Bahadur Shah, Nanded and the passing of the Guruship
The Guruship passes to the Granth and the Khalsa
Before passing away, Guru Ji ended the line of personal Gurus, with sources stressing the Granth, the Khalsa, or both.
The Bhatt Vahi Talauda, as quoted in the Encyclopaedia, tells it in a few lines. On Wednesday, 6 October 1708, at Nanded, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji asked Bhai Daya Singh to bring the Sri Granth Sahib. Guru Ji placed five paise and a coconut before it, bowed, and told the gathered Sikhs that it was a command: they were to treat the Granth as standing in Guru Ji's place.
Sainapati remembers a different moment. A day before the end, he says, Sikhs came asking what form the Lord would now take. Guru Ji's reply was that the Khalsa was Guru Ji's own form, and that Guru Ji would dwell in the Khalsa from beginning to end.
Guru Ji passed away on the night of Kattak sudi 5, 1765 Bikrami, which the Encyclopaedia gives as 7 October 1708. There were to be no more personal Gurus. From this point authority lay with Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and with the Khalsa.
How do we know?
A close source supports this story, and a second independent source agrees.
This is well attested, with different weight in different sources. The verses of Sainapati read here speak of the Khalsa as Guru Ji's form and do not name the Granth, although the translator's summary says the Guruship was vested in it. The Bhatt Vahi entry names the Granth, but it comes through a modern transcript. Scholars, as quoted by the translator, read this as a double doctrine of Guru Granth and Guru Panth. The Encyclopaedia's entry on hill states says November 1708 for the passing, which appears to be a slip for 7 October.
- From the timeQuotes the Bhatt Vahi Talauda for 6 October 1708, with Guru Ji having the Granth brought and placing five paise and a coconut before it.[EoS]
- From the timeDates the passing to Kattak sudi 5, 1765 Bikrami, at night, and has Guru Ji say the Khalsa is Guru Ji's own form. (ch. XVIII, couplets 37, 41-42)[Src]
- Later traditionSays Kuir Singh refers to the succession passing to the Granth, but dates the death to 1709.[EoS]
- Later traditionStresses the Granth as Guru, in a work of 1769.[EoS]
- Later traditionGives a speech telling the Khalsa to see Guru Ji in the Granth. (pp. 244-245)[Macauliffe]
