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Fearlessness and human justice: Exploring Guru Tegh Bahadur’s teachings and sacrifice from a fresh perspective

ABSTRACT This article explores the state of fearlessness and human justice through an examination of five celebrated couplets from Guru Tegh Bahadur’s bāṇī (‘inspired utterances’) by placing them in their immediate historical context, followed by an understanding of their wider significance from a global perspective. The main arguments of this essay revolve around the critical situation in Mughal India leading to the ninth Guru’s execution at Chandni Chowk in Delhi on 11 November 1675, by the orders of Emperor Aurangzeb. Rectifying skewed perspectives offered by modern historians in which the death of the ninth Guru is simply an accident of history and therefore of no consequence to wider humanity, this essay offers a critical review of historical readings of events that forced Guru Tegh Bahadur to intervene in the flow of history on behalf of downtrodden and minority voices. To bring the people out of their vulnerability he inspired them with a bold message of resistance against the tyrannical regime by cultivating the spirit of fearlessness and carefree optimism.