On 1699 Baisakhi day Guru Gobind founded Khalsa Panth which literally meant ‘the sect of the purest ones’. The aim was to select the most devout and aggressive ones from the legions of his followers to create an elite force to serve as his storm troops. The other aims were to put a check on the deeds of self serving corrupt priests (Masands) and to melt the fragmented society to mould it into a unified body.
Originally Masand tradition was started to carry forward the Sikh movement. They were appointed to act as the representatives of Guru mission. But over the period they become corrupted and behaved as vested interests. For personal material gains they had begun to mislead Sikhs to exploit them. They were doing the same things that Brahmins did to Hindu masses. Masands were supposed to act as bridges between Guru and the Sikh bodies. Now they had become cesspools of corruption.
Once a group of Sikh singers (Professionals who sang praises of Gurus among the masses touring the countryside) came to Anandpur Sahib and presented a programme before Guru Gobind Singh. In the songs they lampooned the corrupt behaviour and life styles of Masands. Guru Sahib took the hint and realised that it was time the Masands were put in their places.
Guru Gobind Singh called all the Masands to Anandpur Sahib for an urgent meeting. The corrupt and degenerated Masands were punished and the good ones were honoured. Then, he declared the end of the Masand tradition. All the Sikh bodies were to come under the direct control of the Guru’s court of Anandpur Sahib. As a follow up step, Guru Gobind asked all the faithfuls irrespective of caste, creed and religion to congregate in Anandpur Sahib on Baisakhi day which fell on 13 April, 1699. The festival was celebrated every year since the time of Guru Nanak. But that year it had some special purpose worked out by Guru Gobind. The purpose was to put the Sikh movement in solid format to be frozen at right moment.
On that day 80,000 Sikh faithfuls had congregated at Anandpur Sahib.
Like everyday Guru Gobind rose up at dawn. After answering the natural call and ablutions, he meditated. Then, he donned his ceremonial dress and appeared in the big tent that was pitched up for the occasion. Guru throne was set up on the decorated stage. A small tent was also pitched by the side of the big tent connected to it with entry flap near the stage. Infact Guru Sahib had emerged from that small decorated tent. He had a drawn sword in his hand. The big top was packed with the faithfuls who were singing the prayers. The praying stopped as Guru came on the stage. He was looking unusually radiant and charged up. His rattling and twirling of sword puzzled the gathering.
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