Prophecies

It's from the Sau Sakhee Pothi. 100 stories of Guru Gobind Singh.

"Chhiaanve karorr khalsa sachegaa. Khalsa raj karegaa."

960 million khalsa there shall be. The khalsa shall rule.

Do you know the story of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and the Pipal Tree?

This is a story of Guru Gobind Singh which happened in the year 1704 and was recorded in 1714 or 1715 in a small book called Sakhi Pothi written by a Udasee Sikh. Not much is known about the writer. The Sakhi Pothi records Guru Gobind Singh's travels. Attar Singh translated the manuscript, "Sakhi Pothi" and presented it to Queen Victoria when he was invited to a ceremony to solemnise her sovereignty over Punjab.

When she read this story, two paragraphs caught her attention.

The story goes like this: Guru Gobind Singh was travelling through a district of East Punjab. His next stop was a village, Soheva, where he camped for a night. Near the camp was a large Jand tree. He told a Sikh to climb up the tree and look for a Pipal tree (Brahminic Fig) He found it growing in the cleft of the Jand tree.

Guru Gobind Singh said, "This Pipal tree will grow into a large tree, though it does not grow in desert areas. It will here grow as big as the Jand tree itself. It will spread over the whole Jand tree. This is the time when my Khalsa will spread into the four corners of the world and the sovereignty of Delhi will the first prize which will fall into their laps. When the Pipal tree will spread over the Jand tree, then the spirit of the order of the Khalsa, which I have enshrined under the command of God Almighty shall start to work to set up a world-society, which will last for five thousand years. That divine society will enjoy peace and affluence."

Queen Victoria on reading this, knowing there was something mystical behind the invincibility of the Sikh soldiers wrote to the Governor-General at Calcutta. She said, "Please go and find out the village Soheva, and see if there is a Pipal tree growing in a Jand tree. Please report the size of Pipal and Jand tree." The reply came in two or three months, "Yes, it is there. It is about four and half yards high now and the Jand tree is much higher." Then she referred the matter to the Royal Botanical Professor, who informed her, "Your Majesty, the Pipal trees grows very slowly and it will take the Pipal sapling at least one hundred years to grow to the height of the Jand tree."

Her Majesty's mind was at rest and she slept without any mental disturbance that night because as far as she was concerned, one hundred years of uninterrupted British rule in India was guaranteed by the slow rate of growth of the Pipal tree.

Note: Soheva is a village in the old Bikaner state, which is now ... (more)