Martyrdom of Guru Arjun Saheb Ji - Part 2
While Baba Prithi Chand Ji had built up jealousy with the fifth master, others were also not happy with the Guru. Guru Arjun Saheb Ji completed many tasks for the Sikh religion. He expanded the city of Amritsar and Kartarpur, built the city of Tarn Taran. He dug up the wells of Santokhsar, Ramsar, Boali, Bibi Bhani's well, a well near Vadalee, and some medicine houses near Amritsar.
Then came the construction of the Harmandir Saheb (Golden Temple). The Muslim saint Mia Mir (mIAW mIr) was called in to lay the foundation stones:
mIAW mIr qY nIauN rKweI[kwrIgr plit kir lweI[
(pMQ pRkwS)
After 3 years the construction was finished. The Hindus and Muslims saw this Harminder as a threat. It was a great achievement for the Sikhs because now they had their own shrine where Sikhs from all over could meet and hold religious ceremonies.
While this was happening, Baba Prithi Chand was trying to claim that he was the true Guru. He tried to build his own temple in the village of Haheri and his son, Meharbaan started to write a granth (Scripture) which had some of the first four Guru's bani, but it also had some of Meharbaan's own writings mixed in. They also mixed in many things from the Hindu religion.
Bhai Gopi (gopI mihqw), Tirath (qIrQ), Natha (n`Qw), Bhao (Bwau mokl), Dilli (iFlI) came up to Guru Arjun Saheb Ji and told him that Baba Meharbaan Ji was writing his own granth and was mixing in false bani (hymns).
Guru Arjun Saheb Ji then started the writing of the Holy Scriptures of Aad Granth. Along with Bhai Gurdas Ji, it took them about three years to complete. This was also a big step for the Sikh religion. However, many people were not happy. There was a man by the name of Kaanha (kwnHw) who wanted to have his own hymns included into the Aad Granth Saheb Ji, but the Guru refused. Bhai Kaanha was so upset that he decided to go to King Akbar and complain that this new Granth was against Islam. Bhai Kaanha never made it, he died on the way.
Many Hindu priests were also not happy because the Aad Granth Saheb Ji spoke out against false rituals that the Hindu Priests performed. They went up to King Akbar and said that the Guru had killed Kaanha and that he had written a Granth that openly criticized the Hindu and Muslim religions. At the beginning of the next year, King Akbar came to the Punjab and asked to see the new Granth. The new Granth was brought to the village of Batala and hymns were randomly read out loud from the Aad Granth Saheb Ji. King Akbar said that there is nothing wrong with this Granth, it does not say anything bad about other religions.
Chandu (cMdU), One of King Akbar's ministers wanted to find a husband for his daughter Sada Kaur. As was the custom, he called some Hindu priests together and asked them to find a match for his daughter. They all told him that she should be married to Guru Arjun Saheb Ji's son (Guru Hargobind Saheb Ji). Chandu did not wish to marry his daughter to the Guru's son because he looked down at Sikhs. He begged the Hindu Priests to pick a different husband, but the priests told him that they have made their choice according to the stars. Chandu then had to accept the Priests' choice. He sent the priests to Amritsar to make the marriage proposal to Guru Arjun Saheb Ji.
At the same time, Sikhs in Delhi saw that Chandu did not really respect the Guru and the Sikhs. So they sent a letter to Guru Arjun Saheb Ji asking him not to accept the marriage proposal. When the Hindu priests finally came, there was already a large congregation sitting. The Guru refused the marriage proposal in front of the congregation.
At the same time, Bhai Narayan Das (nrwiex dws) stood up and offered his daughter, Damodri (dmodrI) for marriage with the Guru's son. Guru Arjun Saheb Ji accepted the proposal and performed the engagement ceremony in front of the Hindu Priests that Chandu had sent. The priests went back to Delhi and told Chandu what happened. Chandu then tried to bribe the Guru, he sent him 1,000,000 rupees, but the Guru still refused the marriage proposal.
This upset Chandu very much. He felt embarressed and vowed to take revenge on the Guru. He tried to complain to King Akbar who just ignored him, but when Akbar died he tried to complain to his successor Jahangir. Sulhi Khan, a general was on his way to the Punjab to collect taxes when Chandu told him to go to Amritsar and evict Guru Arjun Saheb ji from the Harmandir Saheb and appoint Baba Prithi Chand in his place.
Sulhi Khan first decided to visit Baba Prithi Chand in the village of Haheri and make a plan on how to evict the Guru. Baba Prithi Chand gave Sulhi Khan a tour of his new brick oven. Sulhi Khan's horse for some reason got startled and started to run and then jumped into the hot fire of the oven. Both Sulhi Khan and the horse were burnt alive.
Chandu then convinced Sulhi Khan's nephew, Sulbi Khan that Guru Arjun had somehow used black magic to kill his uncle. He told Sulbi Khan that he should take revenge on his uncle's death. Sulbi Khan took an army with him and decided to go attack the Guru. They had only been travelling one day when Hussain Ali, one of the generals in the army got in an argument over pay with Sulbi Khan. Hussain Ali got so upset that he pulled his sword and beheaded Sulbi Khan. So in this way Chandu's wish to take revenge on the Guru remained unfulfilled.
King Akbar had passed away on October 17, 1605 and his son Salim (slIm) became the king. Salim had renamed himself Jahangir meaning Conqueror of the world. Chandu started to complain to Janhangir that the Sikhs are a threat to his kingdom. Jahangir started to converto Hindus to Islam. He wanted to create a Muslim State.
Jahangir was a very evil-minded man. He kept many wives and if he ever found out one of his wives was cheating on him, he would torture them by having their body buried under sand and only the head sticking out. They would eventually die from heat exposure and dehydration.
Even though he married many Hindu girls while being a Muslim, he did not let Hindu men marry Muslim girls. On page 107 of Jahangir's own personal diary, Tuzuk-I-Jahangiri, he writes that he arrested King Bikramjit's son (a Hindu).Then he goes on to say that he ordered his tongue be cut for this crime.
Another example of Jangir's hatred for the Hindu religion is found on page 185 of his diary. He writes that he went inside a Hindu temple and ordered his troops to destroy two statues inside the temple.
On March 6, 1606, Jahangir's son, Khushro started a rebellion against his father. Khushro was eventually defeated and taken prisoner to Lahore. Jahangir ordered that his own son, Khushro's eyes be permanently sown shut and he be put in prison for the rest of his life. Khushro's two main companions, Hasan Beg (hsn byg) and Abdul Rahim (Abdur-rhIm) were also arrested. The skin of an ox was peeled off and wrapped around Hasan Beg and then sown shut while Abdul Rahim's body was sown shut in the skin of an {censored}. They were then paraded around the city. Hasan Beg died from suffocation, but Abdul Rahim somehow survived and was then tortured to death.
From these examples we can see just how evil Jahangir really was. When we read Jahangir's diary we see that Jahangir mentions that he was not happy to see Guru Arjun Saheb Ji's growing influence on the people. Jahangir tried to say that he arrested the Guru because Khushro had visited him during his rebellion. However, if that was the reason then why did he not do anything to Sheik Nazaam Thaanesri (SyK njwm QwnysrI)?
According to Jahangir's diary, Khushro visited Sheik Nazaam during his rebellion. Jahangir knew this, but did not do anything even though his diary says that the sheik came to visit Jahangir after the rebellion was over. This shows that the visit was just an excuse to arrest the Guru. The real reason Jahangir wanted the Guru killed is because of the threat the Sikh religion was becoming. The building of the Harmandir Saheb and the compiling of the Aad Granth Saheb had added to that threat.
Guru Arjun Saheb Ji knew what was about to happen so on May 15, 1606 he appointed Guru Hargobind Saheb Ji as the sixth Guru and told the Sikhs to leave Amritsar. On May 20th, Jahangir ordered Murtaza Khan (murqjw Kwn) to go and arrest Guru Arjun Saheb Ji. Two days later, on May 22, Murtaza Khan reached Amritsar and arrested the Guru.
Guru Ji was brought to Chandu's house where he was given no food or water all night. In the morning, Chandu told Guru Arjun Saheb Ji that if he would accept his marriage proposal he would convince Jahangir to let him live. The Guru refused the offer.
Guru Arjun Saheb Ji was brought to the court where he was given three choices:
1) Accept Islam (Convert to Islam)
2) Add some of Muhammed's hymns to the Aad Granth Saheb Ji
3) Be killed
The Guru refused the first two options and chose to die. Guru Arjun Saheb Ji was then tortured. On the first day he was made to stand barefoot all day on hot sand with the sun shining on him. The next day a huge pot was filled with water and put over a fire. The Guru was then told to sit in the hot water.
Mian Mir, a muslim saint heard what was happening and came running to see the Guru. When he arrived, he saw Guru Arjun Saheb Ji sitting in the pot with boiling hot water, but the Guru was not in any pain. Instead he was sitting calmly in the water. Mian Mir could not bear to see the Guru being tortured. He had received many special powers through meditation and asked the Guru, "If you give me permission, I can destroy all of these evil people."
Guru Arjun Saheb Ji responded, "Mian Mir, you do not need to do anything. This is the will of God, one should accept the command of God."
The next day the Guru was made to sit on a hot Iron plate all day while having hot sand poured over his head. Even going through this gruelling torture, Guru Arjun Saheb Ji remained calm and continued on with his meditation. To increase the level of torture, the Guru was taken right from the super hot Iron plate to the cold water of the river where he was made to stand. Eventually, this is the place where Guru Arjun Saheb Ji left his body and became the first martyr of the Sikh religion.
Guru Ji showed his Sikhs how to accept the will of God. This is a great lesson the Guru has taught and all Sikhs should look at this event from Sikh history as an example as to how we should live in our lives.
Article from Gurmat Studies Newsletter
While Baba Prithi Chand Ji had built up jealousy with the fifth master, others were also not happy with the Guru. Guru Arjun Saheb Ji completed many tasks for the Sikh religion. He expanded the city of Amritsar and Kartarpur, built the city of Tarn Taran. He dug up the wells of Santokhsar, Ramsar, Boali, Bibi Bhani's well, a well near Vadalee, and some medicine houses near Amritsar.
Then came the construction of the Harmandir Saheb (Golden Temple). The Muslim saint Mia Mir (mIAW mIr) was called in to lay the foundation stones:
mIAW mIr qY nIauN rKweI[kwrIgr plit kir lweI[
(pMQ pRkwS)
After 3 years the construction was finished. The Hindus and Muslims saw this Harminder as a threat. It was a great achievement for the Sikhs because now they had their own shrine where Sikhs from all over could meet and hold religious ceremonies.
While this was happening, Baba Prithi Chand was trying to claim that he was the true Guru. He tried to build his own temple in the village of Haheri and his son, Meharbaan started to write a granth (Scripture) which had some of the first four Guru's bani, but it also had some of Meharbaan's own writings mixed in. They also mixed in many things from the Hindu religion.
Bhai Gopi (gopI mihqw), Tirath (qIrQ), Natha (n`Qw), Bhao (Bwau mokl), Dilli (iFlI) came up to Guru Arjun Saheb Ji and told him that Baba Meharbaan Ji was writing his own granth and was mixing in false bani (hymns).
Guru Arjun Saheb Ji then started the writing of the Holy Scriptures of Aad Granth. Along with Bhai Gurdas Ji, it took them about three years to complete. This was also a big step for the Sikh religion. However, many people were not happy. There was a man by the name of Kaanha (kwnHw) who wanted to have his own hymns included into the Aad Granth Saheb Ji, but the Guru refused. Bhai Kaanha was so upset that he decided to go to King Akbar and complain that this new Granth was against Islam. Bhai Kaanha never made it, he died on the way.
Many Hindu priests were also not happy because the Aad Granth Saheb Ji spoke out against false rituals that the Hindu Priests performed. They went up to King Akbar and said that the Guru had killed Kaanha and that he had written a Granth that openly criticized the Hindu and Muslim religions. At the beginning of the next year, King Akbar came to the Punjab and asked to see the new Granth. The new Granth was brought to the village of Batala and hymns were randomly read out loud from the Aad Granth Saheb Ji. King Akbar said that there is nothing wrong with this Granth, it does not say anything bad about other religions.
Chandu (cMdU), One of King Akbar's ministers wanted to find a husband for his daughter Sada Kaur. As was the custom, he called some Hindu priests together and asked them to find a match for his daughter. They all told him that she should be married to Guru Arjun Saheb Ji's son (Guru Hargobind Saheb Ji). Chandu did not wish to marry his daughter to the Guru's son because he looked down at Sikhs. He begged the Hindu Priests to pick a different husband, but the priests told him that they have made their choice according to the stars. Chandu then had to accept the Priests' choice. He sent the priests to Amritsar to make the marriage proposal to Guru Arjun Saheb Ji.
At the same time, Sikhs in Delhi saw that Chandu did not really respect the Guru and the Sikhs. So they sent a letter to Guru Arjun Saheb Ji asking him not to accept the marriage proposal. When the Hindu priests finally came, there was already a large congregation sitting. The Guru refused the marriage proposal in front of the congregation.
At the same time, Bhai Narayan Das (nrwiex dws) stood up and offered his daughter, Damodri (dmodrI) for marriage with the Guru's son. Guru Arjun Saheb Ji accepted the proposal and performed the engagement ceremony in front of the Hindu Priests that Chandu had sent. The priests went back to Delhi and told Chandu what happened. Chandu then tried to bribe the Guru, he sent him 1,000,000 rupees, but the Guru still refused the marriage proposal.
This upset Chandu very much. He felt embarressed and vowed to take revenge on the Guru. He tried to complain to King Akbar who just ignored him, but when Akbar died he tried to complain to his successor Jahangir. Sulhi Khan, a general was on his way to the Punjab to collect taxes when Chandu told him to go to Amritsar and evict Guru Arjun Saheb ji from the Harmandir Saheb and appoint Baba Prithi Chand in his place.
Sulhi Khan first decided to visit Baba Prithi Chand in the village of Haheri and make a plan on how to evict the Guru. Baba Prithi Chand gave Sulhi Khan a tour of his new brick oven. Sulhi Khan's horse for some reason got startled and started to run and then jumped into the hot fire of the oven. Both Sulhi Khan and the horse were burnt alive.
Chandu then convinced Sulhi Khan's nephew, Sulbi Khan that Guru Arjun had somehow used black magic to kill his uncle. He told Sulbi Khan that he should take revenge on his uncle's death. Sulbi Khan took an army with him and decided to go attack the Guru. They had only been travelling one day when Hussain Ali, one of the generals in the army got in an argument over pay with Sulbi Khan. Hussain Ali got so upset that he pulled his sword and beheaded Sulbi Khan. So in this way Chandu's wish to take revenge on the Guru remained unfulfilled.
King Akbar had passed away on October 17, 1605 and his son Salim (slIm) became the king. Salim had renamed himself Jahangir meaning Conqueror of the world. Chandu started to complain to Janhangir that the Sikhs are a threat to his kingdom. Jahangir started to converto Hindus to Islam. He wanted to create a Muslim State.
Jahangir was a very evil-minded man. He kept many wives and if he ever found out one of his wives was cheating on him, he would torture them by having their body buried under sand and only the head sticking out. They would eventually die from heat exposure and dehydration.
Even though he married many Hindu girls while being a Muslim, he did not let Hindu men marry Muslim girls. On page 107 of Jahangir's own personal diary, Tuzuk-I-Jahangiri, he writes that he arrested King Bikramjit's son (a Hindu).Then he goes on to say that he ordered his tongue be cut for this crime.
Another example of Jangir's hatred for the Hindu religion is found on page 185 of his diary. He writes that he went inside a Hindu temple and ordered his troops to destroy two statues inside the temple.
On March 6, 1606, Jahangir's son, Khushro started a rebellion against his father. Khushro was eventually defeated and taken prisoner to Lahore. Jahangir ordered that his own son, Khushro's eyes be permanently sown shut and he be put in prison for the rest of his life. Khushro's two main companions, Hasan Beg (hsn byg) and Abdul Rahim (Abdur-rhIm) were also arrested. The skin of an ox was peeled off and wrapped around Hasan Beg and then sown shut while Abdul Rahim's body was sown shut in the skin of an {censored}. They were then paraded around the city. Hasan Beg died from suffocation, but Abdul Rahim somehow survived and was then tortured to death.
From these examples we can see just how evil Jahangir really was. When we read Jahangir's diary we see that Jahangir mentions that he was not happy to see Guru Arjun Saheb Ji's growing influence on the people. Jahangir tried to say that he arrested the Guru because Khushro had visited him during his rebellion. However, if that was the reason then why did he not do anything to Sheik Nazaam Thaanesri (SyK njwm QwnysrI)?
According to Jahangir's diary, Khushro visited Sheik Nazaam during his rebellion. Jahangir knew this, but did not do anything even though his diary says that the sheik came to visit Jahangir after the rebellion was over. This shows that the visit was just an excuse to arrest the Guru. The real reason Jahangir wanted the Guru killed is because of the threat the Sikh religion was becoming. The building of the Harmandir Saheb and the compiling of the Aad Granth Saheb had added to that threat.
Guru Arjun Saheb Ji knew what was about to happen so on May 15, 1606 he appointed Guru Hargobind Saheb Ji as the sixth Guru and told the Sikhs to leave Amritsar. On May 20th, Jahangir ordered Murtaza Khan (murqjw Kwn) to go and arrest Guru Arjun Saheb Ji. Two days later, on May 22, Murtaza Khan reached Amritsar and arrested the Guru.
Guru Ji was brought to Chandu's house where he was given no food or water all night. In the morning, Chandu told Guru Arjun Saheb Ji that if he would accept his marriage proposal he would convince Jahangir to let him live. The Guru refused the offer.
Guru Arjun Saheb Ji was brought to the court where he was given three choices:
1) Accept Islam (Convert to Islam)
2) Add some of Muhammed's hymns to the Aad Granth Saheb Ji
3) Be killed
The Guru refused the first two options and chose to die. Guru Arjun Saheb Ji was then tortured. On the first day he was made to stand barefoot all day on hot sand with the sun shining on him. The next day a huge pot was filled with water and put over a fire. The Guru was then told to sit in the hot water.
Mian Mir, a muslim saint heard what was happening and came running to see the Guru. When he arrived, he saw Guru Arjun Saheb Ji sitting in the pot with boiling hot water, but the Guru was not in any pain. Instead he was sitting calmly in the water. Mian Mir could not bear to see the Guru being tortured. He had received many special powers through meditation and asked the Guru, "If you give me permission, I can destroy all of these evil people."
Guru Arjun Saheb Ji responded, "Mian Mir, you do not need to do anything. This is the will of God, one should accept the command of God."
The next day the Guru was made to sit on a hot Iron plate all day while having hot sand poured over his head. Even going through this gruelling torture, Guru Arjun Saheb Ji remained calm and continued on with his meditation. To increase the level of torture, the Guru was taken right from the super hot Iron plate to the cold water of the river where he was made to stand. Eventually, this is the place where Guru Arjun Saheb Ji left his body and became the first martyr of the Sikh religion.
Guru Ji showed his Sikhs how to accept the will of God. This is a great lesson the Guru has taught and all Sikhs should look at this event from Sikh history as an example as to how we should live in our lives.
Article from Gurmat Studies Newsletter
