Muhammadan. He gave
them outward signs of their faith in the unshorn hair, the short
drawers, and the blue dress; he marked the military nature of their
calling by the title of Singh or 'lion,' by the wearing of steel,
and by the initiation by sprinkling of water with a two-edged dagger;
and he gave them a feeling of personal superiority in their abstinence
from the unclean tobacco.

"The Muhammadans promptly responded to the challenge, for the
danger was too serious to be neglected; the Sikh army was dispersed,
and Govind's mother, wife and children were murdered at Sirhind by
Aurangzeb's orders. The death of the emperor brought a temporary lull,
and a year later Govind himself was assassinated while fighting the
Marathas as an ally of Aurangzeb's successor. He did not live to see
his ends accomplished, but he had roused the dormant spirit of the
people, and the fire which he lit was only damped for a while. His
chosen disciple Banda succeeded him in the leadership, though never
recognised as _guru_. The internal commotions which followed upon the
death of the emperor, Bahadur Shah, and the attacks of the Marathas
weakened the power of Delhi, and for a time Banda carried all before
him; but he was eventually conquered and captured in A.D. 1716, and a
period of persecution followed so sanguinary and so terrible that for
a generation nothing more was heard of the Sikhs. How the troubles of
the Delhi empire thickened, how the Sikhs again rose to prominence,
how they disputed the possession of the Punjab with the Mughals, the
Marathas and the Durani, and were at length completely successful, how
they divided into societies under their several chiefs and portioned
out the Province among them, and how the genius of Ranjit Singh
raised him to supremacy and extended his rule beyond the limits of
the Punjab, are matters of political and not of religious history. No
formal alteration has been made in the Sikh religion since Govind Singh
gave it its military shape; and though changes have taken place, they
have been merely the natural result of time and external influences.

4. Sikh initiation and rules.

"The word Sikh is said to be derived from the common Hindu term
Sewak and to mean simply a disciple; it may be applied therefore
to the followers of Nanak who held aloof from Govind Singh, but in
practice it is perhaps understood to mean only the latter, while
the Nanakpanthis are considered as Hindus. A true Sikh alway