Memories

Anandpur had become a holy place of Sikhs. It also was a sanctuary for the people hounded or tormented by Moguls or the anti-Guru king. When Kuvaresh the son of well known Hindi poet Keshva Das was subjected to the threats of forcible conversion into Islam he fled to Anandpur Sahib.
Bhai Nandlal was also the resident of Anandpur. He was a Persian scholar who had written several books. After leaving Anandpur he got employment as personal secretary to the Mogul prince Muazzam. Nandlal was a devotee of Guru Gobind. It was due to his influence that Prince Muazzam took no action against Guru Sahib when he was sent to Punjab to deal with the situation. His literary creations included ‘Zindaginama’, Tauseef-o-Sana’, ‘Gaznama’, ‘Jot Vikas’, ‘Deewan-E-Goya’ etc.
Once old friends of Patna came to Anandpur Sahib to pay obeisance to Guru Sahib. They included Fateh Chand Maini, his wife, Pundit Shivdutt etc. The news of their arrival pleased Guru Sahib. He himself went to the gate to receive them.
Suddenly Guru Sahib was seized by a wish to play a prank like he used to do at Patna. So, he hid behind a pole. When the visitors were about to pass by he sprang up with a frightening roar. The visitors were startled. When they saw who the prankster was everyone burst out laughing. The visitors stayed with Guru Sahib for seven days as his guests and revived the old memories.
The reaction to Khalsa move
After founding the ‘Khalsa Panth’ the initiated Khalsa Sikhs fanned out on preaching missions. Guru Gobind invited all the hill kings too to join the Khalsa faith. The kings did not respond. Guru Sahib kept up his Khalsa campaign pressure undeterred by that fact.
The Khalsa movement was a matter of worry for the Mogul governors and the hill kings. The most alarmed was the Raja of Kohiloor because Anandpur Sahib fell in his kingdom. In consultation with a neighbourhood king he wrote a letter to Guru Gobind. It was the year 1700. Raja asked him to vacate Anandpur at once or agree to pay land revenue.
Guru Gobind replied that the Anandpur land was purchased by Guru Teg Bahadur by paying the agreed amount. He contended that there was no question of vacating it or paying any revenue. Any other tax if desired could only be realised by the dint of sword. He advised Raja to give up false pride.
So, the miffed up hill kings got together and launched an attack on Anandpur in alliance with Moguls and Pathans. The enemy combination had 20,000 soldiers. Guru Sahib had only 8000 warriors.
The enemy force was led by Pende Khan and Deena Beg. It had Raja warriors like Bheem Chand, Ajmer Chand, Kesari Chand, Ghamandi Singh and Raja Jaswalia. Khalsa army was led by Guru Gobind himself and his eldest son Ajit Singh.
The small force of Khalsas faced the larger army. On the first day Pende Khan got killed. Kesari Chand and Deena Beg were injured among others. Uday Singh who was defending Fatehgarh fort killed the Mogul commander Jagtullah. Lohgarh fort was being defended by Khalsas, Sher Singh and Nahar Singh group.
The casualties inflicted by Khalsas on the enemy demoralised Ajmer Chand. He fled and so did his army. The main open battle was being fought on the bank of a small river. Sikhs chased the fleeing Moguls and Pathans upto Ropar. Guru Sahib ordered them to return and they did. Guru’s army had won the battle.