The extent to which Góvind succeeded in this design will be more fully noticed in another place. It is here only necessary to state the leading features of those changes by which he subverted, in so short a time, the hoary institutions of Brahmá[31], and excited terror and astonishment in the minds of the Muhammedan conquerors of India, who saw the religious prejudices of the Hindús, which they had calculated upon as one of the pillars of their safety, because they limited the great majority of the population to peaceable occupations, fall before the touch of a bold and enthusiastic innovator, who opened at once, to men of the lowest tribe[32], the dazzling prospect of earthly glory. All who subscribed to his tenets were upon a level, and the Bráhmen who entered his sect had no higher claims to eminence than the lowest Súdra who swept his house. It was the object of Góvind to make all Sikhs equal[33], and that their advancement should solely depend upon their exertions: and well aware how necessary it was to inspire men of a low race, and of groveling minds, with pride in themselves, he changed the name of his followers from Sikh to Singh, or lion; thus giving to all his followers that honourable title which had been before exclusively assumed by the Rajapúts, the first military class of Hindús: and every Sikh felt himself at once elevated to rank with the highest, by this proud appellation. The disciples of Góvind were required to devote themselves to arms, always to have _steel_ about them in some shape or other; to wear a blue dress; to allow their hair to grow; to exclaim, when they met each other, _Wá! Gúrújí ká khálsah! Wá! Gúrújí kí futteh!_ which means, "Success to the state of the Gúrú! Victory attend the Gúrú[34]!" The intention of some of these institutions is obvious; such as that principle of devotion to _steel_, by which all were made soldiers; and that exclamation, which made the success of their priest, and that of the commonwealth, the object of their hourly prayer. It became, in fact, the watchword which was continually to revive, in the minds of the Sikh disciple, the obligations he owed to that community of which he had become a member, and to that faith which he had adopted.