General Sikhism

Teg Bahadur’s reported vision of Europeans

The Sikh Religion, volume I · Preface p.xviii, reported prison conversation ending “destroy thine empire”; following fulfillment claim retained as commentary

Edition, transcription and reuse details

Max Arthur Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors, volume I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909), Preface, pp. xvii–xx and the complete political-purpose paragraph onp. xxii. Historical scan collated; line-end hyphenation and spacing normalized. The reported Guru speeches, reported fulfillment and Macauliffe’s political explanation are separately attributed.

Public-domain 1909 historical English text; original scanned print used, excluding modern publisher apparatus.

A few of the advantages of the Sikh religion to the State may be here enumerated. One day, as Guru Teg Bahadur was in the top story of his prison, the Emperor Aurangzeb thought he saw him looking towards the south in the direction of the Imperial zenana. He was sent for the next day, and charged with this grave breach of Oriental etiquette and propriety. The Guru replied, ‘Emperor Aurangzeb, I was on the top story of my prison but I was not looking at thy private apartments or at thy queens. I was looking in the direction of the Europeans who are coming from beyond the seas to tear down thy pardas and destroy thine empire.’

In the margin

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A claimed fulfillment at Delhi in 1857

proposed fulfillment

On: destroy thine empire

Source quotation · Macauliffe, 1909 Preface p. xviii, reporting the interpretation of unnamed Sikh writers. This is a retrospective fulfillment claim, not independent evidence that the words circulated before 1857.

Sikh writers state that these words became the battle-cry of the Sikhs in the assault on the mutineers in Dihli (Delhi) in 1857, under General John Nicholson, and that thus the prophecy of the ninth Guru was gloriously fulfilled.

The Sikh Religion, volume I · Max Arthur Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors, volume I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909), Preface, pp. xvii–xx and the complete political-purpose paragraph onp. xxii. Historical scan collated; line-end hyphenation and spacing normalized. The reported Guru speeches, reported fulfillment and Macauliffe’s political explanation are separately attributed.

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Public-domain 1909 historical English text; original scanned print used, excluding modern publisher apparatus.

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Published revision history

2026-09-11T04:54:37+00:00

His stated reason for presenting the prophecies

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Source quotation · Macauliffe, 1909 Preface p. xxii, complete paragraph about presenting these predictions to Sikh soldiers. This paragraph is separated in the preface from the quoted speeches by discussion of other religious practices.

It is admitted that a knowledge of the religions of the people of India is a desideratum for the British Officials who administer its affairs and indirectly for the people who are governed by them, so that mutual sympathy may be produced. It seems, at any rate, politic to place before the Sikh soldiery their Guru’s prophecies in favour of the English and the texts of their sacred writings which foster their loyalty.

Source reuse and transcription

Public-domain 1909 historical English text; original scanned print used, excluding modern publisher apparatus.

Connected readings

Gobind Singh’s reported predictions about the Khalsa and the English

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2026-09-11T04:54:37+00:00

How Macauliffe linked these prophecies to imperial loyalty

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Source quotation · Macauliffe, 1909 Prefacepp. xix–xx, complete paragraph including his quotation from an unnamed Sikh writer. These are the author’s political judgments and the quoted writer’s claims.

It is such prophecies as these, combined with the monotheism, the absence of superstition and restraint in the matter of food, which have made the Sikhs among the bravest, the most loyal and devoted subjects of the British Crown. As to their bravery and loyalty, the following, written by one of them, is by no means an exaggeration: ‘As for the bravery and warlike spirit of the Sikhs, no Cossack, no Turk, no Russian, can measure swords with them. There is one trait very peculiar in them such as must make the enemies of the British fear them. The true blood of loyalty and devotion to their master surges in their veins. A true Sikh will let his body be cut to pieces when fighting for his master. The Sikh considers dying in battle a means of salvation. No superiority of the enemies in number, no shot, no shell can make his heart quail, since his Amrit (baptism) binds him to fight single-handed against millions. Some people may say that a soldier sells his head for the small wage paid him every month. But the Sikh does not do so: he devotes his head, body, and everything dear to him to preserving the influence of him whom he once makes his master. A Sikh who shows the least sign of reluctance to go, or goes with an expectation of remuneration, when called upon by his benefactor the King-Emperor to fight His Majesty’s enemies, no matter how strong they may be, will be condemned by the Gurus.’

Source reuse and transcription

Public-domain 1909 historical English text; original scanned print used, excluding modern publisher apparatus.

Connected readings

Gobind Singh’s reported predictions about the Khalsa and the English

Community response to this revision: 0

Published revision history

2026-09-11T04:54:37+00:00

Macauliffe explains the scope of his book

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On: this passage as a whole

Source quotation · Macauliffe, 1909 Preface, complete paragraph crossing pp. xvii–xviii immediately before the reported predictions. Historical authorial background.

I find, however, that it is impossible for me to meet the wishes of all parties. Europeans will probably think my work too long, and Sikhs may possibly think it too short. As to the latter objection, I may state that I have followed the advice of the most learned Sikh scholars. They have decided that there is no omission of anything necessary to faith or morals, but that the whole substance of the Sikh sacred writings is here presented, and that if any Sikh shapes his conduct accordingly, he will be in no danger of failing to secure absorption in the Creator or a dwelling in the Creator’s heaven.

Source reuse and transcription

Public-domain 1909 historical English text; original scanned print used, excluding modern publisher apparatus.

Connected readings

Gobind Singh’s reported predictions about the Khalsa and the English

Community response to this revision: 0

Published revision history

2026-09-11T04:54:37+00:00

On the timeline

1857 · event named in the later claimSikh writers connect the prediction with the assault on Delhi Proposed fulfillment
1909 · published accountMacauliffe publishes Teg Bahadur’s reported prison prediction Prophecy given or recorded

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