In April 1563, Guru Arjan Dev Ji was born in Goindwal, India. His father was Guru Ramdas, and his mother was Mata Bhani. His maternal grandpa and great-grandfather were Guru Amardas and Guru Ramdas, respectively. At the age of 18, he succeeded his father as the fifth of ten Sikh gurus in 1581.

His son succeeded him as the sixth Guru in 1606, following his untimely death at the hands of the Mughals. His son’s succession was contentious. There were many arguments and rifts among the Sikhs as a result of Arjan, his youngest son, being chosen as his successor. Prithi Chand started a faction and fiercely fought Guru Arjan. Minas was established by Guru Arjan’s followers as a coalition with the secessionist group.

He started work on the Golden Temple, also known as the Harmandir Sahib, in Amritsar in 1604. He also stated that his faith was open to people of all castes and created the four doors of a gurdwara. He created "Guru Granth Sahib,” a collection of all previous Gurus’ writings, in August of 1604.

He followed the Masands method of Guru Ram Das, which recommended that Sikhs give at least one-tenth of their income to the Sikh organisation known as "dasvand,” which paid for the building of gurudwaras and langars. The Mughal emperor Jahangir imprisoned him in Lahore Fort in 1606, tormented him, and then had him put to death after finding him and erasing several offensive hymns.