Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth of the 10 Sikh Gurus, became a martyr on June 16. Born on April 15, 1563, at Goindwal Saheb, he was the youngest son of Guru Ram Das. He was a great visionary Guru who started the construction of the Golden Temple.
Arjan Dev became the fifth Sikh guru in 1581 after his father and the fourth Sikh Guru Ramdas passed away. The third Sikh Guru Amardas was his maternal grandfather.
The Guru laid the foundation of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in the middle of the tank of Amritsar. All of the Sikhs desired that it should be the tallest building in the new town.
The holiday is usually celebrated with a cover-to-cover reading of the Sikh holy book or Sri Guru Granth Sahib including musical recitation of hymns from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib and lectures on Sikhism.
All about the fifth Guru of Sikhism:
- In 1588 AD, Arjan Dev had laid the foundation of Golden Temple and also prepared the map of the temple.
- Mughal emperor Jahangir wanted the Guru to stop preaching the message of God initiated by the Sikh Guru Nanak Dev.
- There were several baseless allegations lodged against Guru Arjan Dev. One such allegation was that Guru Arjan Dev helped the rebellious Khusrau, Jehangir’s son.
- Before getting arrested by Jehangir, the Guru declared that his son Hargobind should be installed as the next Guru.
- After arresting the guru, Jehangir asked him to convert to Islam but he refused. He even fined the guru with Rs 2 lakh plus elimination of all text from the Adi Granth that the Mughal emperor found ‘offensive’ to Hindu or Muslims.
- Guru Arjan Dev was made to sit on burning hot sheet/plate and hot sand was poured on him. After 5 days of torture, he was taken for a bath in the river. He entered the river but was never seen again.
