ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>V&#256HIGUR&#362 J&#298 K&#256 KH&#256LS&#256 VAH&#298GUR&#362 J&#298 K&#298 FATEH</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="VHIGURj"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279V&#256HIGUR&#362 J&#298 K&#256 <u>KH</u>&#256LS&#256 VAH&#298GUR&#362 J&#298 K&#298 FATEH, form of Sikh salutation, was made current among the Sikhs by command of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh at the time of the manifestation of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 in 1699. The salutation used in the days of Gur&#363 N&#257nak was Sati Kart&#257r (Hail the Creator, the Eternal). This is how he, according to the <i>Pur&#257tan Janam S&#257kh&#299</i>, his oldest biography, greeted those he met. Some accounts of his life, such as that by Harij&#299, mention other similar forms of greeting, one among those being R&#257j&#257 R&#257m Sati (Hail the Holy Creator !). In the <i>hukamn&#257m&#257s</i> or letters sent to <i>sa&#7749gats</i> by the Gur&#363s prior to Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's time, the opening greeting used to be : Gur&#363 Sati (Hail the Eternal Lord !) which is only an inverted form of Satigur&#363. Other forms of salutation such as R&#257m Sati (Hail God the Eternal !) and respectful salutations like Pair&#299&#7749-Pau&#7751&#257 (I fall at thy feet) were also current among the generality of Sikhs. <i>Namask&#257r</i> (I bow to thee) was in use in greeting the holy, or offering worship to God. Such greetings are specifically mentioned or hinted at in the older writings.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With the development of the Sikh creed in the time of Gur&#363 N&#257nak&#8217s successors and the propagation of a new tradition basing itself on a monotheism whose roots, however, were Indian, as against the prevalent polytheism, pantheism and, at the higher levels, henotheism, a new terminology came into existence which distinguished the Sikh faith from the numerous creeds prevalent at the time. Names like Ik O&#7749k&#257r, Oa&#7749k&#257r, P&#257rbrahm were favoured above others for the Godhead: Har&#299, N&#257r&#257ya&#7751a and R&#257ma acquired greater currency compared to other names drawn from mythology. But the particular names of God which constituted a kind of differentia of Sikh society were Nira&#7749k&#257r (Formless), Kart&#257r (Creator), Sachch&#257 P&#257tsh&#257h (True or Eternal King), Satigur&#363 and V&#257higur&#363. Gur&#363 is Lord, Master, and V&#257higur&#363 is expressive of wonder or ecstasy at Divine infinitude or glory, with the implied sense of name. V&#257higur&#363 has become the most characteristic name for God in the Sikh creed, like Allah in Islam. It occurs in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib (Savaiyy&#257s, Mahal&#257 IV by Bha&#7789&#7789 Gayand, page 1402) repeated ecstatically as a <i>mantra</i>. In the compositions of Gur&#363 Arjan (GG, 376), it is used in the inverted form as Gur V&#257hu. Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s in his <i>Var&#257&#7749</i> has used it as being synonymous with the Absolute, the Creator in a number of places (I. 49, IV 17, VI.5, IX. 13, XI. 3 & 8, XII. 17, XIII. 2, XXIV 1. XL 22). This prolific use by one whose philosophical exposition of Sikh metaphysics and mysticism is the earliest on record, indicates that by the time of Gur&#363 Arjan (the Savaiyy&#257s referred to above were also composed by poets (Bha&#7789&#7789s) attending on him). V&#257higur&#363 as the Sikh name for God was well established and had acquired the overtones which have since been associated with it as expression of the Sikh monotheistic affirmation of faith.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Because of this close and inalienable association, Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh at the time of introducing the new form of initiation to the faith, with adjuration to the initiates to maintain a stern moral discipline and to cultivate qualities of crusaders and martyrs for the faith, administered the new faith in terms of the name of God which was held in the highest reverence in the tradition handed down to him. The new form of salutation, which annulled all the previous ones till then prevalent in Sikh society, was enunciation as Vah&#299gur&#363 j&#299 k&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Vah&#299gur&#363 j&#299 k&#299 Fateh ---the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 is the Lord's own : to the Lord is the Victory. This two-fold affirmation was, in the first place, expression of a special relationship between God and those who dedicated their entire life to His service. Second, it was the expression of that faith in the ultimate triumph of the forces of Goodness which despite all apparent setbacks, trials and travail, is the just and essential end of the fight between good and evil in the world. This faith has been asserted over and over again by Gur&#363 N&#257nak and his spiritual successors. After being administered <i>amrit</i> (water stirred with a two-edged dagger, sanctified by recitation of the Gur&#363's word and thus transmuted into the elixir of immortality), each initiate was adjured to raise the affirmation, V&#257higur&#363 j&#299 k&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 V&#257higur&#363 j&#299 k&#299 Fateh ! This was duly repeated, and the tradition continues till this day. Apart from being used as the affirmation of faith, this formula is also the orthodox, approved Sikh form of salutation.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Two terms in this formula need elucidation. <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 is an Arabic word, meaning, literally, 'pure' and used in the administration terminology of the Muslim State system in India for the lands or fiefs directly held by the sovereign and not farmed out to landlords on certain conditions of military service and of making over to the State a share of the produce. In the term <i><u>kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i>, both these meanings are discerned. In one of Gur&#363 Hargobind's Hukamn&#257m&#257s and in one of Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur's <i><u>kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i> is used for the Gur&#363's devotees, with the implication particularly as 'the Gur&#363's Own!' As Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh adopted the term and gave it centrality in the enunciation of the creed, the idea of purity perhaps came to acquire primacy. When Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh sent a set of youths to V&#257r&#257&#7751&#257s&#299 to study Sanskrit, they were given the appellation Nirmal&#257 which is the Sanskrit based parallel to the Arabic <u>kh</u>&#257ls&#257. Nirmal&#257s are now a Sikh sect, who have maintained traditions of high scholarship. <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 occurs also in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib (GG, 654) where it is used in the sense of 'pure', 'emancipated.' This term appealed to Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh as being truly expressive of the vision of a noble, heroic race of men that he was creating.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Fateh, fatah</i> in Arabic, literally means opening or forcing the portal of a besieged fort, implying victory. It has been used in the <i>Qura'n</i> in the sense of victory, and one of the attributive names of God in the Muslim tradition is Fattah (lit. Opener, i.e. Vanquisher, over all evil forces). While <i>jai, jaik&#257r</i> have been used in the Sikh tradition for victory and are used thus even in the <i>Dasam Granth, jai</i> was droped from the new Sikh tradition, though for shouts of victory the term <i>jaik&#257r&#257</i> has become firmly established. <i>Fateh</i> was adopted as the current popular term for triumph or victory and made part of the Sikh affirmation and salutation. <i>Fateh</i> as <i>fatih</i> occurs once in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib "<i>ph&#257he k&#257&#7789e mi&#7789e gavan fatih bha&#299 mani j&#299t</i>--- the noose of Yama hath been cleft, transmigration hath ceased and, with the conquest of the self, true victory hath been achieved" (GG, 258). The implied meaning here is of a moral victory. <i>J&#299t</i>, a word from Indian tradition, like <i>jaik&#257r&#257</i> has got established also in Sikh tradition, and in the invocation Panth k&#299 J&#299t (Vctory of the Panth) is repeated in the Sikh collective prayer daily. Fateh nonetheless remains the prime Sikh term for victory, and has been repeated again and again in Sikh history, down from the Persian couplet put on Sikh coins (<i>Deg-o-Te<u>gh</u>-o-Fateh-e-nusrat bedara&#7749g, y&#257ft az N&#257nak Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh</i>) to the common daily parlance of the Sikh people, wherein every success is designated as <i>fateh</i>.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>Sikh Rahit Mary&#257d&#257</i>. Amritsar, n.d<BR> <li class="C1"> Padam, Pi&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh, ed., <i>Rahitn&#257me</i>. Amritsar, 1989<BR> <li class="C1"> Ashok, Shamsher Si&#7749gh, <i>Gur&#363 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 de Nis&#257n te Hukamname</i>. Amritsar, 1967<BR> <li class="C1"> Ra&#7751dh&#299r Si&#7749gh, ed., <i>Prem Sumarag Granth</i>. Jalandhar, 1965<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Gurbachan Si&#7749gh T&#257lib<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>