Author: Vaidehi Nathan
Publication: Organiser
Date: November 14, 2004
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=50&page=3
He made the supreme sacrifice for
the sake of the men of faith. He gave his head but uttered not a groan.
He did the deed to uphold the Dharma.
This is how Guru Gobind Singh described
the supreme sacrifice by his father Guru Tegh Bahadur, for the cause of
the Hindus of Kashmir. The date was 1675.
Aurangzeb was then the ruler. He
was eager to convert the entire land of Hindustan into a land of Islam.
He set about it in a methodical manner. After banning Hindu festivals in
places of worship and in public, he turned his eyes on the Hindu centres
of learning and spiritual power. Kashmir, Kurukshetra, Kashi and Haridwar
came in the first list. The Brahmins in Kashmir were his chief targets.
Aurangzeb encouraged his Governor
in Kashmir, Iftikhar Khan, to use all means to en masse convert the Brahmins.
This he said would set the trend
for others to follow. Khan enticed the Pandits with money, land and government
positions. When they did not agree, he threatened them, jailed them and
promised release only if they converted to Islam. When this too did not
work, with the approval and at the instance of Aurangzeb, he started killing
the Kashmiri Brahmins. There are accounts of the piled up sacred threads
of the killed Pandits. For centuries, the Kashmiri Hindus had been pursuing
only religious and spiritual studies and had next to nothing in terms of
physical training to defend and attack.
The Pandits, in a group, went to
Amarnath, to seek Lord Mahadev's help. At Amarnath, one of the Pandits
had a dream in which Shiva directed them to go to Punjab and seek the help
of Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru. In accordance with the Divine direction,
they went to Punjab. They met Guru Tegh Bahadur in May 1675, at Anandpur.
The head of the Kashmiri Pandit's delegation was Kripa Ram Dutt of Mattan.
They related to the Guru their woes.
The Guru assured them that he would do all he could to save them. Then
he was in a pensive mood. His son Guru Gobind, who was only nine then,
asked his father the reason for his pensive mood. The father explained
to the son that the country was facing a situation of hardship as the non-Muslims
were being tortured and forced to embrace Islam. When the son asked him
what was the solution, Guru Tegh Bahadur said the remedy lay in the supreme
sacrifice by a truly worthy person. Hearing this, as if speaking under
a spell, the son asked, "Who is worthier than you, Father?" This spontaneous
reply confirmed the resolution of Guru Tegh Bahadur, who had already thought
along those lines.
He sent word to Aurangzeb through
the Kashmiri Pandits that they would all convert to Islam if Guru Tegh
Bahadur embraced Islam.
Word reached Aurangzeb. He issued
orders to arrest Guru Tegh Bahadur and present him at his court. Meanwhile,
the Guru sought the blessings of God to bestow upon him the glory of martyrdom
and then he set out to Delhi. He was arrested and taken to Delhi, where
he was jailed and tortured. The physical harm caused to him cannot be described.
Then Aurangzeb told him to perform some miracle, so that he may be released.
The Guru refused, saying he would not interfere with the Divine will.
As an ultimate test of his limits
of tolerance, the Guru's devoted follower Mati Das was tied between two
pillars and his body was sawed into two, head downwards. The Guru's resolve
was unmoved; no, he would not give up his faith and embrace Islam.
Guru Tegh Bahadur was produced in
the court of Aurangzeb twice. The first time he told Aurangzeb, "If God
wishes that there should be only one religion Islam, nobody would be born
a non-Muslim, and that is not the case. You are violating the orders of
the Almighty and as a consequence you shall rot in hell. Can you ask your
ears to do the job of the eyes and the mouth to do the job of the nose?
If you can do that, then convert Hindus to Islam. Why should we renounce
the Divine path and accept man-made religion and pave our way to hell?"
This obviously would have enraged Aurangzeb.
Within a week of the first appearance,
Guru Tegh Bahadur was brought to the court a second time, on November 11,
1675. Aurangzeb gave him a choice, one last time-Islam or the sword. The
Guru said clearly, categorically, "I will not convert to Islam." As was
the practice of the rulers of those days, the Guru was to be executed in
public. He sat at the very spot where his disciples Bhai Mati Das, Bhai
Dyala (thrown in a cauldron of boiling water) and Bhai Sati Das (wrapped
in cotton wool and burnt) had been slain the previous day. There was great
composure on his face. He was absorbed in prayer. It is at this very spot
that Gurdwara Shishganj stands. His son, and tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh
wrote in his Bachitra Natak that he laid down his life for the sake of
Dharma; he sacrificed his life but not his ideal. Sar kati par sar na jhuki.
More than 325 years later, the blood-thirst
in Kashmir has not been satiated. How much more will it take?
Sources: Bachitra Natak by Guru
Gobind Singh, A History of Kashmir by P.N. Kaul Bamzai, Martyrdom of Guru
Tegh Bahadur by Surjit Singh Chawla.
