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This event happened a long time before the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) guaranteed every one the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It was also long before the establishment of Western democracies.

The Guru carried out this act of conviction more than three hundred years ago, when religious intolerance and persecution were common all over the world, to secure the right of each and every individual to freely worship the faith of his or her choice.

Guru Tegh Bahadur lived at a time when even personal laws were oppressive and the right to worship as one chose was under attack by a ruler (Aurangzeb) bent on imposing his religion on every citizen of India. This policy of forced conversion culminated in an atmosphere of fear and severe backlash ....More