Tempo:
CHAP. Ill
SIKH GURUS; ANGAD
45
or state from disappearing as one of many sects.^ In 1552-74. the spirit of Nanak he likewise pronounced that the 'true Sati was she whom grief and not flame consumed, His views and that the afflicted should seek consolation with the with regard Lord'; thus mildly discountenancing a perverse custom, to 'sati-. and leading the way to amendment by persuasion ^'^s 1574. rather than by positive enactment.- Amar Das died in 1574, after a ministration of about twenty-two years and a half.'^ He had a son and a daughter, and it is said that his delight with the uniform filial love and obedience of the latter led him to prefer her husband before other disciples, and to bestow upon him his The fond mother, or 'Barkat' or apostolic virtue. ambitious woman, is further stated to have obtained an assurance from the Guru that the succession should
remain with her posterity.
Ram Das, the son-in-law of Amar Das, was a Ram Das Kshattriya of the Sodhi subdivision, and he was worthy succeeds of his master's choice and of his wife's affection. He is f,"*\,^^^tsaid to have been held in esteem by Akbar, and to have ggjf ^^ received from him a piece of land, within the limits of Amritsar. which he dug a reservoir, since well known as Amritsar, or the pool of immortality; but the temples and surrounding huts were at first named Ramdaspur, from the founder.^ Ram Das is among the most revered of the Gurus, but no precepts of wide application, or rules of great practical value or force, are attributed to Malcolm (Sketch, p. 27) says distinctly that Amar Das The Dahistan (ii. 271) states generally that the Gurus had effected it, and in the present day some educated Sikhs think that Arjun first authoritatively laid down the difference between an Udasi and a genuine follower of Nanak. - The Adi-Granth, in that part of the Suhi chapter which Amar Das. Forster (Travels, i. 309) considers that is by Nanak prohibited Sati, and allowed widows to marry; but Nanak did not make positive laws of the kind, and perhaps self-sacrifice was not authoritatively interfered with until first Akbar and Jahangir (Mevioirs of Jahangir, p. 28), and afterwards the English, endeavoured to put an end to it. ' The accounts agree as to the date of Amar Das's birth, placing it in 1566 Sambat, or a.d. 1509. The period of his 1
made this separation.
death,
1631 Sambat,
or
a.d.
1574,
seems
likewise
certain,
although one places it as late as a. d. 1580. ^ Malcolm, Sketch, p. 29; Forster, Travels, i. 297; the Dabistan, ii. 275. The Sikh accounts state that the possession of Akbar's gift was disputed by a Bairagi, who claimed the land as the site of an ancient pool dedicated to Ram Chandra, the tutelary deity of his order; but the Sikh Guru said haughtThe ily he was himself the truer representative of the hero. Bairagi could produce no proof; but Ram Das dug deep into the earth, and displayed to numerous admirers the ancient steps of the demi-god's reservoir!
SIKH GURUS; ANGAD
45
or state from disappearing as one of many sects.^ In 1552-74. the spirit of Nanak he likewise pronounced that the 'true Sati was she whom grief and not flame consumed, His views and that the afflicted should seek consolation with the with regard Lord'; thus mildly discountenancing a perverse custom, to 'sati-. and leading the way to amendment by persuasion ^'^s 1574. rather than by positive enactment.- Amar Das died in 1574, after a ministration of about twenty-two years and a half.'^ He had a son and a daughter, and it is said that his delight with the uniform filial love and obedience of the latter led him to prefer her husband before other disciples, and to bestow upon him his The fond mother, or 'Barkat' or apostolic virtue. ambitious woman, is further stated to have obtained an assurance from the Guru that the succession should
remain with her posterity.
Ram Das, the son-in-law of Amar Das, was a Ram Das Kshattriya of the Sodhi subdivision, and he was worthy succeeds of his master's choice and of his wife's affection. He is f,"*\,^^^tsaid to have been held in esteem by Akbar, and to have ggjf ^^ received from him a piece of land, within the limits of Amritsar. which he dug a reservoir, since well known as Amritsar, or the pool of immortality; but the temples and surrounding huts were at first named Ramdaspur, from the founder.^ Ram Das is among the most revered of the Gurus, but no precepts of wide application, or rules of great practical value or force, are attributed to Malcolm (Sketch, p. 27) says distinctly that Amar Das The Dahistan (ii. 271) states generally that the Gurus had effected it, and in the present day some educated Sikhs think that Arjun first authoritatively laid down the difference between an Udasi and a genuine follower of Nanak. - The Adi-Granth, in that part of the Suhi chapter which Amar Das. Forster (Travels, i. 309) considers that is by Nanak prohibited Sati, and allowed widows to marry; but Nanak did not make positive laws of the kind, and perhaps self-sacrifice was not authoritatively interfered with until first Akbar and Jahangir (Mevioirs of Jahangir, p. 28), and afterwards the English, endeavoured to put an end to it. ' The accounts agree as to the date of Amar Das's birth, placing it in 1566 Sambat, or a.d. 1509. The period of his 1
made this separation.
death,
1631 Sambat,
or
a.d.
1574,
seems
likewise
certain,
although one places it as late as a. d. 1580. ^ Malcolm, Sketch, p. 29; Forster, Travels, i. 297; the Dabistan, ii. 275. The Sikh accounts state that the possession of Akbar's gift was disputed by a Bairagi, who claimed the land as the site of an ancient pool dedicated to Ram Chandra, the tutelary deity of his order; but the Sikh Guru said haughtThe ily he was himself the truer representative of the hero. Bairagi could produce no proof; but Ram Das dug deep into the earth, and displayed to numerous admirers the ancient steps of the demi-god's reservoir!
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