122 
[No. 3, 
W. Irvine— Guru Gobind Siygh and Bandali. 
had been restored to life by God’s power. 1 Personating thus Gobind 
Siijgh, the new leader, became notorious under the deceased’s title of the 
Guru, or Spiritual Director. The zamindars of the village where he ap¬ 
peared had become, several years before this time, followers of Guru 
Gobind, and knew his appearance. As the pretender had copied Gobind 
Sipgh’s exterior, and resembled him in features, these zamindars believed 
in him, adopted his cause, and wrote in all directions to the Sikhs, telling 
them that their lost leader had returned to earth. In response to this 
call many armed men assembled, and as soon as there were five hundred 
of them, they marched for Sonpat, about twenty-five miles north of 
Dihli. The faujdar of Sonpat came out utterly unprepared, was routed, 
and fled to Dihli. 
Elated by this victory, Bandah made his way to the foot of the 
hills north-east of Sirhind, where Gobind Siijgh early in life had 
taken shelter. Soon he had forty thousand armed men gathered 
round him, recruited chiefly from the lower caste Hindus. 2 His chief 
object was to attack Wazlr Khan, 3 the murderer of Gobind’s children 
and still faujdar of Sirhind, before he had time to make sufficient 
preparations. The Guru began operations by encamping near the 
town of Sadhaura, about twenty-six miles east of Ambala, where 
there was a celebrated Muhammadan shrine, the tomb of Shah Faiz, 
Qadiri. 4 ’ Neither officials nor towns-people interfered with him, and 
by friendly overtures he lulled their suspicions to sleep. Then he 
attacked the town, killed many of the inhabitants, and plundered their 
houses. 5 
1 No astonishment need arise at the acceptance in those days of such inven¬ 
tions ; for we have an almost exact parallel in the modern case of the Panjabi preten¬ 
der to the Raj of Landhaura, in the Saharanpur district, who appeared at Rurki 
in 1874. 
2 KhafI Khan, II, 562, says that at first there were 4,000 to 5,000 men on 
ponies and 7,000 to 8,000 infantry, increasing first to 19,000, and in the end to 
40,000 well-armed men. 
3 Muhammad Jan, entitled first Kar Talajb Khan, then Wazlr Khan, rank 3,000 
( Tarilch-i-Mhdi, year 1122). The Shamsher-i-Khulsah, 186, states that he was a 
native of Kunjpura, a town in the Karnal district. 
4 Thornton, 891, Lat. 30° 23', Long. 77° 16', a town near the foot of the Sub- 
Himalaya, close to the left bank of the Markanda torrent; it has a wall pierced for 
musketry, and tall towers. See also George Forster, “ Journey,” I, 236, and the 
“ Ain-i-Akbarl” (translation) II, 105, 296. The Sliamsher-i-Khalsah, 187, calls the 
Sadhaura saints Bahau-l-Haq and Kutbu-d-din, Jaison. 
5 Mirza Muhammad, 215. The Shamsher-i-Khalsah, 187, places the attack on 
Sadhaura in Magli 1764 S. (November-December 1707 ). The mouth may be 
right, but the year must be wrong, 
