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THM 101

HOME ASSIGNMENT

1st SEM:2012-13

GURU NANAK DEV JI (15-04-1469 to 22-09-1539)
Mughal rule was on the ascendance in 15th Century India, and forcible conversion to Islam
was on the rise. There were repeated onslaughts of Mughal invaders and destruction of
Hindu temples was common occurrence.
Hindu society was deeply divided and mutual betrayal of Hindu Kings was common. Hindus
were therefore badly demoralized and there was an urgent need to protect Hinduism from
the onslaught of Islam.
Influence of Buddha was on the decline and society was fragmented along caste lines. Vedic
Karma Kanda was at its peak and Brahmins with their dogmatic religious beliefs and rituals
had an all-encompassing control over the Hindu society. It was in the above setting that
Guru Nanak’s philosophy was a breath of invigorating fresh air for a demoralized Hindu
society.
Nanak was born during the reign of Bahlul Lodi on 15th April 1469 at Talwandi, in the
Shekupura Tahsil of Lahore district of west Punjab, which is now in Pakistan and its name
has been changed to Nankana Sahib. His, was a Kshatriya family with the sub caste, 'Bedi'
His only other sibling was his elder sister Nanki who was later married to Jai Ram a Khatri,
who was in service of Daulat Khan Lodi, the Governor of Sultanpur. His father was Mehta
Kalian Das known as Mehta Kalu, who was a village patwari. He was an honest and God
fearing man and so was his wife and Nanak's mother Tripta.
As a child Nanak played fair and just with his friends whether they were of lower or higher
caste, Hindu or Muslims, well off or poor. Nanak was brilliant in his studies. His
schoolteacher at the village was surprised at his mental sharpness. Nanak was quick at
learning Mathematics and the communication skills of reading and writing. This
exceptionally gifted child with a spiritual bent of mind told his teacher that without the
knowledge of God, all other knowledge was useless. From the village he went to a `Madarsa',
to learn Persian and Arabic so that at the right time he could succeed his father as the village
Patwari.
Nanak could compose devotional songs, extempore, with a depth of meaning and sang them
with such intensity that he would go into a trance. His Muslim friend named Mardana, who
was an accomplished Rabbab player, gave him accompaniment.
His attitude towards life soon changed and he was mostly found deep in meditation or at
times crying saying that his malady was due to separation from the Lord. He married
Sulakhni and had two sons Sri Chand and Lakhmi Das. Nanak believed that marriage could
not interfere with ones spiritual life. Trying to get Nanak into the family business, his father
sent him to a wholesale market with his servant Bala. Whatever profits Nanak made there
were given away in charity on the way back. Afraid to face his father's wrath Nanak sat for a
long time under a tree, which still exists and is called Sthumb Sahib. Nanak was then sent
to Sultanpur to seek a job in the Governor's office. Soon his friend Mardana the Rabab player

also joined him. They both spent their evenings in meditation, or singing hymns. Nanak
always sent home some of his earnings and spent the rest on the poor and needy.
Enlightenment of Guru Nanak
Nanak went to the river for a morning bath every day. One day when he went for his usual
bath, he did not come out of the river. After three days he appeared, and after remaining
silent for a long time, he said that there was no Hindu or Muslim and each one must labour
to earn and share one's earnings with others.
Thus Nanak was enlightened at the age Thus Nanak was enlightened at the age of about
thirty in 1500 AD. It was also the time when the intolerable rule of Sikander Lodi started.
Nanak traveled far and wide to spread his gospel. He traveled all over India and to Sri Lanka,
and across the Himalayas to west Asia.
During his travel towards the South, Nanak visited the Jagannath Temple of Puri. He was
dissatisfied with the rituals and the way ‘Arti’ was being performed there, as he felt it lacked
the essence of true faith. So he sang his own Arti outside the temple while Mardana played
the Rabbab.
He continued traveling for twenty years. When Nanak was about fifty years of age he bought
a piece of land on the banks of river Ravi in 1520 and started a new township by the name of
Kartarpur. From here a new community developed and grew. His family also joined him,
along with many others. Everyone worked in the fields and shared the harvest. There was a
common kitchen. Every visitor was welcome to partake the meal offered there.
When Mardana passed away Guru Nanak consoled his son Shahjada by saying that when
blessed souls depart no one grieves because they simply go back to their heavenly abode.
Consoled thus Shahjada became his rabbab player.
There was a village named Khadur, where lived a rich man who was a devotee of Durga. His
son Lehna was so impressed by Guru Nanak that he left everything to become his disciple.
The Guru called him Angad, meaning one blessed by the Guru's own hand or ang. He
presented a perfect example of mentor-disciple relationship and became even more devoted
than the Guru's own sons.
When time came for Guru Nanak to depart, he organized a ceremony in which he formally
gave Lehna the seat of the Guru.
Guru Nanak had foreseen his end. On that day he bathed and prayed and laid down covering
himself with a sheet, and breathed his last. His mission was complete.
Guru Nanak was a perfect example of piety, and a person worthy of deep devotion for the
suffering humanity. He was an exceptional man extremely sensitive, very poetic, highly
intelligent and concerned for the suffering humanity. He had a melodious voice and he used
his songs, sung in the native regional language, just like the Sufis, as his medium of
spreading his religious ideas among the uneducated masses of India.

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guru nanak dev ji

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