On one side you had a lineage of un-matchable masters, the gurus of the throne of Nanak.
On the other side you had the lineage of monarchs that invaded and ruled India.
The rulers transformed from having a friendly admiration during the time of the 3rd Nanak ~ Guru Amar Das, to being suspicious during the time of Guru Ram Das, then to death sentencing and torturing the 5th Nanak ~ Guru Arjun Dev. The tyranny of these ruler took its' ultimate form in emperor Aurangzeb who ordered the execution of 9th Nanak ~ Guru Teg Bahadur during his effort to cleanse the subcontinent of other religions than his own.
By the time of the 10th Nanak ~ Guru Gobing Singh the empire laid siege to the guru's city of Anandpur Sahib during which the ruthless general Wazir Khan had promised the Guru and Sikhs safe passage if they abandoned the city. This promise, with the approval of the emperor Aurangzeb, was written on the holy Quran. When the city was eventually evacuated Wazir Khan attacked the Sikhs from behind. Later that same Wazir Khan was behind the execution of the guru's youngest sons who were 7 and 9 years old. The attempted genocide also lead to the death of the elder two sons of the guru among many Khalsa warriors.
The guru was persuaded to survive and wound up alone, and physically battered in a jungle.
It was in this desperate condition that the King of Kings, Guru Gobind Singh, wrote the seminal letter to emperor Aurangzeb ~ Zafarnama.
The letter was perfectly written in the royal script and instead of admitting defeat it declares victory! It praises God and confronts the need to keep true to ones word. Amazingly, Guru ji, while heavily chastising the emperor, extended a peace invitation to the ruthless tyrant.
Now for the first time the soul rousing Zafarnama, which speaks to all souls, not just that of Aurangzeb, has been sung and produced by a modern and beloved artist Satinder Sartaj:
After reading Zafarnama, emperor Aurangzeb was shaken to his core. He faced his own conscience. He called a halt to all antagonism towards the guru. It is said that he even took the invitation to have an in person truce meeting (Guru Gobind Singh declares in Zafarnama that he refuses to travel and meet the emperor in his controlled domain), but Aurangzeb died on the journey to meet the guru.
The Zafarnama directly confronts the soul and demonstrates victory in the face of defeat.
We are so thankful that it is now available in the format above.
Wahiguru ji ka Khalsa
Wahiguru ji ki Fateh