Later Mughals v1.c6.s15.8

v1.c6.s15.8

The next Guru was Arjun, the son of Ramdas. With him the hereditary succession began which continued to the end and added greatly to the wealth and influence of the later Gurus, whom the Sikhs grew gradually to look upon as their actual sovereigns. Another momentous change arose in Arjun's time; he was an active and enterprising man and the first Guru who meddled with politics. Moreover, his father Ramdas having provided in Amritsar a holy rallying place Arjun undertook to give them sacred scriptures. He busily collected the verses of his predecessors, added many of his own, and completed the work with extracts from the popular writings of previous saints, Kabir the weaver of Magahar in the Basti district, and others, calling the whole by the name of Granth or ‘The Book.’* Being composed in their mother tongue, it was intelligible to the vulgar, who knew nothing of the Sanskrit in which the Brahmans veiled their holy writings. The sixth, seventh and eighth Gurus added nothing to the Sikh scriptures.