India GOGuru Gobind Singh: the tenth Guru and the places of his life
ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ
The tenth and last human Guru: founded the Khalsa in 1699, gave Sikhs the five Ks and the names Singh and Kaur, and made the book his heir.
Guru Gobind Singh was born Gobind Das in Patna on 22 December 1666 and died at Nanded on the Godavari on 7 October 1708, so his life runs across India from Bihar to the Deccan. Four of the five takhts, the seats of Sikh authority, mark points of it. He became Guru at nine, after his father was executed in Delhi, and spent much of his life at war with Mughal governors and hill rajas.
Story
He was eight when his father's head was brought to Anandpur. On Vaisakhi 1699 he asked a crowd for five men willing to die, took them into a tent one by one, and brought all five out alive in new robes: the first of the Khalsa, initiated with amrit (sweetened water stirred with a double-edged sword); then he knelt to take amrit from them. He lost four sons and his mother in the wars that followed; dying at Nanded, he bowed to the Granth and declared it Guru for ever.
ਮਾਨਸ ਕੀ ਜਾਤ ਸਬੈ ਏਕੈ ਪਹਿਚਾਨਬੋ
“Recognise the whole human race as one.”
Akal Ustat, Dasam Granth
Places linked to them
Gurudwara Nada Sahib · Chandigarh Gurudwara Sri Hemkunt Sahib · Rishikesh
His life in four places
Sikhs follow the tenth Guru’s life through the gurdwaras built where it happened. Four of them are takhts.
Takht Patna Sahib, Bihar
His birthplace in 1666, where he spent his early childhood.
Takht Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Punjab
Where he founded the Khalsa on Vaisakhi in 1699 by initiating the first five Sikhs.
Takht Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, Punjab
Near Bathinda. He stayed here for about a year after the wars and completed the final edition of the Guru Granth Sahib in 1705.
Takht Hazur Sahib, Nanded, Maharashtra
On the Godavari, where he gave his last sermon and died in 1708, of wounds from an assassin’s attack; tradition holds that Wazir Khan, the governor of Sirhind, sent the killers, though some scholars doubt it.
The Khalsa and the four sahibzade
The Khalsa he created in 1699 is a community of initiated Sikhs who keep the five Ks: kesh (uncut hair), kangha (a comb), kara (a steel bracelet), kirpan (a sword) and kachera (short breeches). Men take the name Singh, women Kaur. The full story of that Vaisakhi morning is on the Vaisakhi page.
The price of the wars was his family. His elder sons, Ajit Singh, 17, and Jujhar Singh, 13, fell in the battle of Chamkaur in 1704. The younger two, Zorawar Singh, 9, and Fateh Singh, 6 (some accounts say 8 and 5), were executed at Sirhind on Wazir Khan’s orders after refusing to convert to Islam. Sikhs remember the four as the Chaar Sahibzaade, and their story is told to every Sikh child. After the deaths of his sons and the battle of Muktsar (1705) the Guru wrote the Zafarnama, a defiant letter in Persian to Aurangzeb about the broken promise of safe passage and the conduct of his army.
Gurdwaras linked to him on a north India trip
Two are easy to reach from cities many people already pass through.
Gurudwara Nada Sahib, Panchkula
White marble on the Ghaggar, about twenty minutes from Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh. The Guru halted here on the road from Paonta Sahib to Anandpur Sahib after the battle of Bhangani; a devotee named Nadu Shah looked after him, and the place keeps his name. Langar runs all day; full-moon days draw very large crowds.
Gurudwara Sri Hemkunt Sahib, Rishikesh
Built in honour of Hemkund Sahib, the lake at 4,572 m in Chamoli district where, according to the Dasam Granth, the Guru meditated in a former life; the high shrine is snowbound from October to April. The underground Sikh Martyrs’ Gallery shows the persecutions of the 17th and 18th centuries in very graphic paintings: hard to look at; think twice before taking small children.
Days that belong to him
Vaisakhi, the birthday of the Khalsa, falls on 14 April in 2027. Hola Mohalla, the martial fair he started at Anandpur in 1701 in place of playing with colours, follows Holi: in 2027 it is expected on 21–23 March, with gatka (Sikh martial art), Nihang camps in blue and a procession out of the town on the last day.
❓ FAQ
What is Guru Gobind Singh famous for?
For founding the Khalsa in 1699, giving Sikhs the five Ks and the names Singh and Kaur, and for ending the line of human Gurus by naming the Guru Granth Sahib as Guru.
What did Guru Gobind Singh say before he died?
At Nanded in 1708 he declared that after him the Guru would be the scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, and not another person.
Did Guru Gobind Singh fight Aurangzeb?
He fought Mughal armies and their allies, including at the sieges of Anandpur and at Chamkaur in 1704, but not Aurangzeb in person. His Zafarnama is a letter to the emperor.
Who were the Chaar Sahibzaade?
His four sons: Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh, killed at Chamkaur in 1704, and Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh, executed at Sirhind.
Where was Guru Gobind Singh born?
In Patna, Bihar, on 22 December 1666; Takht Patna Sahib stands at the place.