SikhKhoj

There were prominent Sikhs at the time of the Guru GobindSingh, who had not taken “amrit”, reference in this behalf is made to Bhai Nand Lal, Bhai Ghanaiya, Nirmale Sikhs and others. Only such Sikhs were required to take “amrit” (“khande ka amrit” or “khande-de-pahul”) who were to be taken into the battlefield

The earliest time to which the existence of a fully developed Sikh war code is traceable is the time of Guru Gobind Singh. Bhai Santokh Singh, who did a considerable amount of research to write his popularly known Suraj Prakash, is certain that there existed a written code of conduct for the Sikhs participating in war. He refers to it as gurshastra. He specifically refers to one of its provisions, namely, that women were not to be molested under any circumstances. In this context, and as a measure particularly relevant to wartime situation, members of the Order of the Khalsa were forbidden to have intercourse with Muslim women as Muslims were the main enemies they were fighting at that time and their women were most likely to fall into the hands of the Khalsa. A conversation on the question of the ban is reported to have taken place between Guru Gobind Singh and a group of Sikhs. ‘All the Sikhs assembled together to ask the ‘source of all values’. Their question was: ‘the Turks routinely rape women of Hind. Sikhs would be doing well to avenge this. Why does the Guru’s code (gurshastra) prohibit molestation of women? Then, at that time, the True Guru spoke thus; I want the panth to scale (new moral) heights. I will not condemn it to depths of degradation.’ It appears that these precepts were duly formally codified and strict adherence to them was stipulated as the Guru’s wish – the strongest of all sanctions for a believing Sikh