Emperor Jahangir

Jahangir (born Salim, 1569 to 1627) was the fourth Mughal emperor and took the throne in 1605. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism calls him less tolerant than his father Akbar and says he relied early in his reign on orthodox courtiers influenced by Shaikh Ahmad of Sirhind, who wanted Akbar's religious neutrality reversed.

For the Panth he is the emperor under whom Guru Arjan Dev Ji was put to death. The Encyclopaedia says the Sikhs were the first target of his hostility. In his memoir, the Tuzuk, he wrote that for years he had thought of ending the Guru's "false traffic" or bringing him into Islam.

• 1606: his son Khusrau rebelled and, on his way to Lahore, visited Guru Arjan Dev Ji at Goindval and sought his blessing. Jahangir used the visit as a pretext to fine the Guru.
• The Guru refused to pay and was arrested and taken to Lahore. Jahangir's memoir says he knew of the Guru's "heresies" and ordered that his property be confiscated and that he be put to death with torture.
• Over several days the Guru was made to sit on red-hot iron plates and had burning sand poured over him. He died at the Ravi on 30 May 1606.
• 1617 to 1619: Guru Hargobind Sahib was held in Gwalior fort. The Dabistan-i-Mazahib gives the charge as non-payment of the fine imposed on his father. Sources differ on how long he was held; the Encyclopaedia suggests a few months.
• The Guru agreed to leave only if the other detainees were freed with him, and led 52 prisoners out of the fort, the origin of the title Bandi Chhor. Sikh tradition remembers them as princes.
• Jahangir became friendlier after the release, and Sikh chronicles describe the Guru travelling with him to Kashmir in 1620.

Jahangir died in October 1627 and was buried in the Shahdara gardens outside Lahore.

One tradition blames Chandu Shah, a Hindu official, for the Guru's death. The Encyclopaedia thinks it unlikely that he had such influence and holds that the emperor's own attitude was the real cause.

He is remembered in the Panth for the Shaheedi of Guru Arjan Dev Ji and for the imprisonment of Guru Hargobind Sahib that ended with Bandi Chhor.