r the Granth as their
Guru. "Whatsoever ye shall ask of it, it will show you" he said, and
in obedience to his command the book is still invested with a kind of
personality and known as Granth Sahib.

Govind spent most of his time in wars with Aurungzeb marked by
indomitable perseverance rather than success. Towards the end of his
life he retired into Malwa and resided at a place called Damdama. The
accounts of his latter days are somewhat divergent. According to one
story he made his peace with the Mughals and accepted a military
command under the successor of Aurungzeb but it is more commonly
asserted that he was assassinated by a private enemy. Even more
troublous were the days of his successor Banda. Since Govind had
abolished the Guruship, he could not claim to be more than a temporal
chief, but what he lacked in spiritual authority he made amends for in
fanaticism. The eight years of his leadership were spent in a war of
mutual extermination waged with the Moslims of the Panjab and
diversified only by internal dissensions. At last he was captured and
the sect was nearly annihilated by the Emperor Farukhsiyar. According
to the ordinary account this victory was followed by an orgy of
torture and Banda was barbarously executed after witnessing during
seven days the torments of his followers and kinsmen. We read with
pleasure but incredulity that one division of the Sikhs believe that
he escaped and promulgated his peculiar doctrines in Sind. Asiatics do
not relish the idea that the chosen of God can suffer violent death.

The further history of the Sikhs is political rather than religious,
and need not detain us here. Despite the efforts of the Mughals to
exterminate them, they were favoured by the disturbed state of the
country in the early decades of the eighteenth century, for the raids
of Afghans and Persians convulsed and paralyzed the empire of Delhi.
The government of the Khalsa passed into the hands of a body of
fanatics, called Akalis, but the decision of grave matters rested with
a council of the whole community which occasionally met at Amritsar.
Every Sikh claimed to have joined the confederacy as an independent
soldier, bound to fight under his military leaders but otherwise
exempt from control, and entitled to a share of land. This absolute
independence, being unworkable in practice, was modified by the
formation of Misals or voluntary associations, of which there were at
one time twelve. From the mid