git gltBT^H'^dF THE BIKllB. 



lume of the Sikhs ^ contains ninety-two se6iions ; it was partly coitfposed by 

 Na'nac and his immediate successors, but Feceived its present form and ar^ 

 rangement from ArjunMal,* who has blended his own additions with what 

 he deemed most valuable in the compositions of his predecessors. It is Ar=^ 

 JUN, then, who ought, from this a61:, to be deemed the first wko gave consis-*- 

 tent form and order to the religion of the Sikhs; an d.6i which, though it has^ 

 produced the effe6l he wished, of uniting that nation more clasely, and of en-^ 

 creasing their numbers, proved fatal to himself. The jealousy of the Muham-^ 

 medajt government was excited, and he was made its sacriiice. The mode of 

 his death, which happened in the year of Christ 1606, and of the Samvaf 

 1663, is related very differently by different authorities : but several of the 

 most respe61able agree in stating, that his martyrdom, for such they term 

 it, was caused by the a61ive hatred of a rival Hindu zealot, Dan icnA-^U 

 Cshatriyay whose writings he refused to admit into the Adi-Grantli,' oil 

 the ground that the tenets inculcated in them, were irreconcileable to the 

 pure doftrine of the unity and omnipotence of God, taught in that sa^ 

 cred volume. This rival had sufficient influence with the Muhammedait 

 .governor, of the province, to procure the imprijsonment of Arjun; wha 

 is affirmed by some writers, to have died from the severity of his confine- 

 ment; and, by others, to' have been put to death in the most cruel man- 

 ner. In whatever way his life was terminated, there can be no doubt, 

 from its consequences, that it was considered, by his followers, as are 

 ■atrocious murder, committed by the Muham^ne dan government; and the 



* Though the orig-inal Adi-Gi^anfh was compiled by Arjunmal, from the writings of 

 Na'nac, Anga», Amera Da's and Ra'm Da's, and ehlafgSd and improved bj his own addi- 

 tions and commentaries, some small portions have been subsequently added by thirteen differ^* 

 ent persons, whose numbers, however, are reduced, by the Sikh authors, to twelve and a 

 lialf; the last contributor to this sacred volume being a woman^ is only adiaitted to raiik is 

 the list as a fractiouj by these ungaiiant writers. 



