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Khalsa
The Khalsa (meaning 'the pure') is an initiated armed order founded in 1699 at Anandpur by the tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh, on Baisakhi.
Timeline
- 1699Anandpur · AnandpurAt the Baisakhi festival in 1699, Gobind Singh, at a gathering in Anandpur, selected through a double-edged sword ceremony five volunteers willing to offer their heads (the Panj Pyare, Five Beloved Ones), and baptized them with amrit, forming the core of the Khalsa; the Guru himself then received the same baptism and took the name Singh.
- 1699–1700Anandpur · AnandpurInitiated members must observe the five marks (uncut hair, wooden comb, iron bracelet, short trousers, and dagger) as well as precepts of equality, abstention from tobacco and alcohol, and armed self-defense; the Khalsa thus turned from a one-time rite into a replicable initiation system, and rapidly drew in followers around Anandpur.
- 1700Anandpur · AnandpurThe year after the Khalsa's founding, hill rajas, alarmed by the armed order's expansion, besieged Anandpur; the Khalsa defended the fortress with initiated warriors, marking the point at which this religious organization entered a militarized stage capable of fighting independently.
Sources
- Guru Gobind Singh and the founding of the Khalsa https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sikhism/Guru-Gobind-Singh-and-the-founding-of-the-Khalsa
- The Sikhs of the Punjab — J. S. Grewal (1990)
- A History of the Sikhs, Vol. 1: 1469-1839 — Khushwant Singh (2004)