Guru Nanak Dev’s First-Hand Account of Mughal Atrocities as Recorded in Babar Bani, Sri Guru Granth Sahib

The Sikhs regard Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS) as their central religious scripture. It is the final word for them. Guru Gobind Singh ji had said “Those who desire to behold the Guru should obey the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Its contents are the visible body of the Guru.” Sri Guru Granth Sahib contains 4 hymns, collectively known as Babar Bani (Babar’s Sway), that allude to the invasion and atrocity of the first Mughal king Babur. The name Babar Bani is derived from a line from one of those hymns: Babar bani phiri gal kuiruna rot khai (Babar’s sway has spread; even the very rich are starving) (GG, 417).

Guru Nanak Dev ji refers to the state of affairs in his compositions recorded in as follows:

The Guru describes the consequences of Mughal invasion:

They who had beautiful locks and with vermilion dyed the parting of their hair, have their tresses shorn with scissors and dust thrown on their heads. They who dwelt in palaces cannot find a place in the streets. He laments the fate of young brides whose youth, jewels, honour have been infringed upon by the Babar’s men.

The JanamSakhis mention that when Guru Nanak Dev ji was travelling back home from his trip to Mecca, he was taken captive at Saidpur by Babur’s army during his third invasion. When the residents of Saidpur resisted Babur’s attempt at the forceful subjugation, the latter ordered a bloody massacre of them. Babar’s indiscriminate bestiality to the unarmed civilians has been likened as: “Just as a herd of meek cows is attacked by a bloodthirsty tiger.”

A deeply devout Guru Nanak Dev ji could not help complaining to God when the invaders were killing innocents in the name of their version of God: “When there was such suffering, such killing, such shrieking in pain, did not Thou, O God, feel pity? Creator, Thou art the same for all!”

He, again, was a witness to the wanton destruction of the people and property by Babur’s men in 1524. “For a pahar and a quarter, i.e. for nearly four hours, the city of Lahore remained subject to death and fury,” is how the total plunder of Lahore is described in Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

In his complaint to the Almighty, the Guru was rather harsh:

(Having subjugated Khuraasan, Babar terrified Hindustan

Mughal have come as the messenger of death

So great was the slaughter, such the agony of the people, even then You felt no compassion, Lord?

O Lord, You are the Master of all

If some powerful man strikes another, one feels no grief

But when a powerful tiger slaughters a flock of helpless sheep, its master must answer

This jewel of a country has been laid waste and defiled by dogs, so much so that no one pays heed even to the dead…)[1]

He further laments the fate of the natives:

(Hindus have been forbidden to pray at the time of the Muslim’s namaz, Hindu society has been left without a bath, without a tilak. Even those who have never uttered ‘Ram’, even they can get no respite, not even by shouting ‘Khuda, Khuda’…. The few who have survived Babar’s jails wail…. The desolation which has come over the land …. The entire races which have been exterminated, which have been humiliated….)[1]

[1] English translation courtesy: Eminent Historian: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud, Arun Shourie.