The Ādi Granth, or the Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs (1877) · 24

Guru Amar-das was particularly fond of his daughter (whose name was Mohani), so that passing his son Mohan, he entrusted the Guruship to his son-in-law Eam-das, who was a pious and peaceful man. He was eager in collecting disciples and great crowds used to flock to his residence at Gurucakk.

His income from the voluntary offerings of his disciples must have been considerable: for it enabled him to restore magnifioently an old tank which he called Amritsar (the nectar- tank), in the midst of which he built a place of worship, to which he gave the name of Sarmatidar (XTdVRTS, temple of Hari). The new town, which soon sprang up round this tank, was first called Rdm-das-pur (city of Ram-das), afterwards the name of Amritsar was extended to the whole town and the old name Gurucakk fell into oblivion.

This was of the greatest importance for the firm establishment of Sikhism, for the Sikhs obtained thereby a fixed central place of worship, where the disciples annually assembled round their Guru and performed their ablution? in the nectar-tank. Eam-das, though without any scientific education, gave himself much to literary work. He composed a great many verses, in which he expounded his doctrines, and though no originality of thought is to bo found in them, they belong to the better compositions of the] Granth (ilahaUa IV.). He spent his days in peace and rest, as under his Guruship the organization of the Sikh community had not yet progressed so far as to arouse the suspicion and alarm of the iluhammadan Government. He died on the 3rd of March, 1581, having nominated his son Arjun (Arjun-mall)' his successor in the Guruship. From Eam-das the succession remained hereditary in the family, which added greatly to increase the wealth and the authority of the Gurus, as the Sikhs were thereby gradually accustomed to look on their Gurus as their actual sovereigns.

Tip to Guru Arjun the Sikhs were a community neither very numerous nor much taken notice of, their Gurus leading the life of Faqirs and being averse to outward show and pomp, though Amar-das, and more so Eam-das, had already considerable means at their disposal from the voluntary offerings of their disciples.

This state was changed considerably under Guru Arjun, who was an enterprising and active man, and the first Guru who meddled with politics. After the Sikhs had obtained under the Guruship of his father Eam-das a visible sacred place, which served them as a rallying point, Guru Ai'jun's first object was, to give them also a sacred code, in order to unite them more closely by one common religious tie and to separate them from the mass of the Hindus. Ho collected therefore the verses of the preceding Gurus, to which he added his own very numerous (but carelessly written) compositions, and in order to prove that the tenets of the Sikh Gurus were already entertained and proclaimed by the earlier popular saints (Bhagats), he inserted considerable extracts from their writings as loci probanles at the end of nearly every Eag. This miscellaneous collection he called Granth (or Granth sahib, 31^ TTRtHT), «•«• the hook, and it was thenceforth held sacred as the Bible of the Sikhs, supplanting gradually the authority of the Vedas and Puranas, which the unlettered peojile had never been able to read, whereas the Granth was composed in their mother-tongue and intelligible to the vulgar.

The story goes, that the disciples assembled one day round Guru Arjun and said, that by hearing the verses which Guru Nanak had uttered, tranquillity came to the mind and desire

' It is not quite clear if Ram-das had two or three sons. It is certain that Bharat-mall was the brother of Arjun, which is confirmed by the Dal)istan (II. p. 273), where it is mentioned, that Bliarat followed after his brotlier Arjun-mall, though the Sikhs themselves disavow the succession of Bharat.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE OTHER SIKH GURUS. ARJUN. Ixxxi

for worship was increased, but that by the numerous verses which were uttered by other Softs,' and to which the name of Baba Nanak was (also) given, pride and worldly wisdom were springing up in the hearts of men; it was therefore necessary to put a sign on the words of Nanak, that people might be able to distinguish them from the words of others.

Hearing this, Guru Arjun collected all the words of Nanak from different places, and having also collected the verses of the other Gurus and the words of other Bhagats, which were not contrary to the words of Nanak, he gave them to the writer BhaT Gur-das, that he should write them in one place {i.e. book) with GurmukliJ characters. And because Angad and the other Gurus had put down in their words the name of Nanak, he thought that it would be difficult for the disciples to distinguish their several speeches; where therefore the word of Nanak is, he put down the sign: *fTff5T 'M (vJWI. and where the words of the second reign were, there he wrote >H0«>1 -i-HT. and in this wise »?U^ 'jl-HI and >T«T?^ ^'m. and his own words he marked?TvJ<»l VtT^T; in this way he distinguished the words of the several Gunis. Similarly he marked also the speeches of the Bhagats by putting down their names. When all the speeches were made up into one volume, Arjun gave out the order to all disciples, that they should mind whatever was written in it, and reject everything else, though it bore the name of Nanak.

It is said, that Arjun left a few blank pages in the volume, predicting that the verses of the nint?i reign would be written upon them and that before that no Guru would utter a speech (that was to be written), — a prophecy ex eventu.

Another measure, which Arjun set a-going, was likewise of the greatest importance for the organization of the Sikh community.

"We have mentioned already, that the Gurus had no fixed income, but what was voluntarily offered to them by their disciples. Arjun saw clearly enough, that for his aspiring schemes and the extension of his spiritual authority, he required considerable sums, which should be forth- coming with some regularity. He reduced therefore the voluntary offerings of his disciples to a kind of tax, which he levied by deputies," whom -he nominated in the several districts, and who forwarded whatever they had collected annually to the Guru. In this wise the Guru was on the one hand enabled to hold a court and to keep always a strong band of adherents round his body, and to extend his authority by the not inconsiderable sums he had at his command, wherever he found an opportunity, and on the other hand the Sikhs were thereby gradually accustomed to a kind of government of their own, and began to feel themselves as a firmly organized and strong party within the state. ^ This institution of deputies of the Guru, though very useful in a political and financial point of view, led soon to very hard oppression, BO that the last Guru was compelled to give way to the continual complaints of his adherents and to abolish it.

Guru Arjun was the first Sikh Guru who laid aside the garb of a Faqlr and kept an establishment like a grandee; he engaged also in trade in a grand style, as he either loved money or was much in want of it, though the Sikh tradition is now quite silent about such transactions of their Gurus. Under Arjun, who had apparently a great talent for organization, the Sikh

' lu the Sikhii de raj di vithiS, p. 29, 1. 3 from l)elon',?I^Y«lft is found, which is a misprnit for J?5^t>ft Sofis (or Sufis). For the first Sodhi Guru was Ram-das, who cannot be meant here, and of other Sodhi poets tradition is altogether silent.

These deputies were c.nlled H^^, masand, a rorrupfion of the Arabic-Persian J>i.».u„« (or more properly 4Xi.u..^), a support on which one leans, or a person to lean upon, used in tlie sense of "deputy" in the ludo- Persian idiom.

' See tlie remarks of Rluh'sin FanT in tlie Dahistan, II. p. 271, who very well perceived the purport of this measure.

Ixxxii SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE OTHER SIKH GURUS. HAR-GOYIND.

community increased very considerably and spread fast over the Panjab; but in proportion as the Sikhs began to draw public attention on themselves, the suspicion of the Muhammadan Government was roused, and Guru Arjun was the first who fell a victim to it.

There are different accounts of the causes of the death of Arjun.' The common Sikh tradition is, that Arjun had a son named Har-govind. When he had attained to the years of discretion, a barber and Briihmaii came and brought about his betrothal with the daughter of Candu-sah, who was a servant (finance administrator) of the Emperor of Dilli. Gandu-sah heard from the people, tliat in the house, where his daughter had been betrothed, they lived after the manner of Faqirs and were eating offerings. He got very angry with the Biahman and the barber and turned them out of his house. When Arjun heard of this, he sent word to Candu-sah, that the betrothal was given up on his part, he could betroth his daughter somewhere else. Candu-sah became greatly ashamed at this breaking off of the match and from that day was a bitter enemy of the Guru. Ho calumniated him to the Emperor, and Guru Arjun was several times summoned to Lahore, where he suflfered severe treatment. One day this wretch suggested to the Emperor, that he should sew Arjun up in a raw cow-hide, which the Hindus abhor most, and burn him. "When the cow-hide was brought before him, he begged to be allowed to take first a bath in the Ravi. The Emperor granted this request; Arjun jumped into the Ravi, and was lost in it; the people searched much for his corpse, but could not find it. Guru Arjun died in the year 1606, having nominated his young son Har-govind his successor in the Guruship.

This account of the cause of the death of Guru Arjun is very unsatisfactory. It is easily perceived that the real charge which was brought against the Guru, is passed over in silence by the Sikh tradition, even if we admit that Candu-sah was actuated by private enmity for the reasons stated above. Fortunately the Dfibistan (If. p. 272) throws some light on this dark point. There we learn, that the Emperor Niiru-ddin Jahaugir called to his court (when at Lahore) Arjun-mall, on account of his having offered prayers for the King's son Khusrau, who had rebelled against his father. Ehusrau having been taken, the Kiug ordered the imprisonment of Arjun-mall, and wanted to extort a large sum of money from him. The Guru was helpless; they kept him prisoner in the sandy country of Lahore until he died from the heat of the sun and ill treatment. This happened in 1606.

From this it appears that Arjun was arraigned on the charge that he had joined (with his adherents) in the rebellion of Khusrau. Whichever way he died, his death was ascribed to the bigotry and cruelty of the Muhammadan Government, and his disciples were burning to revenge it. The death of Guru Arjun is therefore the great turning-point in the development of the Sikh community, as from that time the struggle commenced, which changed the whole character of this reformatory religious movement.

After the death of Guru Arjun, some troubles arose in the Sikh community, as the uncle of the youthful Har-govind, Pirthi-raall,^ claimed for himself the succession iu the Gurusliip. Piithi-

' Malcolm (Sketch of the Sikhs, p. 32) gives a different story, that a Hindu zealot, Daiii-caiid, a Khatrl, whose writings Arjiiii refused to admit into the Graiitli, caused liis death t)y prevailing upon tlie Mnhammadan Governor of the province to imprison Arjun. The whole story looks very unlikely and I have liitlierto not been alile to trace it in any Sikli tradition tliat has come under my observation.

^ It is very likely that flfSP^ *f?5 is identical witli ^IJ^ *i?5 (see tlie DSbistSn, II. p. 273) and lfld*1M- His progeny, called iJ^^iCsft^, and Ids disciples, calle<l contemptuously ^ft% (sft^T '«• an ox with tlie horns bending down the face), were at a later time excommunicated by Guru Govind Singli.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE OTHER SIKH GURUS. HAR-GOVIND. Ixxxiii

mall seems to have been of an intriguing disposition; he is said to have gone to Candu-sah to Dilll, in order to get the Guruship by his assistance, but becoming obnoxious to the Sikhs by his intrigues, he was soon deserted and Har-govind was acknowledged as the rightful successor to his father.

In order to revenge the death of his father he for the fii'st time armed his followers and took bloody revenge of Candu-sah and the iluhammadans whom he considered concerned in his death.

The Sikh accounts agree by no means on this point and are full of confusion, as they apparently tiy to smooth over many uneven things and to conceal the real facts of the life of their Guru.' According to one relation it was Candu-sah, instigated by Pirthl-mall, who told the astrologers of the King, that they should frighten the King by telling him that for one month and a quarter there was great danger for him; if he would call Guru Har-govind from the Panjab, all would go well. On this the King (or Emperor) sent men to bring him from Amritsar; when he arrived, the King told him that he should for his sake sit forty days in prison and perform worship. Others say, that the King sent him for forty days to the fort of Gualiar to perform devotion there. When the forty days were over, a Sikh, named Bidhl-cand, who was staying with the Guru, gave himself the appearance of a physician, met the King and said, that Har-govind, whom ho kept in prison for the sake of his own comfort, was a great saint, he should speedily set him at liberty, for those, who had caused his imprisonment, were his enemies. The King called Har-g5vind, acknowledged his fault and asked the Guru to forgive it. Har-govind had a priceless pearl, which he offered as a present to the King. When the King had seen its splendour, he was much pleased and said: " If one other like it could be found, it would be very well." The Guru answered, that on the neck of his father Arjun there was a necklace containing more than one hundred and eight of such pearls, but they were now in the possession of his Divan Candu-sah. When the King heard this, he was astonished, and asked how Candu- sah got them from his father? The eyes of the Guru were filled with tears; he told the King the whole story and added, that when his father under the hard treatment of Candu-sah had died at Lahore,' he took the whole necklace from him. The King became very angry, and when he had ascertained the full truth also from other people, he seized Candu-sah and handed him over to the Guru, to revenge himseK on him as he pleased. He took him with himself to Amritsar and began to punish him. It is said, that they bound a rope round his feet and dragged him through the bazar of Amritsar and Lahore. As he had seated Arjun on heated frying-pans and hot sands, so did Har-g5vind to him, till he at last died being dragged about in the bazar.

All this appears very improbable, as it is far more likely that he revenged himself without any reference to authority. We know from the Dabistan, that Har-govind was a man of a warlike spirit and addicted to hunting; he always kept a strong band of armed followers round his person and he is said to have had eight hundred horses in his stable. He built the town of Har-govind- pur on the banks of the Biasa, to serve him, in case of necessity, as a finn retreat. His warlike inclinations prompted him also to enter tlie service of the Emperor Jaliangir, but his irregular conduct involved him in many difficulties. It is expressly stated in the Dabistan ^11. p. 274), that