Patna was in the charge of a Nawab appointed by the Mogul Emperor of Delhi. He was a vainglorious person who considered himself to be nothing short of an almighty emperor. Everyone was supposed to bow before him wherever he went.
Whenever he wished to visit the town he chose elephant to ride on because it made him feel big and on top of the world. That gave him a good feeling of being superior. The elephant would be royally decorated to add glitter to his rank. Wherever he went the people would bend down to him to pay their respects.
One day his elephant passed by a small open space where children were playing. Gobindrai was among those children. Nawab’s elephant attracted their attention. They ran and gathered around it and began curiously watching the silken embroidered side hangings, bells and other embellishments of the elephant. They were squealing and commenting excitedly about the things they were seeing without paying any attention to the Nawab up there.
The people were bending to pay respects to the Nawab. Nawab’s bodyguard walked to the kids and ordered, “Little ones! Pay you respects to the Nawab Hazoor who sits up there. Haven’t your mothers taught you any manners?”
“Manners!” Gobindrai muttered. He had never been spoken to in that offending manner by any stranger. He said to his pals, “Let us pay our respects to the big deuce up there. Watch me!” Gobind stuck out his tongue at the Nawab. So did other kids and all of them made faces at the man up there in the howdah.
It angered the Nawab. He turned red and began to think what punishment he should announce for those young offenders.
A thoughtful official intervened to say, “Hazoor! They are merely kids who know nothing about the worldly things. They should be given benefit of ignorance. Our own children are like them.”
The Nawab had to relent. He confined himself to muttering something about ill mannered children of the natives. The elephant moved on.
All the Muslims were not like the Nawab. Many of them held Gurus in high esteem. Two such noble men were Nawab Rahim Baksh and Nawab Karim Baksh. They too believed Gobindrai to be a divine child. They had infact gifted two gardens and a piece of land to the young prodigy. That property is still with Patna gurudwara where also are kept childhood play items of Guru Gobind like little sword, sandals, Chakra and the garments.
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