Guru Tegh Bahadur
We have heard of people dying for their country, their religion, their family, etc. Have you heard of anybody who died for the freedom of others who are not his own community? Not of his own religion? That requires an extraordinary level of unselfishness, rarely seen in humans. The life of Guru Tegh Bahadur is one example where we see the remarkable courage and the ultimate limit of unselfishness.
Guru Tegh Bahadur (1 April 1621 – 11 November 1675) became the 9th Guru of Sikhism on 20 March 1665, following the footsteps of his grand-nephew, Guru Har Krishan. The details regarding his early life and the achievements during his Guruship are available at wikipedia and sikiwiki. The aim of this article is slightly different: to highlight the immense level of unselfishness displayed by the Guru as he chose for his martyrdom at the hands of moghuls ruling India at that time.
The Delhi Emperor, Aurangzeb cherished the ambition of converting India into a land of Islam. He ordered Hindu temples to be destroyed and that idol worship was to be stopped. Being clever, he decided if he could convert the revered Brahmin Pandits of Kashmir, then millions of their followers would easily be converted. Threatened with conversion or death, the Pandits overcome by panic, went as a delegation to Guru Tegh Bahadur who was residing at Chakk Nanaki, Pargana Kahlur and requested for his help.
Guru Tegh Bahadur listening to Kashmiri Pandits
Hearing the serious nature of the conversation, the Guru’s 9 year old son Gobind Rai enquired his father what the problem was. The Guru told his son of the Pandits’ dilemma and said that it would take a holy man literally laying down his life to intercede. Gobind Rai responded “Who would be better than you to defend the poor Brahmins”. Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji then decided to stand up for the right of freedom of worship and told the delegation to tell Aurangzeb that if he could convert Guru Tegh Bahadur they would gladly convert.
Guru Tegh Bahadur had his son, Gobind Rai consecrated as the Guru and successor on 8th July 1675. He then left for Delhi with 3 other Sikhs Bhai Sati Das, Bhai Mati Das and Bhai Dayal Das who knew very well the danger they were to face.
Orders for his arrest had been issued by Emperor Aurangzeb as soon as he received reports of his declared intention, and he was arrested four days later. Along with him were arrested Diwan Mati Das and Sati Das, sons of Hira Nand Chhibbar, and Dyal Das, son of Mai Das. They were kept in custody for four months. The pitiless captors imposed much atrocity on the Guru. He was then cast into an iron cage and taken to Delhi, where he arrived on 4th Nov. 1675.
At Delhi, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji was asked to perform some miracles to prove his greatness. To this he refused, as miracles should be performed with a purpose (to heal someone, to help someone, etc.) and not for showing one’s powers. He was beheaded on 11 November 1675. Bhai Jaita took Guru Ji’s severed head to Anandpur Sahib were it was cremated by Guru Gobind Singh.
Severed head of Guru Tegh Bahadur was presented respectfully to Guru Gobind Singh by Bhai Jaita at Sri Anandpur Sahib in Punjab
A severe storm had come up after the execution and Bhai Lakhi Shah carried Guru Ji’s body to his nearby house, which he then set on fire to conceal the cremation of his Guru’s body. It is said that Bhai Jaita’s own father volunteered to be beheaded to cover the loss of the Guru’s body. It is said that many of the Kashmiri Pandits became Sikhs and their leader Kirpa Ram was baptised as a Sikh, he died fighting the Moghuls with Guru Gobind Singh’s older sons.
The martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur had a profound impact on the future direction of Sikhism. The amazing fact is that the Guru sacrificed his life not protecting the right of the Sikhs to practice their religion, but instead for the rights of peace-loving non-Sikh people from Kashmir. The commitment by the Sikh Guru to protect and support the liberty of all the people of a country was unprecedented. This type of sacrifice had never been recorded previously in human history.
To attain to a level of consciousness where one will be able to say: “I am ready to die to protect the right of the people of all faiths” is not easy. The ability to advance to these reaches of awareness is a gift obtainable from the Almighty, and is the lesson taught by Guru Tegh Bahadur to the human race.
Hey brahmins, you have a debt to fulfill. Why only brahmins? All humans have a debt, a responsibility – to save, to protect, to die if necessary, for the welfare of our fellow humans.
Source: SikiWiki; condensed and simplified for Ganappa.
Ganappa 