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

28 AN EXAMINATION OF SUCCESSION THEORIES
five thousand rupees previously purchased from a Labana
Sikh. He told his wife Sahib Devi not to immolate herself
on his pyre and sent her to Delhi. He then consoled the
sorrowful Sikhs explaining to them the inevitableness of the
end of human life saying : "He who has full faith in the
Guru Granth and does not place his reliance on anything
else shall have his wishes fulfilled by the Guru. With full
faith in it, all suspicions will disappear. He then bowed, to
Sri Granth prayed in all reverence, made offerings to Rababi
musicians and was absorbed in the Word of the Granth Sahib."
[XXI, 124-37, pp. 286-87, Appendix V.]
The Guru died a little before midnight and was cremated
in a place enclosed by a tent-wall, a Sikh setting fire
to his dead body. The Sikhs then went out of the enclosure
and stood there. Flames went up and the body of the Guru
became all ashes. "Then came all the gods (from heaven)
blowing conches and showering flowers and, amidst shouts of
victory, took the Master away with them, with all the heavens
(lokas) singing his praises." [XXI, 140, 142-43, p. 288.]
On the fourth morning they searched the ashes, washing
them with diluted milk, and found only a dagger therein. The
Sikhs were all drowned in sorrow. At that time appeared on
the scene an Udasi Sadhu and said that it was not becoming of
the Sikhs to be sorrowful, for he had met the Guru in full dress
on horse back and the Guru had told him (the Sadhu) to convey
his message to the Sikhs not to go into mourning.
[XXI, 144-45, pp. 288-89, Appendix V.J
Better accomplished in the art of writing, Koer Singh
has not only supplied more details to his story but has also
given clarity to it. He tells us in explicit language that Guru
Gobind Singh discontinued the line of personal Guruship and
did not appoint anyone to succeed him as Guru. In fact, he had
surrendered his personality to the Khalsa when he became one
of them at the first baptismal ceremony and he publicly declared
this merger on many an occasion afterwards, and especially
a little before his death at Nanded. Entrusting the Khalsa to
the care of the Divine Protector, as declared by the Great
GURU GOBIND SINGH S DEATH AT NANDED
Master, Kosr Singh narrates at some length the formal installation
of the Guru Granth Sahib as the Guru. He had been in
close touch with Bhai Mani Singh who was a contemporary
and close associate of Guru Gobind Singh and was the first
person to be appointed as the reader of the Guru Granth Sahib
in the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar by Mata Sundri after the
Guru's death. As such, he was the best informed person on
the subject in addition to being the most qualified to explain
the significance of the Guru Granth Sahib to Koer Singh. He
also tells us that a dagger had been found in the heap of the
ashes of the Guru's pyre.
As a poet, however, he has introduced into the story—
of course after the pyre had been set on fire by a Sikh—the
arrival from heaven of all the ancient gods, blowing conches
and showering flowers, to offer a hearty welcome to the Guru
and to escort him to heaven with all the pomp and splendour
of a royal reception. This, of course, is the fiction of the
author's imagination added as poetical embellishment and
does not form a part of the Guru's historical biography.
According to Koer Singh, the Sadhu had the durshan
of the Guru on the fourth day of his death and not on the
following morning.
Another work of the last quarter of the eighteenth
century, which we may refer to here, is the Bansavali Nama
of Kesar Singh Chhibar completed in 1826 Bikrami, 1769-70
A. D. Kesar Singh's ancestors had been in the service of Guru
Gobind Singh as diwans. He claims to have seen and
consulted in his early days a bahl or account-book of the house
of the Guru. The tenth charan or chapter of the book deals
with the life of Guru Gobind Singh. Towards the end of it,
in stanzas 649-654, he mentions the death of the Guru and
his last commandment saying in reply to the questions of the
Sikhs : "The Granth is the Guru; you hold the garment
[seek the protection] of the Timeless God — bachan kita
Granth hai Guru, lar pakro Akal [650]. Two hours (ghari)
later the Guru went to heaven; his light blended with Light.
The same night he was cremated after he had been bathed
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