SKETCH OF THE SIKHS. 2m 



number of proselytes who hastened to join a standard, under which rob- 

 bery was made sacred, and to plunder, was to be pious. 



Aided with these recruits, the Sikhs now extended their irruptioiTS ovtT 

 most of the provinces of the Penjdh; and though it was some time b(3- 

 fore they repossessed themselves of Amritsar, they began, immediately 

 after they quitted their fastnesses, to flock to- tliat holy city at the periods 

 of their saered feasts. Some performed this pilgrimage in secret, and in 

 disguise, but in general, according to a contemporary Muhamtnedan a^JK 

 thor, the Sikh horsemen were seen riding., at full gallop, towards " theiir 

 " favorite shrine of devotion. They were often slain .in making this at- 

 " tempt, and sometimes taken prisoners, but they used,. on- such occasion s,. 

 " to seek, instead of avoiding, the crown of martyrdom; and thesa^Le 

 " authority states, that an instance was never known of a »SzX'^, taken .'iru 

 " his way to ;^mm5flr, consenting to abjure his faith," 



It is foreign^ to the Gbje6l of this sketch, to enter into a detail of those 

 efforts by which the Sikhs rose into that power which they now possess. 

 It will be sufficient to 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 deathr of Banda, to that of the 

 conquest and subjj6lion of those fine provinces over which their rule is 

 fiow established. The se6^, as Has been before stated, Rav.e never ad'mit* 

 ted 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 acknow- 

 ledged general, leader or prince. Each individual followed to th^ fv^\^ 

 the Sirdar or chief, who, from birth, the possession of property, or from' 

 valor and experience, had become his superior. These chiefs again \\9XQ 



