Guru Tegh Bahadur, the Khalsa and the Sikh Empire

Detail

The Guru line before 1675 — from faith to armed defence

• Guru Nanak founded the Sikh path in 15th-century Punjab. His core ideas: equality, compassion, and Ik Onkar (there is One God).
• Guru Arjan was the first to compile the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. He was tortured to death under Emperor Jahangir. This is the first Guru martyrdom in the line.
• Guru Hargobind answered that killing with martial training. He raised the first Sikh army.
• So the shift was step by step: a faith movement first, then a community that could defend itself, then a full military order (the Khalsa).

1675 — Guru Tegh Bahadur and the Kashmiri Pandits

• In 1675 a group of Kashmiri Pandits came to Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru, asking for protection. They were facing religious persecution — pressure to give up their faith.
• The Guru chose to stand with them and court martyrdom. Note the point carefully for the exam: he was not a Sikh being forced to convert — he died defending the religious freedom of another community.
• He was arrested and ordered by Aurangzeb to convert to Islam.
• He refused despite torture.

• He also refused after watching two of his disciples tortured to death in front of him.

• He was publicly beheaded in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, on Aurangzeb's orders.

• He is remembered with the title 'Hind di Chadar' — the shield, or protective sheet, of India [2].

The memory of 1675 today

• Gurudwara Sis Gunj Sahib in Chandni Chowk marks the spot of the beheading.
• The Sikh Regiment salutes it before the President during the Republic Day parade — every year since 1979.
• 2025 marked the 350th Shaheedi Diwas (martyrdom day) of Guru Tegh Bahadur. The Government of India observed it as a year-long national commemoration [2].
• The Prime Minister released a commemorative coin and a commemorative postage stamp at the main event at Kurukshetra, Haryana [2].
• Other national events were held at Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra), Nagpur, and Takht Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded [2].
• Indian Railways ran an awareness programme on his teachings and sacrifice for younger people [2].

Guru Gobind Singh and the founding of the Khalsa

• His son Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth and last Guru.
• He established the Khalsa — a martial brotherhood committed to justice, equality and defence of the faith.
• The Khalsa was created on Baisakhi Day, 30 March 1699, at Anandpur, where a large crowd of Sikhs had gathered for the harvest and new year festival [3][4].
• Khalsa means 'the Pure' — an order of saint-soldiers [4].
• The first five volunteers initiated were called the Panj Pyare, "the five beloved ones". They formed the core of the Khalsa [3].
• Initiation is by the Amrit Sanskar ceremony, and members keep the five Ks [3]:
• kesh — uncut hair
• kara — steel bracelet
• kangha — comb
• kirpan — sword

• kachchera — military-style undergarment

• Men of the community took the name Singh ("lion"), women Kaur ("princess") [3].

• The declaration worked on three levels at once [3]:
• it redefined authority inside the Sikh community;
• it gave a new initiation ceremony and code of conduct;

• it gave the community a new religious and political vision.

• The Khalsa clashed again and again with Mughal forces, at great cost of life.

From confederacies to empire

• The Mughal Empire declined through the 18th century, hit hard by Maratha onslaughts. That created open political space in Punjab.
• Several Sikh confederacies — the misls, each under a misldar (commander) — emerged in Punjab [5].
• Ranjit Singh inherited the Sukerchakia misl on his father's death in 1792. That misl held land north and west of Lahore [5].
• He seized Lahore, the capital of Punjab, in 1799, and proclaimed himself Maharaja of the Punjab in 1801 [5].
• He unified the confederacies at the turn of the 19th century. By 1820 he controlled the whole of Punjab between the Sutlej and the Indus rivers [5].
• Three things built the empire: military acumen, diplomatic skill, and religious tolerance.

• In the kingdom that replaced the misl system, Sikhs of the Khalsa got special consideration, but Hindus and Muslims also held posts [5]. This is the concrete proof of the "religious tolerance" point.

• The result was a strong, centralised Sikh Empire across much of the Northwest, including parts of Kashmir.

• It resisted both Mughal remnants and British expansion until the mid-19th century.
• After two wars with the British, the British won at Gujrat on 21 February 1849; the Sikh army surrendered on 12 March 1849, and Punjab was annexed into British India [5].

Prelims Hooks

• Guru Tegh Bahadur was the ninth Guru; beheaded in 1675 in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, on Aurangzeb's orders.
• He died defending Kashmiri Pandits, not his own community — title 'Hind di Chadar' [2].
• Gurudwara Sis Gunj Sahib marks the site; the Sikh Regiment has saluted it before the President at the Republic Day parade every year since 1979.
• Guru Arjan first compiled the Guru Granth Sahib and was tortured to death under Jahangir; Guru Hargobind raised the first Sikh army.
• The Khalsa was founded by Guru Gobind Singh (tenth and last Guru) on Baisakhi, 30 March 1699, at Anandpur [3][4].
• The first five initiated were the Panj Pyare; initiation ceremony is Amrit Sanskar; the five Ks are kesh, kara, kangha, kirpan, kachchera [3].
• Misl = a Sikh confederacy; Ranjit Singh led the Sukerchakia misl from 1792 [5].
• Ranjit Singh took Lahore in 1799 and became Maharaja of Punjab in 1801; ruled Punjab from Sutlej to Indus by 1820 [5].
• Punjab was annexed by the British in 1849, after the battle of Gujrat (21 February 1849) [5].
• The 350th Shaheedi Diwas of Guru Tegh Bahadur was marked nationally with a commemorative coin and postage stamp released at Kurukshetra [2].

Mains Points

• Martyrdom as a political act, not only a religious one. Guru Tegh Bahadur died for the religious freedom of another community (Kashmiri Pandits). This makes 1675 usable as an early Indian example of the idea that freedom of conscience is worth defending for people not of your own faith — a direct link to modern Article 25 debates and to the Republic Day salute tradition since 1979.
• Persecution produced militarisation. Trace the chain in an answer: Guru Arjan killed under Jahangir → Guru Hargobind raises the first Sikh army → Guru Tegh Bahadur beheaded under Aurangzeb → Guru Gobind Singh creates the Khalsa in 1699. Mughal religious policy did not end the movement; it converted a devotional community into an organised military order.
• Regional resistance and the Mughal decline are two sides of one process. Compare with Rajputs, Ahoms and Marathas: the Sikh case shows how a religious community became misls, then a centralised state under Ranjit Singh — and how the vacuum left by the Mughals was filled by regional powers, not by chaos alone.
• Ranjit Singh's state as a model of inclusive kingship. Khalsa Sikhs got special standing, yet Hindus and Muslims held office [5]. Useful to argue that pre-colonial Indian state-building was not always community-exclusive — and to explain why the empire held the Northwest, including parts of Kashmir, against both Mughal remnants and the British until 1849.