Empire of the Sikhs (4 page)

The fifth Guru, Arjan Dev, succeeded Ram Das at the age of eighteen. What he achieved in the twenty-five years of his stewardship proved of fundamental importance for the course of Sikhism. In keeping with the basic Sikh belief that there are no Hindus or Muslims, all being one in the eyes of God, he invited an eminent
Qadirite Muslim saint from Lahore to lay the foundation stone of the Harmandir, probably in 1588.

The siting, scale, design and construction of the Harmandir were strikingly at odds with the trends of those times. While the design and scale of the religious and secular Renaissance buildings of Europe were meant to reflect the power and wealth of a particular faith, or to glorify the monarchs and merchant princes who helped build them, the Harmandir, a single-storeyed structure, was built lower than the surrounding land so that its modest size would stress the faith's enduring ability, strength and confidence, not through extravagant architectural grandeur but by allowing the appeal of that faith irresistibly to draw people to it – the nobility of the idea it enunciated, that all human beings are equal in the eyes of God.

The Harmandir was to have four entrances to demonstrate the fact that its doors would be open to all four castes, Kshatriyas, Brahmins, Sudras and Vaisyas, equal partners in divine instruction. Its location in the centre of the pool, or
sarowar,
was to symbolize the synthesis of
nirgun
and
sargun,
the spiritual and temporal realms of human existence. The
sarowar
was lined with steps for the devout to enter the immortal pool, in which they would come over long distances to bathe.

The materials used for the Harmandir's construction were simple: a solid brick and lime foundation and on it supporting walls of burnt bricks and lime. The gold, marble inlays, mirror work and other embellishments came much later as generations of Sikhs lavished their wealth on increasing the magnificence of their place of worship. The nineteenth century was the ‘golden' era thanks to the spectacular rise of the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh and his patronage of artists and craftsmen.

As more sites of sublime significance were developed around the Harmandir, the complex came to be known as the Darbar Sahib. In time the Harmandir or Golden Temple itself was identified as the
Darbar Sahib, until the two became indistinguishable from each other, although the magnetic draw the Harmandir proper exercises on the minds of the devout has not been equalled by any other building in the complex. With the development of the Darbar Sahib and its environs, the city of Amritsar grew in importance to become more than a pilgrimage centre; it became the rallying point for Sikhs everywhere, a complete realization of Guru Arjan Dev's vision of a place of permanence and self-renewal for the community.

In addition to the creation of the Darbar Sahib and the holy city of Amritsar, Guru Arjan Dev's unique contribution to the faith was in compiling the Sikh scriptures in the form of the Adi Granth
⁸
– later known as the Granth Sahib. This anthology of the thoughts, verses, hymns and teachings of the first five Sikh Gurus and of Hindu and Muslim scholars and saints such as Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas, Sheikh Farid, Jaidev, Surdas and others contains the best that men of wisdom and rare inspiration had to offer and enshrines the ‘secular principle' enunciated by Nanak: that all great faiths must be respected for their nobility of purpose, which will always remain the faith's cornerstone.
⁹

It is doubtful if any major religion had until this moment allowed the thought of sages of other faiths to be expressed in its own scriptures. Yet the Sikhs listen every day, with veneration and respect, to the viewpoints of all in the Granth Sahib as unvarnished truth. In the words of the Muslim weaver Kabir:

What makes you a Brahmin

And I merely a Sudra?

If blood runs in my veins

Does milk flow in yours?

GURU GRANTH SAHIB
,
Rag Gauri,
p. 324

Guru Arjan Dev's prodigious efforts produced a holy book of 1,948 pages containing more than 7,000 hymns, 2,218 of them his
own. The scriptures are set to thirty-one
ragas
(the classical system of Indian music), so that the rationality of thought is rendered lyrically. None of this could have been achieved without the meticulous editing standards he set himself and the minutest attention he paid to the style, syntax and rhythm to ensure a natural flow of the text.

The Adi Granth was installed in the Harmandir in 1604, and the sanctity accorded to the Harmandir has come to focus on it, fulfilling Guru Arjun Dev's aim of providing those who visited the Harmandir with a profound experience that an empty structure could never have provided. It became the practice for passages to be read from it every day (and now throughout the day), alternating with verses sung to the sound of music played on traditional instruments for the nourishment of those coming to listen to the words and thoughts of the sages.

It has been common throughout history for men of saintly character to be viewed with disfavour by those resentful of their spiritual stature and authority. Guru Arjan Dev was no exception. The Mughal emperor Jahangir, who had succeeded his enlightened father Emperor Akbar, now became the instrument of a brutal act that was to change the course of Indian history. Unlike his father, who had been greatly impressed by observing what the Sikh religion stood for, the shallow and self-indulgent Jahangir listened to the advice of envious and bigoted men who wanted to put an end to the Guru and the Sikhs whose number was increasing every day from the ranks of both Hindus and Muslims.

Within two years of the first copy of the Granth being reverently placed in the Harmandir, and seeing the electrifying effect this had on Sikhs everywhere, the fanatics who had Jahangir's ear made their first move. They persuaded him to act by playing on his jealousy of his liberal and scholarly elder brother Khusru, who had been sympathetically received by Guru Arjan Dev. He turned on the Guru in demonic fury. He ordered the confiscation of all his property and his death by torture. His anger was further fuelled
when Guru Arjan Dev brushed aside Jahangir's offer to commute his death sentence if he paid a fine of 200,000 rupees and deleted certain verses in the Granth Sahib.
¹⁰

Even by Jahangir's standards the torture was exceptionally sadistic. Guru Arjan was made to sit on a red-hot iron sheet and burning sand was poured over him, followed by immersion in near-boiling water before his burnt and blistered body was thrown into the Ravi. His fortitude and serenity in face of this torture was unlike anything the Mughals had seen before. To his son Hargobind he sent this parting message: ‘Not to mourn or indulge in unmanly lamentations, but to sing God's praises.'
¹¹
He also advised him to ‘sit fully armed on his throne and maintain an army to the best of his ability'.
¹²

The example of each Guru's life has inspired and welded together generations of Sikhs. The bravery of the saintly Guru Arjan Dev during his torture became a touchstone by which the Sikhs would test their own courage. This senseless deed sent the Sikhs into a towering rage which carried them into bitter battles with Mughal and other Islamic forces for over 150 years and strengthened their resolve to take an implacable stand against tyrants. The extraordinary leaderly qualities of Ranjit Singh and the goals he set himself and his men are best understood in the context of the certainties, self-assurance and rational thinking of the Sikh Gurus.

Hargobind was eleven when he donned Guru Arjan's mantle in 1606. Despite his young age, he rose to the occasion with remarkable self-assurance. Challenging though the task was of converting a community conditioned from the beginning to peaceful and spiritual goals into one now confronted by the harsh reality of an inhuman world, Hargobind was nevertheless to succeed. One of the reasons he did so was because Sikh rage would not be contained until Guru Arjan Dev's martyrdom was avenged.

As the numbers of volunteers increased, Hargobind sent men far and wide to buy outstanding breeds of horses and new and effective weapons which had been developed and battle-tested elsewhere. He also opened training camps to teach physical fitness, archery, horsemanship, swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, lancing and other techniques of combat. In a far-sighted move he introduced the concept of
meeri
and
peeri,
meaning that equal time was to be devoted to temporal
(meeri)
and spiritual (
peeri)
concerns. The appeal of this to the Sikhs was immediate, offering a way of following their faith and its ideals and at the same time being prepared to take on religious fanatics who opposed it. For those disinclined to accept people who prayed to a different god, the Sikhs now had an answer. If
peeri
was attacked they would hit back with the razor-keen edge of
meeri.
The distinction between
meeri
and
peeri
would ensure that the supreme authority of the Harmandir would never be compromised by worldly concerns. And the Sikhs were willing to sacrifice their lives for the source of their inspiration.

To help deal with these worldly matters representatives of the Sikhs started meeting at the Akal Takht – the literal translation of which is ‘the Almighty's Throne'. The temporal power of the Sikhs was now exercised from here and not from the spiritual sanctity of the Harmandir. The Akal Takht in its present-day form was built much later. In the beginning it was a raised platform of bricks on an earthen embankment across from a wide open space facing the causeway to the Harmandir. Guru Hargobind would usually sit on the platform as people came to him to seek guidance, offer their advice and suggestions and talk to him about their aspirations and concerns. The republican tradition of the faith was clearly evident here, as no decisions were forced on those assembled but accepted only after reaching a consensus. This was a wise practice, since increasingly bloody encounters with the Mughals would soon commence.

After Jahangir's death in 1627 his successor Shah Jahan proved no less hostile to the Sikhs. Within a year of his ascending the throne he precipitated the first armed encounter with them. Its cause was a rare white hawk. Not far from Amritsar, where they were hunting on the same day, Shah Jahan's and Guru Hargobind's followers clashed over the hawk to which each side laid claim. When told of this the irate emperor sent a contingent of troops under Mukhlis Khan to arrest the Guru. In the encounter that followed Mukhlis Khan was killed and his force defeated. The two antagonists fought again at Lahira in 1631 and Kartarpur in 1634, the Mughal forces being heavily defeated in both battles. The Sikhs' casualties were also high, but their morale was even higher, as they had proved that the Mughal writ could be stopped on the battlefield and that a defiant force had been created within the empire.

By now Hargobind was on the move most of the time. He had wisely decided to absent himself from Amritsar, aware of Shah Jehan's penchant for destroying the shrines of other religions and sensing that he might have attempted to destroy the Harmandir in a vengeful attack on Hargobind. As he brought home the philosophy and essence of his faith to different people around the Punjab, the numbers of those converting to Sikhism swelled, and, in the tradition set by Guru Nanak, Hargobind, too, travelled far and wide and established
sangats
from Kabul to Dacca. During the last years of his life he settled down in a beautiful place in the foothills of the Himalayas where he built a small settlement called Kiratpur. This place would later become immortalized for the Sikhs as Anandpur Sahib.

A unique legacy Guru Hargobind left behind is the gurdwara, Sikhism's house of prayer, which plays a defining and unifying role among Sikhs everywhere. The congregation enters a gurdwara to listen to passages from the Granth Sahib, alternating with the
shabads
(hymns) from it, sung by singers known as
ragis
in voices full of resonance and reverence. The experience cannot be
described but only felt by the faithful, who enter a large – or small as the case may be – interior with lofty ceilings and lime-washed walls and the ever-present fragrance of marigolds, roses and many other flowers brought as offerings to the Granth Sahib. The holy book lies open on a raised pedestal in pride of place. Draped on its sides and placed below it are beautiful silks whose colours vibrantly alternate with those of the flowers. There is always a priest seated before the Granth Sahib to read passages from it. The congregation sits on the floor covered with carpets and white sheets at a level lower than the Granth Sahib.

Guru Hargobind, the soldier-saint who gave the Sikhs the reputation of being among the world's best fighters, died in 1644. He had ignited a spark in the Indian character which would in time remove the passivity drilled into it by centuries of brutal invasions. His example, like those of Guru Nanak, his father Guru Arjan Dev and, later, Guru Gobind Singh, went into the formation of a legacy that was to give Ranjit Singh his confidence and his inspiration.