This page has been validated.
196
THE SIKHS.

and placed in a new jar. When prepared it is blessed and put on a stand round which the disciples sit praying, after which it is distributed by the Granthi, or Scripture reader, in equal portions to all present to eat. This is the love-feast of the brotherhood, when, according to Govind's injunction, "all must eat together and drink together from the same cup."

Every Sikh is enjoined to aid in the diffusion of the religion, and is not to have intercourse with the sectarians, of which several classes arose. They were accursed, and were to be treated as implacable foes of the faith. There are many other injunctions as to conduct and family matters, which Govind Singh insisted on as essential to rendering the Khalsa a select body, and to kindle their martial valour and hatred to the Mahomedans, whom he looked upon as the powerful persecutors of his race and the one bar against the attainment of religious freedom and national ambition.