Ageless saga retold

Roopinder Singh

WE do not have any definitive account of the life and times of Guru Nanak Dev, but for centuries, janamsakhis have filled the void. While these largely coalesced on major biographical details, there were differences in the various recensions that became popular at different times. The historical value of the janamsakhis has been a subject of debate among scholars, but these have a major emotional connect with those who want to know more about the founder of the Sikh faith.

Generations of people in Punjab and elsewhere have grown up hearing the janamsakhi episodes recited by elders of the family, indeed so much so that they have developed into the fount of parables around Guru Nanak’s life, a comfortable way to learn about his teachings. 

Guru Nanak travelled far and wide and there are many episodes that are woven around his travels. The Sacha Sauda story is one of how a simple trip from the Talwandi village to the nearby town became a journey of spiritual significance as the young Nanak decided that the best use of his father’s money, earmarked for trade, was to feed hungry sadhus. Naturally, the father was not pleased, and Nanak faced his wrath, but remained steadfast in his belief that he had done was what he truly believed to be a true bargain.

Then there is the episode of him challenging a qazi in Sultanpur and showing him how his mind was distracted during prayers, and thus what he had performed was an empty ritual. This was an early indication of a man whose life would be spent challenging conventions and even authority figures, with a characteristically gentle and firm manner. 

He undertook long journeys to take his word to the world. He went to the central and eastern parts of India, to South India and Sri Lanka, to Bihar, Nepal, Leh into Central Asia and all the way to Mecca respectively. It took him over 23 years or so to undertake these udasis. In these, tradition has it, he was accompanied by Mardana, the Muslim bard who played the rabab as the Guru sang divine compositions.

The udasis provide the perfect setting for the Guru’s teachings to be given a practical form, as his encounters with religious figures, traders, pilgrims, mendicants and people involved in everyday activities all underscore his core spiritual values and beliefs. 

The sakhis are not meant to be historical accounts, many of these are apocryphal, and they were written much after Guru Nanak’s time. Naturally, personal interpretations of the narrators colour the content. Oral tradition forms a major source of ancient history and literature in the region and this is what formed the basis of the janamsakhis in the written form. Indeed, sakhis were, till recently, heard rather than read, passed on from one generation to the next in most Punjabi households.

The handsomely produced volume, has pictorial elements that reflect how two artists, the late Sobha Singh and Arpana Cour, imagine the Guru. It explores the sakhis connected with the journeys and while we read these, we go down a familiar road, but on a new vehicle that smoothens out many of the linguistic bumps that we may have encountered earlier, even as some typographical potholes jar us a bit now and then. 

Harish Dhillon was a powerful story-teller who used his felicity of expression to communicate engagingly with a wide audience through his many books. The readers of The Tribune were familiar with his middles, older ones with his short stories too. It is a pity that he did not live long enough to celebrate the release of this book. He has dedicated it to his grandchildren, and not only they, but many others too will enjoy reading an account that is both gripping and informative.