pleased when an immaculate virgin is worshipped by offering her food and money, and paying her other abject service.’ According to the ‘ Skand Puran ’ of the Hindus, the goddess of small-pox should be thus addressed: ‘ I bow to Sitala Devi who rideth on a donkey, who is naked, who weareth a broom as her diadem, and whose forehead is adorned with a sieve.’ Hindus are in the habit of repeating this as an incantation in the hope of obtaining recovery from the malady. The Guru rejecting the advice of his Hindu friends addressed them the following :—
God is my sole prop ; I have relinquished other hopes.
God, the perfect Lord of excellences, is powerful over all.
The Name is the support of God’s slave who enteretli His protection.
Reliance on God is in the saints’ hearts.
He Himself preserveth ; He Himself bestoweth; He Himself cherisheth.
The compassionate to the poor, the ocean of favour remembereth us at every breath we draw.
What the Creator continueth to do is for our advantage.
The perfect Guru hath taught that happiness is obtained by the will of God.
They who dismiss care, anxiety, and calculations, recognize God’s order.
Nanak, they who are imbued with God’s love perish not, nor are they abandoned by Him . 1
The child gradually began to show signs of recovery, upon which the Guru uttered the following :—
I have ever and ever repeated God’s name.
And God Himself hath preserved my child.
The small-pox is stayed ;
Our troubles are removed by God’s name.
My God is ever merciful.
He who is merciful to all creatures hath heard the prayer of His worshipper.
God is omnipotent to act and cause to act.
By remembering Him all sorrows depart.
He hath heard the supplication of His servant;
Nanak, every one may now sleep in comfort. 1
On the ninth day of the disease the child opened his eyes, whereupon the Guru composed the following :—
The divine Guru hath opened his eyes,
My anxieties have fled, my prayers have been successful. God hath preserved my son from the small-pox ;
The Lord, the Supreme Being hath shown mercy.
Nanak, he who repeateth the Name shall live,
And quaff God’s nectar in the company of His saints.
The Guru composed the following also on the same occasion :—
The fever hath departed, God hath granted relief.
My son is now well by the grace of God.
It is by God’s favour men become happy,
And they who through various births were separated from God become united with Him.
By ever remembering His name The abode of all diseases is destroyed.
With composure and devotion utter God’s hymns,
And remember Him, 0 mortal, through the eight watches of the day.
Sorrow and pain and Death approach him not,*
Saith Nanak, who singeth God’s praises. 2
God hath protected the honour of His servant. 3 The Guru gave the medicine of God’s name, and all the fever hath departed.
God of His mercy hath preserved Har Gobind.
The calamity was removed ; he obtained all happiness by ever reflecting on God’s attributes.
LIFE OF GURU ARJAN 45
My Creator consented to the magnification of the perfect Guru.
Guru Nanak laid a fixed foundation which ever groweth more secure. 1
O God, Thou hast been merciful.
There is comfort and joy, 0 God ; my boy hath recovered.
Clasping both hands I made supplication and meditated on the Supreme Being in my heart.
God giving His hand hath preserved him and removed all his sufferings.
The husband and wife joined in rejoicing and singing victory to God.
Saith Nanak, I am a sacrifice to the man who saveth all. 2
The following also was composed by the Guru on the same occasion :—
The primal Brahm, the Supreme Being, pardoned, and all my son's maladies are healed.
They who enter the asylum of the perfect Guru are saved, and all their affairs adjusted.
God’s servant remembereth the Name which is his support.
The True Guru being compassionate hath cured his fever.
Be ever happy, my beloved friends; the Guru hath preserved Har Gobind.
Nanak, great is the greatness of the Creator ; true is His * word and true His speech. 3
The authors of the ‘ Gur Bilas ', the ‘ Suraj Parkash', the 'Guru Samhita' and other works, without paying due regard to the Guru's hymns, falsely asserted, each according to his own Hindu proclivities, that the Guru's wife went to worship in the temple of Durga, performed the Hindu ceremony of hom, and adored virgins, all for her son's recovery. There is no indication of this
of the hymn. 3 Sorath.
superstitious worship in the Guru’s hymns. On the contrary, it is only the Anand of Guru Amar Das and the other hymns quoted herein which were repeated or sung on the occasion.
Chapter VII
When Har Gobind had completely recovered, there were illuminations and great rejoicings. Prithia’s wife, however, kept raw the sore of her husband’s inflamed mind : ‘ My lord and master, thy words have proved false. Thine enemies increase daily like the waxing, while thou decreasest like the waning moon. I cannot endure Arjan’s greatness, therefore I will either drown or poison myself.’
Prithia sent for Har Gobind’s male nurse and said to him : ‘ Thou art a high Brahman and on that account I ever take thought for thee. What are thy wages ? Thou wearest no necklace and no bracelets. Arjan squandereth on others and boasteth of his generosity. Thou gottest nothing even when the child was born. My friend, if thou do business for me, I will fill thy house with wealth, and thou shalt not want for jewellery. But since thou art intimate with Arjan’s family, I will only tell thee what I wish thee to do on thy taking an oath on thy janeu to keep my secret.’ When the servant complied, Prithia said, ‘ Take five hundred rupees from me and kill that boy. I will show thee how to do it. Thou wilt not find it difficult, for he is all day with thee. Put poison either in curds or bread-pudding, and extract the thorn from mine eye?. I will give thee half of the money now, and the other half when thou hast done the deed. Fear not in the slightest.’
The Brahman was thus persuaded to promise to poison the child. He took very powerful poison and ground it into powder. Next day when the
LIFE OF GURU ARJAN
boy’s mother sent him milk by another servant, the Brahman found an opportunity of slipping the poison into it. The child turned his head away from the poisoned food, thrust it aside, and asked for something else to drink. The Brahman began to fondle and pat him on the head, and said, ‘ Thou oughtest certainly to drink this.’ The child then began to cry. The Guru heard him, sent for the Brahman and inquired the cause of the weeping he had heard. The Brahman replied that he had offered the child sweet milk, but he would not take it, and when pressed to do so began to cry.
The Guru, taking the child in his arms, began to encourage him to drink what was offered him. The child, however, still turned away his head and would not touch it. The Guru then began to suspect another plot. He took some of the potion and gav,e~, it to a dog, which fell ill immediately, and very soon after died. The Brahman, seeing the state of the dog, was himself seized with colic, and began to suffer great agony. He confessed his intention of poisoning the child at Prithia’s instigation, and then expired. Upon this the Guru composed the following :—
The poison produced no impression whatever on him ;
The evil Brahman died of the colic.
The Supreme Being Himself preserved His servant;
The sinner died by the Guru’s power.
The servant hath meditated on His Master :
God Himself hath destroyed the plotter against the innocent.
God like a mother and father protected His servant.
The face of the slanderer is blackened here and hereafter.
God heard the prayer of His servant Nanak,
And the vile sinner was destroyed without hope. 2
Guru Arjan found an opportunity of reproaching
Prithia with his murderous designs. Prithia became furious at their discovery, and determined to set out with his family for Dihli to make a complaint to the Emperor Akbar against the Guru, and thus anticipate any charges the Guru might subsequently make against him. Mahadev endeavoured to restrain him, and quoted many passages from ancient writings to prove that brothers ought to live in harmony; but Prithia could not be restrained by any remonstrance. Prior to his departure for Dihli, he decided on going to the village of Hehar and paying a visit to his friend Sulahi. Sulahi conferred on him the proprietorship of the village, and there he tarried for some time and built a tank for public use. The Guru sent Bhai Gur Das to Prithia with the object of endeavouring to conciliate him. Bhai Gur Das failed in the negotiations, and only received abusive language to communicate to the Guru. Gur Das composed the following on that occasion :—
The crane, though dwelling at a place of pilgrimage, is not content.
It raineth near the chatrik, yet he drinketh not. *
Even though the bamboo attach itself to sandal, it is not perfumed.
The owl, unlucky bird, seeth not the sun.
The musk is in the deer’s navel, yet he fleeth elsewhere in quest of it.
The true Guru Arjan is the true king ; the mina Prithia's face hath been blackened. 1
The meaning of this hymn appears to be that no one knows when he is well off. Prithia did not appreciate the advantage of dwelling near the Guru.
A letter was in due time received from the Emperor summoning Sulahi to Dihli. He took Prithia with him to present a complaint against the Guru. The Emperor decided in the first place that he 1 War XXXVI.
LIFE OF GURU ARJAN
would not interfere in the affairs of religious men, and secondly that the memorial was false. Prithia, crushed by his disappointment, became seriously ill. The Guru, on hearing the total result of his enemy’s proceedings, composed the following :—
God Himself showed the memorial to be false,
And affliction befell the sinner.
Death shall not approach him
Whose helper my God is.
The blind fool told lies in the true court,
And smote his head with his hands.
They who commit sin contract disease.
God Himself sat as the judge.
Prithia is involved in the consequences of his own acts ;
All his wealth shall pass away with his life.
Nanak, my Creator guardeth the honour of those
Who seek the protection of His court. 1
When Har Gobind was of a suitable age to receive instruction, the Guru went to his own brother Mahadev, and requested him to take the boy under his protection and educate him. Mahadev recommended that the delicate and responsible duty should be entrusted to Bhai Budha, who was experienced, who had seen Guru Nanak, and by whose intercession the child had been born. The Guru accepted Mahadev’s advice and sent for Bhai Budha. He modestly pleaded that he was himself quite uneducated. The Guru replied, ‘ Thou hast all eloquence in thy heart.’ As a preliminary to Har Gobind’s education, prayers were read in the temple. The Guru publicly announced his intention of entrusting his son’s education to Bhai Budha, and quoted a line from one of Guru Nanak’s hymns :—
He who hath meditated on knowledge conferreth favour on others. 2
Bhai Budha began his tuition. He first wrote the
thirty-five letters of the Gurumukhi alphabet on a wooden tablet and told Har Gobind their names. The pupil immediately repeated them from memory as if he had previously known them. In a few days he knew how to join vowels with consonants and mastered spelling. He then began to read the Guru’s hymns, upon which his faculty of perception and comprehension was developed. In a short time he received the gift of tongues. He was then taught the use of offensive and defensive weapons, riding, swimming, chemistry, astronomy, medicine, agriculture, administration, and other sciences. On the completion of his education the Gum took him to the temple, offered thanksgiving to God and acknowledgement to Bhai Budha for his successful and comprehensive instruction.
A Sikh called Paira lived with Guru Arjan, and used to wait on him day and night. The teaching of the Guru made a great impression on his mind. At that time a proud ritualistic pandit arrived to hold a religious controversy with the Guru. On the morning after his arrival he put a tilak on his forehead and went and sat in devotional attitude on the margin of the Guru’s tank. He was provided with a salagram, a bell, and a shell, which he ostentatiously displayed.
It was the Guru’s custom to bathe every morning in his tank. After that he used to go into the temple and make four circumambulations. Then going forth he used to make four more. When making the first round he passed by the pandit, but did not make obeisance to him or his salagram. The pandit became angry, and said the Guru and his Sikhs had sadly fallen away from orthodox worship.
‘ Although he calleth himself a guru ’, said the pandit, ‘ and hath followers and worshippers, yet he is only a Khatri and a family man, while I am a rigidly continent Brahman. He therefore ought to have worshipped me. Ram and Krishan, who
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