The tradition of martyrdom in the Sikh faith was started by its fifth Guru Arjan Dev. The greatest contribution he made to the Sikh faith was to have had the utterances of all preceding gurus collected in one anthology, known as the Guru Granth Sahib.
This is the main religious book of Sikhs and has the status of a Guru. The holy book conveys the message of spiritual improvement and the spread of truth and virtue to humankind.
Unlike any other religious book in history, Guru Arjan Dev included the compositions of both Hindu and Muslim saints, which he considered consistent with the teachings of Sikhism and the gurus. According to numerous historians and scholars, the Guru Granth Sahib is the most modern and scientific of all the world’s religious texts and promotes equality and the oneness of God.
Having accomplished the primary mission of his holy life – the compilation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and its momentous installation in Sri Harimandir Sahib (Golden Temple) – Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji then set the pace for a unique cosmic sacrifice.
On June 16 every year since 1606, the Sikhs have commemorated the martyrdom of their first martyr, the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev Ji.
During the Guruship of Guru Arjan, many thousands of people began to follow the teachings of Sikhism and both Hindus and Muslims embraced Sikhism, which preached equality, compassion, love, dedication, hard work, worship of one God and the commitment to peace and harmony for all the peoples of the world. This upset the leaders of both these communities who soon hatched a conspiracy against him.
Guru's elder brother, Prithi Chand planned to harm and harass Guru Sahib in association with the fundamentalist elements who were jealous of the Sikh community and Guru Arjan Dev Sahib. After the death of emperor Akbar the new head of state emperor Jahangir was also resented Guru Sahib’s propagation of Sikhism.
He promptly obliged the enemies of Guru Sahib and accepted the many baseless allegations levelled against Guru Sahib – one of those was helping the rebellious Khusro. Guru Arjan Sahib was arrested and brought to Lahore where he was charge-sheeted and implicated in the false cases.
The Governor of Lahore was assigned the task of his execution. He handed over Guru Sahib over to Chandu, a petty businessman of Lahore city. He tortured Guru Sahib for about three days in a manner of cruelty unknown in recorded human history. It is said that Mian Mir (a Muslim Sufi Saint and friend of Guru Sahib) tried to intercede on behalf of Guru Sahib but the latter forbade him.
During the torture, Guru Sahib was made to sit in a cauldron with water and a fire was lit underneath. Thereafter he was made to sit on hot iron plates. The Guru did not utter any cry of pain – instead sat in blissful meditation and ecstatic equipoise on the hot iron plate while burning sand was poured on his head in an unending stream.
With no feeling of ill-will, with no word of rancour and condemnation and with a soul-stirring glow of the sweet will of the Lord, writ large on his holy face, He blissfully underwent the brutal torture, agony and suffering.
When his body was blistered, he was chained and thrown into the river Ravi. Thus Guru Sahib embraced martyrdom. The martyrdom of Guru Sahib changed the entire character of Sikhism radically. The Sikhs naturally looked upon this as the bigotry and cruelty of the theist Muslim state towards the newly born, peace loving Sikh faith.
Having presented the nectar of immortality in the form of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, to adherents of the faith, he now passed on another unique nectar, the nectar of the bliss of martyrdom to the followers of Guru Nanak. It was an inspiring beginning, an exemplary commencement, a signal for life eternal.
Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib along with his most beloved Sikhs, Bhai Mati Das, Bhai Sati Das and Bhai Dyala, then offered themselves unto the Lord in this tradition of supreme cosmic sacrifice. Sri Guru Gobind Singh Sahib offered everything nearest and dearest including his beloved sons and countless Sikhs before installing and annointing Sri Guru Granth Sahib as the Eternal Guru.
Guru Arjan Dev’s sacrifices in the history of Sikhs stand unparalleled to this day. He taught the followers of Guru Nanak how to love death in tune with the divine. He blessed them with the boon of divine intoxication in agony and death. He transformed the suffering and death into holy worship, a welcome rare divine blessing.
Immensity, depth and unlimited magnitude of Guru Arjan’s grace, compassion, mercy and sacrifice is yet to be befittingly acknowledged in the modern world.
Today, Sikhs all over the world mark the anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev's martyrdom by carrying on the tradition of distributing cold sweetened buttermilk called Chhabil to people irrespective of their religion or faith.