1 Organizes a system
2 of taxation.
3 Builds “ Zaran
4 Taran.”
5 Feud with Chandu
6 Shak.
7 Arjan charged with
8 treason.
9 Imprisonment and
10 Aeath of Arjan, 1606.
11 Gur Das the author
12 of Gran Ratnaoli.
13 Har Govind suc-
14 oeeds.
15 254 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
16 and the incidents of the life of B&bé, N&nak were repeated with great fervour,
17 Thus was a new spirit infused into the minds of the followers of the Guru.
18 He organized a system of taxation and appointed delegates, or deputies,
19 for the purposes of collecting it from his followers throughout the country.
20 These contributions, or nazrdnds, from the faithful were collected in all
21 districts by means of the deputies abovementioned, aud presented by
22 them to the Guru in an annual assembly. Thus were the Sikhs accustomed
23 to a regular system of government, and, having been formed into a community,
24 gradually “developed into a real power. To increase the commonwealth,
25 Arjan also sent his disciples to foreign countries for the purposes of trade,
26 dealing principally in Turkistan horses. :
27 He completed the construction of the grand tank at Amritsar, and built
28 another splendid tank in the same place, called Kaulsar. He also built
29 the celebrated tank called “ Taran Taran” in the Amritsar district.
30 Arjan refused to betroth his son, Har Govind, to the daughter of
31 Chandu Shah, the financial minister at Ldhore, in the times of the
32 Emperor Jahangir, and is said to have returned the betrothal presents
33 sent by Chandu Shah, The Minister, who had himself given the Guru
34 ‘cause for offence, by calling him a beggar and comparing him to the
35 drain of a house and himself tothe upper storey, went in person to soothe
36 the Guru with a lakh of rupees; but it was too late; for the Guru declared :—
37 “ My words are engraved on stone, and cannot be effaced. If you give me
38 the whole world asa dowry with your daughter, my son will not marry
39 her.” The minister was greatly abashed and vowed to destroy the Guru. He
40 calumniated him to the Emperor Jahdngir, who was then at Lahore. Arjan
41 was charged with treason, in having offered prayers for the success of Khusrow,
42 the emperor’s rebel son, who was in temporary possession of the Panjab. He
43 was thrown into prison, and the emperor wished to extort a large sum of
44 money from him, which the Guru was unable to pay. He was tortured. and
45 died of heat apoplexy, while in confinement near Léhore, in 1606, the second
46 year of the reign of Jahdngir. He reigned as a Guru for twenty-four years.
47 His tomb now stands opposite the fort of Lahore, near the mausoleum of
48 Mahardjé Ranjit Singh.*
49 The celebrated Gir Das flourished in the time of Arjan. He wasa
50 great writer, and composed the well-known work Gian Ratnaoli, consisting
51 of forty chapters, in which he describes the character of Nénak. The Sikhs are
52 enjoined by Arjan to read this book. The writer, who was a disciple of
53 Arjan, gives Nanak a lofty place in the history of the world, and regards him
54 as the successor of Viasa and Mahomed, sent by God into the world to
55 accomplish a holy mission and to redeem mankind.
56 The death of Guru Arjan isa great turning pointin the history of the
57 Sikh nation, for it inflamed the religious passion of the Sikhs, and it was at
58 this time that those seeds of hatred of the Musalman power were sown which
59 took such deep root in the minds of all the faithful followers of Nanak.
60 6.—GURU HAR GOVIND.
61 Axjan died leaving a minor son and heir, Har Govind,a boy eleven years
62 of age. Taking advantage of his minority, his uncle, Pirthi Mal, urged
63 * The tradition goes that Chandu Shah h t tha
64 is deue ae he ne cee ah had suggested to the emperor that the Guru should
65 When the hide was brought before him, +1 a issi i
66 es yas cout thither Wish cena miter he Guru asked permission to bathe in the Ravi.
67 7 ut, having once plunged into the running water
68 never appeared again. s s Deore : oP eee
69 McGregor puts Arjan’s death in the time of Shah J ahan, and ascribes the feud between him
70 Sri Satguru Jagit Singh yR’tBrary “hws how inayat AHA RSPR EP ORNRTECUNTEY