Guru Angad Dev
Encyclopedia
Guru Angad Dev Ji (31 March 1504 – 28 March 1552) was the second of the ten Sikh Gurus
. He was born in the village of Sarae Naga in Muktsar
district in Punjab
, on 31 March 1504 and given the name Lehna shortly after his birth as was the custom of his Hindu parents. He was the son of a small successful trader named Pheru Mal. His mother's name was Mata Ramo (also known as Mata Sabhirai, Mansa Devi and Daya kaur). Baba Narayan Das Trehan was his grandfather, whose ancestral house was at Matte-di-Sarai near Mukatsar.
In 1538, Guru Nanak Sahib chose Lehna, his disciple, as a successor to the Guruship rather than one of his sons. Bhai Lehna was given the name Angad and designated Guru Angad, becoming the second guru of the Sikhs. He continued the work started by the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Sahib.
He married Mata Khivi
in January 1520 and had two sons (Dasu and Datu) and two daughters (Amro and Anokhi). The whole family of his father had left their ancestral village in fear of the invasion of Babar
's armies. After this the family settled at Khadur Sahib, a village by the River Beas, near what is now Tarn Taran
a small town about 25 km from the city of Amritsar
, the Sikh holy city.
from Bhai Jodha a neighbour who was a follower of the Guru. His mind was captured by the tune and while on his annual pilgrimage to Jwalamukhi Temple he asked his group if they would mind going to see the Guru. Everyone thought this most inappropriate and refused. Not one to shirk his responsibilities, he was after all the guide and leader of the group, he couldn't abandon them with thieves along the way. But man of honor and dharma that he was, the poems and prayers (kirtan) of Nanak still held onto his every thought. So one night without telling anyone he mounted his horse and proceeded to the village now known as Kartarpur
(God's city) to visit with Guru Nanak Ji. As soon as he found the Guru, he threw himself at Nanak's feet. His very first meeting with Guru Nanak Ji completely transformed him. He dedicated himself to the service of Guru Nanak Ji and so became his disciple (Sikh) and began to live in Kartarpur.
Bhai Lehna displayed deep and loyal service to Guru Nanak. Several stories exist which display how Lehna was chosen over the Guru's sons as his successor. One of these stories is about a jug which fell into mud. Nanak's sons would not pick it up; Sri Chand, the older, refused on the grounds that the filth would pollute him, and Lakshmi Chand, the younger, objected because the task was too menial for the son of a Guru. Lehna, however, picked it out of the mud, washed it clean, and presented it to Guru Nanak full of water. A different version of this story counts this as a key part of Guru Nanak deciding upon Lehna for his successor. The Guru's wife, Mataji, said to Nanak "My Lord, keep my sons in mind," meaning that she wished them to be the ones considered for succession to the guruship. Guru ordered them to come, and he threw a bowl into a tank of muddy water. The Guru ordered them to retrieve it for him, and both of them refused to do it. Guru Nanak then asked Lehna to retrieve it, and Lehna promptly complied. In one instance, the Guru orders a wall of his house, which had fallen down, to be repaired. His sons refused to fix it immediately because of the storm that had knocked it down, and the lateness of the hour. They proposed that they send for masons in the morning. Guru Nanak said that he needed no masons while he had his Sikhs, and ordered them to repair it. Lehna started to repair the wall, but Nanak claimed that it was crooked when he was finished, and ordered him to knock it down and build it again. Lehna complied, and Nanak still claimed the wall was not straight. The Guru ordered him to attempt it a third time. At this, the Guru's sons called Lehna a fool for putting up with such unreasonable orders. Lehna simply replied that a servant's hands should be busy doing his master's work. Yet another anecdote exists where Guru Nanak asks his Sikhs and his sons to carry three bundles of grass for his cows and buffaloes, and, as with the other examples, his sons and his followers failed to show loyalty. Lehna, however, immediately asked to be tasked with carrying the bundles, which were wet and muddy. When Lehna and the Guru arrived at the Guru's house, the Guru's wife complained at Nanak's terrible treatment of a guest, noting how his clothes were covered from head to foot with mud. Guru Nanak then replied to her, "This is not mud; it is the saffron of God's court, which marketh the elect." Upon another inspection, the Guru's wife saw that Lehna's clothes had, indeed, changed into saffron. To this day, Sikhs consider the three bundles as important symbols of spiritual affairs, temporal affairs, and the Guruship. In one of the most significant stories, Guru Nanak travels through the forest with his disciples. The Guru made gold and silver coins appear in front of the group, and all but two followers ran to pick them up: Lehna and Bhai Buddha. Guru Nanak led them both to a funeral pyre, and ordered them to eat the corpse that was hidden under a shroud. Bhai Buddha ran away in terror, but Lehna obeyed. When he lifted the shroud, he found the Guru Nanak himself underneath it. In a different version of this story, Lehna is met with Parshad (sacred food) instead of Guru Nanak. Lehna offers the Parshad to the Guru, satisfied to eat of the leavings. Guru Nanak, after this test, reveals the Japji to Lehna, proclaims Lehna is of his own image, and promises that Lehna shall be the next Guru.
Guru Nanak Ji had touched him and renamed him Angad (part of the body) or the second Nanak on 7 September 1539. Before becoming the new Guru he had spent six or seven years in the service of Guru Nanak Ji at Kartarpur.
After the death of Guru Nanak Ji on 22 September 1539, Guru Angad Ji left Kartarpur for the village of Khadur Sahib (near Goindwal Sahib). He carried forward the principles of Guru Nanak Ji both in letter and spirit. Yogis and Saints of different sects visited him and held detailed discussions about Sikhi with him.
Dr Gupta feels that this step, to a certain extent, kept the upper classes among Hindus, to which the Guru belonged, away from Sikhi, partly because they were steeped in the old religious and Brahminical tradition and partly because the Sanskrit tradition fed their ego by giving them a superior caste status to that of the other castes. But, the idea of equality of man was fundamental to the Sikh spiritual system. Thc Guru knew that its association with traditional religious literature would tend to water it down. The matter is extremely important from the point of view of the historical growth and study. Actually, the students of Sikh history know that over the centuries the influence of these old traditions has been very much in evidence. It has sometimes even given a wrong twist to the new thesis and its growth. The educated persons were almost entirely drawn from the upper castes and classes. They had a vested interest, visible also in their writings, in introducing ideas and practices which helped in maintaining their privileges and prejudices of caste superiority, even though such customs were opposed to the fundamentals about the equality of man laid down by the Gurus. For example, the Jats, who were themselves drawn from classes branded as low by the Brahminical system, started exhibiting caste prejudices vis-a-vis the lower castes drawn from the Hindu fold.
Earlier, the Punjabi language was written in the Landa or Mahajani script This had no vowel sounds, which had to be imagined or construed by the reader in order to decipher the writing. Therefore, there was the need of a script which could faithfully reproduce the hymns of the Gurus so that the true meaning and message of the Gurus could not be misconstrued and misinterpreted by each reader to suit his own purpose and prejudices. The devising of the Gurmukhi script was an essential step in order to maintain the purity of the doctrine and exclude all possibility of misunderstanding and misconstruction by interested persons.
The institution of langar was maintained and developed. The Guru's wife personally worked in the kitchen. She also served food to the members of the community and the visitors. Her devotion to this institution finds mention in Guru Granth Sahib.
The Guru earned his own living by twisting coarse grass into strings used for cots. All offerings went to the common fund. This demonstrates that it is necessary and honourable to do even the meanest productive work. It also emphasises that parasitical living is not in consonance with the mystic and moral path. In line with Guru Nanak's teaching, the Guru also declared that there was no place for passive recluses in the community.
Like Guru Nanak, Guru Angad and the subsequent Gurus selected and appointed their successors by completely satisfying themselves about their mystic fitness and capacity to discharge the responsibilities of the mission.
and wrote the first biography of Guru Nanak Ji. He also wrote 63 Salok
s (stanzas), which are included in the Guru Granth Sahib
. He popularised and expanded the institution of Guru ka Langar (the Guru's communal kitchen) that had been started by Guru Nanak Ji.
Guru Angad Ji travelled widely and visited all important religious places and centres established by Guru Nanak Ji for the preaching of Sikhi. He also established hundreds of new centres of Sikhi and thus strengthened its base. The period of his Guruship was the most crucial one. The Sikh community had moved from having a founder to a succession of Gurus and the infrastructure of Sikh society was strengthened and crystallised – from being an infant, Sikhi had moved to being a young child, ready to face the dangers that were around. During this phase, Sikhi established its own separate religious identity.
as his successor (The Third Nanak) before his death. He presented all the holy scripts, including those he received from Guru Nanak Ji, to Guru Amar Das Ji. He died on 29 March 1552 at the age of forty-eight. It is said that he started to build a new town, at Goindwal near Khadur Sahib and Guru Amar Das ji was appointed to supervise its construction. It is also said that the deposed Mughal Emperor Humayun
(Babar's son), while being pursued by Sher Shah Suri
, came to obtain the blessings of Guru Angad Ji in regaining the throne of Delhi.
Audio:
Sikh Gurus
The Sikh Gurus established Sikhism from over the centuries beginning in the year 1469. Sikhism was founded by the first guru, Guru Nanak, and subsequently, all in order were referred to as "Nanak", and as "Lights", making their teachings in the holy scriptures, equivalent...
. He was born in the village of Sarae Naga in Muktsar
Muktsar
Sri Muktsar Sahib is a city and a municipal council in Sri Muktsar Sahib district in the Indian state of Punjab. Sri Muktsar Sahib's historical name was Khidrane dee dhab .-Demographics: India census, Sri Muktsar Sahib has a population of 3,96,030...
district in Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
, on 31 March 1504 and given the name Lehna shortly after his birth as was the custom of his Hindu parents. He was the son of a small successful trader named Pheru Mal. His mother's name was Mata Ramo (also known as Mata Sabhirai, Mansa Devi and Daya kaur). Baba Narayan Das Trehan was his grandfather, whose ancestral house was at Matte-di-Sarai near Mukatsar.
In 1538, Guru Nanak Sahib chose Lehna, his disciple, as a successor to the Guruship rather than one of his sons. Bhai Lehna was given the name Angad and designated Guru Angad, becoming the second guru of the Sikhs. He continued the work started by the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Sahib.
He married Mata Khivi
Mata Khivi
Mata Khivi came from the small town of Sanghar which is now located in the province of Sindh in Pakistan. She was married in 1519 at the age of 13. She was married to Lehna for 20 years before he became the second Guru of the Sikhs.She had 4 children,two boys and two girls. Their names were Bhai...
in January 1520 and had two sons (Dasu and Datu) and two daughters (Amro and Anokhi). The whole family of his father had left their ancestral village in fear of the invasion of Babar
Babur
Babur was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty of South Asia. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant also of Genghis Khan through his mother...
's armies. After this the family settled at Khadur Sahib, a village by the River Beas, near what is now Tarn Taran
Tarn Taran
Tarn Taran may refer to:*Tarn Taran Sahib, a city in Tarn Taran district, Punjab, India*Tarn Taran district, a district in Punjab, India*Tarn Taran...
a small town about 25 km from the city of Amritsar
Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
, the Sikh holy city.
Devotion and service to Guru Nanak Dev
One day, Bhai Lehna heard the recitation of a hymn of Guru Nanak DevGuru Nanak Dev
Guru Nanak was the founder of the religion of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. The Sikhs believe that all subsequent Gurus possessed Guru Nanak’s divinity and religious authority, and were named "Nanak" in the line of succession.-Early life:Guru Nanak was born on 15 April 1469, now...
from Bhai Jodha a neighbour who was a follower of the Guru. His mind was captured by the tune and while on his annual pilgrimage to Jwalamukhi Temple he asked his group if they would mind going to see the Guru. Everyone thought this most inappropriate and refused. Not one to shirk his responsibilities, he was after all the guide and leader of the group, he couldn't abandon them with thieves along the way. But man of honor and dharma that he was, the poems and prayers (kirtan) of Nanak still held onto his every thought. So one night without telling anyone he mounted his horse and proceeded to the village now known as Kartarpur
Kartarpur
Kartarpur , was established by Guru Nanak in 1522. When Guru Nanak died, Hindus and Muslims disagreed on how to perform his last rites. A samadh lies in the Gurudwara and a grave lies on the premises as a reminder of this discord...
(God's city) to visit with Guru Nanak Ji. As soon as he found the Guru, he threw himself at Nanak's feet. His very first meeting with Guru Nanak Ji completely transformed him. He dedicated himself to the service of Guru Nanak Ji and so became his disciple (Sikh) and began to live in Kartarpur.
Bhai Lehna displayed deep and loyal service to Guru Nanak. Several stories exist which display how Lehna was chosen over the Guru's sons as his successor. One of these stories is about a jug which fell into mud. Nanak's sons would not pick it up; Sri Chand, the older, refused on the grounds that the filth would pollute him, and Lakshmi Chand, the younger, objected because the task was too menial for the son of a Guru. Lehna, however, picked it out of the mud, washed it clean, and presented it to Guru Nanak full of water. A different version of this story counts this as a key part of Guru Nanak deciding upon Lehna for his successor. The Guru's wife, Mataji, said to Nanak "My Lord, keep my sons in mind," meaning that she wished them to be the ones considered for succession to the guruship. Guru ordered them to come, and he threw a bowl into a tank of muddy water. The Guru ordered them to retrieve it for him, and both of them refused to do it. Guru Nanak then asked Lehna to retrieve it, and Lehna promptly complied. In one instance, the Guru orders a wall of his house, which had fallen down, to be repaired. His sons refused to fix it immediately because of the storm that had knocked it down, and the lateness of the hour. They proposed that they send for masons in the morning. Guru Nanak said that he needed no masons while he had his Sikhs, and ordered them to repair it. Lehna started to repair the wall, but Nanak claimed that it was crooked when he was finished, and ordered him to knock it down and build it again. Lehna complied, and Nanak still claimed the wall was not straight. The Guru ordered him to attempt it a third time. At this, the Guru's sons called Lehna a fool for putting up with such unreasonable orders. Lehna simply replied that a servant's hands should be busy doing his master's work. Yet another anecdote exists where Guru Nanak asks his Sikhs and his sons to carry three bundles of grass for his cows and buffaloes, and, as with the other examples, his sons and his followers failed to show loyalty. Lehna, however, immediately asked to be tasked with carrying the bundles, which were wet and muddy. When Lehna and the Guru arrived at the Guru's house, the Guru's wife complained at Nanak's terrible treatment of a guest, noting how his clothes were covered from head to foot with mud. Guru Nanak then replied to her, "This is not mud; it is the saffron of God's court, which marketh the elect." Upon another inspection, the Guru's wife saw that Lehna's clothes had, indeed, changed into saffron. To this day, Sikhs consider the three bundles as important symbols of spiritual affairs, temporal affairs, and the Guruship. In one of the most significant stories, Guru Nanak travels through the forest with his disciples. The Guru made gold and silver coins appear in front of the group, and all but two followers ran to pick them up: Lehna and Bhai Buddha. Guru Nanak led them both to a funeral pyre, and ordered them to eat the corpse that was hidden under a shroud. Bhai Buddha ran away in terror, but Lehna obeyed. When he lifted the shroud, he found the Guru Nanak himself underneath it. In a different version of this story, Lehna is met with Parshad (sacred food) instead of Guru Nanak. Lehna offers the Parshad to the Guru, satisfied to eat of the leavings. Guru Nanak, after this test, reveals the Japji to Lehna, proclaims Lehna is of his own image, and promises that Lehna shall be the next Guru.
Guru Nanak Ji had touched him and renamed him Angad (part of the body) or the second Nanak on 7 September 1539. Before becoming the new Guru he had spent six or seven years in the service of Guru Nanak Ji at Kartarpur.
After the death of Guru Nanak Ji on 22 September 1539, Guru Angad Ji left Kartarpur for the village of Khadur Sahib (near Goindwal Sahib). He carried forward the principles of Guru Nanak Ji both in letter and spirit. Yogis and Saints of different sects visited him and held detailed discussions about Sikhi with him.
Guru Angad Dev ji (1539–1552)
Guru Angad invented the present form of the Gurmukhi script. It became the medium of writing the Punjabi language in which the hymns of the Gurus are expressed This step had a far-reaching purpose and impact. First, it gave the people who spoke this language an identity of their own, enabling them to express their thought directly and without any difficulty or transliteration. The measure had the effect of establishing the independence of the mission and the followers of the Guru. Secondly, it helped the community to dissociate itself from the Sanskrit religious tradition so that the growth and development of the Sikhs could take place unhampered and unprejudiced by the backlog of the earlier religious and social philosophies and practices. This measure, as shown by the subsequent growth of Sikhi, was essential in order to secure its unhindered development and progress as it required an entirely different approach to life.Dr Gupta feels that this step, to a certain extent, kept the upper classes among Hindus, to which the Guru belonged, away from Sikhi, partly because they were steeped in the old religious and Brahminical tradition and partly because the Sanskrit tradition fed their ego by giving them a superior caste status to that of the other castes. But, the idea of equality of man was fundamental to the Sikh spiritual system. Thc Guru knew that its association with traditional religious literature would tend to water it down. The matter is extremely important from the point of view of the historical growth and study. Actually, the students of Sikh history know that over the centuries the influence of these old traditions has been very much in evidence. It has sometimes even given a wrong twist to the new thesis and its growth. The educated persons were almost entirely drawn from the upper castes and classes. They had a vested interest, visible also in their writings, in introducing ideas and practices which helped in maintaining their privileges and prejudices of caste superiority, even though such customs were opposed to the fundamentals about the equality of man laid down by the Gurus. For example, the Jats, who were themselves drawn from classes branded as low by the Brahminical system, started exhibiting caste prejudices vis-a-vis the lower castes drawn from the Hindu fold.
Earlier, the Punjabi language was written in the Landa or Mahajani script This had no vowel sounds, which had to be imagined or construed by the reader in order to decipher the writing. Therefore, there was the need of a script which could faithfully reproduce the hymns of the Gurus so that the true meaning and message of the Gurus could not be misconstrued and misinterpreted by each reader to suit his own purpose and prejudices. The devising of the Gurmukhi script was an essential step in order to maintain the purity of the doctrine and exclude all possibility of misunderstanding and misconstruction by interested persons.
The institution of langar was maintained and developed. The Guru's wife personally worked in the kitchen. She also served food to the members of the community and the visitors. Her devotion to this institution finds mention in Guru Granth Sahib.
The Guru earned his own living by twisting coarse grass into strings used for cots. All offerings went to the common fund. This demonstrates that it is necessary and honourable to do even the meanest productive work. It also emphasises that parasitical living is not in consonance with the mystic and moral path. In line with Guru Nanak's teaching, the Guru also declared that there was no place for passive recluses in the community.
Like Guru Nanak, Guru Angad and the subsequent Gurus selected and appointed their successors by completely satisfying themselves about their mystic fitness and capacity to discharge the responsibilities of the mission.
Community work
Guru Angad Ji is credited with introducing a new alphabet known as Gurmukhi script, modifying the old Punjabi script's characters. There is evidence, however, that this was not the case: one hymn written in acrostic form by Guru Nanak gives proof that the alphabet already existed. Soon, this script became very popular and started to be used by the people in general. He took great interest in the education of children by opening many schools for their instruction and thus increased the number of literate people. For the youth he started the tradition of Mall Akhara, where physical as well as spiritual exercises were held. He collected the facts about Guru Nanak Ji's life from Bhai BalaBhai Bala
Bhai Bala , born in Talvandi Rai Bhoi in a Jatt family. He was a supposed childhood friend and all his life a constant companion of Bhai Mardana and Guru Nanak. According to the Bhai Bala Janam Sakhi's. he travelled with Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana on all their great journeys around the world...
and wrote the first biography of Guru Nanak Ji. He also wrote 63 Salok
Salok
Salok is normally the final verse in a Bani. The final verse in the Japji Sahib is a Salok and the English translation is given below:Salok is normally the final verse in a Bani. The final verse in the Japji Sahib is a Salok and the English translation is given below:Salok is normally the final...
s (stanzas), which are included in the Guru Granth Sahib
Guru Granth Sahib
Sri Guru Granth Sahib , or Adi Granth, is the religious text of Sikhism. It is the final and eternal guru of the Sikhs. It is a voluminous text of 1430 angs, compiled and composed during the period of Sikh gurus, from 1469 to 1708...
. He popularised and expanded the institution of Guru ka Langar (the Guru's communal kitchen) that had been started by Guru Nanak Ji.
Guru Angad Ji travelled widely and visited all important religious places and centres established by Guru Nanak Ji for the preaching of Sikhi. He also established hundreds of new centres of Sikhi and thus strengthened its base. The period of his Guruship was the most crucial one. The Sikh community had moved from having a founder to a succession of Gurus and the infrastructure of Sikh society was strengthened and crystallised – from being an infant, Sikhi had moved to being a young child, ready to face the dangers that were around. During this phase, Sikhi established its own separate religious identity.
Jyoti Joht and successor
Guru Angad Ji, following the example set by Guru Nanak Ji, nominated Sri Amar Das JiGuru Amar Das
Guru Amar Das was the third of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and was given the title of Sikh Guru on 26 March 1552.-His life:...
as his successor (The Third Nanak) before his death. He presented all the holy scripts, including those he received from Guru Nanak Ji, to Guru Amar Das Ji. He died on 29 March 1552 at the age of forty-eight. It is said that he started to build a new town, at Goindwal near Khadur Sahib and Guru Amar Das ji was appointed to supervise its construction. It is also said that the deposed Mughal Emperor Humayun
Humayun
Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of northern India from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–1556. Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early, but with Persian aid, he eventually regained an even larger one...
(Babar's son), while being pursued by Sher Shah Suri
Sher Shah Suri
Sher Shah Suri , birth name Farid Khan, also known as Sher Khan , was the founder of the short-lived Sur Empire in northern India, with its capital at Delhi, before its demise in the hands of the resurgent Mughal Empire...
, came to obtain the blessings of Guru Angad Ji in regaining the throne of Delhi.
External links
- sikhs.org
- sikh-history.com
- sikhmissionarysociety.org
- Guru Angad Ji Biography
- allaboutsikhs.com
- Learn more about Sri Guru Angad Ji
- Guru Angad Sahib Ji
Audio: