Guru Gobind Singh

Tenth Guru | Sikh

The tenth and final human Guru, Gobind Singh was born in 1666 and became Guru at age nine following his father Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom. A poet, warrior, and theologian, he founded the Khalsa at Anandpur on Vaisakhi 1699 by asking for volunteers willing to give their lives; the five who stepped forward — the Panj Pyare, from five different castes — became the first initiated Sikhs. He gave every Khalsa man the surname Singh and every Khalsa woman Kaur, erasing caste names. He lost all four sons: two in battle, two bricked alive into a wall by the Mughal governor of Sirhind for refusing to convert. Before his death in 1708 from an assassin’s delayed wound, he made the decision that would define Sikhism’s future: no eleventh human Guru. The Guru Granth Sahib — the scripture — and the Guru Panth — the community — would be the eternal Guru forever.

Parallels: King David (warrior-poet who both fights and composes; father of a dynasty he cannot hold together); Muhammad at Medina (prophet who also commands armies); Moses who dies before entering the Promised Land — Gobind Singh closes the line of Gurus and hands the tradition to the book. See also: [[Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib Ji](/bestiary/sikh/guru-tegh-bahadur-sahib-ji-the-shield-of-india/)](#guru-tegh-bahadur-sahib-ji----the-shield-of-india), The Panj Pyare (Five Beloved Ones), [Waheguru](#waheguru)