Lehal Library

* 4. The Call to Arms Hargobind (1595-1644) 1 he murder of the saintly Arjun was a profound shock to the people. The Emperor's order to arrest the Guru's family and confiscate his property was not carried out, for the local officials believed that the death of the Guru would keep the Sikhs subdued for a long time. The result was just the opposite. The Sikhs gathered round the eleven-year-old Hargobind and the two veterans, Bhai Buddha and Gurdas, ready to avenge the death of their guru. The young Hargobind took the seat of his father with two swords girded round hls waist: one to symbolize spiritual power, and the other temporal. 'My rosary shall be the sword-belt and on my turban I shall wear the emblem of royalty,' he said.2 He made it known to hls Sikhs that thereafter he would welcome offerings of anns and horses instead of money. He trained a body of soldiers and spent much time in martial exercise and hunting. He built a small fonress, Lohgarh (the castle of steel) in Amritsar. Across the Harimandir, he built the Akal Takht (the T I The main incidents of Hargobind's life h.ave been taken from contemporary sources. Mubsin Fani's Dabi.stiin, which is fairly detailed, is unfonnnalely wrong about some of the important dates and the sequence of evems;Jehangir's memoirs (Tu:r.uk-iJehanginJ refer to some e,-ents, Bhai Gurdas to others. Nevertheless, there is considerable confusion and contradiction on many points. 2 Macauliffe, TM Sikh Religion. IV, 2.