A history of the Sikhs, from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej.

CHAP. III SIKH GURUS; HAR RAI

61

two sons, one of whom succeeded to the apostleship.' Har 1645-61.
Rai, the new Guru, remained at Kiratpur for a time, until
the march of troops to reduce the Kahlur Raja to obedience
induced him to remove eastward into the district of Sarmor.2
There he also remained in peace until he was induced, in
1658-9, to take part, of a nature not distinctly laid down, Becomes a
with Dara Shikoh, in the struggle between him and his political
partisan.
brothers for the empire of India. Dara failed, his adherents
became rebels, and Har Rai had to surrender his elder son
as a hostage. The youth was treated with distinction and
soon released, and the favour of the politic Aurangzeb is
believed to have roused the jealousy of the father.3 But
the end of Har Rai was at hand, and he died at Kiratpur in Dies A.D.
the year 1661.4 His ministry was mild, yet such as won 1661
1 For some allusions to Gurdit or Gurditta, see the Dabisttn, ii. 281,
282. His memory is yet fondly preserved, and many anecdotes are
current of his personal strength and dexterity. His tomb is at
Kiratpur, on the Sutlej, and it has now become a place of pilgrimage.
In connexion with his death, a story is told, which at least serves to
mark the aversion of the Sikh teachers to claim the obedience of the
multitude by an assumption of miraculous powers. Gurditta had
raised a slaughtered cow to life, on the prayer, some say, of a poor
man the owner, and his father was displeased that he should so endeavour to glorify himself. Gurditta said that as a life was required
by God, and as he had withheld one, he would yield his own; whereupon he lay down and gave up his spirit. A similar story is told of
Atal Rai, the youngest son of Har Gobind, who had raised the child
of a sorrowing widow to life. His father reproved him, saying,
Gurus should display their powers in purity of doctrine and holiness
of living. The youth, or child as some say, replied as Gurditta had
done, and died. His tomb is in Amritsar, and is likewise a place
deemed sacred.
Gurditta's younger son was named Dhirmal, and his descendants
are still to be found at Kartarpur, in the Jullundur Doab.
2 See the Dabistdn, ii. 282. The place meant seems to be Taksal or
Tangsal, near the present British station of Kasauli to the northward
of Ambala.
The important work of Muhsin Fani brings down the history of the
Sikhs to this point only.
3 The Guru's leaning towards Dara is given on the authority of
native accounts only, but it is highly probable in itself, considering
Dara's personal character and religious principles.
4 The authorities mostly agree as to the date of Har Rai's death,
but one account places it in A. D. 1662. The Guru's birth is differently
placed in 1628 and 1629.