Lehal Library

Building of Lhe Sikh Church 57 teachings. He was noised about as a religious and worldly leader. They called him Guru, and from all directions crowds of fools would come to him and express great devotion to him. This busy traffic had been carried on for three or four generations. For years the thought had been presenting itself to my mind that either I should put an end to this false traffic, or he should be brought into the fold of Islam. ' 26 Jehangir found an exruse 'to put an end to the false traffic' within a few months of his accession. Khusrau rebelled against his father and sought the Guru's assistance and blessing. Arjun received the prince, as indeed he would have even if the visitor bad not been of royal blood. He did not give Khusrau any assistance beyond perhaps wishing him well.v Nevertheless, after the rebellion had been suppressed and Khusrau apprehended, Jehangir wreaked terrible vengeance on the people he suspected of having helped his son. A.rjun was heavily fined and, on his refusal to admit the charge of treason or pay the fine, was arrested and sentenced to death. Jehangir wrote: 'I fully knew his heresies, anci I ordered that he should be brought into my presence, that his houses and children be made over to Murtaza Khan, that his property be confiscated, and that he should be put to death with torture. ' 28 The Guru was taken to Lahore. Among his tormentors was a Hindu banker whose daughter's hand Arjun had refused to accept for his son.'.!!I Among those who tried in vain to intercede 26 Tuzuk-i-Jthiingiri, 1, 72 (lranslalion by Rogers and Beveridge). 27 According to che DaMstan, n, 272, the Guru prayed for Khusrau's success. 28 Tuzuk-i-jehii.ngin, 1, 72-3. 29 There is nothing contemporary on record to indicate that the Hindu banker, Chandu Shah, was in any way personally vindicth'e towards Lhe captive guru. Sikh tradition supported by Mani Singh, however, maintains that he first insulted the Guru by telling the matchmaker who was negotiating the marriage, 'You have taken a stone from the upper storey and put it down in the drain.• The Guru came to know of this and refused the match-and was consequently persecuted by Cl1andu Shah (Macauliffe, The Sikh Religum, m, 72-5, 89-90).