The Mughal Emperor of India, Aurangzeb, attempted to consolidate India into one Islamic nation. In order to achieve this aim, he set out to virtually eliminate Hinduism from India. When the eighth Guru heard of this from a desperate group of Hindus, he challenged the Emperor that, in order to convert all the Hindus, the Guru himself would have to embrace Islam. When the Guru was imprisoned at the request of Aurangzeb in 1675, despite being forced to watch the torture and execution of two disciples, the Guru simply refused to concede to the Emperor's demand. Finally, the Guru was ordered to get beheaded. Unparalleled in the history of humankind, the martyrdom of Guru Teg Bahadur was an act of sacrifice for another religious community. The Guru's martyrdom served to awaken the collective conscience of the Sikh community, which was about to undergo a final transformation in the years to follow.