned without molestation 
 
 * Mr. Foster has followed this authority in his 
 account of the Sikh nation : and I am inclined to 
 believe that the part of it which relates to Guru G6- 
 vind's dying at Nader, in the Dek'hin, of a wound 
 received from a Patan, is correct; as it is written on 
 the last page of a copy of the Adi-Grant'h, in my pos- 
 session, with several other facts relative to the dates of 
 the births and deaths of the principal high priests of 
 the Sikhs. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 71 
 
 to his former residence in the Penjab ; and 
 that, so far from meeting with any per- 
 secution from the Muhammedan govern- 
 ment, he received favours from the em- 
 peror, Bahader Shah ; who, aware of his 
 military talents, gave him a small military 
 command in the Dek'hin, where he was 
 stabbed by a Patan soldier's son, and ex- 
 pired of his wounds, in the year 1708, at 
 Nader, a town situate on the Godaveri river, 
 about one hundred miles from Haiderabad. 
 It is sufficiently established, from these 
 contradictory and imperfect accounts of the 
 latter years of Guru Govind, that he per- 
 formed no actions worthy of record after 
 his flight from Chamkour: and when we 
 consider the enthusiastic ardour of his mind, 
 his active habits, his valour, and the insa- 
 tiable thirst of revenge, which he had 
 cherished through life, against the mur- 
 derers of his father, and the oppressors of 
 his sect, we cannot think, when that leading 
 passion of his mind must have been in- 
 
72 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 creased by the massacre of his children, 
 and the death or mutilation* of his most 
 attached followers, that he would have 
 remained inactive ; much less that he would 
 have sunk into a servant of that govern- 
 ment, against which he had been in con- 
 stant rebellion : nor is it likely that such a 
 leader as Guru Govind could ever have 
 been trusted by a Muhammedan prince : 
 and there appears, therefore, every reason 
 to give credit to those accounts which state, 
 that mental distraction, in consequence of 
 deep distress and disappointment, was the 
 cause of the inactivity of Guru Govind's 
 declining years. Nor is such a conclusion at 
 all at variance with the fact of his being 
 killed at Nader, as it is probable, even if 
 he was reduced to the state described, thai 
 he continued, till the close of his existence, 
 
 * Both at Chamkour, and other forts, from which 
 the famished Sikhs attempted to escape, many of 
 them were taken, and had their noses and ears 
 cut off. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 73 
 
 that wandering and adventurous life to 
 which he had been so early accustomed. 
 
 In the character of this reformer of the 
 Sikhs, it is impossible not to recognise 
 many of those features which have dis- 
 tinguished the most celebrated founders of 
 political communities. The object he at- 
 tempted was great and laudable. It was 
 the emancipation of his tribe from op- 
 pression and persecution ; and the means 
 which he adopted, were such as a compre- 
 hensive mind could alone have suggested. 
 The Muhammedan conquerors of India, as 
 they added to their territories, added to 
 their strength, by making proselytes through 
 the double means of persuasion and force ; 
 and these, the moment they had adopted 
 their faith, became the supporters of their 
 power against the efforts of the Hindus ; 
 who, bound in the chains of their civil and 
 religious institutions, could neither add to 
 their number by admitting converts, nor 
 
74 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 allow more than a small proportion of the 
 population of the country to arm against 
 the enemy. Govind saw that he could 
 only hope for success by a bold departure 
 from usages which were calculated to keep 
 those, by whom they were observed, in 
 a degraded subjection to an insulting and 
 intolerant race. " You make Hindus Mu- 
 " hammedans, and are justified by your 
 " laws," he is said to have written to Au- 
 rungzeb : " now I, on a principle of self- 
 " preservation, which is superior to all 
 " laws, will make Muhammedans Hindus*. 
 " You may rest," he added, " in fancied 
 " security : but beware ! for I will teach 
 " the sparrow to strike the eagle to the 
 " ground." A fine allusion to his design of 
 
 * Meaning Sikhs; whose faith, though it differs 
 widely from the present worship of the Hindus, has 
 been thought to have considerable analogy to the 
 pure and simple religion originally followed by that 
 nation. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 75 
 
 inspiring the lowest races among the Hindus 
 with that valour and ambition which would 
 lead them to perform the greatest actions. 
 
 The manner in which Govind endea- 
 voured to accomplish the great plan he 
 had formed, has been exhibited in the im- 
 perfect sketch given of his life. His efforts 
 to establish that temporal power in his own 
 person, of which he laid the foundation for 
 his tribe, were daring and successful in as 
 great a degree as circumstances would 
 admit : but it was not possible he could 
 create means, in a few years, to oppose, 
 with success, the force of one of the greatest 
 empires in the universe. The spirit, how- 
 ever, which he infused into his followers, 
 was handed down as a rich inheritance to 
 their children ; who, though they consider 
 Baba Nanac as the author of their religion, 
 revere, with a just gratitude, Guru Govind, 
 as the founder of their worldly greatness 
 and political independence. They are con- 
 scious, indeed, that they have become, from 
 
76 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 the adoption of his laws and institutions, 
 the scourge of their enemies ; and have con- 
 quered and held, for more than half a 
 century, the finest portion of the once great 
 empire of the house of Taimur. 
 . Guru Govind was the last acknowledged 
 religious ruler of the Sikhs. A prophecy 
 had limited their spiritual guides to the 
 number of ten; and their superstition, aided, 
 no doubt, by the action of that spirit of 
 independence which his institutions had 
 introduced, caused its fulfilment. The suc- 
 cess, however, of Banda, a Bairagi, who 
 was the devoted follower and friend of 
 Guru Govind, established their union under 
 his banners. A short period after Govind's 
 death, the grief of Banda at the misfortune 
 of his priest, is said, by Sikh authors, to 
 have settled into a gloomy and desperate 
 desire to revenge his wrongs. The con- 
 fusion which took place on the death of 
 Aurungzeb, which happened in the year 
 1707, was favourable to his wishes. After 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 77 
 
 plundering the country, and defeating most 
 of the petty Muhammedan chiefs that were 
 opposed to him, he thought himself suffi- 
 ciently strong to venture on an action with 
 Foujdar Khan, the governor of the province 
 of Sarhind, and the man of all others most 
 abhorred by the Sikhs, as the murderer of 
 the infant children of Guru Govind. This 
 action was fought with valour by the Mu- 
 hammedans ; and with all that desperation 
 on the part of the Sikhs, which the most 
 savage spirit of revenge could inspire : and 
 this, aided by the courage and conduct 
 of their leader, gave them the victory, after 
 a severe contest. Foujdar Khan fell, with 
 most of his army, to whom the enraged 
 Sikhs gave no quarter. Nor was their savage 
 revenge satiated by the destruction of the 
 Muhammedan army: they put to death 
 the wife and children of Vizir Khan, and 
 almost all the inhabitants of Sarhind. They 
 destroyed or polluted the mosques of that 
 city ; and, in a spirit of wild and brutal 
 
78 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 rage, dug up the carcasses of the dead, 
 and exposed them to be devoured by 
 beasts of prey. Encouraged by this suc- 
 cess, and hardened by the lessons of 
 Banda to deeds of the most horrid atro- 
 city, the Sikhs rushed forward, and sub- 
 dued all the country between the Satlej 
 and the Jumna; and, crossing that river, 
 made inroads into the province of Sa- 
 haranpur*. It is unnecessary to state 
 the particulars of this memorable incursion, 
 which, from all accounts, appears to have 
 been one of the severest scourges with 
 which a country was ever afflicted. Every 
 excess that the most wanton barbarity could 
 commit, every cruelty that an unappeased 
 appetite of revenge could suggest, was in- 
 flicted upon the miserable inhabitants of 
 the provinces through which they passed. 
 Life was only granted to those who con- 
 
 * This province lies a few miles to the N. E. of 
 Dehli, between the rivers Jumna and Ganges. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 79 
 
 formed to the religion, and adopted the 
 habits and dress of the Sikhs ; and if Be- 
 hadur Shah had not quitted the Dek'hin, 
 which he did in A. D. 1710, there is reason 
 to think the whole of Hindustan would 
 have been subdued by these merciless in- 
 vaders. 
 
 The first check the Sikhs received was 
 from an army under Sultan Kuli Khan. 
 That chief defeated one of their advanced 
 corps at Panipat'h, which, after being dis- 
 persed, fled to join their leader Banda, at 
 Sarhind. The death of Behadur Shah pre- 
 vented this success from being pursued ; 
 and the confusion which followed that event, 
 was favourable to the Sikhs. Banda de- 
 feated Islam Khan, the viceroy of Lahore, 
 and one of his fanatic followers stabbed 
 Bayezid Khan, the governor of Sarhind, 
 who had marched out of that town to 
 encounter this army. This, however, was 
 the last of Banda's successful atrocities. 
 Abdal Samad Khan, a general of great 
 
80 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 reputation, was detached, with a large army, 
 by the emperor Farakhseir, against the 
 Sikhs, whom he defeated in a very des- 
 perate action ; in which, agreeable to Mu- 
 hammedan authors, Banda performed pro- 
 digies of valour, and was only obliged to 
 give way to the superior numbers and dis- 
 cipline of the imperialists. The Sikhs were 
 never able to make a stand after this defeat, 
 and were hunted, like wild beasts, from one 
 strong hold to another, by the army of 
 the emperor; by whom their leader, and 
 his most devoted followers, were at last 
 taken, after having suffered every extreme 
 of hunger and fatigue*. 
 
 Abdal Samad Kh&n put to death great 
 
 * They were taken in the fort of Lohgad, which is 
 one hundred miles to the north-east of Lahore. This 
 fortress was completely surrounded, and the Sikhs 
 were only starved into surrender, having been reduced 
 to such extremes, that they were reported to have 
 eaten, what to them must have been most horrible, the 
 flesh of the cow. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 81 
 
 numbers of the Sikhs after the surrender of 
 Lohgad, the fortress in which they took 
 refuge ; but sent Banda, and the principal 
 chiefs of the tribe, to Dehli, where they 
 were first treated with every kind of obloquy 
 and insult, and then executed. A Mu- 
 harnmedan writer* relates the intrepidity 
 with which these Sikh prisoners, but par- 
 ticularly their leader, Banda, met death. 
 " It is singular," he writes, " thai these 
 " people not only behaved firmly during 
 " the execution, but they would dispute 
 " and wrangle with each other who should 
 " suffer first ; and they made interest with 
 " the executioner to obtain the preference. 
 " Banda/' he continues, " was at last pro- 
 " duced, his son being seated in his lap. 
 " His father was ordered to cut his throat, 
 " which he did, without uttering one word. 
 " Being then brought nearer the magis- 
 
 * The author of the Seir Mutakherin. 
 G 
 
32 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 " trate's tribunal, the latter ordered his 
 " flesh to be torn off with red hot pincers ; 
 " and it was in those moments he expired : 
 " his black soul taking its flight, by one of 
 " those wounds, towards the regions for 
 " which it was so well fitted." 
 
 Thus perished Banda; who, though a 
 brave and able leader, was one of the most 
 cruel and ferocious of men, and endea- 
 voured to impart to his followers that feel- 
 ing of merciless resentment which he che- 
 rished against the whole Muhammedan 
 race, whom he appears to have thought 
 accountable for the cruelty and oppression 
 of a few individuals of the persuasion*. 
 
 * It is necessary, however, to state, that there is a 
 schismatical sect of Sikhs, who are termed Bandai, or 
 the followers of Banda, who totally deny this account 
 of the death of Banda, and maintain that he escaped 
 severely wounded from his last battle, and took refuge 
 in B'habar, where he quietly ended his days, leaving 
 two sons, Ajit Singh and Zorawcr Singh, who success- 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 83 
 
 Though the Sikhs, from being animated 
 by a similar feeling, and encouraged by his 
 first successes, followed Banda to the field, 
 they do not revere his memory; and he 
 is termed, by some of their authors, a 
 heretic ; who, intoxicated with victory, en- 
 deavoured to change the religious institu- 
 tions and laws of Guru G6vind, many of 
 whose most devoted followers this fierce 
 chief put to death, because they refused 
 to depart from those usages which that 
 revered spiritual leader had taught them to 
 consider sacred. Among other changes, 
 Banda wished to make the Sikhs abandon 
 their blue dress, to refrain from drinking 
 and eating flesh ; and, instead of exclaim- 
 ing Wd I Gdruji ki Futteh ! Wd ! Khdlsaji 
 ki Futteh ! the salutations directed by G6- 
 vind, he directed them to exclaim, Futteh 
 
 fully propagated his doctrine. This sect chiefly re- 
 sides in Multan, Tata, and the other cities on the 
 banks of the Indus. They receive the Adi-Grant'h, 
 but not the Dasama Padshah ka Grant'h. 
 
84 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 D'herm ! Futteh dersan ! which means, 
 " Success to piety! Success to the sect!" 
 These innovations were very generally re- 
 sisted ; but the dreaded severity of Banda 
 made many conform to his orders. The 
 class of Acalis*, or immortals, who had 
 been established by Guru Govind, con- 
 tinued to oppose the innovations with great 
 obstinacy ; and many of them suffered mar- 
 tyrdom, rather than change either their 
 mode of salutation, diet, or dress ; and, 
 at the death of Banda, their cause tri- 
 umphed. All the institutions of Guru Go- 
 vind were restored : but the blue dress, 
 instead of being, as at first, worn by all, 
 appears, from that date, to have become 
 the particular right of the Acalis, whose 
 valour, in its defence, well merited the ex- 
 clusive privilege of wearing this original 
 uniform of a true Sikh. 
 
 # An account of this class of Sikhs will be hereafter 
 given. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 85 
 
 After the defeat and death of Banda, 
 every measure was taken, that an active 
 resentment could suggest, not only to de- 
 stroy the power, but to extirpate the race, 
 of the Sikhs. An astonishing number of 
 that sect must have fallen, in the last two 
 or three years of the contest with the im- 
 perial armies, as the irritated Muhamme- 
 dans gave them no quarter. After the 
 execution of their chief, a royal edict was 
 issued, ordering all who professed the reli- 
 gion of Nanac to be taken and put to 
 death, wherever found. To give effect 
 to this mandate, a reward was offered for 
 the head of every Sikh ; and all Hindus 
 were ordered to shave their hair off, under 
 pain of death. The few Sikhs, that escaped 
 this general execution, fled into the moun- 
 tains to the N. E. of the Penjab, where 
 they found a refuge from the rigorous per- 
 secution by which their tribe was pursued ; 
 while numbers bent before the tempest 
 which they could not resist, and abandoning 
 
86 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 the outward usages of their religion, satis- 
 fied their consciences with the secret practice 
 of its rites. 
 
 From the defeat and death of Banda 
 till the invasion of India by Nadir Shah, 
 a period of nearly thirty years, we hear 
 nothing of the Sikhs ; but, on the occur- 
 rence of that event, they are stated to have 
 fallen upon the peaceable inhabitants of the 
 Penjab, who sought shelter in the hills, and 
 to have plundered them of that property 
 which they were endeavouring to secure 
 from the rapacity of the Persian invader. 
 
 Enriched with these spoils, the Sikhs left 
 the hills, and built the fort of Dalewal, on 
 the Ravi, from whence they made preda- 
 tory incursions, and are stated to have 
 added both to their wealth and reputation, 
 by harassing and plundering the rear of 
 Nadir Shah's army, which, when it returned 
 to Persia, was encumbered with spoil, and 
 marched, from a contempt of its enemies, 
 with a disregard to all order. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 87 
 
 The weak state to which the empire of 
 Hindustan was reduced ; and the confusion 
 into which the provinces of Lahore and 
 Cabul were thrown, by the death of Nadir ; 
 were events of too favourable a nature to 
 the Sikhs to be neglected by that race, who 
 became daily more bold, from their num- 
 bers being greatly increased by the union 
 of all those who had taken shelter in the 
 mountains; the readmission into the sect 
 of those who, to save their lives, had ab- 
 jured, for a period, their usages; and the 
 conversion of a number of proselytes, who 
 hastened to join a standard, under which 
 robbery was made sacred ; and to plunder, 
 was to be pious. 
 
 Aided with these recruits, the Sikhs now- 
 extended their irruptions over most of the 
 provinces of the Penjab : and though it was 
 some time before they repossessed them- 
 selves of Amritsar, they began, immediately 
 after they quitted their fastnesses, to flock 
 to that holy city at the periods of their 
 
88 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 feasts. Some performed this pilgrimage in 
 secret, and in disguise : but in general, ac- 
 cording to a contemporary Muhammedan 
 author, the Sikh horsemen were seen riding, 
 at full gallop, towards " their favourite 
 " shrine of devotion. They were often 
 " slain in making this attempt, and some- 
 " times taken prisoners ; but they used, on 
 " such occasions, to seek, instead of avoid- 
 " ing, the crown of martyrdom : and the 
 " same authority states, that an instance 
 " was never known of a Sikh, taken in his 
 " way to Amritsar, consenting to abjure his 
 " faith." 
 
 It is foreign to the object of this sketch 
 to enter into a detail of those efforts by 
 which the Sikhs rose into that power which 
 ihey now possess. It will be sufficient lo 
 glance at the principal events which have 
 marked their progress, from the period of 
 their emerging from the mountains, to which 
 they had been driven after the death of 
 Banda, to that of the conquest and subjec- 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 89 
 
 tion of those fine provinces over which their 
 rule is now established. This sect, as has 
 been before stated, have never admitted 
 a spiritual leader since the death of Guru 
 Govind. It was success, and the force of 
 a savage but strong genius, which united 
 them, for a period, under Banda; and they 
 have, since his death, had no acknowledged 
 general, leader, or prince. Each individual 
 followed to the field the Sirdar or chief, 
 who, from birth, the possession of property, 
 or from valour and experience, had become 
 his superior. These chiefs again were of 
 different rank and pretensions: a greater 
 number of followers, higher reputation, the 
 possession of wealth, or lands, constituted 
 that difference ; and, from one or other of 
 these causes, one chief generally enjoyed a 
 decided pre-eminence, and, consequently, 
 had a lead in their military councils. But, 
 nevertheless, they always went through the 
 form of selecting a military leader at their 
 Guru-mata, or national council; where, 
 
90 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 however, influence prevailed, and the most 
 powerful was certain of being elected. 
 
 Such a mode of government was in itself 
 little calculated to give that strength and 
 union which the cause of the Sikhs re- 
 quired : but the peculiarities of their usages, 
 the ardent character of their faith, the power 
 of their enemies, and the oppression they 
 endured, amply supplied the place of all 
 other ordinances. To unite and to act in 
 one body, and on one principle, was, with 
 the first Sikhs, a law of necessity : it was, 
 amid the dangers with which they were 
 surrounded, their only hope of success, and 
 their sole means of preservation : and it 
 was to these causes, combined with the 
 weakness and internal contests of their ene- 
 mies, to which this sect owes its extraordi- 
 nary rise, — not to their boasted constitution ; 
 which, whether we call it an oligarchy, 
 which it really is ; or a theocracy, which the 
 Sikhs consider it ; has not a principle in its 
 composition that would preserve it one day 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. gx 
 
 from ruin, if vigorously assailed. But of 
 this their history will furnish the best 
 example. 
 
 Encouraged by the confusion which took 
 place on the first Afghan* invasion, the 
 Sikhs made themselves masters of a con- 
 siderable part of the Duab of Ravi and 
 Jalendra-f-, and extended their incursions 
 to the neighbouring countries. They, how- 
 ever, at this period received several severe 
 checks from Mir Manu, the governor of 
 Lahore, who is said, by Muhammedan 
 authors, to have been only withheld from 
 destroying them by the counsel of his 
 minister, Koda Mai, who was himself a 
 Sikh of the KhalasaJ tribe. Mir Manu 
 
 * A. D. 1746. 
 
 f The country between the rivers Ravi and Beyah, 
 and that river and the Satlej. 
 
 J A sect of non-conformist Sikhs, who believe in the 
 Adi-Grant'h of Nanac, but do not conform to the insti- 
 tutions of Guru Govind. They are called Khalasa. 
 This word is said, by some, to be from khalis, pure or 
 
92 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 appointed Adina Beg Khan to the charge 
 of the countries in which the Sikhs main- 
 tained themselves ; and, as that able but 
 artful chief considered this turbulent tribe 
 in no other light than as the means of his 
 personal advancement, he was careful not 
 to reduce them altogether; but, after defeat- 
 ing them in an action, which was fought 
 near Mak'haval, he entered into a secret 
 understanding with them, by which, though 
 their excursions were limited, they enjoyed 
 a security to which they had been unac- 
 customed, and from which they gathered 
 strength and resources for future efforts. 
 
 At the death of Mir Manu*, the Sikhs 
 took all those advantages, which the local 
 distractions of a falling empire offered them, 
 of extending and establishing their power. 
 
 select, and to mean the purest, or the select : by others, 
 from khalas,free, and to mean the freed or exempt, 
 alluding to the tribe being exempt from the usages 
 imposed on the other Sikhs. 
 * A. D. 1752. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 93 
 
 Their bands, under their most active leaders, 
 plundered in every direction, and were suc- 
 cessful in obtaining possession of several 
 countries, from which they have never since 
 been expelled : and their success, at this 
 period, was promoted, instead of being 
 checked, by the appointment of their old 
 friend, Adina Beg Khan, to Lahore; as 
 that brave chief, anxious to defend his own 
 government against the Afghans, imme- 
 diately entered into a confederacy with the 
 Sikhs, whom he encouraged to plunder the 
 territories of Ahmed Shah Abdali. 
 
 The Afghan monarch, resenting this pre- 
 datory warfare, in which the governor of 
 Lahore was supported by the court of 
 Dehli, determined upon invading India. 
 Adina Beg, unable to oppose him, fled ; 
 and the Sikhs could only venture to plunder 
 the baggage, and cut off the stragglers of 
 the Afghan army ; by which they so irritated 
 Ahmed Shah, that he threatened them with 
 punishment on his return ; and, when he 
 
94 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 marched to Cabul, he left his son, Taimur 
 Khan, and his vizir, Jehan Khan, at La- 
 hore, with orders to take vengeance on the 
 Sikhs for all the excesses which they had 
 committed. The first expedition of Taimur 
 Khan was against their capital, Amritsar, 
 which he destroyed, filling up their sacred 
 tank, and polluting all their places of wor- 
 ship: by which action he provoked the 
 whole race to such a degree, that they all 
 assembled at Lahore, and not only at- 
 tempted to cut off the communication 
 between the fort and country, but collected 
 and divided the revenues of the towns and 
 villages around it. Taimur Khan, enraged 
 at this presumption, made several attacks 
 upon them, but was constantly defeated ; 
 and being at last reduced to the necessity 
 of evacuating Lahore, and retreating to 
 Cabul, the Sikhs, under one of their cele- 
 brated leaders, called Jasa Singh Calal, im- 
 mediately took possession of the vacant 
 Subah of Lahore, and ordered rupees to be 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 95 
 
 coined, with an inscription to the following 
 import: " Coined by the grace of Khal- 
 " sah ji, in the country of Ahmed, con- 
 " quered by Jasa Singh Calal." 
 
 The Sikhs, who were so deeply indebted 
 to the forbearance of Adina Beg Khan, 
 now considered themselves above the power 
 of that chief; who, in order to regain his 
 government from them and the Afghans, 
 was obliged to invite the Mahrata leaders, 
 Raghunat'h Rao, Saheb Pateil, and Malhar 
 Rao, to enter the Penjab. Aided by these 
 chiefs, he first advanced to Sarhind, where 
 he was joined by some Sikhs that remained 
 attached to him. Samad Khan, the officer 
 who had been left in charge of Sarhind 
 by Ahmed Khan, found himself obliged to 
 evacuate that place ; which he had no 
 sooner done, than the Sikhs began to 
 plunder. The Mahratas, always jealous of 
 their booty, determined to attack and punish 
 them for this violation of what they deemed 
 their exclusive privilege : but Adina Beg 
 
96 
 
 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 receiving intelligence of their intentions, 
 communicated it to the Sikhs ; who, taking 
 advantage of the darkness of the night, 
 saved themselves by flight. 
 
 After the fall of Sarhind, the Mahratas, 
 accompanied by Adina Beg Khan, ad- 
 vanced to Lahore, and soon expelled both 
 the Sikhs and the Afghans from the prin- 
 cipal towns of the provinces of Sarhind and 
 Lahore ; of which they not only took pos- 
 session, but sent a governor to the province 
 of Multan ; and Saheb Pateil advanced to 
 the Attock*, where he remained for a few 
 months. But the commotions of Hindus- 
 tan and the Dek'hin soon obliged these 
 foreigners to abandon the Penjab; which 
 they did the same year they had reduced 
 it. They appointed Adina Beg Khan go- 
 vernor of Lahore. He died in the ensuing 
 
 # The empire of the Mahratas had, at this proud 
 moment, reached its zenith. The battle of Panipat'h 
 took place soon afterwards; since which it has rapidly 
 declined. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 97 
 
 year ; and, by his death, afforded an oppor- 
 tunity to the Sikhs, which they eagerly 
 seized, to make themselves again masters 
 of the province of Lahore. Their success 
 was, however, soon checked by Ahmed 
 Shah Abdali ; who, irritated by their unsub- 
 dued turbulence, and obstinate intrepidity, 
 made every effort (after he had gained the 
 victory of Panipat'h, which established his 
 supremacy at Dehli) to destroy their power ; 
 and, with this view, he entered the Penjab 
 early in 1762, and overran the whole of 
 that country with a numerous army, defeat- 
 ing and dispersing the Sikhs in every direc- 
 tion. That sect, unable to make any stand 
 against the army of the Abdali, pursued 
 their old plan of retreating near the moun- 
 tains ; and collected a large force in the 
 northern districts of Sarhind, a distance of 
 above one hundred miles from Lahore, 
 where the army of Ahmed Shah was en- 
 camped. Here they conceived themselves 
 to be in perfect safety : but that prince 
 
 H 
 
98 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 made one of those rapid movements for 
 which he was so celebrated, and reaching 
 the Sikh army on the second day, com- 
 pletely surprised, and defeated it with great 
 slaughter. In this action, which was fought 
 in February, 1762, the Sikhs are said to 
 have lost upwards of twenty thousand men, 
 and the remainder fled into the hills, aban- 
 doning all the lower countries to the Af- 
 ghans, who committed every ravage that a 
 barbarous and savage enemy could devise. 
 Amritsar was razed to the ground, and the 
 sacred reservoir again choaked with its 
 ruins. Pyramids* were erected, and covered 
 with the heads of slaughtered Sikhs : and it 
 is mentioned, that Ahmed Shah caused the 
 walls of those mosques, which the Sikhs 
 had polluted, to be washed with their blood, 
 
 # This is a very common usage amongst eastern 
 conquerors. The history of Jenghiz Khan, Taimur 
 and Nadir Shah, afford many examples of this mode 
 of treating their vanquished enemies. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 99 
 
 that the contamination might be removed, 
 and the insult offered to the religion of Mu- 
 hammed expiated*. 
 
 This species of savage retaliation appears 
 to have animated, instead of depressing, the 
 courage of the Sikhs ; who, though they 
 could not venture to meet Ahmed Shah's 
 army in action, harassed it with an inces- 
 sant predatory warfare ; and, when that 
 sovereign was obliged, by the commotions 
 of Afghanistan, to return to Cabul, they 
 attacked and defeated the general he had 
 left in Lahore, and made themselves masters 
 of that city, in which they levelled with the 
 ground those mosques which the Afghans 
 had, a few months before, purified with the 
 blood of their brethren. 
 
 Ahmed Shah, in 1763, retook Lahore, 
 and plundered the provinces around it ; but, 
 being obliged to return to his own country in 
 the ensuing year, the Sikhs again expelled his 
 
 * Foster's Travels, Vol. I. p. 279. 
 
10 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 garrison, and made themselves masters of the 
 Penjab; and, from that period until his death, 
 a constant war was maintained, in which 
 the enterprise and courage of the Afghans 
 gradually gave way before the astonishing 
 activity and invincible perseverance of their 
 enemies ; who, if unable to stand a general 
 action, retreated to impenetrable mountains, 
 and the moment they saw an advantage, 
 rushed again into the plains with renewed 
 vigour, and recruited numbers. Several 
 Sikh authors, treating of the events of this 
 period, mention a great action having been 
 fought, by their countrymen, near Amritsar, 
 against the whole Afghan army, commanded 
 by Ahmed Shah in person ; but they differ 
 with regard to the dale of this battle, some 
 fixing it in 1762, and others later. They 
 pretend that the Sikhs, inspired by the 
 sacredness of the ground on which this 
 action was fought, contended for victory 
 against superior numbers with the most 
 desperate fury, and that the battle termi- 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. iQl 
 
 nated in both parties quitting the field, 
 without either being able to claim the least 
 advantage. The historians of Ahmed Shah 
 are, however, silent regarding this action; 
 which, indeed, from all the events of his 
 long contests with the Sikhs, appears un- 
 likely to have occurred. It is possible the 
 Sikhs fought, at Amritsar, with a division of 
 the Afghan army, and that might have been 
 commanded by the prince; but it is very 
 improbable they had ever force to en- 
 counter the concentrated army of the Ab- 
 dalis ; before which, while it remained in 
 a body, they appear, from the first to the 
 last of their contests with that prince, to 
 have always retreated, or rather fled. 
 
 The internal state of Afghanistan, since 
 the death of Ahmed Shah, has prevented 
 the progress of the Sikh nation receiving 
 any serious check from that quarter; and 
 the distracted and powerless condition of 
 the empire of India has offered province 
 after province to their usurpation. Their 
 
10 2 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 history, during this latter period, affords 
 little but a relation of village warfare, and 
 predatory incursions. Their hostilities were 
 first directed against the numerous Mu- 
 hammedan chiefs who were settled in the 
 Penjab, and who defended, as long as they 
 could, their jagirs, or estates, against them: 
 but these have either been conquered, or 
 reduced to such narrow limits, as to owe 
 their security to their insignificance, or 
 the precarious friendship of some powerful 
 Sikh chief, whose support they have 
 gained; and who, by protecting them 
 against the other leaders of his tribe, ob- 
 tains a slight accession of strength and 
 influence. 
 
 The Sikh nation, who have, throughout 
 their early history, always appeared, like a 
 suppressed flame, to rise into higher splen- 
 dour from every attempt to crush them, 
 had become, while they were oppressed, as 
 formidable for their union, as for their deter- 
 mined courage and unconquerable spirit of 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 103 
 
 resistance : but a state of persecution and 
 distress was the one most favourable for the 
 action of a constitution like theirs ; which, 
 formed upon general and abstract prin- 
 ciples, required constant and great sacri- 
 fices of personal advantage to the public 
 good; and such can alone be expected 
 from men, acting under the influence of 
 that enthusiasm, which the fervor of a new 
 religion, or a struggle for independence, can 
 alone impart, and which are ever most 
 readily made, when it becomes obvious to 
 all, that a complete union in the general 
 cause is the only hope of individual 
 safety. 
 
 The Sikhs would appear, from their own 
 historians, to have attributed the conquests 
 they made entirely to their valour, and to 
 have altogether forgot that they owed them 
 chiefly to the decline of the house of Tai- 
 mur, and the dissensions of the government 
 of Cabul. Intoxicated with their success. 
 
104 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 they have given way to all those passions 
 which assail the minds of men in the pos- 
 session of power. The desire, which every 
 petty chief entertained, of increasing his 
 territories, of building strong forts, and 
 adding to the numbers of his troops, in- 
 volved them in internal wars ; and these, 
 however commenced, soon communicated 
 to numbers, who engaged in the dispute as 
 passion or interest dictated. Though such 
 feuds have, no doubt, helped to maintain 
 their military spirit, yet their extent and 
 virulence have completely broken down 
 that union, which their great legislator, 
 Govind, laboured to establish. Quarrels 
 have been transmitted from father to son ; 
 and, in a country where the infant is de- 
 voted to steel, and taught to consider war 
 as his only occupation, these could not 
 but multiply in an extraordinary degree ; 
 and, independent of the comparative large 
 conquests in which the greater chiefs occa- 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 105 
 
 sionally engaged, every village* has become 
 an object of dispute ; and there are few, if 
 any, in the Penjab, the rule of which is not 
 contested between brothers or near rela- 
 tions f. In such a state, it is obvious, the 
 Sikhs could alone be formidable to the 
 most weak and distracted governments. 
 Such, indeed, was the character, till within 
 a very late period, of all their neighbours ; 
 and they continued to plunder, with im- 
 
 * All the villages in the Penjab are walled round; 
 as they are in almost all the countries of India that 
 are exposed to sudden incursions of horse, which this 
 defence can always repel. 
 
 f When the British and Mahrata armies entered 
 the Penjab, they were both daily joined by discon- 
 tented petty chiefs of the Sikhs, who offered their aid 
 to the power that would put them in the possession of 
 a village or a fort, from which, agreeably to their 
 statement, they had been unjustly excluded by a 
 father or brother. Holkar encouraged these appli- 
 cations, and used them to his advantage. The British 
 commander abstained from all interference in such 
 disputes. 
 
106 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 punity, the upper provinces of Hindtistan, 
 until the establishment of the power of 
 Daulet Rao Sindia, when the regular bri- 
 gades, commanded by French officers in 
 the service of that prince, not only checked 
 their inroads, but made all the Sikh chiefs, 
 to the southward of the Satlej, acknowledge 
 obedience and pay tribute to Sindia: and 
 it was in the contemplation of General 
 Perron, had the war with the English 
 government not occurred, to have subdued 
 the Penjab, and made the Indus the limit 
 of his possession : and every person ac- 
 quainted with his means, and with the 
 condition and resources of the Sikhs, must 
 be satisfied he would have accomplished 
 this project with great ease, and at a very 
 early period. 
 
 When Holkar fled into the Penjab, in 
 1805, and was pursued by that illustrious 
 British commander, Lord Lake, a com- 
 plete opportunity was given of observing 
 the actual state of this nation, which was 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 107 
 
 found weak and distracted, in a degree 
 that could hardly have been imagined. It 
 was altogether destitute of union. And 
 though a Guru-mata, or national council, 
 was called, with a view to decide on those 
 means by which they could best avert the 
 danger by which their country was threat- 
 ened, from the presence of the English and 
 Mahrata armies, it was attended by few 
 chiefs : and most of the absentees, who had 
 any power, were bold and forward in their 
 offers to resist any resolution to which this 
 council might come. The intrigues and 
 negotiations of all appeared, indeed, at this 
 moment, to be entirely directed to objects 
 of personal resentment, or personal aggran- 
 dizement; and every shadow of that con- 
 cord, which once formed the strength of 
 the Sikh nation, seemed to be extinguished. 
 
108 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Neither the limits of this sketch, nor 
 the materials from which it is drawn, will 
 admit of my giving a particular or correct 
 account of the countries possessed by the 
 Sikhs, or of their forms of government, 
 manners, and habits : but a cursory view of 
 these subjects may be useful, and may 
 excite and direct that curiosity which il 
 cannot expect to gratify. 
 
 The country now possessed by the Sikhs, 
 which reaches from latitude 28° 40' to 
 beyond latitude 32° N., and includes all the 
 Penjab*, a small part of Multan, and most 
 
 * A general estimate of the value of the country 
 possessed by the Sikhs may he formed, when it is 
 stated, that it contains, besides other countries, the 
 whole of the province of Lahore ; which, agreeable to 
 Mr. Bernier, produced, in the reign of Aurungzeb, two 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 109 
 
 of that tract of country which lies between 
 the Jumna and the Satlej, is bounded, to 
 the northward and westward, by the terri- 
 tories of the king of Cabul ; to the east- 
 ward, by the possessions of the mountaineer 
 Rajas of Jammu, Nad6n, and Srinagar; 
 and to the southward, by the territories of 
 the English government, and the sandy 
 deserts of Jasalmer and Hansyd Hisar. 
 
 The Sikhs, who inhabit the country 
 between the Satlej and the Jumna, are 
 called Malawa Singh, and were almost all 
 converted from the Hindu tribes of Jats 
 and Gujars. The title of Malawa Singh 
 was conferred upon them for their extra- 
 ordinary gallantry, under the Bairagi Banda, 
 who is stated to have declared, that the 
 countries granted to them should be fruitful 
 
 hundred and forty-six lacks and ninety-five thousand 
 rupees ; or two millions, four hundred and sixty-nine 
 thousand, five hundred pounds sterling. 
 
HO SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 as Malwa, one of the provinces* in India. 
 The principal chiefs among the Malawi 
 Singhs, are, Saheb Singh, of Patiala; B'hang& 
 Singh, of Thanesur ; B'hag Singh, of Jhind ; 
 and B'hailal Singh, of Keintal. Besides 
 these, there are several inferior chiefs, such 
 as Gurudah Singh, Jud'h Singh, and Carm 
 Singh ; all of whom have a few villages, 
 and some horse, and consider themselves 
 independent; though they, in general, are 
 content to secure their possessions by at- 
 taching themselves to one or other of the 
 more powerful leaders. 
 
 The country of the Malawa Singh is, in 
 some parts, fruitful: but those districts of 
 it, which border on Hansya and Carnal, are 
 very barren ; being covered with low wood, 
 and, in many places, almost destitute of 
 water. Sarhind was formerly the capital of 
 
 * This province now forms almost the whole terri- 
 tory of Daulet Rao Sinclia. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. m 
 
 this country ; but it is now a complete ruin, 
 and has probably never recovered the 
 dreadful ravages of the Bairagi Banda, who 
 is stated not only to have destroyed its 
 mosques, but to have levelled all its palaces 
 and public buildings with the ground. 
 Patiala is now the largest and most flourish- 
 ing town of this province, and next to it 
 T'hanesur, which is still held in high reli- 
 gious veneration by the Hindtis ; who have 
 also a very high reverence for the river 
 Serasweti, which flows through this pro- 
 vince. The territories of the chiefs of Ma- 
 lawa Singh are bounded to the N. W. by 
 the Satlej ; between which and the Bey ah, 
 is the country called the Jalendra Beit, 
 or Jalendra Duab; the Sikhs inhabiting 
 which are called the DtiaM Singh, or the 
 Singhs who dwell between the rivers*. The 
 
 * With the chiefs of the Sikhs in the Jalendra 
 Duab we are little acquainted. Tara Singh is the most 
 
112 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 country of Jalendra Duab, which reaches 
 from the mountains to the junction of the 
 Satlej and the Beyah, is the most fruitful 
 of all the possessions of the Sikhs ; and is, 
 perhaps, excelled in climate and vegetation 
 by no province of India. The soil is light, 
 but very productive : the country, which is 
 open and level, abounds with every kind of 
 grain. That want of water, which is so 
 much felt in other parts of India, must be 
 here unknown ; as it is found every where 
 in abundance, within two, or at furthest 
 three, feet from the surface of the soil. The 
 towns of Jalendra and Sultanpur are the 
 principal in the Duab. 
 
 The country between the Beyah and 
 Ravi rivers is called Bari Duab, or Manj'ha ; 
 and the Sikhs inhabiting it are called 
 
 considerable ; but he and the others have been greatly 
 weakened by their constant and increasing internal 
 divisions. v 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 113 
 
 Manj'ha Singh. The cities of Lahore and 
 Amritsar are both in this province; and it 
 becomes, in consequence, the great centre 
 of the power of this nation. Ranjit Singh, 
 of Lahore ; Fateh Singh*, of Alluwal ; and 
 Jud'h Singh, of Ramgadia-f ; are the prin- 
 cipal chiefs of this country. 
 
 The country of Bari is said to be less 
 fertile, particularly towards the mountains, 
 than Jalendra ; but, as it lies on the same 
 level, it must possess nearly the same cli- 
 mate and soil. 
 
 The inhabitants of the country between 
 the Ravi and Chanhab, are called D'harpi 
 Singh, from the country being called 
 D'harpi. The D'hanigheb Singh are be- 
 yond the Chanhab J, but within the Jeha- 
 
 lam river. 
 
 / 
 
 * Fateh Singh is, like Ranjit Singh, of a Jat family. 
 
 f Jud'h Singh, of Ramgadia, is of the carpenter cast. 
 
 I The term Gujarat Singh is sometimes given to 
 the inhabitants of this Duab, of which the chiefs of 
 Gujarat and Rotas are the principal rulers. 
 I 
 
1X4 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 The Sind Singh is the term by which the 
 inhabitants of the districts under the Sikhs, 
 bordering on the Sind, are known; and 
 Nakai Singh is the name given to the Sikhs 
 who reside in Multan. With the leaders of the 
 Sikhs in these provinces, the extent of their 
 possessions, or the climate and productions 
 of the country under their rule, I am little 
 acquainted. Those in Multan, as well as 
 those settled on the river Jehalam, are said 
 to be constantly engaged in a predatory 
 warfare, either with the officers of the Af- 
 ghan government, or with Muhammedan 
 chiefs who have jagirs in their vicinity. 
 
 The government of the Sikhs, considered 
 in its theory, may, as has, been before 
 stated, be termed a theocracy. They obey 
 a temporal chief, it is true ; but that chief 
 preserves his power and authority by pro- 
 fessing himself the servant of the Khalsa*, 
 
 * The word Khalsa, which has before been ex- 
 plained to mean the state or commonwealth, is sup- 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 115 
 
 or government, which can only be said to 
 act, in times of great public emergency, 
 through the means of a national council, of 
 which every chief is a member, and which 
 is supposed to deliberate and resolve under 
 the immediate inspiration and impulse of 
 an invisible being; who, they believe, always 
 watches over the interests of the common- 
 wealth. 
 
 The nature of the power established by 
 the temporal chiefs of the Sikhs, has been 
 sufficiently explained in the narrative of 
 their history. It will be necessary, before 
 any account is given of the forms and 
 actions of their Guru-mata, or great national 
 council, which is intended to have a su- 
 preme authority over their federative re- 
 posed, by the Sikhs, to have a mystical meaning 1 , and 
 to imply that superior government, under the protec- 
 tion of which " they live, and to the established rules 
 " and laws of which, as fixed by Guru G6vind, it 
 " is their civil and religious duty to conform." 
 
n g SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 public, to take a view of that body of 
 Acalis, or immortals, who, under the double 
 character of fanatic priests and desperate 
 soldiers, have usurped the sole direction of 
 all religious affairs at Amritsar, and are, 
 consequently, leading men in a council 
 which is held at that sacred place, and 
 which deliberates under all the influence of 
 religious enthusiasm. 
 
 The Acalis* are a class of Sikh devotees ; 
 who, agreeably to the historians of that 
 nation, were first founded by Guru Govind, 
 whose institutes, as it has been before stated, 
 they most zealously defended against the 
 innovations of the Bairagi Banda. They 
 wear blue chequered clothes, and bangles, 
 
 * Aca.li, derived from Acal, a compound term of 
 cal, death, and the Sanscrit privative a, which means 
 never-dying, or immortal. It is one of the names of the 
 Divinity; and has, probably; been given to this re- 
 markable class of devotees, from their always exclaim 
 ing Acal ! Acal ! in their devotions. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 117 
 
 or bracelets of steel*, round their wrists, 
 initiate converts, and have almost the sole 
 direction of the religious ceremonies at Am- 
 ritsar, where they reside, and of which they 
 deem themselves the defenders ; and, con- 
 sequently, never desire to quit it unless in 
 cases of great extremity. 
 
 * All Singbs do not wear bracelets ; but it is indis- 
 pensable to bave steel about their persons, which they 
 generally have in the shape of a knife or dagger. In 
 support of this ordinance they quote the following 
 verses of Guru Govind : 
 
 Saheb bea ki rach'ha hamne, 
 Tuhi Sri Saheb, churi, kati, katar— 
 Acal puvukh ki rach'ha hamne, 
 Serv loh di rach'ha hamne, 
 Servacal di rach'ha hamne, 
 Serv lohji di sada rach'ha hamne. 
 
 which may be translated : " The protection of the 
 " infinite Lord is over us : thou art the lord, the cut- 
 " lass, the knife, and the dagger. The protection of 
 " the immortal Being is over us : the protection of 
 " all-steel is over us : the protection of all-time 
 " is over us : the protection of all-steel is constantly 
 u over us." 
 
H8 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 This order of Sikhs have a place, or 
 Bunga*, on the bank of the sacred reser- 
 voir of Amritsar, where they generally resort, 
 but are individually possessed of properly, 
 though they affect poverty, and subsist upon 
 charity ; which, however, since their num- 
 bers have increased, they generally extort, 
 by accusing the principal chiefs of crimes, 
 imposing fines upon them ; and, in the 
 event of their refusing to pay, preventing 
 them from performing their ablutions, or 
 going through any of their religious cere- 
 monies at Amritsar. 
 
 It will not, when the above circumstances 
 
 * The Shahid and Nirmala, two other religious 
 tribes among the Sikhs, have Bungas, or plaees, upon 
 the great reservoir of Amritsar; but both these are 
 peaceful orders of priests, whose duty is to address the 
 Deity, and to read and explain the Adi-Grant'h to the 
 Sikhs. They are, in general, men of some education. 
 A Sikh, of any tribe, may be admitted into either of 
 these classes, as among the Acalis, who admit all into 
 their body who choose to conform to their rules. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. ||g 
 
 are considered, be thought surprising, that 
 the most powerful of the Sikh chiefs should 
 desire to conciliate this body of fanatics, no 
 individual of which can be offended with 
 impunity, as the cause of one is made the 
 cause of the whole ; and a chief, who is 
 become unpopular with the Acalis, must 
 not only avoid Amritsar, but is likely to 
 have his dependants taught, when they pay 
 their devotions at that place, that it is 
 pious to resist his authority. 
 
 The Ac&lis have a great interest in main- 
 taining both the religion and government of 
 the Sikhs, as established by Guru G6vind ; 
 as, on its continuance in that shape, their 
 religious and political influence must de- 
 pend. Should Amritsar cease to be a place 
 of resort, or be no longer considered as the 
 religious capital of the state, in which all 
 questions that involve the general interests 
 of the commonwealth are to be decided, 
 this formidable order would at once fall 
 from that power and consideration which 
 
120 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 they now possess, to a level with other 
 mendicants. 
 
 When a Guru-mata, or great national 
 council, is called, (as it always is, or ought 
 to be, when any imminent danger threatens 
 the country, or any large expedition is to 
 be undertaken,) all the Sikh chiefs assemble 
 at Amritsar. The assembly, which is called 
 the Guru-matd, is convened by the Acalis ; 
 and when the chiefs meet upon this solemn 
 occasion, it is concluded that all private 
 animosities cease, and that every man sacri- 
 fices his personal feelings at the shrine of 
 the general good ; and, actuated by prin- 
 ciples of pure patriotism, thinks of nothing 
 but the interests of the religion, and com- 
 monwealth, to which he belongs. 
 
 When the chiefs and principal leaders 
 are seated, the Adi-Grant'h and Dasama 
 Padshah ka Grant'h are placed before them. 
 They all bend their heads before these scrip- 
 tures, and exclaim, Wli ! Guruji ka Khalsa ! 
 W& ! Giiriyi hi Fat eh ! A great quantity of 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 121 
 
 cakes, made of wheat, butter, and sugar, 
 are then placed before the volumes of their 
 sacred writings, and covered with a cloth. 
 These holy cakes, which are in comme- 
 moration of the injunction of Nanac, to eat 
 and to give to others to eat, next receive 
 the salutation of the assembly, who then 
 rise, and the A calls pray aloud, while the 
 musicians play. The Acalis, when the 
 prayers are finished, desire the council to 
 be seated. They sit down, and the cakes 
 being uncovered, are eaten of by all classes* 
 of Sikhs: those distinctions of original 
 tribes, which are, on other occasions, kept 
 up, being on this occasion laid aside, in 
 token of their general and complete union 
 
 * A custom of a similar nature, with regard to all 
 tribes eating promiscuously, is observed among the 
 Hindus, at the temple of Jagannath, where men of 
 all religions and casts, without distinction, eat cf the 
 Maha Prasad, the great offering; i. e. food dressed 
 by the cooks of the idols, and sold on the stairs of 
 the temple. 
 
122 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 in one cause*. The A calls then exclaim : 
 " Sirdars! (chiefs) this is a Guru-mata!" 
 on which prayers are again said aloud. 
 The chiefs, after this, sit closer, and say to 
 each other : " The sacred Grant'h is betwixt 
 " us, let us swear by our scripture to forget 
 " all internal disputes, and to be united/' 
 This moment of religious fervor and ardent 
 patriotism, is taken to reconcile all ani- 
 mosities. They then proceed to consider 
 the danger with which they are threatened, 
 to settle the best plans for averting it, and 
 to choose the generals who are to lead their 
 
 * The Sikh priest, who gave an account of this 
 custom, was of a high Hindu tribe ; and, retaining 
 some of his prejudices, he at first said, that Muham- 
 medan Sikhs, and those who were converts from the 
 sweeper cast, were obliged, even on this occasion, to 
 eat a little apart from the other Sikhs : but, on being 
 closely questioned, he admitted the fact as stated in 
 the narrative; saying, however, it was only on this 
 solemn occasion that these tribes are admitted to eat 
 with the others. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 123 
 
 armies* against the common enemy. The 
 first Guru-mat& was assembled by Guru 
 Govind ; and the latest was called in 1805, 
 when the British army pursued Holkar into 
 the Penjab. 
 
 The principal chiefs of the Sikhs are all 
 descended from Hindu tribes. There is, 
 indeed, no instance of a Singh of a Mu- 
 hammedan family attaining high power-f-: 
 a circumstance to be accounted for from 
 the hatred still cherished, by the followers 
 of Guru Govind, against the descendants of 
 
 * The army is called, when thus assembled, the 
 Dal Khalsa, or the army of the state. 
 
 f The Muhammedans who have become Sikhs, 
 and their descendants, are, in the Penjabi jargon, 
 termed Mezhebi Singh, or Singhs of the faith; and 
 they are subdivided into the four classes which are 
 vulgarly, but erroneously, supposed to distinguish the 
 followers of Muhammed, Sayyad Singh, Sheikh Singh, 
 Moghul Singh, and Patan Singh; by which designa- 
 tions the names of the particular race or country of 
 the Muhammedans have been affixed, by Hindus, as 
 distinctions of cast. 
 
124 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 his persecutors : and that this rancorous 
 spirit is undiminished, may be seen from 
 their treatment of the wretched Muhamme- 
 dans who yet remain in their territories. 
 These, though very numerous, appear to be 
 all poor, and to be an oppressed, despised 
 race. They till the ground, and are em- 
 ployed to carry burdens, and to do all kinds 
 of hard labour : they are not allowed to eat 
 beef, or to say their prayers aloud, and but 
 seldom assemble in their mosques*; of 
 which few, indeed, have escaped destruc- 
 tion. The lower order of Sikhs are more 
 happy : they are protected from the tyranny 
 and violence of the chiefs, under whom 
 they live, by the precepts of their common 
 religion, and by the condition of their coun- 
 try, which enables them to abandon, when- 
 
 * The Muhammedan inhabitants of the Penjab used 
 to flock to the British camp; where, they said, they 
 enjoyed luxuries which no man could appreciate that 
 had not suffered privation. They could pray aloud, 
 and feast upon beef. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 125 
 
 ever they choose, a leader whom they 
 dislike; and the distance of a few miles 
 generally places them under the protection 
 of his rival and enemy. It is from this 
 cause that the lowest Sikh horseman usually 
 assumes a very independent style, and the 
 highest chief treats his military followers 
 with attention and conciliation. The civil 
 officers, — to whom the chiefs intrust their 
 accounts, and the management of their 
 property and revenue concerns, as well as 
 the conduct of their negotiations, — are, in 
 general, Sikhs of the Khalasa cast ; who, 
 being followers of Nanac, and not of Guru 
 Govind, are not devoted to arms, but edu- 
 cated for peaceful occupations, in which 
 they often become very expert and in^ 
 telligent. 
 
 In the collection of the revenue in the 
 Penjab it is stated to be a general rule, 
 that the chiefs, to whom the territories 
 belong, should receive one half of the pro- 
 
126 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 duce*, and the farmer the other : but the 
 chief never levies the whole of his share : 
 and in no country, perhaps, is the Rayat, 
 or cultivator, treated with more indulgence. 
 Commerce is not so much encouraged ; 
 heavy duties are levied upon it by all petty 
 rulers through whose districts it passes : 
 and this, added to the distracted state in 
 which the Penjab has been, from the internal 
 disputes of its possessors, caused the rich 
 produce of Casmir to be carried to India 
 by the difficult and mountainous tract of 
 Jammu, Nad6n, and Srinagar. The Sikh 
 chiefs have, however, discovered the injury 
 which their interests have suffered from this 
 cause, and have endeavoured, and not with- 
 out success, to restore confidence to the 
 merchant ; and great part of the shawl trade 
 now flows through the cities of Lahore, 
 Amritsar, and Patiala, to Hindustan. 
 
 * Grain pays in kind; sugar-cane, melon?, 8cc. pay 
 in cash. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 127 
 
 The administration of justice in the coun- 
 tries under the Sikhs, is in a very rude and 
 imperfect state ; for, though their scriptures 
 inculcate general maxims of justice, they 
 are not considered, as the Old Testament 
 is by the Jews, or the Koran by the Mu- 
 hammedans, as books of law : and, having 
 no fixed code, they appear to have adopted 
 that irregular practice, which is most con- 
 genial to the temper of the people, and 
 best suited to the unsteady and changing 
 character of their rule of government. The 
 following appears to be the general outline 
 of their practice in the administration of 
 justice. 
 
 Trifling disputes about property are set- 
 tled by the heads of the village, by arbitra- 
 tion*, or by the chiefs. Either of these 
 
 * This is called Penchayat, or a court of five ; the 
 general number of arbitrators chosen to adjust dif- 
 ferences and disputes. It is usual to assemble a Pan 
 cbayat, or a court of arbitration, in every part of India, 
 under a native government; and, as they are always 
 
12 8 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 modes, supposing the parties consent to 
 refer to it, is final ; and they must agree to 
 one or other. If a theft occurs, the pro- 
 perty is recovered, and the party punished 
 by the person from whom it was stolen, 
 who is aided on such occasions by the inha- 
 bitants of his village, or his chief. The 
 punishment, however, is never capital*. 
 Murder is generally revenged by the rela- 
 tions of the deceased, who, in such cases, 
 rigorously retaliate on the murderer, and 
 often on all who endeavour to protect 
 him. 
 
 chosen from men of the best reputation in the place 
 where they meet, this court has a high character for 
 justice. 
 
 * A Sikh priest, who has been several years in Cal- 
 cutta, gave this outline of the administration of justice 
 among his countrymen. He spoke of it with rapture ; 
 and insisted, with true patriotic prejudice, on its great 
 superiority over the vexatious system of the English 
 government; which was, he said, tedious, vexatious, 
 and expensive, and advantageous only to clever 
 rogues. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 129 
 
 The character of the Sikhs, or rather 
 Singhs, which is the name by which the 
 followers of Guru Govind, who are all 
 devoted to arms, are distinguished, is very 
 marked. They have, in general, the Hindu 
 cast of countenance, somewhat altered by 
 their long beards, and are to the full as 
 active as the Mahratas ; and much more 
 robust, from their living fuller, and enjoying 
 a better and colder climate. Their courage 
 is equal, at all times, to that of any natives 
 of India; and when wrought upon by pre- 
 judice or religion, is quite desperate. They 
 are all horsemen, and have no infantry in 
 their own country, except for the defence 
 of their forts and villages, though they gene- 
 rally serve as infantry in foreign armies. 
 They are bold, and rather rough, in their 
 address ; which appears more to a stranger 
 from their invariably speaking in a loud tone* 
 
 * Talking aloud is so habitual to a Sikh, that he 
 bawls a secret in your ear. It has often occurred to 
 me, that they have acquired it from living in a country 
 K 
 
13 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS 
 
 of voice : but this is quite a habit, and is 
 alike used by them to express the senti- 
 ments of regard and hatred. The Sikhs 
 have been reputed deceitful and cruel ; but 
 I know no grounds upon which they can 
 be considered more so than the other tribes 
 of India. They seemed to me, from all the 
 intercourse I had with them, to be more 
 open and sincere than the Mahratas, and 
 less rude and savage than the Afghans. 
 They have, indeed, become, from national 
 success, too proud of their own strength, 
 and too irritable in their tempers, to have 
 patience for the wiles of the former ; and 
 they retain, in spite of their change of man- 
 ners and religion, too much of the original 
 
 where internal disputes have so completely destroyed 
 confidence, that they can only carry on conversation 
 with each other at a distance : but it is fairer, perhaps, 
 to impute this boisterous and rude habit to their living 
 almost constantly in a camp, in which the voice cer- 
 tainly loses that nice modulated tone which distin- 
 guishes the more polished inhabitants of cities. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 131 
 
 character of their Hindu ancestors, (for the 
 great majority are of the Hindu race,) to 
 have the constitutional ferocity of the latter. 
 The Sikh soldier is, generally speaking, 
 brave, active, and cheerful, without polish, 
 but neither destitute of sincerity nor attach- 
 ment ; and if he often appears wanting in 
 humanity, it is not so much to be attributed 
 to his national character, as to the habits of 
 a life, which, from the condition of the 
 society in which he is born, is generally 
 passed in scenes of violence and rapine. 
 
 The Sikh merchant, or cultivator of the 
 soil, if he is a Singh, differs little in cha- 
 racter from the soldier, except that his oc- 
 cupation renders him less presuming and 
 boisterous. He also wears arms, and is, 
 from education, prompt to use them when- 
 ever his individual interest, or that of the 
 community in which he lives*, requires him 
 
 * The old Sikh soldier generally returns to his native 
 village, where his wealth, courage, or experience, 
 always obtains him respect, and sometimes station and 
 
132 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 to do so. The general occupations of the 
 Khalasa Sikhs has been before mentioned. 
 
 consequence. The second march which the British 
 army made into the country of the Sikhs, the head- 
 quarters were near a small village, the chief or' which, 
 who was upwards of a hundred years of age, had been 
 a soldier, and retained all the look and manner of his 
 former occupation. He came to me, and expressed 
 his anxiety to see Lord Lake. I showed him the 
 general, who was sitting alone, in his tent, writing. He 
 3iniled, and said he knew better : " The hero who had 
 " overthrown Sindia and Holkar, and had conquered 
 " Hindustan, must be surrounded with attendants, and 
 " have plenty of persons to write for him." I assured 
 him that it was Lord Lake; and, on his lordship 
 coming to breakfast, I introduced the old Singh, who 
 seeing a number of officers collect round him, was at 
 last satisfied of the truth of what I said ; and, pleased 
 with the great kindness and condescension with which 
 he was treated by one whom he justly thought so 
 great a man, sat down on the carpet, became quite 
 talkative, and related all he had seen, from the inva- 
 sion of Nadir Shah to that moment. Lord Lake, 
 pleased with the bold manliness of his address, and the 
 independence of his sentiments, told him he would 
 grant him any favour he wished. " I am glad of it," 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 133 
 
 Their character differs widely from that of 
 the Singhs. Full of intrigue, pliant, versatile, 
 and insinuating, they have all the art of the 
 lower classes of Hindus, who are usually 
 employed in transacting business : from 
 whom, indeed, as they have no distinction 
 of dress, it is very difficult to distinguish 
 them. 
 
 The religious tribes of Acalis, Shahid, 
 and Nirmala, have been noticed. Their 
 
 said the old man ; " then march away with your army 
 4< from my village, which will otherwise be destroyed." 
 Lord Lake, struck with the noble spirit of the request, 
 assured him he would march next morning, and that, 
 in the mean-time, he should have guards, who would 
 protect his village from injury. Satisfied with this 
 assurance, the old Singh was retiring, apparently full 
 of admiration and gratitude at Lord Lake's goodness, 
 and of wonder at the scene he had witnessed, when, 
 meeting two officers at the door of the tent, he put a 
 hand upon the breast of each, exclaiming at the same 
 time, " Brothers ! where zcere you born, and where are 
 <( you at this moment?" and, without waiting for an 
 answer, proceeded to his village. 
 
134 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 general character is formed from their habits 
 of life. The Acahs are insolent, ignorant, 
 and daring : presuming upon those rights 
 which their numbers and fanatic courage 
 have established, their deportment is hardly 
 tolerant to the other Sikhs, and insufferable 
 to strangers, for whom they entertain a 
 contempt, which they take little pains to 
 conceal. The Shahid and the Nirmala, 
 particularly the latter, have more know- 
 ledge, and more urbanity. They are almost 
 all men of quiet, peaceable habits; and 
 many of them are said to possess learning. 
 
 There is another tribe among the Sikhs, 
 called the Nanac Pautra, or descendants of 
 Nanac, who have the character of being a 
 mild, inoffensive race ; and, though they do 
 not acknowledge the institutions of Guru. 
 Govind, they are greatly revered by his 
 followers, who hold it sacrilege to injure the 
 race of their founder ; and, under the 
 advantage which this general veneration af- 
 fords them, the Nanac Pautra pursue their 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 135 
 
 occupations ; which, if they are not mendi- 
 cants, is generally that of travelling mer- 
 chants. They do not carry arms ; and pro- 
 fess, agreeably to the doctrine of Nanac, to 
 be at peace* with all mankind. 
 
 The Sikh converts, it has been before 
 stated, continue, after they have quitted 
 their original religion, all those civil usages 
 and customs of the tribes to which they 
 belonged, that they can practise, without 
 infringing the tenets of Nanac, or the insti- 
 tutions of Gurd Govind. They are most par- 
 ticular with regard to their intermarriages ; 
 and, on this point, Sikhs descended from 
 Hindus almost invariably conform to Hindti. 
 customs, every tribe intermarrying within 
 
 * When Lord Lake entered the Penjab, in 1805, a 
 general protection was requested, by several principal 
 chiefs, for the Nanac Pautra, on the ground of the 
 veneration in which they were held, which enabled 
 them, it was stated, to travel all over the country with- 
 out molestation, even when the most violent wars 
 existed. It was, of course, granted. 
 
136 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 itself. The Hindu usage, regarding diet, is 
 also held equally sacred ; no Sikh, descended 
 from a Hind 6 family, ever violating it, ex- 
 cept upon particular occasions, such as a 
 Guru-mata, when they are obliged, by their 
 tenets and institutions, to eat promiscuously. 
 The strict observance of these usages has 
 enabled many of the Sikhs, particularly of 
 the Jat* and Gujarf* tribes, which include 
 almost all those settled to the south of the 
 Satlej, to preserve an intimate intercourse 
 with their original tribes ; who, considering 
 the Sikhs not as having lost cast, but as 
 Hindus that have joined a political associa- 
 
 * The Jats are Hindus of a low tribe, who, takinc 
 
 7 ' o 
 
 advantage of the decline of the Moghul empire, have, 
 by their courage and enterprise, raised themselves into 
 some consequence on the north-western parts of Hin- 
 dustan, and many of the strongest forts of that part of 
 India are still in their possession. 
 
 f The Gujars, who are also Hindus, have raised 
 themselves to power by means not dissimilar to those 
 used by the Jats. Almost all the thieves in Hindustan 
 are of this tribe. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 137 
 
 tion, which obliges them to conform to 
 general rules established for its preservation, 
 neither refuse to intermarry* nor to eat with 
 them. 
 
 The higher cast of Hindus, such as Brah- 
 mens and Cshatrijas, who have become 
 Sikhs, continue to intermarry with converts 
 of their own tribes, but not with Hindus of 
 the cast they have abandoned, as they are 
 polluted by eating animal food ; all kinds 
 of which are lawful to Sikhs, except the 
 cow, which it is held sacrilege to slay-f. 
 Nanac, whose object was to conciliate the 
 Muhammedans to his creed, prohibited 
 hog's flesh also; but it was introduced by 
 his successors, as much, perhaps, from a 
 spirit of revenge against the Moslems, as 
 from considerations of indulgence to the 
 
 * A marriage took place very lately between the 
 Sikh chief of Patiala, and that of the Jat Raja, of 
 B'haratpur. 
 
 f Their prejudice regarding the killing of cows is 
 stronger, if possible, than that of the Hindus. 
 
138 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 numerous converts of the Jat and Gujar 
 tribe, among whom wild hog is a favourite 
 species of food. 
 
 The Muhammedans, who become Sikhs, 
 intermarry with each other, but are allowed 
 to preserve none of their usages, being 
 obliged to eat hog's flesh, and abstain from 
 circumcision. 
 
 The Sikhs are forbid the use of tobacco*, 
 but allowed to indulge in spirituous -j* 
 liquors, which they almost all drink to 
 excess ; and it is rare to see a Singh soldier, 
 after sunset, quite sober. Their drink is an 
 
 * The Khalasa Sikhs, who follow Nanac, and reject 
 Guru Govind's institutions, make use of it. 
 
 f Spirituous liquors, they say, are allowed by that 
 verse in the Adi-Grant'h, which states, " Eat, and give 
 " unto others to eat. Drink, and give unto others to 
 " drink. Be glad, and make others glad." There is 
 also an authority, quoted by the Sikhs, from the Hindu 
 Sastras, in favour of this drinking to excess. Durga, 
 agreeably to the Sikh quotations, used to drink, because 
 liquor inspires courage; and this goddess, they say, 
 was drunk when she slew Mahishasur, 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 139 
 
 ardent spirit*, made in the Penjab; but 
 they have no objections to either the wine 
 or spirits of Europe, when they can obtain 
 them. 
 
 The use of opium, to intoxicate, is very 
 common with the Sikhs, as with most of the 
 military tribes of India. They also take 
 B'hang-f, another inebriating drug. 
 
 The conduct of the Sikhs to their women 
 differs in no material respect from that of 
 the tribes of Hindus, or Muhammedans, 
 from whom they are descended. Their 
 moral character with regard to women, and 
 
 # When Fateh Singh, of Aluwal, who was quite a 
 young man, was with the British army, Lord Lake 
 gratified him by a field review. He was upon an ele- 
 phant, and I attended him upon another. A little 
 before sunset he became low and uneasy. I observed 
 it ; and B'hag Singh, an old chief, of frank, rough man- 
 ners, at once said, " Fateh Singh wants his dram, but 
 " is ashamed to drink before you." I requested lie 
 would follow his custom, which he did, by drinking a 
 large cup of spirits, 
 f Cannabis sativa. 
 
140 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 indeed in most other points, may, from the 
 freedom of their habits, generally be con- 
 sidered as much more lax than that of their 
 ancestors, who lived under the restraint of 
 severe restrictions, and whose fear of ex- 
 communication from their cast, at least 
 obliged them to cover their sins with the 
 veil of decency. This the emancipated 
 Sikhs despise : and there is hardly an in- 
 famy which this debauched and dissolute 
 race are not accused (and I believe with 
 justice) of committing in the most open 
 and shameful manner. 
 
 The Sikhs are almost all horsemen, and 
 they take great delight in riding. Their 
 horses were, a few years ago, famous ; and 
 those bred in the Lak'hi Jungle, and other 
 parts of their territory, were justly cele- 
 brated for their strength, temper, and ac- 
 tivity : but the internal distractions of these 
 territories has been unfavourable to the 
 encouragement of the breed, which has 
 consequently declined ; and the Sikhs now 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 141 
 
 are in no respect better mounted than 
 the Mahratas. From a hundred of their 
 cavalry it would be difficult to select ten 
 horses that would be admitted as fit to 
 mount native troopers in the English 
 service. 
 
 Their horsemen use swords and spears, 
 and most of them now carry matchlocks, 
 though some still use the bow and arrow ; a 
 species of arms, for excellence in the use of 
 which their forefathers were celebrated, and 
 which their descendants appear to abandon 
 with great reluctance. 
 
 The education of the Sikhs renders them 
 hardy, and capable of great fatigue; and 
 the condition of the society in which they 
 live, affords constant exercise to that restless 
 spirit of activity and enterprise which their 
 religion has generated. Such a race can- 
 not be epicures : they appear, indeed, gene- 
 rally to despise luxury of diet, and pride 
 themselves in their coarse fare. Their dress 
 is also plain, not unlike that of the Hindus, 
 
142 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 equally light and divested of ornament. 
 Some of the chiefs wear gold bangles ; but 
 this is rare ; and the general characteristic of 
 their dress and mode of living, is simplicity. 
 
 The principal leaders among the Sikhs 
 affect to be familiar and easy of intercourse 
 with their inferiors, and to despise the pomp 
 and state of the Muhammedan chiefs : but 
 their pride often counteracts this disposi- 
 tion; and they appeared to me to have, 
 in proportion to their rank and conse- 
 quence, more state, and to maintain equal, 
 if not more, reserve and dignity with their 
 followers, than is usual with the Mahrata 
 chiefs. 
 
 It would be difficult, if not impracticable, 
 to ascertain the amount of the population 
 of the Sikh territories, or even to compute 
 the number of the armies which they could 
 bring into action. They boast that they 
 can raise more than a hundred thousand 
 horse: and, if it were possible to assemble 
 every Sikh horseman, this statement might 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 143 
 
 not be an exaggeration : but there is, per- 
 haps, no chief among them, except Ranjit 
 Singh, of Lahore, that could bring an effec- 
 tive body of four thousand men into the 
 field. The force of Ranjit Singh did not, 
 in 1805, amount to eight thousand; and 
 part of that was under chiefs who had been 
 subdued from a state of independence, and 
 whose turbulent minds ill brooked an usur- 
 pation which they deemed subversive of the 
 constitution of their commonwealth. His 
 army is now more numerous than it was, 
 but it is composed of materials which have 
 no natural cohesion ; and the first serious 
 check which it meets, will probably cause 
 its dissolution. 
 
144 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 There is no branch of this sketch which 
 is more curious and important, or that 
 offers more difficulties to the inquirer, than 
 the religion of the Sikhs. We meet with a 
 creed of pure deism, grounded on the most 
 sublime general truths, blended with the 
 belief of all the absurdities of the Hindu 
 mythology, and the fables of Muhamme- 
 danism; for Nanac professed a desire to 
 reform, not to destroy, the religion of the 
 tribe in which he was born ; and, actuated 
 by the great and benevolent design of 
 reconciling the jarring faiths of Brahmd and 
 Muhammed, he endeavoured to conciliate 
 both Hindus and Moslems to his doctrine, 
 by persuading them to reject those parts of 
 their respective beliefs and usages, which, 
 he contended, were unworthy of that God 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 145 
 
 whom they both' adored. He called upon 
 the Hindus to abandon the worship of idols, 
 and to return to that pure devotion of the 
 Deity, in which their religion originated. 
 He called upon the Muhammedans to ab- 
 stain from practices, like the slaughter of 
 cows, that were offensive to the religion of 
 the Hindus, and to cease from the perse- 
 cution of that race. He adopted, in order 
 to conciliate them, many of the maxims 
 which he had learnt from mendicants, who 
 professed the principles of the Sufi sect; 
 and he constantly referred to the admired 
 writings of the celebrated Muhammedan 
 Kabir*, who was a professed Stifi, and who 
 
 * This celebrated Sufi, or philosophical deist, lived 
 in the time of the Ernperor Shir Shah. He was, by 
 trade, a weaver; but has written several admired 
 works. They are all composed in a strain of universal 
 philanthropy and benevolence ; and, above all, he in- 
 culcated religious toleration, particularly between the 
 Muhammedans and Hindus, by both of whom his 
 memory is held in the highest esteem and veneration. 
 L 
 
146 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 inculcated the doctrine of the equality of 
 the relation of all created beings to their 
 Creator. Nanac endeavoured, with all the 
 power of his own genius, aided by such 
 authorities, to impress both Hindus and 
 Muhammedans with a love of toleration 
 and an abhorrence of war ; and his life was 
 as peaceable as his doctrine. He appears, 
 indeed, to have adopted, from the hour in 
 which he abandoned his worldly occu- 
 pations to that of his death, the habits 
 practised by that crowd of holy mendicants, 
 Sanyasis and Fakirs, with whom India 
 swarms. He conformed to their customs ; 
 and his extraordinary austerities* are a 
 constant theme of praise with his followers. 
 His works are all in praise of God ; but he 
 
 * Nanac was celebrated for the manner in which he 
 performed Tapasa, or austere devotion, which requires 
 the mind to be so totally absorbed in the Divinity, as 
 to be abstracted from every worldly thought, and this 
 for as long a period as human strength is capable of 
 sustaining. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 147 
 
 treats the polytheism of the Hindus with 
 respect, and even veneration. He never 
 shows a disposition to destroy the fabric, 
 but only wishes to divest it of its useless 
 tinsel and false ornaments, and to establish 
 its complete dependence upon the great 
 Creator of the universe. He speaks every 
 where of Muhammed, and his successors, 
 with moderation ; but animadverts boldly 
 on what he conceives to be their errors; 
 and, above all, on their endeavours to pro- 
 pagate their faith by the sword. 
 
 As Nanac made no material invasion of 
 either the civil or religious usages of the 
 Hindus, and as his only desire was to re- 
 store a nation who had degenerated from 
 their original pure worship* into idolatry, 
 he may be considered more in the light of a 
 reformer than of a subverter of the Hindu 
 
 * The most ancient Hindus do not appear to have 
 paid adoration to idols; but, though they adored God, 
 they worshipped the sun and elements. 
 
!48 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 religion ; and those Sikhs who adhere to his 
 tenets, without admitting those of Guru 
 Govind, are hardly to be distinguished from 
 the great mass of Hindu population ; among 
 whom there are many sects who differ, 
 much more than that of Nanac, from the 
 general and orthodox worship at present 
 established in India. 
 
 The first successors of Nanac appear to 
 have taught exactly the same doctrine as 
 their leader; and though Har Govind 
 armed all his followers, it was on a prin- 
 ciple of self-defence, in which he was fully 
 justified, even by the usage of the Hindus. 
 It was reserved for Guru Govind to give a 
 new character to the religion of his fol- 
 lowers ; not by making any material altera- 
 tion in the tenets of Nanac, but by esta- 
 blishing institutions and usages, which not 
 only separated them from other Hindus, 
 but which, by the complete abolition of all 
 distinction of casts, destroyed, at one blow, 
 a system of civil polity, that, from being 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 149 
 
 interwoven with the religion of a weak and 
 bigoted race, fixed the rule of its priests 
 upon a basis that had withstood the shock 
 of ages. Though the code of the Hindus 
 was calculated to preserve a vast commu- 
 nity in tranquillity and obedience to its 
 rulers, it had the natural effect of making 
 the country, in which it was established, an 
 easy conquest to every powerful foreign 
 invader; and it appears to have been the 
 contemplation of this effect that made Guru 
 Govind resolve on the abolition of cast, as 
 a necessary and indispensable prelude to 
 any attempt to arm the original native 
 population of India against their foreign 
 tyrants. He called upon all Hindus to 
 break those chains in which prejudice and 
 bigotry had bound them, and to devote 
 themselves to arms, as the only means by 
 which they could free themselves from the 
 oppressive government of the Muhamme- 
 dans; against whom, a sense of his own 
 wrongs, and those of his tribe, led him to 
 
150 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 preach eternal warfare. His religious doc- 
 trine was meant to be popular, and it 
 promised equality. The invidious appel- 
 lations of Brahmen, Cshatriya, Vaisya, and 
 Sudra, were abolished. The pride of descent 
 might remain, and keep up some distinc- 
 tions ; but, in the religious code of Govind, 
 every Khalsa Singh (for such he termed his 
 followers) was equal, and had a like title to 
 the good things of this world, and to the 
 blessings of a future life. 
 
 Though Guru Govind mixes, even more 
 than Nanac, the mythology of the Hindus 
 with his own tenets; though his desire 
 to conciliate them, in opposition to the 
 Muhammedans, against whom he always 
 breathed war and destruction, led him to 
 worship at Hindu sacred shrines ; and 
 though the peculiar customs and dress 
 among his followers, are stated to have been 
 adopted from veneration to the Hindu god- 
 dess of courage, Durga Bhavani ; yet it is 
 impossible to reconcile the religion and 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 151 
 
 usages, which G6vind has established, with 
 the belief of the Hindus. It does not, like 
 that of Nanac, question some favourite 
 dogmas of the disciples of Brahma-, and 
 attack that worship of idols, which few of 
 these defend, except upon the ground of 
 these figures, before which they bend, being 
 symbolical representations of the attributes 
 of an all-powerful Divinity ; but it proceeds 
 at once to subvert the foundation of the 
 whole system. Wherever the religion of 
 Guru Govind prevails, the institutions of 
 Brahma must fall. The admission of pro- 
 selytes, the abolition of the distinctions of 
 cast, the eating of all kinds of flesh, except 
 that of cows, the form of religious worship, 
 and the general devotion of all Singhs to 
 arms, are ordinances altogether irreconcil- 
 able with Hindu mythology, and have ren- 
 dered the religion of the Sikhs as obnoxious 
 to the Brahmens, and higher tribes of the 
 Hindus, as it is popular with the lower 
 orders of that numerous class of mankind. 
 
152 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 After this rapid sketch of the general 
 character of the religion of the Sikhs, I 
 shall take a more detailed view of its origin, 
 progress, tenets, and forms. 
 
 A Sikh author*, whom I have followed 
 in several parts of this sketch, is very par- 
 ticular in stating the causes of the origin of 
 the religion of Nanac : he describes the 
 different Yugas, or ages of the world, stated 
 in the Hindu mythology. The Cali Yug, 
 which is the present, is that in which it was 
 written that the human race would become 
 completely depraved : " Discord," says the 
 author, speaking of the Cali Yug, " will 
 " rise in the world, sin prevail, and the 
 " universe become wicked ; cast will con- 
 " tend with cast ; and, like bamboos in 
 " friction, consume each other to embers. 
 " The Vedas, or scriptures," he adds, " will 
 " be held in disrepute, for they shall not 
 " be understood, and the darkness of igno- 
 
 * B'hai Gdr6 Das B'hale. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 153 
 
 " ranee will prevail every where f Such is 
 this author's record of a divine prophecy 
 regarding this degenerate age. He proceeds 
 to state what has ensued : " Every one fol- 
 " lowed his own path, and sects were 
 " separated ; some worshipped Chandra 
 " (the moon) ; some Surya (the sun) ; some 
 " prayed to the earth, to the sky, and the 
 " air, and the water, and the fire, while 
 " others worshipped D'herma Raja (the 
 " judge of the dead) ; and in the fallacy of 
 " the sects nothing was to he found but 
 " error. In short, pride prevailed in the 
 " world, and the four casts* established a 
 " system of ascetic devotion. From these, 
 " the ten sects of Sanyasis, and the twelve 
 " sects of Yogis, originated. Thejangam, 
 " the Srivira, and the Deva Digambar, 
 " entered into mutual contests. The Brah- 
 " mens divided into different classes ; and 
 
 # Brahmen, Cshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra. 
 
154 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 " the Sastras, Vedas, and Puranas*, con- 
 " tradicted each other. The six Dersans 
 " (philosophical sects) exhibited enmity, 
 " and the thirty-six Pashands (heterodox 
 " sects) arose, with hundreds of thousands 
 " of chimerical and magical (t antra mantra) 
 " sects : and thus, from one form, many 
 " good and many evil forms originated, 
 " and error prevailed in the Cali Yug, 
 " or age of general depravity." 
 
 The Sikh author pursues this account 
 of the errors into which the Hindus fell, 
 with a curious passage regarding the 
 origin and progress of the Muhammedan 
 religion . 
 
 " The world," he writes, " went on with 
 " these numerous divisions, when Muham- 
 " med Yara-f appeared, who gave origin 
 
 * Different sacred books of the Hindus. 
 
 t Yar signifies friend; and one of the prophet's 
 titles, among his followers, is Yar-i-Khuda, or the friend 
 of God. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 155 
 
 " to the seventy-two sects*, and widely 
 " disseminated discord and war. He esta- 
 " blished the Rozeh o Aid (fast and festi- 
 " vals), and the Namaz (prayer), and 
 " made his practice of devotional acts pre- 
 " valent in the world, with a multitude of 
 " distinctions, of Pir (saint), Paighamber 
 " (prophet), Ulema (the order of priest- 
 " hood), and Kitab (the Koran). He de- 
 " molished the temples, and on their ruins 
 " built the mosques, slaughtering cows 
 " and helpless persons, and spreading trans- 
 " gression far and wide, holding in hostility 
 " Cafirs (infidels), Mulhids (idolaters), Ir- 
 " menis (Armenians), Rumis (the Turks), 
 " and Zingis (Ethiopians). Thus vice 
 " greatly diffused itself in the universe." 
 
 " Then," this author adds, " there were 
 " two races in the world ; the one Hindu, 
 " the other Muhammedan ; and both were 
 
 * The Muhammedan religion is said to be divided 
 into seventy-two sects. 
 
15 6 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS, 
 
 " alike excited by pride, enmity, and ava- 
 " rice, to viotence. The Hindus set their 
 " heart on Ganga and Benares ; the Mu- 
 " hammedans on Mecca and the Caaba: 
 " the Hindus clung to their mark on the 
 " forehead and brahminical string; the 
 " Moslemans to their circumcision : the 
 " one cried Ram (the name of an Avatar), 
 " the other Rahim (the merciful) ; one 
 " name, but two ways of pronouncing it ; 
 " forgetting equally the Vedas and the 
 " Koran : and through the deceptions of 
 " lust, avarice, the world, and Satan, they 
 " swerved equally from the true path : 
 " while Brahmens and Moulavis destroyed 
 " each other by their quarrels, and the 
 " vicissitudes of life and death hung always 
 " suspended over their heads. 
 
 " When the world was in this distracted 
 " state, and vice prevailed," says this writer, 
 " the complaint of virtue, whose dominion 
 " was extinct, reached the throne of the 
 " Almighty, who created Niinac, to en- 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 157 
 
 w lighten and improve a degenerate and 
 " corrupt age : and that holy man made 
 " God the Supreme known to all, giving 
 " the nectareous water that washed his feet 
 " to his disciples to drink. He restored to 
 " Virtue her strength, blended the four 
 " casts * into one, established one mode of 
 " salutation, changed the childish play of 
 " bending the head at the feet of idols, 
 " taught the worship of the true God, and 
 " reformed a depraved world/' 
 
 Nanac appears, by the account of this 
 author, to have established his fame for 
 sanctity by the usual modes of religious 
 mendicants. He performed severe Tapasaf*, 
 living upon sand and swallow- wort, and 
 sleeping on sharp pebbles ; and, after attain- 
 
 * There is no ground to conclude that casts were 
 altogether abolished by Nanac; though his doctrines 
 and writings had a tendency to equalize the Hindus, 
 and unite all in the worship of one God. 
 
 "t* A kind of ascetic devotion, which has been before 
 explained. 
 
158 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 ing fame by this kind of penance, he 
 commenced his travels, with the view of 
 spreading his doctrine over the earth. 
 
 After Nanac had completed his terres- 
 trial travels, he is supposed to have as- 
 cended to Sumeru, where he saw the 
 Sidd'his*, all seated in a circle. These, 
 from a knowledge of that eminence for 
 which he was predestined, wished to make 
 him assume the characteristic devotion of 
 their sect, to which they thought he would 
 be an ornament. While means were used 
 to effect this purpose, a divine voice was 
 heard to exclaim : " Nanac shall form his 
 «« own sect, distinct from all the Yatis-f- 
 " and Sidd'his; and his name shall be 
 " joyful to the Cali Yug." After this, 
 
 * The Sidd'his (saints) are the attendants of the 
 gods. The name is most generally applied to those 
 who wait on Gauesa. 
 
 + The name Yati is most usually applied to the 
 priests of the Jainas; but it is also applicable to San- 
 yasis, and other penitents. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 159 
 
 Nanac preached the adoration of the true 
 God to the Hindus; and then went to 
 instruct the Muhammedans, in their sacred 
 temples at Mecca. When at that place, 
 the holy men are said to have gathered 
 round him, and demanded, Whether their 
 faith, or that of the Hindus, was the best ? 
 " Without the practice of true piety, both/' 
 said Nanac, " are erroneous, and neither 
 " Hindus nor Moslems will be acceptable 
 " before the throne of God ; for the faded 
 " tinge of scarlet, that has been soiled by 
 " water, will never return. You both de- 
 " ceive yourselves, pronouncing aloud Ram 
 " and Rahim, and the way of Satan pre- 
 " vails in the universe." 
 
 The courageous independence with which 
 Nanac announced his religion to the Mu- 
 hammedans, is a favourite topic with his 
 biographers. He was one day abused, and 
 even struck, as one of these relates, by a 
 Moullah, for lying on the ground with his 
 feet in the direction of the sacred temple of 
 
160 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 Mecca. " How darest thou, infidel!" said 
 the offended Muhammedan priest, " turn 
 " thy feet towards the house of God V s — 
 " Turn them, if you can," said the pious 
 but indignant Nanac, " in a direction where 
 " the house of God is not." 
 
 Nanac did not deny the mission of Mu- 
 hammed. " That prophet was sent," he 
 said, " by God, to this world, to do good, 
 " and to disseminate the knowledge of one 
 " God through means of the K6ran ; but 
 " he, acting on the principle of free-will, 
 " which all human beings exercise, intro- 
 " duced oppression, and cruelty, and the 
 " slaughter of cows*, for which he died. — 
 " lam now sent," he added, " from heaven, 
 " to publish unto mankind a book, which 
 " shall reduce all the names given unto 
 " God to one name, which is God ; and he 
 " who calls him by any other, shall fall into 
 
 * Nanac appears on this, and every other occasion, 
 to have preserved his attachment to this favourite 
 dogma of the Hindus. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. i6'l 
 
 " the path of the devil, and have his feet 
 ** bound in the chains of wretchedness. 
 ** You have/' said he to the Muhamme- 
 dans, " despoiled the temples, and burnt 
 ■" the sacred Vedas, of the Hindus; and 
 " you have dressed yourselves in dresses of 
 " blue, and you delight to have your 
 u praises sung from house to house : but I, 
 " who have seen all the world, tell you, 
 " that the Hindus equally hate you and 
 " your mosques. I am sent to reconcile 
 " your jarring faiths, and I implore you to 
 u read their scriptures, as well as your own : 
 " but reading is useless without obedience 
 " to the doctrine taught; for God has 
 " said, no man shall be saved except he 
 " has performed good works. The Al- 
 " mighty will not ask to what tribe or 
 " persuasion he belongs. He will only 
 " ask, What has he done ? Therefore those 
 " violent and continued disputes, which 
 " subsist between the Hindus and Mosle- 
 " mans, are as impious as they are unjust." 
 
 M 
 
162 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 Such were the doctrines, according to 
 his disciples, which Nanac taught to both 
 Hindus and Muhammedans. He professed 
 veneration and respect, but refused adora- 
 tion to the founders of both their religions ; 
 for which, as for those of all other tribes, he 
 had great tolerance. " A hundred thousand 
 " of Muhammeds," said Nanac, " a million 
 u of Brahmas, Vishnus, and a hundred 
 " thousand Ramas, stand at the gate of the 
 " Most High. These all perish ; God alone 
 " is immortal. Yet men, who unite in 
 " the praise of God, are not ashamed 
 " of living in contention with each other ; 
 " which proves that the evil spirit has 
 *< subdued all. He alone is a true Hindu 
 " whose heart is just: and he only is 
 " a good Muhammedan whose life is 
 " pure." 
 
 Nanac is stated, by the Sikh author from 
 whom the above account of his religion is 
 taken, to have had an interview with the 
 supreme God, which he thus describes : 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 163 
 
 " One day Nanac heard a voice from 
 " above exclaim, N&nac, approach!" He 
 replied, " Oh God ! what power have I to 
 " stand in thy presence?" The voice said, 
 " Close thine eyes." Nanac shut his eyes, 
 and advanced : he was told to look up : he 
 did so, and heard the word Wa ! or well 
 done, pronounced five times ; and then Wa ! 
 Guruji, or well done teacher. After this 
 God said, " Nanac! I have sent thee into 
 " the world, in the Cali Yug (or depraved 
 " age) ; go and bear my name/' Nanac 
 said, " Oh God ! how can I bear the mighty 
 " burthen? If my age was extended to 
 " tens of millions of years, if I drank of 
 " immortality, aud my eyes were formed of 
 " the sun and moon, and were never closed, 
 " still, oh God! I could not presume to 
 *' take charge of thy wondrous name." — 
 " I will be thy Guru (teacher)," said God, 
 " and thou shalt be a Guru to all mankind, 
 M and thy sect shall be great in the world ; 
 " their word is Puri Puri. The word 
 
164 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 " of the Bairasi is Ram ! Ram ! that of the 
 
 4C Sanyasi, Om ! Nama ! Narayen ! and the 
 
 " word of the Yogis, Ades ! Ades ! and the 
 
 " salutation of the Muhainmedans is Salam 
 
 " Alikam ; and that of the Hindus, Ram ! 
 
 " Ram ! but the word of thy sect shall be 
 
 " Guru, and I will forgive the crimes of 
 
 " thy disciples. The place of worship of 
 
 " the Bairagis is called Ramsala; that of 
 
 " the Yogis, Asan ; that of the Sanyasis, 
 
 " Mat ; that of thy tribe shall be Dherma 
 
 " Sala. Thou must teach unto thy fol- 
 
 " lowers three lessons : the first, to worship 
 
 " my name ; the second, charity ; the third, 
 
 " ablution. They must not abandon the 
 
 " world, and they must do ill to no being; 
 
 " for into every being have I infused breath ; 
 
 " and whatever I am, thou art, for betwixt 
 
 " us there is no difference. It is a blessing 
 
 " that thou art sent into the Cali Yug." 
 After this, " Wa Guru I or zvell done, 
 
 " teacher ! was pronounced from the mouth 
 
 u of the most high Guru or teacher (God), 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 165 
 
 " and Nanac came to give light and free- 
 " dom to the universe." 
 
 The above will give a sufficient view of 
 the ideas which the Sikhs entertain regard- 
 ing the divine origin of their faith ; which, 
 as first taught by Nanac, might justly be 
 deemed the religion of peace. 
 
 " Put on armour," says Nanac, " that 
 " will harm no one ; let thy coat of mail 
 " be that of understanding, and convert 
 " thy enemies to friends. Fight with va- 
 " lour, but with no weapon except the 
 " word of God." All the principles which 
 Nanac inculcated, were those of pure deism ; 
 but moderated, in order to meet the deep- 
 rooted usages of that portion of mankind 
 which he wished to reclaim from error. 
 Thou<m he condemned the lives and habits 
 of the Muhammedans, he approved of the 
 Koran-, He admitted the truth of the 
 
 * This fact is admitted by Sikh authors. It is, how- 
 ever, probable, that Nanac was but imperfectly ac- 
 quainted with the doctrines of that volume. 
 
166 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 ancient Vedas, but contended that the 
 Hindu religion had been corrupted, by the 
 introduction of a plurality of gods, with 
 the worship of images ; which led their 
 minds astray from that great and eternal 
 Being, to whom adoration should alone be 
 paid. He, however, followed the forms of 
 the Hindus, and adopted most of their doc- 
 trines which did not interfere with his great 
 and leading tenet. He admitted the claim 
 to veneration, of the numerous catalogue of 
 Hindu Devas, and Devatas, or inferior 
 deities ; but he refused them adoration. He 
 held it impious to slaughter the cow ; and he 
 directed his votaries, as has been seen, to 
 consider ablution as one of their primary 
 religious duties. 
 
 Nanac, according to Penjabi authors, 
 admitted the Hindu doctrine of metempsy- 
 chosis. He believed, that really good men 
 would enjoy Paradise ; that those, who had 
 no claim to the name of good, but yet were 
 not bad, would undergo another probation, 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 167 
 
 by revisiting the world in the human form : 
 and that the bad would animate the bodies 
 of animals, particularly dogs and cats : but 
 it appears, from the same authorities, that 
 Nanac was acquainted with the Muham- 
 medan doctrine regarding the fall of man, 
 and a future state ; and that he represented 
 it to his followers as a system, in which 
 God, by showing a heaven and a hell, had, in 
 his great goodness, held out future rewards 
 and punishments to man, whose will he 
 had left free, to incite him to good actions, 
 and deter him from bad. The principle of 
 reward and punishment is so nearly the same 
 in the Hindu and in the Muhammedan reli- 
 gion, that it was not difficult for Nanac to 
 reconcile his followers upon this point : but 
 in this, as in all others, he seems to have 
 bent to the doctrine of Brahma. In all his 
 writings, however, he borrowed indifferently 
 from the Koran and the Hindu Sastras ; 
 and his example was followed by his suc- 
 cessors ; and quotations from the scriptures 
 
168 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 of the Hindus, and from the book of Mu- 
 hammed, are indiscriminately introduced 
 into all their sacred writings, to elucidate 
 those points on which it was their object to 
 reconcile these jarring religions. 
 
 With the exact mode in which Nanac 
 instructed his followers to address their 
 prayers to that supreme Being whom he 
 taught them to adore, I am not acquainted. 
 Their D'herma Sala, or temples of worship, 
 are, in general, plain buildings. Images 
 are, of course, banished. Their prescribed 
 forms of prayer are, I believe, few and 
 simple. Part of the writings of Nanac, 
 which have since been incorporated with 
 those of his successors, in the Adi Grant'h, 
 are read, or rather recited, upon every 
 solemn occasion. These are all in praise of 
 the Deity, of religion, and of virtue ; and 
 against impiety and immorality. The Adi 
 Grant'h, the whole of the first part of which 
 is ascribed to Nanac, is written, like the 
 rest of the books of the Sikhs, in the 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 169 
 
 Gurumuk'h* character. I can only judge 
 very imperfectly of the value of this work : 
 but some extracts, translated from it, ap- 
 pear worthy of that admiration which is 
 bestowed upon it by the Sikhs. 
 
 The Adi-Grant'h is in verse; and many 
 of the chapters, written by Nanac, are 
 termed Pidi, which means, literally, a ladder 
 or flight of steps ; and, metaphorically, that 
 by which a man ascends. 
 
 In the following fragment, literally trans^ 
 lated from the Sodar rag asa mahilla pehla 
 of Nanac, he displays the supremacy of the 
 true God, and the inferiority of the De- 
 vatas, and other created beings, to the uni- 
 versal Creator; however they may have 
 been elevated into deities by ignorance or 
 superstition. 
 
 Thy portals, how wonderful they are, how wonderful 
 thy palace, where thou sittest and governest all ! 
 
 Numberless and infinite are the sounds which pro- 
 claim thy praises. 
 
 * A modified species of the Nagari character. 
 
17 q SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 How numerous are thy Peris, skilful in music and 
 song ! 
 
 Pavan (air), water, and Vasan tar (fire), celebrate thee ; 
 D'herma Raja (the Hindu Rhadamanthus) cele- 
 brates thy praises, at thy gates. 
 
 Chitragupta (Secretary to D'herma Raja) celebrates 
 thy praises ; who, skilful in writing, writes and 
 administers final justice. 
 
 Iswara, Brahma, and Devi, celebrate thy praises ; 
 they declare in fit terms thy majesty, at thy 
 gates. 
 
 Indra celebrates thy praises, sitting on the Indraic 
 throne amid the Devatas. 
 
 The just celebrate thy praises in profound medita- 
 tion, the pious declare thy glory. 
 
 The Yaris and the Satis joyfully celebrate thy might. 
 
 The Pandits, skilled in reading, and the Rishiswaras, 
 who, age by age, read the Vedas, recite thy 
 praises. 
 
 The Mohinis (celestial courtezans), heart alluring, 
 inhabiting Swarga, Mritya, and Patala, cele- 
 brate thy praises. 
 
 The Ratnas (gems), with the thirty-eight Tirt'has 
 (sacred springs), celebrate thy praises. 
 
 Heroes of great might celebrate thy name; beings 
 of the four kinds of production celebrate thy 
 praises. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 171 
 
 The continents, and regions of the world, celebrate 
 
 thy praises ; the universal Brahmanda (the 
 
 mundane egg), which thou hast established firm. 
 All who know thee praise thee, all who are desirous 
 
 of thy worship. 
 How numerous they are who praise thee ! they exceed 
 
 my comprehension: how, then, shall Nanac 
 
 describe them ? 
 He, even he, is the Lord of truth, true, and truly just. 
 He is, he was, he passes, he passes not, the preserver 
 
 of all that is preserved. 
 Of numerous hues, sorts and kinds, he is the original 
 
 author of Maya (deception). 
 Having formed the creation, he surveys his own 
 
 Avork, the display of his own greatness. 
 What pleases him he does, and no order of any 
 
 other being can reach him. 
 He is the Padshah and the Fudsaheb of Shahs; 
 
 Nanac resides in his favour. 
 
 These few verses are, perhaps, sufficient 
 to show, that it was on a principle of pure 
 deism that Nanac entirely grounded his 
 religion. It was not possible, however, 
 that the minds of any large portion of man- 
 kind could remain long fixed in a belief 
 
172 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 which presented them only with general 
 truths, and those of a nature too vast for 
 their contemplation or comprehension. The 
 followers of Nanac, since his death, have 
 paid an adoration to his name, which is at 
 variance with the lessons which he taught ; 
 they have clothed him in all the attributes 
 of a saint: they consider him as the se- 
 lected instrument of God to make known 
 the true faith to fallen man ; and, as such, 
 they give him divine honours; not only 
 performing pilgrimage to his tomb, but 
 addressing him, in their prayers, as their 
 saviour and mediator. 
 
 The religious tenets and usages of the 
 Sikhs continued, as they had been esta- 
 blished by Nanac*, till the time of Guru 
 
 * Certainly no material alteration was made, cither 
 in the belief or forms of the Sikhs, by any of his suc- 
 cessors before Guru Govind. liar G6vind, who 
 armed his followers to repel aggression, would only 
 appear to have made a temporary effort to oppose his 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 173 
 
 Govind; who, though he did not alter the 
 fundamental principles of the established 
 faith, made so complete a change in the 
 sacred usages and civil habits of his fol- 
 lowers, that he gave them an entirely new 
 character : and though the Sikhs retain all 
 their veneration for Nanac, they deem Guru 
 Govind to have been equally exalted, by 
 the immediate favour and protection of the 
 Divinity ; and the Dasama Padshah ka 
 Gran th, or book of the tenth king, which 
 was written by Guru Govind, is considered, 
 in every respect, as holy as the Adi Grant'h 
 of Nanac, and his immediate successors. 
 I cannot better explain the pretensions 
 which Guru Govind has made to the rank 
 of a prophet, than by exhibiting his own 
 account of his mission in a literal version 
 from his Vichitra Natac. 
 
 enemies, without an endeavour to effect any serious 
 change in the religious belief or customs of the sect to 
 which he belonged. 
 
174 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 " I now declare my own history, and 
 " the multifarious austerities which I have 
 " performed. 
 
 " Where the seven peaks rise beautiful 
 " on the mountain Hemacuta, and the 
 " place takes the name of Sapta Sringa, 
 " greater penance have I performed than 
 " was ever endured by Pandu Raja, medi- 
 " tating constantly on Maha Cal and Calica, 
 " till diversity was changed into one form. 
 " My father and mother meditated on the 
 " Divinity, and performed the Yoga, till 
 " Guru Deva approved of their devotions. 
 " Then the Supreme issued his order, and 
 " I was born, in the Call Yug, though my 
 " inclination was not to come into the 
 " world, my mind being fixed on the foot 
 " of the Supreme. When the supreme 
 " Being made known his will, I was sent 
 " into the world. The eternal Being thus 
 " addressed this feeble insect : 
 
 " — I have manifested thee as my own 
 M son, and appointed thee to establish a 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 175 
 
 " perfect Pant'h (sect). Go into the world, 
 " establish virtue and expel vice/' — 
 
 " — I stand with joined hands, bending 
 " my head at thy word : the Pant'h shall 
 " prevail in the world, when thou lendest 
 " thine aid. — Then was I sent into the 
 " world : thus I received mortal birth. As 
 " the Supreme spoke to me, so do I speak, 
 " and to none do I bear enmity.. Whoever 
 " shall call me Parameswara, he shall sink 
 " into the pit of hell : know, that I am only 
 " the servant of the Supreme, and con- 
 " cerning this entertain no doubt. As God 
 " spoke, I announce unto the world, and 
 " remain not silent in the world of men. 
 
 " As God spoke, so do I declare, and I 
 " regard no person's word. I wear my 
 " dress in nobody's fashion, but follow that 
 " appointed by the Supreme. I perform 
 " no worship to stones, nor imitate the 
 " ceremonies of any one. I pronounce 
 " the infinite name, and have attained to 
 " the supreme Being. I wear no bristling 
 
176 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 H locks on my head, nor adorn myself with 
 
 " ear-rings. I receive no person's words in 
 
 " my ears ; but as the Lord speaks, I act. 
 
 " I meditate on the sole name, and attain 
 
 " my object. To no other do I perform 
 
 " the Jap, in no other do I confide : I 
 
 " meditate on the infinite name, and attain 
 
 " the supreme light. On no other do I 
 
 " meditate; the name of no other do I 
 
 " pronounce. 
 
 " For this sole reason, to establish virtue, 
 
 " was I sent into the world by Gur(i Deva. 
 
 " ' Every where/ said he, ' establish virtue, 
 
 " and exterminate the wicked and vitious/ 
 
 " For this purpose have I received mortal 
 
 " birth ; and this let all the virtuous under- 
 
 " stand. To establish virtue, to exalt piety, 
 
 " and to extirpate the vitious utterly. 
 
 " Every former Avatar established his own 
 
 " Jap ; but no one punished the irreligious, 
 
 " no one established both the principles 
 
 " and practice of virtue, (Dherm Carm). 
 
 " Every holy man (Gh6us), and prophet 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 177 
 
 " (Ambia), attempted only to establish his 
 " own reputation in the world ; but no one 
 " comprehended the supreme Being, or 
 " understood the true principles or practice 
 " of virtue. The doctrine of no other is of 
 " any avail ; this doctrine fix in your minds. 
 " There is no benefit in any other doctrine, 
 " this fix in your minds. 
 
 " Whoever reads the Koran, whoever 
 ". reads the Puran, neither of them shall 
 " escape death, and nothing but virtue 
 " shall avail at last. Millions of men may 
 " read the Koran, they may read innu- 
 " merable Purans; but it shall be of no 
 " avail in the life to come, and the power 
 " of destiny shall prevail over them." 
 
 Guru Govind, after this account of the 
 origin of his mission, gives a short account 
 of his birth and succession to the spiritual 
 duties at his father's death. 
 
 " At the command of God I received 
 f f mortal birth, and came into the world. 
 
178 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 " This I now declare briefly; attend to 
 
 " what I speak. 
 
 " My father journeyed towards the East, 
 
 " performing ablution in all the sacred 
 
 " springs. When he arrived at Triveni, 
 
 " he spent a day in acts of devotion and 
 
 " charity. On that occasion was I mani- 
 
 " fested. In the town of Patna I received 
 
 " a body. Then the Madra Des received 
 
 " me, and nurses nursed me tenderly, and 
 
 " tended me with great care, instructing 
 
 " me attentively every day. When I 
 
 " reached the age of Dherm and Carm 
 
 " (principles and practice), my father de- 
 
 " parted to the Deva Loca. When I was 
 
 " invested with the dignity of Raja, I 
 
 " established virtue to the utmost of my 
 
 " power. I addicted myself to every spe- 
 
 " cies of hunting in the forests, and daily 
 
 " killed the bear and the stag. When I 
 
 " had become acquainted with that coun- 
 
 " try, I proceeded to the city of Pavata, 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 179 
 
 " where I amused myself on the banks of 
 " the Calindri, and viewed every kind of 
 " spectacle. There I slew a great number 
 " of tigers ; and, in various modes, hunted 
 " the bear." 
 
 The above passages will convey an idea 
 of that impression which Guru G6vind 
 gave his followers of his divine mission. I 
 shall shortly enumerate those alterations he 
 made in the usages of the Sikhs, whom 
 it was his object to render, through the 
 means of religious enthusiasm, a warlike 
 race. 
 
 Though Guru Govind was brought up in 
 the religion of Nanac, he appears, from 
 having been educated among the Hindu 
 priests of Mathura, to have been deeply 
 tainted with their superstitious belief; and 
 he was, perhaps, induced by considerations 
 of policy, to lean still more strongly to their 
 prejudices, in order to induce them to be- 
 come converts to that religious military 
 community, by means of which it was 
 
180 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 his object to destroy the Muhammedan 
 power. 
 
 The principal of the religious institutions 
 of Guru Govind, is that of the Pahal, — the 
 ceremony by which a convert is initiated 
 into the tribe of Sikhs ; or, more properly 
 speaking, that of Singhs. The meaning of 
 this institution is to make the convert a 
 member of the Khalsa, or Sikh common- 
 wealth, which he can only become by 
 assenting to certain observances ; the de- 
 voting himself to arms for the defence of 
 the commonwealth, and the destruction of 
 its enemies ; the wearing his hair, and put- 
 ting on a blue dress*. 
 
 * It] has been before stated, that all the fol- 
 lowers of G6vind do not now wear the blue dress, 
 but they all wear their hair; and their jealous re- 
 gard of it is not to be described. Three inferior 
 agents of Sikh chiefs were one day in ray tent; 
 one of them was a Khalsa Singh, and the two 
 others of the Khalasa tribe of Sikhs. I was laugh- 
 ing and joking with the Khalsa Singh, who said 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 181 
 
 The mode in which Guru Govind first 
 initiated his converts, is described by a Sikh 
 writer; and, as I believe it is nearly the 
 same as that now observed, I shall shortly 
 state it as he has described it. Guru 
 Govind, he says, after his arrival at Mak'- 
 
 he had been ordered to attend me to Calcutta. Among 
 other subjects of our mirth, I rallied him on trusting 
 himself so much in my power. " Why, what is the 
 " worst," said he, " that you can do to me, when 
 " I am at such a distance from home ?" I passed my 
 hand across my chin, imitating the act of shaving. 
 The man's face was in an instant distorted with rage, 
 and his sword half drawn. " You are ignorant," said 
 he to me, " of the offence you have given. I cannot 
 " strike you, who are above me, and the friend of my 
 " master and the state. But no power," he added, 
 " shall save these fellows," alluding to the two Kha- 
 lasa Sikhs, " from my revenge, for having dared to 
 « smile at your action." It was with the greatest 
 difficulty, and only by the good offices of some Sikh 
 chiefs, that I was able to pacify the wounded honour 
 of this Singh. 
 
182 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 haval, initiated five converts, and gave 
 them instructions how to initiate others. 
 The mode is as follows. The convert is 
 told that he must allow his hair to grow. 
 He must clothe himself from head to foot 
 in blue clothes. He is then presented with 
 the five weapons : a sword, a firelock, a 
 bow and arrow, and a pike*. One of 
 those who initiate him then says, " The 
 " Guru is thy holy teacher, and thou art 
 " his Sikh or disciple." Some sugar and 
 water is put into a cup, and stirred round 
 with a steel knife, or dagger, and some 
 of the first chapters of the Adi-Grant'h, 
 and the first chapters of the Dasama Pad- 
 shah ka Grant'h, are read ; and those who 
 
 * The goddess of courage, Bhavani Durga, repre- 
 sented in the Dasama Padshah ka Grant'h, or book of 
 kings of Guru Govind, as the soul of arms, or tutelary 
 goddess of war, and is thus addressed : " Thou art the 
 " edge of the sword, thou art the arrow, the sword, 
 " the knife, and the dagger." 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 183 
 
 perform the initiation exclaim, WaJ Guruji 
 ka Khdlsa! TVa! Guruji ki Fateh! (Success 
 to the state of the Guru ! Victory attend 
 the Guru !) After this exclamation has 
 been repeated five times, they say, " This 
 " sherbet is nectar. It is the water of life ; 
 " drink it." The disciple obeys ; and some 
 sherbet, prepared in a similar manner, is 
 sprinkled over his head and beard. After 
 these ceremonies, the disciple is asked if he 
 consents to be of the faith of Guru Govind. 
 He answers, " I do consent." He is then 
 told, " If you do, you must abandon all 
 " intercourse, and neither eat, drink, nor sit 
 " in company with men of five sects which 
 " I shall name. The first, the Mina D'hir- 
 " mal ; who, though of the race of Nanac, 
 " were tempted by avarice to give poison 
 " to Arjun ; and, though they did not suc- 
 " ceed, they ought to be expelled from 
 " society. The second are the Musandia ; 
 " a sect who call themselves Gurus, or 
 " priests, and endeavour to introduce he- 
 
184 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 " terodox doctrines*. The third, Ram 
 " Rayi, the descendants of Ram Ray, 
 " whose intrigues were the great cause of 
 " the destruction of the holy ruler, Tegh 
 " Singh. The fourth are the Kud i-niar, 
 " or destroyers -f of their own daughters. 
 " Fifth, the Bhadani, who shave the hair 
 " of their head and beards/' The disciple, 
 after this warning against intercourse with 
 sectaries, or rather schismatics, is instructed 
 in some general precepts, the observance of 
 which regard the welfare of the community 
 into which he has entered. He is told to 
 be gentle and polite to all with whom he 
 converses, to endeavour to attain wisdom, 
 and to emulate the persuasive eloquence of 
 Baba Nanac. He is particularly enjoined, 
 whenever he approaches any of the Sikh 
 temples, to do it with reverence and re- 
 spect, and to go to Amritsar, to pay his 
 
 * Guru Govind put to death many of this tribe. 
 t This barbarous custom still prevails among the 
 Rajaputs in many parts of Hindustan. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 185 
 
 devotions to the Khalsa, or state ; the 
 interests of which he is directed, on all 
 occasions, to consider paramount to his 
 own. He is instructed to labour to in- 
 crease the prosperity of the town of Arn- 
 ritsar; and told, that at every place of 
 worship which he visits he will be con- 
 ducted in the right path by the Guru (Guru 
 Govind). He is instructed to believe, that 
 it is the duty of all those who belong to the 
 Khalsa, or commonwealth of the Sikhs, 
 neither to lament the sacrifice of property, 
 nor of life, in support of each other ; and 
 he is directed to read the Adi-Grant'h and 
 Dasama Padshah ka Grant'h, every morn- 
 ing and every evening. Whatever he has 
 received from God, he is told it is his duty 
 to share with others. And after the dis- 
 ciple has heard and understood all these 
 and similar precepts, he is declared to be 
 duly initiated. 
 
 Guru Govind Singh, agreeably to this 
 Sikh author, after initiating the first five 
 
186 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 disciples in the mode above stated, order- 
 ed the principal persons among them* to 
 initiate him exactly on similar occasions, 
 which he did. The author from whom the 
 above account is taken, states, that when 
 Govind was at the point of death, he ex- 
 claimed, " Wherever five Sikhs are as- 
 " sembled, there I also shall be present!" 
 and, in consequence of this expression, five 
 Sikhs are the number necessary to make 
 a Singh, or convert. By the religious 
 institutions of Guru Govind, proselytes are 
 admitted from all tribes and casts in the 
 universe. The initiation may take place 
 at any time of life, but the children of the 
 Singhs all go through this rite at a very early 
 age. 
 
 The leading tenet of Guru Govind's reli- 
 
 • Agreeably to this author, Guru Govind was ini- 
 tiated on Friday, the 8th of the month B'hadra, in the 
 year 1753 of the sera of Vicramaditya; and on that 
 day his great work, the Dasama Padshah ka Grant'h, 
 or book of the tenth king, was completed. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 187 
 
 gious institutions, which obliges his fol- 
 lowers to devote themselves to arms, is 
 stated, in one of the chapters of the Dasama 
 Padshah ka Grant'h, or book of the tenth 
 king, written in praise of Durga B'havani, 
 the goddess of courage : " Durga," Guru 
 G6vind says, " appeared to me when I 
 " was asleep, arrayed in all her glory. The 
 " goddess put into my hand the hilt of 
 " a bright scimitar, which she had before 
 " held in her own. ' The country of the 
 " Muhammedans/ said the goddess, ' shall 
 " be conquered by thee, and numbers of 
 " that race shall be slain/ After I had 
 " heard this, I exclaimed, ' This steel shall 
 " be the guard to me and my followers, 
 " because, in its lustre, the splendour of 
 " thy countenance, O goddess! is always 
 « reflected*/" 
 
 * An author, whom I have often quoted, says, 
 Guru Govind gave the following injunctions to his 
 followers : " It is right to slay a Muhammedan wher- 
 
188 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 The Dasama Padshah ka Grant'h of 
 Guru Govind appears, from the extracts 
 which I have seen of it, to abound in fine 
 passages. Its author has borrowed largely 
 from the Sastras of the Brahmens, and the 
 Koran. He praises Nanac as a holy saint, 
 accepted of God ; and grounds his faith, 
 like that of his predecessors, upon the 
 adoration of one God; whose power and 
 attributes he however describes by so many 
 Sanscrit names, and with such constant 
 allusions to the Hindu mythology, that it 
 appears often difficult to separate his purer 
 belief from their gross idolatry. He, how- 
 ever, rejects all worship of images, on an 
 opinion taken from one of the ancient 
 Vedas, which declares, " that to worship 
 
 " ever you meet him. If you meet a Hindu, beat 
 " him and plunder him, and divide his property 
 " among you. Employ your constant effort to destroy 
 " the countries ruled by Muhammedans. If they 
 " oppose you, defeat and slay them." 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 139 
 
 " an idol made of wood, earth, or stone, is 
 " as foolish as it is impious ; for God alone 
 " is deserving of adoration." 
 
 The great points, however, by which 
 G6ru Govind has separated his followers 
 for ever from the Hindus, are those which 
 have been before stated ; — -the destruction 
 of the distinction of casts, the admission of 
 proselytes, and the rendering the pursuit of 
 arms not only admissible, but the religious 
 duty of all his followers. Whereas, among 
 the Hindus, agreeable to the Dherma 
 Sastra, (one of the most revered of their 
 sacred writings,) carrying arms on all occa- 
 sions, as an occupation, is only lawful to 
 the Cshatriya or military tribe. A Brah- 
 men is allowed to obtain a livelihood by 
 arms, if he can by no other mode. The 
 Vaisya and Sudra are not allowed to make 
 arms their profession, though they may use 
 them in self-defence. 
 
 The sacred book of Guru Govind is not 
 confined to religious subjects, or tales of 
 
190 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 Hindu mythology, related in his own way ; 
 but abounds in accounts of the battles 
 which he fought, and of the actions which 
 were performed by the most valiant of his 
 followers. Courage is, throughout this work, 
 placed above every other virtue ; and G6- 
 vind, like Muhammed, makes martyrdom 
 for the faith which he taught, the shortest 
 and most certain road to honour in this 
 world, and eternal happiness in the future. 
 The opinion which the Sikhs entertain of 
 Govind will be best collected from their 
 most esteemed authors. 
 
 " Gurti Govind Singh/' one* of those 
 writers states, " appeared as the tenth 
 " Avatar. He meditated on the Creator 
 " himself, invisible, eternal, and incom- 
 " prehensible. He established the Khalsa, 
 " his own sect, and, by exhibiting singular 
 " energy, leaving the hair on his head, and 
 " seizing the scimitar, he smote every 
 
 * B'hai Gtirvi Das Bhale. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. igi 
 
 " wicked person. He bound the garment 
 
 " of chastity round his loins, grasped the 
 
 " sword of valour, and, passing the true 
 
 " word of victory, became victorious in 
 
 " the field of combat; and seizing the 
 
 " Devatas, his foes, he inflicted on them 
 
 " punishment ; and, with great success, dif- 
 
 " fused the sublime Guru Jap (a mystical 
 
 " form of prayer composed by Guru G6- 
 
 " vind) through the world. As he was 
 
 " born a warlike Singh, he assumed the 
 
 " blue dress ; and, by destroying the wicked 
 
 " Turks, he exalted the name of Hari 
 
 " (God). No Sirdar could stand in battle 
 
 " against him, but all of them fled ; and, 
 
 " whether Hindu Rajas, or Muhammedan 
 
 " lords, became like dust in his presence. 
 
 " The mountains, hearing of him, were 
 
 " struck with terror ; the whole world was 
 
 " affrighted, and the people fled from their 
 
 " habitations. In short, such was his fame, 
 
 " that they were all thrown into conster- 
 
 " nation, and began to say, ' Besides thee. 
 
192 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 " O Sat Guru! there is no dispeller of 
 " danger/ — Having seized and displayed 
 " his sword, no person could resist his 
 " might." 
 
 The same author, in a subsequent pas- 
 sage, gives a very characteristic account 
 of that spirit of hostility which the religion 
 of Guru Govind breathed against the Mu- 
 hammedans ; and of the manner in which 
 it treated those sacred writings, upon which 
 most of the established usages of Hindus 
 are grounded. 
 
 " By the command of the Eternal, the 
 " great Guru disseminated the true know- 
 " ledge. Full of strength and courage, he 
 " successfully established the Khalsa (or 
 " state). Thus, at once founding the 
 " sect of Singh, he struck the whole world 
 " with awe : overturning temples and sacred 
 " places, tombs and mosques, he levelled 
 " them all with the plain : rejecting the 
 " Vedas, the Purans, the six Sastras, and 
 " the Koran ; he abolished the cry of 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 193 
 
 " Namaz (Muhammedan prayer), and slew 
 the Sultans ; reducing the Mirs and Pirs 
 * (the lords and priests of the Muham- 
 ' medans) to silence, he overturned all 
 1 their sects; the Moullahs (professors), and 
 ' the Kazis (judges), were confounded, 
 ' and found no benefit from their studies. 
 <■ The Brahmens, the Pandits, and the 
 ' Jotishis (or astrologers), had acquired a 
 ' relish for worldly things : they worship- 
 4 ped stones and temples, and forgot the 
 6 Supreme. Thus these two sects, the 
 8 Muhammedan and Hindu, remained in- 
 4 volved in delusion and ignorance, when 
 the third sect of the Khalsa originated in 
 purity. When, at the order of Guru 
 Govind, the Singhs seized and displayed 
 the scimitar, then subduing all their 
 enemies, they meditated on the Eternal ; 
 and, as soon as the order of the Most 
 High was manifested in the world, cir- 
 cumcision ceased, and the Turks trem- 
 bled, when they saw the ritual of Mu- 
 
194 
 
 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 " hammed destroyed : then the Nakara 
 " (large drum) of victory sounded through- 
 " out the world, and fear and dread were 
 " abolished. Thus the third sect was 
 " established, and increased greatly in 
 " might." 
 
 These extracts, and what I have before 
 stated, will sufficiently show the character 
 of the religious institutions of Guru G6- 
 vind ; which were admirably calculated to 
 awaken, through the means of fanaticism, 
 a spirit of courage and independence, 
 among men who had been content, for 
 ages, with that degraded condition in 
 society, to which they were taught to 
 believe themselves born. The end which 
 Govind sought, could not, perhaps, have 
 been attained by the employment of other 
 means. Exhortations respecting their civil 
 rights, and the wrongs which they sus- 
 tained, would have been wasted on minds 
 enslaved by superstition, and who could 
 only be persuaded to assert themselves men. 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 195 
 
 by an impression that it was the will of 
 Heaven they should do so. His success 
 is a strong elucidation of the general cha- 
 racter of the Hindu natives of India. That 
 race, though in general mild and peaceable, 
 take the most savage and ferocious turn, 
 when roused to action by the influence 
 of religious feeling. 
 
 I have mentioned, in the narrative part 
 of this Sketch, the attempt of the Bairagi 
 Banda to alter the religious institutions of 
 Guru Govind, and its failure. The tribe of 
 Acalis (immortals), who have now assumed 
 a dictatorial sway in all the religious cere- 
 monies at Amritsar, and the Nirmala and 
 Shahid, who read the sacred writings, may 
 hereafter introduce some changes in those 
 usages which the Sikhs revere : but it is 
 probable that the spirit of equality, which 
 has been hitherto considered as the vital 
 principle of the Khalsa or commonwealth, 
 and which makes all Sikhs so reluctant to 
 own either a temporal or spiritual leader, 
 
196 SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 
 
 will tend greatly to preserve their insti- 
 tutions from invasion : and it is stated, in 
 a tradition which is universally believed 
 by the Sikhs, and has, indeed, been in- 
 serted in their sacred writings, that Guru 
 Govind, when he was asked by his fol- 
 lowers, who surrounded his death-bed, to 
 whom he would leave his authority ? replied, 
 ' I have delivered over the Khalsa (com- 
 ' mon wealth) to God, who never dies. I 
 ' have been your guide, and will still pre- 
 ' serve you ; read the Grant'h, and attend 
 ' to its tenets ; and whoever remains true 
 ' to the state, him will I aid." From these 
 dying words of Guru Govind, the Sikhs 
 believe themselves to have been placed, by 
 their last and most revered prophet, under 
 the peculiar care of God : and their attach- 
 ment to this mysterious principle, leads 
 them to consider the Khalsa (or com- 
 monwealth) as a theocracy ; and such 
 an impression is likely to oppose a very 
 serious obstacle, if not an insuperable 
 
SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 197 
 
 barrier, to the designs of any of their 
 chiefs, who may hereafter endeavour to 
 establish an absolute power over the whole 
 nation. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by J. Moyeg, Greville Street, London. 
 
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