Guru Arjan Dev Ji
1563–1606 · Fifth Sikh Guru, first Sikh martyr
Who compiled the Adi Granth and installed it in the Harmandir Sahib in 1604, completed the Golden Temple, and became the first Sikh martyr when he was executed under the Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1606.
Builder of the centre
Youngest son of Guru Ram Das and Bibi Bhani, Arjan became fifth Guru in 1581 and finished what his father began: the great pool at Amritsar completed, and at its centre the Harmandir Sahib — built low, the tradition notes, and open on four sides to every caste and quarter. He founded new towns — Tarn Taran, with its refuge for lepers, among them — and regularised the dasvandh tithe and masand collectors that bound the scattered congregations to the centre.1,2
Poet and editor
Guru Arjan is the Guru Granth Sahib’s largest single contributor — over two thousand hymns, including the Sukhmani, the “psalm of peace.” His great editorial act was the Adi Granth of 1604: the Gurus’ hymns fixed against forgery, arranged by raag, and set alongside the words of Hindu and Muslim saints — then installed in the Harmandir above the Guru himself.1,2
The first martyr
The faith’s growth drew imperial attention. Accused in the affair of the rebel prince Khusrau, the Guru died under torture in Mughal custody at Lahore in 1606 — the martyrdom that ended the faith’s purely pacific age. His son Hargobind girded two swords, and the community changed course.1,2
In the chronicle
Before you go
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