Later Mughals v1.c6.s17.1

v1.c6.s17.1

We come now to our more particular subject, the life and doings of Guru Govind, and the events which followed on his death. Govind, the son of the ninth Guru, Tegh Bahadur, was born at Patna in Bihar, during his father's temporary exile from the Panjab, and at his father's death was nine years of age.* [According to Macauliffe's Sikh authorities (vol. v), Govind was born on the 7th bright lunar day of Paush, Sambat 1723-January 1666 A.D.] We are told that he remained in obscurity for twenty years. About 1695, then, when he was some thirty years of age, he took the field against constituted authority.† His first campaign was made as the ally of one hill rajah, Bhim Chand, Rajah of Nadon, against another, the Rajah of Jammu, who had been incited by Miyan Khan Mughal, to make an attack on his neighbour.* Where the interval of twenty years, between 1675 and 1695, was passed, we cannot say with any certainty. In one place,† we hear of his leaving a village called Paotah, just before he fought the Muhammadans. This village, where there is now a Sikh temple, lies close to the west or right bank of the Jamuna, in the Kiyarda dun, or valley, which is now part of the hill State of Sirmur or Nahan.‡ From after events, such as the building of a Sikh fort on the outer hills in Nahan territory, and the vengeance taken by Bahadur Shah on the Nahan Rajah, we may infer some close connection between Govind and the ruler of that State. His period of obscurity, in which he is said to have occupied himself with hunting, shooting, and the chase, may have been spent in the Kiyarda dun, or the adjoining hills.§