Lehal Library

64 The Punjab and the Birth of Sikhism and more duties to Gurditta, whom, it appears, he was training to be the next guru. The last days of Hargobind's life were saddened by a series of domestic tragedies. Within a few years five members of his family, including three of his sons, died one after another. The most grievous of these deaths was that of Gurditta in 1638. To add to his sorrows, Gurditta's son, Dhirmal, turned against his grandfather. For a long time Hargobind could not make up his mind about his successor. He had two sons living: Suraj Mal, who showed little interest in Sikh affairs, and Tegh Bahadur, who was too withdrawn in himself to be entrusted with the leadership of a rapidly growing community. When the time came, Hargobind chose Gurditta's second son, Har Rai, to succeed him as the seventh guru. Hargobind died peacefully at Kiratpur in March 1644. L2 Har Rai (1630-61) Within one year of his assuming ministry as the seventh guru, Har Rai was compelled to leave Kiratpur with his family and retainers (who are said to have numbered 2200 men-in-arms), and retire further into the mountains. The Raja of Bilaspur, in whose territory Kiratpur was situated, was having trouble with the government, and Har Rai feared that in the operations against the Raja the Mughal governor might turn on the Sikhs as well. For the next thirteen years, Har Rai lived in comparative seclusion in a small village in Sirmoor State. L, 12 According to Muhsin Fani, at the cremation of the Guru two of his followers who were crazed with grief threw themselves on the burning pyre. (Dabistiin, n, 237.) 13 Omningham has coajecrured that this might be Taksal near Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh. Muhsin Fani's Dabistan. which has nothing more to say on the Sikhs, states: '1n Mjiriih 1055 (AD 1645), Najabat Khan by the order of Shahjahan invaded the land of Raja Tara Chand and made him a prisoner. Guru Har Rai betook himself to Thapal [probably Taksal), which town is siruated in the territory of Raja Karam Prakash, not far from Sirmoor' (n, 282).