Guru Arjan was succeeded by his son, Hargobind. From the very beginning he was the deadly enemy of the Mughals. He asked his followers to keep arms and fight against the Mughal Tyranny. He himself took up the Title of Saccha Padshah. He adopted the emblems of royalty, viz. an umbrella, sword and a hawk. He put on the dress of a soldier. He put on two swords one of which indicated his spiritual authority and the other his temporal authority.

Instead of accepting money from his followers, he asked them to offer horses and weapons to him. He fortified Lohgarh, He built the Akal Takht, the throne of Almighty. He enrolled a large number of armed volunteers and even Pathans were welcomed to join.

Guru Hargobind’s policy of armed resistance has been criticized by certain writers. It is contended that the lure of politics and glamour of arms led the Guru away from the true path of religion and spiritualism. However, according to Indu Bhushan Banerjee, “Both externally and internally, the situation was changing and the policy of the Guru had perforce to be adjusted to the new environment.

The organisational development of Sikhism had mostly taken place during the tolerant days of Akbar who had never interfered with it; he had, on the contrary, even helped the Gurus in various ways. But the execution of Guru Arjan and Hargobind’s imprisonment definitely showed that sterner days were ahead and that the policy of mere peaceful organisation no longer Sufficed.

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Guru Arjan had foreseen and Guru Hargobind also clearly saw that it would no longer be possible to protect the Sikh Community and its organization without the aid of arms; and the way in which he proceeded to secure this end speaks a good deal for sagacity and his shrewd political sense.”

Jahangir could not tolerate the militant policy of Hargobind and consequently the latter was arrested and imprisoned in the fort of Gwalior. The Guru was released after a few years on the intervention of Mian Mir and Wazir Khan. The relations between the Guru and Jahangir became friendly afterwards, and continued to be so. During the reign of Shahjahan the relations became bitter once again. Shahjahan was intolerant.

He destroyed the Sikh Baoli at Lahore. The quarrels which originally started over hawks or horses between the Mughal officials and the Sikhs subse­quently led to risings on a large scale and were responsible for death of thousands of persons on both sides. Battles were fought at Amritsar, Kartarpur and other places. Ultimately, Guru Hargobind retired to the hills where he spent the rest of his life.

Guru Hargobind was a teacher and protector of his disciples. He realised the gravity of the situation and prepared his followers for the coming struggle. He created a war-like spirit among his followers. Guru HarRai (1644-61).

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Guru Hargobind was succeeded by his grandson, Har Rai. The new Guru followed a policy of peaceful propaganda. His relations with the Mughal Emperor were all right. However, Prince Dara asked for military aid and the blessings of the Guru and the Guru obliged him doing the same. The result was that when Dara was defeated, Aurangzeb became his bitter enemy.

He summoned the Guru to his court but the Guru excused himself and sent his eldest son. Aurangzeb asked him to explain certain passages in the Sikh scriptures which were against Islam. The Guru’s son satisfied the Emperor by changing certain words in the Granth Sahib. This was resented by the Guru who disinherited his son and appointed Har Krishan, a minor, as his successor.

Guru Har Krishan (1661-64)

Har Krishan was only 5 when he became Guru. He died three years after. He was called by the Emperor to Delhi where he got an attack of small pox and died. He did not declare his successor before his death, so the struggle started for throne after his death. Sikh accepted Teg Bahadur, the youngest son of Guru Har Gobind as their Guru.