Gobind Singh

Timeline

1. 1666–1675Patna · BiharBorn 22 December 1666 in Patna, with the childhood name Gobind Rai. His father Tegh Bahadur was then traveling in the east; in 1670 he ordered the family back to Punjab, and in 1672 they settled at Chak Nanki in the Shivalik foothills. There he learned Punjabi, Braj, Sanskrit and Persian, and received training in riding and archery.
2. 1675–1699Anandpur · PunjabAfter his father was executed in Delhi in November 1675, he was installed as tenth Guru at Anandpur at the age of nine. Thereafter he developed Anandpur in the interstices of the hill states, drilled armed forces, and wrote poetry and political-military exhortations. Mughal religious pressure and the suspicion of the Shivalik rajas pushed him to further organize the Sikh community.
3. 1699–1708Anandpur · PunjabAt the Vaisakhi gathering at Anandpur in 1699 he founded the Khalsa through the double-edged sword amrit baptism, prescribing the Five Ks and the surnames Singh/Kaur. He then fought for years with hill rajas and Mughal officials; two sons died in battle and two young sons were executed. Assassinated at Nanded in 1708, before dying he designated the scripture Guru Granth Sahib as the eternal Guru.