Guru Nanak first Indian saint to utter the word Hindu: Bhagwat

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday called for every Indian, irrespective of their faith, caste and language, to unite and urged them to reconnect with common ancestry.

Framing the Sangh's goal of "uniting the Hindu society" and reiterating that "India is a Hindu Rashtra", Bhagwat said he had met Christians and Muslims who mentioned their gotras to him.

"They have preserved that memory... Christians and Muslims and all of us in Bharat have common ancestors. We have just forgotten that… We are talking to the Muslim society to remove these gaps and distances," said Bhagwat.

The RSS chief said Guru Nanak Dev was the first Indian saint to utter the word Hindu.

Addressing the influencers' dialogue in Bengaluru, the second in a series of four RSS has planned to disseminate knowledge about the Sangh, Bhagwat said Guru Nanav Dev mentioned the word Hindu while describing the atrocities of Babur.

"We are asked why we speak of the Hindu society? That is because the Hindus are responsible for Bharat. The British did not give us nationhood. We are an ancient nation and our core culture is Hindu...

"Whatever description we give ourselves, it leads us to the word Hindu. Babur came through Punjab. At Saidpur, he massacred all people. Guru Nanak Dev was there and he has described it. The first time the word Hindu was uttered by a saint in Bharat, it was by Guru Nanak Dev," said Bhagwat.

He said Guru Nanak spoke of Muslims as one entity because Muslims are a people who worship only Allah and follow the edicts of Quran.

"Guru Nanak Dev then said the word Hindu. This group included everyone else — Vaishnawas, Jains, Buddhists who respect everyone's path. The segment Guru sahib denoted as Muslims believes only they are right and everyone else is wrong. But others were together called Hindu because they say everyone has his own path, they respect diversities, accept diversities, and ask everyone to live and go together and not quarrel because their paths are different," Bhagwat said, describing diversities as "decorations”.