Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675), prophet and martyr, was the ninth Guns or spiritual preceptor of the Sikh faith. Born on Vaisakh vad 5, 1678/1 April 1621 at Amritsar, he was the youngest child of Guru Hargobind (the sixth Guru of the Sikh faith) and Mata Nanaki. According to the Gurbilas Pashahi Chhevin Guru Hargobind perceived in the child "the noble and self-consecrating spirit of his father, Guru Arjan strongly committed to his conviction and ready to suffer and sacrifice for the sake of dharma. He further predicted, as says the Gurbilas, that "he shall protect the weak and relieve the poor of their distress, he shall save the country from peril and strike at the root of tyranny and oppression"
A divinely inspired soul, the young Tegh Bahadur soon attained proficiency in language, literature, religious texts, philosophy and theology apart from various manly arts like archery, swordsmanship and horsemanship. Apart from his formal education, what influenced his young formative mind was the overall atmosphere in the family which reverberated with "spiritual humanitarianism His mother, Nanaki (d. 1675), who saw his son grow from a little infant to becoming Guru and then a martyr in such a poised manner, was an embodiment of love and kindness. He seems to have inherited from her the values of love, tenderness, kindliness, detachment, etc. The father, Guru Hargobind, was to him not just an embodiment of the spirit of five preceding Gurus but he also perceived him as the perfect image of God.
Akbar's regime of religious tolerance was already over by the time Guru Tegh Bahadur was born Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru of the Sikh faith, had suffered martyrdom at the hands of Emperor Jahangir who succeeded Akbar. The relations between the Sikhs and Emperor Jahangir and his successor Shah Jahan were not cordial because the latter's religious and social views of intolerance and oppression stood in opposition to the philosophy of religious tolerance and social equality and justice the Gurus followed. Consequently, Guru Hargobind was once held captive in the Gwalior Fort and then several armed conflicts occurred between the Sikhs and the royal forces. To avoid any major eventuality, Guru Hargobind preferred to shift his centre to Kiratpur in the Sivalik foothills.
Two incidents in the family had had a deep impact on young Tegh Bahadur the early and untimely death of first Baba Atal Rai (1619-1628) and then of Baba Gurditta (1613-1638). These two events not only made him acutely aware of the evanescence of human life but also made him firmly imbibe the value of willing acceptance of the Divine Will. Atal Rai had inadvertently revived his dead playmate and Baba Gurditta had revived a dead cow. Since birth and death are in the hands of God, Guru Hargobind had chided them for interfering in the Will of God on both the occasions.
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