Empire of the Sikhs Read Online Free Page A

setting, the easy flow of the community’s daily routine in which all participated, Nanak’s reading of his own hymns – he composed 974 in all – and the philosophical discourses he initiated, all helped to establish a daily format which Sikhs have followed, with some variations, ever since.
    This man of extraordinary vision, exemplary concern for fellow humans and a resoluteness which helped him achieve the seemingly impossible died a peaceful death in Kartarpur on 7 September 1539.

    The founder of Sikhism was succeeded as Guru by Angad, who had been chosen by Nanak in preference to his two sons. He began the task of assembling all Guru Nanak’s hymns – and sixty-two of his own – in a book. The script he chose was the Gurmukhi (which is also used for modern secular writing and printing); the hymns were composed in medieval Punjabi, in Hindi and other languages of the time. This book would be the precursor of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs. On his death in 1552 his chosen successor and close disciple Amar Das succeeded him.
    Amar Das gave priority to organizationally strengthening the Sikh faith by meeting the many needs of the
sangats
or assemblies of Sikhs which were beginning to be formed in many parts of India. Guru Amar Das organized these into twenty-two
manjis
or districts, which brought a much-needed cohesiveness and continuity to the faith. He also institutionalized the concept of
langar,
a community kitchen where all, no matter what their caste or religion, could eat.
    Guru Amar Das’s major reform was the emancipation of women. He allowed widows to remarry and broke the tradition ofnot appointing women preachers. He prohibited followers of the Sikh faith from practising
sati
– the self-immolation of widows on their husband’s funeral pyres – and made clear that they were no longer obliged to wear veils. These decisions and others introducing equality between men and women were unprecedented in the subcontinent.
    A scholar and thinker, Guru Amar Das also wrote 907 hymns which are included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Many of them emphatically reiterate Sikhism’s unbending opposition to caste, cults, clergy and idols while expressing firm belief in one god.
    There were no divisions of caste or rank, no sectarian antagonisms,
    No idols nor temples, nor creeds of particular nations,
    There were no clashing forms of prayer and worship,
    Nor any to worship or pray.
    There were no mullas or qazis or hadjis;
    No Sufis and no disciples of the Sufis,
    No proud Kings, nor their subjects,
    Nor Masters either, nor slaves.
    There did not exist either the cult based on adoring worship of Vishnu,
    Nor that based on Siva, the passive male,
    And Sakti, the active female:
    There was neither friendship nor sexual appetite;
    God was both creditor and debtor then,
    Such being His pleasure.
    GURU GRANTH SAHIB ,
Rag Maru,
p. 1035
    Guru Amar Das also took the first steps to construct the holiest of all Sikh shrines, the Harmandir, which later came to be known as the Golden Temple, by choosing a site with a beautiful clear pool surrounded by a terrain of trees, flora and fauna. Theactual construction of the building destined to become the emblematic core of Sikhism would take several decades and owed much to the fourth and fifth Gurus, Ram Das and Arjan Dev.
    When Amar Das died in 1574, the leadership of the faith passed to Ram Das, who had created a lasting impression on the third Guru by totally identifying himself with the principles and purposes of Sikhism. He took the development of the Golden Temple’s site under his personal direction. None of the Sikh Gurus, it should be noted, used his position to lead a privileged life but worked alongside the congregation on everyday duties and anything else that needed to be done.
    Guru Ram Das chose to live in a modest structure by the pool that had appealed to his predecessor. The site was between the rivers Ravi and