Misconceptions on the Birth of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji

January 20, 2021

Misconceptions on the Birth of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji

The young Guru Gobind Das, late 17th century. Bhai Rupa Collection.

ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥

ਪੋਹ ਸੁਦੀ ੭ (January 20): The Birth of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji

Introduction

The Lunar date of Poh Sudi 7 in the Sikh tradition is a truly remarkable occasion. It is on this date that we observe the arrival of the Tenth Master, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji upon this world; in their five-elemental body within the city of Patna, Bihar. Guru Sahib were born from the womb of Mata Gujar Kaur, in the house of the ninth Nanak, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. At the time of their son's birth, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji were in the midst of their preaching tours throughout northern and eastern India. Guru Gobind Singh Ji grew up to become a very skilled poet, warrior, spiritual leader, and overall enlightener. At an early age, they were bestowed with the responsibility of Guruship after their father [Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji] had sacrificed their life in order to protect the faith of the Kashmiri Brahmins from desecration by Aurangzeb and his fiendish Mughal Empire.

It is said in some historical accounts, that after Bhai Jaita, a devout Sikh belonging to the Rangreta [sweeper] caste, brought the head of Guru Tegh Bahadur from Delhi to Chakk Nanaki, Guru Gobind Singh Ji asked him if there were any other Sikhs present during the martyrdom of the ninth Guru. Bhai Jaita replied that there were many Sikhs within the crowd, but they all remained silent; embodying fear for the barbaric Mughal regime. Alas, the blood of the Sikhs had gone cold. Hearing of the Sikhs' cowardice, a young Guru Gobind Singh made a vow that he would turn sparrows into hawks, saints into saint-soldiers, and have his Sikhs pick up weapons and fight one against thousands fearlessly. Guru Sahib aspired to give their Sikhs such an identity that they would never shy away from their duty or embody fear as they had during the scene of martyrdom.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji gave birth to the distinct Khalsa Panth which was destined to rule the world; battling injustice and maintaining spiritual righteousness for aeons to come. The establishment of the Khalsa is just one out of Guru Sahib's many achievements, which are otherwise uncountable akin to their praises within this world. For such an important historical figure like Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who are especially important to Sikhs as our tenth Guru, we must eradicate any historical inaccuracies that may have resulted within the hundreds of years between Guru Sahib's time upon this world. Indeed, there are plenty of historical inaccuracies, myths, and common misconceptions about Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji that have become prominent within the Sikh community throughout many centuries. Thus, I found it crucial to endeavour in clearing some of these misconceptions through a well-worded article, with supporting evidence from authentic and contemporary records relating to their birth upon this world.

Date of Birth: 1666 or 1661?

The common belief among Sikh historians is that Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji were born in Patna on Poh Sudi 7, 1723 BK. This date translates to December 22, 1666 CE in the standard English calendar, which concurrently was the Julian calendar. The most renowned literary works within the Sikh tradition; notably chronicles such as Gur-Bilas Patshahi X (1751 CE) by Kuir Singh, the Gur-Pratap Suraj Granth (1843 CE) by Kavi Santokh Singh, 'Naveen' Panth Prakash (1880 CE) by Giani Gian Singh, and many others are all in favour of this date. However, all of these scholarly sources were composed either during or after the latter half of the eighteenth century. Unfortunately, many of the older and near-contemporary literary sources either do not recount the event of the Guru's birth at all, or they do so very briefly; not mentioning any specific dates or records whatsoever.

Despite this, there are some sources that a lot of modern scholars may have overlooked which are not only contemporary to the Guru but also mention the Guru's birth record in great detail. These sources are none other than the Bhatt Vahis. The word 'Vahi' in this context translates to "record book." As implied, the Bhatt Vahis are record books or genealogical records written by the Bhatts, who were well-known bards existing during the Guru period and beyond. The Bhatts are an eminently trustworthy source because they have attended Sikh congregations since Guru Amar Das' time. The Adi Granth, now known as the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, also contains numerous compositions authored by eleven of these Bhatts. There is no doubt that the Bhatt Vahis are authentic records of historical events occurring in Sikh history. Whenever an event of major significance would occur, such as births and deaths, the Bhatts would record said events in their Vahis. Likely so, the birth of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji is also recorded in the Bhatt Vahis.

Upon studying these records, we uncover that they document the birth date of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji as Poh Sudi 7, 1718 BK¹ (which translates to December 18, 1661 CE in the Julian Calendar.) In both dates (the one proposed by scriptures following Kuir Singh's Gur-Bilas and the date recorded in the Bhatt Vahis) the Bikrami month and day are identical (Poh Sudi 7.) It is only the years of birth among these two dates that vary by five years. In support of the 1661 CE date, a notable work is Guru Kian Sakhian² by Bhatt Sarup Singh Kaushish. Simply from his name, one can quickly infer that the author of this work also belonged to the Bhatt lineage. Although this particular work is from 1790 CE, well after scriptures such as Gur-Bilas had been completed; this work would still hold more authenticity than those scriptures. The reason being that Bhatt Sarup Singh Kaushish not only had a direct connection with the line of Bhatts (him being a Bhatt himself), but he also had first-hand access to the Bhatt Vahis which are the basis of this literary work. Another notable scripture in favour of the 1661 CE date is the Bansavalinama by Kesar Singh Chibber. Kesar Singh, akin to the Bhatts, also writes that the Guru was born on Poh Sudi 7 in 1718 BK³ [1661 CE.]

Regarding the reason why many of the more prominent scriptures mention the incorrect 1666 CE date, the first known work to introduce this date is Gur-Bilas Patshahi X⁴ [1751] by Kuir Singh. It is a possibility that the author may have made a misunderstanding and written the year as 1723 BK instead of 1718 BK because as previously established, the month and day remain unchanged. Still, a miscalculation of five years may be a little far-fetched in this situation, but there is no other possible reason I can envision for writing the date in this way. The next notable scripture to mention the 1666 CE date is the Gur-Pratap Suraj Granth [1843] by Kavi Santokh Singh. It is important to note that although Kavi Santokh Singh was a master-poet, he did not specialize in historiography. Everything written in the Suraj Prakash Granth originates from various second-hand sources, the historical accounts of which Kavi Santokh Singh referred to when composing his verses in Braj Bhasha.

Upon speculating and studying the pattern of Sakhis across Guru Gobind Singh Ji's portion of the Suraj Prakash Granth, we learn that Kavi Santokh Singh heavily relied on Gur-Bilas Patshahi X for historical accounts of the tenth Guru. This point offers a reasonable explanation on why the Suraj Prakash repeats the 1666 CE date conceived in Gur-Bilas. After its completion in 1843 CE, the Suraj Granth would become an extremely influential scripture in the Sikh ethos. So much so that even today, Gurdwaras everywhere dedicate select portions of their daily routine to reading and communicating the meanings of this scripture. As a result of Suraj Prakash's newfound prominence, many writers, poets, and scholars began to base their works on Kavi Santokh Singh's Granth. Among these writers is Giani Gian Singh, who admittedly used the Suraj Granth to compose his 'Naveen' Panth Prakash. Upon analyzing the previous attestations, I can confidently conclude that Poh Sudi 7 1718 BK [December 18, 1661 CE] is the correct date of Guru Gobind Singh Ji's arrival on this earthly plane.

Birth Name: Gobind Rai or Gobind Das?

Apart from the incorrect date of birth mentioned in notable scriptures, a similar misconception regarding Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji is their birth name. The name they were given by their parents [Guru Tegh Bahadur and Mata Gujar Kaur] before adopting the name 'Guru Gobind Singh' after receiving Pahul on the Vaisakhi of 1699 CE. Once again, the common belief among not only Sikh historians but Sikhs in general, is that Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji were given the name 'Gobind Rai' at birth. This misconception is another supported by the prominent Sikh scriptures, such as Gur-Bilas, Suraj Prakash, 'Naveen' Panth Prakash and others. Contrary to popular belief, the tenth Master's birth name is not Gobind Rai, but Gobind Das.

As mentioned earlier, most, if not all contemporary and near-contemporary sources on Guru Gobind Singh Ji's life either do not mention the Guru's birth and early life at all, or they do so very briefly. The same applies to this situation. Even the supposed contemporary works on the life of Guru Gobind Singh only address them as 'Guru Gobind Singh,' without any reference to their birth name. The reason being that these works were all written after the Guru had received Pahul and adopted the surname of Singh. These works include the various poems of Bhai Nand Lal [early eighteenth century], Sri Gur Katha [~1699 to 1704 CE] by Bhai Jaita, Das Gur Katha [~1699 CE] by Kavi Kankan, Sri Gursobha [1711 CE] by Kavi Sainapati, Parchi Patshahi Dasvin Ki [1741 CE] by Seva Das Udasi, and many others. Thus, even some genealogical records were changed to address Guru Sahib as 'Guru Gobind Singh.'

Gur-Bilas Patshahi X was the first comprehensive approach to compose a thorough, in-depth account of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji's life and times. Gur-Bilas also happens to be among the first literary works to mention 'Gobind Rai' as the Guru's birth name. Once again, like 1666 CE date of birth for Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the birth name of 'Gobind Rai' was repeated in later notable scriptures like the Suraj Prakash and Naveen Panth Prakash. There is still a possibility that 'Gobind Rai' was just an alternate name of the tenth Guru, but it is slightly odd that this name only surfaces in literary sources written after the late eighteenth century. Another possible theory is that the suffix 'Rai' was not necessarily a portion of the Guru's name but it was simply a title added to express reverence. The word 'Rai' has many definitions, all of which would prove befitting for this theory. It can translate to 'king,' or 'sovereign' and also to 'lord,' or 'god.' In fact, during the Guru period in history, the word 'Rai' was used as a title of royalty. During the Mughal Empire, the word 'Rai' was specifically used when conferring a title on a Hindu or Sikh chief. In fact, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji themselves address the first Master, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji as 'Nanak Rai'⁵ in their Bachitar Natak [~1696 CE], so this theory is not at all improbable.

Now that we have established that most contemporary/near-contemporary sources do not mention an alternate name and that the later written scriptures were the first to mention 'Gobind Rai' as a birth name, we must uncover the real name which Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji were given at birth. To determine this, we must once again use the Bhatt Vahis as a reference. The Bhatt Vahis do not only list the dates for historical events, but they also offer many important details and often go in-depth when describing certain occurrences. Likewise, for the birth of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the Bhatt Vahis not only document the exact date of birth, but they also describe the place of birth, the day of the week the Guru was born [Wednesday], the Guru's genealogy, and their birth name. According to the Bhatt Vahis¹, and Guru Kian Sakhian² authored by Bhatt Sarup Singh Kaushish, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji were born as 'Gobind Das.' This was the name they were known by until the Vaisakhi of 1699 CE when they adopted the name 'Guru Gobind Singh.'

Regarding the tenth Guru's birth name being 'Gobind Das,' the Bhatt Vahis and Guru Kian Sakhian are not the only available sources. There is one extremely crucial source which assuredly settles this debate. That source is none other than the handwritten Hukamnamas of Guru Gobind Singh Ji's father, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib themselves. In modern times, a Hukamnama is a hymn randomly selected from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib by a Granthi [priest] which Sikhs must follow as a command. Certain Gurdwaras take their own daily Hukamnamas for each of their respective congregations, and often Hukamnamas can be taken by any individual Sikh with a Prakash of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji in their own home to follow for themselves. However, during the period of the ten human Gurus, Hukamnamas were letters directly addressed by the Guru to their Sikhs as an order. Many of these Hukamnamas have been preserved as artefacts and relics, which can also be used to verify historical occurrences. For the situation regarding Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji's birth name being 'Gobind Rai,' one can find two existing references in the ninth Guru's Hukamnamas where Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji address young Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji as 'Bal Gobind Das.'⁶

Closing Statement

Finally, after an extensive monologue on the misconceptions of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji's birth upon this world, upon providing countless references and pieces of evidence from authentic and contemporary sources, we can conclude two things. The first point is that Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji were born on Poh Sudi 7, 1718 BK. In the Julian Calendar, this date translates to Wednesday, December 18, 1661 CE. The 1661 CE date is the correct date in contrast with the invalid date of Poh Sudi 7, 1723 BK which translates to December 22, 1666 CE in the Julian Calendar. The second conclusion we can make is that Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji were born with the name 'Gobind Das' instead of the commonly known name 'Gobind Rai.' The tenth Guru was known as 'Guru Gobind Das' since Guruship in 1675 CE until the Vaisakhi of 1699 CE, after which they adopted the name 'Guru Gobind Singh.'