Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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The caste ideology had brought these castes under the spell that it
was their religious duty to obey the ruling castes, as it was the divine
right of the ruling castes to rule them. That was why the mass of the
people had shown no military and political initiative. The Gurus
recognized no other authority than that of God. “The beggar is called
the king, the fool is termed wise.”19a “The Guru is the true King;
false are the kings of the world.”19b Thus, Guru Angad ignored
Hamayun.19c.
The second step was to build up a clear alternative to the ruling
sovereign. Opposition to authority, in its nascent stage, has often
assumed symbolic forms which would catch the ruling authorities in
two minds, as to whether or not to resort to immediate repression on
that particular account. The wearing of Khadar and the bonfiring of
foreign cloth during the nationalist movement of India are examples
which can be readily appreciated. As the movement gathers
momentum, this opposition is transformed into open defiance. For
this purpose, the ideal of Sacha Padshah (the true king) was set up
(‘Sikhan Guru ha re Sacha Padshah yani Badsah-I-haqiqat
midanand.’19d Sacha Padshah, as its very name implies, was to be a
combination of spiritual and temporal authority in one; and was to be
the embodiment of values Sikhism stood for, as opposed to all political
authority based on injustice, oppression and exploitation. This ideal
was not only setup, but was also institutionlised. Guru Arjan used to
hold assemblies which gave them the look of royal Durbars (court),19e
and hence forth the Guru was looked upon by his followers as a worldly
lord and a ruling sovereign.19f Emperor Jahangir himself noted that
the Guru had “noised himself as a religious and a worldly leader.’19g
There is a story that Akbar once asked Birbal how to make a
given line look shorter than before without altering it. Birbal drew a
longer line close to the original one and made it look comparatively
short. This very idea of sacha padshah belittled the image of the
Mughal Emperors. It withdrew the allegiance of the Sikhs from the
rulers and focussed it on the Gurus (Sacha Padshah), the centres of
incipient revolt. The loyality of the Sikhs to the Guru was absolute.
There was no room in it for dual fidelity which could face bothways, towards
the Padshah (Mughal Emperor) and the Guru (Sacha Padshah). The Guru