Guru Nanak - The Man Prophet (1459-1539) - Lover of Mankind - By a British Administrator - Nahar Sin

Guru Nanak The Man Prophet (1459-1539 A.D.)

Lover of Mankind ,

By & British Administrator

Calcutta Review'Sept_ber 1859 Second ValDllle

Edited by

Bhal Nahar Singh M .A. Bhal Kirpal Singb GODIND SADAN

Published by

sma AMRrr JAmA, Chandigarh

Guru N.no' (146Q-1539\ Punjab. Hindustoll C;ubcontinent . Hirth at Talwandi in Shei.hupur. District at pre,.nt in Pokistan (since .1947).

Death al Kartarpur in District Sialkot Pakistan .

Guru Nanak. the Man-Prophe~ or Hindustan lived during the 1I1iddle ages. when the people of Hindustan ,uhcontiment believing in Popular Hinduism of Brahmanic Priest-hood.

I8inisum. and ' Mohomadarism lived side by .ide in towns and villages having the same oneertoT a few , generations ago. or a fe... hUl;dred years back. The new religion originated in the subcontinent did not etrect the mutual social behaviour and p","sonal relations to a greator estrangement, especially in the static cultivatin~ communities. · 'In the rural areas. and small towans .· Tt i& a matter or happiness that the Dew generation of the Sikh People i. kunly iDte'rested in tlle study or tbeir religion especially: the lives qf their . successive ten Gurus. ('469-17081. tbeir teachings and their followers. The Nanak Pantis and. K~al.a I'uthies.

ID this connection it is . essential to know "WHAT OTHERS SAY 1" SOllie of. the .I! - ;s .: ' IIritish administrators ofthe Indian lubcoDtinent have len :tJJ~-'I#'lh ~!'II , and. artictes on the subject • .' We have ecllected such from several .ourc.s. , The pr~.ent article was , Published in the Sej,;~b~ O~rI,Jji~f~r);I¢ALCU1TA . _

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REVIEW", a decade after the ann.xalion of th~ ~1f"Ofi,' ~i;,~;':!J#.~;,1sa Dar""r.

"Mabaraja Dl1l1p ' Sin~b" the lut filch Emperor, . 11'&1 Bon at 'Lahore in 1837. died in 1893 in Paris, France a' a State Pii ••uer. ' The author has not eiven his name, Hi. narrative regarding the Sikh Gurus aspecially Guru Nanak nev Ii and Guru OobiDd Sind (I667~1708) is sensible and thoughtful. His remarks regarding the Bedies. Sadhl... and Raja Taja. Singh particularly. are of bistotic value. He openly , ays, that the R"in a llrahmin of ·P P sold -h, Sikh Army to us 81 Sabraon , and that he draws more pension from Punjah Tresury than the depmrd Maharaja Dalip singh, in England Since 1853 . •• a state pljsoner . .

We are greatly indebted , .. Baba Virs. Singh ji of GobiDd S.dbn. New Delhi for bit liberal financiat belp to coli eel source material of tbe history of the Sikh people from National Archiv .. of fndia New Delhi and other sources. from 198~ .

We thankfully pay our gratitude to Sardar Surinder Singh Bindra of 1655 Sector 34 ChaDdisarb for publishiD~ the above article in pamplhel form. No doubt, the readen particularly Ihe Sikhs will draw th.ir cODclsusiou, after goinll tbro!1lht il.

Bbai Naher Singh M.A. Bhai Kirpal Sin&h 13th April, 1993 O"bind Sadan V. Gadaipur P.O. M.hrauli, New Delhi.

Antr the partition of Hindustan Auguet 1947 into two countries. 50 Temple. usociated with the four preceptors Guru Nanak, Guru Amar Oat, Guru Arjan Dev & Guru Hargobind with nearly twenty lhousand Heciares of Canal irrigated land and other property bave been left in Punjab-Pakistan. These were MUAFI LAND perpetual gift not a ~ini:le sikh left in Pgkistan since Augu<t for the benefit of the Sikb People but thero 1947.

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According to the terms of partilion all ' tbo 'Non-Muslim; Sikhs and Hindus had to leave Paki.tan. The Nanale Pant hi ••s well as Khalsa ,Panthis can vi.it a rew temples only 'in Lahore, Naukana Sabeb and Hasan Abdal once in a 'year.

The Management of all these temples and their property i. un,der tbe WAQF BOARD con.istinS of Pakistan Muslim since partition 1947. ' The Si\cb. sutrered bea.vily as result. of the Trau,'er of Power. About 2 lakh men w~!}len an(cbiJdren ";ere massaced in tb'e welt ' PilJQ-istan and property of multi-miIJions

Sterling value W.i ~ 'Ii~:. ' The agricultural land 'and' ptnpertylefi by Mulwnmdaa in the then PUnjab iLilIitea tlt'4ri\I!!ftIbtS'was nearly' half left by then in Paldstan.

. . Jo C&f!: ."~liI\D ~~.~ ,~r ~heol.d the Bmh PlaC. atid death site of G~ ' N_t:, bave boen I~ &:j~fi-¥: They 'wIn bo r.ni~bering the •• ~lace. m ' prayera ' twice a day qDlfllli'i~8.\II~\~Y: clFt)lAM\\T , t ,. " ' , r " " " BHAI NAH"R SINGH " ) " ., -' 1121 Secter 34 C, CHANDIGARH.

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CHAPTER 1 CRAnu: OF THE SIKH PAIIH By a mere chance, by the fancy of a great man, by a fatality of circumslancos, we find ours.lve> again among a people whom we loved so wei', and in a position 10 study Ihe character of the residents, and visit the great cities or that rich and unrivalled tract which lies betwixt the Chenab aDd the Beas, the original Sikh land, the cradle of the faith, the nUfltry of the chivalry of the followers of the Guru Tlli , tract, containing three millions of men and more Ihan five tbousand villa,.., from the commencement of our rule until the present year composed the great Lahore Division .

But now a Jeroboam has sent away two Iribe; r,om tbe skirts lOr Rehoboam, th. a ocient limits have ceased to exist , and thc sentences which we¡ now string together are a panegyric of one that has departed .

Under the Punjaub system of Goveroment the limits of a¡ Commiuion, or what in France would be called a Prefecture of Department, ar!l.,: l'.~y,. more narrow than in the Bombay Presidency, where a Commission comprises ~!I!IIf..., under the Agra Government one-fifth, of the wbole Pres~ency, for ihe union ofthc 'l~diciai and Executive in one office renders it necessary.

1" , The Lahore Division was ever the smallest in area, but it was populous. rich, studded with villages, and inhabited by a martial population; in wealth and population it wa. about one-fourlh of the Punjaub, and in the piping days of peace which succeeded the iceadencc of Runjee! Singh's upstart dyna.ty, the People in creased and multiplied cultivation extended, towns expanded, all the atrairs of mankind Ire bled and quadrupled, the burden on one man's shoulders of controlling all became intolerable, and one of rhe las t acts "f the Ceu:t or Directors was to order tbe sub-division.

But in truth it was glorious country sloping down from the everlasting soow-capped mountaiDi \0 the frowing desert, interse:ctl!d by vas t rivers, rich in Qorn and sugar and oil, revelling in plenty, overflowing wi!h populati..n pwud of its royal cities and its numberless villages, proud of its stalwart and sturd f ,"lIpl., who were al th. sam. timo great.in, arm. and agricUlture . with hands, like Cineinnatns, good for the sword or the pl"ugh.

They were no etrete reee with only the fainl tradition of the actions of their Remote ancestors withoi the memory of man they had had a living faith, a vivid nationality and an inuependent Kingdom, ForluDe ..at . . .intl them, for they came into collision wilh a

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br:i\'e . hut more perfectly furni shed with the- appli<l DCS of war; but the)

submitted not abjectJ\' . r.or without a struggle.

LAHORE The great city of Lahore had from time immemorial been the se,it of Empire. II was no obscure conglom ~ r ltioo o f huts, scattered he re and there ullder p a lm~trel!s , witb a row 'of thatched shops, such a' suffices for a town an,Hhe hea:lquarters of a station in the jungle of Eengal. It was a great city befor e Mabmooj crossed the Indus, ' t had became greater under the Mahomedans. It is still girt with red brick walls, gateways, and forlificatioos presenting. with its one hundred thousand inhabitants and lofty honses, the appearance of old Rome, or one of the mediaeval free cities of the German Empi' e.

Tradtion ,has it. thai the twin Son' of the grdu Rama. sovereign of Ayaya. Kusa and Labo founded two cities. and called them after lheir names Kussoo. and Lahore; in that caseAlexander 'must have stood within her walls . To the end of last century the city was vauely Known;n Eurnpe a~ "Lahore of the Great MogUl", never visited by European, but connected with Delhi by a royal road, marked at int",vals by lofty Kos Minars, and maguificent ,serais. "

' On tbe side 'of' iile"CltY overhanging the river Ravee, is the royal fortress , built in all the statellness of A'g~Ii-'iiiid'bcllii, a palace and an a~senal, witb tbe Deewan Am for public, and . • !.

• , \ . . f Deewan Khass for' pl'iVate , reception ranges of apartments for the seragolio, bastions and gateways decorated in tbe ornate style of tbe Imperial period; and from the highest pnint is commanded a sweet prospect of'the Ravee, winding 'tbrough th e ricb and verdant low lands, witb the lofty minaret! of the tomb ofJehangheer at Shahderu , But in truth the modeJn city . Vael'S but a tithe of the space occupied by the homes and gardens, tombs and . mosqUes of the ancient city and for five miles on the . road toward the Shalimar gardens lie scattered the ruined dome and crumbling arch, which had been raised by some proud but unknown Mahomeddn, to mark his empty state, of record a tale cf idle love. Such is Lahore-a cily with a pedigree of centurfes, one of the memorial cities of tbe world.

AMRITSAR Within thirty milee bas· sprung Up in the last century a new city, tbe child of religion aad commerce, exceeding Labore in popUlation rivalling her in spiendour, and holding a posiiien in the commercial RepUblic of India, which Lahore nover attained; in spite of the distallce of twelve hundred miles from the sea, corresponding direct with Paris and London, the 'seat of '8 maunfacture peculiar 'to herself, except to that happy valley of wbich sbe is' the cntrrpot; baving relations of exchanlle witb every city of note in the whol. peninSUla, and' enjoying with but a limited number the bonour of being a Mart.

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Such is Amrits"r, the chile! of the Sikh t"itb, which has thriven a ~lidsl th e decadence er ampire, the confusion orelVil war. the assault. of foreign invasion; te whom every event appears 10 bring some advantaae, fer the fall of the nationality and religion of the Sikh

Hurt ber not, the sack of Delhi has brou;ht her hundred, of fresh citizesDs, and the ollening out of new lin" of road brings her new carom!r•• , aDd promis.s a bound Ie.. e<tension.

Within one year the Rlilway' will connect her wilb Lahore. and aaother d..ad. will sce ber connected with an iron chain with Delhi 00 Ihe Jllmna, and MOQllan on the walers which unite in the Indus.

Tbe Promic.

Let u. now take a survey of theose provinces, of which tllese Cttles are the twin capitals and markets . From Amritsar Ihe lofty ranges of 1I1e Himalaya are visible at a distance of eighty miles. but if we traveillorthwards. the grandellr of the scenery develops itself at every stage. and at any part on the line of thirty miles from Ihe mountains the scene is ene whicb words canDot describe!. All the grandest views of Alpine scenery in Europe dwindle into nothing, for here on " clear day after rain we have b.fore our eyes ~n extent of etemal snow. reaching from Peer Pingal, the entrance of the valley of eashineer, to Ihe distan' snowy ranges in the Kingdom of BUS3 hir behind Simlah. Range loweiml(libilve range,.f varying altitude aTld broken outiine, rising up sometimes in sheer precipice ' to ' jixteen thousand feet. and varying altitud. and broken outline, riaing up somelimes in ·'sheer precipice te sixteen thousand feet, and cutting the horizon with abr.oad . even ridge; al other peints, where the rivers at the time of the great primaeval cataclysm .have forced Ibemselves throulh in deep channels, we look, it were into the bowels of the mountain Kingd(lm, through transverse ranges, as far as solitary snow-capped peaks, the position of which wearies Ibe iDtellect to imaaine.

Still it is soniething to think that only fifteen years ago the quiet and calculating Briton bought. and sold, those vast mountains for a sum which appears paltry. As far as the

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Ravee we retained so~e theusand square miles under our own rule. because ~bey were there. and from the Ravce up to Bokhara atld Yarkund, regions unknown to the Surveyor and Dever trodden by' the ' foet of men who make maps, we handed .over to tho uncontrol/eol rule of a , . ' , ., . '" I. " sui:Cessfui intriguer on the condition thai he paid Ihe lordly tribute of five goats, which has ," .t ., '. since been commuted into three pairs of long Cashmeer Shawls for Her Gracious Majesty.

The inajestic mgilDtains look 011 contemptuously as t hey arc thus p~ssed fwm haJI4 to hand, for they may d~fy" air the powers of Ihe earth to extrael ene Rupee ftom ·'heir surface, or te cross. over their unapproachable heights.

JUMMOOTOWN Enthroned on one of the lower ranges iD the mountain, \)etwix' the Rave. and tho

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Chenab, i~ the hill rown :md fonress of Jummo.), which the craft and fortune of one man have converted into the capital of a kingdom large .nough ill area to s\;Vallow up the ndrrow limits of many a European Potentate.

MAHARAJA GULAB SINGH

When the Rebellion of 1857 was · at its ,vorst; ere 'Delhi had fallen, whm t'h e wisest were pondering which side 'should be taken, the crafty old fox had to obey.a messenger who b.ooks no answer, and who <annot be'outwitted; and as his army descend~d to 'lend d'ountfull assistance \0 the assaulte •• of Delhi the old Raja felt his kingdom depart from him; ~ll hi' schemes, hi. deceits, his secret murde' s, his cruelties, his Il!llimited and scareely appreciable wretchedness did not swe our honourable ally, and the sceptre passed into the hand of one born io the purple, one wno has never known ,the hard exper iences of life. We saw him last winter in all the braverY of his Court, his' elephnts with silver howdis, his troops, guns, and all the e'ternal ceremonials. The youth sat ' in his father's hall in the lilver cbair of Itate, and around him and behind him were tbe pillars of his state . the nobles of his clan, distinguished by the beron's plumes in iheir turbans . He himself, in Ibe splendour 01 his appearance, the nobility of his look. the dignity of bis manner, seemed not unwortby ortbe pl.ce. and by. bis side sat bis only 30n still a' child, tbe heir of his throne. At sunset, a. the bells of the teD1pl~ ~\inded for the eveniog sacrifice, he rose from his seat. and stood tilllbe solemn moments ~ad. passed, . Some remarked tba t' on tbis occasion as on all, in. his ricb girdle be wore ap English double-barrelled pistol of the simples! maunfacture, al);1 no doubt the .most approvod~.make; the wond.r :cea.ca, when ' ' we hear that a few d~ys later hi. life was attempted, and one of the intended aswsins was his own halF-brother, who stood on. this occasion respectfully behind his chair and was yel in league with his first cousion, the .. nly other malo but one of tbe family, Sucb are nati~e dynasties, wbetber founded on long hereditary right, or built np by the talents and crimes of one individual. The sovereignty of Cashmeer may to-morrow be again in the market. and is a source. of weakees, instead of strength, to. tbe great Govemmenl wbicb 'sold fiv. miiUons' of men for so many bags of sil ver to create it.

Rut ret the spectator tum' his back on the mountains. and iook out on tb. widq territory spread before bim;' let ·him Iran.port himself to th~ sacred heights of Trjcotra, alld . sharpeoins .hiu!ght by imagioalion. gra,p in tbe whole of the tract whi.liit il ou~ .". bject in these lines. to describe. No such .Kiogdom met tbe enraptured ,aze of tbe prophet from the possesion of the followers of Moses. as this wbich just one bundred years ago was partitioned among the twolve Misuls, or ·tib.s, of ·the Kbalsa. tne followers of Guru Govind.

From the mountains to the distanl desert slopel down the rich and fertile land, terming with villases and town •• men and caltle, wilh cereals. oils" and saccharines, wltb dyes and c"ttons,

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From the mountains , supplied from the eternal fountains of snow now forth tho Vipasa, the Airavati and the Chandra Bhags into which a hundred strMms. not known to fame, drain their over-abundant waters. Well may the ignorant rustic strive to concili.te the favour. or appease the wrath of these river gods; well may he offer up al the Shrine of Noah to wholll he blindly attributes power over inundations, for his callie and his homestead are at the river, which one year c"Uses him to laugh and sing while he contemplate. the fatlless of hi' land. at anoth'.!r carries awa y his hom '!~ hi~ oxen, his groves and his acrl;!S, and scatters ,hem miles along his silverv e·)urse, while the owner appea ls to all his gods in vain .

Within a line of forty miles frl)m the mountains is such richness of soil, such cultivation,

bOlh in highlands along tho dorsal ridges of the tracts betwixt the rivers, anJ in the low-lands witkin the affluence of their waters as th~ rest of India m.y equal, but not s"rpas. A sturdy and strong race have mad, Lhe mo>t o ' their opportunities. have by wells compelled the earth to give out water from her bowel •• and let it percolate alon~ she surface. And in the country betwixt the Beas and Ravee art has lent her assistance, and as by the process of ages since da y when the Ra vee fi ..sr issued from the mountains, her bed has deepened under the attrition of the current, and h-:f waters now flow so far below the surface as to be useless for irrigation,

the skill of the engineer has not been wanting to seal up her mouth, 10 direct her course into neW channels . Flung, 1ike a silver necklace strung with pearls, from mount:.-dns to desert, winds the beauteolls Husllee-strong without rage, full without overHowing deep and rapidlyrsh.overhung with foliage and trees like tbe Jordan, fringed with luxuriant · crops, and beautiful peeps of turly English scn·ory. O"rd,us spring up-along its co"e, groves planted on its banks look green, their leaves do nOI wither, nor do their fruit s in due season fail. But like scenes that are brightest, like beauty that is fairest, perishos this year and gives way to. the giant limls, and broad, lazy but re~ulated flow of Ih' n,w canal. Bfld~ed, fettered, regulated, the wild waters of the Ravee are subdued, and made to answer like a horse to the bridle, to go whither they are told. to be stored up where they are ord:red, to keep an even depth , to be sold out, like grain, by the measure. and to carry burdells like a pack horse. A bridled stream is the grealest triumph of man, for no longer can it capricious course eat away villages and overWhelm the ripening harvest , no longer wasles it. Fertizigng walers:and perplexs and irritates the husbandrnm. A emalisa greater triumph than a Railway. as 0 Ie of the grealer natural and all but living features of the countrv is subdued and brought under control.

In the second belt of country. ranging from from f~rty to eighty or a hundred mile. from the hills. is the struggle betw ixt the sturdy soil and sturdier cultivator. In vain .altpetre crops out of the uniD\iting surfaer. renders brackish all the wells; in vain rich crops of roeds, of wild gra ••. of stunted copse enember the surface, as the spontaneous gift of the eatrh. The husb'Ddman wages unequal and yel nol unsu~cessrul war with deena.ing fertilily . Whal

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science Il,li ght do has n:. .' vcr been tried , but the maD and his stock and his mis~ rabl e implements ' do wonders All the weary watches or the night the o.<on revolve rou,d the weil; all the . weary day t~e. sUr(ace is scratched wilh 'plouJh, stamped by cattle, SP1r<ely manured, and miserably weeded ;and yet year after y,a r comes Ihe gald harvest popul at on increases. and grain is so chea p that the cO'11plain t is of abundance no! of scarcity With the opening canal new regions will come under the pl ough. new villages spring into existence No t ullgrat.: ful is lif~ in scenes su ~ h as th ese amidst a manly and contented popula:ion .

For eight months in the' eRr the Tent is th ' proper hO:lle of him who loves his dUlies and his people. Thus he comes to know, and be known of them; thus personal influence, and loea1 Knowledge give him a power not to be W e," by bribes, or up-held by bayonets. The nolables of the neighbourhood need their fri end and ruler on his morning marC'1; greybeards tbmng round his ungu"ded door with presents of the best fruils of the land, o. a little sugar, Ipiees and almonds: according to the fashin or their country and are never so happy as whm aUowed to seal themselves on the carpet, and talk over old times and new events, the promise of the barvest, Ihe last orders of the rulers. From his fort comes down . wilh 4Iiminished Slate the representative of th' old feudalories, who ar< n" w g'adually b<mg absorbed, He no doubt regrets the time when mUlders and plunder w<Ie more fa shiona ble, and feels himstif out of place in the new order of thin.s, and in a rew more years his race will bave passed away, like that of the wolves and tbe tigers. Often the morning March is varied by the c;ossing of some stream, or the wading of a sudden torrent, or bA>me stream, or the wading of a sudden torrfD!, or by some adventure by flood and jjeld. Sto rms .ecasionally beat round our canvass home al nIght; black case tied up in the Postman's wdlet behind the horseman, finds us out dail y however obscure and distant from the house of cilies may be our retreat. Still in spite of the hard riding at sunrise and sunset, and the hard work during the brief winter days happy and peacefull are the hours svent in camp too often alone, in the North of India.

BUI to the South extends another and stranger belt or caentry, the Bar, the g'eat lolitary desert junfle wh'ch occupies the vaat space betwixt the rivers of the Punjaub. Our &uide takes us to the top of a lofty lower, and spreading out his hands, announces that Ihis lombre forest extends unbroken and unvaried above one hundred and fifty miles to Mooltan .

We look over a see of jungle aDd grass tufts grass enough to feed all the cattle in the worldw. wonder what object the Creator had in ,, 'ew, when he left such vast expanse, of trees which bear no fruit, and are ¡so beautiful in outline. Far off we can trare Ihe soivary line of the rivers. fringed with trees and cultivation . Here human habi tation; no animal save Iht fox, the deer, the partidae shares the empire with countless herds of cattle, shoep, and carnell; bore the camel seem. to be at hom. and we cal ,h glimpses of him enjo) ing himself,

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which Ite ""rtainl , does not do elsewhere-Broad roads traverse the w:;stc , :ond at stated intervals are the serais, the wells, the store-houses, the trough for cattle and the p"lice station Along this road ply conveyances peculiar to the country , and thl inoipilnt civilization and long trains of camels, laden wllh military stores from England, and merch-andize, relieved at stages of forty miles; the bullok train, which keeps faithfully to its mile an hour, wheth .. laden with packages or soldier, for the late trooJls have been forwarded up by this mode of carria ge, six soldiers crushed into a cart, and rolhng and jolting all the weary day and weary inght, except exept where the halt is sounded at fixed sta es for refreshmont, Still more fast and more dangerous as a conveyance, is the truek, whiCh is drawn by two horsl$, and dashes along when once the horses start, abandoning the road or pretence of road , and laking the easiest course among the b rush¡ wood: on the truck is fastened a litter with canva .. sides, and in tbe littor are stowed away ladies and cbildren and invalids, who, if they have good nerves and good luck , arrive safe at their destination.

But for speed. for delight, and for dang~r, in this wild track, give us seat by the driver in the maika:t ; ,trong, springy, highwheded , suffiCiently weighted with official coltespondancl and overlao1 letters, this vehicle is draMed oy two horses, one being f,stenned outside the shaft. after the manner oftbe Grecian chariot, or the outrigger in the Russian sledge, AwayAway; hold hard by the iron bar, and gird your loins tight, a nd you will enjoy all the pl,.sure of being run away with, without being deprived of the dangor, as your are in the railroads, ten miles an .hour skimming along the roadsoh such roads, with such heavenward jolt., in .pite of the straw wh'ch is liberally strewd over the ruts, as if all the lamales along the Ime were lying in . You hea- peculiar phraseology, and have strage companions, and hear for tbe first time that a Hindoo will not blow horses; will they sta rt, or will they not :? that is the question. You hwe over and over again the .ame dump shew the same proportion of decit, the same amount of force, applied 10 get those strange beasts into mouting The coaxing is tried first :- "Mera hn Mj life. Mere Bahadur, My fin. fellow: gradually the seductive line verges into the authoritative, and at la~t. when J(!hu 's pltience is exhausted, a boundless

flow of stable abuse POUI'1l, out frightful to hear, and comprehending in one condemnation the reculant nag's ancestors in the remotest degree, and all his female relations. It is an interesting study of very indiffuent hoose flesh . As the monthly nurse remarked, their tempers are born with them, for SOl1e go off like lambs: Set ne stand out for a flw minutes, as a point of honour: some spin round with the cart; in vain the wheels are moved behind, and tbeir forelegs pulled onwards with ro;>os, in vain they are pltted, kicked and stabbed, but tbey generally go at last, and we suppose they die at last, but though wo ofien along the road meOl the dead body of a camel, (fiH that is their proper burial ground), we never remember ccoming en a dead m,il¡cart horse .

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Sometimes tile ru ins arc passed by of an ancient city-strceh ard hou~~s still to be traced , destroyed on some former invasion or period of destructio n which recur frequently in India.

The wretched huts of the modern village have been built froro tbe vast dd>ris. and are huddled round the protecting tow". or have sbrunk into the old serai, witb tbe gates closed at night, for there are strange necess:t ies and strange people in these wastes. Biner are the waters that have to 'be drun k. Or d uring th e night you come suddenly on the line of march of a European Regiment-the advance gua rd of camels, and sutlers. and baggage cattle, and an army of sen ants ; at length you he.r the heavy tramp . You see the dark column. and distinguisb the occasional glistening of a bayonet in the torch-light. and make out tbe officers at the head, and you draw aside to let pass in a cloud of dust those thirsty. food -,ore Britons.

And nowbere down the line does the faithful milestons desert the traveller, and the still more faithful telegraph pole. which raises its he.d as a protest against tbe absence of civilizat!on, and the guide points ou t wonderingly furrows truned up, the one is th e starn;> of the Iron Horse and the other the line of the Canal. for in a few years both Canal and Rail will run lide by side through Ihis waste A Sligbt geological subsidence of a few feet would chan!,'c all into fertility , and even now. a s a branch of the river is neared, a brig ht oasis gleams 'OUt and tbe grateful sound of the revolving wheel tells of the eartb being forced by sturdy man 10 yield its abundance.

Such are the tracts of which we Iry to offer a faint description; the y should be soen in their fertility and in their barren so litude to be appreciated . And so situated are they on the Ibreshold of India, so narrow is the space betwixt roountain and desert, that all !the invaders of India must haue thronged tbroughit . The darkness of night have closed over the period when the Arian races advanced from the great cradle of nations, tile alluvial plains of Mesopotamia but tbey must have threaded the defiles of Afghanistan. they must have lifted their eyes in rapture to the Chumba mountains, and perhaps thought with regret of their old Armenian and Cau.,ian snows; they must bave crossed by raft, or skin. or by ford, OM and all of the great Five Rivers, contending perbaps at each stage with the rude aborigines.

Thus came the Brahmins, the Katha el o r Kbut,ee, the G etae or Juts, bringing with them the old ante-Mosaic traditions, and tbe cherished pre-doluvian g->ds. which had cost the world one Deluge . The,e were brave men no doubt before Alexander. bUl we know noth!ng about them, 10 they may as well not bave existed; but when Alexander taised tbe curlain, he lound in these regions a highly civilized people. H e came. be saw. and he conquered. but somewhere on the East of th' river Hyphasis he paused, and the ir must have been erecled the pillar. with the original of the famous inscription .

'[go Alexander Hue Benenl' When centuries had dfaced the memory of the visit of tb e strange W<Slern conqueror, 8

there came a new invader . Great events had taken ploce in that thousand years.

Rome had

risea aDd fallen : the religion of Christ had been superseded in the East by the creed or Mahomet; and the time had come when India must be introduced into the comity of nalions, though for China there still remained another thousand years orjealou; isolation .

Far up in the interio' of the celestial empire. in those tracts where the groat rivers leave the mountains. there may he va"t plain~. and an-;ient cities, aod grea~ populations ~ith strange langua ~es, cu,toms. and reli~ion ' . of which we still know nothing, but from the day

that the ftrst lanc's of Mahmood gleamed in the passes or Peshawur we have a Rood of light thrown upon the countr y betwi xt the Chmab a nd new India.

Labnre Dynasty after dyna"v ruled there, and new settlers appror,riated the soil. We know nothing of the pr0ce<s under which land changed hands: the cry of the despoiled never reaches us We know nothing of the cause by which the new faith was propagated, how in eaoh village YO'lnger so ns . or unsuccessful litigants, were tempted to abandon the faith of their a(fcestors and for love of men adopt the new idea. The bitter feelings, the domestic feuds , which accompaihcd th, .. events. have been forgotten , hut the ract remains. and Hindoo and Ma homedan share togethor inheritan:c with')tlt grudgo a standillg comment on the mon adopt the new idea . The bitter fellings, the dome, tic fwds, which accompained these events, have been f,>rg')tten, but the fact remains, and Hindoo and Mahom edan shre togelher their inheritance without grudge a standing com",ent on the monst'ous absurdity ofTntroducing undcr a Christian Governmhnt the old disinheriting Brahminical laws.

Cities and town. were built, their names were changed, and, when the time came, they dwindled away. and their materials were made use of to build other towns; the Mahomedans pulled down temples, and built mosques, and with retributive justice at a later period the Hindus pulled down mosques wherewith to rebuild temples: the palace and Fort, the Garden and the proud Tomb sprung up, bereafter to be converted to strange uses. a.

Forts, Zenanas, and Englib Ch 'lfche., but tbe memory of the builder waS soon forgotten .

Nothing i. permanent in the East. Still the country flourished , poured forth its annual tributes of Ihe kindly gifts of the earth, was evor the prey of the strongest, for the fatal gifl of her beauty rendered her ever desira!)le and her "hysical position rendered her always defenceles., eVer at the mercy of her powerful neighbours 81 Kabul and Delhi, ever oscillating on the see¡,aw of alternate dominion towards Ihe NOrlh¡West and South ¡East, occupying the sam. positio" as Palestine betwixt Egypt and Assyria, and Lombardy betwixt Austria and France .

Let politicians say what they like, let t:l em talk ef the blessings of national independence, and descant on tbe miseries of a foreign, and of course a bad, Governllttnl, and 9

the advantages of a good one, th e, e th ings are not felt so keenly or apprecia kd so fully by the people in their villages. as the little tyrannies of the petty land-own", and the good-natured fatherly kindness of the local Government Lahore may have beeD and has been for centuries the centre of intri !, u ~; head s may have fallen like poppies , houses may have been plundered. and ffJl1ales, drcked yc'tcrd ~ ill silks and jewel. the plunder of provinces, ma y have been turned out in rags: but far away-far away ill the peaceful pro vince the long Indian d a~ ha s worn itselfOllt quietly and happil y to the unconscious peasant, with no thought be. Dol hi ' petty cares and vulgar joys.

'0

So long as hlS local ruler dw elling n the neighbouring cast'e. l(lng as the mone),lender of the ad,io ning market , were nol unmally disagrechle, that maltered it to l, im¡the hewer of wood and drawer of water, who rose and who fell at D elhi or cabul ?

The blast of the triumphant tlUmpet. the echo of the funeral wail, re ached him no t.

The catt'e came home lowing from the pasture ground, as the shades of evening fell; without fail his meal was preraTt' d; the revo lving month brought round to him in due succe .. ion the annual fest iva Ie and the half-yearl y harvests, glad seasons of rejoiening, for which he did not forget to trim a lamp on the steps of t he old temple. and to worsh ip with offerings of butter the Lares and Penates, as his fathers had done belore him His children grew up slrong a nd bale; some took service, and fell in some famou, victory, but the o'd man neither knew why il was fought, or what good cam , of it to th ' country; his only marks of t ime werosome wedding or lome birth, the only reminders of ag e were the grey hairs in bis beard . As his physical atrenl:ht failed him, he abandoned the dut!es of IUeld and tbe forest to younger handa without repining. he had red his whelps when he was strong and tbey must reed him now.

He settled down in the comer of the hut, and looked Calmly forward to the time when

h. would be reduced to ashes on the funeral pile, without any feeling of shame for evil aClions. of regret for mis¡spent day s, unconscious of ever having comn.itted any sin and faarless and careless of any future judgment.

This life had been one of hardships of thim , and the fUlure might be so also; he could not help iI, and did not much care. Thus since the world began, many millions have worked out their destinies; ifbul little better intellect than the be.,ts Ihat perish, at least not so debaled by the consciousness of crime.- persisted in spite of knowledge, unabandoned in spite of warn ing, as the more civilized portion of mank ind .

10

Chapter II Guru Naoak 1469-1539 A.B) But as time lolled On it app,ared tbat a greater destiny was prepared for tbis tract .

It was to be the theatre of a new nationality and tho cradle of a new religion . Witbin tbese narrow confines would be born one of those gifted spirits. who are destined to teach millions a new mode of groping after G od. if hapl y they may find him Thore was a man-we dare not say-sent from God. on whom so large 8 portion of tho d ivio', afflatus had fallen that to him the great gift of w ,Iding the hearts olf men of devch)~ing a new idea. w"s conceded He stood on the confines of a ne..v dis?ens'ttion. and recognized his position he mounted;t high tower

in his mind . and lonhd Out on the spiri'ual state of his countr ymen, and beheld one half ~unk in the sloth :lnd deg: ~ adation of a cerenvnia l worship and th: other half. possessed

indeed by a ~reat .pi ritual truth. but hlind ,d hy fanat;c ism and false z. al. The name of this man was Nanu k. Humble was ~is positio,. hutter and honey were his words, he preached peace, and love. and mutual concession: he t:lught' that men were the sons of one father. and he laughed to scorn the show of ceremoni al" he was .s meek.. Aaron, as full of wisdom as the Author of Ecclesiastes, he sou~ht to bring the world into subjection by the influence of his mild doct rines. Rut after him came another prophet, wi th a sword-like Gideon's , who wrGte his words in fl ame, and rivalled in th e intensit y of feeling, and bitterness of vengeance, the prophet kings of the Maccabees. If Nanuk was the Moses, Govind was the Jo,hu. of the new people.

Both have left written legacie" known in their languar;e as the book which grey-headed men still chant in the ga te-way of the castle, or the adytum ofth. templ e accompanied by the twang of rude barbytons.

The eIder prophet arrived at one of those ears, when the ancient religion of the people was being expo,ed to a severe trial in the presence of a propagandi; ' and dominant rival. The Hindu is essentially a qUietist. and the sublime doctrines which form the sustratum of that faitb which the Asians had intorduced into 'ndi •. had , after the e~pul.ioD of the Budchi.ts by sheer force, degenerated into gross and sensual form fn vain from time to time had risen up school. UDder great masters wi.h the noble design of internal reform; religious qulity had been preached, it had been proposed to level caste by faith, the vulga tongue had been licensed as a vehiele of religious though', images had been denounced, but the founders of the new sects bad not cared to make social Improvement an object or to connect propagandism with a national feeling; they had iD them too much of the ascetic, aDd too little of the practical element. At a certain stage all internal rcforll's are hopeless; they go too far, or nol far enough; it is n eces ~ ary to return to the original fountain , ant! draw a new inspiration from the great source of ideas.

The presence of Mahomed anism was a great fact: th e ignorant people could no lori,er be imposed upon that Brahmanism wa, a necessity of •• istence. Cn the contrary the power no longer e.isted to punish heretics with worldly penalties, and the feeling of the people had outstripped t'l O stereotyped form. They unc1erstood as little what they heard , as the peasantry of England do the dogmas of the Athanasian Creed, or the anathemas of the commination; a bull·headed conservatism prevented the priesthood from an ticipating the intellectual storm; JI

but as the appea rance of Mahomet took place at t he t ime of th e deep (hlgradation of the Greek Church, and as luther protested against the errors of the Roman, so stood forth at this time Naunk His influence spread irresistibly on a people not open to conviction in argument . and dull to appeals to the conscience; it ma intained and will maintain its place, until a new fermentin ,' take piace of the theological Idea, and he be superseded by a new picture of the Divinity belicn d in as hlindly, and laid down as ro~ itively . as an y of its predecessors. and the foolish muhitudc in their foolish heart cease to care for the doctrines and tenets of Naunk .

And one hundre(t vrars later1 when the

Sl

('ond pro phet appearrd . '''ere aro se among

'he agricullural r opul ation of thi, country a wondrous Yearning for rolit ical lioert¡ a wondrous des ire on the part of the poor to approoriate the wealth of the rich . a wondrous feeling that freehooter and sovereign were of the same or kindred origin . This led hundreds to abandon the ploug h nnd take to the road which in those days led them to palace' instead of prisons . A halo then <ncircled the petty. as it still does the imperial robber: the hireling page of the historian was all that was required to make the great, for their amnition was'only bounded by what they could lay hold of their valour was onl v limited by th ir tenaeity of life. The foolish fellow. who robbed in the jungl e. would a tone his guilt on the gallows; the noble creat ure. who sacked a cit y. w ~uld c' eate a principality. and hh desccr.,jants would be hl)noured by the Brit;,h GoveroO'.ent and styled Anc<strnl flef-holdrs. ru~ crucem scdoris pre!inm lui it , his diadema "

The life of Nanuk ;$ so intimately connected with the provinces which lie betwizt the ehenab and Beas that we must briefly detail it. Tbere he was born. and there he died; there he formed his scbool; there dwell his descendants and followers, and th e very name by which they distinguish their natiouality. is that of being his Sikhs or disciples. The proper name by which the country ought to he known is Sikhland . Many a shrine has spruug up to matk the spots which he visited during his mortal pilgrimage. H is tenets have been gradually debased. and his own personal importance bas been magnified . H<re -worsoip has converted the teacher into a god: the chronicles which are faithfully read and prodigall y adorned with paintings, tbe walls uf the temple- son which every act of his life is depicled , the oral legends which arc handed <'own from father to son . the feeling of the people-all have declared bim to have been an emanation of the Deity, sent down by the Creator to take the form of man. when sin was ripe in the world . He has been invested with the gift of miracles and other divine attributes. and i. suprosed even now to have to bave the power of conferring blessings. To none of these did he lay elaim ; he asserted no divin, mission, he sought to found no policy. he admitted all fore-going teachers, he only langhr his disciplies the result of his own experien~e exhorted to moral virtues, and recommended pract ical exceiience as preferable to profitless aBCetiam.

12

We have carefully persued those chr onicies. only in late tillie accessible to Europeans; we have listened to the treasured words which rell from tbe teacber's lips, we bave visited with a reverend feeling tbe place where he was born, where he lived, and died; we have sougbt in easy conversation with tbe people to catch the living feeling, the popular sentiment. We sisded to gather the mystery of the origin of this belief, lor Nanuk is not like Rama, or Buddha, or Krishana, a fabulous individual, round whom the lapse of centuries has thrown a mythical halo; he is not, like Mahomet, or the true Christ, the denizen of a far country, whose doctrines have been Iranslated among strange people in strange la nguages . He was a contemporary of our earliest reformers, he lived and died among his own pe opla his descendants are still among us; the forms of the have in no way changed since he completed bis mission. Pa inful feelings are forced upon us as we Ihink of such things, feelings such as ari~e on the perusal of the life of a modern Roman Catholic perusal of the life of a modern Roman Catholic Saint-a St. Theresa or a St. FraDcis. for the people who believe these fables are of ourselves, of the nineteenth century, understanding fairly all the range of human science and appliances, but in this matter blind; for a lying spirit has heguiled men, otherwise sensible and shrewd, to believe th1t Nan uk raised the dead to life, healed the sick flew through the ai r, walked the sea, blessed and curse<'. and had power over the elements . Not that saw it themselves, but they had immediate followers from those who accompanied him in his travels-men poor and illiterate, with no object to lie, aDd no claim to power. We turn away with a sickening feeling for these things are believed of millions; they were not done in a corner . This is a portion of that divine gift of faith, wbich forms the basis of all religions; these fables, though of modern date. have unhappily gained such credence, that the Sikhs believe them dogmatically. and wiil die for their truth ; the Hindoos believed tbem historically; the Mabomedans even admit the facts; and, when we try to raise the veil, we find that the man in wh om they believe. was good virtuous. chaste. free from passioo. pride, or avarice, worthy of our admiralion as one oftbe lovers of mankind .

To the South¡ West of the city of Lahore in the Sub¡division Shuruckpore, in the extreme corner of the district where the jungly Bar adjoins on the domains of agriculture and civilization, stood, as it stands. now the little village of Tulwundie. With the neighbouring village it belonged to a wild tribe of Ma homedans, who had immigrated from tbe countries beyond tbe Sutl j , tbe Bhuttees, wbose tastes were for cattlc-rearing and cattle¡ lifting, and wbose habits were nomadic, a contraS! to the Hindoo Juts, wl;o were i'egarious, and agricultural, and not friendly to the new comers . The village wa' thus on the confines on the forest, and tbe fiield and the dehlaleable land of two races and two religions. In this village and in the bouse of one Kaloo, the village accountant a member of the Bedee tribe oftb.

Bedee tribe of the great Khutree caste, in the year of our Lord 1469, was born a male child.

13

Prodigies attended hi m form tte first: on enter:n& the wcrld he looked round and smiled: the nutle stated tbat at the moment, she heard sounds resembling the cries of salutation and welcome with which a great man is received on his arrival. Signs of greatness, a f wisdom, and of bounty, displayed themselves early; his mother in a dream beheld the bods worshipping and praising 111m: at the age of five he distributed among Fuquecrs ~ll the porperty that he could lay hold of: the spot is still show where he was born, and close by another favoured shrine marks the scene of the sports of his chi ¡dhood. Lands are set apart by the British Government for the maint"nnnce of these and mnny other similar institutions . As the child grew up, he Ilcquired learni ng witl;out any effOIt, and argued with. and convinced, his teachers, butnothing would induce him to attend to the duties 0 ' life: and his falher was too roor to maintain him in idleness. While in charge of caule, he allowed them to injure a neighbour's fiel d, but, when complaint was made, 10; the injury had ceen miraculously advanced, and the ra ys of th e sun rell upon him , a deediy cobra sprcad its hood over his head, and passers by were a"cstluck ftt the sight of him as he slept on .

"Non ~ ine Diis animoslls infans".

On another cccasion, when similary asleep. the bough of a tr ee were miracu lously

deflected from their natural position to screen hilr from the heat. The spots waere all these wonders took place life shown, and all villagers. inc!uding Rai Bholar, the Mahomedan lord of the soil, were convicned of the comirg greatn ess of the lad, and tried to shelter him froOl the anger of his father, who took a more malcrial view of his son's conduct. At length at the age ofsixteen kaloo sent his son oUI on a trading expedition with a companion from I he same village, and the sum of forty Rupees . On their road in the jungle thev met a company of mendicants and. entering into converstion yOU:lg N.l nnk found that these men had no occasion for houses, or clothes, or luxuries; that they wcre free from the cares as well as the joys of life. They refused his offers of money as being useless to them. and so w",ked on his excitable nature nature that he invested the wh 01e of his capital on food and red the party: he returned to his village, and hid h imself under the boughs of a large tree which is stilJ venerated . Discovered oy his exasperated father, he urg, d that he had been directed to do a good bUSIness, to realize a good profil, and he maintained that in laying up treasures in heaven h~ had done so . The spot is till known by the name of the profitable Investment.

It must be 'emembered that mendicants then, as now, abounded in the land , and thaI there was much real worth, "' well as odious deceit, in the profel<ion . 't was and it is still, the only oUllet for the irregular youth they had no sea, no colonies . no In dia, where angry parents could exile their prodigal children . When then a young man was too truthfull to swallow the convenlionallies of the home circle, too catholic.mineded to keep within the narrow groove of the domestic dogma, there was nothing for him but to strip off his clothes, and join a troop

14

of mend icants who so far diITered from the religiou'i orders of ROTIl !!, that th e~ were rt'ally free. and were standing protest ~ b ninst the l)rann y of the regular clergy, the

Brahmins .

It so happen ~ d that a sisler of Nanuk's had rna' ried a corn-de :tler al Soollanpore m the Jhelundhur Doab. and to her Kaloo eonsi&ned his scapgrace son. At Iha l city resided Numab Dowlut Khan Lodhee, a reh.tion of tbe reigning family of Delhi, and himself a man or great power though he fell a few )ears later before the ris ing power oflhe Emperor Baber. N.muk. by the interest 01 hi' brother· in· law, was employed as eompt. olier of the Slores of the Nuwaub's household, s(" boundless were his charities that he was accused to his master of wa~ ting his good, but, when tbe: ~ ccounts were eaken, a large surplus came out in his favour a practical iliustfalion, Illat the store of the charitable man is indeed bksscd. At this time. on the earneH solicitations of his family, he married, and two sons were born te> him .

The leaven however within r;m had now ferment<d, and civilised life became into'erable, He felt it his duty, his cailing, to cast off all the ties of family, or kind ed. all links of habit, and stal t on his heaven-inspired minion of preachiug. In vain did hi. relations remonstrate; his father and f.lher·in·law never would. or could. realize the neeessitv , and. when he actually prepard to take the fatal step. they appealed, to the Nuwaub for his assistance. It appeared that Nanuk had passed three whole days with the water up to his neck in the neighbouring stream of the Beyn. and had thence pr.ceeded to take up his abode in the jungles, ahandoding the habitations of men. The spot is still shown where he entemed and left the stream, ,nd the credulouli chronicler narrates how he visited, during his immersion, the god who presided over the waters. When the Nuwaub summoned him he replied tbat be knew no earthly master, that he was the servant of God: he was persuaded however to return to the city. and. finding that he WM shaken as a Hindu. the Nuwaub fondly hoped to make him a Mahomedan, and persuaded him to accompany him to the Mosque.

HeTe occurred a memorilble scene, and a lesson was read by the young devotee, which

app' jos to all nations and all rel igions . 'Nhen the long Ime of Mahorr.eda ns knelt down and pra yed. Nanuk stood in silence: when the Nawaub "monstratcd with him, he said, 0 Nuwaub, you were at Candahar buying a borse. The Mahomedan noble, struck with awe, eonfessed that it was so : not .0 the wily QAZI who chalienged Nanuk 'to c~nvince bim.

'Nanuk eompo.edly replied :-You, C QAZI were thinkioll of your daughter who has just been brought to bed, and foaring lest your colt should fall down the open well. The conoeience· striken QAZI could not hold up his head, and Nanuk was allowed to relire amidst the applaues both of Hindus and Mahomedans.

15

His companiona in his forest life were Bala, a Hindoo Jut of his own village, who was with him from his chilbood 10 his death and assisted to comp3se the marvellous chronicles of bi. life, and Murdhana, a Mahomedan musician who played on that fantasticall y ' 'laped instrument which is called a Rubaub . Strange stories are told of this instrument which was brought down from celestial regions, aod which refused to give utterance to any other cadenee but praise of God. the Almighty, the Creator alon". When the strings of the instrument were souned, forlb burst the sounds. " Tuhi Narayun Kartar: Nanak Banda tera .

"Thou art God the Creator : "aDuk is thy .Iave". Hearing this Nanuk used to fall into " traDce, regardless of all human thinKs, and remojn whole days wrapt in meditation of God, while the unfortunate musician , who was exce dingly weak in the matter of fleshly wont., was exposed to fatigue and exhausted by hunger. When he spoke is reptesented as alway. enclosing his meaning in brief and sententiou, rhyms, which were treasured up by his disciples, rnd incorrorated in the

~acred

volume,

He now commenced his wandering.. That they extended all over India i, probable that he visited Mecca iD Arabia is certain; bul the va.t mass of rubbish which his chroniclres have heaped togelher on the subject of these travels. the wonders of the countries which he visited, and tbe wonders which he himself perfo rm<d, pass all belief. In the Punjab and adjoning countries which he visited, we find the teacher geting over the ground by the use of those vulgar and familiar modes of conveyance, the legs, hut wben he visited the lofty mountains, the pole star, and other co;)stelJarjofll, he took to his wings; and when he visited

Arabia, he wished himsolfthere and saved himself the trouble of moving by directing Mecca to come to bim We may divide his travel. into three classes . I Those in the Punjaub, where we con follow him clearlv . II. Those in Hindostan and Contral, A.sia, where we caD trace his course generally. HI . Those in Space. where it i. hope Ie ... but .till not unprofitable, to· follow him, as we can thence acquire a me •• ure of the ~eographical knowledge and reasonin~ powen, of the people who hdi"e the facts recorded. as gospel.

He is described as visiting his home at Ta :wund ie l everal times as attending at the great

festival of Uchol Dear ButTala, as lodging under a tree, aDd near tank at Seualkote, where hi, memory is still cherished. One occasion he went to Pak PUIlU" on the Sutlej to the South, and OD another on Indus at which place he hal left the impression of his hand In a piece of marble.

He repeatedly returned to Soolt.npore to visit his ,ister Nanukee. to whom he was tenderly attached, and when old age came upon him. he built a retreat for bimself on the right bank of tbe Ravee, and named the plac. Kirtarpur; there he died. and tbe place has bten ,wept away by tbe

16

stream. hut ov er again it h Ls sprun~ up the town called after him Del'uh Saba Nanuk . wlln!!

the great ma"iS of

hi~ d('s('endanl~

still reside.

H e more than once vi , ired t.1 (~ I.: rge and fam o us city of Emina bJd . half way b e twixt Lahore and WUlccrabHd, and ~hrine to this day called Ror ee Suhib. ma rks the spot where he

,I

slept on a hed of grav,,!. He lodged with the poor .Iways, and when food Was sent to him bv the rich Governor, he declined 10 t-ste il, .. being purchased by deeds of tyranny and oppression Whil /? lodging ther e the Emperor Baber attacked and sacked the town , in hi' famcus invasiun of India tk \\as seized with others. and forced to carr y burdens a nd grind ~rain . Popular -eport hal it thti f tho: bu rdens stood suspended a foot j'n (h e air abo ve of themselvâ&#x201A;Ź"s : at any rate hi s appe (ranee and language attracted til "! attention 0 '" the Empero r, who had a frienuly interview with him, and was gratified by a prediction [hat his empire would last seven gen<:rations which in efT'~ct it did. While conversing with the Emperor. 50rVants: brought him a p,le of Bhung, an intoxicating drug in which the Tartars induiged . The Guru declined the offer stating that his ~bung was to take the name of God, with the drinking of which h !

WtS

a lwa vs in

l

';t<lt e of intoxication,

As Tr gards the secnnd rortion of his travels, we have every well known city and country

io India. known by repo.t or allude' to in the sacared books of Hindu, brought into usc.

Every Mahom,dan countrv, the names of which were familiar from the description of travellers.

is introduced such a~ Sinde. Cahu l , Khurrum. Room, (Asia Minorl, ar;d Arabia,

but the mention of all is so vague tha - no profit i. derived from the enumeration. That h. visited Mecca and Medina was both possib:e and probable, considermll the numbers who used in those d .:l. YS to flock in pi1'~ rimage a .ld in fact do so now

What happened at Mecca i.

characteristid tha ' he dereated t e Moola. in argument would be expected, eonliderine thai hi; disciples were th, narrators, but he cxposed the fact that the sacred Kaabuh was oaly â&#x20AC;˘ black stone and had once been a Lingum of the Hindoo lod S,y". and that the Mahomcdan. worshiped idols . There is no doubt that it

IS 0

remnent of the ancient pre-Mohomed,n

worship 01 Arabia. and utterly unconnected with the unitarian and iconocJ ust doctrinel of the

Prophet for it,

The Guru s!cpt with his feet turned tow.rd the temple, and, on bemg reprov.d

a. a disrespect

to GC'd to turn his feet towards him, he asked in which dift'cti(l<n hd

could turn hi. feet. without finding God . This is the spid,u.1 version of the story, but Ih. vulgar legend is, that whichever way his feet were dragged. the temple followed htm. and at last the minoreltS got loose from their foundation and 10 the Moolas let him alone. They asked him whether he respected God and the prophet : he replied that God bad 5.nl many prophets to instruct men-in the right way. those who obeyed the ordets went to hoaven and Ih. olhers to hel! that, Hindus and Mahomomedan. all came from the .. me five clemenl'. did nul

17

, differ in the i r actions or words, a nd that people who fought about mere words had lost their way. AI \l(din a at tomb ot Mahomet bowed to him.

He visited Muttra, Benares, JUFgurnauth. I anb , and Hu'dwar . The wild.,t stories are told abo ut the inhabitants, but every thing that happened , conduced to the honour of the Guru. Those who believed in him .. ceivrd ble"ings, and thme who opposed him were brought to their sens..

The doctrine d Metempychosis is introduce~ to give varietv to the tale, and we find that Nanuk W?S one of the actors of the heroic period. and a great many monsters and giants foun~ an end to their penance on hi, arrival. and went off to Swurga . This is a lame adapta'ion of the machinerv of the Ramayun a. Bah and Murdhana accompanied him in ~ II these wanderings, but the latter was alwavs gettinR inlo trouo,le. He is the low comedy actor OF the Drama. always hun.2TY. ~ettjn"" into the power of magici ans and monsters, and ren rj~ ,. i f1 ~ th ~ int "'rf"eren":e of the Guru necess;l ry to "' ave him from bein g swa ll owed uP. or release him from the form of a ~o.t They walked on the sea wit~out difficult v. This was convenient for the I'url'ose of v;sitin~ '"e islands within the limited knowledge of the compiler's geographv. Yet th ev had ships at that time, for one <'Ccosio" when Nanuk was at home, his mother sent a female serva nt to call him to his meal, fo r he was asleep : the maid toucl,led his foot, and h er eves ",or. opened, and she hecame aware th. t the Guru, though present in person. was far away in the act of saving the ship of one of bis devotees which was in a storm in the Tndian Ocean . This is a gra nd conception. and one day when convening with a descen-1ant of the Guru on this suhject. he informed", that he had the rower himself, only the devotee must have faith, and the relief wo ulj be gra nted: we had not thot faith 10 we had no visibl. illustration of the power They came to a city of gold where no prices were required for any articl .. , workmen asked for no pay . Murdhana was stuffed gratuitousl y with sIVeatmeats; there was no crime. no merchants; an the people including th e King were virt uou<. their only fault being tbat were rather conceited. They came to another city where people acted j U!! in the contrary way to the rest of mankind. wept at births. and lau.hed at funerals. He took the opportunity of attacking the Brahmins on an occasions: at Kurukhetra at Thanesar he cooked animal food just at the c -itica l moment of a, eclipse. wit!' a view of scanda lizi ng them; at Hurdwar he openly caned on the people to beware of these scri bes and Pharisees H e nobly fined the part of a periodical protest of truth and common sense against the untruth " nd folly of the age H. ,cc'!Sed a Pundit of ha vi ng improper thoughts in his mind. while repeating his prayers: he told the Brahmins that all ritual observances were va;n, so long as the heart was not pure: (when they stood up and looked towards the East. and poured out water to their ancstors, he mockingly stood up and poured out water looking to west When they asked him his reason,

18

he rrmarkl'd that he was watering his field

in the Punjaub: when they urged that the

wat er wo uld no t reach so far. he asked how th ey th rn expected that Iheir water , ... o uld eitch

to the oth er worid .

A thief met him and the Gur u remonstrated with hIm on his way of livog He pleaded the neces ity 0 " sur- orting his famil y Will th ey said the Guru. agree to share the penalty of your n'isde"ds in a future state? Thev all declmcd. an d assured the thief that he alon o wo uld he re.ponsible, upon whicb he abandoned his dishon ..1 profession, and became a disciple of tb " Guru .

On another occasion he stopped by the .sh .. of a funeral pile, rnd sent a fol iower 10 "et a Fght Th-y eyes of this ",an w"e opened, and, as he approach<d the pile, he beheld the angles of death dragg ng off the person who had been burnt to hell, and healing and 100menling him . As he r lurned from the pile, he k und thrse s.me angels of death changed into palanqu<en b<arers. and carry ing off the same man in all the pomp and comf01t of Indian wea 'th . He inquirrd th e reason. and he found that Ihe party was an at rocious si nner, had well deserved hell and torments. but N anuk 's gaze had {allen on his pile; God had forgiven him his sins, ard he was now <o ing off by palanqueen dok to Heaven It is difficult to say wh ether this story is mo pe qu,tint or solemn; th.re is a vast amount of sp iritual truth eO'\leloped in fanciful orif'ntSl1 dres~ 1n man" in!'tances also strangers, convinced by hill wo rds. asked "what ' hall we do to be saved ? The answer "'as "Worship Narayun

or God." The third portion of the travel, of Nanuk ;s a strance mixture of Hindu Cosmology as drawn from the Puranas. combined with a knowledge of the Himalaya MOuntains, which are always before t~c eves of the "'tives of these regions, and a touch of the sectarian viows .f the Sikh denominatioo . The snowy ranges in thei r unapproaehable hoight and beauty, tinted with roseate hues undor the , Iow of an ,vrnirg ,un.et, clo present a region worthy to be considered the dwelling place of the immort.ls. When once tho idea had been formed.

Each peak would have its own deity. and the chronicler, plunging into <theral space, could very much have his own way 8 S regards ~od s and mountain tops, concerning which ve ry little was knwon with certainty, by the vulgar . At ? D ra rlie r date the changes wOl.ld ha\e been rung upon the earlier deities of old Hindui,m, but even in this mass of rubbish we fi nd signs of progÂŤs. or the human intellect, for , when Nanuk and his two companions flew up to these heights, where there was Dothin~ but snow and where the bird. could not reach, they found seated there amidst his disciples. the ,reat sectarian teacher Goruckn. uth who had immediately preceded Nanuk in the work of fraeini the Hindu intellect. This downward step of theegony can on ly be illustrated to European Dotions by supposinJ: a Protestant Heaven

19

ruled OVer by Luther and Crammer, or a Low Church Mt. Hermon occupied by Wesley and Robert Hall. Of course in tbis truth-loving narrative every other Guru, Faquir. must te placed in a position of inferiority! their arguments are made futile, their miracles ridiculous: all tried to make Nanuk their disciple, li ke Pharaoh's Magicians all .trive in vain to rival the miracles of Moses. Here however again the dogma oflheological schools peeps out. showing that tbe superiority of Nanuk was rot conceded even by the chroniclc r from some innate Divinity, as Krishna, or from brute power. as Siva, but from the gtft of a more excellent undersRtnding and a deeper knowledge orthings unknown. GMucknau'h and his followe" in vain submitted the new comer to a rigid examination, formularized into questions N aunk passed the high"t .tandard. resisted all their blandishments, outargued all their argumenh, proved himself to be perf"t and compelled them to give way .

Murd. na remarkrd Ih?t he could see no sun. Nanuk informed him that luminary was far below them : he then explained to him in detail the position of the celestial bodies They passed on from pe.k to peak. and found eremites living on fruits . a ad worshipping God: they saw wonderful Inimals, and especially tigers, who were suffering from hunger.n accounl of crime; tae Guru received honour from all. for

in this strange narrative animals are

inve, led with ca.te, cu<toms. and modes of thinking, n or were they considered unfit objects of di vine illumination, or of becoming disciples.

At length in their upward flight they re"ched Dhru, or tbe Pole Star. The Bhungur, or Saint, who was seaten alone ill that solitary heights, told them that only one person had been there before Nanuk that was Ku br, 'he grea test of the modern teacbers, who had in fact , hewn the way to the rerorm ation of Nenuk . At that point Nanuk left his two follow"", and proceeded alone to the residenc" of the Almighty, wh ic h was in sight from Ih i. place, and they beheld Nanu k enter the "alace gates, and st and before the thre ne of Narayun, over whose bead Ku'>eer, tbe only other perSOD present, was waving a Chouric . The lard of the uDiverse asked him whether the wo rk for which he was sent into the world, was done¡ viz, tbe refo rmation of mankind. Nnuk repl ied th at he had instructed may si nners in Jumbodwi". or India, hut that he had all the rest of the world to go to . Narayun smiled, and was please.. . and the teach, r re turned T hink not that thought of impiety is meant in this narrative; it is. type of the s<hool 10 which N lOuk belonged. The old Hindu Ascetic of the heroic age was a mo ral Titan, wbo attempted to scale heaven by heapina ",orks upon works, and making the vulga r gods tremb Ie for their sensuaJ suprema c~. These Munees ate so fully of the forbidd en tree of Kno ","dge, th at the gods feared lest they should become one of them, and S0 they were expelled from Paradise: or Ihey tried to erecl a tower which ..ould reach to beaven, and

20

so dissension W fl~ c:. OWll in their camp. :~nd ;ht:v Were scattered They piled PelIOn on O~sa .

and they were subdu ed hy li ~' htnlng Our ~he nh)dern Hindu teacher was to bl: won hy. ruriJ~. ry krow!eegt' ar.d faitl " and on the path stationed the dlITc:rnt te;JChers and tLd r sc i Oo l!- ir, the degree in which attribUles, whi le i:J pas:ionl \ s:; bUl l efined lk il) ~ uperintended the work,

taught that hea\en that leads thitht:r he

they possessed thme of j\.'alo usy

inc~ pabJe

as he \\as unapproacha ble in dignity.

At If'ngth. when old a!!e I ad din rr ed l. i!' eye and whitened his hair. Nanak st'tt1ed down in the midst of his disciples at Karl HrpOre on the bank. of the Ravee, as poor, as simple. l:IS benevrlent. as \\.ren tift~路 )ears before he had abandoned his home and Ihe ordinary wa~ S of men. ':"lis pr imary object had I een to reconcile Mahomedans 10 Hmdus. and form a united reJi~ion Here he had failed . but he had formed in tho ~路osom "f Hinduj~m a !'ect which \\ as destined to take root, thou&h the oppr~sioDs of the Mahomedans gave j' a d eveJ o ~ment far different fwm the int ('ntiens of the founder He waS det~ rmined to avoid the snart of an hereditar) pi ieHheod, and 'pecially excluded his two sons from the sllccl"ssion fo his office. laying hand.; on one "r his dIsciples. of ,I weak disposition like his own. and f iving him the name of Angad, or his own flesh . The anecdotes connected with this event src wolth Tcco rdJng.

When thl~ mother remoD'tralcd aJ:ainst the supersession of

her sons. the Guru路made no reply : at that moment a cat fiunl a dead mO'.1se at his fl!et, the Guru directed his ~ons to r(move it ; they drt'W back in all the pride of certmonial purity.

but An;!ad, who Was of Ihe sam e caste, at once obeyed the orden of hi. spiritual teacher. ,,路ho turned 10 hi. wife, and gra, ely a sked which was his real son. On another occaSion he found hinself wilh his disciples in a j ungle, and Ihey stum bled on a corpse. Whoever is my disciple, said the Guru let r,im eat of that body. All drew back in horror but Angad, who. lifting up the sheet to obey 'he order found onJy sweet provision,. Nanuk ble.,ed him, and told him that be wOl,ld be abov< all, and gave him all power and wi.dom, and enjoined his disciples to obey him and they did so, and An\t8d is the second "f the teachers or king, of the Sikhs .

Soon f.flt r C11C' of 11jf, discip!fs n:et In the jl.llJ! le a r, ea\(~nl) mts~cngl.!r. who st'nt \\ord by him ", N"nuk that he must come "way . lie prepared his own fune.aJ pik, spread the sacred Kusa grass, and sat down . R OUll d him \I. ere a s~ embled all his dhcipies, Ci nd ch..wd!-i of tbe minor deities, the spiri" of just men made perfect, eremite., saints, and holy men of promiscuous repute, asembled to witncu ."lemn ceremony of the teacher putting off the mortal coil and being absorbed into tbe great essence of Divinity. He gave advi~e to all, tOld them that death was' inevitable but tbat they should take care that their end miaht be, like his, happy. All wept, but his !Ons were still absent. As the sun rose, the Guru placed his sheet over his face, and while the Pundits chaunted hymns on the uncertainty and

21

shortness of life. and the deities sung out Victory he appeared to expire. At that moment. his sons came in and, thinking thai he was really dead. ren at his feet io ao agony of penitence, craved pardon, frr one hour', delay . The Guru had sufficient ftrength to look up, and b'essl them, and then his spirit passed away. This took place in the year 1,39 A.d.

Many Mahomedan s were present. and declared that they would bury him as their coreligionist: the Hindus however prepared to hum him, and a ! reat disturbance was apprehended, when happcnir.g to look under the sheet, they found tbe body gone, having been mysteriously removed. The two f"ctions divided the sheet, and one¡half buried and the other burnt.

Scattered over the country are shrines, where his shoes or his staff, or his couch are religiously preserved; his words have been collected into a volume, and three hundred years. which have elapsed since his deatb, bave only sanctified the memory of his mild virtues, though the objeci of his Mission entirely fail ed. and a more intense hatred sprung up in this part of India betwixt Hindu and Mabomed"n than elsewhere .

Orhis two sons one founded the monastic institution of the Oodasees, whose converts are rich and of high estimation throu~hout the Punjab, and are not witbout their religiou; and secualr advantages,. The other ,on is the ancestor of that presumptuous and worthless race, the Bedees, who, trading on th e groat name of their ancestor, put all the disciples under contribution with the object of supporting their useless slaves. while their hands have been dyed for centuri .. wrth the blood of their female children, and the sweet names of daughter, sister and aunt are unknown among them. It is hard to say the descendants of whiCh SOD have most entirely set at nought the precepts of their ancestor, tor while the Oodasees seek virtue by shunning the du ies and pains of life, the wicked B'dees cloak their abominable sin under the garb of hereditary sanctity, and try to dr.", to themselves from the simple people that homage which is due only to God .

SECJ'ION 3 We have stated Ihat Nanuk was conte'nporary with Baber. the found~r of the great MogUl dynasty . Angad succeeded him in his spiritual rule, and died in 1552 transmitti g his staff to his disciple Amur 0." who reigned till 1574, and to him succeeded in peace Ram Dass. his predecessors having owelt in political obscurity at Khudoor and Goindwal on the Beas.

To Ram Dass in 158 I succeeded the fit h king.

Arjun . who was imprison ed at Lahore by the Local Goâ&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ rnor, and died in 1660. These were the great days of the Mogul dynasty ; to Baber had succeeded Humayun, "nd to him Akhbur and Shahjehan. Lahore had become the resideoce of Jehangheer, who, occupied in his splendor and cares of state, thought little of the disciples of Nanuk. as he made his anDual progress along the Imperial Road, still marked by the ruined lerai, and the obelisk telling the Imperial Koss, to the passes 0 t

22

Bhimb'Jr, Pinjal and the happy vally of Cashmere . On this road thither Jehanghee. died. and bis body is buried at Sbahduruh over agaiost Lahore on the banks o! .he R;,vee U nder Aurungzeb beean the reign of religious persecution, and, 'as the vigour of th Mahomeu.n Empiru relaxed, the Mahrattas io tb~ SOl!lh and th Sikhs in the North began to raise the standard 01 revolt and the sacred tank at Amritsar became the Centre of a religious and national movement, . at .the head of wbich was Hurgovind, the si.th king or Guru. His son Tegh Babadur, tbe ninth king, was mercilessly behaeaded at Delhi in 1675. ao act never foral.en o. forgoten by the Sikh. , and never thorougl',ly e.pi.ted till 1857, when the SO<hs plundered Delhi under English gl/id.ance. and put an end to the Mogul dynasty. P()ph~cies wero elll'rcmt on tbis subject. and the ge~eral belief was that under a sov~reign named Duleep the Khalsa w:ts 10 take Delbi. . S()m~ . h9W or other the thread of proph<cy was hopelessly entangled, for when the Emperor asked the dying Guru what he wa' looking at so steadfastly I see, said he tbe Lal Kurtie •• wh() arc on tbeir read to Destroy your palace.

Bahadhur Shah, succeeded· Aurungzeb and be rt)et Govind the son and successor of Tegh Bahadur face to face, sl"'red his life, and let him return tn his cOUntry to be the tenth, the· 1.lt. and the greorest prophet and king .

Sad was now the state of these province. amidst i\lvasioD. a~rchy and misrule .

Sovereigns too weak to rule. a poople too strong to submit. religious intolerance; national revenge hounded on by deep sense. of wrpng, and the unnatural energy of a new religiou< organisation. From the Cbcnab to the Sutlej, and beyond that river to the Jumna, the great hearts of tbe people vibrated under a temporary madnC$< . Tbey saw tbeir last prophet abandon his country in despair his wife and his four sons being murdered. and loy down his ,weary life on the banks of the' God avery in 1708. No one suc.cceded him The great office of teacher. or spiritual king. of which Nanuk was rhe first, ended iq Govind . He Came to restore peace to the world, but hil' descendunts bad become a sword. As if the rail of an Empire and the intestine struggles of races. religions. and provinces; were not enough, foreign invasion was n"w added •.

The count ric. beyond the Indus poured forth ber continual swarm (If locusts and these unbappy Provinces became tbe threat .. of war betwixt Ihe Afghans, the Persians, the satraps of Indio ann the distant Mohroltas mingled in the strife. crossed the Beas and occupied Lahore.

No historian , has recorded the mi.eries of those peri<>ds. Rich coulllries situated on the blgway of nations are particulary liable to be tbus viciimized. Sucb wal Jadaeo in the stfuial... of acient days; such are Bel,ium, the Danubian proYin~., and Lombard~, in m<>dern times. The battle of Pani,,"1 had the effect of cleouiog tre atmOlpbere by exbau.ting botb parties.. and tbe grandeur and extent of the conteat then carried on in tbese plains may be imozined, when il is recorded Ihat tbe surviv~ur. 01 Ibat great battle "f tb.e wor14 retired t() Candabar, and Poonah respectively, and it so bappened that the yi ar 1759. precisely one hundred years alo, the inhabitants. of the countries betwi·. t tb.e Cnenab and tb.e Sutlej

23

found, when the dust of tile storm cleared away, that the combatants had retired on both .id.., and thai they were free. That year 1816 Bil<rami accordin, to their reckoning wa. a wonderful year; Illey would like to renew the events of that year on its centenary: they have the Wilh, the daring, and the hop. if we give them the "poo[tunity. It was then that they auembled their solemn Council at the tank of Amritsar, and pro<-eeded to partition the vacant eountry among the twelve camps, and tribes, into which they were divided. They had been the cultivators and owners of the soil; they had tahn to arms, and they now settled down al Lords and petty Chiefs, but not generally in their own immediate neighbourho d, and il oCten happened that a petty shareholder in one of the Majha villages was the feudal chieftain at the same time of a large tract of country, bul he still fondly cherished hi. ancestral property ond village title. The Raia of Nab. still calls himselfChowdry. So exposed to their meroy wa. the country when tbe Mahomedans ren back on either side to Delhi and Peshawur, tbal single horsemen spread far and wide to take pominal possession of as many villages as possible by flinging a bell or a turban into each, and then passing on to annex more.

There is no doubt, however, that rude as was the Government, and uncertain the tenu(e of power, the country recovered itself. Villages were again restored, population increased;the curse of the foreign conqueror, and the tramp of Jarge armies, Were removed. The Chiefs were too weak to be very ryrannical, and their general sympathies were with their subjects, from whom they were but little removed; in education or feeling. They had no forei", support to back them up. on the contrary they had jealous and unscrupulous neighbours wbo Were ready to absorb them Nearly half a century passed away in' thi. way, when the great absorber came in the person of Runjeet Sinib who, like the ogre in the story-book, deliberately ate al~ his petty neighbours one by one. If the Chief had no children, be declared himself the heir; if he had a daug~ter he mJde himself son-in. law; if be had intestine quarrell w;th his children, his brethren, or his wiv es, Runjeet Singh appeared as mediator; if hil neighbours were strong or of the Mahomed"n religion, he deliberately attacked them till they gave in. if they were weak and helpl,,,, he peo'ioned them. Different causes however, gave one and the same result, and hy A.D. 1820 they berame his subjects, and their territories became his Still it WaS all in the name of the great Sikh nation, and the people felt tbemseleves exalted in his aggrandisement. But with his death the great unweJded mass fen to pieces. As it happened to Judae.l which Was for so may. years the prey of ther neighbours the Assyrian and the Egyptian; a great and stern people of whom tltey had known nothing, dwell ing like the Romans in coun tries rar beyond the seas, came suddenly on tbe stage and worked out the mighty programme which had two thousand years before been oketched by Alexander , The rule of the stranger h;.s been gentle (In 1his count y; as we heard a citizen remark, they scarcely felt that tbey were m',ed, f," they miss the scorp;'m rod and the arblt rary impost.

24

They do indeed regret that oxon are slaughtered, and girl-murder punished. Memory doe. ,ild with a romantic halo the good old time of raids and plunder, but as yet they have borne these calamities without rebellion and if we continue to be strong they may continue to bear. The country fell into the hands of a particul .... school who, if they erred, in favour ofth. people-a school greater in politics, th"" in finance; for with one hand they alienated· hroadc.. t ~lie sources of revenue, to keep up a bastard aristocracy and a degarded priesthood, and with Ihe other drew on the reveoue~ of Jndia with a lavish and reckle .. expenditure For a period of tranition this may have beeD a wise policy, aDd it has enabled Us to weather the storm; but for a pormamncy which but for the stern interference of the head of the Governmen ·u of India it would have been, it meant bankruptcy . This was foreseen by that olle man whose name has become a househ old word, and he protested ill lime . Not that he cared not for the people, Dot tbal hi. heart was· not tende r to· the wants and woes of the millions. There was something in the brawny shoulders, and rough manners, and independent bearing of Iho Sikh pcasalltry th.t was congenial to him . If he doctrin.: of Ira",migration were atill believed, , we .might believe tbat he had been in some form or state, or would be ill some future, a Jut yeoman. But he felt th. t after all money is the sinew of the Slate, and, if one quarter of the land ta< is alienated in perpetuity. and another quarter granted away in pensions, insolvency must follows. How that wonderfull feelings of sympat'y for the Ja:;heerdilr the Inamadar and the Pensioner ever came int <) existence, is to us a marvet.

It would not be popul ~r in

England to pay taxes to support of the family of one wll" h.ld done good service (as for instance the Duke of Marlboroush who receives a pension from Ih. Post Office), would the people of England tolerate that on the "tinction of his line, he should adopt others, or will away the State Revenue. Yet this is· the real truth of that great grievance which so vexes Western and Southern India, which by early gathering in our harvest in the North we have practicallv solved .

The extent of land still alienated for life or lives in the Iract under description is enormous Death hal been bu.y ard proved our best ally . Tho rapacious De ewin, who 'attened on the land, has gone to his account; he never rendered a true one in -this world: the wily scribe, who aped the name, and appeamce of porverty while he rolled in wealth, is now poor indeed: the plunderers of province., the haughty dissipated noble, the blood ,tained soldier of fortune, the perjured Rajahs the slayers of ther ."vereigns and their own flesh aad blood fot their ambitious purposes, have all passed away. Their likenesaes still hang round the walls of the museum at Lahare decked with earrings and. lbe insignia of barbaric pomp but their place knows tbem no more. One old man of the court of Runjeet Singh remains -and adventurer from the British provinces, who by fair and fourl, raised bimself to greatness, and sold the Sikh Army to the English at Forozshuhr, for which achievement

25

he is h.nded down as a traitor in .h~ legendary ballads of the people. So entirely has the acene changed in fifteen yean. that those who hav. mown the country for that period startle when they think of it. It .eem. like the tuning of a KaleidoscoPe ~ince tbat brilliant Court glittering in jewels aad .i1ks, stained with every crime human and inhuma!,, ' devoid, of public or private virtue and decency held here its butterfly pomp, ere tbe strong wind from tbe West swept them aWIY. The last days of the.e provinces have been "marked by most uosucceilful mutiny, anll most prodigious massacre. M~tiny appe~n to 'be indigenoUs in the loil; from ' IIi. days tbat Alexander's soldiers mutioed because th<y wislied to relurn to Macedon, and ' 'Theualy, ,t o this pre~ellt hour, when Britons, forgetting theff duty; jeopardize an Empirâ&#x20AC;˘.

At Meean Meer, Mooltao aad S;alkote in our last troubles routinies took place, wbich were met .so pr~m~t1y and p~~isbed .0 terribly, that future bistorians will draw tbeir breath for ,a wbile. ere tbey accept I\S (acts, wba! we know to b. sucb. From Sealkot tbe mutinaera were hurrying across tb~ Ravee and Ih~' Bea., intending to compel other regiinents to join thorn, wben they were met al Trimmoo Ghaul 'on tbe former river by a force 'which mUllt have appeared to them to bave sprung from the ground. They had forded the stream is tbe morning, but after the battl~ the river fought againlt them, ' for it bad swollen ' since ' morning and h~ndrcds were carried aw~y No quarter was given. arid ' for severa) days, after, shooting parties were told ' off e~cb evening t.o dispose of the fugitive. captured during the day. A darker tragedy followed next mpolh, when a regiment' mutioed. aad brQke away fr0111 Meean Meer. They were melon the Ravee captured and destroyed: their destructiQn saved hundred. of lives, and was a stern necessity, tbe occurrence of whicb we must ever regret â&#x20AC;˘ .but, when the precise position of Briti,h affairs in the Punjab i. consid red, there were but two alternatives-to '''terminate them, or 1.0 lubmit t. be exterminated ou'selves , Let those who from a distance ju.ge harslily, con.ider tbe position We wh<', long after passions have been calmed have slood u on tbe mound wbich marks the grave of the Mutineers have arrived at the deep conviction tbat it was merciful disposition of Providence that their career shQuld end tbere, SECTION 4 Of the century of Sikh rule ' here are thre~ M.omorials, which will enable us to from a judgment as to the manner .of men wh.o preceded us in the empire .of those provinces.

All Rre falling into decay, and we trusl that in '. few years they will bave passed away. A few lines on each may not be an inappropriate conclusion. They are tbe Pension Lilt, tli.

Jagbeerdar, and tbe Temple at Amritsur.

Thi. hilS always to tis been a, wonder to cootemplate Iheliberality, the lavish, with which .tbe Apglo-Indian, Qovero;"~nt provided for llie reruse, the deeraded members and followers Qf form~r dynasties and the niggardliness ,hown tQwards their 0100 lervants and public works, Millioos have been sp'enl on the most worthle,s of men : tlie adoplive father

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of Nans Sahib drew more than two millions and his precious ( ou,in in the Banda di<tricl drew two million. beside. It may be urged tltot these r ensions WOfe h,,, ,ily grant ed to r gro" t public obje41ts at a lime when we were not so strong, and that the grants, though upheld, / ..er. diaapproved of. But, when the Punjab WII annexed after fair fight, and when a lready financial difficulties wtte loomin~ in the distance, the same prodigality marked our policy.

We succeeded to a system of the most degr_ded and dissolute . kind and the r~ was no oeemity 10 provide for the atten~ants of suel' a Court . Rut the following are the ki nd uf penon. whose precious existence is provided for without f. il by the paternol Government, while it is borrowing millions, and retrenching the salaries of its own . ervanta: Palanquin bearen, Cbowree wavers, Furashes umlvella Carriers, keepers of the chairs, families of deceased waterpot carriers, barbers, cooks, wives and dauehters of deceased MooDshe.s olave girls, aged courtozans described as favourite concubines of Maharaja Runjeet Singb, lb. daughter of another and the sister of a third equally disreputable, ord unblushingly dO$Cfi~ed as such: relations of the mistress of General Allard; eVfTV kind of pri est, fuqueer, saint, Guru, Brmabi, fortune teller, of many 01 whom the pedigrees have to be preserved, some according to the flesh, as a furasb or waterpo. carrier or cook may be supposed to prepetuate hi' race in the fl ..h; others by the spirit as the â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ intly folk in the end of the list continue, their race by the imposition of Ja Dds. But the particular pension list of the 'family of the Iqte Maharaja is something appalling.

He appears to have had above tWtoty RareC$: some of them were good enough to ascend the funeral pile in hi. companv, SOOle were comforted in his ahsence. They belong to all ~stes and dish iets, and when at Lahore, th¡, y dwelt in little pigeon holts round the famous tower called the Summun Burj. Attached to e"(;h were slave' girls without number poor wretch~d fem.les. who were sold from their homes in thoir yout> , and had no relations or ,ocial position. Twice has the cruel fate of the female slaves of Indi. been forced on our n"tice oooe in the Punjauh when an attempt was made to distribut. ~h. slaves in their respective villages. i' thrir fr iends would take them back . Eight ,,",retched old women were thus consigned to us, not in any way realizing the ideal of the slave of the Harem but on inquiry in their villages, they had .... n forgotten, there WaS no one to rtceive them. ADd the paternal Government has to cherish them from its own resources. 011 another occasion iD central India a mother and ber daughtor hod =aped from tbe walls of the palace of a Nuwaub, and sought our protection. Their names were dem8Dded and their parentage; the elder female had a fatber, hut as to her daughter she stated calmly that she was a 51a ve, and uncertain as to tbe precia. parentage of her child . She was born in the Nuwaub's house. Still sympathy is fell by some for the royal and noble families, as they topple over and their impure interiors are exposed, and in maintaining such establishments as these, more than fOl1Y thousand pounds .terlinl!: per annum are expended yearly at Lahore. Now that tbe iSlarios of Ihe General, and the Judie anel th.

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Itall' Offieer are bein, ~lipped, is it to. much to sUllIest to the finaci,rs of Iudia tbalthe uaiJlllllents and allowances of the fa!lliliM of cook. miJhI bear r_nsideration 1·Al any nta tel tbe lavisb band for the future be stayed; let us be just before we are ,enerous.

0'

The Ja,.rdar is a remnant a former age, a specimen caught alive of a f.nur ,eotoaical INriod. He may havo been useful, and 8 .ource orstrength to former Gonrnmants : he i. Dot s. t. tho Britisb Government, for his very existence i. an anachronilm. He feell that he il an absorbing element, and that th, gnve is gaping for him. Wa han known them during the time of their Empire, when fine Ceathe.. made the'll line birds. their ahsorbing procoss, We have known them durin, the time of their they ara the lowelt type of and in prosperity and adversity to our mindl that &enus, which hal usurped to ils elf in most countries the privilege of preying on the I.bours of .tbers. Utterly devoid of public feeling, of care f.r anybody but thems,lvel, rude, unletlered, low in mind, in acts, and habits tbe dronel of society, their extinction will be hailed by the people and by the Government. About them cluster the prie.t, the bawd, the dangler, the mu.ician the general panderer to the passions. The•• worthies ,ather round their •• nsuous lord to extract money from his 'ears, hi. palsions, and hil gro51 deliahts. EVe' hostile in heart to the great Goyernment under whose shadow he exiltl, hil con prick lip and hi. eyes brighten when he hears of disaster, 'rue or invented . But visit him in hia rural home, in bi. rude plenty, amidst hi. retainers, his caltle and tbe garnered stores of hil pas' harvests, Iislen to his hearty welcome in the ,ateway, his professions of devotion, and hi. patria~.hal manner-but that we know his antecedenls we might ~arry away the impreslion that be was the most charming of old m,n, and wonder at the rude .... ult m1de by narrow· minded politicians at the last oflhe Barons Strange to say the middle classes of England supply the mo.t det" mined cham~i"'n> of the pseudo-ar,stocracy of the East.

0'

The Temple Sri Harimandir : But the great Temple will ever stand forth as the most remarkable MONUMENT of fhe Sikh people . In the heart of the city of II mritsur is Ihe famous tank, from which tbe name is derived, and here centres all t',e natioltl pride and religious fervour · of the people. In the early stru!glcs with the Mahomedans this sacred spot Was more than once defiled by the slaughter of oxen in the hopes of putting-down the nascent faitl), but to no purpose.

No sooner had the storm blown over, than the waters were a,ain consecrated, and again tbe faitbrull assembled. Thither the tribes went up, year after year, 00 their solemn feast days in the spring and the autumn; there they took council in the hour of atHictio", and there they gathered and divided their spoils wheotriumphant.

A vast city has sprung up round about. and commerce, here as elsewhere, has waited &I the handmaid of religion. Tbe Sikh dwelling in villages. nn the occassion of his annual pilgrimage purchased thOse rude luxuries al the fair, and the excitement of pleasure and 28

·iabtseeing, the freedom from restraint, and the .novelty of tlte journey soon added that powerful zest to wbat was originally a duty as a pilgrimage. When Runjeet Singh had ""nverted the great commonwealth into an Empire and centred himself all the wealth and power oftbe nation he affected tbe deepest religious fellings. and rbe greatest enthusiasm for tbe boly place. In tbe centre of the tank rose a gorgeoul temple of marble, the roof and minerals being encased in gilded melal: marhel pavement, fresco paintings added to tbe splendour of the scene, and found tbe outer circle sprung up a succession of stately buildin,s for tbe accommodation of the sovereign and his Court The establishment ofa noble wa. complete . who bad his "bhoollga" at Amritsur.

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Tbe sight from the roof of the royal bhoonga is one of the most imposing in the world. The worship of tbe beatben lies before us in all its glory. We bave stood 0,\ the tower of Fort Antonia at Jerusalem, and tried to conjure up tbe apearance of the Courts of tbe Lord's HOUle in the days of tbe splendour of the Jewish hierarchy . From the roof of. tbe ruined Partbenon we bave looked over the inclosure of the Acropolis. But for neitber olthese ancient temples, nor for the great f:me of Diana at Ephesus, can we imagine a more venerable, brilliant appearance, either the time wbed the Passover, or tbe great Pabathenalc (nliva!, ,atbend the thowds of worshippers within their pom;ls . It is a strange, and , solemn scene, lofty mitiarets itand as sentin<ls on one side; the umbragous foliage of trees lets off the white radiance 01 the marble and the masonry; the rich ~ilding of ·the dom •• is reRected in the Wele,.; pigeons without number fly over Ihe open space; and from telow eomos up a bum of meD and women, bathing and praying. or reverently making the threefold circle or the sanctuary, from tbe interior of whi~h comes fortb the murmur of pintse, chaunting th', sacred volume to accom?anim: nt of stringe1 instruments.

No European shoe is allowed to violate sacred threshold; the visitor must either do so barefooted, or encase his reet in slipp.rs prepared for the purpose. Not a quarter of Century a~o Lord Au;kland, the Governor General of .India, reverently laid bags of asilver as an offering of the British Govert'ment on the holy of holies. When tbe country w~s occupied, the profound .. t respeet was Ibewm to tbe Temple and all cODD:cted with it, and even to this day its affairs are mporintended by Britisb official., wbo take heed that the revenue set apart for tbe r'J'airs of the building are properly expended, and that the olrerings of cakes and cash are fairly d'stri butod among the Iribes of bungry attendanlS, who bave gathered round like vulturel . Tbe.. pe~ple appear to have acquired hereditary rigbt, but tbeir conduct and bearing is tbat of tbe sons of Eli, and eeasing to care for their religious character, or for popular influence tbey vex the local Courts witb tbeir petty squabbles for a fractional sbare of the offerings; and into tbese nauseous details, into tbeir

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disposition of unhollowed things, to which the double meaning of anathema applies; tbe servants of a Christian Government are constrained to enter. Strange names, aDd ,t~. office, thus became familiar. We bave a body of GruDthees, or readers of tbe sacred Gnintb correlpoDding witb Prebends of a Cathedral, except Ihal the principle of bereditary IDccellion ' hal rendered mucb knowledge of the 路 coDtents of the volume unnecessary. Beneath them eome a most disreputable body of acolytes, or minor canons, who ought to perform tho lervice of the Temple the minisl<ring levites, but wbo bave adopted secular habits become moneylenders, extortioners, aDd give" to them title of Poojaree anyting but the odour of sanctity. Beneath tbem come the cboir, or singing men, known as Rageea, who sing hymns and chaunt the text of the sacred volumes in a manner unintelli~ble to the understanding, and unpleasing to the hearing. These are .11 Sikhs, and may at least bave tbe credit of believing wbat they practise, but there j . a fourth body, who are composed entirely of Mahomedans and who still are nol ashamed to lend tbeir vocal powers to th, service of the heathen . The.e compose the orche,tra, and extract inharmonious sounds by sweeping the string's of fat-bellied barbytonl. called Rubabs, whence they are called RUbabees. These men claim to themselves the ' hononr pf being de.cended from that Murdhana who accompained Nanuk in his travels. Like theil:.ancestor, they are a hungry Jot.

,

a.

Such is the great 路 Templ~ of the Sikhs, protected and endoww by the paternal Government, the centre of the hopes and aspirations of a great people, and which may some day prove the rallying point of our enemies . Leave it to itself and withdraw from it the patronage of the State, resume the lands set aside for the support of tbe brotherhood of G~unthee., Poojarees, Ragees. and Ru'.abees, and the splendo>T of the institution will pass away. The gilded do."e will lose its lustre, the marble walls will fall out of repair, The groat Temple, with its assigned rovonues and its .tatelv eltablishments, will no longer be a snare for the vulgar. who 路1路e ever d'Joived by outward show. To act thus w<)u 'd be to act impartially, and in accordance witb the tru, principles of non-interrerence. No nccoslitiel of State policy appear to justify the contrary policy. Nor do these necessities exist . .

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