Eye Witness account of Vaisakhi 1699 - Abu Tarani

He was both a farmer anda Physician. He was a true and practising Sikh, a scholar of the Sikh religion and an exponent of the hymns of Guru Granth Sahib Ji. He was about 70 years old. From his library I found a book, whose first and the last three pages were missing. It was written in Urdu by a historian named Abu Ulla Tarani, who was first a Brahmin and then converted to Islam. He was an agent of Emperor Aurangzeb and was posted by him in the court of Guru Gobind Singh Ji to smuggle out news about the Guru to the Emperor. He attended the court of Guru on the garb of a Brahmin, wearing the Brahmin forehead mark, a cotton Dhoti and sacred thread. He would send daily reports to the Emperor. He lived with the Guru's gardener named Gulaba everyday he would go to the Guru and pay his respects.The tenth Master, who with his divine instinct, knew about Abu Tarani's identity, would smile and accept his obeisance. Bhai Vir Singh also mentions the name of Abu Tarani in his book 'Dasmesh Chmatkar'

Abu Tarani worked as the Emperor's spy in the Guru's court for about two years. In the book, mentioned above, he has recorded an eye witness account of the Vaisakhi 1699.

"On this day, the Guru prepared a new nectar, there were about 35-40 thousand people present in the gathering to hear the Guru. The Mughals at the time had four thrones; Delhi, Agra, Lahore and Klanaur; but the throne of the Guru (at Anandpur) had its own typical glamour. This throne beat all the mughal thrones in their s

plendour. That day the Guru wore a gorgeous dress. He came into the court, unsheathed his sword and in a loud voice said, "I need one head", without any hesitation one Daya Ram came forward and offering himself for the sacrifice. The Guru, in front of the whole congregation. Struck Daya Ram's head with his sword and severed it from his body. The audience was stunned and speechless. The Guru said again, "I need another head", immediatly, Dharam Chand stood up and bowed to the guru. The guru severed his head too in one stroke. The audience panicked and started leaving the court. The Guru asked for another head and one after anohter beheaded three more devotees. Himmat Rai, Mokham Chand and Sahib Chnad. Many people went to the guru's mother and narrated to her the whole episode. The Guru then cleaned and washed the five corpses and their severed heads. He also cleaned the floor so that no mark of blood was left anywhere. Then the prophet of the infidels stitched the severed heads with one & other heads & the bodies and covered them with white sheets. He called for a big stone and put on it an Iron bowl which had no handles. He poured water in the bowl and started chirning it into nectar. The prophet of the infidels stirred the water with the sword and recited some holy words. This went on for about half an hour. At that time a woman, perhaps related to prophet came forward and put something in the bowl. Now the nectar was ready.

The Guru, then sat towards the heads of the corpses. He uncovered their faces and first put some nectar into Daya Ram's mouth and sprinkled it on his head and then all over his body and said, "say Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh". Immediatly Daya Ram became alive. Stood up and repeated the words after the guru. The whole congregation went pale with fear. Despite many thousands people present no one could breathe loudly. They all had frozen under the spell of the Gurus miracle. He then sprinkled the nectar on the other four corpses and asked them to say

" Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh". They all came back to life and stood before the Guru with folded hands. The Guru then took all the five into an adjoining marquee. After a while they all came out dressed in new clothes. The Guru asked them to give a drink of that nectar to him. They asked him what he would pay for the nectar. The Guru said, " I promise that I will sacrifice my parents, my children and all that possess for the well being of my people and country." Then the five offered that Nectar to the Guru and the Guru became Gobind Singh and the other five were also named: Daya Singh, Dharam Singh, Himmat Singh, Mokham Singh and Sahib Singh (and were called the beloved ones)."

Abu Ulla Tarani writes that after watching all those miraculous happenings he wept and cried. He cursed himself for his treachery to the Guru. He then saw many thousand more begging the Guru for the Nectar. He too could not control himself and like the force of a magnet he felt pulled towards the Guru and begged him for a drop of the Nectar. The Guru patted him on the back, sprinkled nectar on his body and changed his naem to Ajmer Singh and all his sins were washed away. He then joined the Guru's army and fought many battles against injustice.

On that day he sent his last report to the Emperor. He wrote to him everything that he had seen and witnessed and warned him not to quarrel with the Guru, who in his opinion was Allah himself. He also wrote that if the Emperor would not accept his plea then his empire would collapse and his name would be rubbed from the pages of history.

According to Giani Daleep Singh of Komal Dhnaula a copy of this book was also found in the library of Aligarh Muslim University.