SEBTCl-r^OF THE gilte^v3 ^ 



; fm mmnev m which Go'ViND'ej^^awiiyfed: ¥© -Accomplish tfe gre^f 

 -plan he hasi iiwmed, has beeirt exhibited in the- imperfe^ sketch given of 

 liiis Fife. Hiff efforts to establish that temporal power in his 6wii person, of 

 which he laid the ftoundation forhiis tribe, were daring and siiccessful,, in 

 as great a degree aa Gircumstancesi would admit; but, it was not possible 

 •he. could crea>tei.!meajiSj in a few years, to oppose, with success, the force of 

 ^neof the gifeaitest empires in the urtiversei,.' ^ The spirit;, hdweH^et; ^kicih^h^ 

 Infused into his foMowers,\vas kaaded down;as a- richi inheritance to their 

 cliiJdireii; who, though they consider; .B<26i-NA'NA'e, a-s the- author of their 

 rehgion, revere, -^ith a jiust gratitLide*,. Giim Govindi,. ^s the founder of 

 their worldly grea;tne:ssitnd'.pQ?H*ical^iiiidependen€e. Tbey are eons cioii^, 

 inideed, that they have become, from the adoption of his kw:s and iastir 

 tutions, the; sffiourgeioi^ -/their enemiesi and have con^jiiered and h^ld^, for 

 more than half: a fcentury,. tiie.finefet portion of the once gre^t empire of 

 the house of Taimur; ; ;.. 



Gu'ru' Gov^f^D^wa$.,the Ic^st^cknowledgad religious ruler of the.^'zM.^.- 

 a^ prophecy had hmited, their spiritual guides to the number often, and 

 Jiheir superstition,, aided,. no doubt, by the action of that spirit of indepen- 

 dence, which his .ins^itutiqns| had introduced,,, caused its fulfilment. The 

 ;&uccess, however, oi..^/i^p^^\iai,^J^airflgi, .)y^^^.,_wa6rthe devoted follower 

 •j^d friend of Gu'Ru' GoviND., establislied: their union under his banners, 

 A short period, after GoyiNo's death, the grief of Band a at the misfor- 

 tunes of his priest, is said, by Sikh authors,, to have settled into a gloomy . 

 and desperate desire, to revenge his Nvrongs. . The confusion which took 

 ^Ge-on_the. death of Aurungze'b, which happened in tlie year 1707, was 

 favorable toihis wishes. After plundering the country, and defeating most 

 of the petty Muhammedan chiefs that were opposed to him, he thought 



LU 



