Prithi Chand was the eldest son of Guru Ram Das – the fourth Guru of Sikhism, and the eldest brother of Guru Arjun – the fifth Guru. He wanted to inherit the Sikh Guruship from his father, who instead favored and appointed his youngest son the 18-year old Arjun Dev as the next Guru. Chand was embittered and notably started one of the major subsects of early Sikhism. This subsect came to be labelled as the Minas, literally "unscrupulous scoundrels", by his competition. According to The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Prithi Chand was a Sikh rebel leader who took a "distinctly hostile view" of his brother's appointment. Modern scholars have called his movement one of the unorthodox but influential sects that emerged in the history of Sikhism. Chand was an accomplished devotional poet. He created a parallel scripture which included the hymns of earlier Gurus and his own. His spiritual discourses attracted a large following and the official support of the Mughal Empire. His followers gained control of the Sikh holy city ofAmritsar and neighboring region, while Guru Hargobind – the sixth Guru of Sikhism, had to relocate his Guruship to the Himalayan Shivalik foothills. Chand and his followers rejectedGuru Arjan and Guru Hargobind as the official followers of Guru Nanak – the founder of Sikhism. His poetic abilities and his distribution of hymns of Guru Nanak and those of his own, likely triggered Guru Arjan to formulate and release the official first edition of the Adi Granth. There was a bitter competition between the followers of Guru Arjan and Prithi Chand for three generations. In contemporary Sikhism, the followers and movement led by Prithi Chand are considered as "dissenters". In the hagiographies and official Sikh history written by Chand's opposition, Chand is accused of attempting to poison Hargobind when he was a boy. He and his descendants – Manohar Das and Harji – are also accused of conspiring with the Muslim leaders such as Sulahi Khan to hurt and end the later Sikh Gurus, as well prevent them from entering Amritsar. The Minas literature does not support these allegations, presenting Chand as a devout supporter of Guru Arjan. There is likely "overt bias" against Chand in the competing biographies. Prithi Chand established his Guruship in Kotha Guru. He died there in 1618. His son Manohar Das, popularly known as Miharvan, grew up closely attached to both his father Prithi Chand and his uncle Guru Arjan. Miharvan succeeded Chand-led Sikh sect's fellowship. He was also a literary talent and a "luminary among medieval Sikh and Panjabi litterateurs" states Syan, and he composed hymns under the pen name of Prithi Chand. Prithi Chand and his early Sikh sect claimed to have the Guru Harsahai pothi, the earliest compiled Sikh scripture from the time of Guru Nanak. According to the literature of the Miharvan Sikhs, the pothi was given to Prithi Chand by Guru Arjan and this was in part the reason they claimed authenticity of their hymns and movement. The wars of Guru Gobind Singh against the Muslim commanders and the rise of the militant Khalsa ultimately ended the control of Amritsar by the followers of Prithi Chand. His movement and the "Minas" sect thereafter became largely extinct. According to Gurinder Singh Mann, the Sodhis of Guru Harsahai and of Malwa region are the descendants of the Prithi Chand and Miharvan movement.
