1 Early Struggles of the Kh^lsa. 47
2 to the mountains, and for a generation their history
3 is a blank.
4 But the mission of Govind Singh had not failed.
5 Scattered and disorganized though they were, without
6 a leader, without a square yard of land they could
7 call their own, the Sikhs were nearer to nationality
8 at this time than they had ever been. Hardship
9 and persecution had served only to strengthen their
10 attachment to their faith, and to draw them into
11 yet closer unity. They now regarded themselves ~*
12 as a distinct people. They believed in their destiny
13 as foretold by Govind Singh, and the one determina-
14 tion from which they never swerved was to struggle
15 unceasingly for the triumph of the Khalsa. Branded
16 as outlaws, the hand of every man against them,
17 they divided themselves into bands, each under its
18 own leader, but all ready to combine in case of
19 necessity under a common head. These bands
20 moved rapidly from place to place, plundering vil-
21 lages, levying black-mail, and driving off flocks and
22 herds to their mountain fastnesses, where none dared
23 follow them. Gradually their resources and their
24 numbers increased, and they awaited only a favour-
25 able opportunity to re-establish themselves in the
26 lands and strongholds from which they had been
27 ousted. The state of the Moghul empire at this time
28 was altogether favourable to their plans and mode
29 of life. The bigotry of Aurangzeb and the incom-
30 petence of his successors K had reduced the court at
31 Delhi to complete prostration. The authority of the
32 emperor hardly reached beyond the walls of his
33 capital. On every side governors and viceroys