Person · sixth Sikh Guru

Guru Hargobind

Also known as Hargobind, Guru Har Gobind

Date

1595 – 1644

Function

Religious institution & practice

Tradition

Sikh tradition; Akal Takht

Confidence

Established / referenced

Worth knowing

Released from Gwalior fort by Jahangir, he is said to have refused to leave without the fifty-two hill rajas imprisoned with him, and to have had a cloak made with fifty-two tassels so they could hold on and walk out behind him. Sikhs keep Bandī Chhor Divas for it.

Connections (3)

• Monastic foundationHarmandir Sāhib (Golden Temple)

  Hargobind built the Akāl Takht in 1606, within weeks of his father's execution at Lahore, and sat on it wearing two swords. Putting a seat of temporal power directly opposite a place of worship is the institutional statement the Sikh tradition has argued from ever since. Released from Gwalior fort by Jahangir, he is said to have refused to leave without the fifty-two hill rajas imprisoned with him, and Sikhs keep Bandī Chhor Divas for it.

• Power passed toGuru Har Rai

  Guru Hargobind raised an army, built the Akal Takht and fought the Mughals four times; he then passed the guruship over his own surviving son Dhir Mal to a fourteen-year-old grandson, with instructions to keep the army and avoid the war. Har Rai did exactly that for seventeen years, which is why the seventh guruship looks empty next to the sixth and is not.

• PatronageAmritsar

  Guru Hargobind expanded Amritsar’s role beyond a purely spiritual centre. He constructed the Akal Takht in 1606 opposite Harmandir Sahib, establishing a seat representing Sikh temporal authority. Under his leadership, Amritsar became associated with the emerging Sikh tradition of combining spiritual devotion with political and military responsibility.

Sources

Wikipedia, “Guru Hargobind”. The subject’s own writings where they survive, and the standard biographical literature.

• Wikipedia — Guru Hargobind