Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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round him ‘who were satisfied with two meals a day and a new
uniform every half-year.’ 43 He came to possess a stable of seven
hundred horses, three hundred horsemen and sixty gunners. 44 He built
a fort at Amritsar called Lohgarh or fortress of steel. Guru Hargobind
fought as many as six battles against the Mughal authorities. Atleast
one of these seems to have been a major engagement. As many as
7,000 Mughal troops under Mukhlis Khan were defeated near
Amritsar. 45
2. The Period of armed truce
Indubhusan writes: ‘He (Guru Hargobind) maintained peace with
the Government as long as he could, but had no illusion regarding the
outcome of the struggle if it did come after all and planned accordingly.
This is why we find that he was never flustered and his equanimity
was never disturbed, howsoever desparate the situation might be.’ 46
Having fought six battles, Guru Hargobind retired to Kiratpur in the
Punjab hills. Kiratpur lay in the territory of Raja Tara Chand, ‘who
had throne off his allegiance to Emperor Shah Jahan.’ 47 The Guru had
come to the conclusion that the movement was not yet ripe to bear
the full weight of the Mughal might. But his struggle with the Mughal
forces did serve an important purpose. To quote Indubhushan: ‘But it
is apparent that whatever might have been the immediate results of
Guru Hargobind’s military adventures, looked at from a wider
standpoint, the Guru’s victories were not as useless as they seem.
These successes against innumerable odds could not but inspire the
Sikhs with self-confidence and give them an exalted sense of their
own worth. This consciousness of their own worth, arising out of
their own trying experience, became, as we shall see later, a great
national aset. Guru Hargobind demonstrated the possibility — the
possibility of the Sikhs’ openly assuming an attitude of defiance against
the Mughal Government — and considerably prepared the way for
the thorough reformation that they received in the hands of Guru
Gobind Singh’. 48 Gupta writes: ‘He (Guru Hargobind) certainly
inaugrated a policy which was to lead the most downtrodden
people slowly but assuredly to political and military advancement.
The Guru created a revolution in the life of the Sikhs. Along
with the recitation of hymns, they were taught the practical lesson