SIKHS. 



the true God, that had been degraded by the idolatry of the 

 Hindoos and the ignorance of the Mahometans. It will be 

 fufficient for us to obferve, that after he had vifited all the 

 cities of India, and explained to all ranks the great dottrines 

 of the unity and omniprcfence of God, he went to Mecca 

 and Medina, where his adlions, his miracles, and his long 

 difputations with the Mahometan faints and doctors, are 

 moll circumllantially recorded by his biographers. He is 

 ftated, on this occation, to have defended his own principles 

 without offending thofe of others ; always profefling himfelf 

 the enemy of difcord, and as having no objeft but to recon- 

 cile the two faiths of the Mahometans and Hindoos in one 

 religion ; which he endeavoured to do by recaUing them to 

 that great and original tenet, which both of them believed, 

 the unity of God ; and by reclaiming them from the nu- 

 merous errors into which they had fallen. During his tra- 

 vels, about the year 1526 or 1527, Nanac was introduced 

 to the emperor Baber, before whom he is faid to have main- 

 tained his doftrine with great firmnefs and eloquence. Baber 

 treated him kindly, and offered him an ample maintenance, 

 which the Sikh priefl refufed, alleging, that he trulted in 

 him who provided for all men, and from whom alone a man 

 of virtue and religion would confent to receive favour or re- 

 ward. The Hindoo zealots violently oppofed him, more 

 efpecially after he had laid afide the habits of a Fakir ; but 

 he treated their oppofition and reproaches with great con- 

 tempt ; and when they required him to exhibit fome proof 

 of his power, that might ailonifh them, he replied, " I have 

 nothing to exhibit worthy of you to behold. A holy teacher 

 has no defence but the purity of his dodlrine ; the world 

 may change but the creator is unchangeable." Having mi- 

 grated from Vatala to Multan, and from Multan to Kirtipur, 

 on the banks of the Ravee or Hydraotis, he there performed 

 many miracles, as it is reported, threw off his earthly fhape, 

 and was buried near the bank of the river Ravee, which has 

 fince overflowed his tomb. Kirtipur continues to be a place 

 of religious refort and worfliip ; and a fmall piece of Nanac's 

 garment is exhibited to pilgrims, as a facred relic, at his 

 Dhsrmafala, or temple. Nanac was unqueftionably a man 

 of more than common genius, which we may infer from the 

 diltinguillied eminence to which he attained, and the fuccefs 

 with which he combattcd the oppofition that encountered 

 him ; whilll he laboured without intcrmifTion to recall both 

 Mahometans and Hindoos to an exclufivc attention to that 

 lublimell of all principles, which inculcates devotion to God 

 and peace towards men. Although he left two fons, he did 

 not deem either of them worthy of a fucceffion to his fpi- 

 ritual functions ; but he devolved them upon a Cfliatriya of 

 the Trehun tribe, called Lchana, whom he had initiated in the 

 facred myflcries of his fett, clothed in the holy mantle of a 

 Fakir, and honoured with the name of Angad. Guru 

 Angad was born at the village of Khandur, on the bank of 

 the Beyah or Hyphalis, in the province of Lahore. He 

 taught the fame dodlrine as Nanac ; and fome of his writings, 

 as well as thofe of N:inac, are contained in a book entitled 

 "Grant'h." At his death, which happened A. 1). 1 552, he 

 was fucceedcd by Amcra Das, a Cfliatriya of the tribe of 

 B'hale,who had been a menial fervant for twelve years. Amcra 

 Das was aftive in propagating the tenets of Nanac and fuc- 

 cefsful in gaining profelytes, by whofe alliltance he clla- 

 bliflied a degree of temporal power. He had two fons, and 

 a daughter, named B'haini, who was married to a young 

 lad, whofe name was Ram Das, a Cfliatriya, of a rclpeftable 

 fcmily, of the Sondi tribe, and an inhabitant of tlic village 

 of Gondawal. Upon the death of Amera Das, A.D. 1574, 

 he was fucceedcd by his fon-in-law, whom he had initiated 

 in the my lleries of his holy profeffion, :uid who became {jtmous 



for his piety, and ftill more on account of the improvements 

 he made at Amritfar, which was for fome time called Ram- 

 pur, or Ramdafpur, after him. Some writers have errone. 

 oufly aicnbed the foundation of this town, anciently and long 

 before his time denominated Chak, to him; however, he 

 added much to its population, and built a famous tank, or 

 refervoir of water, which he called Amritfar, a name figiii- 

 fying the water of immortality, and which has become fo 

 facred, that it has given its name, and imparted its fanftity, 

 to the town of Ramdafpur ; fo that it has become the facred 

 city of the Sikh nation, and is now only known by the name 

 of Amritfar. After a life pafFed in the undifturbed propa- 

 gation of his tenets, in explanation of which he wrote fcveral 

 books. Ram Das died A.D. 1581, and left two fons, one of 

 whom, i<iz. Arjunmal, fucceedcd him, and rendered himfelf 

 famous by compiling the A'di-Grant'h, containing ninety- 

 two fettions, part of which was compofed by Nanac and his 

 immediate fuccefiorf, but arranged in its prefent form by 

 Arjunmal, who blended his own additions with the com- 

 pofitions of his predeceflors. Arjun, from this circumftance, 

 is deemed the iirft who gave coniillent form and order to the 

 rthgion of the Sikhs. Arjun fell a facrifice to tliejealoufy 

 of the Mahometan government ; and his death excited the 

 indignation of the Sikhs, who, before this event, had been 

 an inoflenfive, peaceable feft ; and they took up arms under 

 Har Govind, the fon of Arjunmal, and wreaked their ven- 

 geance upon all whom they thought concerned in the murder 

 of their revered priefl. From all the remaining accounts of 

 Har Govind's life, it appears to have been his anxious wifh 

 to infpire his followers with the mofl irreconcileable hatred 

 of their opprefibrs. Govind, with this view, introduced 

 lome change in their diet, allowing them to eat the flefh 

 of animals, that of the cow excepted ; and by other regu- 

 lations converted a race of peaceable enthufiafts into an in- 

 trepid band of foldiers. Govind died A.D. 1644, and waj 

 fucceedcd by his grandfon Har Ray, whofe reign was upon 

 the whole tranquil, which was probably owing to the vigour 

 of the Mahometan power in the early part of the reign of 

 Aurungzcbe. At his death, A.D. 1661, a violent contelt 

 arofe among the Sikhs, concerning the fucceffion to the 

 office of fpiritual leader; for the temporal power of their 

 ruler was, at this time, little more than nomir.al. The dif- 

 pute was referred for dccifion to Delhi ; and by an im- 

 perial decree of Aurungzebe, the Sikhs were allowed to 

 eledl their own priefl. They chofe Har Crilhn, fon (or 

 grandfon) of Har Ray, who died at Delhi A.D. 1664, 

 and VN'as fucceeded by his uncle, Tcgh Behadur. During 

 Ilia life, which terminated prematurely, by the violence of 

 his rival, A.D. lf>75, and alfo from the period of Govind'* 

 death, the Mogul empire was in the zenith of its power 

 under Auriingzebe ; and the Sikhs, who had never attained 

 any real Itreiigth, were rendered Hill weaker by their own 

 dillentions. However, after the death of Tegh Behadur, 

 the liillory of the Sikhs allunicd a new afped. Under Har 

 Govind the Siklis had birn initiated in arm.", but they ufcd 

 them only in felf-defcnce ; but the plans of Govind's ambi- 

 tion were very diflerent from thofe of his predeceflor Nanac; 

 and he wifely judged, that tlieonly mca>is by which he could 

 ever hope to oppofc the Mahometan government with luc 

 eels, were not only to aflmit converts from all tribes, but to 

 break at once thofe rules by which the Hindoos had bceii fo 

 long chained ; — to arm, in fhort, tlic whole population of 

 the country, and to make worldly wealth and rank an objcA 

 to which Hindoos, of every clafs, might afiiirc. U was the 

 objett of Govind to make all Sikhs equal, and that their 

 adranccnient fliould folely depend upon their cxertioni ; and 

 well aware how neccilary it was to infpire men of a low race. 

 4 S T and 



