Shaheedi of Guru Arjan Dev at Lahore

Who: Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru, born 15 April 1563 at Goindwal. Emperor Jahangir, crowned on 24 October 1605. His rebel son, Prince Khusrau. Chandu Shah, a banker and revenue official at Lahore whom Sikh tradition blames. Hazrat Mian Mir, the Guru's Sufi friend. And Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, leader of the Naqshbandi Sufis, whose influence on Jahangir's court the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism notes.

What: Within months of Jahangir's accession Khusrau rebelled, and on his way to Lahore he met the Guru at Goindwal and sought his blessing. When the revolt failed Jahangir fined the Guru heavily and, when the Guru refused to pay, had him arrested. Jahangir's own memoir, quoted by the Encyclopaedia, says he had long thought of either ending the Guru's influence or bringing him into Islam, and that he ordered the Guru's property seized and that he be put to death by torture. The Guru was taken to Lahore. Sikh accounts, which the Encyclopaedia follows, say he was seated on a red-hot iron plate, had burning sand poured over him and was made to sit in boiling water. Mian Mir came and offered to intercede, but the Guru forbade him. The Guru was then taken to the Ravi, and died there, on 30 May 1606 (Jeth sudi 4, 1663 Bk).

Where: Lahore. The torture took place on a platform outside the Lahore Fort near the Ravi. A shrine, Dehra Sahib, was raised on the spot in the eighteenth century, and the Encyclopaedia records a vast gathering of pilgrims there on the anniversary each year.

Why it mattered: The Encyclopaedia calls Guru Arjan the first martyr of the Sikh faith. Accounts differ on who was responsible. Sikh tradition blames Chandu Shah, whose pride was hurt when the Guru broke off the proposed match between his daughter and the Guru's son Hargobind. The Encyclopaedia says Chandu added to the suffering but is hardly likely to have had the influence to cause the death. It puts the cause in the emperor's own attitude: Jahangir was less tolerant than his father Akbar and leaned on orthodox courtiers. It adds that Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi wrote with jubilation of the execution. As for Chandu Shah, the Encyclopaedia says Jahangir, once reconciled with Guru Hargobind, had him seized and delivered into the Guru's custody, and that angry Sikhs who had witnessed his cruelty dragged him through the streets of Lahore and he died a miserable death. It gives no date. The Encyclopaedia says the martyrdom led Guru Arjan's young successor, Guru Hargobind, to take up the emblems of authority; he raised Sri Akal Takht Sahib within weeks.