A few months ago, when I was in India, I went around a few prominent Sikh Institutions. In almost all the organisations, preparations for the celebration of the birth of Khalsa, in 1999, were going ahead. Now when Sikh Nation is gearing to honour its birth, rumours are made to circulate to falsify the event that took place on Baisakhi Day 1699, and its impact, which created the Sikh Nation. The means, to spread discredit, are so subtle that the Sikhs could never guess the actions of some centralised agency to promote such idea.

And such agency's means are extremely universal. In April, on my return to North America, I learned from Mr. Manohar Singh Marco, the doyen of the study of the medieval volumes of Guru Granth Sahib, who, at the present lives in New York, that concerted efforts are being made to negate the value of the event of creation of Khalsa in 1699.

Now, in Canada, just a few weeks ago, I heard about the theories promoted by a so-called Acharya Sukhwinder Singh, the Host of Radio Programme Soch Vichar. The same thing happening all over the world at the same time could not be just a coincidence.

Sukhwinder has maintained that there has been no such ceremony to baptise the Sikhs at Anandpur Sahib, establishment of Panj Pyare is disputed, and the introduction of 5Ks is refuted. Without going into the details of what he blabbed out, for his enlightenment, I would like to put the events in their right perspective.

Bhats are a community of minstrels and folk-singers, and the narrators of the family stories. They used to prevail frequently at the significant family, social and political scenes. Wherever they went they carried with them the red cloth bound oblong books, called Vehis. They always, normally, recorded and dated the relevance of the occasions.

It won't be inappropriate, if I write to relate an experience in this regard. I was hardly ten years old then (I am sixty-seven now), when our family gathered at our village in the District of Rawalpindi, now in Pakistan. My father arranged to celebrate Lohrri on a grand scale to commemorate some occasion. The Bhat from the adjoining village heard the news and came along with Sarangi (a type of inverted violin) to entertain and earn some money. He arrived a day earlier and sang a few modern folk songs to impress. My father did not like theme and asked him to bring his Vehi.

"No body wants to listen to them these days, Master Jee. I will have to search for them," he told.

When insisted he went and came back with a Vehi. Its cover was breaking down. All the white papers in it were dirty and yellowish. On my father's request he opened it at the beginning, and melodiously sang and narrated a few incidents. My father became very excited and patted on my back saying, "Listen boy, listen, how famous were our great-grand parent." I am sure that he must have heard those narration before. Perhaps, if there were no partition and communal riots in 1947, I, with my yearning for heritage, might have tried to acquire them.

As the entries in the Bhat Vehis were made nearly at the same time the events were transpiring, they are the most authentic source of setting correct chronology.

The discovery of Vehis relating to the Guru Sahibans' period has helped to rectify a number of misgivings and misstatements narrated by the Sikh and other medieval hagiographers. To detail the correctness of such events is not the purpose of this article. I am writing this to illuminate the devious minds that (i) refute the creation of Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib, (ii) question the establishment of Panj Pyare and (iii) discredit the attribution of the 5Ks.

The discovery of Bhat Vehis relating to Guru period, itself, is nearly contemporary. Earlier modern researchers like Macauliffe and Bhai Kahan Singh have not mentioned them. Even Guru Granth Sahib Shabd Kosh, completed by Bhai Sahib Vir Singh in 1927, is silent on their existence.

Bhai Bala's Janam Saakhi, in respect of the life of Guru Nanak, predominated the Sikh history till the time Valayat Vali (Puratan) Janam Saakhi was discovered in 1872, and many misconceptions about the life of Baba Nanak were eradicated. Similarly is the case with the Bhat Vehis. All the doubts, particularly the Baptismal Ceremony held at Anandpur Sahib, are dispelled with the finding of the Bhat Vehi of Bhat Bhadson, Pargna Thanesar. It states:

"On Tuesday, the Baisakhi Day, to the five Sikhs'

"Served the nectar (pahul), gave them the name Singh.

"First of all Deya Ram Sopti Khatri of Lahore stood up.

"After that Mohkam Chand Cheepa resident Dwarka Sahibchand Nai.

"Resident of Bider Zaffarabad City Dharamchand Jawanda Jat

"Resident of Hastnapur Himantchand Jheever Resident of Jagannath

"Turn by turn they stood up. All were asked (made) to wear Blue

"Then (Guru Jee) similarly attired himself.

"Acquired to forsake Huka, Halal, Hijamat (shaving) Ticka (mark on the fore-head), Janeyu, Dhoti (lion-cloth).

"Abandoned the association with Minnas, Dhirmaliye, Ramraiye, Shaven-heads, Masands.

"Accorded Comb, Kard (Kirpan), Kesgi (turban), Kacchehra (Breeches) - to all, all supported full hair. All to tell, Patna as Birth Place and Resident of Anandpur.

"Rest of Guru's doing, only Guru knows.

"Repeat Guru, Guru, and Guru will support at all places."

To supplement my assertion I would like to add the following quotations from the most eminent writers:

1. "According to the Persian Historian Ghulam Muhai-ul-Din, the news-writer of the period, sent the Emperor a copy of the Guru's address to his Sikhs on that occasion. It is dated Baisakh, Sambat 1756 (1699 AD), and is as follows: `let all embrace one creed and obliterate differences of religion. Let the four Hindu castes who have different rules for their guidance abandon them all, adopt the one form of adoration, and become brothers. Let no one deem himself superior to another. Let none pay heed to the Ganges, and other places of pilgrimage which are spoken of with reverence in the Shastras, or adore incarnations such as Ram, Krishan, Brahma, and Durga, but believe in Guru Nanak and the other Sikh Gurus. Let men of the four castes receive my baptism, eat out of one dish, and feel no disgust of contempt."

The news-writer, when forwarding this proclamation to his master, submitted is own report: "When the Guru had thus addressed the crowd, several Brahmins and Khatris stood up, and said that they accepted the religion of Guru Nanak and of the other Gurus. Others, on the contrary, said that they would never accept any religion, which was opposed to the teaching of Vedas and the Shastras, and that they would not renounce at the biding of a boy the ancient faith which had descended to them from their ancestors. Thus, though several refused to accept the Guru's religion, about twenty thousand men stood up and promised to obey him, as they had the fullest faith in his divine mission." (M.A.Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion Volume 5 Page 93)

2. "Senapati was a contemporary of Guru Gobind Singh. In 1711 AD (just three years after the demise of Guruji, he completed Gur Sobha. He writes that the Guru had instructed that Sikhs (i) should hymn the Praises of God in the society of the holy, (ii) should not use tobacco, (iii) should keep unshorn head-hair and beard, (iv) to discard the company of five kinds of people (Dhirmaliyas, Minnas etc.) (Gur Sobha Verse 30: 146). Bhai Santokh Singh has added the woman of Turks (Muslims)." (History of the Sikh People by Dr. Gopal Singh Page 288).

In the presence of such authentic proofs, to deny the occurrence of the event and its aftermath is sheer motivational deviation.