Chapter IV
Once the Guru visited Kasur. It was a time of excessive heat, and he felt very weary. The governor of the city was a Khatri of the Puri tribe. The Guru sent a messenger to request his permission to pitch his tent in his garden. The governor replied, I know the Guru; he is a Khatri of the Bhalla tribe. Only yesterday he lived in Basarka and to-day he is Guru. He hath attached to him men of all castes, high and low. They sit in a line and eat with him and with one another. If he choose to be a Guru of outcastes, he can please him-self, but I will not allow him to approach my dwelling. The Guru on hearing this said, ‘My disciples shall one day have sovereign power. A Sikh ruler shall reign here in Kasur, and the descendants of this Khatri who is now governor shall become his servants.’ The Guru, departing thence, found his way to the hut of a poor Pathan. On seeing the Guru the man arose and said that he was poor, otherwise he would give him suitable entertainment. The Guru replied in the words of Guru Nanak :—
God can appoint a worm to sovereignty and reduce an army to ashes.
The Guru continued, ‘Do God's service, and thou shalt become the lord of Kasur, but directly thou practise tyranny, thou shalt die.’ A short time afterwards the Khatri officials in Kasur caused such political disturbance that the Emperor ordered them to be disarmed and expelled, and Pathans appointed in their place. The latter and their descendants continued to govern that part of the Panjab until it was conquered by Ranjit Singh and the Sikhs.
On one occasion, as the Guru lay asleep in the small hours of the night, he was awakened by a woman's screams. He sent two of his Sikhs to
