CHAPTER IV
The State of the Punjab at Ranjít Singh's Birth
Guru Govind Singh had announced to his disciples that he was the last of the prophets. With his death, the work of forming the Sikhs into a proud, ambitious and warlike people, inspired with deadly hatred of their Mussulman invaders, conquerors and masters, was complete. The Khálsa, fully armed and equipped for victory, had sprung from the brain of the great Guru, as Minerva from the head of Jupiter. But it was only in organization, in martial spirit, and in the sympathy of a common faith and baptism that the elect of the sword were, as yet, strong. They were few in number when opposed to the legions of their enemies; they were poor and of small repute if compared with their oppressors who commanded the whole resources of Hindustán. With nothing but their faith, their brave hearts and their swords, they engaged in a death-struggle with the Mughal Empire which, in the days of the Emperor Aurangzeb, raised a revenue estimated at eighty millions sterling, or double that which is now raised in actual taxation by the British Government from a
