Guru Govind Singh After the death of Tegh Bahadur, Govind Singh succeeded to the Guruship. Being surrounded on all sides by enemies, the new Guru retreated to the mountains. He became skillfull in archery, and acquired good knowledge of Persian and Hindi, and was educated in poetry and philosophy. Spending most of his early manhood in seclusion, at the age of 35, be embarked on his great enterprise, that of abolishing the distinctions of caste among Hindus; of admitting converts from all tribes; of arming the whole population; and of making equality a fundamental principle of his sect. Henceforward a new leaf opens in the history of the Sikhs, who strove to mae itself prominent in the world by deeds of valour and patriotism which make nations great and glorious. Awakening his countrymen to a new and noble life, he blended the undaunted courage of a soldier with the enthusiasm of the devotee.

The Khalsa In 1699 Guru Gobind Singh invited all followers to a fair at Anandpur where he asked if anyone was willing to die to prove their faith in him. One by one, five Sikhs entered his tent. Each time, the Guru came out with his sword wet with blood. When the crowd thought they were all dead, he revealed the Panj Pyare, the five beloved ones, alive. The Guru then exclaimed: the Khalsa arosed from the Guru and the Guru from the Khalsa, meaning that they are the mutual protectors of each other. All the rest of the disciples were similarly inaugurated, and the men were declared Singhs, meaning lions, and the women as Kaur, meaning princess. He also declared that the true disciple will always be with the following 5 things, namely kangi (comb), kachh (breeches reaching to the knee), kard (knife), kes (long hair of the head), and kirpan (sword). He turned his followers into a courages, brave, and devoted group.

Abolishment of Caste The Guru now embarked on abolishing the distinctions of caste, trying to bring all people, without distinction of race or descent, to the adoration of that Supreme Being before whom all, he argued, were equal. He gathered 80,000 Sikhs to Makhowal, commenced by praising the invisible, omnipotent God, and claimed that: there must be no caste among you, and you must all be equal, no man greater than the other, everyone become all one color. He claimed that all must eat at the same table, and drink from the same cup; caste must be forgotten; the idols destroyed; the Brahman's thread broken. He claimed that all were allowed to offer prayers and hear the Granth of the great Nanak.

Battles Against Mahomedians He organized his followers into troops, to protect themselves against Mahomedian aggression. The Guru allied himself with various Hindu kings, who refused to pay tribute to the imperial treasury. This caused some anxiety to the Mahomedan government, and Aurangzeb sent an army against the Guru in 1701. The Guru was defeated, and the Mahomedan eventually captured two very young sons of the Guru, and had the minors tortured to death. The king eventually murdered the rest of the Gurus children, as well as his mother. The Guru and his army retreated, where they were continously pursued by the imperial government. Towards the end of the reign of Aurangzeb, the Guru lived a peace in Anandapur. But the king, very anxious about him, issued a mandate summoning the Guru to his presence. When the messanger arrived to the Guru, the Guru treated the messenger with great respect. At that point, he composed a poem in the Persian language, comprising fourteen hundred stanzas, called the Zafarnama, explaining all the wrongs done by the emperor to the helpless and the oppressed.

Death of Guru Gobind Singh In 1708, there was an assasination attempt against the Guru from the Mahomedian government; the Guru was stabbed and wounded. Afterwards, the Guru and his followers travelled to the south for change of air and refreshment. He stopped in the town of Nadar, and told his followers his death was approaching, and as medicine, the followers should distribute alms to the poor. The Sikhs wept in sorrow seeing the end coming soon for the Guru, and they asked him who will be the next Guru. The Guru replied that: I entrust my Khalsa to the bosom of the everlasting divine being. Whoever wishes to behold the Guru, let him offer karah parshad and bow before the Granth and open it, and he shall have an interview with the Guru. Whatever yo will ask shall be given to you. The Granth shall support you under all your troubles and adversities in this world. To summerize, the Guru claimed the Granth, the Sikh scriptures, to be the last Guru of the Sikhs. He then closed his eyes and began to pray, and eventually died, at the age of 48, in Sambat, on the banks of Godavari, in 1708.

Legacy and Character of Guru Govind Singh Historians agree in eulogizing the great merits of Guru Govind Singh. In him were united the qualities of a religious leader and a warrior. He was the right man for the needs of the time. The Adi Granth of Nanak was confined to instilling a spirit of meekness and humility. But a crisis was now at hand, Govind percieved that times have changed, and consequently was determined to keep pace with them. The Guru infused a spirit of valour and emulation, with zeal for deeds of heroism and bravery in the field. He placed all sects of Hindus on the same level, and declared that none was greater than the other. He did not modify the Granth, but rather wrote his own, the Dasam Granth, being the great writer and scholar that he was. He had a contempt for wealth, as he refrained from wearing or living a life of materialistic attributes.