Consider the following statements: 1. The early Sikh Gurus were religious preachers and did not interfere in politics but Guru Arjan extended his good wishes for the rebel prince Khusrau. 2. Guru Arjan attempted to organize the finances by introducing the system of more or less compulsory "spiritual tribute" to be collected by his agents called Masands. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Correct — C, Both 1 and 2. The first statement matches the standard account of how the Sikh community's relations with the Mughal state changed. Nanak and his four successors preached and organised without entering politics, but Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, blessed Khusrau when the prince rebelled against his father Jahangir in 1606 — a gesture Jahangir treated as treason, and for which the Guru was fined, refused to pay, and died in Mughal custody at Lahore. The second statement describes the other half of Arjan's work. He put the community's finances on a regular footing by turning voluntary offerings into a more or less compulsory spiritual tribute, gathered by agents called masands who were appointed for each district and remitted what they collected to the Guru. Both propositions stand, so the code is 'Both 1 and 2'.

• (a)1 only — Rejects the masand system, which is well attested. The office was set up under Guru Ram Das and regularised by Guru Arjan, whose collectors became the standard channel for the community's revenue.
• (b)2 only — Rejects the political turn under Guru Arjan. The blessing given to Khusrau is the recognised break point after which the Gurus and the Mughal state were in open conflict.
• (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Both statements are accurate, and each is separately documented in the standard medieval-history accounts.

Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, compiled the Adi Granth in 1604 and installed it at the Harmandir Sahib he had built at Amritsar. He also transformed a devotional following into an institution with a treasury, a centre and a scripture. That institutional weight, together with the political gesture toward Khusrau, is what brought the Sikh community into collision with imperial authority.

The consequences ran on for a century. Arjan's son Hargobind adopted the two swords of miri and piri, temporal and spiritual authority, and fortified the Akal Takht. Tegh Bahadur was executed under Aurangzeb in 1675. Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa in 1699 and abolished the masand system, by then thoroughly corrupt, replacing it with direct offerings. The masands are therefore a useful thread — instituted under Ram Das, made systematic by Arjan, and abolished by the tenth Guru.

• Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, compiled the Adi Granth in 1604 and built the Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar.
• He blessed the rebel prince Khusrau in 1606 and died in Mughal custody at Lahore soon after.
• Masands were the Guru's appointed agents, collecting the community's contributions district by district.
• The masand office began under Guru Ram Das and was abolished by Guru Gobind Singh.
• Guru Hargobind, Arjan's successor, took up miri and piri — temporal alongside spiritual authority.

• Crediting the masand system entirely to Guru Arjan; he regularised an office begun under his predecessor.
• Dating the political turn to Guru Hargobind rather than to his father's blessing of Khusrau.
• Confusing the Adi Granth compiled by Arjan with the Guru Granth Sahib finalised under Gobind Singh.

A two-statement item where both propositions come from the same paragraph of a standard textbook. Verify each separately before reaching for the code.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The masand system among the Sikhs was abolished by

  • (a)Guru Arjan
  • (b)Guru Hargobind
  • (c)Guru Tegh Bahadur
  • (d)Guru Gobind Singh

  Answer(d) Guru Gobind Singh — who ended it when he founded the Khalsa.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Adi Granth was compiled in 1604 by

  • (a)Guru Nanak
  • (b)Guru Angad
  • (c)Guru Arjan
  • (d)Guru Ram Das

  Answer(c) Guru Arjan — who installed it at the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar.