Kapur Singh, Parasaraprasna. (Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University, 1959. 2d rev. ed. 1989), 125 ff.

"Carl Jung tells us that 'archetypes are instinctual images that are not intellectual invented. They are always there and they produce certain processes in the Unconscious Mind that one could best compare with myths.' [Guru Gobind Singh] 'tied his turban in a high cone of one hand altitude'. In the Louvre, Paris, there is an exhibit in the Assyro-Babylonian section, 'the Stels of Hammurabi', about four thousand years old (circa 2000 B.C.) on the top of which stela is engraved the scene depicting the God on High, god Shammas, dictating to king Hammurabi the Laws for the guidance of mankind to show eternal concern of divine powers to help and aid the mortals. In this scene, god Shammas, in contrast to that of Hammurabi, wears a conical high altitude turban exactly similar to the style that Guru Gobind Singh adopted on this occasion to proclaim his divine status as well as his fundamental concern for the welfare of mankind. This is the archetypal Form of Guru Gobind Singh, of which the dark blue clothes, the pure steel arms, the lance, the white hawk, the jewel aigrette, and the dark blue horse are the most significant.

The fathomless-shoreless sea, on a starless dark night is the bed on which Visnu, the Primordial Man, sanatanpurasa, of Hindu mythology leisurely reclines. This cosmic Sea, the Endless Snake, Anantnaga, which also is the water-spirit, are symbolic of the pre-Creation primordial Stuff which is the Ground of the archetypal form, that is Visnu. The human forms, which Visnu assumes from Age to Age are also of dark blue hue, the colour of the Cosmic Sea, and the infinite void, as the skies appear on a clear day... When Guru Gobind Singh put on dark blue clothes on March 30, 1699 and on subsequent ceremonial occasions, he meant to indicate and affirm nothing less that he, in his mortal form, was merely a transformation of the Divine Will in Its all-pervasive Cosmic aspect and that, "it was this Divine Will which was the Founder of the Order of the Khalsa." The blue clothes that the Nihang or Akali soldiers put on...and the yellow clothes which the Hindu Rajput warriors traditionally don, go back to hoary Hindu mythology...Visnu descended into earth as Krsna... In the Mahabharata Krsna declares untruth to be more ancient than the truth...during the Great Battle he promoted the spread of the false rumour that Drona's son was dead...when Karna's chariot got stuck in the mud and he dismounted to dislodge it, Krsna against all rules of war, urged Arjana to attack him...It was Krsna again who urged Bhima to deliver the unfair blow which shattered Duryodhana's thigh. This Krsna has Pitambara as one of his names, which means 'yellow-clothed', yellow the colour of spring and dalliance, of love and erotic sport.

Balarama the elder brother of Krsna, in contrast was of fair complexion and the Puranas describe him as a partial incarnation of Visnu or Sesa, the Cosmic Serpent. When Krsna robbed Satrijit of the wonderful samantaka gem Balarama remonstrated with his younger brother for the latter's covetousness, 'worthy only of a low-born thief', whereupon Krsna reluctantly surrendered the jewel. Unlike most of the heroes of ancient Indian legend Balarama married only once, taking the beautiful Revati as his wife, thus upholding the Sikh ideal of celibacy, eka nari jati hoe, as Bhai Gurdas puts it, the monogamous marriage. This furnishes an obvious contrast to the free loves and permissive sex of his younger brother, 'the full incarnation of Visnu', cent per cent divine, solah kala sampurna. A great fighter, Balarama taught Duryodhana and Bhima the use of the mace and though he remained neutral in the Kurukshetra War, the foul blow delivered to Duryodhana by Bhima so offended his sense of fair play that he seized his club to fight Bhima and was only restrained by Krsna. Amongst the many names of Balrama, Balbhadra (might-excelling), Baladeva (power-god), Nilavestra (blue-vestured), are most famous.

The blue clothes and the yellow clothes of Balrama and Krsna, respectively and of the soldierly uniforms of the death squads of the Akalis and the Rajputs, signify also two systems of war-ethics and two codes of soldierly conduct. The one pertains to antinomian, nirdharma, gods and incarnations of gods, avatars, and the other to high-minded, God-fearing, God-illumined human beings whose commitment to Dharma and laws of Ethics is final and irrevocable.

Again, those outside the pale of society voluntarily adopt the orange-yellow garments that were originally the covering of condemned criminals led to the execution ground. The sannyasi puts on yellow robes to indicate that he is civilly dead and the Rajput knight dons yellow robes when going forth to a certain death against overwhelming odds for the same reason. The mode of thought, renouncing the world or renouncing all hope, is un-Sikh like. It is certain that this aspect and significance of the blue vestments which the Guru took on, was also present in his mind.