Question

Why was the Mughal emperor Jahangir hostile to the Sikh community? How did the Sikh movement gain momentum?

Answer 1

By the beginning of the 17th century the town of Ramdaspur, Amritsar had developed around the central Gurudwara known as Harmandar Sahib, the Golden Temple. It was virtually self-governing body and the modem historians refer to the early 17th-century Sikh community as 'a state within a state'. This made the Mughal emperor Jahangir hostile to the Sikh community. He looked upon them as a potential threat and he ordered the execution of Guru Arjan in 1606.

It is from this time the Sikh movement began to gain momentum. It was a development that culminated, in the institution of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.