Growth of the Sikh community
In 1538, Nanak chose his disciple Lahiṇā, a
Khatri of the Trehan
clan, as a successor to the guruship rather than either of his sons. Lahiṇā was named Guru Angad Dev and became
the second guru of the Sikhs.[17] Nanak
conferred his choice at the town of Kartarpur on the banks of the
river Ravi, where Nanak had finally
settled down after his travels. Though Sri Chand was not an ambitious man, the
Udasis believed that the Guruship should have gone to him, since he was a man of
pious habits in addition to being Nanak's son. They refused to accept Angad's
succession. On Nanak's advice, Angad shifted from Kartarpur to Khadur, where his
wife Khivi and children were
living, until he was able to bridge the divide between his followers and the
Udasis. Angad continued the work started by Nanak and is widely credited for
standardising the Gurmukhī script as used
in the sacred scripture of the Sikhs.
Guru Amar Das, a Khatri of the Bhalla
clan, became the third Sikh guru in 1552 at the age of 73. Goindval became an important
centre for Sikhism during the guruship of Amar Das. He preached the
principle of equality for women by prohibiting purdah and sati. Amar Das also encouraged
the practice of langar and made all those
who visited him attend laṅgar before they could speak to him.[18] In 1567, Emperor
Akbar sat with the ordinary and poor people of Punjab to have laṅgar. Amar Das also trained 146 apostles of which 52
were women, to manage the rapid expansion of the religion.[19] Before he
died in 1574 aged 95, he appointed his son-in-law Jēṭhā, a Khatri of the Sodhi clan, as the fourth Sikh guru.
Jēṭhā became Guru Ram Das and vigorously
undertook his duties as the new guru. He is responsible for the establishment of
the city of Ramdaspur later to be named Amritsar. In 1581, Guru
Arjun Dev—youngest son of the fourth guru—became the fifth guru of the
Sikhs. In addition to being responsible for building the Harimandir Sahib (often
called the Golden Temple), he prepared the Sikh sacred text known as the Ādi Granth
(literally the first book) and included the writings of the first five
gurus. In 1606, for refusing to make changes to the Granth and for supporting an
unsuccessful contender to the throne, he was tortured and killed by the Mughal ruler, Jahangir.[20]