Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

272
the autobiographical testimony of Jahangir about his motives for
ordering Guru Arjan’s execution and instead to impute a conjectural
motive to the emperor for his action.
Bhai Gurudas’s testimony about the reaction o the Sikhs against
the Guru’s steps for militarization has already been indicated. He does
not mention many Jas in his enumeration of important Sikhs of Guru
Hargobind. True, Mohsin Fani says that many Jats joined as the Guru’s
followers. This author was twenty years younger than Guru Hargobind,
who was eleven years old when he became the Guru, took the decision
to arm the Sikhs, built the Akal Takhat and started the construction
of Lohgarh fort. In view of his earlier observation about the Jats being
in a minority in the time of Guru Arjan, Mohsin Fani’s statement that
the Jats joined as the followers of Guru Hargobind refers evidently to
a period subsequent to the latter’s decision to militarize the Sikhs.
This would correspond to the evidence noted by Macauliffe that, on
learning of the military preparation initiated by Guru Hargobind, five
hundred warriors from Majha, Doaba and Malwa regions volunteered
their services to the Guru. Moreover, Mohsin Fani’s evidence has no
weight compared to the authentic, reliable and contemporary evidence
of Bhai Gurdas. In fact, the adversaries of Guru Hargobind derisively
called his forces weak because they were composed of barbers,
washermen, cobblers, and the like. In any case, how could a minority
group make its impact felt to such an extent as to change overnight
the very direction of the movement? It has already been made clear
that the vital decisions were always made by the Guru themselves.
The Sangat never forced the Gurus to action. But, supposing, for
argument’s sake, that Guru Hargobind wanted to take into account
the views of the Sangat in making his momentous decision that opinion
could naturally have been of the leading Sikhs, of whom Jats, according
to Bhai Gurdas, formed a negligible minority. And it would be logical
to suggest that these few Jats, even if they had views different from
those of others and the Guru, could impose their will on the rest on
such a crucial and ideological issue. Actually, the Guru, according to
Bhai Gurdas, stuck to this decision, despite the opposition from Bab
Buddha, his mother, the Masands and some others.