CHAPTER 27 - The Book

Summary

Amritsar lies in Indian Punjab close to the Indo-Pakistani border. In Punjabi, the name means The Pool of the Nectar of Immortality. For over a hundred years, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a new religion in Punjab based on the teachings of a succession of Gurus blossomed in peace. This would soon change and their Gurus would frequently become martyrs beginning with Guru Arjan Dev. In 1604, Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru, completed his compilation of Sikh teachings into a book - the Adi Granth and installed it at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The installation of the Adi Granth in the Golden Temple at the start of the seventeenth century would give the Sikhs a focal point to rally and sustain their faith through the violence and turbulence that would repeatedly be directed against them over the next four hundred years.

Timur's invasion of North India in 1399 left death, pestilence and famine in its wake. Both the Muslims and Hindus living in his path suffered terribly and this common suffering engendered an atmosphere of tolerance between the Muslims and Hindus of India as they picked up the pieces and rebuilt their lives and societies. Neither belief in Mohammad nor belief in Ram saved Indians from the calamity of Timur. This gave rise to an intense examination of their respective religions by both Hindus and Muslims in the fifteenth century, a period of relative peace, the interlude between the invasions of Timur and that of his descendant, Babur.

As institutional religion became discredited, individual devotional worship through Bahkti prayers gained traction among Hindus who rejected the misery caused by the Brahmanical promotion of caste. Among Muslims, many turned to the tolerant compassionate form of Islam as taught by the Sufi masters and rejected the Sunni teachings as promoted by the Brahmins of Islam, the self-serving Sayyids and Sheiks of the ulema.

A number of religious teachers or Sants emerged in North India who preached the idea that faith was a matter of surrendering to a universal God who dwells in the heart of every human. Their teachings were devoid of the concepts of caste and liturgy and were popular with the marginalized sections of the population.