The Sikh Religion/Volume 2/Angad/Life/Chapter IV
Chapter IV
The Emperor Babar was succeeded by his son Humayun. He invaded Gujrat in the Dakhan, and then determined on making an expedition against Sher Shah, who had recently taken possession of Bengal. Humayun was successful at first. He recovered Gaur, then the capital of Bengal, but was at last defeated and obliged to seek safety in flight. Mounted on horseback he plunged into the Ganges; his horse sank, and he himself only escaped drowning by the prompt assistance rendered him by a water-carrier. On crossing the river, he made his way to Agra, and there effected a reconciliation with his brother Hindal, who had previously been his enemy. They with their brother Kamran collected a great force, and this time there were hopes of success for the imperial cause, but Humayun was again defeated near Kanauj, and was obliged to flee from Hindustan. He made his way to Lahore, and there inquired for some wonder-working priest who could restore him his throne and kingdom. He was informed of the greatness of the late Guru Nanak and of the succession of Guru Angad to his spiritual sovereignty, and advised to seek his assistance. Upon this Humayun, taking offerings with him, proceeded to Khadur. The Guru at the time was in a deep trance, minstrels were playing and singing the Guru's hymns, and the Emperor was kept standing. He became violently angry, and put his hand on the hilt of his sword with the intention of striking the Guru. The sword, however, would not come out of the scabbard, a circumstance which gave the fugitive Emperor time to repent of his haste. The Guru, nothing daunted, addressed him: ‘When thou oughtest to have used thy sword against Sher Shah, thou didst not do so. Now when thou comest among priests, instead of saluting them respectfully, thou desirest to draw thy sword on them. In a cowardly manner hast thou fled from the battle, and now posing as a hero thou wishest to attack a body of men engaged in their devotions.’ Humayun repented and craved the Guru's spiritual assistance. The Guru replied: ‘Hadst thou not put thy hand on the hilt of thy sword, thou shouldst at once have obtained thy kingdom. Thou shalt now proceed for a time to thine own country Persia, and when thou returnest thou shalt recover thy possessions.’ The Emperor took his leave, crossed the Indus with great trouble and difficulty, and made his way to his native country. Having obtained a reinforcement of cavalry from the king of Persia, he returned to India, and after a pitched battle recovered his empire and captured Dihli. After his success he felt grateful to the Guru and desired to do him a favour. By this time Guru Angad was no more, and Guru Amar Das reigned in his place. Guru Amar Das sent a message to the Emperor to live honestly, not to desecrate holy places, and not again to come to molest the Guru.
There was a Sikh called Mana who worked in Guru Angad's kitchen. Through good feeding he waxed fat and proud, so that at last he would not obey any of the Sikhs or even perform his ordinary duties. He spent the principal part of his time quarrelling with his fellow Sikhs. He used to say, ‘I am nobody's servant. I am the Guru's Sikh, and I will only do what he ordereth me.’ One day he showed a disposition to work. The Guru told him to serve the saints. He said, ‘I am not their servant, but I will do for thee what thou orderest me.’ The Guru, tired of seeing him suing for service, told him to go to the forest, gather some firewood, and cremate himself. Mana accordingly went to the forest, collected wood, and made a pyre. On setting fire to it and seeing it blaze up he became afraid, and did not relish the idea of death. Mean-while a thief arrived and asked why this great fire? Mana related his whole story. The thief on hearing of the Guru's greatness began to repent, and concluded that he had at last an opportunity of wiping out the sins of his past life. He accordingly said to Mana, ‘Take this casket of gems from me, and let me in exchange for it obey the Guru's order.’ Mana being a greedy man and loving life, a bargain was struck on these terms. The thief obtained faith, cremated himself, it is said, and went to his repose at Guru Nanak's feet. Mana went to the bazar to sell the gems, and was there arrested on suspicion of having stolen them. The result of his trial was that he was hanged, and the stolen gems restored to their owner. ‘So true is it,’ as the Guru subsequently said, ‘that the perverse lose both worlds, and, if folly depart not from the heart, man obtaineth not salvation even by living near the Guru.’
Balwand and Satta continued to please the Guru's visitors with their songs and music; but on seeing his glory increase, their pride and greed increased in the same ratio. They boasted that it was on account of their music the Guru had become renowned. One day an elderly Sikh asked them to sing him a hymn. They made a rude reply, saying, ‘Shall we sing hymns for peasants?’ The Guru on hearing this was not pleased, and, when the minstrels came to sing at the evening seance, turned his back on them. They went round so as to catch his eye, but he again avoided their salutation. They asked what offence they had committed. He informed them and said that, as they would not sing to a Sikh of his, they must not sing to him. They fell at his feet and begged his pardon, which he good-naturedly granted. Their pride, however, was not totally humbled. They determined to sing for the future only on condition that they received higher wages. After a short time they told the Guru that one of their daughters was to be married, and they asked for five hundred rupees to meet expenses. The Guru desired them to wait for two months, and he would settle their accounts at the yearly Baisakhi fair. Balwand said they could not wait so long; they wanted money at once, and pressed him to borrow it for them. The Guru replied that it was not a good thing to borrow, and he asked them to have patience and see what God would do. They then began to address him in an insolent tone: ‘It is we who by singing thy praises have made thee famous. Did we not sing the Guru's hymns, the Sikhs would never make thee offerings. Therefore refuse not our request. If thou choose not to give the money we require, we will go to our homes and sing our hymns there.’
The quarrel was not adjusted, and next morning they did not present themselves. The Guru sent for them, but they failed to answer his summons. He again sent a special messenger to tell them not to delay, but come to him at once. The more, however, the Guru humbled himself, the prouder they became. They replied, ‘The Guru knoweth not our worth. His court shall have no splendour without us. Even Guru Nanak's court would not have been known without the music of Mardana.’ The Guru could endure the ingratitude of the minstrels who owed everything to him, but he could not endure the disrespect shown to Guru Nanak's court, so he cursed them and said, ‘Their children shall wander forlorn, and none shall cherish them.’ The Guru then assigned the duty of singing the hymns to his Sikhs. For a good cause enthusiasts are sometimes found. Bhai Ramu, Bhai Dipa, Bhai Ugarsain, and Bhai Nagauri came from Dalla with two-stringed violins and cymbals, and took the places of the faithless Balwand and Satta. It soon began to rain showers of melody and devotion, and the audiences were delighted. Balwand and Satta on reaching their homes continued to sing the Guru's hymns with the object of withdrawing the Sikhs from the Guru, but in this they completely failed. No one would go to them or listen to their minstrelsy. They found themselves without corn or money to buy it, and then they began to repent of their impudence and imprudence. They said to some Sikhs, whom they expected to perform the office of mediators between them and the Guru, that they would return to their duties, if they even received food and clothes as remuneration. The Sikhs men tioned this to the Guru, but he sternly forbade them to make any representation again on behalf of men who showed disrespect to the house of Guru Nanak. He said he would have the beard and moustaches of any one who again spoke in their favour cut off and his face blackened, and he would then have him mounted on a donkey and led in disgrace through the city.
Two months after this Balwand and Satta went to Lahore to visit one Bhai Ladha, whom they knew to possess great influence with the Guru. They told him all the circumstances connected with their quarrel with the Guru, and begged him to intercede for them. Bhai Ladha said to himself, ‘Here is a chance of doing good. The body and wealth abide not for ever. The only gain is for him who doeth a good action.’ He sent Balwand and Satta on before him, and having shaved his head, blackened his face, and mounted a donkey with his face turned to the tail, went round the city of Khadur, and finally arrived in the Guru's presence. The Guru asked him what guise he had assumed. He said he was merely obeying the Guru's order, and prayed him to be good enough to pardon and reinstate the rebeck-players. ‘The Sikhs err,’ said Bhai Ladha, ‘but the Guru can pardon and mend what is broken.’
The Guru granted Bhai Ladha's request and, commending his self-devotion, took the opportunity of expatiating on the merits of philanthropy: ‘The best devotion is the remembrance of the True Name; the best act is philanthropy: without both of these accursed is man's human birth. He merely vegetateth and heedeth not what is best for him. He is a beast without a tail or horn, and vain is his advent into the world. At the last moment the myrmidons of Death shall firmly seize him, and he shall depart grieving with empty hands. Almsgifts, penance, and sacrifices are not equal to philanthropy. Of the various sins that man commits none is worse than selfishness.’
When the rebeck-players came, they fell at the Guru's feet, but they were too much abashed to lift their eyes to his. He put rebecks into their hands, and ordered them to sing with the same mouths and to the same instruments the praises of Guru Nanak whom they had reviled. They then composed and sang in Guru Nanak and Guru Angad's praises five pauris in the Ramkali ki War, which, when completed by three pauris more, Guru Arjan subsequently included in the Granth Sahib.[1] The composition is known among the Sikhs as the Coronation Ode (Tikke di War). The pauris or stanzas which relate to Guru Nanak and Guru Angad are as follow :—
I
How can the words of him who uttereth the Name of the
Omnipotent Creator be weighed?[2]
Grant us true merits that the gift of supreme salvation
may be ours, and that our sisters and brothers may
share it.[3]
Nanak established his empire by laying a strong foundation
of the fortress of truth.[4]
He placed the crown over Lahina's head, and Lahina repeating
God's praises quaffed nectar.
The true Guru put into Guru Angad's heart the powerful
sword of the Almighty.
The Guru and his disciple Lahina have made the straight
road—hail to Nanak!
The King during his lifetime gave the apostolic mark to
Guru Angad.
II
Guru Nanak proclaimed the accession of Lahina as the
reward of service.
He had the same light, the same ways; the king merely
changed his own body.[5]
The divine umbrella waved over him; he obtained possession
of the throne in the place of Guru Nanak.
Lahina did what Guru Nanak ordered him, and in doing so
licked the insipid stone[6] of Jogism.
The kitchen of the Guru's word was opened; in his
earnings there was no deficiency.
He liberally spent the Masters gift, himself ate, and gave
alms.
The Lord is praised; His light flasheth from the upper
to the lower regions.
On beholding thee, O true King, the filth of different
births hath been cut away.
Since the Guru ordered us to speak the truth, why should
we recede from his order?
His sons would not obey his words; they turned a deaf
ear to their priest.[7]
With evil hearts they became rebels; they took sackloads
of sins on their heads.
Lahina obeyed what the Guru had ordered him, and earned
the reward of his acts.[8]
Let us see who hath lost and who hath gained.
III
Lahina obeyed the orders of Guru Nanak whether necessary
or unnecessary.[9]
The Guru is impartial like the god Dharmraj, and intercedeth
for those who appeal to him.
The True One doeth at once what the true Guru telleth him.
The sovereignty of Guru Angad was proclaimed and the
true Creator ratified the act.
A scion of Guru Nanak exchanged bodies with him and
took possession of his throne.
The people waited at the Guru's door, and the rust of
their sins was filed off.
The darweshes at his gate became happy by uttering the
Master's true name and hymns.
Saith Balwand, Guru Angad's consort Khivi was a good
person who afforded very effectual shade to his disciples.
She distributed the Guru's wealth in his kitchen—rice
boiled in milk and ghi tasting like ambrosia.
The faces of the Guru's Sikhs were bright; those of the
perverse grew pale.
The disciples who toil are accepted in company with their
master.
Mother Khivi's spouse is he who supporteth the earth.
IV
Guru Nanak, in bowing to Guru Angad, reversed the order
of things,[10] and everybody said ‘What is this he hath done?’
King Nanak, the lord of the earth, uttered sublime
sentiments.
Taking a mountain as his churning staff and the snake
as its rope he churned God's word.
He extracted the fourteen gems and illumined the world.
He displayed such power when he tested so great a
man as Angad.
He put his umbrella over the head of Lahina who then
was exalted to the skies.
Guru Nanak's light blended with Guru Angad's, and
Guru Nanak became absorbed in him.
He tested his Sikhs and his sons, and the whole sect saw
what he had done.
It was when Lahina was purified that Guru Nanak
consecrated him.
V
After Guru Nanak, Pheru's son the true Guru, went and
inhabited Khadur.
Devotion, penance, and austerities abide with thee,
O Lahina; great pride with other people.
Greed spoileth men as slime doth water.[11]
Natural light streameth into the Guru's court.
They who can find no shelter elsewhere find it in thee,
O Lahina. Thou art completely filled with the Name, which is wealth
and the nine treasures.
He who slandereth thee shall be ruined.
The people of this world only see with their eyes, but
thou seest afar with thy mind.
Pheru's son the true Guru went and inhabited Khadur
after Guru Nanak.
- ↑ In this narrative we have followed Bhāi Dhiyām Singh Gyāni, grand-uncle of Bhāi Sardūl Singh Gyāni. Bhāi Santokh Singh states that the above composition was written in the time of Guru Arjan. This receives some support from Gur Dās also. He makes ‘Bhāi Ladha parupkāri,’ who interceded with Guru Angad for Balwand and Satta, live in the time of Guru Arjan. It does not, however, follow that Bhai Ladha did not live in the time of Guru Angad also. The statement that the circumstance occurred in the time of Guru Arjan is totally negatived by the internal evidence of the composition itself, if it be carefully examined. It was written by the minstrel Balwand to make his peace with Guru Angad. Satta afterwards, as we shall see, added three pauris to it in the time of Guru Arjan when the apotheosis of the Guru had become complete. The pauris were added with the intention of making a complete panegyric on the Gurus up to the time of Guru Arjan, and obtaining for the ode the honour of insertion in the Granth Sāhib.
- ↑ Also translated—He whose name is the Omnipotent Creator doeth everything; how can His words be weighed?
- ↑ Also translated—Grant us virtues, truth, &c., as our sisters and brothers.
- ↑ Also translated—Nanak established the true empire and made firm the foundation of his fortress.
- ↑ That is, assumed another form.
- ↑ So called because man must suffer worldly discomfort while striving to obtain union with God.
- ↑ A reference to Gur Dās, Wār I, 38, and XXVI, 33, will show that this line is correctly translated.
- ↑ This is on the supposition that khatiai is read as the last word of the verse. Those who read thatiai translate—What Guru Nanak said he did and what he attempted he successfully accomplished.
- ↑ Ko sāl jiwāhe sali. Also translated—(a) which is better, thistle or rice? (The Guru's sons are thistles, and Lahina rice.) (b) As man doeth good or evil so shall he be accepted.
- ↑ Horio Gang wahāiai. Literally—made the Ganges flow backwards.
- ↑ Balwand here censures himself.