and what is necessary to say regarding them must be compressed into a few pages.
Nának, the founder of the religion, whose most authentic Janam Sákhi or biography was unearthed by Dr. Trumpp in the library of the India Office, to which it had been presented by the illustrious H. T. Colebrooke, was born in the year 1469, at a village called Talwandi[1] on the bank of the Rávi, near the city of Lahore. He was one of the Khattrí or trading class, and filled the respectable village office of patwári or accountant. Regarding his childhood and youth, the miraculous stories which congeal around the founder of every successful religion are told. He appears to have lived a commonplace life, to have married and had children. Going one day to bathe in the river, he was taken up by angels and carried to the Divine Presence where he received the gift of prophecy and orders to preach the doctrine of the true God on earth. In obedience to this divine mission, Nának abandoned wife and family, and with one follower, named Mardána, he assumed the garb of an ascetic and roamed about the world preaching the new faith. The Sikh biographies give accounts of his wanderings to the north, south, east and west, and to a romantic country, called Gorak Hatari, a kind of Indian Utopia; but during these journeys, filled with incredible marvels, no events of much importance are recorded except the interview of the prophet with the Emperor Bábar, who is described as receiving
- ↑ Afterwards called Nánkhána in honour of the Guru.
