Preface Of The Book 'Gathering Storm -  Guru Har Rai Ji and His Times' By Dr. Harbans Lal Agnihotri , Chand R. Agnihotri

The composite culture of the Panjab finds its expression in the Sikh way of life, as espoused by the gurus, both in their lives and teachings. Prof. Puran Singh pays a tribute to this legacy when he writes that the gospel of the Gurus has sustained the community life of Panjab : "Panjab sara jeonda Guru de nam te." The present volume is an attempt to reach out to the people so as to re-state the legacy of the Gurus. Gathering Storm is, therefore neither a routine biography nor a dissertation tailored to a frame of references.

First of its kind in English, the present full-length study is a labour of love, meant to analyse the message of the Guru against potentially dangerous challenges posed by the Mughal emperors. Our task was beset with hurdles raised by the paucity of reliable material bearing on the achievements of Guru Har Rai and Guru Har Krishan. It has not been easy to reconstruct their historical accounts in the backdrop of gathering storm of persecution and fanaticism during the regime of the Last Mughal. Much has been written on Aurangzeb but the details provided therein on the Sikh Gurus are woefully deficient.

What further adds to the difficulty in examining and assessing the available material on the careers of the Seventh and Eighth Gurus in the perspectives of history is the tendency of the Sikh chroniclers to offer a medley of myths and legends woven round the bold initiatives taken by Guru Har Rai and Guru Har Krishan to preserve the dignity and integrity of the Sikh movement and also to gaurd it against future dissensions. We do not, however, ignore the fact that traditional historical assessment of the known facts, despite gaps in Sikh studies, cannot be applied to the material, howsoever scanty, on the Sikh Gurus mainly because tenets and ideals of Sikhism are closely integrated with their lives.

We have made a modest attempt to present a rational picture of the emerging scenario of the times intervening the transformation of the Sikh fraternity into saint-soldiers and the Sikh martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur for the cause of religious freedom. We make no claim to learning or scholarship; nor do we pretend to have discovered anything absolutely original, hitherto unknown, from the labyrinths of records and manuals. An earnest attempt has, it may be submitted, been made to examine critically and historically the limited information contained in the available sources on the pontificates of Guru Har Rai and Guru Har Krishan for the benefit of the modern reader exposed to cross-currents of cultures and thoughts.

Gathering Storm is a part of the bigger project that seeks to transmit the universal message of the Gurus to the readers in the language and idiom they understand.

We take this opportunity to acknowledge our indebtedness to the scholars whose works sharpened out insight. Our thanks are due to S. Kirpal Singh, President, Chief Khalsa Diwan (Amritsar); Prof. Darshan Singh Maini, Prof. Diwan Singh; S. Kulbir Singh Suri (Nanak Singh Pustak Mala, Amritsar) and Shri S. N. Malik (Hisar) for their sustained interest in the work.

We would failing in our duty if we do not offer our thanks to Sarvshri Sandeep Kumar Agnihotri and Munish Agnihotri of Gopal Prakashan, for their efforts to bring out the book impressively.

Suggestions for further improvement of the book will be gratefully acknowledged.

Table of Contents of the Book 'Gathering Storm -  Guru Har Rai Ji and His Times' By Dr. Harbans Lal Agnihotri , Chand R. Agnihotri