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58 JPS 17:1&2
technology of the Persian-wheel. Not surprisingly, the Jats were quite
resentful towards the inequity of Mughal policy. It is in this context that
Guru Arjan’s excavation of a well with six Persian-wheels (chheharta)
makes sense, providing a much needed relief to the farmers of Majha
area who did not have to look towards the Mughal authorities for their
irrigation needs. Similarly, the four hundred years old pool at Thatte
Khera at Guru Ki Vadali, near Tarn Taran, provides us with the hard
evidence of how Guru Arjan was deeply concerned with the needs of the
rural peasantry. 34
During the famine conditions of the late 1590s the Jats were further
reduced into destitution. In the conditions of economic distress, therefore,
the poor Jats turned towards the charismatic message of Guru Arjan who
resolved the ‘tensions of meaning’ in their lives. But they were
predisposed against the oppressive state structures that took two-thirds of
their production in revenues. As part of their cultural traditions the
Punjabi Jats have always been known for their defiance of authority. The
Mughal officials were fully aware of a massive influx of Jats into the
Sikh movement. During Akbar’s reign they were successfully dealing
with covert Jat resistance by providing revenue free grants to Guru Arjan
in the Majha (Ramdaspur and Tarn Taran) and Doaba (Kartarpur) areas
so that they could indirectly maintain their control over them. They were
using Guru Arjan’s philanthropic work of excavation of large pools and
wells to their advantage. As a result of Guru Arjan’s alleged blessings to
Prince Khusrau, however, the situation of Mughal-Sikh relations changed
dramatically. Because of their ‘fears’ about the increasing Jat influence
within the Sikh Panth, the Mughal authorities purposefully kept Guru
Arjan’s execution a private affair. Even Jahangir had left Lahore after
passing the orders of capital punishment. In actual practice it was Shaykh
Farid Bukhari (Murtaza Khan) who carried out Jahangir’s orders. It
should, however, be kept in mind that no one dies a natural death in state
custody. The Guru was tortured according to the Mongol law (yasa
siyasat) while he was in Mughal custody for about a week (May 24-30,
1606). 35 Not surprisingly, after reading my arguments McLeod changed
his earlier stance on Guru Arjan’s martyrdom and accepted that the Guru
“was cruelly executed while being held by the Mughal authorities in
Lahore.” 36
V
The meta-narrative on the issue of why a tradition built on Guru Nanak’s
interior discipline of ‘meditation on the divine Name’ (nam-simaran)
should have become a militant community and proclaimed its identity by
means of prominently displayed exterior symbols comes from the Singh
Sabha scholars. It stresses the point that militarizing of the Panth by the
sixth Guru, Hargobind, and the subsequent creation of the Khalsa by the