The Kṣatriya-Khālsā & Death: Exploring Death in Spiritual and Warrior-Symbolic Contexts

On Death and the Khālsā

ਕਾਲ ਉਪਾਸਕ ਛਤ੍ਰਿਯ ਧਰਮਾ
Kāl Upāsaka Chatriya Dharmā
The Khalsa are the worshipers of death with the Dharma of Kṣatriyas
(Sri Sarbloh Granth)

Bābā Deep Siṅgh adorning his severed head in his hands - Painting by Jatinder Singh Durhailay

Death has been understood by many as a object of fear and as an enemy but for the Kṣatriya-Khālsā, death is understood as the greatest achievement, not only does the Khālsā understand the attainment of a righteous death as an achievement but also an object of worship. In the Adī Grantha we find -

ਜੈਸਾ ਸੇਵੈ ਤੈਸੋ ਹੋਇ ॥੪॥
Jaisā sevai taisā hoe ||4||
one adopts the qualities and characteristics of that to whom one shows utter devotion.
(Adī Graṅtha, Ang/Limb (Page) 223)

The above verse can be greater understood by the example of company, If one is to sit in the company of criminals one shall inevitably adopt the characteristics of those criminals, if one is to sit in the company of a Saints one shall adopt the saintly or holy qualities of those saints or holy-men, Likewise, The Khālsā idolizing death to the extent of pronouncing death as the supreme itself adopts the qualities of death. An example of this adoption of the qualities of death can be seen through the mythical-tales which constitute to the Khālsā Spirit, such as the Sākhī or tale of Bābā Deep Siṅgh and Bhāī Tarū Siṅgh which grows this sense of Nirbhāitā or Fearlessness which can be seen within the concept of death. To provide a more profounder understanding, If we are to personify this concept of death into that of a warrior, one comes to the conclusion that death has never been conquered, Many have come into this manifold and have all come under the noose of death, None have conquered death, there have existed many mortals, including Kings and Emperors with great armies and wealth but none have stood a chance infront of death, Many have died in fear of this death, searching for an elixir of immortality, Which all display this fearlessness of death that death has no mortal which he hasn’t been able to conquer. In the same sense The Khālsā; The Worshipers of death with an warrior ethos, display this characteristic of fearlessness, to the extent that it does not even fear death, which can be seen from the tale of Bābā Deep Siṅgh who adorning his severed head in his hands fights the Mughals in combat but he too at reaching Amritsar embraces his idol, namely, the sovereign death with open arms. Sohan Singh Seetal when reiterating this Mythical-Tale of Bābā Deep Siṅgh states -

maut

(sun ke gall singh di boli maut vangar ke) ūṭhi'ā tūm nawām sūrmām, tegh sanwar ke rolangi pran maim tere, rah de wic mar ke ajj takk ko'i gi'ā nā singhām maimum lalkar ke na bannh tum dai'e kur de tur ja'inga har ke ū, nā bannh tum dai'e khälsā

Dip Singh (dip sing bole aggon roh de wic ān ke)

de nāl jāņ ke sakda nahim rok dhāram raj, ap wī ān ke

launi'e makkhā kahnum singham jisde wall satigur uhnum kaun dabāwegā singh da ardasa kītā, tor nibh jawegā ū, kite pran tor nibhanage
Translation -
Death-

(Hearing the Singh, death revealed itself)

Arisen have you, new hero, holding your sword I shall destroy your life, kill you on the way. Until today no Singh has dared to challenge me; Do not be too sure, your defeat is guaranteed Khalsa, make up your mind.

Deep Singh -

(Deep Singh answered in rage) Why do you intentionally strike your head against the Singhs? Dharam Raj in person could not stop us. Who could suppress those who have satguru on their side? The Singh who completes the Ardas will not be left alone, The promise made will be fulfilled
(Seetal 1983: 10).

Likewise, Gukewalia states when reiterating this legend states -

(jawab bābā dip singh ji)

(tarz sākā)

ki'a singh ne honi'e, maim sacc suṇāwām tum kiti'an ute jagg de, lakkham ghatnawam tum mare puuran bhagat ka'i, baih rauwan māwām tum mazuman ton khuh la'i'ām, māvām di'am chhāvām tere mare honi'en, rulde vic rāwām maim kagalidhar da singh han, shaunh udi thawām paihlām apne mārām ton maim harimandar jāwām bheta apne sis di, darbār jhaṛāvām
Translation -
(answer of Baba Deep Singh) (tune sākā)

The Singh said: Let me tell you the truth, honi; You have caused many incidents in this world. You killed people like Puran-Bhagat, Leaving the mourning mothers [there] behind, weeping. You snatched the innocents, Despite the wishes of their mothers Your intervention caused desolation, honi; I am a Singh of Guru Gobind's following, I swear by him Before dying, I shall reach Harmandir, Offering my head before the throne
(Gukewalia 1964: 10-11).

(Translation from ‘Dhadhi Darbar’ - Micheal Nijhawan)

The above Dhāḍī Vārān or Ballads which in themselves have been composed for the sole purpose of invoking the Kṣatriya Spirit within the Khālsā, display this fearlessness of the Khālsā. This sense of fearlesness adopted from Kāla or Death is also supported by the ambrosial words of the ninth-master, namely, Gurū Tegh Bāhādur -

ਭੈ ਕਾਹੂ ਕਉ ਦੇਤ ਨਹਿ ਨਹਿ ਭੈ ਮਾਨਤ ਆਨ ॥
bhai kāhū ko det nahi, nahi bhai mānat ān ||
(Describing a true-sikh or Khālsā Guru Tegh Bāhādur states -)
He is a true-sikh who does not first plant fear in others and neither accepts fear from anyone.
(Adī Grantha, Ang 1427)

The Khālsā by adopting the characteristics of death such as fearlessness, acts like Kāla or Death and understands itself in the same manner as Kāla or Death, For example, Kāla acts as an emperor of dualistic or material realms in the same sense the Khālsā Sikhs too act as Emperors understanding themselves to be the sons of Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh who has bestowed them with the rulership of the three-realms and beyond, Therefore, The Khālsā rightfully act as the emperors of this realm. To further expound on this concept, Kāla being personified has been identified with adorning a sword for which Gurbānī is replete of verses -

ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਸਿਪਾਨ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾ ਤੁਮਰੀ ਕਰਿ ਮੈ ਨ ਕਹਯੋ ਸਭ ਤੋਹਿ ਬਖਾਨਯੋ ॥੮੬੩॥
Srī aspān kripā tumarī kar mai na kahyo sabh tohi bakhānayo ||863||
O’ luminous sword-wielding lord, It is via your grace that all of this has been described, all this has not been described by me but by you!
(Dasam Grantha)

ਨਮੋ ਦੇਵ ਦੇਵੰ ਨਮੋ ਖੜਗਧਾਰੰ ॥
namo dev devaṅ, namo khaṛhagdhāraṅ ||
Salutations to the god of gods, Salutations to the supreme wielder of the sword!
(Dasam Granth)

Here the sword in the hands of Kāla refers to Adī Shakti or Magical Potency or Faculty of Kāla via which the Kāla has created this spectacle labelled as the universe, as Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh states - (ਖੰਡਾ ਪ੍ਰਿਥਮੈ ਸਾਜ ਕੈ ਜਿਨ ਸਭ ਸੈਸਾਰੁ ਉਪਾਇਆ ॥) In the same sense the Khālsā worships this Adī Ṣaktī of Kāla through the sword. Just as Kāla adorns the sword in the same method does the Khālsā adorn the sword. Kavī Santokh Siṅgh when speaking in relations to the Khālsā states -

ਬਹੁ ਮਹਿਂ ਅਪਨੋ ਰੂਪ ਬਨਾਯਹੁ। ਸ਼ਸਤ੍ਰ ਧਰਨਿ ਉਪਦੇਸ਼ ਦ੍ਰਿੜਾਯਹੁ।
ਸਭਿ ਮਹਿ ਬੀਰ ਸੁ ਰਸ ਬਿਰਧਾਯਹੁ। ਧਰਮ ਦ੍ਰਿੜਾਯਹੁ ਨਾਮ ਜਪਾਯਹੁ ॥ 42 ॥
Bahu mahi apno rūp banāyahu | Ṣastra dharan upadesh drirhāyahu ||
Sabh mahi bīr su ras birdhāyahu | Dharam drirhāyahu nām japāyahu || 42 ||
The Gurū (Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh) has created the Khālsā based off of his rūp or form by doing so the Gurū has expanded himself into many (The Khālsā). The Gurū has firmly established his command of adorning weapons and has further increased Bīr Rasa or warrior-spirit within his Khālsā along with instilling Righteousness and the chanting of Nām or Divine Name within his Khālsā!
(Srī Gurpratāp Sūraj Graṅth, Mahākavī Saṅtokh Siṅgh)

In the above verse it becomes implicit that the Khālsā has been instructed by the tenth-incarnation of Kāla in other terms, Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh, to adorn weapons. Talking of the worship of the sacred-sword, Gyānī Gyān Siṅgh states -

ਜਿਤਿਕ ਭੂਪ ਜਗ ਮੈਂ ਭਏ, ਪੂਜਤ ਸਭਿਨਿ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾਨ
Jitik bhūp jag maiṅ bhae pūjat sabhin kripān ||
All the great Kings/Kṣatriyas which have come to roam the earth have all worshiped the sword!
….
ਪਰਮ ਧਰਮ ਛੱਤ੍ਰੀਨ ਕੋ ਪੂਜਤ ਭਲੇ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾਨ
Param dharam chhatrīn kó pūjat bhale kripān ||
The greatest tradition is that of the Kṣatriyas who worship the great sword!

Which brings us back to the verse from the Sarbloha Grantha attributed to Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh which has inspired this article - ਕਾਲ ਉਪਾਸਕ ਛਤ੍ਰਿਯ ਧਰਮਾ
The Khalsa are the worshipers of death and their Dharma that of Kṣatriyas (Sri Sarbloh Granth)| The previously stated verse further reminds me of the following verse from the Sarbloha Grantha -

ਛੱਤ੍ਰਿਯ ਬ੍ਰਿਤਿ ਅਨਨਯੁਪਾਸਕ; ਤ੍ਯਾਗੀ ਹਠੀ ਸੂਰ ਭਵਨੇਸ੍ਵਰ ॥
Chatriya briti ananyupāsaka, tyāgī haṭhī sur bhavanesvara ||
The Khālsā is of Kṣatriya propensities inherited from the Gurū himself as the Gurūs themselves are Sūryavaṃṣī Kṣatriyas, This Khālsā is the worshiper of none other than Kāla or death, This Khālsā is a renouncer, of obstinate nature, with a warrior ethos and ruler of the three realms.

This Khālsā being a Kṣatriya worships none other than the one great immortal-Kāla and has been pronounced as the son of Kāla by Kāla himself in the form of. Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh -

ਮਾਤ ਭਗਵਤੀ ਪਿਤਾ ਕਾਲ ਪੁਰੁਖ, ਗਦੋ ਲਿਯੋ ਦੈ ਖਾਲ ਪਲੀ ॥
Māta Bhagavatī Pitā Kāl Purakh, Godh liyo dai khāl Palī
The Mother of the Khālsā is Bhagavatī or Adī Ṣaktī in the form of the sword, The Father of the Khālsā is Kāla. The Mother Bhagavatī has taken her son, namely, the Khālsā in her laps.
(Sarbloha Grantha, Guru Gobind Singh)

This statement of the Khālsā being the son of Kāla in many ways implies that the Khālsā is the very image of Kāla, In Indian Literature it is a common theme that the Son is the very image or sometimes the rebirth of his father, for example, In the Aitreya Brahmana a conversation between King Hariṣchandra and Nārada is recorded in which Nārada when answering Hariṣchandra question ‘Now, since they desire a son, both those who are intelligent and those aren’t.; what does one gain by a son? Tell me that, O’ Nārada’ states Nārada - ‘A wife is called ‘wife’, because in her he is born again. He is productive, she is productive, For the seed is placed in her. In this reply Nārada clearly enunciates in which method in which the father is reborn within his child or in other words that the Son is the very image of the father, likewise, The Khālsā is the very image of Kāla or Death. In the Khālsā Mahima composed by Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh which leaves for no question in regards to this statement -

ਖਾਲਸਾ ਮੇਰੋ ਰੂਪ ਹੈ ਖ਼ਾਸ ॥
Khālsā Meró Rūp Hai Khās ||
The Khālsā is my special form!

The form of the Khālsā is identical to that of Kāla which links to the idea of the Khālsā being verily the image of Kāla. Kāla is himself one and also many or multiplicity in other words the Manifold, for which Gurbānī is full of such statements declaring such -

ਕਾਲ ਸਬਨ ਕੋ ਪੇਖਿ ਤਮਾਸਾ ॥ ਅੰਤਹਕਾਲ ਕਰਤ ਹੈ ਨਾਸਾ ॥੨॥
ਕਾਲ ਸਭਨ ਕਾ ਕਰਤ ਪਸਾਰਾ ॥ ਅੰਤ ਕਾਲਿ ਸੋਈ ਖਾਪਨਿਹਾਰਾ ॥
ਆਪਨ ਰੂਪ ਅਨੰਤਨ ਧਰਹੀ ॥ ਆਪਹਿ ਮਧਿ ਲੀਨ ਪੁਨਿ ਕਰਹੀ ॥੩॥
Kāl saban ko pekh tamāsā || aṅtahkāl karat hai nāsa ||2||
Kāl saban ko karat pasārā || Aṅt kāl soī khāpanhārā ||
Āpan rūp anaṅtan dharhī || Āpahi madh līn pun karhī ||3||
It is the supreme Kāl or Ik Oaṅkār who watches his composed play or Tamāṣa known as the universe/multiplicity, upon the completion of this play he destroys his play/Tamāṣa (Universe)| It is the Supreme Kāl who is also known as Akāl Purakh or Ik Oaṅkār which causes the expansion into multiplicity/world and at the end he himself destroys this expansion | He (The Supreme Kāla) takes upon enumerable forms (The Multiplicity/Universe) upon which he dissolves all those enumerable forms into himself.
(Srī Dasam Graṅth, Chaubīs Avtār, Srī Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh Jī)

ਆਪਹਿ ਏਕ ਆਪਹਿ ਅਨੇਕ ॥
Āpahi ek āpahi anek ||
He himself is one he himself is many/multiplicity referring to the universe.
(Srī Gurū Graṅth Sāhib, Aṅg/Limb (Page) 290, Gurū Arjan Dev Jī)

Identically, The Khālsā too is is one but also many as the Khālsā represents a physical entity of a Kṣatriya/warrior-King-like Commonwealth.
Foreclosing this chapter of the article in regards to the symbolic-Warrior significance of death in the eyes of the Kṣatriya, With the blessings of the sacred-sword I continue to the Spiritual Significance of death with the background of concepts such as Mokṣa or liberation and Saṃsāra etc…

ਕਬੀਰ ਜਿਸੁ ਮਰਨੇ ਤੇ ਜਗੁ ਡਰੈ ਮੇਰੇ ਮਨਿ ਆਨੰਦੁ ॥
ਮਰਨੇ ਹੀ ਤੇ ਪਾਈਐ ਪੂਰਨੁ ਪਰਮਾਨੰਦੁ ॥੨੨॥
Kabīr jis marne te jag ḍare merai man ānaṅd ||
marne hī te pāīai pūran paramānaṅd || 22 ||
Kabīr states, That the death which the world fears brings bliss to my soul. It is by death that one attains Supreme-Never-ending Bliss.

Here Kabīr talks not merely of physical death but talks of the death of one’s individuality/I-ness or Haumai which acts as a limitation as a obstruction to the liberation from this cycle of Saṃsara full of suffering and sorrow. Gurū Aṅgad describes this Haumai as a great obstruction which acts as a substratum or origin of limitations and suffering -

ਹਉਮੈ ਏਈ ਬੰਧਨਾ ਫਿਰਿ ਫਿਰਿ ਜੋਨੀ ਪਾਹਿ ॥
Haumai aiī baṅdhanā fir fir jonī pāhi ||
It is this Haumai or sense of duality or individuality alias I-ness which is the substratum of all strains and limitations, It is this Haumai due to which one remains stuck in this cycle of rebirth in other words Saṃsāra.

Death in this context has been understood as the extinction of desires, enmity, anger, greed etc… caused by this duality or Haumai which when conquered brings in a flux of bliss which seems to never come to an end. Kabīr in another verse states -

ਜਬ ਹਮ ਹੋਤੇ ਤਬ ਤੂ ਨਾਹੀ ਅਬ ਤੂਹੀ ਮੈ ਨਾਹੀ ॥
Jab ham hote tab tūṅ nāhī ab tūhī mai nāhī ||
When there was ‘I’ then there was not ‘you’ (referring to God) now there is only you and this ‘I’ is now gone.

Here Kabir expands on this phenomenon, This Ego-I which Kabir is referring to is not Pride but is way subtler it is the sense of existing as an separate being, chained by the delimiting words such as I and Mine. Kabir explains that one should forsake this I’ness or sense of Individual existence via the practice of drowning oneself or this I-ness in the ocean of love, chanting Tuhī Tuhī or You You. Bharatrīharī in the twelfth Sutra of his Vairagya Shataka or a Hundred Verses of Vairagya states -

भोगा न भुक्ता वयमेव भुक्का स्तपो न तप्तं वयमेव तप्ता: । कालो न यातो वयमेव यातासतृष्णा न जीर्णा वयमेव जीर्णा: ॥१२॥
Bhogā na bhuktā vayameva bhuktā satpo na tapataṃ vayameva taptaha | Kālo na yāto vayameva yātāstṛṣṇā na jīrṇā vayameva jīrṇāha ||12||
We have not enjoyed mundane pleasures, but ourselves have been devoured by desires. We have not performed austerities, but got scorched ourselves, nevertheless; time is not gone but we approach the end. Desires do not wear out, only we ourselves are struck down by senility.

One wastes lives in pursuit of materialistic mundane pleasures and desires and ultimately become devoured by them. There have been hundreds of emperors which have attempted to conquer this death by searching for elixirs of immortality, but all these attempts to supress this death or extinction of self-existence have come to no avail. The Kṣatriya-Khālsā unlike the world embraces spiritual and Empirical death and enjoys supreme-never-ending-sorrowless Bliss. The Khālsā as Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh describes is -

ਭਗਤਿ ਗਯਾਨੀ ਰਾਜਜੋਗੇਸ੍ਵਰ ॥
Bhagati gyānī rāj jogesvara ||
The Khālsā is the King of Kings, Supreme Yogi of Yogis. Is one who engages in loving-devotion to Kāla & Full of Spiritual Wisdom.
(Sarbloh Grantha)

Many may be mistaken that the Khālsā’s focus is only to wage war and renounce the material realm in battle due to my previous comments in which I described the Symbolic-Warrior importance of the Kāla or Death to the Khālsā but this is only half the story, The Khālsā Sikh acts as a Sant-Sipahi or Warrior-Saint, The Khālsā is a Raj-jogesvara or a Yogi-King, The Greatest example of a Sant-Sipahi Khālsā which I am able to suggest is Sant Jarnail Siṅgh Bhindrāṅwale who would spend all their day sitting in meditation to the feet of Mahākāla or ‘The Great Kāla’ to the extent of reciting and reflecting upon Japujī Sāhib one-hundred-and-twenty-five times perday while also inspiring other Sikhs to arm themselves with both swords of Knowledge and the Physical sword to protect righteousness and justice. Previously, I have spoken in relation to the Warrior aspect of Kāla but It is noteworthy that the Khālsā is the very personification or Image of Kāla therefore Kāla himself is a Raja-Jogi or Warrior-Yogi which is also espoused by Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh in his Dasam Graṅtha -

ਰਾਜਨ ਕੇ ਰਾਜਾ …. ਮਹਾ ਜੋਗ ਹੂੰ ਕੇ ਜੋਗ ਹੈਂ ਧਰੱਯਾ ਦ੍ਰੁਮ ਛਾਲ ਕੇ ॥
Rājan ke rājā… Mahā Jog hūṅ ke jog hai dharryayā drum chāl ke ||
Kāla is the King of Kings, The Supreme out of all the Yogis adorning the bark of trees upon his body as clothes.

The Sikh Gurūs who in the Sikh Tradition or Gurmata are considered the very manifestation of the Supreme in other words Kāla, have also been understood to be Rāja-Jogis -

ਕਬਿ ਕਲ ਸੁਜਸੁ ਗਾਵਉ ਗੁਰ ਨਾਨਕ ਰਾਜੁ ਜੋਗੁ ਜਿਨਿ ਮਾਣਿਓ ॥੨॥
kabi kal sujas gāvao gur nānak rāj jog jin māṇio ||2||
The Poet ‘Kal’ states: I sing the praise of the great Gurū Nānak who whilst living as a King engaged with the world remained unattached and concentrated in the practice of (Gurmat) Yoga.

Gurū Nānak as Ṣastradhārī King - Credits to Gurpreet Singh

This theme of the Sikh Tradition being a amalgamation of both a Warrior-King engrossed within the world with a family along with being a Yogi and a recluse at mind can be also seen with the importance of the Dasam Granth and the Adi Granth to the Khālsā. The Dasam Granth being full of Bira-Rasa or having the flavour of war and kingship being invoked through the sounds of weapons clashing, warriors fighting, blood-dripping and the Adī Grantha which is full of Ṣāṇt-Rasa or the Flavour of tranquility and spiritual-peace. Talking in relation to the attainment of Saint-hood. The Khālsā is in many ways the blending of both the Adī Granth’s message and the Dasam Granth’s message together, adorning the swords of both Mīrī and Pīrī.

In conclusion, it can be stated without even a drop of hesitation that the importance of death or Kāla be it in its Spiritual Context or Warrior-Symbolic Context cannot be ignored or put aside. This concept of Mahākāla is beyond my impure and limited intellect’s reach, I have attempted to write in relation to this concept of Kāla through the Gurū’s grace and firmly believe I have not even touched the iceberg when it comes to this topic as Kāla himself is limitless therefore even a hundred books on this topic of Kāla can never come to elucidate upon Kāla completely. whilst composing this article I have also come to the realisation or experience of the limitlessness of Gurbāṇī as this whole article in itself has been inspired by one or two verses originating from the pen of Gurū Gobiṅd Siṅgh.

Salutations to Gurū Nānak and the lineage of Gurūs till the Gurū Khālsā Paṅth!