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RAS question

Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa in which year?

Correct answer: (A) 1699.

Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib on Baisakhi day in 1699.

  1. (A)

    1699

  2. (B)

    1675

  3. (C)

    1710

  4. (D)

    1708

Explanation

Guru Gobind Singh's founding of the Khalsa belongs to 1699. The fuller setting was Anandpur Sahib on Baisakhi day, with the initiation of the Panj Pyare and the introduction of the 5 Ks: Kesh, Kangha, Kara, Kachera and Kirpan. NCERT supports the date by stating that the seventeenth-century development of the Sikh community culminated under Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, after which the Sikh community became a political entity. The Khalsa's foundation makes 1699 the decisive year, not merely another date from Guru Gobind Singh's life or later Sikh history.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (B) 1675 belongs to the execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur, so it predates the founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh.
  • (C) 1710 is associated with Banda Bahadur's campaigns, not with Guru Gobind Singh's founding of the Khalsa.
  • (D) 1708 marks Guru Gobind Singh's death, whereas the Khalsa had already been founded in 1699.

Concept

The Sikh tradition belongs within medieval Indian history, especially the institutional transformation of the Sikh community under Guru Gobind Singh. RAS repeats such dates because they connect personalities, religious movements and political change in a single factual node.

Source

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