Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
46 1574-81.
CHAP. lU
His own ministry did not extend beyond seven and the slow progress of the faith of Nanak seems apparent from the statement that at the end of forty-two years his successor had not more than double
him.
years, Dies 1581.
that number of disciples or instructed followers.^ Arjun succeeds and fairly
grasps the idea of
Nanak.
Makes Amritsar the 'Holy City"
of
the Sikhs
Compiles the AdiGranth.
Arjun succeeded his father in 1581, and the wishes mother, the daughter of Amar Das, were thus accomplished.^ Arjun was perhaps the first who clearly understood the wide import of the teachings of Nanak. or who perceived how applicable they were to every state of life and to every condition of society. He made
of his
Amritsar the proper seat of his followers, the centre which should attract their worldly longings for a material bond of union; and the obscure hamlet, with the great its httle pool, has become a populous city and next Arjun people.^ Sikh the pilgrimage of place of arranged the various writings of his predecessors;* he added to them the best known, or the most suitable, compositions of some other rehgious reformers of the few preceding centuries, and completing the whole with a prayer and some exhortations of his own, he the declared the compilation to be pre-eminently 'Granth' or Book; and he gave to his followers their assufixed rule of religious and moral conduct, with an 1 Such seems to be the meaning of the expression. 'He held holy converse with eighty-four Sikhs,' used by Bhai Kanh Singh in a manuscript compilation of the beginning of this
century.
Ram
Das's birth is placed in 1581 Sambat, or a. d. 1524, his marriage in a. d. 1542, the founding of Amritsar in a. d. 1577, and his death in a. d. 1581. - It seems doubtful whether Das had two or three sons, Pirthi Chand (or Bharut Mai or Dhi Mai), Arjun, and Mahadev, and also whether Arjun was older or younger than Pirthi Chand. It is more certain, however, that Pirthi Chand claimed the succession on the death of his brother, if not on the death of his father, and he was also indeed accused of
Ram
endeavouring to poison Arjun. (Cf. Malcom, Sketch, p. 30, and The descendants of Pirthi Chand are the Dabistan, ii. 273.) still to be found in the neighbourhood of the Sutlej, especially
Kot Har Sahai, south of Ferozepore. The ordinary Sikh accounts represent Arjun to have taken up his residence at Amritsar; but he lived for some time at least at Taran Taran, which lies between that city and the junction of the Beas and Sutlej. (Cf. the Dahistan, ii. 275.) ^ Malcolm, Sketch, p. General tradition and most 30. writers attribute the arrangement of the First Granth to Arjun; but Angad is understood to have preserved many observations Das of Nanak, and Forster (Travels, i. 297) states that Ram compiled the histories and precepts of his predecessors, and annexed a commentary to the work. The same author, mdeed at
:-
(Travels, i. 296 note), also contradictorily assigns the compilation to Angad.
46 1574-81.
CHAP. lU
His own ministry did not extend beyond seven and the slow progress of the faith of Nanak seems apparent from the statement that at the end of forty-two years his successor had not more than double
him.
years, Dies 1581.
that number of disciples or instructed followers.^ Arjun succeeds and fairly
grasps the idea of
Nanak.
Makes Amritsar the 'Holy City"
of
the Sikhs
Compiles the AdiGranth.
Arjun succeeded his father in 1581, and the wishes mother, the daughter of Amar Das, were thus accomplished.^ Arjun was perhaps the first who clearly understood the wide import of the teachings of Nanak. or who perceived how applicable they were to every state of life and to every condition of society. He made
of his
Amritsar the proper seat of his followers, the centre which should attract their worldly longings for a material bond of union; and the obscure hamlet, with the great its httle pool, has become a populous city and next Arjun people.^ Sikh the pilgrimage of place of arranged the various writings of his predecessors;* he added to them the best known, or the most suitable, compositions of some other rehgious reformers of the few preceding centuries, and completing the whole with a prayer and some exhortations of his own, he the declared the compilation to be pre-eminently 'Granth' or Book; and he gave to his followers their assufixed rule of religious and moral conduct, with an 1 Such seems to be the meaning of the expression. 'He held holy converse with eighty-four Sikhs,' used by Bhai Kanh Singh in a manuscript compilation of the beginning of this
century.
Ram
Das's birth is placed in 1581 Sambat, or a. d. 1524, his marriage in a. d. 1542, the founding of Amritsar in a. d. 1577, and his death in a. d. 1581. - It seems doubtful whether Das had two or three sons, Pirthi Chand (or Bharut Mai or Dhi Mai), Arjun, and Mahadev, and also whether Arjun was older or younger than Pirthi Chand. It is more certain, however, that Pirthi Chand claimed the succession on the death of his brother, if not on the death of his father, and he was also indeed accused of
Ram
endeavouring to poison Arjun. (Cf. Malcom, Sketch, p. 30, and The descendants of Pirthi Chand are the Dabistan, ii. 273.) still to be found in the neighbourhood of the Sutlej, especially
Kot Har Sahai, south of Ferozepore. The ordinary Sikh accounts represent Arjun to have taken up his residence at Amritsar; but he lived for some time at least at Taran Taran, which lies between that city and the junction of the Beas and Sutlej. (Cf. the Dahistan, ii. 275.) ^ Malcolm, Sketch, p. General tradition and most 30. writers attribute the arrangement of the First Granth to Arjun; but Angad is understood to have preserved many observations Das of Nanak, and Forster (Travels, i. 297) states that Ram compiled the histories and precepts of his predecessors, and annexed a commentary to the work. The same author, mdeed at
:-
(Travels, i. 296 note), also contradictorily assigns the compilation to Angad.
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