1 But keeps Ram Rat
2 the Guru's son as host-
3 age at his Court,
4 Death of Har Rai,
5 1660,
6 Harkishan succeeds,
7 1661,
8 1s summoned to
9 Delhi,
10 .
11 Dies, 1664,
12 Dispute regarding
13 the succe:sion.
14 Makhan Shah sup-
15 ports the cause of
16 Tegh Bahadur,
17 Who succeeds as the
18 ninth Guru of the
19 ikhs,
20 258 HISTORY OF THE PANJAD.
21 be excused. He made Rdm Rai, his eldest son, the bearer of this letter to the
22 Imperial Court. ~ ;
23 Aurangzeb was quite satisfied on receiving this letter, and remarked ;
24 “There is no doubt of Har Rai’s being a mere faqir,” but he kept Rém Rai at
25 his court, as a hostage, and treated hin with distinction.
26 After a reign of thirty-three years and six months, Har Rai died in tran-
27 quillity at Kartarpur, in 1661.
28 8.—GURU HARKISHAN.
29 Har Rai had two sons, Rém Rai and Harkishan. The former, about
30 fifteen years of age, was detained as a hostage in the imperial Court at Delhi.
31 Being the offspring of a handmaid, and not of a wife of equal rank, and
32 being, moreover, not liked by his father on account of his independence of
33 character, he being in the habit of making his own disciples, his father
34 invariably made it a rule to‘speak of Harkishan, his younger son, in public,
35 as his apostolic successor, though at the time he was a minor about six
36 years of age. The news reaching the youthful Rim Rai, at Delhi, he was
37 greatly exasperated. A violent contest arose among the Sikhs regarding the
38 succession, and the question was referred to the arbitration of the Moghal
39 emperor, who issued a mandate to Harkishan to repair to Delhi without delay.
40 The infant apostle reached Delhi, attended by a numerous retinue, and put
41 up in a serai. He was taken to his majesty’s zendné as an object of curiosity,
42 and the emperor tested his intelligence and character by asking the boy ‘to
43 recognize the empress among a number of ladies, who were similarly arrayed.
44 The boy pointed out the empress with his finger, and his majesty, pleased
45 with his sagacity, declared his right to succeed to the office of Guru to be in-
46 disputable. The infant Guru was, however, attacked by small-pox, and died
47 on 14th March, 1664, at Delhi, where a tomb was erected to him.
48 When Harkishan was on his deathbed at Delhi, the disciples asked him
49 who should be their spiritual leader after him. The Guru paused for some
50 time, and then, bowing his head before five pice and a cocoanut which he
51 placed on the ground, said: “Go; your Guru is in the village Bakdla, near
52 Govindwal, on the Bids.” There Tegh Bahadur, with his mother, lived, as
53 also several followers and relations of Guru Har Govind, who had been left
54 there on the latter’s way to the hills. -
55 9—GURU TEGH BAHADUR.
56 After the death of Harkishan, dissensions arose among the Sikhs as to the
57 succession to the office of Sat Guru, or spiritual leader. Tegh Bahadur, son of
58 Har Govind, after a long stay at Patna and many wanderings, had established
59 himselfat Bakdld, near Govindwal, where two factions arose, one supporting
60 the claims of Tegh Bahadur, according to the will of the last Guru, and the
61 other supporting the faction of the Sodhis, who had set up a Guru of their own.
62 Rém Rai, the nephew of Tegh Bahadur, remained at Delhi and aspired to the
63 Guruship. Makhan Shah, an apostle of Har Govind, who was at this time living
64 at Delhi, and exercised considerable influence over the Sikh community, sup-
65 ported the cause of Tegh Bahadur. .' He’ left Delhi for Bakdla, where he was
66 surrounded by ‘all the Sikhs and the Sodhis. ‘He carried his presents to Tegh
67 Bahadur, who was unwilling {o"receive them, and said: “ Give them to one
68 who isaking.” At length Teg\h-Bahadur was-prevailed upon by his mother
69 and Makhan Shah to ascend the,yudiz'of the Gurus. The arms left with his
70 mother were now delivered to him. The -Guru ‘said ‘he was unworthy
71 Sri Satgtfu JSR SHH TRERRAA ® 88d on SrfanerichBrayergmeieAaed thom