1 34 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 It was no part of Guru Govind's object to displace
3 the teaching of Nanak, but rather to adapt it to the
4 new needs of his people. His desire was to see his
5 sikhs more completely separated from the Hindus
6 than had hitherto been the case ; to disconnect their
7 outside sympathies, and to instil into them the spirit
8 of nationality,.) One of the main obstacles to the
9 realization of this desire was the caste system, and
10 in dealing with it he went a step farther than Nanak.
11 The latter, though he had denounced caste distinctions,
12 had never actually forbidden their observance by his
13 followers, many of whom laid as much stress on them
14 as the Hindus themselves. The Brahmin Sikh con-
15 tinued to wear the triple thread, the Rajput con-
16 tinued to consider himself the superior of the
17 Khatri, and the Khatri continued to look down
18 , upon the whole Sudra community. Govind took the
19 bull by the horns. He not only reaffirmed the
20 absolute equality of every Sikh in the eyes of God,
21 but he altogether prohibited the observance of caste
22 distinctions within the Khalsa. This action gave
23 great offence to those who claimed to be of higH
24 caste, and not a few Brahmin Sikhs preferred to
25 leave the community rather than discard the sacred
26 thread. But their loss was more than compensated
27 by the large numbers of the humbler classes who
28 now took the pahul, to whom the doctrine of social
29 equality was as attractive as it was distasteful to the
30 Brahmin or the Rajput.
31 Like Nanak, Govind attached the utmost im-
32 portance to purity of life ; but on a level with it
33 he placed brave deeds and devotion to the Sikh