1 A. D. 174:3. THE SIKHS GROW FORMIDABLE. 3
2 /
3 that religion. The long hair on the head, and flowing
4 beard, the entire renunciation of tobacco, and the use
5 of the audible salutation of " Wah Gooroo-jee ke futeh"
6 (victory to Gooroo jee,) proclaimed that the ploughshare
7 had been exchanged for the avenger's sword, and that
8 the maxims and precepts of the grunth of GooROO
9 GoviND had prevailed over the more peaceable doc-
10 trines of the vedas and shastras of pure Hindooism.
11 The spirit of the revived sect displayed itself at first
12 in secret association and isolated acts of depredation.
13 Bodies of armed men, in tens and twenties, called
14 Dharicee in the dialect of the province, that is, high-
15 waymen, infested the routes of communication, attacked
16 villages or plundered in towns, according as their local
17 connections invited to either mode of seeking wealth or
18 the means of support. The early neglect of the ruling
19 authority enabled the associations to prosper, and the
20 most successful chiefs purchased horses with the proceeds
21 of their spoil, and mounted and armed their followers.
22 Their example and success made the cause popular with
23 the young and adventurous, so that the number who took
24 to these courses augmented daily, until the chiefs formed
25 their respective dehras or encampments in open defiance
26 of the ruling authority, and sought celebrity by bold and
27 hardy enterprizes, which gave security in the awe they
28 inspired, while the wealth and reputation resulting
29 afforded the means of further strengthening themselves.
30 The distractions of the Moghul empire, and the intrigues
31 and imbecilities of the vice-regal court at Labor, gave
32 encouragement to the system pursued, not only hv the
33 neglect to punish, but by the occasional availment of
34 the services of individual chiefs, so that many of them
35 / assumed an organized martial appearance, and not content
36 A 2