The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c19.83

v4.c19.83

This change he was able to effect because most of his converts were Jāts, the best raw materials for soldiers under proper training and leadership, naturally fearless, hardy, amenable to discipline, and ready to march anywhere and face any danger at the prospect of plunder. Already their religious teaching had knit the Sikhs together by an implicit faith in their spiritual head and a sense of the closest brotherhood. Caste distinctions among them were abolished under orders of Govind and all restrictions about food and drink discarded. The Sikhs felt themselves to be a chosen people, the Lord's elect, superior to every other sect. Everything was, therefore, ready for converting the sect into a military body obedient to the death to its chief and ever ready to surrender the individual conscience to that of the Gurū. It was as if Cromwell's Ironsides were inspired by the Jesuits' unquestioning submission to their Superior's decisions on moral problems.