1 n,A
2 32 A Short History of the Sikhs.
3 seen clearly that it was impossible to preserve his
4 followers without the aid of arms ; and his last in-
5 junction to his son and successor, Har Govind, was
6 to sit fully armed on his throne, and to maintain the
7 largest military force he could muster.
8 Har Govind was well qualified to carry out his
9 father's instructions. He was by nature more of
10 a soldier than a priest, and he burned to avenge
11 his father's death. He infused his military ardour
12 into his disciples, and soon had a formidable body of
13 fighting men at his command. At times he found it
14 expedient to place his force at the service of the
15 emperor; but his general attitude towards the
16 Moghuls of the Lahore province was one of uncom-
17 "" f \*fa Promismg hostility. He was frequently in collision
18 j/* with the imperial troops, and on most occasions had
19 the better of the encounter. So much did his royal
20 state and military array alarm Jahangir that he was
21 seized and imprisoned in the Gwalior fortress ; and
22 • though he managed to obtain his release, he died
23 almost immediately afterwards.
24 Of the three succeeding gurus there is little to
25 record. Their names were Har Rai, Har Krishen,
26 and Teg Bahadur ; and their lives cover a period of
27 thirty years, from 1645 to 1675, during which the
28 hostility of the Moghuls continued unabated. When,
29 in 1658, Aurangzeb ascended the throne he lost no
30 opportunity of persecuting the gurus and their war-
31 like disciples. Finally he seized Teg Bahadur, and
32 caused him to be cruelly executed for refusing to
33 embrace the faith of Islam.
34 Govind Singh, the tenth and last of the gurus,