1894 ] 
W. Irvine— Guru Gobind Siggh and Bandah. 
135 
reverse were tliese words, Zarb ba Amanu-d-dahr , Maswarat-shahr , 
Zinatu-t-takht-i-mubdrak-bakht. “ Coined at Refuge of the World, the 
Walled City, Ornament of the Fortunate Throne.” These were the 
titles and epithets assigned by him to Lohgarh, just as each imperial 
city had its appropriate honorific name. On his letters he impressed 
a seal, bearing the following rhyming inscription : 
Teg , deg , o fath, nusrat-i-be-dirarjg , 
Ydft az Nanak , Guru Gobind Sir/gh. 
“ Guru Gobind Sipgh found in Nanak, sword, pot, and conquest, help 
“ without hindrance or delay.” 1 2 Not content with supremacy in the 
state, he also claimed, as other sovereigns have done, to be above gram¬ 
mar. By his order all nouns in Hindi and Persian having feminine 
terminations were changed into the masculine form. For instance, 
sawari (a retinue) and kacahari (a court-house or office) were pronounced 
by him and his Sikhs, saivdra and kacahard / 3 
The campaign which the Emperor had undertaken was rendered 
more arduous by the nature of the country and the season of the year. 
It happened that much rain fell that year in December and January, 
and the imperialist army, largely composed of men who had served 
in the Dakhin only, and were accustomed to a much milder climate, 
suffered severely from the almost incessant rain and the bitterly cold 
wind, which blew with great force every night. Supplies were also 
deficient, and the muddy state of the country was an additional obstacle. 
The losses among the horses and cattle were very heavy. Added to 
these material difficulties were others of a more imaginary but hardly 
less potent nature. According to the popular voice the Guru was a 
most powerful magician, greater even than he who made a calf to talk ; 
he could turn a bullet from its course and could work such spells that 
spear and sword had little or no effect upon his followers. Owing to 
these idle rumours the Emperor and the nobles and the soldiers were 
much disturbed in mind and disheartened. The Sikhs, on the other 
hand, were encouraged by the belief instilled into them by Bandah that 
all who lost their lives in this war would be re-created at once in a 
higher rank of life. 3 
1 These words were used by the Sikhs on the coins they made at Lahor in 
1765. See C. J. Rodgers, Journal, Asiatic Soc. of Bengal, LVII, Part I, 30. For the 
seal, bearing the same inscription, still used by the Sikhs at Abcalnagar (Nader) 
and elsewhere, see Sayyad Muhammad Latif, History of the Panjdb, 270. Deg, 
literally “ pot,” means, I believe, the contributions levied from the faithful. Cun¬ 
ningham, 103, note, and App. IX, thinks it a metaphor for abundance or prosperity. 
2 Anonymous Fragment of Farrukhsiyar Namah, fol. 16 a. 
3 Kamwar Khan, 78, Dastiiru-l-Insha , 11, and Khafi Khan, II, 671. 
J. i. 18 
