The Ādi Granth, or the Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs (1877) · 23

SM. How shall I, the sinful worm, utter thy praises? The speaker art thou thyself, thou thyself singest thy praises. Who sings, reads, hears and writes (them) with an attentive mind: Him surely Hari unites (with himself).

I am a musician, begging at (thy) door: may by thy favour the name be given to me! Give (me) the name, (the bestowing of) gifts and ablution, that I may become fully satiated! The musician has by silent repetition (of the name) obtained comfort, meditating on the lotus-foot. 0 Nanak, it is the prayer of (thy) slave: keep me in thy asylum!

' See about the 3lf^7?5c7> p- l.vviii, note 1.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE OTHER SIKH GURUS. AXGAD. Ixxvii

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE OTHER SIKH GUEUS.

The disciples (Sikhs, fjTtf) of Xanak would no doubt have soon dispersed, and graduallj- dis- appeared, as well as the disciples of many other Gums before Nanak, if he had not taken care to appoint a successor before his death. The disciple, on whom his choice fell, was Laliana,^ who had joined K^anak not long before his death. None of his early disciples seems to have remained with Nanak, and we may fairly conclude that there was not one amongst them who had attained to any degree of learning. The way, in which Xanak used the disciples who attached themselves to his person, was not very conducive to impart to them any considerable knowledge; they were in fact little more than his menial servants (see p. xliii, 1. 18 «^?.). Xo Brahman of any note or learning had, as it appears, joined him, and the mass of the disciples were ignorant Jats, who, on an average, could neither read nor write.

Wliat IXanak looked chiefly for in his successor, were not scientific accomplishments, or a cultivated mind, but blind obedience to the commands of the Guru. The stories, which are told in the Janam-sakhTs, of the total " sacrificium intellectus" of Lahana, are therefore very significant {cf. p. xliv, 1. 1 sqq.; p. Ixxiv, 1. 9 sqq.).

Lahana became first acquainted with!Nanak 'at Kangra, whither he had gone to worship the Devi. He heard there, that Nanak, a great Faqir, was staying there, and after the first interview he attached himself firmly to him and no more left him. This is the relation of the later Janam- sakhJs, whereas the old Janam-sakhi states that Angad became acquainted with Nanak by the medium of another disciple of the village of Khadur (see p. xliii, 1. 3 sqq.), which seems far more probable.

The later Sikh tradition states, that Xanak changed the name of Lahana into that of Angad when conferring on him the Gumship, as being a part of himself^ but the old tradition knows nothing of this neither does the panegyric of Angad in the Granth allude to any such change of name, which, if it had been known at those times, would certainly not have been passed over in silence. The Bhatt Kiratu (Transl. p. 703, V. xv.), on the contrary, gives him both names (" Then Angad Lahana becoming manifest," etc.), from which it would appear, that he bore both names at the same time. I need hardly "remark, that the explanation, which the Sikhs give of the signification of the name of Angad, is altogether fanciful, for '^f^ is an old Hindu proper name and signifies literally: giving (one's) limbs or body.

Angad settled down at the village of Khadur, on the banks of the Biasa, which was very probably his native place. He gained his subsistence by his own handiwork (see p. xlvii, 1. 4) and led the life of a recluse. He was altogether unlettered and could himself neither read nor write, as may be fairly concluded from p. xlviii, 1. 4 from below. The later tradition, which makes him the inventor of the Gurmukhi letters (see Sikha de raj dl vithia, p. 20, 1. 13 sqq.), is therefore without any foundation.

' (Also written: LahinS), a Tihuii ( = Triliun, Tehun) Khatri (p..\lvii, 1. I). " See p. xlvii, note 1.

Ixxviii SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE OTHER SIKH GURUS. AMAR-DAS.

The few verses of Angad, which are contained in the Granth (marked Mahdlla II.'), are but a poor repetition of the words of Nanak and shallow in the extreme. Being fully aware of the importance of the " successio episcoporum" to the Sikh community, he nominated before his death (4th March, 1552) his devoted servant Amar-das his successor, deeming, like Buba Nanak, neither of his sons worthy of the Guruship.

Guru Amar-das was a Khatri of the Bhalla' clan, born in the village Vasarki (^T*T3^) in the district of Amritsar. The story goes, that he went in his youth on a pilgrimage to Harduar. There a thirsty Pandit drank water fi'om his hands; after he had quenched his thirst, he asked Amar-das, who he was and whence he had come? Amar-das answered, that he was a Bhalla Khatri from the Panjab, from a village called Vasarki. The Pandit asked him further who his Guru was? When Amar-das answered, that he had not taken any Guru, the Pandit felt vexed and said: " Alas! I have committed a great sin, that I have drunk water from this man who has got no Guru! I am a great transgressor, that at the time of being thirsty I did not (first) reflect! how will my transgression now be done away? " On hearing this Amar-das felt much ashamed in his mind; he fell down at the feet of the Pandit and said: " llaharaj, pardon now my fault, as soon as I shall come home, I shall take a Guru."

Wlien he had come home, he began to look out for a Guru. One day he heard, that in the Ticinity, in the village of Khadiir, there was a perfect Guru, Baba Angad, and that he, who would take bis instruction, would cross over (the world of existence), and that in him all qualities, that are required in a Guru, as steadiness, contentment, forbearance, mercy, devotion, etc., are to be found.

Thereupon Amar-das went to Khadur, seized the feet of Guru Angad and said: " 0 Lord, having heard your name I have come to you for the sake of my own salvation; give me mercifully the name of the Guru!" Guru Angad received him kindly and he remained with him, serving him with heart and body.

It is related that Amar-das was so conscientious in the service of the Guru, that he did not eat any bread from the store-room of the Guru, but got his subsistence by carrying round on his back a bundle of salt and oil and selling it to the people.

He was performing to Angad all sorts of menial services, as Angad had done to Nanak. Thus he used to bring daily for the sake of the ablutions of the Guru a large metallic jar of water from the river of Govindval, which was about two Kos distant; out of reverence for his Guru he is said to have made the way from Khadur to Govindval in walking backwards, lest he should turn his back on his Guru. One night, when he was carrying water from the river, he is said to have slipped and to have fallen into a weaver's hole. When the weaver asked his wife who it

' All the Sikh Gurus call themselves " Naiiak " in order to designate themselves as the legitimate successors of Naiiak. For the sake of distinction between them >|OMl "MRjwi (mahalla pahila,.^/-i^ court), V{\ii>}\ ^-rH (mahalla diija, second court), etc.. Is added to tlieir respective compositions in the Granth (see p. Ixxxi); othernise they are also mentioned by the name of \fftrf5T "UTd*11>JT> Ji''^t reign, etc., as the Sililis soon commenced to look on their Gurus as their sovereigns (thence the ad(h'ess: '^^ \\ u*< lo, O true king!). In later times, when Nanak was gradually looked upon as an Avatar, every succeeding Guru was considered as an incarnation of Babii Nanak. In tlie Granth itself no allusion of this kind is found, only tlie Bhatts, whose panegyrics are added at the end of tlie Grantli and wlio know no bounds in tlicir flattery, commence praising Nanak as Avatar.

' In the Granth written 355T bhila, as no letter is doubled in the writing of the Granth.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE OTHER SIKH GURUS. RAM-DAS. Ixxix

■was, slio answered: ""Who will fall at this time? it must be that unfortunate, homeless Amaru."' Amar-das rose and returned to the river and having filled his jar he brought it to the Guru. Angad heard from somebody, that the people were calling Amar-das " the homeless one " (AM l<^i)- Being fully satisfied of his sincerity and devotion, he took him to his neck and said: " Amaiu is not homeless, but from this day the Lord has made him the home of the homeless and the asylum of those, who have no asylum; who will follow him, will obtain great happiness." On that very day Angad put five Paisas and a cocoa-nut before him, bowed his head before him and said to all the societies (of the saints): " Now I am entrusting the throne of the Guruship to Amar-das, bow ye all your heads before him! he is a perfect Guru, the Lord has received him to-day; who will be on his side, he will also be pleasing to the Lord."

After the death of Guru Angad, Amar-das took up his residence at Govindval. He was a humble, patient and pious man, round whom many disciples assembled. Though unlettered, like his master, who could teach him only the few simple tenets +e had heard himself from Nanak, he composed many verses, which were incorporated in the Granth (Mahalla IIL), and which are conspicuous for simplicity and clearness.

The offerings of his numerous disciples enabled him to build a great walled well ( y 1 0 i6\) at Govindval, in which eighty-four steps led down to the water. The Sikhs believe, that whoever sits down on those eighty-four steps one by one and makes ablution and reads the Japjl to the end, gets free from the eighty-four Lakhs of forms of existence and enters paradise. A great Mela is still held every year round that well.

Guru Amar-das died the 14th of May in the year 1574, having appointed in the usual way Eam-das as his successor in the Guruship.

Eam-das was a Khatri of the Sodhi clan (JT^) and a native of the village Gurucakk (J|drJ^).^ He had come in early youth to the house of his grand-parents at Govindval and remained there. His grand-parents were very poor and he sustained them and himself by selling boUed grain

It is said, that one day he sat near the door of Baba Amar-das selling boiled grain, when Amar-das by chance called his family-priest and said to him: " Misr, our little daughter has now become of ripe age, go and look out in some good house (for a suitable partner), that we may betroth her." "When the family-priest had gone, the wife of the Guru said: "For my daughter a lad must be sought of the same age, as the lad there is, who is soiling boiled grain, the girl being of about the same age." At the same time Guru Amar-das said in his own mind: " Our girl is now this lad's, for it is the religious observance of the Khatris, that the thought, which first comes into the mind, must be performed." Having considered this he called that lad and asked: "My dear boy, who art thou?" He answered: "I am a SodhI Khatri." "WTieu Amar-das had heard this he thanked God and said: "Blessed be thou. Lord, that thou hast preserved the honour of my word: for if this lad would be no Khatri, my caste-fellows would reproach me for giving him my daughter." ^ At that very time he put into the hem of the lad the betrothal-presents and a few days after the wedding took place and Eam-das took his wife to his native village Gurucakk.

' The word W^ was very likely added more recently, when Guru Ram-das had taken up his abode there. The real name was therefore only ^37.

' This passage is very significant as to the observance of caste by the earlier Sikh Gurus.

Ixxx SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE OTHER SIKH GURUS. ARJUN.