Guru Gobind Singh's Death at Nanded Examination of - Vidhia.com

20 AN EXAMINATION OF SUCCESSION THEORIES
preparing for the coming struggle. On October 28, the
Emperor ordered the grant of a dress of honour to the son
of Jamshed Khan Afghan who had died at the hands of the
Guru. Apparently he was the same person who had under the
assumed name of Gul Khan stabbed the Guru at Nanded and
had fallen under his sword before he could escape. Or, he
might have been the companion of Gul Khan killed by the
Sikhs while he was trying to run away after the death of
Gul Khan.
On the death of the Guru having been reported to
the Emperor, he ordered on October 30, 1708 (26th Sha'ban,
2nd Bahadurshahi regnal year), for a dress of honour to be
conferred upon the Guru's (adopted) mourning son Ajit Singh
—Hukm shud kih ba-pisar-i-Gobind Rao Ndnakpanthi khilat-imatdmi-i-pidar-bi-dihand
—
It was ordered (by the Emperor) that a robe {khilat)
be bestowed upon the son of Gobind Rao Nanakpanthi
mourning for the death of his father.
Ajit Singh had been adopted by Mata Sundarl, wife of
the Guru, and had been acknowledged as such by the Emperor
after the Guru's death as has been occasionally mentioned
by name in the Akhbardt. and other official records.
[Akhbardt, 26thShaban, regnal year 2, October 30,1708; June 1,
1711;December 30,1711; also Akhbardt Ms. pp. 123-24; Chatarman,
Chahdr Gulshan, Ms. pp. 140-41; Mdkhiz-i-Twdrlkh-i-
Sikhdn, Vol. I, pp. 86-88.]
OnRamazan 9, 2nd Bahadurshahi (November 11,1708),
the Emperor's orders were solicited about the movable pro-perty
of the deceased Guru which, according to the Mughal
practice, ought to have been confiscated. The Emperor, how-i
ever, commanded that "These goods will not add to the
affluence of the royal treasury. It is the property of saintly
people. It should not be interfered with"—Hukm shud az-
GURU GOBIND SINGH* S DEATH AT NANDED 21
in amwal khazdnah-i-bddshdhdn mdmur na-mi-shawad, Mdl-idarveshdn
ast, Mazdham na-shawand
•»» >{sy.c^so&»>
[Cf. Bahadur Shah Ndnia; Irvine, Later Mughals, i.90.]
Three years later when the Emperor was moving towards
Lahore, he ordered on December 30, 1711 (1st Zil-
Hijja, Bahadurshahi 6) the release of the long confiscated
lands of Chak Guru—Amritsar—in the name of Ajit Singh
mentioned in the Akhbardt as the son of Guru Govind Singh.
Dhddl Nath Mall was present in the camp of the Guru
at Nanded and used to recite ballads in the afternoon assemblies
of the Sikhs there. One such ballad known as the Amar
Ndmdh, composed under the name of the Guru himself in the
first person, has come down to us through the son of Bhai
Fatta, the seventh descendant of Nath Mall. According to
its colophon, it was completed in the month of Katik 1765
Bikrami after the death of the tenth Guru. As the 30th of
Katik of that year corresponded to October 31, 1708, the
Amar Ndmdh was evidently completed within twenty-four
days of the Guru's death. Describing it in the first person
in the words of the Guru, the Amar Ndmd says in lines
61-62 :
I (then) resolved to set for the lasting abode in heaven,
which is the place of all peace and divine blissfulness.
My Singhs (the Khdlsd) shall remain firm, listening to
Vdrs from Dhddi singers.
In keeping with the tradition of the ancient balladists,
Nath Mall did not enter into the details of the painful event.