Born Dec. 26, 1666; died October 1708. Tenth and last guru (teacher) of the Sikhs.

Govind Singh was head of the Sikh community from 1675 to 1708. He led the battle of the Sikhs against the Great Moguls. In 1699, Govind Singh reformed Sikhism by establishing the military-religious organization of the Sikhs—the Khalsa—and giving it supreme power, which had hitherto been concentrated in the hands of the guru, and by introducing various rites. Govind Singh’s sermons tended to be antifeudal and anticaste. His activity contributed to the growth of the Sikhs’ solidarity and the strengthening of their military might and their antifeudal struggle. Govind Singh fell at the hands of a murderer, sent, according to some sources, by the Moguls.