The Life and Times of Guru Arjan

In this episode, we will talk about the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan
Dev and his role in crystallizing the concepts of the Sikh faith.
By the time Guru Arjan was appointed as the fifth Sikh Guru, the
Sikhs were already a community of people who had a culture that was
distinct from all others – Sikhs were a community that regarded all
humanity as equal, gave women an equal status as men and rejected
the vicious caste structures that plagued the Indian society.

In 1588 Guru Arjan first constructed the Darbar Sahib or the
Harmandir Sahib and established Amritsar as the nerve center of the
Sikh faith. By 1604, he had compiled the Adi Granth, the first
version of the Guru Granth Sahib, which was put into its final form
by Guru Gobind Singh. In 1606, the Indian subcontinent was under
the control of the Mughal ruler Jehangir, and Guru Arjan became the
first Sikh Guru to sacrifice his life to uphold the fundamental
rights to equality, justice, freedom and religion.