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A SODHEE.
(218)

The Sikh faith had been established in the Punjab during the latter part of the fifteenth century, by Nanuk, a Rajpoot of Kshuttree, who was born in the year 1469; but it made no progress beyond that province into other parts of India. In its local position, however, its followers were inspired by a fierce and fanatical spirit, which impelled them into resistance against the Mahomedans, and into association for what afterwards rose into a national bond of union. The struggles between the conflicting parties continued, almost without intermission, until the year 1675, when Govind, the tenth Gooroo, or spiritual leader, in succession to Nanuk, considerably altered the original Sikh faith, by abolishing distinctions of caste, admitting all creeds and castes of Hindoos as converts without distinction, and upon terms of perfect equality. At the same time he in so far reverted to the original Hindoo foundation of Sikhism, that he advocated the reverence of Hindoo deities, and of Brahmins. By these means, there is no doubt that he obtained a large accession of followers, and that many of the Jats and Rajpoot tribes joined the now formidable confederacy, who had before wavered. Govind was a man of ardent fanatical zeal and indomitable valour. As crowds of fresh devotees joined the Sikh standard, he made a military profession the pledge of initiation, and recommenced the hereditary feud against the Mahomedans, which probably had never entirely been discontinued. The war between the Mahomedans and the Sikhs, though of a desultory character, was, like all religious wars, fierce and unrelenting, and horrible cruelties were practised on both sides. Eventually, however, the Mahomedans prevailed. Govind was hunted from fastness to fastness, and, after sustaining the loss of his bravest followers, his mother, and many members of his family, he was finally overtaken, and cruelly put to death. By this event, the office of chief religious instructor or leader of the Sikhs ceased to exist; but the military spirit and combined association, which it had been Govind's object to establish, survived his death, and ultimately secured