The Sikh Gurus and the Mughals
The relationship between the Sikh Gurus and the Mughal Empire was and most turbulent religious-political encounters of early modern South Asia. Beginning with the placid spiritual mission of Guru Nanak in the early sixteenth century, the relationship evolved over two centuries into an open military confrontation that culminated in the foundation of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. The early Mughal period, in which the Gurus were generally treated with respect and even favour, gave way to intermittent persecution and finally to outright conflict, and the execution of several of the Gurus left a lasting mark on the Sikh tradition. The wider context of the Sikh-Mughal relationship is examined on the Sikh-Mughal conflict and the Mughal Empire overview pages.
The Evolution of Sikh-Mughal Relations
The Sikh tradition dates its foundation to the teachings of Guru Nanak (1469-1539), a religious teacher from the Punjab whose hymns and sayings formed the basis of the Adi Granth. The early Sikh community was small, predominantly rural, and politically quiescent; it had little to do with the political life of the Mughal Empire during the early years of its consolidation. The earliest Gurus were, in general, treated with respect by the Mughal authorities, and the third Guru, Amar Das, was granted an audience with the emperor Akbar.
The Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Under Jahangir
The first serious rupture in the Sikh-Mughal relationship occurred during the reign of Jahangir, when the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev, was arrested and executed in 1606. The official Mughal account attributed the execution to a number of charges, including the support of a disaffected Mughal noble, but the deeper cause was the rapid growth of the Sikh community and the political and religious authority that the Guru had come to command in the Punjab.
The Conflict with Shah Jahan
The persecution of the Sikh community continued, in a less severe form, during the reign of Shah Jahan. The sixth Guru, Hargobind, who had succeeded his father Arjan in 1606, transformed the Sikh community into a military order and raised a small but effective armed retinue. The Mughal authorities, alarmed by this development, confined Hargobind for several years at Gwalior, and the political tension between the Sikh community and the imperial government continued for the rest of Shah Jahan’s reign.
The political and military background of the conflict is examined on the Shah Jahan page, and the institutional framework of the Sikh community in this period is treated on the Sikh-Mughal conflict and the Mughal administration overview pages.
The Execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur Under Aurangzeb
The most serious single act of Mughal persecution of the Sikh community was the execution of the ninth Guru, Tegh Bahadur, in 1675, on the orders of the emperor Aurangzeb. The official Mughal account attributed the execution to a number of charges, including the support of a Muslim rebellion in the Punjab, but the deeper cause was the refusal of the Guru to convert to Islam and the political and religious authority that he had come to command.
The Founding of the Khalsa
The execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur was followed, in due course, by the most important event in the history of the Sikh community: the founding of the Khalsa by the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, in 1699. The Khalsa was a community of initiated Sikhs, bound together by a common discipline, a common appearance, and a common obligation of mutual defence. The founding of the Khalsa marked the transformation of the Sikh tradition from a religious community into a religious-political order with explicit military obligations.
The religious and political background of the foundation of the Khalsa is examined on the Sikh-Mughal conflict page, and the wider context of religious and political developments in this period is treated on the Aurangzeb and the Mughal Empire overview pages.
The Role of Banda Bahadur
The death of Guru Gobind Singh in 1708 left the Sikh community without a personal Guru, and the political leadership of the community passed, in due course, to Banda Bahadur, a former ascetic who had been commissioned by the Guru to lead a revolt in the Punjab. Banda’s revolt, which lasted from 1709 to 1716, was the first large-scale Sikh military engagement with the Mughal authorities, and it was eventually suppressed by the combined forces of the Mughal governors of Lahore and Delhi.
The political and military background of Banda’s revolt is examined on the Sikh-Mughal conflict and the later Mughals pages, and the wider context of the early eighteenth-century crisis is treated on the Mughal Empire overview and the economic decline of the Mughals pages.
The Historical Significance
The Sikh-Mughal relationship is themes in the history of the early modern Punjab, and it has been the subject of a substantial historical literature. The martyrdoms of Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur, the founding of the Khalsa, and the long-running conflict between the Sikh community and the Mughal authorities all left a lasting mark on the religious and political culture of the region. The cultural and political consequences of these events are examined on the Sikh-Mughal conflict and the Hindu-Muslim relations pages, and the wider context of religious and political developments in this period is treated on the Mughal Empire overview and the later Mughals pages.
Sources
- J.S. Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab (The New Cambridge History of India II.3, 1990), chs. 1–4.
- J.S. Grewal and Indu Banga, Sikh History from Persian Sources (Punjabi University, 1969).