Teacher for his followers, helped Sikhism emerge as a separate body The first four successors of Guru Nanak, passed in peaceful development of the new religion But each Guru added something to the separate identity of Sikhism. 105
The second Guru Angad (1539-1552) popularized a new Punjabi alphabet, called Gurmukhi, to record compositions of Guru Nanak. The new script was readily accepted for its simplicity and smaller number of its letters and phonetic suitability for expression of Punjabi sounds. The Gurmukhi characters also helped spread literacy among the people~ of the Punjab and familiarize them with the teachings of the Sikhs Gurus, 106
Guru Amar Das, the third Guru introduced many innovations such as Zangar, community kitchen, where all Sikhs were enjoined to dine in the same assembly with a view to eliminating social and caste differences. 107 This also tended to break the close affiliations of the Sikhs with the Hindus. He stood for the emancipation of women and opposed the practice of Purdah (veil), encouraged inter-caste marriages, forbade Sati – burning alive of widows on the funeral pyre of their deceased husbands, and advocated remarriage of widows.108
The fourth Guru Ram Das founded the city of Amritsar which soon developed into the center of the Sikh faith and laid the foundation stone of Harmander Sahib, the Godden Temple. Frost after a visit to the Temple wrote. “Travelers to India find themselves drawn to two great masterpieces of architecture: the beautiful Mohammedan monument, the Taj
____________________________________________________________________________
* As a result of the introduction of Gurumukhi, literacy among Sikhs grew at a notable pace, so that by 1911 Sikh women in Punjab had a higher literacy percentage(1.7) than either the Muslim (2) or Hindu women(7). Literacy among Sikh males (9.4) was comparable to the Hindu males(9.5).( Census of India, \92\, vol XV, Punjab and Deshi, \923:292)
