Guru Arjan
Guru Arjan | |
---|---|
ਗੁਰੂ ਅਰਜਨ | |
Execution | |
Resting place | Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Walled City of Lahore |
Religion | Sikhism |
Spouse | Mata Ram Dei Mata Ganga |
Children | Guru Hargobind |
Parent(s) | Guru Ram Das and Mata Bhani |
Known for |
|
Other names | Fifth Master Fifth Nanak |
Signature | |
Religious career | |
Predecessor | Guru Ram Das |
Successor | Guru Hargobind |
Part of a series on |
Sikhism |
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Guru Arjan
Guru Arjan was born in
Guru Arjan reorganized the masand system initiated by Guru Ram Das, by suggesting that the Sikhs donate, if possible, one-tenth of their income, goods or service to the Sikh organization (dasvandh). The Masand not only collected these funds but also taught tenets of Sikhism and settled civil disputes in their region. The dasvand financed the building of gurdwaras and langars (shared communal kitchens).[10]
Guru Arjan was arrested under the orders of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir accusing him of supporting a rebellion under Khusrau Mirza.[11][12][7][13] He was asked to convert himself to Islam.[14][15] He refused, was tortured and executed in 1606 CE.[14][16] Historical records and the Sikh tradition are unclear as to whether Arjan was executed by drowning or died during torture.[14] The Sikh tradition states the Guru's execution was a part of the ongoing persecution of the Sikhs under the Mughal Empire.[17][18] His martyrdom is considered a watershed event in the history of Sikhism.[14][19] It is remembered as Shaheedi Divas of Guru Arjan in May or June according to the Nanakshahi calendar released by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in 2003.[20]
Biography
Early life
Guru Arjan was born in Goindval to Bibi Bhani and Jetha Sodhi. Bibi Bhani was the daughter of Guru Amar Das, and her husband Jetha Sodhi later came to be known as Guru Ram Das. Arjan's birthplace site is now memorialized as the Gurdwara Chaubara Sahib.[21] He had two brothers: Prithi Chand and Mahadev.[22][23] Various Sikh chroniclers give his birth year as 1553 or 1563, the latter is accepted by scholarly consensus as the actual year of birth with 15 April as the accepted birth date.[24]
Guru Arjan spent the first 11 years of his life in Goindwal and the next seven years with his father in Ramdaspur.[22] Per Sikh tradition, he had stayed for two years in Lahore during his youth after being sent by his father to attend the wedding of his first cousin Sahari Mal's son as well as to establish a Sikh congregation.[25] He was appointed as the Sikh Guru in 1581 after the death of his father.[26] Guru Ram Das was a Khatri of the Sodhi sub-caste. With Arjan's succession, the Guruship remained in the Sodhi family of Guru Ram Das.[27]
Marriages
According to historians, Guru Arjan wedded twice.[28] His first wife was Mata Ram Dei, whom he married on 20 June 1579.[28] His second wife was Mata Ganga, their wedding taking place on 19 May 1589.[28] Popular Sikh tradition omits his first wife and claims he was only married to Ganga.[28]
Succession and time as Guru
Guru Ram Das chose Arjan, the youngest, to succeed him as the fifth Sikh Guru. Mahadev, the middle brother chose the life of an
The succession dispute regarding Guru Arjan created a schism that yielded different narratives for the two factions.[29] In the orthodox Sikh tradition, Prithi Chand is remembered as vehemently opposing Guru Arjan, creating a factional sect of the Sikh community.[31] The Sikhs following Arjan referred to the breakaway faction as Minas (literally, "scoundrels"). Prithi Chand and his followers attempted to assassinate the young Hargobind thrice.[32][33] Prithi Chand also befriended Mughal agents.[29] Subsequent written competing texts written by the Minas, on the other hand, offered a different explanation for the attempt on Hargobind's life, and present him as devoted to his younger brother Arjan. The eldest son of Prithi Chand, Miharvan, is mentioned in both traditions as having received tutelage from both Prithi Chand and Arjan as a child.[34]
The competing texts acknowledge the disagreements. They state Prithi Chand left Amritsar, became the Sahib Guru after the martyrdom of Guru Arjan and one who disputed the succession of Hargobind as the next Guru.
Upon the first parkash of the Adi Granth according to Gurbilas, Guru Arjan said, “Listen you all to my directive. And believe it as ever true. Accept the Granth as equal with the Guru. And think no distinctions between the two.”[37]
The mainstream Sikh tradition recognised Guru Arjan as the fifth Guru, and Hargobind as the sixth Guru.[19][31][38] Arjan, at age 18, became the fifth Guru in 1581 inheriting the title from his father. After his execution by the Muslim officials of the Mughal Empire, his son Hargobind became the sixth Guru in 1606 CE.[19]
Death
Arjan died in Mughal custody; this has been one of the defining, though controversial, issues in Sikh history.[39][40]
Most Mughal historians considered Guru Arjan's execution as a political event, stating that the Sikhs had become formidable as a social group, and Sikh Gurus became actively involved in the
The Sikh tradition has a competing view. It states that the Guru's execution was a part of the ongoing persecution of the Sikhs by Islamic authorities in the Mughal Empire,[17] and that the Mughal rulers of Punjab were alarmed at the growth of the Panth.[15][40][44] According to Jahangir's autobiography Tuzk-e-Jahangiri (Jahangirnama) which discussed Arjan's support for his rebellious son Khusrau, too many people were becoming persuaded by Arjan's teachings and if Arjan did not become a Muslim, the Sikh Panth had to be extinguished.[40][note 1]
In 1606 CE, the Guru was imprisoned in Lahore Fort, where by some accounts he was tortured and executed,[15][45] and by other accounts, the method of his death remains unresolved.[40] The traditional Sikh account states that the Mughal emperor Jahangir demanded a fine of 200,000 rupees and demanded that Arjan erase some of the hymns in the text that he found offensive. The Guru refused to remove the lines and pay the fine which, the Sikh accounts state, led to his execution.[46] Some Muslim traditional accounts such as of Latif in 19th-century states that Arjan was dictatorial, someone who lived in splendour with "costly attire", who had left aside the rosary and the clothes of a saint (fakir).[47] Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi cheered the punishment and execution of Arjun, calling the Sikh Guru an infidel.[48][note 2] In contrast, Mian Mir – the Sufi friend of Arjan, lobbied when Jehangir ordered the execution and the confiscation of Arjan's property, then got the confiscation order deferred, according to Rishi Singh.[51]
Some scholars state that the evidence is unclear whether his death was due to execution, torture or
A contemporary Jesuit account, written by Spanish
According to the Sikh tradition, before his execution, Arjan instructed his son and successor
There are several stories and versions about how, where and why Arjan died.[62][63][64] Recent scholarship[65][66] have offered alternative analyses, wary of "exaggerating fragmentary traces of documentary evidence in historical analysis". The alternate versions include stories about the role of Arjan in a conflict between the Mughal Emperor Jahangir and his son who Jahangir suspected of trying to organize a patricidal coup. An alternate version highlights the role of a Hindu minister of Jahangir named Chandu Shah. He, in one version, takes revenge on Arjan for not marrying his son Hargobind to Chandu Shah's daughter. In another Lahore version, Chandu Shah actually prevents Arjan from suffering torture and death by Muslims by paying 200,000 rupees (100,000 crusados) to Jahangir, but then keeps him and emotionally torments him to death in his house.[67] Several alternative versions of the story try to absolve Jahangir and the Mughal empire of any responsibility,[63][68] but have no trace or support in the documentary evidence from early 17th century, such as the records of Jesuit priest Jerome Xavier and the memoirs of Jahangir.[14][16][69]
Legacy
Amritsar
Arjan's father Guru Ram Das founded the town named after him "Ramdaspur", around a large man-made water pool called "Ramdas Sarovar". Arjan continued the infrastructure-building effort of his father. The town expanded during the time of Arjan, financed by donations and constructed by
Continuing the efforts of Ram Das, Arjan established Amritsar as a primary Sikh pilgrimage destination. He wrote a voluminous amount of Sikh scripture including the popular Sukhmani Sahib. Arjan is credited with completing many other infrastructure projects, such as water reservoirs called Santokhsar (Pond of Contentment) and Gongsar (Pond of Bells),[71] founding the towns of Tarn Taran, Kartarpur and Hargobindpur.[72][73]
Community expansion
While having completing the
Adi Granth
According to the Sikh tradition, Arjan compiled the Adi Granth by collecting hymns of past Gurus from many places, then rejecting those that he considered as fakes or to be diverging from the teachings of the Gurus.[74] His approved collection included hymns from the first four Gurus of Sikhism, those he composed, as well as 17 Hindu bards and 2 Muslim bards (Bhagats).[75][76] The compilation was completed on August 30, 1604, according to the Sikh tradition and installed in the Harmandir Sahib temple on September 1, 1604.[77]
Arjan was a prolific poet who composed 2,218 hymns. More than half of the volume of Guru Granth Sahib and the largest collection of hymns has been composed by Arjan. According to Christopher Shackle and Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair, Arjan's compositions combined spiritual message in an "encyclopedic linguistic sophistication" with "Braj Bhasha forms and learned Sanskrit vocabulary".[78]
After Arjan completed and installed the Adi Granth in the Harimandir Sahib, Mughal emperor Akbar was informed of the development with the allegation that it contained teachings hostile to Islam. He ordered a copy be brought to him. Arjan sent him a copy on a thali (plate), with the following message that was later added to the expanded text:
In this thali (dish) you will find three things – truth, peace and contemplation:
in this too the nectar Name which is the support of all humanity.— AG 1429, Translated by William Owen Cole and Piara Singh Sambhi[79]
The
One of the Sikh community disputes following Guru Ram Das was the emergence of new hymns claiming to have been composed by Nanak. According to the faction led by Arjan, these hymns were distorted and fake, with some blaming Prithi Chand and his Sikh faction for having composed and circulated them.[29][81] The concern and the possibility of wrong propaganda, immoral teachings and inauthentic Gurbani led Arjan to initiate a major effort to collect, study, approve and compile a written official scripture, and this he called Adi Granth, the first edition of the Sikh scripture by 1604.[32][35]
The composition of both Prithi Chand and his followers have been preserved in the Mina texts of Sikhism, while the mainstream and larger Sikh tradition adopted the Guru Granth Sahib scripture that ultimately emerged from the initiative of Arjan.[35][82]
Spelling
Some scholars spell Guru Arjan's name as 'Guru Arjun'.[3][4]
Gallery
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Gurgadi ceremony of Guru Arjan being pronounced as fifth Guru.
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Guru Arjan miniature painting, ca.1800.
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Guru Arjan with Sri Chand, miniature painting.
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Guru Arjun Dev painting from the family workshop of Nainsukh of Guler.
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Fresco of Guru Arjan Dev from Goindwal Baoli Sahib.
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Guru Arjan compiling the Adi Granth with Bhai Gurdas.
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Photograph from Gurdwara Lal Khoohi of the place where Guru Arjan is believed to have been incarcerated
See also
Notes
- ^ The following is from Jahangir's memoirs:
There was a Hindu named Arjan in Gobindwal on the banks of the Beas River. Pretending to be a spiritual guide, he had won over as devotees many simple-minded Indians and even some ignorant, stupid Muslims by broadcasting his claims to be a saint. They called him a guru. Many fools from all around had recourse to him and believed in him implicitly. For three or four generations they had been peddling this same stuff. For a long time, I had been thinking that either this false trade should be eliminated or that he should be brought into the embrace of Islam. At length, when Khusraw passed by there, this inconsequential little fellow wished to pay homage to Khusraw. When Khusraw stopped at his residence, [Arjan] came out and had an interview with [Khusraw]. Giving him some elementary spiritual precepts picked up here and there, he made a mark with saffron on his forehead, which is called qashqa in the idiom of the Hindus and which they consider lucky. When this was reported to me, I realized how perfectly false he was and ordered him brought to me. I awarded his houses and dwellings and those of his children to Murtaza Khan, and I ordered his possessions and goods confiscated and him executed. – Emperor Jahangir's Memoirs, Jahangirnama 27b-28a, (Translator: Wheeler M. Thackston)[16] - ^ This is from records of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, composed after the punishment and execution of Guru Arjun:
These days the accursed infidel of Gobindwal was very fortunately killed. It is a cause of great defeat for the reprobate Hindus. With whatever intention and purpose they are killed – the humiliation of infidels is for Muslims, life itself. Before this Kafir (Infidel) was killed, I had seen in a dream that the Emperor of the day had destroyed the crown of the head of Shirk or infidelity. It is true that this infidel [Guru Arjun] was the chief of the infidels and a leader of the Kafirs. The object of levying Jizya (tax on non-Muslims) on them is to humiliate and insult the Kafirs, and Jihad against them and hostility towards them are the necessities of the Mohammedan faith. – Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, Letter to Murtaza Khan, On the execution of Guru Arjan[14][49][50]
References
- ^ Singh, Jasmer (2005). Sri Guru Granth Sahib - A Descriptive Bibliography of Punjabi Manuscripts. Patiala: Punjabi University of Patiala. p. 145.
- ^ a b "Arjan, Sikh Guru". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-107-01284-4.
In that way, their good Pope died, overwhelmed by the sufferings, torments and dishonours. – Jerome Xavier, Letter to Gasper Fernandes in Lisbon, On the execution of Guru Arjan
- ^ ISBN 978-1-57958-182-4.
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- ^ DS Dhillon (1988), Sikhism Origin and Development Atlantic Publishers, pp. 213-215, 204-207
- ^ a b Pashaura Singh (2005), Understanding the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Archived 20 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Philosophical Society, 12(1), pages 32-33
- ^ ISBN 9789383064410.
Quote: Jahangir, Akbar's son and successor, had ordered the execution. We know from Jahangir's own handwriting that he was jealous of Guru Arjan Dev's popularity and that a gesture from the Guru towards Khusrau, a son rebelling against Jahangir, had outraged him.
- ^ OCLC 47024480.)
The author of the Dabistan refers to the blessings of Guru Arjan for the rebel Prince Khusrau. A heavy fine was imposed on Guru Arjan, which he was unable to pay. He was bound and kept on the hot sands of Lahore. He died due to the heat of the summer and the tortures inflicted by the officials responsible for collecting the fine.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link - ^ a b c d e f g Pashaura Singh (2005), Understanding the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Archived 20 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Philosophical Society, 12(1), pages 29-62
- ^ ISBN 978-1-61097-515-5.
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- ^ a b Pashaura Singh (2005), Understanding the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Archived 20 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Philosophical Society, 12(1), page 29, Quote: "In contrast to this viewpoint, however, most of the Sikh scholars have vehemently presented this event as the first of the long series of religious persecutions that Sikhs suffered at the hands of Mughal authorities."
- ^ Louis E. Fenech, Martyrdom in the Sikh Tradition, Oxford University Press, pp. 118-121
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- ^ Pashaura Singh (2006). Life and Work of Guru Arjan: History, Memory, and Biography in the Sikh Tradition. Oxford University Press. pp. 50, 64, 98.
- ^ Life and Work of Guru Arjan: History, Memory, and Biography in the Sikh Tradition. Oxford University Press. p. 69.
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- ^ a b c d Jain, Harish (2003). The Making of Punjab. Unistar Books. p. 275.
Historians say that he was married to Mata Ram Dei on 20th June 1579 and to Mata Ganga on 19th May 1589. But the prevalent belief is that he had only one wife (Mata) Ganga who bore him only one son, Har Gobind, who was to become the sixth guru of the Sikhs.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78076-250-0.
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- ^ DS Dhillon (1988), Sikhism Origin and Development Atlantic Publishers, pp. 99-110
- ^ Pashaura Singh (2005), Understanding the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Archived 20 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Philosophical Society, 12(1), page 29, Quote: "The most controversial issue in Sikh history is related to Guru Arjan’s execution in Mughal custody. A number of interpretations of this event have emerged in scholarly and quasi-scholarly writings."
- ^ ISBN 9780810863446.. Too many people, he wrote, were being persuaded by his teachings, and if the Guru would not become a Muslim, the Panth had to be extinguished. Jahangir believed that Guru Arjan was a Hindu who pretended to be a saint, and that he had been thinking of forcing Guru Arjan to convert to Islam or that his false trade should be eliminated, for a long time. Mughal authorities seem plainly to have been responsible for Arjan's death in custody in Lahore, and this may be accepted as an established fact. Whether the death was by execution, the result of torture, or drowning in the Ravi River remains unresolved. For Sikhs, Arjan is the first martyr Guru.
"The Mughal rulers of the Punjab were evidently concerned with the growth of the Panth, and in 1605 the Emperor Jahangir made an entry in his memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Jahāṅgīrī, concerning Guru Arjan's support for his rebellious son Khusrau Mirza
- ^ Pashaura Singh (2005), Understanding the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Archived 20 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Philosophical Society, 12(1), page 29, Quote: Similarly, in the early decades of twentieth-century Beni Prasad treated this whole affair as “a single execution due primarily to political reasons.”
- ^ Knappily. "August 31, 1569: Jahangir is born | Knappily". Knappily - The Knowledge App. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan (6 December 2016). Beveridge, Henry (ed.). The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri: or, Memoirs of Jahangir (Volume 1 of 2). Translated by Rogers, Alexander.
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- ISBN 9789351505044., Quote: "Latif, writing his work in 19th century, states that Guru Arjan assumed dictatorship, and adds that he was the first one to lay aside the rosary and the garb of a fakir, and dressed himself in costly attire and converted the saintly gaddi (the seat) of his pious predecessors into a princely rostrum. He adds that Guru Arjan kept fine horses and elephants, and lived in splendour."
- ^ Pashaura Singh (2005), Understanding the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Archived 20 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Philosophical Society, 12(1), page 34
- ^ Sirhindi, Maktubat-i Imam-i Rabbani, I-iii, letter No. 193, pp. 95-6
- ^ Friedman Yohanan (1966), Shaikh Ahmad Sirhandi: An Outline of His Image in the Eyes of Posterity, Ph.D. Thesis, McGill University, pp. 110-112
- ISBN 9789351505044.
- ISBN 9780810863446.
- ISBN 9788129113337.
- ^ J.S. Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab, in The New Cambridge History of India. 2, 3. Gen eds. Chris Bayly, Gordon Johnson, John F. Richards. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 63-64.
- ^ Richards, John F. The Mughal Empire, in The New Cambridge History of India. 1, 5. Gen eds. Chris Bayly, Gordon Johnson, John F. Richards. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 97.
- ^ Vir Singh, ed. Varam Bahi Gurdas Satki, 9th edition. New Delhi: Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, 1997), p. 386.
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- ^ Father Jerome to Father Gasper Fernandes, (British Library Add MS 9854, ff. 38-52), 1617, in Sicques, Tigers or Thieves: Eyewitness Accounts of the Sikhs (1606-1809). Eds. Amandeep Singh Madra and Parmjit Singh. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p. 7.
- ^ Mobad', Dabistan-i Mazahib, 1645-46, in Sikh history from Persian sources. Eds. J.S. Grewal and Irfan Habib. Indian History Congress: Tulika, 2001. p. 67.
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- ^ Sajida S. Alvi (1987), “Religion and State during the Reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1605-27): Nonjuristical Perspectives,” in Studia Islamica, pp. 113-114
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- ^ Pashaura Singh (2005), Understanding the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Archived 20 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Philosophical Society, 12(1), pp. 38-39
- ^ Louis Fenech (2001), Martyrdom and the Execution of Guru Arjan in Early Sikh Sources, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 121(1), pp. 20-31
- ^ Kirpal Singh (2000), Perspectives on Sikh Gurus, National Book Shop, pp. 125-127
- ^ Pashaura Singh (2011), Reconsidering the Sacrifice of Guru Arjan Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Punjab Studies, University of California Press, 18(1&2), pp. 295-316
- ^ Louis E. Fenech (2010), Martyrdom: W.H. McLeod and his Students, Journal of Punjab Studies, University of California Press, 17(1&2), pp. 75-94
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Bibliography
- Beveridge, Henry (ed.). The Tuzuk-i-Janhangīrī or Memoirs of Jahāngīr. Translated by Rogers, Alexander. London: Royal Asiatic Society.
- History of the Panjab, Syad Muhammad Latif, Published by: Kalyani Publishers, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. ISBN 978-81-7096-245-8
- Philosophy of 'Charhdi Kala' and Higher State of Mind in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Dr. Harjinder Singh Majhail, 2010, Published by: Deepak Publishers, Jalandhar, Punjab, India. ISBN 81-88852-96-1
- SIKH HISTORY IN 10 VOLUMES, Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer, Published by: The Sikh University Press, Brussels, Belgium. ISBN 2- 930247-41-X