The Source Book On Sikhism

Guru Arjun Dev Ji (1563 - 1606)

The youngest son of Guru Ram Das, poet of great excellence, a philosopher in his own right, a builder and great organizer, and the first martyr in Sikh history - this was Guru Arjun. Even in his early years, he showed signs of great promise, faithfulness to the ideals and a balanced mind towards his detractors, one of whom was his eldest brother, Prithi Chand, who did his utmost to harm him in order to usurp the Throne, He was paid back in nothing but forgiveness and charity. The other brother of Guru Arjun, Mahadev, was a recluse and was hence considered unfit to succeed his father.

Though Sikhs stood by Guru Arjun and sent in their offerings to him from far and near, these would hardly reach the Guru for they were intercepted on the way by Prithi Chand, even though the Guru had already assigned all the income from the house property to his name and for himself and the community kitchen, he depended only on the offerings of the faithful.

To safeguard against it, the Guru appointed some of his trusted Sikhs in various places to collect the offerings from the faithful, who were required from now on to set apart one-tenth of their incomes for communal purposes. These collections were to be offered to the Guru on the day of Baisakhi each year by the Masands.

In the heart of the city of Amritsar, Guru Arjun built a temple, now popularly known as the Golden Temple, open on four sides to signify that it was open to men of all four castes and to men from all the four directions of the world. It is said, he asked a Muslim Sufi saint, Sain Mian Mir, to lay its foundation stone. Later, the Guru built the cities of Tarn Taaran and Kartarpur, now in the districts of Amritsar and Jullundur respectively. Around the temples at all these places, the Guru dug up huge tanks for people to bathe, and keep themselves meticulously clean.

When in 1595, a son was born to Guru Arjun, Prithi Chand, who was hoping that the Guru would be childless and would pass the Throne on to him or to his son, started indulging in even dirtier intrigues. At first, he tried to poison the Guruís son, but failing in this he joined hands with a Muslim governor of Jullundur, Sulhi Khan, and incited him to attack him. But Sulhi died in most tragic circumstances much to the great chagrin of Prithi Chand. Similarly, when one of Akbar’s ministers, Bir Bal, imposed a tax on the Khartris of Lahore, and they, led by the Guru, refused to pay it, Bir Bal threatened an armed attack, but it never matured, for Bir Bal was killed in another expedition. The Guru now settled down to a life of comparative peace and compiled the Guru Granth to make the Sikhs, men of the BOOK. He had already given them a central place to worship, the Golden Temple, organized Sangats (congregations) under the Masands more effectively than before, and made it obligatory for Sikhs to part with the tithe in favour of the whole community. This not only perfected the organization of the faith in every way, but also gave Sikhs an idea of peoplehood.

Meanwhile, Jahangir, the Moghul emperor of Delhi, a fundamentalist Muslim, was hearing reports of the growing influence of the Guru not only among the Hindus but also among the Muslims. Earlier, when a report was lodged with Akbar that the Guru had compiled a Book in which the Muslim faith had been reviled, he had asked the Book to be read out to him when he visited the Guru at Goindwal in 1598, and when this was done, he was immensely pleased and satisfied that the Guru had a mission of synthesis rather than conflict and exclusiveness. But Jahangir was made of different texture. He was alcoholic and a womanizer and wanted to please the Sunni Muslims.

In those days, his son, Khusrau, rebelled against him and in his flight towards Kabul, he called on the Guru, and, as is customary on such occasions the Guru blessed him. But it was reported to Jahangir that the Guru offered him monetary assistance and even applied a saffron-mark on his forehead to bless him in his fight against the Emperor. So, Jahangir believing in the report and also wanting to get rid of a person whose authority was growing, (as he himself admits in his autobiography, the Tuzak-i-Jahangiri, p.35) ordered the Guru be arrested, his property confiscated to the State and he be made over to Murtaza Khan, his Kotwal in Lahore, to be tortured to death.

The emperor’s orders were carried out and the Guru was tortured and died a martyr at Lahore on May 30, 1606.