When the buildings around the Guru’s tank had increased, the Guru ordered his Sikhs and worshippers to take up their abode in them. Thus did the city of Amritsar gradually extend. A Sikh called Bhai Salo, who appears to have possessed much local influence, materially assisted the Guru in the accomplishment of his design. After a little time, however, the Sikhs finding there was no worldly advantage to them in living in Amritsar presented a humble address to the Guru: ‘ True king, there is here no trade or commerce of any sort, by which we may gain our livelihood and support our families. There are very few inhabitants, and consequently as yet no buying or selling. The Guru in reply told them not to despair, that Amritsar should yet become a great city and possess a large population. He counselled them to depend on prayer and divine worship for their prosperity. They were to rise early, bathe and go to the temple to hear expositions of the Guru’s hymns. After that they were to attend to their worldly affairs till evening, when their worship should begin anew by the repetition of the Rahiras and Sohila.
Notwithstanding the compromise that had been effected, the Guru’s quarrelsome brother Prithia continued to give him every form of annoyance. Consequently the Guru decided to leave Amritsar and make a tour in the Manjha, or country between [ p. 21 ] the Ravi and Bias. He first visited Khadur and Goindwal, and then proceeded to the village of Sarhali, where he sought to obtain land whereon to build himself a dwelling.
A Sikh of the village of Bhaini invited the Guru to visit him, and the Guru knowing his devotion consented. When he arrived in the village the day was far advanced. The Sikh’s wife saw that the Guru was hungry, but at the same time it would take too long to cook vegetables for his dinner. She therefore prepared a dish of broken bread mixed with butter and sugar, and laid it before him. Having satisfied himself he inquired the name of the village. She said, ‘Bhaini.’ The Guru replied, ‘ The name of this village shall be Cholha, that is, tit-bit, or dainty dish.’ Upon this he composed the following :—
I am a sacrifice to my Guru who implanted God’s name in my heart ;
Who pointed out to me the straight road when I was in a great wilderness and darkness.
God is my life ;
He feeleth anxiety for me regarding everything in this world and the next.
By remembering Him I obtain all treasure, respect, greatness, and perfect honour.
By repeating His name, the dust of whose feet all saints desire, millions of sins are erased.
Let him who desireth all desirable things worship the one supreme Treasure.
The Lord is the supreme Being, limitless ; by remembering Him man crosseth over the world.
By abiding in the association of the saints man obtaineth comfort, peace, and great happiness, and his honour is preserved.
To amass God’s wealth and make God’s name my food—Nanak hath made these things his cholha (dainties).[1]
[ p. 22 ]
On the same occasion the Guru composed the following :—
God’s name is priceless ;
It is naturally comfortable.
God abideth with me and helpeth me; He forsaketh me not ; Heis unfathomable and unrivalled.
He is my beloved brother, my father, my mother, and the shelter of the saints.
The Invisible is seen when He is obtained from the Guru, who, O Nanak, is God’s cholha (dainty).[2]
The name Bhaini was duly changed into Cholha in the government records of the period.
A Jat inhabitant of the village of Cholha represented to Guru Arjan that the inhabitants of the village of Buh would not allow his cattle to graze on their lands, though he had an ancient right of pasturage. The Guru replied, ‘Buh juh howega,’ that is, ‘ Buh shall become sterile,’ a prediction which was subsequently fulfilled.
Guru Arjan on this tour visited a village called Khanpur, between Goindwal and the present Tarn Taran. He was accompanied by five Sikhs, including Bidhi Chand and Gur Das, men famous in different ways, of whom we shall hereafter have much to say. He remained the whole day engaged in his devotions. In the evening it rained heavily and wintry winds were blowing. Bidhi Chand said to the Guru: ‘That lofty house which thou seest in the village is very near. Let us go and rest there for the night.’ The Guru objected, and said it would be better to remain where they were than associate with the evil people who dwelt there. Bidhi Chand, however, prevailed on him to let him go into the village and endeavour to secure shelter, as the night was piercingly cold. Bidhi Chand begged the people to let his party have even one room in which they could all sleep together. The villagers only laughed [ p. 23 ] at him, and called the Guru and his Sikhs hypocrites. Bidhi Chand went and duly informed the Guru of the character of his reception. The Guru replied : ‘Pay no heed, I told thee they were foul-tongued people. Whoever hath devotion in his heart will come to us of his own accord, and give us accommodation for the night.’
As Guru Arjan had anticipated, Hema, a devout Sikh of the village, arrived and said, ‘O true Guru, I have a tattered hut made out of grass and twigs which is at thy service. It will be hallowed by receiving thee. Hema, who had been made a Sikh by Guru Ram Das, lived by grinding corn for the villagers. His leisure time he employed in repeating the Guru’s hymns. Though he was extremely poor, and possessed only a coarse blanket to wear, his hut was ever open to the stranger. The Guru seeing his love and devotion gladly accepted his hospitality. He then cooked and supplied his distinguished guest with the best food in his possession. Before retiring he took off his sole blanket, and put it under the Guru as bedding, so that he might enjoy sweet repose. The Guru, seeing his devotion, composed the following :—
Very beautiful is that hut in which God’s praises are sung,
While the mansion in which God is forgotten is of no avail.
There is a pleasure even in poverty when in the company of the saints God is remembered.
May that grandeur which is bound up with mammon perish !
Even when turning a handmill or wearing a coarse blanket, the heart may be happy and contented.
That empire is of no avail which conferreth not satisfaction.
They who wander even naked in the love of the one God obtain honour,
While vain are silks and satins, attachment to which maketh man covetous. [ p. 24 ]
Everything is in Thy power, O God; Thou actest and causest to act.
May Nanak obtain the gift of remembering Thee at every breath he draweth ! 1
On the same occasion the Guru composed the following :—
The place where the name of the beloved God is repeated,
Is like a mansion of gold ; [3]
The city in which the name of God is not repeated is like a wilderness.
He who eating dry bread remembereth God,
Shall behold Him whether at home or abroad.
Know that he who through pampering his belly committeth bad deeds is planting for himself a garden of poison.
The spiritually ignorant man who loveth not the saints,
And committeth sins in company with the infidel,
Loseth his human body so difficult of attainment, and uprooteth himself.
I have entered Thine asylum, O compassionate to the poor.
O ocean of comfort, my great God,
Nanak singeth Thy praises, mercifully preserve his honour.[4]
The Guru remained for some time in Khanpur. During his stay Hema obtained his desire, and went to his heavenly abode. After the Guru’s departure, the Emperor’s viceroy, who had some reason to be dissatisfied with the inhabitants of Khanpur, sent an army against it, razed it to the ground, and massacred its chief inhabitants. The survivors had reason to reflect on the words of Kabir :—
Kabir, the house in which God and His saints are not served, Is like a cremation-ground and ghosts dwell therein.[5]
The Guru thence proceeded to the village of Khara, where he was pleased with the prospect around him [ p. 25 ] —the flowering woods and glades, the limpid water, and the fresh and exhilarating atmosphere. On entering the village he received a friendly reception from the headmen. They afterwards assisted him in obtaining land from the villagers on which he laid the foundation of what is now the famous Sikh city of Tarn Taran, and proceeded to construct a tank for the devotional ablutions of his Sikhs. The year in which these events occurred is stated to be A.D. 1590. The name Tarn Taran means a raft to take men across the world’s ocean. The Guru, at great expense, built lime-kilns and caused bricks to be baked. When these were seen by Nur-ul-Din, the local Muhammadan governor, they were, according to the tyrannical custom of the age, seized by him for the construction of a seraglio designed by the Emperor for the public use. The Sikhs on seeing this suggested to the Guru to write to the Emperor to allow the tank to be finished and to inspire fear in Nur-ul-Din. The Guru, who was the essence of humility, refused to take notice of the outrage. He said that God had not yet ordered the tank to be made, wherefore they were to stop its construction altogether. ‘Mercy’, continued the Guru, ‘is the basis of religious worship ; wherefore we should have mercy on every one. All the acts of him who hath not mercy in his heart are vain.’
In the Sambat year 1832 (A.D. 1775) Sardar Khushal Singh of Faizullapur and Sardar Jassa Singh of Ramgarh destroyed Nur-ul-Din’s edifice, and employed the bricks, of which Nur-ul-Din had robbed the Guru, in the construction of the tank.[6]
[ p. 26 ]
The Guru then went into the Jalandhar district, where he purchased land to build another city, Kartarpur, or the city of the Creator, which has since risen to considerable spiritual and temporal eminence. It hes in what is called the Jalandhar Doab between the Bias and Satluj rivers.
The Guru with his own hands cut the first sod for the construction of the city and its necessarily accompanying well to supply water to the inhabitants. The well he called Gangsar, or the Ganges tank, for the following reason: A man called Baisakhi, who used every year to visit the Ganges, once called upon the Guru on his way. The Guru asked him not to go, but bathe in his well, worship God, repeat the true Name, and he should thus obtain all the advantages of bathing in the Ganges. Baisakhi respectfully represented that he had made a vow to go to the Ganges, and must accordingly proceed thither. The Guru, on seeing his determination, allowed him to continue his journey. When Baisakhi on the point of returning sought to fill a vessel with Ganges water, it slipped from his hand and was taken away by the current. He did all in his power to recover it, but in vain. When he returned to the Guru, and related the untoward incident, it is said that the Guru to his astonishment produced in his presence from the new well the very vessel that had fallen from his hands at the Ganges. Baisakhi was then convinced that his pilgrimage to Hardwar had been in vain. On this account the well at Kartarpur was called the Gangsar.
The Guru went to the country of Nakka at the invitation of Bhai Bhuria, Chaudhri Chuhar Mal, and other pious Sikhs. He visited Khemkaran, Chunian, and other villages, where he preached with great success. Hethen went to Jambar, where he remained for some time, during which he converted Kidara, Kheda, Samdu, Mukanda, Tulsa, Lalu, and others.
[ p. 27 ]
The Guru then proceeded to Lahore at the request of the Sikhs who resided there. He rested in the Dabbi Bazar on the site of the present ‘ Guru’s Bawali’, and planned its construction. People of all classes hearing of his fame flocked to see him, receive his instruction, and make provision for their future salvation. Thither came the Jogi Sambhunath and the Hindu saints Kahna and Chhajju; the Moslem saints Shah Husain, Shah Sulaiman, Shah Inayat Qadari, Shaikh Wali Shah, and others, all humbling themselves before the Guru and beseeching soul-saving religious instruction. The Guru fixing his thoughts on God uttered the following hymn :—
O wise men, think of the Lord in your hearts.
The true King, the Releaser from bondage, dwelleth in the heart by the mind’s affection.
Nothing is equal in value to the sight of God.
Thou art the pure Cherisher ; Thou Thyself art the Lord great and incomparable.
Give me Thy hand, O Brave One, Thou art the only one to assist me. .
O Creator, by Thy power didst Thou create the world ; Thou art Nanak’s prop.[7]
This hymn, when heard by the Viceroy of Lahore, produced a great impression on his mind. It is said that he reformed his life, and devoted himself to God’s service. He invited the Guru to ask him a favour. The Guru did so, and the result was the excavation of the Bawali at the Viceroy’s expense.
The Guru then went to the shrine of Guru Nanak at Dehra Baba Nanak in the Gurdaspur district. Thence he proceeded to Barath in the same district to visit Sri Chand, Guru Nanak’s son. After mutual salutations they held a conversation. Sri Chand asked why the Guru wandered hither and thither and did not reside in Amritsar. The Guru replied [ p. 28 ] that Prithia was distressed at his residence there, and so he travelled to propagate his religion. After some further conversation, in the course of which Sri Chand censured the conduct of Prithia, and said it would be the cause of his damnation, the Guru took his departure for Amritsar, and thus consulted the wishes of his Sikhs and of Sri Chand.
Dhanasari. ↩︎
Asa. Dainty here means darling, as in old English. ↩︎
1 Suhi. ↩︎
Majh. ↩︎
Slok 192. ↩︎
The tank at Tarn Taran is larger than that at the Golden Temple at Amritsar. At one corner is a tall minaret built by Ranjit Singh. He intended to build three others, but died before he could accomplish his project. The money collected for the construction mysteriously disappeared from its custodians.
The approach to the temple has lately been opened by the demolition of some houses, to whose proprietors large sums of money have been paid by willing subscribers as compensation. ↩︎
Tilang. ↩︎