Guru Gobind Singh (Punjabi pronunciation: [gʊɾuː goːbɪn̪d̪ᵊ sɪ́ŋgᵊ]; born Gobind Das; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708) was the tenth and last human Sikh Guru. He was a warrior, poet, and philosopher. In 1675, at the age of nine, he was formally made the leader of the Sikhs after his father Guru Tegh Bahadur—the ninth Sikh Guru—was executed by the emperor Aurangzeb. His four biological sons died during his lifetime—two in battle and two executed by the Mughal administrator Wazir Khan.
Among his notable contributions to Sikhism are founding the Sikh warrior community called Khalsa in 1699 and introducing the Five Ks, the five articles of faith that Khalsa Sikhs wear at all times. Guru Gobind Singh is credited with the Dasam Granth whose hymns are a sacred part of Sikh prayers and Khalsa rituals. He is also credited as the one who finalized and enshrined the Guru Granth Sahib as Sikhism's primary holy religious scripture and the eternal Guru. He also established the concept of Guru Panth as his spiritual successor, however this manner of guruship is seldom evoked today. Guru Gobind Singh is remembered as being the founder of Paonta Sahib (in 1685) and Damdama Sahib (in 1705).
Guru Gobind Singh was the only son of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh guru, and Mata Gujri. He was born into the Sodhi clan of the Punjabi Khatri community. He was born in Patna, Bihar on 22 December 1666 while his father was visiting Bengal and Assam. According to Desi Calendar, his birth date is Seven days after the New Moon Day in the Lunar Month of Poh (also called Poh Sudi 7 ਪੰਜਾਬੀ- ਪੋਹ ਸੁਦੀ ੭). His birth name was Gobind Das and a shrine named Takht Sri Patna Harimandar Sahib marks the site of the house where he was born and spent the first four years of his life. In 1670, his family returned to Punjab, and in March 1672, they moved to Chakk Nanaki in the Himalayan foothills of north India, called the Sivalik range, where he was schooled.
Guru Tegh Bahadur was petitioned by Kashmiri Pandits in 1675 for protection from the fanatic persecution by Iftikar Khan, the Mughal governor of Kashmir under Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Guru Tegh Bahadur considered a peaceful resolution by meeting Aurangzeb, but was cautioned by his advisors that his life may be at risk. The young Gobind Das – to be known as Gobind Singh after 1699 – advised his father that no one was more worthy to lead and make a sacrifice than him. His father made the attempt, but was arrested then publicly beheaded in Delhi on 11 November 1675 under the orders of Aurangzeb for refusing to convert to Islam and the ongoing conflicts between Sikhism and the Islamic Empire. Before his execution, Guru Tegh Bahadur wrote a letter to Gobind Das to test him (the letter was called Mahalla Dasven and is part of the Guru Granth Sahib). After his father's martyrdom he was formally made the tenth Sikh Guru on Vaisakhi on 29 March 1676.
The education of Guru Gobind Singh continued after he became the 10th Guru, both in reading and writing as well as martial arts such as horse riding and archery. The Guru started training in martial arts at the age of 6 and learned Persian in a year at the age of 7. In 1684, he wrote the Chandi di Var in Punjabi language – a legendary war between the good and the evil, where the good stands up against injustice and tyranny, as described in the ancient Sanskrit text Markandeya Purana. He moved to Paonta, near the banks of river Yamuna, in 1685.
Guru Gobind Singh had three wives:
At age 10, he married Jito on 21 June 1677 at Basantgaṛh, 10 km north of Anandpur. The couple had three sons: Jujhar Singh (b. 1691), Zorawar Singh (b. 1696), and Fateh Singh (b. 1699).
At age 17, he married Sundari on 4 April 1684 at Anandpur. The couple had one son, Ajit Singh (b. 1687).
At age 33, he married Sahib Devan on 15 April 1700 at Anandpur. They had no children, but she had an influential role in Sikhism. Guru Gobind Singh proclaimed her as the Mother of the Khalsa. The Guru initially rejected her marriage proposal as he was already married and had four sons. The Sangat and the Guru's family agreed to the marriage. However, Guru Gobind Singh made it clear that his relationship with Sahib Diwan will be spiritual and not physical.
The life example and leadership of Guru Gobind Singh have been of historical importance to the Sikhs. He institutionalized the Khalsa (literally, Pure Ones), who played the key role in protecting the Sikh faith long after his death, such as during the nine invasions of Panjab and the attacks by Ahmad Shah Abdali from Afghanistan between 1747 and 1769.
While his birth name is commonly acknowledged as being "Gobind Rai", J.S Grewal and W.H McLeod, among other scholars, point out that hukamnamas and documents issued by his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, mention him as "Gobind Das". According to McLeod, "Gobind Rai" was an exonym used within Muslim sources.
Whilst the commonly accepted birth year for the guru is 1666, some sources record his birth year as being 1661. Sikhologist Louis E. Fenech believes 1661 is more likely to be the true birth year of the guru as it lines up more reliably with events later in his life regarding his coming-of-age and leadership in 1679. By analyzing Bhai Jaita's Sri Gur Katha, Raj Kumar Hans agrees that a 1661 birth lines up more correctly with later events of the guru, such as in the 1670s regarding the creation of the Khalsa or its precursor. The majority of early writers and sources, such as Chaupa Singh (1700), Kesar Singh Chhibbar (1769), Sarup Das Bhalla (1776), and Sarup Singh Kaushish (1790), places his year of birth in 1661, with only Sukha Singh (1797) placing it in 1666.
In 1699, Guru Gobind Singh requested the Sikhs to congregate at Anandpur on Vaisakhi (the annual spring harvest festival). According to the Sikh tradition, he asked for a volunteer. One came forward, whom he took inside a tent. The Guru returned to the crowd alone with a bloody sword. He asked for another volunteer and repeated the same process of returning from the tent without anyone and with a bloodied sword four more times. After the fifth volunteer went with him into the tent, the Guru returned with all five volunteers, all safe. He called them the Panj Pyare and the first Khalsa in the Sikh tradition.
Guru Gobind Singh then mixed water and sugar into an iron bowl, stirring it with a double-edged sword to prepare what he called Amrit ("nectar"). He then administered this to the Panj Pyare, accompanied by recitations from the Adi Granth, thus founding the khande ka pahul (baptization ceremony) of a Khalsa – a warrior community. The Guru also gave them a new surname "Singh" (lion). After the first five Khalsa had been baptized, the Guru asked the five to baptize him as a Khalsa. This made the Guru the sixth Khalsa, and his name changed from Guru Gobind Das to Guru Gobind Singh. This initiation ceremony replaced the charan pahul ritual practiced by the previous gurus, in which an initiate would drink the water either the Guru or a masand of the guru had dipped their right toe in.
Guru Gobind Singh initiated the Five K's tradition of the Khalsa,
Kara: an iron or steel bracelet worn on the wrist.
He also announced a code of discipline for Khalsa warriors. Tobacco, eating 'halal' meat (a way of slaughtering in which the animal's throat is slit open and it is left to bleed before being slaughtered), fornication, and adultery were forbidden. The Khalsas also agreed to never interact with those who followed rivals or their successors. The co-initiation of men and women from different castes into the ranks of Khalsa also institutionalized the principle of equality in Sikhism regardless of one's caste or gender. Gobind Singh's significance to the Sikh tradition has been high, for he institutionalized the Khalsa, resisted the ongoing persecution by the Mughal Empire, and continued the defence of dharma—of which he meant "True Religion"—against the assault of Aurangzeb.
He introduced ideas that indirectly challenged the discriminatory taxes imposed by the Mughal authorities. For example, Aurangzeb had imposed taxes on non-Muslims that were collected from the Sikhs as well, the jizya (poll tax on non-Muslims), pilgrim tax, and Bhaddar tax – the last being a tax to be paid by anyone following the Hindu ritual of shaving the head after the death of a loved one and cremation. Guru Gobind Singh declared that Khalsa does not need to continue this practice, because Bhaddar is not dharam, but a bharam (illusion). Not shaving the head also meant not having to pay the taxes by Sikhs who lived in Delhi and other parts of the Mughal Empire. However, the new code of conduct also led to internal disagreements between Sikhs in the 18th century, particularly between the Nanakpanthi and the Khalsa.