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THE LIFE OF BABA NANAK.
OCTOBER, 1874.]
and 1596 Sainvat, at the advanced age of 70 years, He selected Lehna, a Khatri of the Tihan gót, to be his spiritual successor, and named him Angad, which is fancifully derived from the word Ang Khud, as if the Guru considered him to be his own body. He considered his own sons to be unworthy of the succession, because they were undutiful; and when expostulated with on the subject by their mother he tried their obedience in the following way:-A cat had flung a half-dead mouse at his feet: the Guru ordered his sons to remove it; they drew back, and refused; Lehna without a moment's hesitation obeyed the order. Nának blessed him and said that he was the real son, who obeyed his father. Another miraculous story is told to the same effect. One day they had found a dead body in the adjoining jungle: Nanak said to his followers, "Whoever is my disciple let him eat of that dead body." They all drew back in horror, but Lehna at once stooped down to obey the order, and behold! the body was gone, and a plate of excellent food was in its place. The real truth is that Nânak in his wisdom foresaw the tendency of all hereditary appointments to become abuses: his object was not to found a family who, under a false pretence to sanctity, might lord it over their country, while they practised abominable crimes. He wished to provide for a succession of wise and good teachers of the doctrines which he had himself taught. His intentions have not been carried out; and his sect, as a separate form of the Hindu religion, will soon cease to exist.
Nanak had never abandoned the Hindu nor adopted the Muhammadan religion, but his disciples were of both faiths, and when he died a discussion arose as to the mode in which his body was to be disposed of-the Hindus desired to burn, and the Muhammadans to bury it. They were commencing to fight, when happening to look under the sheet they found that the body was gone, having, no doubt, being removed by some of his disciples. The sheet was cut in half, and one portion was burnt with the usual ceremony, and the other buried with the usual prayers. Both the tomb and the math have since been swept away by the waters of the Ravi.
"In a paper read before the Lahore Missionary Conference, the Rev. W. Keene, B.A., gave some interesting information regarding the Sikhs. The teaching of Nanak, their founder, is at variance with the popular belief of the Hindus on the Godhead, idol-worship, caste, and the immolation of the Hindu widow. The writers of the Granth acknowledge only one Creator, styled 'Kartapurkha;' at present some of the Sikhs, although they do not discard the teaching of the Granth, have returned to the Hindu belief of many creators, and since the taking of the country by the English several have gone back to idolatry. Of caste Nanak says- What power has caste? Know the truth. It is as poison in the hand; eat it and you die." The ancient Sikhs ate together in common. To do so
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Angad succeeded him, and lived and died at Khudur, in Pargarah Taran Taran, of the Amritsar district. He elected as his successor his pupil Amardas, of the Khatri caste and Bala gót, who lived at Govindwal, on the Bias River, at the point where the Imperial Road from Dehli to Lahor crosses that stream; this is marked by a Kos Minår on the high bank. To him succeeded his son-in-law R&mdås, Sodhi gót of the Khatri caste, in whose family the office of Guru, or, as the followers now began to style it, Pâdishâh, became hereditary, till it finally ended in the person of Guru Govind Singh, who converted the peaceful Sikhs into warlike Singhs, and established a state of things deadly hostile, instead of being conciliating, towards the Muhammadans.*
The descendants of Nanak are known as the Bedis, and when the Sikhs became powerful this family became rich and arrogant, living in luxury on the jâghir lands bestowed by the Government, and the collections made from the Sikhs. This last item used to be very considerable, and members of the family travel long distances to Shikârpur and Kâbul to collect their Sikhi Sewaki. They reside chiefly at Derah B&b & Nanak, on the Ravi, near the spot where their great ancestor died, and have in latter years taken very much to
trade.
Lives of Baba Nának, called Janam Sakhis, are very common, but they are so full of fable and invention, displaying such intense ignorance, that they are more calculated to deceive than instruct. The whole life of the Guru has been depicted in a series of pictures, which are often found on the walls of shrines. Every act of his life, true or fabulous, is there narrated. He himself is generally represented as a white-haired venerable old man, with Bâlà fanning him, and Bhai Mardhana playing on the rabáb. From these pictures and oral tradition all the details of his life are well known to the people.
His sayings and his precepts were collected by his successors, and written in the volume called by the Sikhs the Adi Granth, or first volume, to distinguish it from the Second Granth, composed one hundred years later by Guru Govind Singh. This book is written in the dialect used with those of a different creed, and also with Mazbi Sikhs, was, however, never their practice. In the time of Ranjit Singh indiscriminate 'marriages were not contracted; but Brahman Sikhs married with Brahman Sikhnis, and so with the other castes. Now, the Sikhs do not even eat in common, much less contract indiscriminate marriages. Nanak assails sati in the following lines:-Those women are not called Satis who burn on the funeral pile. Nanak says those are Sâtis who die from the blow of separation." As the influence of Nanak's teaching was for good, so was that of Govind for evil. He abused the principles of Nanak to lay the foundations of Sikh independence; but in so doing he roused the very worst passions."-Friend of India, 1863.
