Prithi Chand: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Figure in Sikh history}}

'''Prithi Chand''' (1558-1618) was the eldest son of [[Guru Ram Das]] – the fourth Guru of [[Sikhism]], and the eldest brother of [[Guru Arjun]] – the fifth Guru.<ref name="SinghFenech2014p171"/><ref name=philtarpchand>[http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/sikhism/minas.html Minas, Masands, Dhir Malias, Ram Raiyas], Overview of World Religions, PHILTAR, University of Cumbria (2011)</ref> He wanted to inherit the Sikh Guruship from his father, who instead favored and appointed his youngest son the 18-year old Arjun Dev as the next Guru. Chand was embittered and notably started one of the major subsects of early Sikhism. This subsect came to be labelled as the ''[[Mina (Sikhism)|Minas]]'', literally "unscrupulous scoundrels", by his competition.<ref name="SinghFenech2014p171">{{cite book|author=Hardip Singh Syan |editor=Pashaura Singh and Louis E. Fenech|title=The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8I0NAwAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-969930-8|pages=171–172 }}</ref><ref name=philtarpchand/> According to ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'', Prithi Chand was a Sikh rebel leader who took a "distinctly hostile view" of his brother's appointment.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Prithi-Chand Prithi Chand: Sikh Rebel Leader], Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref> Modern scholars have called his movement one of the unorthodox but influential sects that emerged in the history of Sikhism.<ref name="Syan2013p49"/>

Chand was an accomplished devotional poet.<ref name="Syan2013p49"/> He created a parallel scripture which included the hymns of earlier Gurus and his own. His spiritual discourses attracted a large following and the official support of the [[Mughal Empire]]. His followers gained control of the Sikh holy city of [[Amritsar]] and neighboring region, while [[Guru Hargobind]] – the sixth Guru of Sikhism, had to relocate his Guruship to the Himalayan Shivalik foothills.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Pashaura Singh|author2=Louis E. Fenech|title=The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7YwNAwAAQBAJ |year=2014| publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0-19-100411-7|pages=638–639}}</ref> Chand and his followers rejected Guru Arjan and Guru Hargobind as the official followers of [[Guru Nanak]] – the founder of Sikhism.<ref name="SinghFenech2014p171"/> His poetic abilities and his distribution of hymns of Guru Nanak and those of his own, likely triggered [[Guru Arjan]] to formulate and release the official first edition of the [[Adi Granth]].<ref name="Syan2013p49"/>

There was a bitter competition between the followers of Guru Arjan and Prithi Chand for three generations. In contemporary Sikhism, the followers and movement led by Prithi Chand are considered as "dissenters".<ref name=philtarpchand/> In the hagiographies and official Sikh history written by Chand's opposition, Chand is accused of attempting to poison Hargobind when he was a boy. He and his descendants – Manohar Das (Miharban) and Harji (Hariji) – are also accused of conspiring with the Muslim leaders such as Sulahi Khan to hurt and end the later Sikh Gurus, as well prevent them from entering Amritsar.<ref name="SinghFenech2014p171"/><ref name=philtarpchand/><ref name="Syan2013p49"/> The Minas literature does not support these allegations, presenting Chand as a devout supporter of Guru Arjan.<ref name="Syan2013p49">{{cite book|author=Hardip Singh Syan|title=Sikh Militancy in the Seventeenth Century: Religious Violence in Mughal and Early Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9RzzxcEL4C0C |year=2013|publisher= I.B.Tauris| isbn=978-1-78076-250-0 |pages=49–55}}</ref> There is likely "overt bias" against Chand in the competing biographies.<ref name="Syan2013p49"/>

Prithi Chand established his Guruship in Kotha Guru (about 35 kilometers northeast of [[Bathinda]]). He died there in 1618.<ref name="Syan2013p49"/> His son Manohar Das, popularly known as Miharvan, grew up closely attached to both his father Prithi Chand and his uncle Guru Arjan. Miharvan succeeded Chand-led Sikh sect's fellowship. He was also a literary talent and a "luminary among medieval Sikh and Panjabi litterateurs" states Syan, and he composed hymns under the pen name of Prithi Chand.<ref name="Syan2013p49"/> Prithi Chand and his early Sikh sect claimed to have the ''Guru Harsahai pothi'', the earliest compiled Sikh scripture from the time of Guru Nanak.<ref name="MandairShackle2013p21">{{cite book|author1=Arvind-Pal S. Mandair|author2=Christopher Shackle|author3=Gurharpal Singh|title=Sikh Religion, Culture and Ethnicity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=79ZcAgAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-136-84634-2|pages=20–22}}</ref> According to the literature of the Miharvan Sikhs, the pothi was given to Prithi Chand by Guru Arjan and this was in part the reason they claimed authenticity of their hymns and movement.<ref name="MannMann2001p33"/>

The wars of Guru Gobind Singh against the Muslim commanders and the rise of the militant Khalsa ultimately ended the control of Amritsar by the followers of Prithi Chand. His movement and the "Minas" sect thereafter became largely extinct.<ref name=philtarpchand/> According to Gurinder Singh Mann, the Sodhis of Guru Harsahai (35 kilometers west of [[Faridkot, Punjab|Faridkot]]) and of Malwa region are the descendants of the Prithi Chand and Miharvan movement.<ref name="MannMann2001p33">{{cite book|author1=Gurinder Singh Mann |title=The Making of Sikh Scripture|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9mDnCwAAQBAJ |year=2001| publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-513024-9|pages=33–35}}</ref>