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

CHAP. nI SIKHISM: RECAPITULATION

89

The memory of Banda is not held in much esteem by the 1708-16.
Sikhs; he appears to have been of a gloomy disposition, and The views
he was obeyed as anr energetic and daring leader, without of Banda
being able to engage the personal sympathies of his followers. confined
and his
He did not perhaps comprehend the general nature of memory
Nanak's and Gobind's reforms; the spirit of sectarianism not
revered.
possessed him, and he endeavoured to introduce changes
into the modes and practices enjoined by these teachers,
which should be more in accordance with his own ascetic
and Hindu notions. These unwise innovations and restrictions were resisted by the more zealous Sikhs, and they may
have caused the memory of an able and enterprising leader
to be generally neglected.'
After the death of Banda an active persecution was kept The Sikhs
up against the Sikhs, whose losses in battle had been great generally
much deand depressing. All who could be seized had to suffer death, pressed
or to renounce their faith. A price, indeed, was put upon after the
death of
their heads, and so vigorouslywere the measures of prudence, Banda.
or of vengeance, followed up, that many conformed to Hinduism; others abandoned the outward signs of their belief,
and the more sincere had to seek a refuge among the recesses
of the hills, or in the woods to the south of the Sutlej. The
Sikhs were scarcely again heard of in history for the period
of a generation.2
Thus, at the end of two centuries, had the Sikh faith Recapitubecome established as a prevailing sentiment and guiding lation.
principle to work its way in the world. Nanak disengaged Nanak.
his little society of worshippers from Hindu idolatry and
(i. 109), by Orme (History, ii. 22), and apparently by Elphinstone
(History, ii. 564), in the year A. D. 1716; but Forster (Travels, i.
306 note) has the date 1714.
1 Cf. Malcolm, Sketch, pp. 83, 84. But Banda is sometimes styled
Guru by Indians, as in the Siar ul Mutdkharin (i. 114), and there is
still an order of half-conformist Sikhs which regards him as its founder.
Banda, it is reported, wished to establish a sect of his own, saying
that of Gobind could not endure; and he is further declared to have
wished to change the exclamation or salutation, 'Wah Guru ke
Fateh!' which had been used or ordained by Gobind, into 'Fateh
Dharam!' and 'Fateh Darsan! ' (Victory to faith! Victory to the
sect!). Cf. Malcolm, Sketch, pp. 83, 84.
2 Cf. Forster (Travels, i. 312, 313), and Browne (India Tracts,
ii, 13), and also Malcolm (Sketch, pp. 85, 86).