But with the death of the ninth gooroo, by Moslem violence, and the
accession of his son Govind, the worldly fortunes of the Khalsa changed.
Under the leadership of Govind, a young man of genius and enthusiasm,
who comes before us in the two-fold character of religionist and
military hero, the Sikhs moved on to a national greatness not dreamed of
by Nanuk. Govind, who bestowed on himself and his followers the title of
Singh, or lion-hearted, hitherto an epithet appropriated in this
connection by the Rajpoot nobility, devoted the strong energies of his
vigourous and daring nature to the purpose of establishing the faith of
Nanuk by force of arms. To this end he constituted the sword a religious
symbol, and instituted a sort of worship of steel. The Khalsa became an
aggressive force bent on the salvation of surrounding nations by
violence, and succeeded so well, that, eighty-five years after Govind's
death, the Sikhs, still retaining their character of a religious
fellowship, were consolidated into a powerful nation under Runjeet
Singh. The dream of her tenth and last gooroo was realized, the Khalsa
was at her height of worldly prosperity, but her life was no longer the
spirit life which had been revealed to her first founder.
And so under Asiatic skies as well as amid European civilization, man
laboured to redeem the world, making frantic war on the lying creeds of
past ages and proclaiming the merits of his latest discovery.
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