GOBIND SINGH-AURANGZEBU: THE PERSIAN MESSAGES OF THE SIKH GURU 1 The Sikh religious community plays a very prominent role in the economic, political, and social life of modern India. It grew and was forged in a tough confrontation with many empires: Mughal, Durran, British. The first large-scale stage of the Sikh struggle for survival was their armed conflict with the Mughal Sultanate at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. During this conflict, the tenth Sikh guru Gobind Singh sent two messages in poetic form to Shah Aurangzeb in 1705. This article discusses the reasons and goals of writing these works, as well as their poetic translation from Farsi compiled by the author of the article. Key words: Sikhs, religious community, power, polity, Punjab, Mughal Empire. At the beginning of the 16th century, a community of Sikhs ("disciples") of the teacher of faith Nanak (1469-1539) emerged in Punjab. Having emerged as a collective of adherents of the emerging new religion as a fusion of Hinduism and Islam, at first it was a purely religious community. Most of its members were members of the Khatri caste of scribes and accountants and the Arora caste of merchants. Sikhs revered Nanak and his successor gurus as spiritual guides, but by the end of the century, the process of turning the confessional community into a powerful organization, into a polity, was gaining momentum. On the one hand, Jats, representatives of the main peasant caste of Punjab, as well as members of low castes, began to convert to Sikhism en masse. By embracing Sikhism, they intended to increase their social status (the Jats were also impressed by the work ethic of Nanak's teachings). On the other hand, the succession of Sikh gurus began to turn into a dynasty and, as the community grew closer, claimed both spiritual influence over its members and worldly power over them (the fourth guru Ram Das was not only the most devoted disciple, but also the son-in-law of his predecessor Amar Das, and then th ... Read more