1 64 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 injunction of Nanac, to eat and to give others to eat,
3 next receive the salutation of the assembly, who then
4 rise, and the Acalis pray aloud, while the musicians
5 play. The Acalis, when the prayers are finished,
6 desire the council to be seated. They sit down, and
7 the cakes being uncovered, are eaten by all classes of
8 Sikhs : those distinctions of original tribes, which are,
9 on other occasions, kept up, being on this occasion
10 laid aside, in token of their general and complete
11 union in one cause. The Acalis then exclaim,
12 1 Sirdars ! (chiefs) this is a Giirumata ! ' after which
13 prayers are again said aloud. The chiefs after this
14 sit closer, and say to each other : ' The sacred Grant'h
15 is betwixt us, let us swear by our scriptures to forget
16 all internal disputes, and to be united.' This moment
17 of religious fervour and ardent patriotism is taken to
18 reconcile all animosities. They then proceed to con-
19 sider the danger with which they are threatened, to
20 settle the best plans for averting it, and to choose
21 the generals who are to lead them against the
22 common enemy. The first Giirumata was assembled
23 by Guru Govind : and the latest was called in 1805,
24 when the British army pursued Holkar into the
25 Penjab." x
26 Primitive though this form of government was,
27 it had, nevertheless, served to hold the Sikhs
28 together so long as they were called upon to face
29 a common enemy. Whilst Moghul and Mahratta
30 threatened the existence of the Khalsa, the sirdars,
31 as a matter of course, fought shoulder to shoulder
32 in its defence. But the moment that danger from
33 1 Sketch of the Sikhs, by Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm, p. 120-3.