The small Dhundhabs were played in celebration, morning and evening. The napheeryas played as well. Shabad Keertan was sung by the wise Sikhs. The instruments played everyday. When Karmo heard these sounds of joy, her heart was in pain and sorrow. She couldn’t tolerate Guru Arjan Dev ji’s joy. Her soul was dark. Her ill-intentioned wishes were not fulfilled. She was worried about her son all of the time. She was determined to do bad but nothing she wanted, came out true. She thought to herself: “everything I wanted to do, was not successful. The boy is growing everyday. Guru Arjan Dev ji’s and Mata Ganga ji’s glory is growing too. The boy is handsome and strong. He is 5 years old but looks like he’s 10. He is wise and will be able to handle everything. We will not be able to do anything. They will get the Gurta Ghaddi. We won’t get anything and neither will our children. What will our generations do? They will have to beg. My kids will see Guru Arjan Dev ji’s family and be upset. We just need to kill the little boy, then we will be happy. We will get all the joys in life. A small tree can be pulled by the roots easily. If the tree gets bigger, it’s hard to pull the roots.” She would think about this day and night. It was like an ant wanting to break and destroy a mountain.
One day, Prithi Chand was sitting with his wife, Karmo, and praising himself: “Guru Arjan Dev calls himself the Guru but he bows to my feet. How can my Sikhs bow to him? The wise Sikhs only call me the Guru and worship me. They see me as the treasure of miracles. Whatever they ask from me, I give them. Wherever a Sikhs needs me, I go and help them when they call me.” Karmo got upset and said: “why are you praising yourself? You couldn’t take this pain away that’s in my chest all the time. You tried many things but they were all failures. My pain is growing as the danger is growing. As the boy gets older, our chances of getting the Gurta Ghaddi is getting less. You said they would never have a child. They had a son. Your words were useless. You said we will get the Gurta Ghaddi, that never happened either. We wanted to kill him; he didn’t die. You tried sending the nurse with poison on her breasts, she died instead. The child grew up. You then sent the snake but the child killed it. You said that the boy would get Seetala and die. He got the Seetala but survived. Nothing happened to him. His body, skin, eyes and limbs are fine. These were all your words. None of them were true. Why didn’t they come out to be true? The one who you want to kill, he his getting stronger. I am worried about this day and night. When I see Ganga happy, my heart feels like it is pierced with knives. My chest burns like wet dung piles. You keep praising yourself, why don’t you think of killing the boy? Our family will be in pain because of that boy.” Prithi Chand heard this and told her to be calm and patient: “the boy wasn’t supposed to survive. He survived because many Sikhs did Ardaas. They read Gurbani and Guru Arjan Dev ji sang Shabads. They worshipped Chandi. To nullify my words, they gave a lot of donations. My words will be true. I will kill the boy quickly. I will fulfill your wishes. My efforts from before were unsuccessful. This time, I will surely be successful. Sri Hargobind will go to the dimension of the Jumms. The Gurta Ghaddi will go to my children. The trouble will be gone. Our son will be the Guru and Sikhs from far away will come to worship him. The Bedis, Trehans and Bhallas will not get the Gurta Ghaddi. Only the Sodhis can have the Gurta Ghaddi. There are only three of us. I am the eldest. Mahadev is naïve and does not want to be the Guru. We will kill Guru Arjan Dev ji’s son. He will not have any more children. Only my son will survive and we will be the Guru. Let go of your worries. My words are true. You don’t trust me. This is a reason why my words don’t come out to be true. Just watch what I do in the next few days. There is a Brahmin who will kill Sri Hargobind. This Brahmin is a person who plays with Sri Hargobind. He looks after him. I have spoken to him. I will give him money and make him give the boy poison. Nobody will know what happened.” Karmo heard this and said: “this will be good. I will be happy then.” They were still worried but got up, thinking they were going to succeed. They were going to go ahead to kill Sri Hargobind ji by bribing his babysitter.
After a few days, Prithi Chand got the opportunity to speak to the Brahmin who worked in the home of Guru Arjan Dev ji. At night time, he called for the Brahmin, sending one of his servants. As the Brahmin came, Prithi Chand had him seated with respect. He said to him: “I like your personality. I like you. I have seen you do a lot of Seva. You serve Guru Arjan Dev ji day and night. You do everything they say. I would want to keep a person like you, with me. I would take care of you better. You are getting older and they pay you less. We will keep you happy. Guru Arjan Dev ji is my younger brother but he doesn’t value you. They don’t see how much you do. They give you less. I can value a person better.” The Brahmin said to him: “Guru ji, I need to make a living. I do everything they say without laziness. I didn’t get a job anywhere else. I play with their son and I get paid little. I stay awake all day and keep the boy. The boy keeps me occupied. I pick him up all day and my legs get tired. He doesn’t let me sit. If I sit, the boy starts to cry. The boy is thick and heavy. He is stronger than the average kid. I get tired when I pick him up. I have no other choice but to work there. The boy doesn’t go to anyone else. There are other servants but Sri Hargobind ji only stays with me. I keep him happy, that’s why he doesn’t go to anyone else.” Prithi Chand then spoke: “I want you to do something for me. If you can do this task, I will give you a lot of money. You will be set for life if you are successful. You will live an easy life. Nobody else besides you can do this.” The Brahmin folded his hands and said: “tell me what you want me to do? You want to give me a lot of money. I will surely do what you want me to do. If I am to be happy, I will do your work. King or pauper, everyone wants to prosper and be in joy.” Prithi Chand said to the Brahmin: “first grab your Janyow and take an oath. I promise to give you a lot of money. The two of your ears and the two ears of mine will hear this. There will not be a fifth ear between us. I will pay you as much as you want. There won’t be any doubt after taking an oath. We need to trust each other. The task is confidential. Grab your Janyow and promise me you won’t tell anyone. You will do my work and I will do yours.” The greedy Brahmin grabbed his Janyow and said: “I will not tell anyone what you want me to do. If I can do your task, I will surely do it. If I can’t do it, I won’t tell anyone else.” Prithi Chand was satisfied now. He then told the Brahmin his task: “oh Brahmin, do this favour for me and take all the money you want. You must give poison to Sri Hargobind ji. This is my task. When I see him, I feel like my chest is pierced with a knife. Guru Arjan Dev ji’s boy should die. My son will be the Guru then. If the boy stays alive, he will be the Guru and we will be poor. I will pay you 500 Rajitpuns right now. I will pay you more for the rest of your life.” The Brahmin heard Prithi Chand and went quiet. Prithi Chand spoke further: “I swear on my Janyow that I will pay you. I will fulfill your other wishes too. Tell me if you want something else instead. I don’t lie. Don’t worry. Only you can do this task because Sri Hargobind ji only stays with you. Don’t let Mata Ganga ji see you. Give him poison when nobody is looking. I can’t trust anyone else. When he dies, just say that he had a stomach ache and died. Nobody will know that he had poison. They will think he ate something rotten. I will take your side if someone suspects you. I will scold the people who try to say something bad about you. If you feel danger, come straight to me. Nobody will do anything bad to you. If you get fired, I will keep you.” The Brahmin got enticed by money and became greedy. He said to Prithi Chand: “Mata Ganga ji keeps a strict eye on the boy. Nobody can do as they please in front of her. I can’t take the boy out of the house. The servants and maids do all the work in the house.” Prithi Chand responded: “use your wisdom and wit. Do this quickly and get it over with. Give the boy poison inside the home. Don’t take him out of the home. Ganga ji will not know. Don’t be scared. Come straight to me.” In this way the Brahmin was promised money. The two sat late into the night and hatched their plans. Both were sinners. Prithi Chand gave the Brahmin a strong poison to give to Sri Hargobind ji.
The Brahmin came back to Guru Arjan Dev ji’s home, where he slept every night. He took the poison that Prithi Chand gave him and grinded it to a fine powder. He placed the poison in a small pouch and put it in his turban. He wanted to give Sri Hargobind ji the poison in the morning. He didn’t sleep at night and thought about his task all night long. He made preparations to kill Sri Hargobind ji. He was a Brahmin but his mind was corrupt. He got up in the morning and wanted to do the sinful task, quickly.