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SPREAD OF SIKHISM.
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devotion. He died in 1581, after having appointed his son Arjun as his successor. The Guruship had now become hereditary.

Arjun, the fifth Guru, established himself at Amritsar and completed the sacred tank and temple. A flourishing town grew up around, which became the rallying-point of the Sikhs, who had now rapidly increased in numbers and importance. Up to this time the Gurus led a quiet life, averse to outward show, but Arjun, by means of the wealth resulting from the offerings of increased numbers of disciples, lived as a prince, and kept a numerous band of adherents about him. He was now looked upon by them as a king as well as spiritual leader. With system and method he organised them into a community, and in order to raise their status, to separate them from the mass of Hindus, and to unite them by one common religious tie, he compiled a sacred code written in the mother tongue of the Jats. In this was incorporated the sayings and Psalms of Nanak, his own compositions, and those of