In this episode, we narrate a story from the life of Guru Gobind Singh ji, the tenth Guru of the Sikhs. Today (January 5, 2017) marks his 350th anniversary. The moral of this story is that with discipline and practice, one can not only become strong and achieve great things, but we can also help others.
You can listen to this story Guru Gobind Singh: The Expert Marksman by clicking below
About Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh, born Gobind Rai (22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), was the 10th Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, Guru Gobind Singh was formally installed as the leader of the Sikhs at age nine, becoming the last of the living Sikh Gurus.
You can learn more about his life and contributions at the following sites:
This story is derives from various public domain sources. Image Source: Wikepedia. Music: Bensound. Sound Effects: Creative Commons licensed soundbytes, source from
Soundbible
The synopsis of this story is as follows
Once, two generals of Aurangzeb; Zabardast Khan and Wajir Khan, were playing chess under the shade of a tree. They had laid seige around Anandpur Fort, and others watched the game.Guru Gobind Singh Ji stood on top of the fortress wall and watched this scene through a telescope. Guru Ji took an arrow from his quiver, strung it hard on his bow and shot it across the fields towards the generals. The arrow struck hard into the wooden leg of the bed where the generals sat.
The two generals became panicky when they felt the arrow strike the wooden leg. They began to wonder whose audacity and boldness it could be. Wajir Khan pulled the arrow out with a trembling hand. Raja Ajmerchand of the nearby hill states, who had turned an ally of the Mughals saw the arrow and recognised it. “This can only be an arrow of (Guru) Gobind Singh, look it has gold mounted on it. It belongs to no one except the him.”
Source of Arrows Revealed
The Raja of Mandi at this point interjected, “He is very brave, he must have shot it from atop of the fortress.” Zabardast Khan doubted this as the fortress was nearly two miles away. The Raja of Mandi replied “ Two miles is nothing, his arrows are known to go a lot further.” Upon this Wazir stretched out his hands offering his grateful thanks to heaven for sparing his life.
All the military generals the officers present there began to admire the speak highly of Guru Ji’s chivalry and valiant conduct. They had hardly recovered from the shock of the first arrow, when a second came hissing by and hit the same leg again. The very sight of the second arrow put all the officers to flight. After a few moments they came out from under their hiding places. A piece of paper was found tied to the second arrow. Zabardast Khan gingerly untied it and read the Persian script.
“It is no miracle. It is a single art of marksmanship. I am not in favour of performing miracles nor do I intend to take the lives of Zabardast and Wajid Khan. You are labouring under the false notion that the first arrow has shot to kill either of you.” Thus the all knowing Guru knew the thoughts of the Mughal officers.