 Har Gobind, became the sixth guru of the Sikhs. He carried two swords—one for spiritual and the other for temporal reasons. Sikhs grew as an organised community and always had a trained fighting force to defend their independence. In 1644, Har Rai became guru followed by Har Krishan, the boy guru, in 1661. No hymns composed by these three gurus are included in the Sikh holy book.
Tegh Bahadur became guru in 1665 and led the Sikhs until 1675. Teg Bahadur was executed by Aurangzeb for helping to protect Hindus, after a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits came to him for help when the Emperor condemned them to death for failing to convert to Islam. He was succeeded by his son, Gobind Rai who was just nine years old at the time of his father's death. Gobind Rai further militarised his followers, and was baptised when he formed the Khalsa in 1699. From here on in he was known as Gobind Singh.
From the time of Nanak, when it was a loose collection of followers who focused entirely on the attainment of salvation and God, the Sikh community had significantly transformed. Even though the core Sikh religious philosophy was never affected, the followers now began to develop a political identity. Conflict with Mughal authorities escalated during the lifetime of Teg Bahadur and Gobind Singh. The latter founded the Khalsa in 1699. The Khalsa is a disciplined community that combines its religious purpose and goals with political and military duties.
Shortly before his death, Gobind Singh ordered that the Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh Holy Scripture), would be the ultimate spiritual authority for the Sikhs and temporal authority would be vested in the Khalsa Panth. The first scripture was compiled and edited by the fifth guru, Arjan Dev, in 1604.
After the guru's death, Banda Bahadur became the leader of the Sikh army and was responsible for several attacks on the Mughal empire. He was executed by the emperor Jahandar Shah after refusing the offer of a pardon if he converted to Islam.
The Sikh community's embrace of military and political organisation made it a considerable regional force in medieval India and it continued to evolve after the demise of the gurus. After the death of Banda Bahadur, a Sikh Confederacy of Sikh warrior bands known as misls formed. With the decline of the Mughal empire, a Sikh Empire arose in the Punjab under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, with its capital in Lahore and limits reaching the Khyber Pass and the borders of China. The order, traditions and discipline developed over centuries culminated at the time of Ranjit Singh to give rise to the common religious and social identity that the term "Sikhism" describes.
After the death of Ranjit Singh, the Sikh Empire fell into disorder and was eventually annexed by Britain after the hard fought Anglo-Sikh Wars. This brought the Punjab under British Raj. Sikhs formed the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and the Shiromani Akali Dal to preserve Sikhs religious and political organization quarter of a century later after that.
Scripture
There are two primary sources of scripture for the Sikhs: the Guru Granth Sahib and the Dasam Granth. The Guru Granth Sahib may be referred to as the Adi Granth—literally, The First Volume. The Adi Granth refers to the version of the scripture created by Arjan Dev in 1604. The Guru Granth Sahib refers to the final version of the scripture created by Gobind Singh. |
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