The early religion of Sikhism was led by a succession of 10 Gurus.*
The Mughals executed the ninth of those Gurus on this date in 1674.
Guru Tegh Bahadur (the name means “Hero of the Sword” and was earned in youthful battles against those same Mughals) was acclaimed above 20-odd other aspirants after the previous Guru died saying only that the next guy was in the village of Bakala.
Guru from 1664, he’s noted for founding the holy city of Anandpur Sahib in Punjab. And it was his lot to lead a minority faith during the reign of the Aurangzeb, an emperor notorious to posterity for religious dogmatism.
He’s known best as a persecutor of Hindus: knocking over temples to throw up mosques, forcing conversions, and implementing sharia. But Aurangzeb knew how to get after all kinds.
Considering the going sectarian tension between Hindu and Muslim in the environs, there’s a good deal of touchy historical debate over just how to characterize Aurangzeb’s policies. This site is entirely unqualified to contribute to that conversation but suffice to say it was not an ideal moment to adhere to an alternate faith.
The circumstances of Guru Tegh Bahadur’s capture, and his subsequent execution in Delhi, are similarly obscured by hagiography. Aurangzeb, who spent his reign at virtually continual war, must surely have seen in the Guru’s capital city — which also welcomed Hindu refugees fleeing the Mughals’ abrogation of their rites — a nest of rebellion. Putting its leader to death when he too refused conversion would have been right in character; no less understandable is the Guru’s remembrance as a martyr to religious liberty, and not only the liberty of Sikhs but Hindus, Buddhists, and any other comers.
Tegh Bahadur’s nine-year-old son Gobind Singh succeeded as the tenth and last Guru. It was he who laid down the “Five Ks” — five articles that a faithful Sikh should wear at all times. Thanks to the parlous state of security vis-a-vis the Mughals, one of those items is the Kirpan, a dagger or small sword that continues to vex airline security agents down to the present day.
* Ten human Gurus: the tenth passed succession to the perpetual “Guru Panth” (the entire community of Sikhs) and “Guru Granth Sahib” (a sacred text).
On this day..
- 2009: Ehsan Fatahian, Iranian Kurdish activist
- 1919: Wesley Everest lynched during the Centralia Massacre
- 1779: Robert Young
- 1942: Ernst Schrämli, Swiss traitor
- 1807: Ephraim Blackburn, low roller
- 1954: Karli Bandelow and Ewald Misera, in the Gehlen-Prozess
- 1806: Fra Diavolo, royalist guerrilla
- 1328: Na Prous Boneta, Beguine heresiarch
- 1880: Ned Kelly
- 1761: John Perrott, bankrupt debtor
- 1909: Will James, "the Froggie", lynched in Cairo
- 1887: Parsons, Spies, Fischer and Engel, the Haymarket Martyrs
- 1831: Nat Turner