[8] After Aurangzeb won the succession war in 1658, he summoned Guru Har Rai in 1660 to explain his support for the executed Dara Shikoh.

At age 10, in 1640, Guru Har Rai was married to Mata Kishan Devi (sometimes also referred to as Sulakhni) the daughter of Daya Ram.

His elder brother Dhir Mal had gained encouragement and support from Shah Jahan, with free land grants and Mughal sponsorship.

[15][16] Some of the biographies of Guru Har Rai written in the 18th century such as by Kesar Singh Chhibber, and the 19th-century Sikh literature are highly inconsistent.

[7][8] According to Mughal records, Guru Har Rai provided other forms of support to Dara Shikoh as he and his brother Aurangzeb battled for rights to succession.

[18] After Aurangzeb won the succession war in 1658, he summoned Guru Har Rai in 1660 to explain his support for the executed Dara Shikoh.

The katha or discourse style recitals were added by Guru Har Rai to the sabad kirtan singing tradition of Sikhs.

[11] The third Sikh leader Guru Amar Das had started the tradition of appointing Manji (zones of religious administration with an appointed chief called sangatias),[19][20] introduced the dasvandh ("the tenth" of income) system of revenue collection in the name of Guru and as pooled community religious resource,[21] and the famed langar tradition of Sikhism where anyone, without discrimination of any kind, could get a free meal in a communal seating.

[20] The organisational structure that had helped Sikhs to grow and resist the Mughal persecution had created new problems for Guru Har Rai.

The donation collectors, some of the Masands (local congregational leaders) led by Dhir Mal – the older brother of Guru Har Rai, all of them encouraged by the support of Shah Jahan, land grants and Mughal administration – had attempted to internally split the Sikhs into competing movements, start a parallel guruship, and thereby weaken the Sikh religion.

[12] According to a traditional sakhi (with there existing variations of the same tale), when Guru Har Rai was a youth, he was strolling in a garden when the cloak of his garb happened to break a flower off of its stem after coming into contact with it.

[12] One story narrates that Dara Shikoh was close to death after having been poisoned by tiger whiskers, as per tradition, and the treatments offered by his father, Shah Jahan, failed to absolve his illness.

[12] After trying every treatment with no resolve, Shah Jahan eventually made contact with Guru Har Rai for his assistance, with the latter freely offering it to the Mughal prince.