Medieval India · Topic 10 of 15
Origins of Sikhism and the line of Sikh Gurus, 1469-1716
The Basics
Guru Nanak was born in 1469 in the village of Talwandi, now called Nankana Sahib, on the bank of the river Ravi in Punjab. He belonged to a Khatri family, and his father worked as an accountant. Nanak was trained in Persian to follow the same profession. He was married early, but was drawn instead to the company of saints and sadhus. From youth he showed a mystic, contemplative temperament.
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Before he died in 1539, Guru Nanak chose his disciple Lehna as successor, not his own sons. He renamed him Guru Angad. This set an early principle: the Guru's seat passed to the most worthy disciple, not automatically to a son. Guru Angad, the second Guru, standardised the Punjabi script into Gurmukhi, used to record the Gurus' hymns. He also strengthened the langar, a community kitchen where people of all castes ate together.
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By the time Guru Arjan Dev became the fifth Guru, the Sikh Panth had grown in wealth and organisation across Punjab. Earlier Gurus had favoured quiet meditation and scholarship. Guru Arjan Dev combined spiritual and worldly leadership. He built impressive structures at Amritsar. He wore fine clothes and kept horses brought from Central Asia. He maintained retainers in attendance. He organised the collection of offerings from Sikhs, fixed at one-tenth of income. Emperor Akbar is said to have visited the Gurus at Amritsar and held them in high regard.
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Guru Hargobind became the sixth Guru in 1606. His father, Guru Arjan Dev, had just been executed by the Mughal emperor Jahangir. The Sikh community already had a scripture, the Adi Granth, and a settled religious identity. But it had no means to defend itself or its Gurus from state power.
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Guru Hargobind died in 1644. The line of Gurus continued, but succession disputes recurred. Guru Har Rai passed over his elder son, Ram Rai. He named his younger son, Har Kishan, as Guru. Har Kishan was only six years old at the time. Har Kishan died soon after. In 1664, Guru Tegh Bahadur, a grandson of Guru Hargobind, became the ninth Guru.
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Guru Gobind Singh was born at Patna and became Guru after his father Guru Tegh Bahadur's execution by Aurangzeb. He set up his headquarters at Anandpur, also called Makhowal, in the Punjab foothills, where local Hindu hill rajas at first tried to use him and his armed followers in their own quarrels with each other.
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Guru Gobind Singh died at Nanded in the Deccan in 1708. This left the Khalsa without a living Guru, but with a strong fighting tradition. Sikhs also held deep anger against Mughal persecution. The Mughal governor Wazir Khan had executed the Guru's two younger sons at Sirhind.
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