Guru
Guru, in Sikhism, any of the first 10 leaders of the Sikh religion of northern India. The Punjabi word sikh (“learner”) is related to the Sanskrit shishya (“disciple”), and all Sikhs are disciples of the Guru (spiritual guide, or teacher). The first Sikh Guru, Nanak, established the practice of naming his successor before his death (1539), and from the time of Ram Das, the fourth to reign, the Gurus all came from one family. Guru Nanak also emphasized the mystical transference of the personality of the Guru from one individual to another “as one lamp lights another,” and many of his successors used the name Nanak as a pseudonym.
As the Sikhs developed from a pacifist to a militant movement, the role of the Guru took on some of the features of a military leader in addition to the traditional features of a spiritual guide. Two Sikh leaders, Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur, were executed by order of the reigning Mughal emperor on grounds of political opposition.
The 10th and last Guru, Gobind Singh, before his death (1708) declared the end of the succession of personal Gurus. From that time on, the religious authority of the Guru was considered to be vested in the sacred scripture, the Adi Granth, into which the spirit of the Eternal Guru was said to have passed and which Sikhs refer to as the Guru Granth Sahib, while the secular authority rested with the elected representatives of the Sikh community, the panth. The 10 Sikh Gurus and the dates of their reigns are:
1. Nanak (died 1539), the son of a Hindu revenue official, who attempted in the new religion founded by him to bring together the best features of both Hinduism and Islam.
2. Angad (1539–52), a disciple of Nanak, traditionally given credit for developing Gurmukhi, the script used to write down the Sikh scriptures.
3. Amar Das (1552–74), a disciple of Angad.
4. Ram Das (1574–81), the son-in-law of Amar Das and the founder of the city of Amritsar.
5. Arjan (1581–1606), the son of Ram Das and the builder of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple), the most famous place of pilgrimage for the Sikhs.
6. Hargobind (1606–44), the son of Arjan.
7. Har Rai (1644–61), the grandson of Hargobind.
8. Hari Krishen (1661–64; died of smallpox at the age of eight), the son of Har Rai.
9. Tegh Bahadur (1664–75), the son of Hargobind.
10. Gobind Rai (1675–1708), who assumed the name Gobind Singh after founding the order known as the Khalsa (literally “the Pure”).