[balti]

After Aurangzeb's 1669 order to demolish non-Muslim temples and schools, a Sikh temple at Buriya was replaced by a mosque, which the Sikhs then demolished. Tegh Bahadur in the Punjab encouraged the Sikhs to withstand these persecutions. The Emperor visited the Punjab in 1674, and his officials forced many people to convert to Islam. Kashmiri leaders appealed to Tegh Bahadur, who courageously moved into Mughal territory and advised them to announce they would convert to Islam only after he did. Aurangzeb had Tegh Bahadur arrested and taken to Delhi with five disciples. The Guru refused to perform a miracle or convert to Islam. Two disciples escaped, and the other three were tortured to death; one was sawed in two, another was boiled in oil, and the third was cut in pieces. Tegh Bahadur remained firm and offered the miracle of his sacrifice, saying that paper around his neck would not be cut by a sword; so without torture he was beheaded on November 11, 1675.

Tegh Bahadur's son, Guru Gobind Singh, made major changes in Sikh traditions during their struggles with the Mughal government. He received both a literary and military education, and he was fond of hunting wild boar. When Sikhs visited him annually, Makhowal became an armed camp. The Kahlur chief complained, and Guru Gobind Singh moved to Sirmur near the border of Garhwal. In 1688 the Garhwal invaded Sirmur, and the Sikhs helped win the bloody battle at Bhangani. The next year Guru Gobind Singh returned to Makhowal and founded Anandpur with better defenses; only those who had fought at Bhangani were allowed to live there. He also fought for Kahlur chief Bhim Chand when he refused to pay tribute to the Mughals; but after the victory when Chand agreed to pay the tribute, the Sikhs plundered one of his villages. The Sikhs at Anandpur deterred Mughal attacks, which were diverted into a campaign against the rebel chiefs in the hills during the mid-1690s. Meanwhile Guru Gobind Singh was in contact with Sikh sangats (groups), who were encouraged to send him money, supplies, and weapons.

In 1698 the Sikhs spent six months celebrating the Durga Ashtami festival and Durga's destruction of evil-doers. On the first day of a new year (March 30, 1699) to an assembly of thousands Guru Gobind Singh proclaimed the creation of a new nation. He exhorted the people to destroy their enemies and praised the sword as divine. He called for sacrifice, and one by one five volunteers went into a tent with him. He returned each time with a bloody sword, but goat's blood had been used. The five "beloved ones" were called the Khalsa. The five letters stood for oneself, God, devotion, master, and freedom. The five Ks that Sikhs were to keep at all times are kesh (long hair), kangha (comb), kirpan (sword), kara (steel bracelet), and kachcha (pants). The five Khalsa vows are to refrain from the following: cutting hair or beard, smoking tobacco, eating meat, wearing a cap, and worshiping tombs or relics. The five deliverances promised to disciples are from previous religious practices, past bad deeds, caste requirements, hereditary professions, and caste rituals. The five Sikh rules of conduct he laid down are prayer, helping one another, practicing riding and use of arms, not coveting another's property, and making love only to one's wife. Guru Gobind Singh urged every Sikh to fight against cruelty and tyranny and to help the poor and protect the weak. The Sikh offices of masands (priests in districts) were abolished, and those resisting this were punished or fined. Gobind Singh urged Hindu princes to become Sikhs and challenge the Mughals who abused their daughters.

Thus the Sikhs took up the sword. The Delhi viceroy sent 10,000 men under generals Paindah Khan and Din Beg to Anandpur. Paindah Khan was killed, and the hill rajas fled. In 1700 the Sikhs were defeated at Anandpur and retreated to Bhadsali. By 1704 Anandpur had been besieged five times. Lack of provisions and desertions led to a negotiated evacuation on December 21, but amid a rainstorm the imperial army captured the departing Sikhs and forced them to convert. Guru Gobind Singh and his two older sons escaped with forty followers, but they were besieged at Chamkaur. After the attack killed most of the Sikhs and Gobind's two older sons, the five remaining Sikhs ordered the Guru to flee. Disguised in Mughal uniforms, he and three disciples escaped. In a village Gobind Singh changed into the blue clothes of a Sufi. The Guru's two younger sons refused to convert and were beheaded on December 27, 1704.

The Guru fled 1500 miles and replied to a summons from Aurangzeb that because of his persecutions it was lawful to take up the sword. At Talwandi he completed the Adi Granth by adding 116 hymns composed by his father Tegh Bahadur. There he received another letter from the Emperor and decided to return; but Aurangzeb died on March 3, 1707. The Guru asked his successor Bahadur Shah to punish Vazir Khan for having executed his young sons; the new Emperor postponed this but invited him to reside at Agra with an allowance. Guru Gobind Singh stayed a year with Banda Bahadur, who went to the Punjab to chastise Vazir Khan of Sirhind. Vazir Khan sent two boys who stabbed the Guru, and he died of his wounds on October 7, 1708. Having no surviving children and wanting to avoid feuds, before he died, he declared that the Khalsa was to care for God and that the Adi Granth was to be their guide.