1 Guru Govind Singh. 31
2 Angad belonged to the Khatri caste, was a zealous
3 preacher, and committed to writing all that he knew
4 of Baba Nanak. Guru Amar Das was also a zealous
5 preacher. He gained many new followers, and is
6 chiefly remembered for his vigorous crusade against
7 the practice of satij) Guru Ram Das, highly esteemed
8 on account of his piety, won the favour of Akbar,
9 and received from him the grant of a piece of land
10 some fifty miles to the east of Lahore. Here he
11 settled, and dug the now famous tank of Amritsar.
12 Guru Ram Das died in 1581, and was succeeded
13 by his son Arjun, who held office for twenty-five
14 years. Arjun is celebrated, not only as the compiler
15 of the Granth Sahib, but as the first guru to assume
16 the temporal as well as the spiritual control of his
17 followers. Making Amritsar his headquarters, he
18 established himself as the administrative head of
19 their community, and framed laws to regulate their
20 social and political life. The rapid development of '
21 the Sikhs at this time, and the growing influence of f
22 their guru, soon led to trouble with the Moghuls,
23 and the persecution of their sect at the hands of the fa
24 Moghul emperors dates from Arjun's ministry.
25 In the year 1605, Jahangir ascended the throne of
26 Delhi, and in the following year Arjun was accused
27 of complicity in the rebellion of Prince Khusru. The
28 charge was brought against him by the Governor of
29 Lahore, whose enmity he had incurred by rejecting an
30 alliance with his family. Arjun was represented to
31 the emperor as a man of seditious character and
32 dangerous ambitions. He was cast into prison, where
33 he died of the tortures inflicted on him. Arjun had