Page images
PDF
EPUB

Thus, at once founding the Singhs, he struck the whole world with awe; overturning temples, tombs, and mosques, he levelled them all with the plain; rejecting the Vedas, the Puranas, the six Sastras, and the Koran, he abolished the cry of Namaz,* and slew the Sultans; reducing the Mirs and Pirs to silence, he overturned all their sects; the Moullahs and the Kazis were confounded, and found no benefit from their studies. The Brahmins, the Pandits, and the Jotishis § had acquired a relish for worldly things; they worshipped stones and temples, and forgot the Supreme. Thus these two sects, the Mohammedan and Hindū, remained involved in delusion and ignorance, when the Khalsa originated in purity. When, at the order of Guru Govind, the Singhs

[ocr errors][merged small]

*The Mohammedan prayer.

+ The Lords and priests of the Mohammedans. The priests, and professors of theology; and the judges.

§ Astrologers.

[ocr errors]

seized and displayed the scymitar, then subduing all their enemies, they meditated on the Eternal; and, as soon as the order of the Most High was manifested in the world, circumcision ceased, and the Moslems trembled when they saw the ritual of Mohammed destroyed: then the Nakara* of victory sounded throughout the world, and fear and dread were abolished."†

* Large kettle-drum, always found established at head-quarters, or places of abode, of princes and commanders.

+ The principal authorities for the foregoing account of the Sikhs, are,-1. The Sketch given of them by General Malcolm, frequently referred to by the author, and which he has in several places copied literally. 2. The account of a journey to Europe, through Lahore, Cashmire, and Persia, by Mr. George Forster, to which is added a Precis sur les Sykes, by Monsieur Langlès. 3. An account of a tour to Lahore, published in the eleventh volume of the Asiatic Annual Register; and 4. Communications made to the author personally, by Mr. John Stuart, and the late Colonel Polier. The coincidence that appears in the reports given by five different persons, totally unconnected with each other, is a strong proof of the exact,

less of their accounts. Free from prejudice, they seem o have viewed the virtuous Hindu and Sikh, with as nuch goodwill as the virtuous Christian; a happy, and indispensable quality in a traveller: for, whoever ooks through the medium of prejudice, must be contantly exposed to be led into error.

[ocr errors]

In the work published by Mr. Ward, at Serampore, which has already been mentioned, there is an article n the Sikhs, containing what is termed "a List of Topics selected from the works of Nanac and four of his uccessors."

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »