Later Mughals v1.c6.s15.11

v1.c6.s15.11

Another of Arjun's acts was of very great importance to the body of which he was the head. His predecessors had no income beyond the fluctuating voluntary offerings of their disciples. Arjun substituted for these a sort of tithe or tax to be received by collectors deputed by him, who forwarded the money to him once a year. These men, whose oppressions figure largely in the later tradition history, were known as *masand*, which Dr. Trumpp states to be a corruption of the Arabic word *masnad* in its meaning of a prop or support, and metaphorically, a deputy.* Guru Arjun laid aside the garb of a holy man and adopted the state of a grandee. He also traded on a great scale. Altogether, he is proved to have been a man of great originality as an organizer, and in his time the Sikh community increased quickly and spread far and wide over the Panjab. We have very vague unsatisfactory accounts of Guru Arjun's death, but we know that it took place at Lahor in 1606. Apparently he died from ill-treatment while a prisoner in the hands of the Emperor Jahangir, his offence being a participation in the rebellion of Prince Khusrau. [See Macauliffe, iii. 92-100.]