Gems of Gurbani

Guru Granth Sahib

Rehras Sahib  10

Patshahi 10 kabiyobaach benti II Choupai II

Before we take up the hymns of 10^th Master Guru Gobind Singh ji in Rehras a small note of Sikh history is important for understanding the Sikh code of conduct also known as Rehatnama. After the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh the Sikh Empire started disintegrating. The Dogras who were Ministers in Sikh Empire started conniving with British and started divulging the inside information and weak points of the princes to Britishers. On that basis British started their strategies to take control over the Sikh Empire. With all the list and cunningness this took over ten years before it fell into the hands of British. Still they were afraid to merge it into British India Empire so they bought time more than ten years to consolidate and win over Sikhs as loyalists. They opened English medium schools in urban areas and pharsi was abolished and Urdu was made official language and most rural school education was in Urdu medium. The English medium schools were run by Christian missionaries and lessons in Bible were made compulsory in these schools. When four students converted to Christianity the Sikh intellectuals were awakened from their slumber and several meetings took place Amritsar and so were born the concept of Sikh values revivalism. The maharajas had spread their Empire up to Afghanistan and for that they needed huge armies. For employment lot of people both from Muslims and Hindus converted to Sikhism but they were not followers of Sikhism. During this period lot of confusion developed as there was no central body of Sikhs that could control over this confusion and show the large masses the value of Sikh concepts and values. Rehatnama or Sikh code of conduct was revived and re-scripted by the Singh Sabha that played an important role in Sikh renaissance. Rehras was edited and verses from the Dasam Granth, composed by Guru Granth Sahib were added during this period. Gutkas that contain Nitnem or daily prayers were made available to people and rehras is mostly read from Gutkas. Lot of good quality Sikh literature was published during this period. This helped to revive Sikh values that converted in to a movement for Sikh identity and freedom of Gurudwaras from the clutches of Mahants and British administration.