gKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 21S 



Sikhs, who had been, till then, an inoffensive, peaceable se6l, took arms 

 under Har Go'vind, the son of Arjunmal, and wreaked their ven- 

 geance upon all whom they thought concerned in the death of their re- 

 vered priest. 



The contest carried on by Har GoVind against the Muhammedan 

 chiefs in the Penjdb, though no doubt marked by that animosity which 

 springs from a deep and implacable sense of injury on one part, and 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 hostihty which was soon after to distinguish the 

 wars, between the followers of Na'nac, and those of Muhammed ; and 

 from every account 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 priest militant, wore two 

 swords in his girdle. Being asked why he did so; " the one," said he, 



* Several historical accounts of the Sikhs, particularly that published by Major Browne, 

 which'is^ ill general, drawn from authentic sources, appear to be in error with regard to the 

 period at which this race first took arms, which the last author states to have occurred under 

 Gu'ru' Go'vind; but several SzM authors, of great respectability and information, agree in 

 ascribing to the efibrts of Har Go'vind, the son of Arjun, this great change in the Sikk 

 comnionwealth ; and their correctness, in this point, appears to be placed beyond all question, 

 by a passage in the Jiatnuvali of B'hai Gu'ku' Da's B'hale'. "Five phials (of divine 

 *' grace) were distributed to five Pirs, (holy men) but the sixth Pir was a mighty Gicm 

 " (priest). AiiJVii threw off his eartiUy frame, and the form of Har Go'vind mounted the 

 *' scut of aulhority. The Sotidi race continued exhibiting their difierent forms in their turns. 

 *' Hab Go viND was (lie di'shoycr of armies, a martial Guru (priest), a great warf ior, and 

 " perforAned gioat iiclions." The mistake of some FAiropean writers on this subject, probably- 

 originated iu a coiifu;>ioa of vtrbal accounts ; uikI ilic similarity of the name of Hah Go'viNDy 



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