Guru Gobind Singh

The 10th guru of the Sikhs was born in Patna on December 22, 1666, to Guru Tegh Bahadur and Mata Gujari.

At the time, Guru Tegh Bahadur was in Assam. He expressed great joy on hearing the news and named his son Gobind Rai.

In November 1675 Gobind Rai became the guru after Tegh Bahadur was beheaded on Emperor Aurangzeb's orders.

With the passage of time, the guru held court, studied philosophy and politics, and practised weapons.

Guru Gobind Singh had three wives. The first was Jeeto, daughter of Harijas Subhikhi of Lahore. They married in 1734. Three sons -- Jujhar Singh, Zoravar Singh, and Fateh Singh -- were born to them.

His second wife was Sundari, daughter of Ram Saran of Lahore. Guru Gobind Singh's youngest son, Ajit Singh, was born to her.

Sahib Devi, daughter of Bhai Ramu Bassi of Rohtas in Jhelum district, was his third wife. Bhai Ramu came to Anandpur Sahib and told the guru that his daughter had vowed not to marry anyone but him. To this the guru replied that he would not marry again, but would maintain a platonic relationship with her.

In 1699, Guru Gobind Singh convened a congregation of nearly 80,000 Sikhs in Anandpur. The guru, attired as a warrior and brandishing his sword, announced that he needed the head of a Sikh.

After some time Bhai Daya Singh, a Khatri from Lahore, presented himself. The guru took him into a tent and came back with his sword dripping with blood and asked for another head.

Dharam Chand, a Jat from Hastinapur, offered his head. The guru took him into the tent, then came back and demanded a third, a fourth, and a fifth head.

Mohkam Chand (from Dwarka), Himmat Rai (a fisherman from Jagannath), and Sahib Chand (from Bidarpur) offered themselves.

Attiring all of them in robes and bestowing weapons upon them, the guru called them his Panj Piare (Favourite Five). Thus were born the Khalsa -- The Pure Ones.

The guru ordained that henceforth the word 'Singh' would be suffixed to the name of each male Sikh. The word 'Kaur' was to be suffixed to a woman's name.

The guru made them take an oath to observe the five Ks, namely to wear the hair and beard unshorn (kesh); to carry a comb (kangha) in the hair; to wear a pair of shorts (kuchha); to wear a steel bangle (kara) on the right wrist; and always to carry a dagger (kirpan) on their person.

Later, the guru asked the Five Beloved Ones to initiate him as a member of the Khalsa brotherhood.

Guru Gobind Singh was attacked and mortally wounded by two Pathans, who went to meet him under the pretext of selling him horses, in 1708.

Before dying, the guru told his followers that henceforth the Granth Sahib would be their guru.