UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Santa Barbara

Growing the Banyan Tree:

Early Sikh Tradition in the Works of Bhai Gurdas Bhalla

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies

by

Rahuldeep Singh Gill

Committee in charge:

Professor Gurinder Singh Mann, Chair

Professor Juan E. Campo

Professor Vesna A. Wallace

Professor David G. White

September 2009
The dissertation of Rahuldeep Singh Gill is approved.

____________________________________________
Juan E. Campo

____________________________________________
Vesna A. Wallace

____________________________________________
David G. White

____________________________________________
Gurinder Singh Mann, Committee Chair

September 2009
Growing the Banyan Tree: Early Sikh Tradition in the Works of Bhai Gurdas Bhalla

Copyright © 2009

by

Rahuldeep Singh Gill

iii
 DEDICATION

For JS Grewal,
who inspired this work,
and GS Mann,
who saw it through.

pavan prasang soī kāsaṭ srīkhanḍ hot

malayā gir bāsanā su manḍ pargās hai

iv
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I began this project as an undergraduate, where my professors at Rochester

pushed me into academe’s “fiery furnace,” and provided deep and lasting

friendships. Dr. Anne Meredith lit the spark, Dr. Douglas Brooks stoked the

flames, Dr. Th. Emil Homerin provided the forge, and Dr. William Scott Green

tested my mettle.

Dr. J. S. Grewal is a patient and tolerant teacher par excellence, to whom Dr.

Gurinder Singh Mann directed me. Dr. Grewal pointed me back to Dr. Mann at

UCSB, and I offer this dissertation in gratitude to these two pillars in the field of

Punjab history. Dr. Mann has shown me more care and patience than I have

deserved, and this dissertation bears the influence of his sharp intellect and steady

pen.

Accessibility and frank guidance are characteristics of many of the scholars at

UCSB, which the esteemed members of my committee — Dr. Juan Campo, Dr.

Vesna Wallace and Dr. David Gordon White — showed me in abundance. I am

also indebted to Dr. Jose Cabezon, Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer, Dr. Richard Hecht,

and Dr. Stefania Tutino for ears lent, and advice dispensed.

Sardar Manjit Singh “Chatrik,” poet (and father-in-law) extraordanaire

helped initiate me into Hindi poetic traditions; conversations with him are always

illuminating. Professor Manjit Singh of McGill University also brightened many of

my days on the banks of the Riviere St. Laurent, and provided great assistance with

v
library use. In my research I have been helped by the benevolence of the Principal

of Khalsa College, and the professionals at the Religion Department there. I owe

an immense debt of gratitude to the professionals at the Bhasha Vibhag (Patiala),

Panjab University (Chandigarh), Punjabi University (Patiala), and Guru Hargobind

Library (Javaddi Taksal at Javaddi Kala).

My Uncle, Sardar Karam Singh and my cousin, Sardar Ramanjeet Singh Gill,

have been generously helpful in finding manuscripts and published books. I also

thank my most supportive Mamajis, Sardars Satinder Singh and Tejinder Singh

Baidwan.

Grants from the University of Rochester (Barth Crapsey Research Grant),

The University of California (President’s Fellowship), and the UCSB Dept of

Religious Studies have helped me accomplish the research for this project. I am

especially grateful to the patrons of the UCSB Center for Sikh and Punjab Studies

for their generous funding of scholars’ travel.

I owe deep debts of gratitude to my colleagues. I respect my fellow students

and alumni from UCSB, and thank them for their confidence. In particular, I must

acknowledge Jessica Andruss, Brian Campbell, David J. Cooper, Analise Glauz-

Todrak, Aysha Hidayatullah, Jonathan HX Lee, Jared Lindahl, Daniel Michon,

Kristina Myrvold (Sweden), Jaeson Plon, Megan A. Sijapati, and Aaron Hahn

Tapper for their selfless assistance with this project’s completion. I also thank Dr.

Susan Prill of Juniata College (who shared with me her deep interest Bhai Gurdas,)

Dr. Preston Browning of Wellspring House, and J. Benjamin Hindes of Stanford

vi
University. My colleagues at California Lutheran University have made my

transition to professional life so smooth, and I eagerly anticipate working with

them.

I thank my friends, without whom nothing is possible, and if it was, it

wouldn’t be worth it anyways. Dr. Veevek Agarwala, didn’t let me look

backwards, Jawad Ahsan often inspired me to look forward, Dr. Mandip Singh

Kalsi is both consigliere and don. I thank the entire family of Mohinder Singh

Kalsi, who provided me space to bunker down for many days to work on this

dissertation. I have benefited greatly from the faith and support of Dean Upinder

Singh Dhillon of the University of Binghampton, and Kirpal Singh Nijher of the

World Sikh Council.

I have leaned heavily on my own family. Most of all I thank Sardar Jiva

Singh Gill, my grandfather, for his devotion. I thank Sardar Amrao Singh Gill, my

father, for his passion. I thank Sardarni Harjinder Kaur Gill, my mother (and first

language teacher), for her resolution. I thank Bibi Ritu and Bibi Harleen, my

sisters, for their wonder.

Love is itself gratitude’s purest form, sufficient in itself. Still, the world

should know that this project was completed only because my wife, Rachna, bore

with me, lifted me out of the lowlands and protected me at the peaks. The process

of writing this dissertation has taken many trying, but memorable, turns, and she

traveled each with me. She gave me a new set of parents to whom I am indebted

for their artistry, faith, and love.

vii
 VITA OF RAHULDEEP SINGH GILL
September 2009

EDUCATION
2009 Ph.D., Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

2006 M. A., Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

2002 B.A. (Honors), Religion, University of Rochester

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

2009 – Assistant Professor, California Lutheran University

2008 Lecturer, Department of Religious Studies, UCSB

2003 – 2007 Teaching Assistant, UCSB

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Sept. 2007 Book review of Precolonial and Colonial Punjab: Society,

Economics, Politics and Culture. Reeta Grewal and Sheena Pall, eds.
(New Delhi: Manohar, 2005), in Contemporary South Asia (Volume
16 Number 3)

January 2005 “Sikh Religion and Holy People” (3000-word entry), Holy People of
the World (ABC-CLIO)

Nov. 2004 “The Folk Songs of Punjab,” Journal of Punjab Studies

With Nahar Singh of Panjab University (Chandigarh, India).

SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS

Dec. 2008 “Tracing the History of the Concept of ‘Guru Granth’ ”

University of California-Riverside’s International Conference in
Sikh Studies.

Nov. 2008 “Opening the Key: Towards a New Perspective on an Early Sikh
Commentator”
American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting

viii
May 2003 “The Public Faces of Sikhism in Caruthers and Los Angeles,
California,”
UCSB Conference on Religious Pluralism in Southern California

SELECTED AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS

2002-2007 University of California Doctoral Scholars Fellowship

Five-Year Funding package, one of the most prestigious offered by
the University of California.

Spring 2007 Fee Fellowship – UCSB Religious Studies Departmental

Summer 2005 Summer Funding – UCSB Center for Sikh and Punjab Studies

FIELDS OF STUDY

Sikh Literature

Islam in South Asia

Religion, Polity, and Material Culture in South Asia

ix
 ABSTRACT

Growing the Banyan Tree:

Early Sikh Tradition in the Works of Bhai Gurdas Bhalla

by

Rahuldeep Singh Gill

This dissertation revisits the life and works of one of the Sikh tradition’s

first and best-known interpretive writers, Bhai Gurdas Bhalla (d. 1636). In

introducing this “Saint Paul” of Sikhism to an English audience, this dissertation

argues that the most important operative methodology to understand Gurdas’s

works is to read his writings in light of the context in which they were written. I

argue that the previous works on Gurdas’s career assume much of the traditional

depictions of his project, few of which are verifiable, many of which are

incongruous amongst themselves and inconsistent with Gurdas’s self-conception in

his own writings.

This dissertation assesses the current understanding of Gurdas’s life by

tracing the development of his biography through history, from the seventeenth to

the twentieth centuries. By revisiting traditional accounts in their chronological

order, I am better able to assess their coloring of Gurdas’s legacy, allowing for a

clearer vision of his project to emerge. Moreover, this dissertation re-dates

x
Gurdas’s works, analyzes them closely for information about early Sikh life, and

shifts the academic focus to his Brajbhasha quatrains, as well as the long Punjabi

poems that have received the majority of scholarly attention thus far.

For centuries, Gurdas’s writings have been a definitive source of

information for Sikh life. I lay out the core beliefs that Gurdas espouses in his

writings, and examine how they functioned in community construction. I

investigate the conduct codes and ethics that Gurdas advances in his works, and

also use them to help reconstruct early Sikh practices. I argue that, through his

writings, Gurdas was successful in helping his tradition to overcome sectarian

strife, and ensured his sectarian group’s dominance in the Sikh tradition. The

dissertation concludes with an analysis of Gurdas’s project and presents an updated

biography of this important Sikh thinker.

xi
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Chapter One: Sources for the Study of Gurdas’s Career 18

Chapter Two: An Introduction to Gurdas’s Works 53

Chapter Three: Three Shelters: Early Sikh Beliefs 80

Chapter Four: Walking the Straight Path: Early Sikh Ethics 119

Chapter Five: Bodies in Bliss: Early Sikh Practices 156

Chapter Six: A Banyan Orchard: Gurdas’s Vision of Sikh Ascendance 194

Conclusion: Bhai Gurdas Bhalla in Context and Legacy 227

Bibliography 240

xii
 Introduction

Recent monographs have treated various Sikh texts of the pre-modern period.

Scholars have traced the development of Sikh scripture in the 1500s, showing the

steady growth of the burgeoning Sikh community around a clearly delineated

scriptural canon.1 Adding to the scholarship of that early period, many scholars

have recently translated and interpreted Sikh scripture, adding to a sizable

collection of literature on the subject.2 The early hagiographic traditions have also

been treated,3 and biographies of the Sikh Gurus, the tradition’s founding figures,

have been advanced.4 Scholars have done commendable work editing and

translating Sikh codes of conduct, and have shown the development of the Sikh

1
Gurinder Singh Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001),
Pashaura Singh, The Guru Granth Sahib: Canon, Meaning, and Authority (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2003).
2
Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, The Name of My Beloved: Verses of the Sikh Gurus (New Delhi:
Penguin Books India, 2003). Christopher Shackle and Arvind-pal Singh Mandair, eds., Teachings of
the Sikh Gurus: Selections from the Sikh Scriptures (New York: Routledge, 2005).
3
W. H. McLeod, Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999). W.
H. McLeod, Early Sikh Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), Kirpal Singh, The
Janamsakhi Tradition: An Analytical Study (Amritsar: Singh Brothers, 2004).
4
See J. S. Grewal, Guru Nanak in History (Chandigarh: Panjab University Publications Bureau,
1969). See also Pashaura Singh, Life and Work of Guru Arjan (New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
2006). Dr. Grewal has updated his previous findings on Guru Gobind Singh: J. S. Grewal, "Guru
Gobind Singh: Life and Mission," Journal of Punjab Studies (Special Issue on Guru Gobind Singh)
15, no. 1 & 2 (2008). Other articles in this journal issue also provide excellent new directions for the
reconstruction of the tenth Guru’s life.

1
moral tradition from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries.5 Recent doctoral

dissertations promise forthcoming monographs adding new insights to the

development of the Sikh martial tradition from the eighteenth century onwards.6

Bhai Gurdas Bhalla

Sikh history in the seventeenth century, however, remains largely

unexplored.7 One vital group of writings from the period between the compilation

of Sikh scripture around 1600 and the elevation of the Khalsa around 1700, offer a

mine of information that has not yet been adequately examined. I refer here to the

writings of Bhai Gurdas Bhalla (d. 1636), whose corpus, according to Sikh scholar

Hew McLeod, “constitute[s] a source of considerable importance, one which has

yet to receive the close scrutiny and analysis which it deserves”.8 These words ring

5
W. H. McLeod, Sikhs of the Khalsa: A History of the Khalsa Rahit (New Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 2003), Nripinder Singh, The Sikh Moral Tradition: Ethical Perceptions of the Sikhs in the
Late Nineteenth / Early Twentieth Century (New Delhi: Manohar, 1990).
6
Purnima Dhavan, "The Warriors' Way: The Making of the Eighteenth-Century "Khalsa Panth""
(Ph.D., University of Virginia, 2003). Anne Murphy, "The Material of Sikh History" (Ph.D.,
Columbia University, 2005).
7
By the seventeenth century, the early Sikh tradition was a minority religion situated amongst a
broader context of Muslim and Hindu practitioners. Islam had been in South Asia since Arab
traders introduced it there in the seventh century. In the eighth century Muhammad bin Qasim
brought Sindh under the Umayyad Caliphate, and Mahmud of Ghazna conqured Lahore in the tenth
century. Sunni, Shi’a, and Sufi varieties of Islam thrived in Punjab for centuries before the
foundation of the Sikh tradition. Amongst Hindu elements of society, the Nath Yogis were a factor
in rural Punjab, while the Vaishnava practitioners provided the urban expression of Hindu practices.
For an introduction to the Sikh tradition, see: J. S. Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab, Revised (II.3)
ed. (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 1999). See also Gurinder Singh Mann, Sikhism
(Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2004).
8
W. H. McLeod, Early Sikh Tradition : A Study of the Janam-Sakhis (Oxford : Clarendon Press:
New York, 1980), 7.

2
even more true today than when they were written three decades ago. Thus the

present study takes up the life and legacy of this important Sikh to fill this

academic void.

The writings of Bhai Gurdas Bhalla (hereafter, Gurdas) 9 are the most

prominent interpretive works in the Sikh literary tradition, second only to the

compositions of the Gurus themselves. Gurdas wrote over 1500 stanzas of poetry

of two types: long Punjabi poems known as vārs, and quatrains in Brajbhāshā,

which are frequently referred as the kabitt-savaiyyās, or simply, kabitts.10 As early

as the eighteenth century, Sikh writers quoted Gurdas’s works as authoritative

sources for Sikh life.11 From the early nineteenth century onward, British

observers’ Sikh informers directed the outsiders to Gurdas’s vārs to understand

Sikh beliefs and history. Early twentieth century Sikh intellectuals relied heavily

on Gurdas’s ideas as they helped their tradition confront the challenges of

modernity.12

Today, these writings are a definitive source of authority on Sikh beliefs.

Because his works clarify some of the fundamental issues in Sikh life, Gurdas is

9
Bhai is a title of respect, meaning “brother” and Bhalla was his family name. As we will see
below, Gurdas was referred to Bhai as early as 1700, and most likely during his own lifetime.
10
Subsequently, vārs will be denoted by the abbreviation “v,” followed by decimals and numerals
for vār number, stanza number, and line number. Similarly kabitts will be represented with “k,”
followed by the stanza and line numbers.
11
The first of these was the Rahitnama of Chaupa Singh, treated in the next chapter.
12
Among these modernist writers were Bhai Kahn Singh and Bhai Jodh Singh. Their reliance on
Gurdas is treated in the next chapter.

3
only one of two writers outside of the scriptural canon whose compositions are

approved for recitation in Sikh worship.13 Gurdas’s body of writings has been

considered by Sikhs to be a storehouse of Sikh ideals, and the definitive

commentary on Sikh scripture.

As a historical figure, Gurdas stands among the prominent personalities in the

Sikh tradition. He is depicted as a traveling preacher of Sikh tenets, an exemplar of

Sikh ethics, a trusted advisor to the Sikh Gurus, and the scribe of an early Sikh

scriptural manuscript, known today as the Kartarpur Pothi. Within seven decades

of its founder’s death, the Sikh community witnessed the fifth Guru’s execution,

and its increased politicization under the sixth Guru. J. S. Grewal, the leading Sikh

historian, has noted that Gurdas lived through a time of decisive transition for the

Sikh tradition.14

Gurdas’s works not only reflect such important historical changes, but

articulate the foundations on which major late seventeenth and early eighteenth

century developments in Sikh history—such as the elevation of the community to

Khalsa and the abolition of personal Guruship—were possible.15 Via the critical

examination of Gurdas’s writings, we will witness the process by which a religious

13
Sikh Rahit Maryada, (Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, 1978).
14
I argue that his works are a response to the crisis, and therefore provide an incomparable resource
to understand what internal change in the community looked like.
15
These developments begin in the late 1690s, with the tenth Sikh Guru’s (Guru Gobind Singh)
elevation of the community to Khalsa (“the pure”), announcing it that was free from mediation by
local leaders and was answerable directly to the Guru. At his death in 1708, when the Guru named
no human successor, the Guru Granth (Sikh scripture) and Panth (the community as a whole) shared
the authority office of Guru.

4
tradition crystallizes its perception of itself and other communities in its context.

This will advance the historiography of the Sikh tradition, our understanding of the

tradition’s self-conception, and our knowledge of its doctrinal, textual, and ritual

bedrock.

Late Twentieth Century Scholarship

Scholars writing in English about the Sikh tradition have, for decades, looked

to Gurdas’s vārs as historical sources. W. H. McLeod uses Gurdas’s vārs as a

touchstone to date and authenticate other important Sikh manuscripts, and counter

the traditional date of Nanak’s birth.16 The vārs are pivotal to Surjit Hans’

Reconstruction of Sikh History.17 Nripinder Singh says the intellectual history of

the Sikhs begins with Gurdas, and his writings are foundational to the tradition’s

later ethical writings.18 J. S. Grewal relies on the vārs to build the history of the

early community.19 In his Making of Sikh Scripture, Gurinder Singh Mann uses

Gurdas’s vārs to reconstruct the earliest phases of Sikh history.20 Historians look to

Gurdas’s accounts of Nanak’s life to uncover details often overlooked by other

16
McLeod, Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion, 17, 18n, 21, 94-5.
17
Surjit Hans, A Reconstruction of Sikh History from Sikh Literature (Jalandhar, India: ABS
Publications, 1988), 180-3.
18
Singh, The Sikh Moral Tradition: Ethical Perceptions of the Sikhs in the Late Nineteenth / Early
Twentieth Century, 20.
19
Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab, 50-80.
20
Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture, 7, 19, 118.

5
traditional sources — for example, that Nanak carried with him on his travels a

collection of his own compositions.21 Lou Fenech says that the concept of

martyrdom in the Sikh tradition does not become salient until the eighteenth and

nineteenth centuries, and uses Gurdas’s vārs to argue for a lack of concern with

martyrdom in early Sikh literature.22 Pashaura Singh relies heavily on Gurdas’s

vārs for reconstruction of Guru Arjan’s biography.23

Scholars writing in Punjabi have done the vast majority of modern research

on Gurdas, and this dissertation will build on that body of work. Critical treatments

of Gurdas’s life and works first appear in the mid-to-late twentieth century. Also

beginning at that time, Gurdas’s corpus was used as a historical source for the

reconstruction of early Sikh life. Relying largely on his depiction in nineteenth

century traditions, leading literary critics and historians of Punjabi literature

produced multiple monographs on Gurdas. Reference literature on his works and

translations of his works emerge during the late twentieth century as well.

Harinder Singh Roop’s Bhai Gurdas is the first in a series of Punjabi

monographs detailing traditions about this important figure’s life and providing

critical examination of his works.24 After Roop, Sant Singh Sekhon, the leading

21
Ibid., 36.
22
Louis E. Fenech, Martyrdom in the Sikh Tradition: Playing the 'Game of Love', Paperback ed.
(New Delhi: Oxford India Press, 2005), 9.
23
Singh, The Guru Granth Sahib: Canon, Meaning, and Authority.
24
Harinder Singh Roop, Bhai Gurdas (Amritsar: Hind Publishers, 1952).

6
Punjabi literary critic of the twentieth century, approaches Gurdas’s project from a

Marxist perspective, interpreting the vārs (he leaves aside the kabitts) as

revolutionary documents.25 According to Sekhon, Bhai Gurdas articulates the anti-

establishment, anti-Mughal grumblings that arose from the agrarian base of the

Sikh population, and this, for Sekhon, explains their utilization of a rustic Punjabi

idiom.26

These monographs establish precedent for the studies on Gurdas’s life and

works, both in terms of their structure and approach. For example, like Sekhon

before him, Rattan Singh Jaggi, a scholar of Sikh literature, discusses Gurdas’s

doctrinal articulations as central tools in the Sikh movement’s attempts to establish

a "new society” in Northern India, with a populist, anti-establishment orientation.27

Kishan Singh argues that Gurdas’s centrality to the Sikh tradition lies in his works’

ability to articulate the central beliefs of the scripture and parallel it as a

revolutionary text.28

Darshan Singh’s work expands upon Jaggi’s brief monograph (which was

first published in 1974), following the clear paradigm for the presentation of

Gurdas’s life and works set before him. Darshan Singh’s monograph, however,

25
Sant Singh Sekhon, Bhai Gurdas: Ik Adhiain (Ludhiana: Lahore Book Shop, 1975).
26
Ibid., 86.
27
Rattan Singh Jaggi, Bhai Gurdas: Jīvan Te Rachna, Third ed. (Patiala: Punjabi University
Publication Bureau, 2000).
28
Kishan Singh, "Bhai Gurdas Te Samajak Banhtar," in Bhai Gurdas: Jivan Te Rachna, ed. Kapur
Singh Ghuman (Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag, 1983).

7
stands on its own as the most comprehensive treatment of the data for Gurdas’s life

and works in any language.29 Darshan Singh recognizes that Gurdas’s works are

written purposefully for the clear elucidation of Sikh beliefs during a time when

detractors of the community sought to dislodge Sikh religious power.

In terms of the structure of the monographs, Harnek Singh Komal, Punjabi

poet and literary critic, follows the set paradigm by building a book out of brief

summaries and primary source quotes on a series of themes pulled from Gurdas’s

vārs. Komal recognizes that the vārs are a key source for knowledge about Gurus

Nanak to Hargobind, and about the social and religious realities of Gurdas’s day.30

According to Komal, Gurdas’s works tell us about the populace’s frustrations with

its contemporary political situation, and Guru Hargobind’s political and military

intentions. They tell us about Hindu-Muslim strife, and the solution to the

problems being available in the Sikh community.31 Brahmjagdish Singh’s is

another solid retelling of Gurdas’s life and an analysis of his works, which fits the

well-trodden structure established by his predecessors.32

Of all of Gurdas’s works, Vārs 1 (which includes his life-story of Guru

29
Darshan Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Sikhī De Pahile Viākhiākār, Second ed. (Patiala: Punjabi University
Publication Bureau, 1997).
30
Harnek Singh Komal, Bhai Gurdas: Jīvan Te Rachna (Amritsar: Varis Shah Foundation, 2001),
43-6, 47-50.
31
For examples: God, the Guru, the Guru lineage, Sikh Path, the Congregation, devotion, the
Gurmukh (pious), the manmukh (impious), Truth and falsehood, good and evil, the Guru’s treasury,
creation, the mind, knowledge and ignorance, pleasure and suffering.
32
Brahmjagdish Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Rachana Sansar (Amritsar: Varis Shah Foundation, 2000).

8
Nanak) and 10 (which advances Sikh retellings of some popular Vaishnava myths)

receive the most attention in modern scholarship. Gurdev Singh’s article provides

a literary analysis of the Tenth Vār, while presenting the poem’s virtues to

counterbalance its controversial, Hindu themes.33 Scholars report that particularly

orthodox Sikhs saw the vār as a spurious writing, which could not have been the

work of Bhai Gurdas.34 Ram Singh’s commentary on Gurdas’s First Vār explains

the impetus behind the poem from a traditional perspective. Ram Singh bypasses

the question about whether the miraculous episodes in Guru Nanak’s life that

Gurdas captures can be historically verified.35 Dalip Singh Deep’s “Critical and

Comparative Study” uses Gurdas’s First Vār as a lens to provide an outline of

Gurdas’s thoughts, including those on the six Indian philosophical systems and

Gurdas’s cosmology. Deep and others have been interested in the historicity of

Bhai Gurdas’s Vār and his treatment of Guru Nanak.36

In general, Gurdas’s Punjabi vārs have been treated much more extensively

than the Brajbhāshā quatrains. Focusing on the vārs, Principal Jodh Singh

compares Gurdas’s mission with that of Guru Nanak by juxtaposing each of their

33
Gurdev Singh, "Bhai Gurdas Di Dasvin Var - Ik Vishleshanh," in Bhai Gurdas: Jivan Te Rachna,
ed. Kapur Singh Ghuman (Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag, 1983).
34
I refer here to Nripinder Singh and Pritam Singh’s discussion of Teja Singh Bhasaur and Lal
Singh Sangrur, respectively. Please Chapter Two.
35
Ram Singh, "Bhai Gurdas Di Pahili Var," in Bhai Gurdas: Jivan Te Rachna, ed. Kapur Singh
Ghuman (Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag, 1983).
36
Dalip Singh Deep, Bhai Gurdas Dī Pehlī Vār: Ik Alochnātmak Ate Tulnātmak Adhiān (Ludhiana:
Lahore Book Shop, 2000).

9
political compositions. Jodh Singh astutely focuses on Gurdas’s dispelling of

doubts about the political and military changes that Guru Hargobind had introduced

to the community following the death of Guru Arjan, and justifying those changes.

This, says Jodh Singh, is evidence that the young Sikh community of the early

seventeenth century had begun to imagine the possibilities of establishing

themselves as a distinct political group.37 Gurdip Singh Pakhariwala evaluates

Gurdas’s works as cultural documents, particularly as the advancement of Sikh

culture (which he calls gurmat sabhiachār).38 Ravinder Kaur’s critical analysis of

Gurdas’s vārs begins with a glimpse of his life and assessment of his life’s work,

and then surveys the vārs after placing them historically in the extensive tradition

of that Punjabi genre.39 Gurdas is an important part of Taran Singh’s analysis of

Sikh commentarial traditions, which argues that oral interpretation of the Sikh

scripture was probably being done in the late sixteenth century, and that Gurdas’s

writings are literary, poetic inheritance of that tradition.40 Gurbaksh Singh Shant’s

linguistic analysis of the vārs ranks among the most comprehensive and innovative

available and includes a discussion of Gurdas’s stanza structure, his use of comedic

37
Jodh Singh, "Bhai Gurdas Ji De Rajsi Vicar," in Bhai Gurdas: Jivan Te Rachna, ed. Kapur Singh
Ghuman (Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag, 1983).
38
Gurdip Singh Pakhariwala, Gurmati-Sabhiachar Te Bhai Gurdas (Amritsar: Ravi Sahita
Prakashan, 1991).
39
Ravinder Kaur, Bhai Gurdas Dī Vichārdhārā (Mohali: Harjit Singh Mirgind Singh, 1992).
40
Taran Singh, Gurbani Dian Viakhia Paranalian (Patiala: Punjabi University, 1997), 40.

10
content, and his themes.41

Influential Punjabi scholar Piara Singh Padam’s “Bhai Gurdas Di Hindi

Rachna” is a unique article dedicated to Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā poetry. Padam

provides much-needed context for the use of Hindi in the 1600s. He argues that

Gurdas is one of Punjab’s most important Hindi poets during the Mughal period,

and wrote during a golden age for Hindi literature, which was patronized as one of

the fine arts of the time.42

Reference works from the modern period facilitate research on Gurdas’s

works. Critical editions of Gurdas’s vārs and kabitts have been edited by

Gursharan Kaur Jaggi and Oankar Singh, respectively.43 Two reference

dictionaries for Gurdas’s works have been recently been published as well.44

Oankar Singh, Amritpal Kaur and Rattan Singh Jaggi have included thorough

indices of every word in Gurdas’s lexicon.45 Bhai Sewa Singh has produced the

41
Gurbaksh Singh Shant, Bhai Gurdās Diān Varān Da Alochanatmak Adhiain (Patiala: Bhasha
Vibhag, 2000).
42
Piara Singh Padam, "Bhai Gurdas Di Hindi Rachna," in Bhai Gurdas: Jivan Te Rachna, ed. Kapur
Singh Ghuman (Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag, 1983), 216.
43
Gursharan Kaur Jaggi, ed., Varān Bhai Gurdās (Punjabi) (Patiala, India: Punjabi University,
1987). Oankar Singh, ed., Kabitt Savaiyye Bhai Gurdas, Anukramanika Te Kosh (Patiala: Punjabi
University Publications Bureau, 1993).
44
Gurmukh Singh, ed., Bhai Gurdas: Sandarabh Kosh (Patiala: Amarjit Singh Lamba, 2003),
Svaranjit Singh, ed., Bhai Gurdas Vicar Kosh (Patiala: Ajit Singh Lamba, 2003).
45
Singh, ed., Kabitt Savaiyye Bhai Gurdas, Anukramanika Te Kosh. Amritpal Kaur, Shabad
Anukraminika Te Kosh - Kabit Savaiyye Bhai Gurdas (Patiala: Punjabi University Publications
Bureau, 1996). Rattan Singh Jaggi, Varān Bhai Gurdās: Shabad-Anukramanika Ate Kosh (Patiala:
Punjabi University Press, 1966).

11
best Punjabi prose translations of Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā works.46 Jodh Singh of

Punjabi University has released the most comprehensive translation of the vārs into

prose English.47 Before Jodh Singh’s translations, Macauliffe, M. L. Peace, and

others translated selections of the vārs into English.48 In 2007, an English prose

translation of the kabitts has been published fo the first time.49

J. S. Grewal’s essay, “Sikh Panth in the Vārs of Bhai Gurdas” is the most

cohesive attempt to place Gurdas’s project in context, and is a landmark in the

English-language work on the Gurdas to date.50 Grewal clearly recognizes

Gurdas’s importance as a writer, and treats his Punjabi works as historical sources.

For Grewal, Gurdas is the “St. Paul of Sikhism” who “lived in a phase of Sikh

history marked by crisis and transition”.51 Of the two existing books on Bhai

Gurdas in English, Pritam Singh’s brief book is the one more likely written for an

46
Bhai Sewa Singh, Kabitt Savaiyye Bhai Gurdas Ji Saṭīk (Amritsar: Singh Brothers, 2001).
47
Gurdas Bhalla, Bhai Gurdas: Text, Translation, and Translation, trans. Jodh Singh, 2 vols.
(Patiala, India: Vision & Venture, 1998).
48
Max Arthur Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion (Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors), Reprint ed.,
Six vols. (Amritsar: Satvic Media Pvt. Ltd., 2000). Bhai Gurdas's Vars: Vol. I (1-6) Pauries, trans.
M.L Peace (Jalandar: M. L. Peace, 1960). W. H. McLeod, Textual Sources for the Study of Sikhism,
Textual Sources for the Study of Religion; (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984). Hymns
from Bhai Gurdas's Compositions, trans. Gobind Singh Mansukhani (Amritsar: Singh Brothers,
1996).
49
Kabitt Swayye Bhai Gurdas Ji, trans. Shamsher Singh Puri (Amritsar: Singh Brothers, 2007),
Kabitt-Sawaiyye Bhai Gurdas Ji, trans. Pritpal Singh Bindra (Amritsar: Chattar Singh Jivan Singh,
2008).
50
J. S. Grewal, "The Sikh Panth in the Vars of Bhai Gurdas," in History and Ideology: The Khalsa
over 300 Years (New Delhi: Tulika, 1999), Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab.
51
Grewal, "The Sikh Panth in the Vars of Bhai Gurdas," 26.

12
academic audience; his perspective is that of a literary historian.52 After tracing

Gurdas’s life, Pritam Singh makes a case for Gurdas’ influence on later Sikh

writers as an innovator in Brajbhāshā literature, and in his attempt to found a new

Sikh orthodoxy. Bhai Gurdas Bhalla: The First Sikh Scholar by retired civil

servant Surinderjit Singh Pall was written for a Sikh religious audience. Pall’s

work is written in a question-answer format and uses as its basis the commentaries

of Giani Narain Singh and Bhai Vir Singh. Pall lists out eight “tips for practicing

Sikhism” as deduced from Gurdas’s vārs, which are “born out of his divine love for

the Sikh Gurus”.53

This Dissertation on Gurdas’s Career

The present work consolidates the data about Gurdas's life and works, and

advances the questions raised in previous literature. This work takes a cue from

Grewal’s historical treatment of Gurdas’s vārs, expanding his methodology to the

kabitts. It builds on Darshan Singh’s positioning of Gurdas’s writings as polemical

tools for sectarian power, adding manuscript evidence, external sources like

Miharban’s works, and the compositions of Sikh writers (Satta, Balvand, Sundar,

and the bhaṭṭs) whose project Gurdas continues. I advance Padam’s close reading

of Hindi texts as well as Grewal’s dating of Gurdas’s works to the seventeenth

52
Pritam Singh, Bhai Gurdas, Makers of Indian Literature (Sahitya Academy, 1992).
53
Surinderjit Singh Pall, Bhai Gurdas: The First Sikh Scholar (Amritsar: Chattar Singh Jiwan
SIngh, 2002), 149, 94.

13
century. Whereas Deep’s approach reinterprets Gurdas’s works with a modern

lense, my methodology is to understand Gurdas’s writings in his own context.54

This dissertation refocuses the debate on Gurdas’s own reasons for writing. I

argue that the previous works on Gurdas’s career assume much of the traditional

depictions of his project, few of which are verifiable, many of which are

incongruous amongst themselves and inconsistent with Gurdas’s self-conception in

his own writings. By revisiting traditional accounts in their chronological order, I

am better able to assess their coloring of Gurdas’s legacy, allowing for a clearer

vision of his project to emerge.

Chapter One will help to assess the current understanding of Gurdas’s life by

tracing the development of his biography through history, from the seventeenth to

the twentieth centuries. Chapter Two will place Gurdas’s works in the context of

Sikh writing up until his lifetime, highlighting Gurdas’s indebtedness to the

tradition he inherited. Furthermore, this chapter will place the Punjabi vārs and the

Brajbhāshā quatrains in the contexts of the respective literary traditions from which

they emerged. This chapter will address one of the major problems posed in

Chapter One—the correct dating of Gurdas’s works—and will examine his purpose

in writing.

After these introductions to Gurdas’s life, literary context, and works, the

dissertation will move to a critical examination of Gurdas’s writings for their

54
Deep seems to overlook the fact that that Gurdas is writing between seven and nine decades after
Nanak’s death; therefore he is addressing issues that are important to that time, such as buttressing
the legacy of Guru Hargobind, and for the morale of the 1600s tradition.

14
religious content, their legitimation of Sikh authority, and their response to the

challenges Sikhs faced in the early seventeenth century — namely, state

persecution, the death of their leader, and the threat of schism. Gurdas’s literary

contribution was influential in shaping Sikh identity and expressing Sikh political

aspirations during a critical period in the tradition’s history. I will identify the

major themes of his expansive corpus, observing his creative reformulations of

Sikh tradition, and placing his religious vision in the social, political, and sectarian

context out of which it emerged.

Chapters Three and onward rest on the premise that Gurdas’s writings served

as a definitive source of information for Sikh life. In Chapter Three, I will lay out

the core beliefs that Gurdas espouses in his writings, and examine how they

functioned in community construction by providing believers “access to a reality to

which outsiders had no access.”55 Chapter Four will apply this principle of

investigation to the conduct codes and ethics that Gurdas advances in his works. It

will answer the questions: what were Sikhs to do; and how were they to behave as

Sikhs? Chapter Five will reconstruct early Sikh practices, and investigate Gurdas’s

theorization of those practices and the reasons Sikhs performed them. Chapter Six

will continue the discussion of Gurdas’s works as a source for early Sikh religious

life with an emphasis on the contemporary problems about which he wrote, and

how the ethic of benevolence informed Gurdas’s vision of ultimate Sikh

55
Donald S. Lopez Jr., "Belief," in Critical Terms for Religious Studies, ed. Mark C. Taylor
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998).

15
ascendancy. The dissertation will conclude with an analysis of Gurdas’s project

and move towards an updated biography of this important Sikh.

Revisiting the earliest Sikh textual sources, this dissertation builds on some of

the recent trends in early Sikh studies. Jeevan Deol has published an article on the

Sikh splinter group with which this dissertation will put Gurdas in conversation.56

Gurdas was the scribe for the Kartarpur Pothi, a landmark manuscript in Mann’s

study of Sikh scripture.57 Whereas McLeod’s recent work draws on Sikh codes of

conduct from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, this dissertation addresses the

literature to which those codes look for authority.58 Pashaura Singh’s

reconstruction of the life and works of Guru Arjan is based on early Sikh texts,

including Gurdas’s works.59 Through this dissertation I hope to open new avenues

of inquiry into seventeenth century dissent in the Sikh tradition; early Sikh

hagiographical traditions; the expansion of Sikh literature; and the expansion of the

Sikh community throughout the subcontinent.

My approach to the important Sikh texts of the seventeenth century is

sensitive to Lawrence Sullivan’s warning that religious texts are not the only form

56
Jeevan Deol, "The Minas and Their Literature," Journal of the American Oriental Society 118, no.
2 (1998).
57
Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture.
58
McLeod, Sikhs of the Khalsa: A History of the Khalsa Rahit.
59
Singh, Life and Work of Guru Arjan.

16
of religious expression, but one of many to be considered.60 However, texts have

been the best sources for the reconstruction of early Sikh history—there are no

sculptures or paintings from the early tradition; little architectural evidence is

extant; and numismatic evidence is not salient to the Sikh case until at least the late

seventeenth century. I use critical, historical methodology to examine Gurdas’s

compositions in their published editions, look closely for clues about religious

performance and practice, locate beliefs and ethical ideals in their proper context,

understand how Gurdas contributes to the definition of Sikh identity, and place

Gurdas in conversation with other sources for early Sikh history.

At its heart, this is a dissertation about religion, religious community

formation, and religious literature. My broader question is: what makes a religious

tradition successful in mobilizing literature to meet its needs? How can religious

literature both respond to short-term problems and yet become immemorialized in

the long term? Furthermore, in this dissertation, I will bring to high relief a broader

question: how can we see religious literature a resource mobilized by forward-

thinking polemicists and commentators to maneuver their particular tradition

through tough times.61

60
Lawrence Sullivan, "Seeking and End to the Primary Text or Putting and End to the Text as
Primary," in Beyond the Classics: Essays in Religious Studies and Liberal Education, ed. Frank E.
Reynolds and Sheryl L. Burkhalter (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990).
61
For example, Joseph Walser’s recent work examines the work of an early Buddhist philosopher
through the lens of Resource Mobilization theory. Joseph Walser, Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana
Buddhism and Early Indian Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005).

17
 Chapter One

Sources for the Study of Gurdas’s Career

Like an ox at an oil press imagines itself walking many miles

But removing its blinders reveals it standing in the same place
Like a blind rope-maker twines away without care
But dismays when he finds a calf chewing away at his work
Like a thirsty deer in a desert chases the mirage of oasis
But only wanders and strays in distress
So has my life passed like a dream, wandering foreign lands
I never got to where I wanted to go
— Bhai Gurdas Bhalla, Kabitt 578

This chapter examines the extant data on Gurdas’s life. Beginning with pre-

modern sources’ treatment of Gurdas, the chapter will end with a brief review of

the early-twentieth century secondary literature on his works. By tracing the data

for his life through the centuries, I hope to de-stabilize the accepted narratives and

open new lines of inquiry to his biography. My second goal is to demonstrate how

important Gurdas has been to the Sikh tradition for centuries: both as a community

leader as well as in terms of his writings’ importance in Sikh life.1

1
In the mid-1800s, traditional Sikh texts were most abundant in their descriptions of the Gurus’
lives, and, as a consequence, Gurdas’s life as well. Thus, this period marks a central point in the
information gathered on Gurdas’s life and works, and as a result, modern scholarship relies—too
heavily, I argue—on nineteenth century sources for information about his life. This is the last
period when new ideas and episodes about Gurdas’s life make their way into the Sikh literary
record.

18
 To provide a fresh perspective on the issue, this chapter builds an

understanding of Gurdas’s life on information from as far back in time as possible.

Understanding Gurdas’s importance in history from early Sikh sources to recent

scholarship will help us re-evaluate the foundations of the current traditions of

Gurdas’s biography. I will show how Gurdas’s work as a scribe was known soon

after his passing, and how his reputation as a Sikh thinker and writer was

widespread as early as the 1700s. From within a century after his death, Sikhs used

his commentarial literature to help clarify Sikh beliefs. For centuries, Gurdas has

been known in the tradition, not just for his textual work, but as well as for his role

as a community leader: a confidante and servant of the fifth Guru, and one of the

Sikhs who led the community at the ascension of the sixth Guru, Hargobind. The

chapter will conclude with an assessment of what is at stake in the study of

Gurdas’s works, and justify this dissertation’s critical re-examination of his life and

legacy. Later in the dissertation, we will begin to lay out an updated biography of

Gurdas based on the re-evaluation of a wide range of data. The earliest available

data for Gurdas’s life is where we begin.

Seventeenth Century Sources

Outside of Gurdas’s own compositions, three sets of 1600s sources may be

helpful in the development of his biography. Here we consider data from early

19
scriptural manuscripts, bardic scrolls, and official Sikh epistles; the first of these are

most reliable for our purposes. The earliest sources show that Gurdas is one of the

first important Sikhs mentioned in Sikh literature, and the reverent title “Bhai” is

applied to him shortly after his death, if not during his own lifetime.

A Sikh scriptural manuscript dated to 1692 provides the earliest evidence

for the traditional Sikh view that Gurdas was the scribe for the Kartarpur Pothi, the

landmark Sikh scriptural manuscript that was compiled in 1604. The 1692

manuscript’s colophon articulates its relationship to the “big book” (vaḍā granth)

that Gurdas inscribed at the behest of the fifth Guru, which scholars deduce is the

Kartarpur Pothi.2 Scholars of the Sikh scriptural canon have studied the Kartarpur

Pothi, and none of them report any internal data that explicitly links this

manuscript with Gurdas. The Kartarpur Pothi is currently in the custody of the

Sodhis of Kartarpur (Punjab, India), includes 974 folios of scriptural text, and a

dated colophon. 3 There is no evidence to contradict the tradition of Gurdas being

the primary scribe of Kartarpur Pothi. Two important scholars of Sikh scripture,

Bhai Jodh Singh and Gurinder Singh Mann, both report from their extensive study

of this manuscript, that its table of contents and body text were inscribed and dated
2
Jeevan Deol, "Non-Canonical Compositions Attributed to the Seventh and Ninth Sikh Gurus,"
Journal of the American Oriental Society 121, no. 2 (2001): 195. Gurinder Singh Mann includes
this manuscript, which is referred to as the Patna Pothi or the Ram Rai Pothi, among the important,
early manuscripts of the Sikh sacred text. See Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture, 72.
3
A summary of the contents of the Pothi has been published: Jodh Singh, Sri Kartarpuri Bir De
Darshan (Patiala: Punjabi University, 1968).

20
by the same hand. Furthermore, they report that later, a different scribe added

dated additions to the text after Gurdas’s lifetime.4

Second, we consider the bhaṭṭ vahīs, patronized scrolls maintained by

professional bards associated with the courts of the Sikh Gurus. The reliability of

these records as sources of Sikh history is disputed, but may prove help in the

reconstruction of Gurdas’s life. They may be based on near-contemporary sources,

and scholars may have much to gain from considering them.5 According to Piara

Singh Padam’s research on these sources, these records mention by name one

“Gurdas, son of Ishardas Bhalla” as one of the companions of Guru Hargobind in

the first quarter of the seventeenth century. 6 One of these records, known as bhaṭṭ

4
Death dates of the Gurus recorded on folio 25 are of different scribes: the dates of the first five
Gurus are in the hand of the primary scribe, written at the same time, after 1606. The death dates of
Baba Gurditta (sixth Guru’s son, who pre-deceased his father) and Guru Hargobind are from a
different hand. The first scribe wrote the colophon: sambat 1661 mitī bhādon vadi ekam 1 pothī
likhe pahuche (“Have written the Pothi… reached on the first day of the increading phase of the
moon in the month of Bhadon, year 1661”). Please see Ibid. For a detailed treatment of this
manuscript, its history, and its implications for Sikh scripture, please see Mann, The Making of Sikh
Scripture, 59-68.
5
Sikh researcher Giani Garja Singh gathered some copies of these sources in the middle of the
twentieth century, and some of these are available in the archives of the Punjabi University at
Patiala (“bhaṭṭ vahis” by Giani Garja SinghHarbans Singh, ed., The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, Fourth
ed., 4 vols., vol. 1 (Patiala: Punjabi University, 2002), 353-4.). Darshan Singh articulates the
position of Sikh historians about how the bhaṭṭ vahīs challenge our 1700s and 1800s sources: “If we
take the bhaṭṭ vahīs as the last word on these dates, then we will have to accept that by this date
Guru Hargobind had fought five battles and was living in Kiratpur. If this is true, and the dates are
reliable, and on this basis we will have to reconsider the information in our old books like Gurbilās
Patshahi Chevīn, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, Tvarikh Guru Khalsa, etc.” (Singh, Bhai Gurdas:
Sikhī De Pahile Viākhiākār, 33.)
6
For excerpts from the Talaunda Pargana Jind and Multani Sindhi bhaṭṭ vahīs please see Swarup
Singh Kaushish, Guru Kīān Sākhīān, ed. Piara Singh Padam, Fifth ed. (Amritsar: Singh Brothers,
2003), 30-1.

21
vahī Talaunda Pargana Jind, provides a death date for Gurdas that corresponds with

the year 1636 CE.7 According to Darshan Singh, author of a recent Punjabi

monograph on Gurdas, this date is corroborated in a copy of a scriptural

manuscript at Gurdas’s hometown of Goindval (Punjab).8

Finally, we should note that the name “Gurdas” is mentioned in a few

extant, but undated, hukamanāmās (official letters) from the sixth Guru (d. 1644)

and from the son of the sixth Guru, Baba Gurditta (d. 1638).9 In one such letter

from Guru Hargobind to an unspecified Sikh congregation far to the east of Punjab,

the Guru tells the congregation that they should follow Gurdas (gurdās nāl lāg

rahiṇā). In another hukamnāmā the Guru addresses “the congregation of the east”

(pūrab dī sangat) and requests one Bhai Gurdas and one Bhai Japu to celebrate a

gurpurab (holiday associated with the Gurus’ lives) together from which the cash

collected will contribute to the Guru’s coffers. If the authenticity of these

hukamanamas, and the certainty of their reference to Bhai Gurdas Bhalla, could be

corroborated, these pieces of evidence would open substantial lines of inquiry into

7
A transliteration of the text goes: bhai gurdas beṭā īsar dās bhalle kā bāsi goindvāl sāl 1693
bhādon sudi pancamī vīrvār ke dehun ek ghaṛī divas caṛe suās pūre hoe. age guru ki gati guru
jāṇe. guru guru jāp ṇa. The excerpt is from bhaṭṭ vahī Talaunda Pargana Jind, Sikh Dharam
Vishavakosh, from the collections of Punjabi University, Patiala). Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Sikhī De
Pahile Viākhiākār, 33.
8
A transliteration of the text goes: sammat 1693 bhādvā sudi pancamī din vīravār ek ghaṛī dehu
caṛe bhai gurdaas ji samāṇe goindval me. Ibid.
9
Ganda Singh, ed., Hukamnāme Guru Sāhibān, Mata Sāhibān, Bandā Singh Ate Khālsa Jī De
(Patiala: Punjabi University Publications Bureau, 1999).

22
the later part of Gurdas’s life.10

Eighteenth Century

An important Sikh code of conduct, dated to 1700, corroborates Gurdas’s

scribal role in the first extant narrative about him.11 In a story in the Hazūrī

Rahitnāma (“Code of Conduct,” sometimes referred to by the name of its author,

Chaupa Singh Chhibbar), Guru Arjan blesses and commissions Gurdas to create a

distinct Sikh scriptural manuscript for two reasons: (1) because sectarian rivals

were composing poetry and passing it off as Sikh scripture, and (2) in order to

make the Sikh religion distinct from Hinduism and Islam.12 Another reference to

Gurdas, at the end of the Rahitnāmā, quotes Gurdas’s Kabitt 503 when discussing

10
We know of another Gurdas who lived in the later seventeenth century and was an important Sikh
of a schismatic group. [“Bhai Gurdas,” by Rattan Singh Jaggi in Harbans Singh, ed., The
Encyclopedia of Sikhism, Fourth ed., 4 vols., vol. 2 (Patiala: Punjabi University, 2002), 138-40.]
Also, an important vār of the eighteenth century is attributed to one Bhai Gurdas Singh. [Please See
Rāmkalī kī vār Patshahi Dasvīn Dī in Giani Hazara Singh and Bhai Vir Singh, Varān Bhai Gurdās
Satīk (New Delhi: Bhai Vir Singh Press, 2002), 636-50.]. The fact that later Sikh traditional sources
(eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) allege that Gurdas spent an extended period of time in places
like Agra and Benares (Varanasi), have led at least one Sikh writer to identify the Gurdas in these
letters with Bhai Gurdas Bhalla. [Please see Singh and Singh, Varān Bhai Gurdās Satīk, 12-16.]
However, given the popularity of the name “Gurdas” in Sikh circles, I think we need further
corroborating evidence.
11
McLeod dates the Rahitnāmā to the mid-eighteenth century, but other scholars argue for much
earlier dates. Chaupa Singh, The Chaupa Singh Rahit-Nama, ed. W. H. McLeod (Otago: University
of Otago Press, 1987). See also Chaupa Singh Chibbar, "Rahitnāmā Hazūrī," in Rahitnāme, ed.
Piara Singh Padam (Amritsar: Singh Brothers, 2000).; and Gurinder Singh Mann, "Five Hundred
Years of the Sikh Educational Heritage," in Five Centuries of Sikh Tradition: Ideology, Society,
Politics and Culture, ed. Reeta Grewal and Sheena Pall (New Delhi: Manohar, 2005), 365.
12
Singh, The Chaupa Singh Rahit-Nama, 92, Pauri 249. That Guru Arjan compiled a scriptural
manuscript in response to sectarian writings seems historically innacurate, please See: Mann, The
Making of Sikh Scripture, 36.

23
sin and the Guru’s forgiveness.13 This quotation makes the Rahitnāmā one of two

eighteenth century texts to quote from Gurdas’s kabitts, the other being the

Mahimā Prakāsh, which is dated to 1776 and discussed below.

From a genealogy of Gurdas’s uncle and third Guru, Amardas, in Kesar

Singh Chhibbar’s 1769 Bansāvalīnāmā Dasān Pātshāhīān Kā (“Genealogy of the

Ten Kings”), we can extrapolate Gurdas’s family tree.14 Gurdas was the son of

Ishardas Bhalla (corroborating evidence from the bhaṭṭ vahīs), who was the

youngest son of Chandan Bhan Bhalla, brother of Guru Amardas’s father, Tej Bhan

Bhalla. Chhibbar emphasizes that Bhai Gurdas was the scribe of the Ad Granth,15

and adds to Chaupa Singh’s assertion that Guru Arjan had Gurdas compile the

sacred text on learning that his rival brother Prithi Chand’s sect had begun to add

their own poetry to the Sikh corpus. 16 Bansāvalīnāmā adds considerable depth to

our image of Gurdas by depicting him as a leading figure in the Sikh community:

13
Pauṛī 646, Singh, The Chaupa Singh Rahit-Nama, 131. This is part of an undated addendum to
the Rahitnama, which nonetheless belongs to the eighteenth century.
14
Kesar Singh Chibbar, Bansāvalīnāmā Dasān Pātshāhīān Kā, ed. Piara Singh Padam (Amritsar:
Singh Brothers, 1997), 62, 81.
15
Ibid., 232, 45. Chhibbar refers to Gurdas as “nanny” (khiḍāvā) of the Sikh sacred text. Chhibbar
uses the same term to refer to his ancestor Chaupa Singh (whose Rahitnāmā is discussed above)
who helped raise the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh. Perhaps in naming Gurdas a “khiḍāvā” also, he is
expressing his claim for the eleventh and eternal Guruship of the Granth.
16
Ibid., 92-3. According to Chhibbar, Guru Arjan’s nephew, Miharban, had learned a number of
languages, began to spurious poetry under the name “Nanak,” and created a book that included the
four other Gurus’ compositions in it. The historical accuracy of this assertion and its chronology is
questionable.

24
Guru Arjan knew of his impending martyrdom and entrusts Gurdas with the

protection of young Guru Hargobind and the community;17 Gurdas dissuades Guru

Hargobind from arranging a meeting with the Mughal Emperor.18 Furthermore,

Chhibbar provides an explanation for why the historical record does not register the

existence of Gurdas’s offspring: he was cursed to be without issue after calling the

Guru’s brother and his followers mīṇās (“scoundrels”) in his writings.19

The 1776 text Mahimā Prakāsh (“Dawn of Glory”) is attributed to Sarup

Das Bhalla, of the same clan as Gurdas, and portrays the poet as having a

considerably greater role in the lives of the Gurus than any previous source.20 First,

Gurdas enters the Mahimā Prakāsh narrative as a leader of the Agra Sikh

community, is portrayed as possessing miraculous powers.21 Bhalla adds a second

new element to the narrative of Gurdas’s life, articulating that Gurdas played the

17
Ibid., 84-5.
18
Ibid., 91-2.
19
Ibid., 81-2. This is highly unlikely, but is an interesting attempt on Chhibbar’s part to explain
several phenomena together: the fact that there is no record of Gurdas being a father, the rivalry
between Prithi Chand and his brother Guru Arjan, and Guru Arjan’s execution at the hands of the
Mughals. Chhibbar’s development of Gurdas as a historical agent is noteworthy, however, his
chronology is suspect.
20
It is likely that the 1776 Mahima Prakash was based on an earlier prose version attributed to
Kirpal Das Bhalla. I am grateful to Lou Fenech for a personal conversation about the Mahima
Prakash tradition. Please see Kulwinder Singh Bajwa’s edition, especially pages 115-138, which
include the narratives about Gurdas. Kirpal Das Bhalla, Māhimā Prakāsh (Vārtak), ed. Kulwinder
Singh Bajwa (Amritsar: Singh Brothers, 2004).
21
In Bhalla’s narrative, Gurdas brings the entire Sikh congregation from Agra with him to see Guru
Arjan at the Sikh center of Amritsar, on the way invoking the Guru’s name to miraculously carry the
group across a river.

25
part of amanuensis of Sikh scripture, in addition to scribe.22 Finally, the Mahimā

Prakāsh commences what becomes a well-known tradition about Gurdas being

tested by the Guru, which I will refer to throughout this dissertation as the “guru-

svāng episode” (episode about the Guru’s guise). Well into the nineteenth century,

Sikh historical writers elaborate on this story, modifying its details considerably.23

In the Mahimā Prakāsh version of the story, Gurdas runs away during Guru

Arjan’s pontificate, but is found and brought home during the reign of his successor,

Guru Hargobind (this detail changes in later versions of the story). Gurdas returns

to the Guru’s court with 700 new converts to the tradition from the land to which

he had escaped, and where he was preaching the Sikh message. The Guru is
22
In Bhalla’s narrative, Guru Arjan decides to create a holy book for the Sikh community (absent in
this telling is the pressure from rival sectarian groups that was there in the Chhibbar version), and he
requests Gurdas to collect all the scriptural texts of the Sikh tradition. Guru Arjan charges Gurdas
with adding the compositions of the Bhagats (from bhakta for “devotee”, those pre-Sikh writers
whose compositions are enshrined in Sikh scripture), retrieving important Sikh manuscripts, and
distinguishing authentic compositions from spurious attributions. Guru Arjan tests Gurdas’s
certainty about the inauthentic nature of particular compositions, and Gurdas testifies that he knows
the words of his master like a wife knows her husband’s voice. Sarup Das Bhalla adds further
detail to the process of the compilation of the Kartarpur Pothi in a story about the Bhagat bāṇī.
When transcribing the Bhagat bāṇī, Gurdas is struck with doubt as to its authenticity until Guru
Arjan introduces him to a line-up of Bhagats who are advocating for their bāṇī to be included in this
great Granth. [Sarup Das Bhalla, Māhimā Prakāsh Bhāg Dūja, ed. Uttam Singh Bhatia, vol. 1
(Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag, 2003), 348-50, 57-8.]
23
In Sarup Das Bhalla’s narration, Guru Arjan decides to teach Gurdas a lesson after hearing a
particular stanza from Gurdas’s vārs that Bhalla interprets as saying that a Sikh should not lose faith
if the Guru deceives him via a sham, or svāng. The excerpt in question corresponds to stanza 35.20
in the vārs. The Guru’s trick involves sending Gurdas to pay for horses the Guru has purchased, but
Gurdas does not know the supposed bag of coins that make up the payment is actually full of
potsherds. When, en route to make the payment, Gurdas realizes he has only broken pottery in his
bag, he panics, flees, and settles in a far way land (dūr des). In this anonymous land he takes the
guise of a renunciate, and takes on preaching of the Sikh tradition to the locals. This story may
explain the mid-nineteenth century portrait of Gurdas described by biographer Rattan Singh Jaggi,
which depicts him as a yogi. Please see discussion below and Jaggi, Bhai Gurdas: Jīvan Te
Rachna, 21.

26
superbly pleased with this and forgives Gurdas his trespasses after Gurdas

presents a revised version of the stanza that had offended Guru Arjan.24 At that

point, Gurdas presents five kabitts, which also appear in Sarup Das Bhalla’s text;

marking the second time an eighteenth century text quotes Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā

works. 25

Sikhān Dī Bhagatmālā (“Garland of Sikh-saints,” hereafter, Bhagatmālā) is

a late eighteenth century work, credited to Surat Singh, a Nirmala scholar, which

represents a change of trajectory in the treatment of Gurdas’s works in Sikh

tradition.26 Bhagatmālā provides prose annotations to Gurdas’s Vār 11, which is

24
In place of the offensive stanza, v35.20, and the new stanza is v35.22.
25
The first was the Chaupa Singh Rahitnama, described above. Also of interest is that one of the
kabitts that Bhalla includes here does not match up with the 675 extant kabitts attributed to Gurdas,
and could either belong to another writer, or come from another tradition of poetry once attributed to
Gurdas. The narrative closes with the Guru’s exuberance about Gurdas, and the author includes the
following couplet, in the theme of redemption:

“That Sikh who confronts the commentary (kathā) of Gurdas, and listens to it with all his
mind (chit),

The Guru finds a fixed (dariṛe) place in his heart, with surety (nishchiā), and he attains the
Stage of Perfection (param pad) in the end.”

This and all subsequent translations are my own. Note that the param pad is a metaphor used
frequently by Gurdas in the kabitts, showing again that this author knows Gurdas’s writings well.
This is a significant statement for it provides the first explicit mention of the place Gurdas’s
commentarial text in Sikh tradition, providing the paradigm for how later Sikh sources characterize
Gurdas’s works. [Sarup Das Bhalla, Māhimā Prakāsh Bhāg Dūja, ed. Uttam Singh Bhatia, vol. 2
(Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag, 2003), 459-65.]
26
In the text itself, the commentary is attributed to the important eighteenth century Sikh Mani
Singh, who died over half a century before it is dated. The text claims that it is a product of the
tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh, fulfilling a request by Mani Singh to know more about the early
Sikh community. The Nirmalas are a sect of ascetic Sikhs whose adherents have contributed a
number of interpretive works and life narratives to Sikh literature. For more information about the
debates regarding this attribution please see the standard critical edition of the text, edited by

27
significant for providing a list of the names of important Sikhs dating back to Guru

Nanak’s original community; it also focuses on the distilled version of Sikh beliefs

that were put forth over a century before by Gurdas; it provides extensive stories

about the Sikhs mentioned in Gurdas’s Vār.27 Bhagatmālā reports, like Chaupa

Singh’s and Kesar Singh Chhibbar’s Bansāvalīnāmā, that Guru Arjan commissioned

Gurdas Rahitnāmā to compile the Granth because some Sikhs had doubts about the

aunticity of some compositions.28 More importantly, though, the Bhagatmālā

reports that after the compilation of a new scriptural manuscript ends the debate

about spurious compositions of the schismatic groups, Sikhs ask the Guru how

they should consider Gurdas’s writings: “are we to read them or not?” The Guru

responds:

The fools (referring to schismatics) have written their words out of

family jealousy (sarīkā) and have not taken the refuge of the Guru’s
word, and we have forbidden their writings. Moreover, Bhai [Gurdas]
Ji’s writings are the commentary (ṭīkā) on my words, and from them

Trilochan Singh Bedi Sikhan Di Bhagatmala, ed. Tarlochan SIngh Bedi (Patiala: Punjabi University
Publications Bureau, 1994).
27
Vār 11 organizes lists of Gurdas’s contemporary Sikhs by their geographical location and testifies
to the expansion of the Sikh community throughout the northern portion of the subcontinent,
representing the first time historical Sikhs became subjects of literature.
28
Bhagatmālā adds that Gurdas was chosen to compile the Sikh scripture because of his deep
knowledge of it. He collected scriptural compositions at his own home, re-transcribed them in
Gurmukhi script, and played a role in collecting disparate manuscripts. Bhagatmālā builds on the
brief story in Mahimā Prakāsh about the inclusion of Bhagat-bāṇī in the Adi Granth. In the
Bhagatmālā version, Kabir and the Bhagats bring their compositions to Gurdas for inclusion, saying
“This fifth Veda has come in the Dark Age, please put our writings in it….” Gurdas solicits
permission from Guru Arjan on behalf of the saints, but the Guru rejects all their compositions and
requires them to rewrite fresh poetry for the Granth. Sikhan Di Bhagatmala, 122-3.

28
 discipleship (sikhī) is obtained (prāpat). God’s heart is the Vedas and
the Guru’s heart is the word. Whoever are the Sikhs whose hearts are
united with the word, you may read their words. 29

This is another clear statement attesting the fundamental importance of Gurdas’s

writings in eighteenth century Sikh life, and that Gurdas’s works were considered

second only to Sikh scripture.30

A final eighteenth century text that deserves mention here, because it is also

an extended commentary on one of Gurdas’s vārs, is the janam-sākhī (“life-story”)

attributed to Bhai Mani Singh, an important Sikh scribe and community leader who

was executed in 1738.31 Known as the Giān Ratanāvalī (“Garland of Knowledge”)

or Mani Singh Janam-Sākhī, this text is a complex collection of stories about Guru

Nanak, taking as its foundation hagiographical stanzas in Gurdas’s Vār1, and adding

commentary on Guru Nanak’s own compositions. Although scant on information

about Gurdas himself, this text, like the above-discussed Bhagatmālā, further

29
Ibid., 125.
30
Again, it is important to note that the Bhagatmālā, like the Bansāvalīnāmā and Mahimā Prakāsh
before it, assumes that Gurdas had begun writing before the death of Guru Arjan.
31
Puratan Janam Sakhi Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, ed. Gurpratap Singh, Second ed. (Amritsar: Chattar
Singh Jivan Singh, 1999). Along with this Janam Sakhi, to which a more specific date has not yet
been attributed, at least two other texts (Sikhān Dī Bhagatmālā, discussed above, and Gurbilās
Pātshāhī Chevīn, discussed below) are attributed to him or to his inspiration from later in history.
According to McLeod, the extant text of Janam-Sākhī Mani Singh came to its current form
sometime in the nineteenth century, but the core text may belong to the eighteenth century McLeod,
Early Sikh Tradition : A Study of the Janam-Sakhis, 37-9. Trilochan Singh, editor of Sikhān Dī
Bhagatmālā, says that this text was committed to writing by Surat Singh (to whom the above-
discussed Bhagatmālā is also attributed) during the 1730s. Because of the author’s reference to
Guru Nanak’s revelation being the fifth Veda, it is possible to induce that the Janam Sakhi Mani
Singh is from a Nirmala writer like Surat Singh. Sikhan Di Bhagatmala, 14-5, 4.

29
underscores the foundational importance of Gurdas’s works in eighteenth century

Sikh literature.32 The prologue of Mani Singh Janam-Sākhī implies that Gurdas

wrote his First Vār during Guru Arjan’s lifetime, in response to janam-sākhīs

having been written by the mīṇā rivals of Guru Arjan.33

Sarup Singh Kaushish’s Guru Kīān Sākhīān (“Stories of the Guru,” 1790) is

a prose text that compiles various historical anecdotes from bhaṭṭ vahīs, the prose

records kept by the author’s bard ancestors for patrons, which included the

Gurus. 34 Of the 112 extant narratives in this source, only one mention of Bhai

Gurdas Bhalla appears: along with the famous Sikh Baba Budha, and three other

named Sikhs, Gurdas is said to have visited Guru Hargobind during his

imprisonment at Gwalior, which scholars date to around 1610.35 Just as interesting

32
This text seems to me comparable to Hadith literature from Islamic traditions, where traditional
stories of the prophet are linked together through a chain of transmission.
33
Puratan Janam Sakhi Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, 9. Like Chhibbar’s discussion of the mīṇās,
discussed above, this view of Gurdas’s works and those of the mīṇās is anachronistic. It is more
reasonable to think that the mīṇā literature, attributed to Sodhi Miharban, would have been written
after the time of Guru Arjan’s death in 1606. As I argue elsewhere in this dissertation, Gurdas’s
works also come from the period after Guru Arjan’s death.
34
According to the editor of the latest edition of Guru Kīān Sākhīān, Piara Singh Padam, the extant
work is probably only a latter half of the original document. Padam notes that the extant version of
Guru Kīān Sākhīān contains no introductory invocation (mangalācharaṇ) and begins in 1635, at
Kiratpur towards the end of the sixth Guru’s life. Please see: Kaushish, Guru Kīān Sākhīān.
35
Ibid., 39. Another person named Gurdas is mentioned often in the Guru Kīān Sākhīān stories, but
this is clearly a different figure who lives late into the seventeenth century and an important
follower of a rival claimant to the Sikh Guruship. See the above discussion about the hukamnāmās
attributed to Guru Hargobind and Baba Gurditta. Gurdas Bhalla is distinguished from this person as
being “from Punjab”. This namesake figure is said to have been a follower of the schismastic Sodhi,
Baba Ram Rai, and Ram Rai is treated with great regard in Kaushish’s text. Ram Rai is often
referred to as Kartā Purakh, a popular Sikh epithet for the one God. I believe the reason for this

30
as this detail about Gurdas’s travel to Gwalior is the text’s identification of one

“Haridas Daroga” (Haridas, the jailor) as a Sikh in the city of Gwalior, indeed a

custodian of the jail in which Guru Hargobind was imprisoned, and a Sikh whom

Gurdas and other Sikhs met regularly. This Haridas was a “Sikh of the Guru” and

gave the Guru vital information to help facilitate his release from the Gwalior jail.36

“Haridas Sohni” is one of the Sikh residents of Gwalior whom Gurdas mentions in

his Vār 11, which details the followers of Guru Hargobind in various locales

(v11.30).

Nineteenth Century Sources

Sikhs, for centuries now, have pointed outsiders to Gurdas to help explain

their religion. In his footnotes as well as in the body of the text, Malcolm provides

loose translations from Gurdas’s First Vār on the history of the Gurus.37 Forty-

seven years later, J. D. Cunningham also mentions Gurdas’s life and work as part of

reverence and knowledge of Ram Rai’s followers may be because some of Kaushish’s bhaṭṭ vahī
sources come from records kept for this schismatic leader.
36
Note also that the bhaṭṭ vahī Jadobansian Barhtian ki mentions Hariram Daroga celebrates Guru
Hargobind’s release from the jail, which the text dates to 1619, with lighting of candles (dīpmālā).
The Guru spent one night at this man’s house before moving on to Agra (probably on his way back
to Punjab) Ibid., 30.
37
John Malcolm, Sketch of the Sikhs; a Singular Nation Who Inhabit the Provinces of the Penjab,
Situated between the Rivers Jumna and Indus (London: James Moyes, 1812), 30, 35, 152-61.

31
his treatment of the lives of the fifth and sixth Guru’s in History of the Sikhs. 38

In the mid-nineteenth century, as part of its treatment of the lives of the

Sikh Gurus, Gurbilās Patshahi Chevīn (“The Splendor of the Sixth King,” 1840s,

hereafter Gurbilās) provides the first narrative account of Gurdas’s death, and a

1629 death date that is seven years earlier than recorded in the above-discussed

bhaṭṭ vahīs.39 Gurbilās shares the above-discussed Bhagatmālā’s positions on

Gurdas’s work as amanuensis for the Sikh scripture, and builds on earlier depictions

by comparing Guru Arjan and Gurdas with the mythological Lord Brahma and his

legendary scribe Ganesh, respectively.40 Gurbilās adds substantively to Gurdas’s

portrayal as a community leader, and adds to Mahimā Prakāsh’s mystical

portrayal of Gurdas’s personality: he is one of the deceased figures (the rest are

38
Joseph Davey Cunningham, History of the Sikhs: From the Origin of the Nation to the Battles of
the Sutlej, ed. Patwant Singh (New Delhi: Rupa & Co., 2008; reprint, Eighth), 51-2.
39
Gurbilās Pātshāhī Chevīn, ed. Gurmukh Singh (Patiala: Punjabi University, 1997), 686. Gurbilās
is an anonymous text, dedicated to providing historical background to the reign of Guru Hargobind
and his legacy. Gurbilās’s testimony should be taken particularly seriously because the text itself
claims an early eighteenth century date of compilation. For more information about issues
surrounding the dating of the text and its authorship, please see Gurmukh Singh’s introduction to the
Punjabi University critical edition.
40
Other than discussing Gurdas’s role in the manuscript’s compilation the Gurbilās significantly
alters the story of the compilation process by suggesting that Gurdas added nine var tunes to the
Granth on behest of Guru Hargobind. Gurbilās also includes a story very similar to the one told in
Sikhān Dī Bhagatmālā about the Bhagat-bāṇī and Gurdas: when Gurdas has some worry about
including the works of non-Sikh saints, the Bhagats mystically appear to Gurdas. [Ibid., 89, 90, 124,
28, 257.] According to Gurinder Singh Mann, the author of the Gurbilās endorses “the view that
the creation of a Sikh text by Guru Arjan resulted from his attempt to prevent contamination of the
Sikh gurus’ compositions by those of the Minas”. Thus, the author of the Gurbilās and Bhai
Santokh Singh, author of Gur Pratāp Suraj Granth, both of Nirmala background, hold a position
slightly different than Mahimā Prakāsh’s Sarup Das Bhalla who saw the sacred book as a
“characteristically … Sikh document”. [Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture, 23.]

32
Gurus and Mardana, Guru Nanak’s legendary companion) who appear to the

important Sikh Bidhi Chand at the moment before his death.41

Gurbilās’s account of the dates of Gurdas’s compositions is significant

because it dissents from other accounts in Sikh literature. The lack of the sources’

consensus on this issue will be again considered below, in our discussion of dating

Gurdas’s compositions. The Gurbilās’s unique position is that Gurdas was

commissioned to write his works by Guru Arjan after the 1604 compilation of the

Pothi.42 The story thates that after Guru Arjan and Gurdas finalize the Granth’s

contents, the Guru asks his scribe to enter his own compositions in the Granth.

From the language used here, it does not seem that the compositions had already

been written, but rather that Guru Arjan is asking Gurdas to compose. Gurdas

humbly recuses himself three times, and finally Guru confers a boon on the

reluctant Gurdas: his compositions will remain matchless (apar apār), will become

the commentary on the Granth, and upon reading Gurdas’s works the reader’s

pains will depart. Whosoever reads Gurdas with his heart will find Sikh

41
Though many in number, most inclusions of Gurdas in the narrative are minor. However,
Gurbilās’ author imagined him to be a very important Sikh, and a nearly constant companion of the
Sikh Gurus. For examples: Gurdas and Baba Budha are the only two Sikhs mentioned by name who
come to take audience with the (infant?) Guru Hargobind. At important occasions Gurdas and Baba
Budha appear together in the Gurbilās retellings. The two assist Guru Hargobind with the building
of the Akal Takht – Guru Hargobind’s political throne. Gurbilās also narrates a “flashback” into the
life of Guru Amardas. [Gurbilās Pātshāhī Chevīn, 55, 115, 18, 33, 43, 54, 55, 74, 76, 845.]
42
Darshan Singh argues that a canto three (pauṛī 30-35) reference indicates that Gurdas’s works
were written earlier, but I differ with his reading. [See Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Sikhī De Pahile
Viākhiākār, 39-42.] See also Canto 17 pauṛīs 288-90 where, well into the seventeenth century,
Guru Hargobind commands Gurdas to compile his own works. Gurbilās Pātshāhī Chevīn, 80, 629.

33
discipleship (sikhī, very much a reflection of the late 1700s Bhagatmālā position).

Guru Arjan then asks Gurdas to create (racho) 40 vārs and 556 kabitts.43

Rattan Singh Bhangu’s Srī Gur Panth Prakāsh (“Rise of the Holy

Community-Guru”) includes no reference to Gurdas’s life, but does mention that

aspect of his writings that inspired the guru-svāng story about Gurdas buying

horses in Kabul. Unlike the interpretations of Sarup Das Bhalla, writer of Mahimā

Prakāsh and subsequent writers, Bhangu interprets the verse that previous writers

deemed questionable without any of the drama of the above-described horse-trading

story. 44 Bhangu’s use of the verse is significant because it provides a distinct

interpretation of poetry that elsewhere elicited some of the most popular, but

historiographically suspect, hagiographical accounts of Gurdas’s life.

Bhai Santokh Singh’s expansive interpretation of Sikh history, Gurpratāp

Sūraj Granth (“Radiant Majesty of the Guru,” 1843) provides dramatized accounts

about the lives of the Sikh Gurus and their associates, including Gurdas. Like the

Gurbilās, Santokh Singh’s text portrays Gurdas as having an even more important

43
This is further significant because it is the first external statement about the number of Gurdas’s
works. The number of the kabitts at 556 was accurate for its time, as the final 119 are not added to
Gurdas’s corpus until the early twentieth century. Gurbilās Pātshāhī Chevīn, 145.
44
In Bhangu’s story, the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh had a powerful sword prepared and sharpened to
test the faithfulness of his Sikhs, and their readiness for martyrdom. He asked for five Sikhs to offer
themselves for beheading. The Sikhs who did not run away were rewarded for having passed this
test of faith. Bhangu uses Gurdas’s “guru-svāng” verses to explain the merciful Guru’s play. Rattan
Singh Bhangu, Srī Gur Panth Prakāsh, ed. Balwant Singh Dhillon (Amritsar: Singh Brothers,
2004), 172.

34
role in carrying the Sikh tradition through the tough times of sectarian schism and

external interference in Sikh affairs, and in seeing the tradition through financial

challenges.45 Santokh Singh follows the received tradition in saying that reading

Gurdas’s works advances a Sikh’s religious pursuits.46 The most striking features

of Santokh Singh’s account of Gurdas’s life are the six Sanskrit poems that he

presents, for the first time in history, and attributes to Gurdas. Early twentieth

century scholar Bhai Vir Singh has treated these in depth, and I briefly discuss them

in the next chapter.47

The mid-nineteenth century marks another development in the Sikh

tradition’s portrayal of Gurdas: he becomes one of the first lay Sikh artistic

subjects. Rattan Singh Jaggi reports the existence of a portrait of Gurdas from this

period still extant in Benares. He describes a thin, aged, white-clad Gurdas sitting

under a canopy in the yogic lotus posture, a rosary in his right hand, his left hand

on his knee, a monk’s cord around his waist and a halo around his head.48 Jeevan

45
Santokh Singh introduces new stories about Gurdas: for example, Gurdas helps make sure
offerings for the Guru go into the Guru’s coffers. He says that Gurdas was sent to Agra by the
fourth Guru, and returned to Amritsar on hearing of the Guru’s death. Santokh Singh, Sri
Gurpratap Suraj Granth, ed. Vir Singh, 14 vols. (Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag, 1989), 1753, 55-63, 00,
50.
46
Transliteration: padat sunat gur sikhī prāpat. Ibid., 2120-1.
47
Please see also Santokh Singh’s translation of a savaiyyā that he attributes to Gurdas, that is not
part of extant collections of Gurdas’s works. Ibid., 3057-61, 70. Gurdas Bhalla, Kabitt Bhai Gurdas:
Dusra Skand Saṭīk, ed. Vir Singh (Amritsar: Khalsa Samachar, 1980).
48
Jaggi, Bhai Gurdas: Jīvan Te Rachna, 21.

35
Deol reports having seen a portrait of Gurdas with Guru Arjan and another Sikh

scribe dated to 1844.49 A mid-century portrait of Gurdas is available in the Moti

Bagh collection at Patiala.50

Early Twentieth Century Sources

The colonial period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marks

a major shift in the treatment of Gurdas’s life and works. He becomes a subject of

scholars’ studies in his own right, instead of as a small part of broader Sikh

narratives. As such, his works receive a more detailed treatment than in previous

periods. The status of Gurdas’s works as the most important Sikh sources outside

of Sikh scripture is further underscored during this period.

Works. For example, in the early twentieth century, full commentaries on

Gurdas’s works begin to emerge. In 1911, Giani Bishan Singh first published a

commentary on Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā writings.51 In 1912, Bhai Vir Singh published

the commentary on the vārs that was completed by his grandfather, Giani Hazara

Singh, in the late nineteenth century.52 Pandit Narain Singh also published a

49
Jeevan Deol, "Text and Lineage in Early Sikh History: Issues in the Study of the Adi Granth,"
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 64, no. 1 (2001): footnote 95.
50
I received a photograph of this from Gurinder Singh Mann.
51
Bhai Bishan Singh, Kabitt Savaiyye Bhai Gurdas Ji Satīk (Amritsar: Vazir Hind Press).
52
Singh and Singh, Varān Bhai Gurdās Satīk.

36
complete commentary on the vārs in 1913.53 In the next decade, Sant Sampuran

Singh published a distinct commentary on the kabitts, 54 and in 1929, Akali Kaur

Singh furthered the ability for scholars to research the kabitts by publishing an

index on them.55 As the introductions to these commentaries indicate, Gurdas was

a well-known historical figure in the early twentieth century.

It seems, however, that Gurdas’s Punjabi works were by far the more

popular part of his corpus, as the Brajbhāshā compositions were not known well-

known in lay Sikh circles. Sampuran Singh writes that aside from their difficulty

and their having been written in “Hindustani” language, it was assumed that

contents of the Brajbhāshā works were identical to the easier-to-understand vārs.

Moreover, had it not been for the kabitts being taught in a university course training

Sikh scholars in Lahore, these works may have been lost altogether.56 This

corroborates Bishan Singh’s statement that many people did not even know of the

53
Giani Narain Singh, Ṭīkā Giān Ratanāvalī Varān Bhai Gurdās (Amritsar: 1914). Narain Singh
says some Sikhs before him, whom he leaves anonymous, made commentaries on this important
text in haste (for the purposes of religious preaching), but they left much to be desired. When he
saw those commentaries, Narain Singh was pained. He reports being assisted in his endeavors by
Bhai Rala Singh of Punjab Commercial Press, his teacher Giani Bibeka Singh, Sant Sarup Das, and
Kahn Singh of Nabha (3)
54
Sampuran Singh, Sidhānt Bodhanī Satīk Kabitt Savaiyyān Bhai Gurdās Ji (Amritsar: Chattar
Singh Jivan SIngh, 2003). Sampuran Singh bemoans the contemporary understanding of Bhai
Gurdas — that is he is well-quoted by his contemporaries in speeches, but his contributions are not
utilized to their fullest potential. According to Sampuran Singh, the commentaries that exist have
not adequately utilized this source, the kūnjī to the Sikh scripture (5).
55
“Kabitt-Savaiyye,” Darshan Singh,Singh, ed., The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, 407.
56
Singh, Sidhant Bodini, 8, 9.

37
Brajbhāshā works’ existence, and no translation of the kabitts was available before

his. This early twentieth century lack of popular familiarity with Gurdas’s

Brajbhāshā works stands in contrast to the preference shown to them in the above-

discussed, pre-modern Sikh texts.

Also, the twentieth century commentators give Gurdas’s works an important

new title, kūnjī, or key to the Sikh scripture, further increasing Gurdas’s importance

in Sikh literary canon. Bishan Singh’s 1911 commentary on the kabitts provides

the first use of this title that I have found. In explaining the kūnjī title, Bishan Singh

cites this pre-modern tradition: Bhai Gurdas humbly declines Guru Arjan’s request

to put Gurdas’s writings in the scriptural text, and Guru Arjan blesses Gurdas’s

works, saying that they will forever bring Sikhs to the fold, for they will be the

kūnjī to the scriptures.57 Hazara Singh and Vir Singh’s commentary on the vārs also

articulate this designation, and it then shows up in the very title of Narain Singh’s

commentary on the vārs. 58 Narain Singh reports that there was, during that time, a

prevalent aphorism about Gurdas’s works which denoted its status as kūnjī.59 Pre-

modern Sikh writers from the Sikhān Dī Bhagatmālā author in the late eighteenth

57
That is, “asikhān nūn sikhī prāpat hovegī.” Singh, Kabitt Savaiyye Bhai Gurdas Ji Satīk, 8, intro.
section.
58
Singh and Singh, Varān Bhai Gurdās Satīk. Narain Singh’s commentary’s long title begins: Sri
Guru Granth Sahib Ji Di Kunji Arthat Giāni Ratanāvalī (41) Vārān. Singh, Ṭīkā Giān Ratanāvalī
Varān Bhai Gurdās.
59
This is “gur-bāṇī dī kunjī bāṇī, jo bhai gurdās vakhāṇī.” See: Singh, Ṭīkā Giān Ratanāvalī Varān
Bhai Gurdās, page urha.

38
century, to the Santokh Singh’s Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth in the nineteenth, had

declared that reading Gurdas’s poetry would deepen one’s understanding of Sikh

life, and this kūnjī title is derived from that tradition. The title kūnjī has contributed

to a general misconception that much of Gurdas’s works belong to the historical

period before Guru Arjan’s death in 1606. In the next chapter I discuss how this

prevalent, but late-coming title has led to an unfortunate mis-understanding about

Gurdas’s period of composition.

In addition to the Punjabi-language commentaries, a significant number of

Gurdas’s works were also translated into English during the early twentieth

century. 60 Max Arthur Macauliffe, a British observer of the Sikhs in the late

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, includes a chapter-long summary of Bhai

Gurdas’s expositions of Sikh philosophy in his six-volume work, The Sikh

Religion.61 Following John Malcolm and J.D. Cunningham, Gurdas is a major

source for Macauliffe in reconstructing Sikh history of the seventeenth century.62

Macauliffe includes translations of selections from Gurdas’s vārs that cover a few

dozen themes, frequently refers to Gurdas’s opinions elsewhere in his work, and

also includes several anecdotes about Gurdas with which Macauliffe’s Sikh

60
Above we have mentioned John Malcolm’s 1812 translations. Malcolm, Sketch of the Sikhs.
61
Max Arthur Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion (Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors), Reprint ed.,
6 vols., vol. 4 (Amritsar: Satvic Media Pvt. Ltd., 2000), 241-74.
62
Ibid., 239-40.

39
informants must have been familiar.

Gurdas’s works become highly important sources for Sikhs’ quest in defining

their tradition in light of modernity and a new, colonial-period religious awareness.

In his defense of the distinct nature of the Sikh tradition, Ham Hindu Nahīn (Hindi

for “We Are Not Hindus”), Kahn Singh Nabha has drawn from Bhai Gurdas’s vārs

and kabitts for support over forty times. This book was first published in 1898,

and reprinted multiple times in the early twentieth century. 63 Bhai Jodh Singh’s

1911 work, Sikhī Kī Hai (“What is Sikhism?”) is a series of exegetical discourses

based almost solely on selections from Gurdas’s vārs.64 Sampuran Singh says he

wrote his commentary of Gurdas’s kabitts during a period of polemical attacks on

the Sikh religion.65 He wishes that preachers like Bhai Gurdas would reveal

themselves in his day and that his contemporary co-religionists could look at

Gurdas’s life to change their ways, and to be the kind of Sikhs who would put new

converts onto the Sikh path.66

63
For an English translation see: Kahn Singh Nabha, Sikhs, We Are Not Hindus, ed. Preetpal Singh
Bumra, trans. Jarnail Singh (Amritsar: Singh Brothers, 2006).
64
Jodh Singh, Sikhī Ki Hai? (Delhi: Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Board, 1972).
65
Sampuran Singh says the attackers labeled the community as lacking original, grand ideas
(chamatkārī paramarth). Sampuran Singh says he has published his work to clearly contradict
those who argue that the Sikh tradition’s intellectual system (pripati / paddhati) is indistinct from
the ancient (Hindu) intellectual system, and to stake out the Sikh tradition’s independence from
those systems. Singh, Sidhant Bodini, 7.
66
For details about the narrative of Gurdas converting 700 people to Sikhism that Sampuran Singh
is referencing here, please see the above discussion on Gurdas’s depiction in Mahimā Prakāsh.

40
 Sikh modernists’ renewed interest in Gurdas’s works resulted in a great

discovery that increased the size of Gurdas’s extant corpus. Bhai Vir Singh, who

had published his grandfather’s commentary on the vārs earlier in the century,

found over 100 more, previously unknown, Brajbhāshā quatrains in disparate

manuscripts. In 1940, he published these works in a separate edition, with

commentary, and they have since enjoyed widespread acceptance as Gurdas’s own

works. 67 This publication included 119 poems that were not previously extant, a

handful of which closely resemble some of the previously known works. Critical

editions of Gurdas’s work today have incorporated these poems, bringing the

generally accepted total number of Brajbhāshā stanzas to 675.

Biography. The renewed interest in Gurdas’s works also had an impact on

his biographies. Works like Giani Gian Singh’s Tvārikh Guru Khalsa and

Macauliffe’s Sikh Religion, continued the traditional depiction of Sikh history, and

the figure of Gurdas played a great part in their retellings. These writers relied on

the above-discussed traditional Sikh sources, particularly those from the mid-

nineteenth century. For example, Macauliffe reports that he bases his stories of the

life of Gurdas on Bhai Santokh Singh’s writings and Gurbilās Patshāhī Chevīn.68

67
Bhalla, Kabitt Bhai Gurdas: Dusra Skand Saṭīk.
68
Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion (Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors), 1. Stories from
Macauliffe’s history about Gurdas include Gurdas requesting manuscripts from Baba Mohan, being
appointed “spiritual duties” at the Darbar Sahib (Amritsar), and receiving gifts from the Mughal
emperor. Macauliffe may have borrowed this detail from Giani Gian Singh’s Tvārīkh Guru Khālsā,

41
 Gurdas’s life also became an independent subject of twentieth-century

historical investigation as scholars writing in Punjabi and English pieced together the

details of his career trajectory. Many of these scholars did not list their sources,

and it is therefore difficult to trace the origins of their data, but the biographies of

Gurdas largely reflect previous tradition. These new biographies show that, by and

large, the expansion of Gurdas’s traditional life story was completed in the

nineteenth century, with twentieth century scholars offering few new insights and

building on old ones. They built on the 1800s sources like Gurpratāp Sūraj

Granth, one of the latest sources to discuss Gurdas’s life, as opposed to 1700s

sources. This trend of relying on these late or undisclosed sources for Gurdas’s life

continues well into the late 1900s and is one of the reasons why Gurdas’s

biography deserves revision.

Bishan Singh and Sampuran Singh included brief biographies of Gurdas in

their published commentaries on Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā works. Bishan Singh’s work

makes a few references to Gurdas’s life in his introduction to the kabitts’

where Gian Singh describes Gurdas reading the contents of the Adi Granth to Emperor Akbar on a
visit to the Sikh center [Giani Gian Singh, Tvārīkh Guru Khālsā, ed. K. S. Raju, Third ed. (Patiala:
Bhasha Vibhag, 1999), 406-9.] Macauliffe’s treatment of the story of Gurdas running away from
Kabul to Benares after having felt he failed a test by Guru Hargobind and, being brought back to the
Guru’s court, shows how engrained this story—which, as discussed above, was rooted in eighteenth
century texts but further elaborated in the nineteenth century—had become as part of Sikh lore and
attached with Gurdas’s life. Macauliffe gives the same date for Gurdas’s death (5 Bhadon 1686) as
Gurbilās. Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion (Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors), 133-7, 43-4.

42
commentary. 69 He recounts some of the well-known stories, but, in addition to

including the above-discussed narrative about Gurdas’s works being the key to Sikh

scripture, argues in an extensive footnote that Gurdas was the author of a

controversial part of Sikh scripture known as the Rāgmālā.70 Sampuran Singh’s

biography of Gurdas is much more extensive and was published in Sikh tracts

between 1930 and 1931, a few years after his commentaries on Gurdas’s

Brajbhāshā compositions.71 Sampuran Singh is the first scholar to speculate about

Gurdas’s birth date. Having dated his death to 1629 CE, like the Gurbilās had a

century earlier, Sampuran Singh estimates that Gurdas lived to be about a century

old, and thus provides a 1528-9 CE birth date. Sampuran Singh incorporates the

Sikh traditional stories about Gurdas being tested by Guru Hargobind into his

speculations about Gurdas’s career trajectory. He writes that the vārs are a product

of Guru Arjan’s time, and the kabitts are the product of Guru Hargobind’s time,

when Gurdas was the target of the Guru’s anger for having run away, and needed to

express his longing for being away from the Guru.72 This trend of incorporating

traditional sources, particularly of the nineteenth century, becomes a cornerstone of

69
Singh, Kabitt Savaiyye Bhai Gurdas Ji Satīk. Singh, Sidhant Bodini.
70
For whatever reason, this account has not gained much ground in Sikh history.
71
Darshan Singh says his account of Gurdas’s life relies on Gurbilās Patshahi Chevīn, Gurpratāp
Sūraj Granth, Tvārīkh Guru Khālsā, Macauliffe Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Sikhī De Pahile Viākhiākār,
4, 40.
72
Singh, Sidhant Bodini, 8.

43
Gurdas’s biographies in contemporary times.

Ganda Singh published the first English biography of Gurdas in 1930 in an

English weekly out of Lahore, The Khalsa, in 1930.73 Ganda Singh’s biography

provided the second postulation about Gurdas’s birth date: October 1551 CE.

Ganda Singh further provides information about Gurdas’s parents, which

contradicts data in the bhaṭṭ vahīs and Kesar Singh Chhibbar’s Bansāvalīnāmā.

Ganda Singh reports, for the first time, that Gurdas’s mother’s name was Sukh

Devi, and that his father was Datar Chand, which is the name of the brother of

Gurdas’s father from the other sources, Ishardas Bhalla.74

Bhai Vir Singh’s biography of Gurdas has carried much weight in Sikh

academic circles. Like Bishan Singh and Sampuran Singh, whose biographies of

Gurdas were tied to their commentaries of his Brajbhāshā works, Vir Singh’s

biography was published, in 1940, along with the commentary and text of the 119

kabitts he brought to light. Unlike Ganda Singh, who provided Gurdas a birth date

without disclosing the sources on which that date was based, Vir Singh engages in a

deeper speculation about Gurdas’s birth, finally guessing that he was probably born

between 1543 and 1553 CE. Before taking up Gurdas’s life and works, Vir Singh

had edited and published a multi-volume set of Santokh Singh’s Gurpratāp Sūraj

73
I have not found access to the original document of Ganda Singh’s biography and rely on large
segments re-published in Darshan Singh’s book. Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Sikhī De Pahile Viākhiākār.
74
Ibid., 49 fn 23.

44
Granth, and his data for Gurdas’s life seem to rely heavily on that source. Because

even in that nineteenth century source, not enough data about Gurdas’s life is given

to such an extensive biography, Vir Singh also relies on conjecture based on other

stories about the growth of the Sikh community, and the birth and death of other

important Sikh figures. Like Kahn Singh Nabha, who had written a brief article on

Gurdas in his encyclopedia, Mahānkosh, Vir Singh provides a year for Gurdas’s

death that corresponds with 1637 CE.75

A Summation of Gurdas in Sikh Sources, 1700-1950

His works. Beginning with the Brajbhāshā kabitts, use of Gurdas’s works for

doctrinal and textual support began in the 1700s, and these works remained highly

important in learned Sikh circles until the mid-nineteenth century. Late eighteenth

century histories of the lives of the Sikh Gurus drew on Gurdas’s writings as

sources, and explicitly mention the high importance of Gurdas’s works in Sikh life.

Before the end of the eighteenth century, another set of landmark texts begin to

emerge, which take Gurdas’s Vār 1 and 11 as the subjects of extensive prose

commentaries.76 One of these two texts, Bhagatmālā, a commentary on Gurdas’s

75
Kahn Singh Nabha, ed., Gurshabad Ratanākar Mahānkosh, Sixth ed. (Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag,
1999), 416. Bhalla, Kabitt Bhai Gurdas: Dusra Skand Saṭīk, 81. Vir Singh relies on the dating of
Baba Budha’s death which is said to have happened before Gurdas’s.
76
Sant Sampuran Singh has compared the attributed author of these texts—Bhai Mani Singh—to
important Vedanta philosopher Shankar, for doing the commentary on the commentary of Sikh

45
Eleventh Vār, adds to the understanding of the importance of Gurdas’s works by

advancing the notion that Guru Arjan himself declared Gurdas’s works to be the

authoritative commentary on Sikh scripture. This story, and the understanding of

Gurdas’s works it carries, provides the foundation of the twentieth century

designation of Gurdas’s works as the kūnjī, or key, to Sikh scripture.

1800s Sikh texts further emphasize the importance of Gurdas’s works in Sikh

life. Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth adds six Sanskrit shaloks to Gurdas’s corpus. These

were translated and commented on by Bhai Vir Singh, but have not gained

recognition as Gurdas’s own authentic compositions. This may be because of the

difficulty and remoteness of the language in which they are written, the lack of

manuscript evidence accompanying them, or their late admission to Gurdas’s

corpus—over two centuries after his death.

Whereas Bhai Santokh Singh’s efforts at injecting the Gurdas-attributed

Sanskrit shaloks into Gurdas’s corpus has not carried much weight in Sikh circles,

Bhai Vir Singh’s addition of 119 Brajbhāshā quatrains has resulted in the more

widespread acceptance of these previously unknown works. Also in the twentieth

century Gurdas’s entire Punjabi and Brajbhāshā corpus became the subject of

commentaries and translation into Punjabi prose as his eleventh and first vārs had

become in the late eighteenth century. Extensive selections from the vārs also began

scipture.

46
to be translated into English.

Furthermore, Sikhs engaged in the modernization of their religion used

Gurdas’s vārs to support their calling for the religion’s exclusivity and its unique

identity—a project in which Gurdas himself seems to have been engaged during his

times. In the early 1900s, Gurdas’s works were part of university training of Sikh

theologians and preachers.77 Whereas the earliest 1700s sources for dealing with

Gurdas’s works had treated the kabitts primarily, in the 1900s Sikhs were more

used to dealing with Punjabi. This meant a heightened importance given to

Gurdas’s vārs, more than the kabitts—a trend that continues to this day. Beginning

in the middle of the twentieth century, the vārs—and to a far lesser extent, the

kabitts as well—became the subject of critical study. Viewed not just as religious

texts, but as landmarks in literature, the vārs began to enjoy a special place in

scholars’ configuration of Punjabi literary history.

His biography. References to Gurdas’s importance as a scribe began to

appear 1600s and early 1700s Sikh sources. This initial depiction of Gurdas as the

scribe for a landmark Sikh scriptural manuscript was followed by his depiction in

later 1700s literature as a poet and leading figure of the Sikh community. Texts like

the late 1700s Bhagatmālā add amanuensis of Sikh scriptural texts to Gurdas’s

litany of roles. Also in the late 1700s, Gurdas began to be depicted as a holy man,

77
Singh, Sidhant Bodini, 8, 9.

47
with supernatural religious powers. In Mahimā Prakāsh, his prayers help traveling

Sikhs to ford a river on the way to a religious visit to the Sikh center. In

Bhagatmālā, long-deceased poet saints appear to Gurdas, requesting him to include

their compositions in the scriptural text he is compiling.

Gurdas’s mystical attributes are further developed in the 1800s texts as he

appears, after his own death, to a Sikh on his deathbed in the text of Gurbilās. In

the 1800s sources like Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth, Gurdas is depicted as an officiant

at religious ceremonies, and a political leader who bears a considerable burden on

behalf of the growing community. In this period, Gurdas’s scribal role is compared

in its importance to that of Lord Ganesh’s inscription of the Mahabharata text

under the auspices of Lord Brahma (whose counterpart in this equation would be

Guru Arjan).

In the early 1900s, Gurdas becomes the subject of independent biographical

pieces, and possible dates for his birth are discussed for the first time. Few

substantive additions are made to Gurdas’s traditional biography after the middle of

twentieth century. Aside from excessively creative attempts to reconstruct

Gurdas’s life, much of the twentieth century scholarship on Gurdas’s life has

absorbed the pre-modern texts’ claims without much question as to their veracity or

meaning.78

78
Giani Lal Singh Sangrur makes Gurdas a contemporary of Guru Nanak, and extends his age to

48
Aspects of Gurdas’s Biography to Reconsider

As widely as Gurdas has been cited in Sikh scholarship, a historical source

and personality of his stature deserves an even closer look. Certain received

aspects of Gurdas’s traditional biography have become absorbed in the critical

scholarship on his life and career, and deserve re-examination. The first of these is

the assumption that Gurdas composed his writings before the Kartarpur Pothi’s

compilation in 1604. This assumption will be questioned in the next chapter as

part of my discussion of Gurdas’s works.

Second, the guru-svāng story, which involves Gurdas being tested by the

Guru and running away, does not stand up to textual scrutiny, though biographers

until the late twentieth century cite it as a cornerstone of Gurdas’s biography. The

various versions of this story do not match up. In the Mahimā Prakāsh versions, it

is Guru Arjan who initially tested Gurdas, who, having failed the test, ran away to

some anonymous land. Gurdas remained estranged during the martyrdom of Guru

Arjan and did not return to face penitence until summoned by Guru Hargobind.

This story takes a different trajectory in the Gurbilās version. In this text, the

story is modified to meet its author’s understanding that Gurdas did not write his

133 years at death. Lal Singh was inconsistent in his dating, sometimes he gave Gurdas the age of
100 years at his death, at other times he says Gurdas lived to be 136 years old. Giani Lal Singh
Sangrur, Gurdas Darshan (Malwa Dharmak Sabha, 1955), Giani Lal Singh Sangrur, Guru
Bansāvalī Te Pantakh Prasiddha Hastiān (Singh Pur: Malwa Dharmak Sabha, 1939).

49
poetry until after the inscription of the Sikh scriptural manuscript, and was present

at the Sikh center during the period of Guru Arjan’s martyrdom. Thereby, in that

retelling, which became the accepted version, Gurdas is tested under Guru

Hargobind alone. Rattan Singh Bhangu’s Panth Prakāsh skips this story altogether

and provides an entirely different interpretation of the guru-svāng verse. The few

scholars who have recently challenged this legend deserve to be heard. This story

has already been critically examined by scholars like Darshan Singh, and

Brahmjagdish Singh has correctly rejected this story altogether as an attempt by

later writers to explain a series of confusing excerpts from Gurdas’s writings.79

Third, and related to the above, the sentiment behind the guru-svāng legend

assumes that Gurdas did indeed question Sikh leadership in his works. Hew

Mcleod is one of the scholars influenced by this view:

It is possible to read [Vār stanza 26.24] as an expression of genuine

questioning on the part of Bhai Gurdas. Indeed, this conclusion is
unavoidable. Bhai Gurdas was genuinely perplexed by the behaviour of
the sixth Guru, as he surveyed such puzzling features as hunting, gaol-
going and even untrustworthy servants in his retinue. The other Gurus
were not like this. Why should this one be so different? And then in his
two concluding lines he provides the only answer that seems to him to
make sense. The Guru is still the Guru and loyal Sikhs will recognize
him as such. This suggests that change had certainly taken place under
Guru Hargobind, but that the direction of the change was not yet clear.80

79
Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Rachana Sansar, 17.
80
W. H. McLeod, Sikhism (London: New York, 1997), 35-6. In another work, McLeod repeats the
sentiment: “Bhai Gurdas was clearly disturbed by the changes that overtook the Panth with the
accession of Guru Hargobind…” McLeod, Sikhs of the Khalsa: A History of the Khalsa Rahit, 33.

50
This assessment neither matches Gurdas’s broad agenda in general, or with the vār

in question in particular. Reading the whole of the Vār from which McLeod takes

his excerpt, as well as Vār 35 (on which traditional writers build the guru-svāng

episode), shows quite clearly that Gurdas confronts the Guru’s detractors during a

period of schism and upheaval. Furthermore, the guru-svāng issue appears not just

in the thirty-fifth Vār, but in other parts of Gurdas’s corpus, like Kabitt 402. We

can clearly glean from Gurdas’s writings that he was a devoted Sikh. He was a

staunch supporter of the lineage of Sikh Gurus from Nanak to Hargobind. When

the office of the Guru passed from Gurdas’s uncle, Guru Amardas, to a member of

the Sodhi clan, Gurdas’s devotion lay with the shift of the office, and not with rival

claimants from his own clan, the Bhallas.81 Later writers have underestimated

Gurdas’s undying loyalty to the Guru, and have misunderstood Gurdas’s career

goals and self-conception.

How much did he travel, and what kind of education did he receive? In the

1800s, Gurbilās gave first death date outside of bhaṭṭ vahīs (1629), and Sampuran

Singh, in the 1900s, was the first to speculate on his birth date (1530s)—are these

dates accurate? What was his self-conception as a writer and how did he perceive

81
Please see v26.33 where Gurdas calls out all rival claimants to the Guru-ship, including his own
ancestors Mohan (whom he calls “crazed”) and Mohri Bhalla. He also articulates the notion that the
Sodhi family (from Guru Ramdas to Gurus Arjan and Hargobind) has accepted the burden of
leadership and will hold the office of the Sikh Guru indefinitely (please see v1.47, 1.48, 26.24).

51
his own role in Sikh history? On what basis have writers given his works the title

of “kūnjī,” and did Gurdas see himself as a scriptural commentator? These

questions will be taken up in the remainder of this dissertation.

52
 Chapter Two

An Introduction to Gurdas’s Works

Gurdas is depicted as an interpreter of Sikh scripture, and his works are

depicted as commentary. However, Gurdas does not see himself with that lens: he

calls himself a ḍhāḍī (“minstrel,” v36.21) and insofar as he writes kabitts, a bhaṭṭ

(“panegyrist,” v15.2). He very consciously builds on the body of Sikh literature

before him, and yet makes his own place as one of the Sikh tradition’s most

pioneering poets.

What Gurdas Inherited: Context of Writing in the Early Sikh Tradition

Well before Gurdas, the early Sikh tradition established writing as an

important part of Sikh life, portraying religious writing as a devotional act. Guru

Nanak’s (d. 1539) compositions, which form the core of Sikh scripture, repeatedly

refer to the Guru as a minstrel of the divine court.1 They speak of writing the name

of God onto one’s mind with the pen of love, and praising the divine through

writing is a worthy and infinite act. God is the ultimate writer, inscribing each

man’s destiny on his forehead, and the divine pen takes account of every person’s
1
The word used is ḍhāḍī. See the Guru Granth Sahib (hereafter, GG), pages 148, 149, 150, 468,
1286.

53
actions.2 From Gurdas’s writings we learn that Guru Nanak traveled with a book in

hand, and scholars think this book must have contained the Guru’s own

compositions (v1.32 and v1.33).

Before Gurdas’s lifetime, each of the Gurus wrote, and participated in the

commentary of his predecessor’s writings. Guru Nanak’s successors are engaged in

an inter-generational conversation in their writings, which represents the first stage

of Sikh commentary.3 Guru Nanak’s successor Guru Angad (d. 1552) left

revelations that were very close to the founder’s, and the tradition of Sikh exegesis

began within the Sikh scripture itself “as Guru Nanak’s successors reinforced,

elaborated, and responded to his ideas while composing their own hymns.”4 Guru

Amardas (d. 1574), the third Guru, compiled the Sikh scriptural manuscripts

known as the Goindval Pothis.5 For him, writing was a metaphor for internal

spirituality: one need not write with a pen, but on the paper of one’s heart. The

Gurmukhs (pious Sikhs) write the truth and reflect on it. 6 The fourth Guru,

Ramdas (d. 1581), wrote extensively and says that those hands that write the praise

2
GG 3, 5, 16, 930, 1241, 1280.
3
For more on this tradition, please see Singh, Gurbani Dian Viakhia Paranalian.
4
Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture, 18.
5
For a scholarly treatment of these, see Gurinder Singh Mann, The Goindval Pothis: The Earliest
Extant Source of the Sikh Canon (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996).
6
GG 84, 123.

54
of the lord are blessed.7 His son and successor, Guru Arjan (d.1606), under whose

aegis Gurdas inscribed the Kartarpur Pothi, proclaims that those who write down

the Guru’s words wash away their own sins, and guarantee liberation for their

families. Listening to the kirtan (musical performance of the Guru’s word) involves

inscribing the praises of the Lord in one’s mind.8

Compositions attributed to Mardana (Guru Nanak’s companion), Satta and

Balvand (authors of Rāmkali Ki Vār), Sundar (author of the Sadd), and those of

bards at the Sikh court (authors of savaiyye) are included in the Sikh scripture. The

tradition of the Sikh community employing writers in the Sikh court, discussing

basic Sikh ideas and practices, begins probably under the pontificate of Guru

Amardas, Gurdas’s uncle. These writers are Gurdas’s forbearers, and their works

are included in the Guru Granth. Their writings allude to the power of the Sikh

Guru, and the strength of the Sikh community.

Satta and Balvand’s Vār appears to have been most clearly in Gurdas’s mind

during his own period of writing. Satta and Balvand portray Guru Nanak not only

as a holy man, but as a world-conquering king who passes on his royalty to his

successors.9 Gurdas echoes this in a near verbatim fashion in Vār 1 (v1.46). Satta,

7
GG 540.
8
GG 81, 185, 650.
9
GG 966.

55
Balvand, Bhaṭṭ Kall, and Gurdas all use the metaphor of the “reversal of the

Ganges” to refer to the succession of the Guru-ship (v1.38).10

Sundar provides another example of an early royal depiction of the Sikh

Guru, something that the bhaṭṭs and Gurdas expanded after him.11 Sundar portrays

the transference of Guruship from Guru Amardas to Ramdas as a royal coronation,

saying that the entire world prostrates to Guru Ramdas’s feet.12 Depicting the

Guru as a religious and political sovereign seems to have been a prevalent practice in

the sixteenth century as Sikh scriptural scholars report an inscription on a landmark

manuscript that describes Guru Nanak as an emperor and spiritual leader.13 Later,

Bhaṭṭ Kalsahar depicted Ramdas as a spiritual warrior, wearing a coat of mail and

having conquered the world.14 Gurdas repeatedly echoes this royal depiction of the

Gurus. For example, he depicts Guru Hargobind as a sovereign with a royal canopy

overhead, and, echoing Sundar, the word is his royal standard (v3.3, v39.4).

That only one of the bhaṭṭs, Kall, writes of Guru Nanak provides Gurdas with

a great opportunity to expand the founder’s hagiography. Kall portrays Nanak in

10
GG 967, 1393.
11
GG 923. For Sundar, the Guru’s word is the true standard (royal flag) and sign of divinity.
12
GG 924.
13
Singh, Life and Work of Guru Arjan, 124. Mann, The Goindval Pothis: The Earliest Extant
Source of the Sikh Canon, 97.
14
GG 1397.

56
light of historical religious figures and deities but not necessarily as a leader or king.

In Kall’s portrayal, Nanak supercedes all the Vaishnava deities and all the

Vaishnava poet-saints sing his praises. The bhaṭṭs call Angad the world preceptor

(jagat guru), and Gurdas mirrors this epithet for Nanak (v24.2, v24.4). Bhaṭṭ Tall

calls Guru Angad a lion (sinh), and Gurdas makes the same comparison with Guru

Hargobind (v5.12). The bhaṭṭs are the first in Sikh literature to talk of the lineage of

the Sodhis, Guru Ramdas’s clan, and Gurdas echoes expands this to compare the

clan to a dynasty. 15 Bhaṭṭ Kalsahar adds that Arjan is a fearless leader who can

absorb the fear of his devotee, and Gurdas talks of Hargobind in the same way

(v26.24). Guru Arjan has passed Guru Ramdas’s test and, in Gurdas’s

compositions, the Sikhs are undergoing Guru Hargobind’s test (v35.19).16 Gurdas’s

use of the epithet “Vahiguru” for the divine in his own works (Vār 1, especially)

comes from the bhaṭṭs—no Guru had used it in his writings.

Independent accounts of the lives of the Guru, janam-sākhīs, were also

gaining currency during this time, but these accounts lie outside the Sikh scriptural

canon.17 A leading scholar of these texts, Kirpal Singh, argues that these accounts

15
See v1.48 and tini sri ramdasu sodhi thiru thapyao (GG 1401), kuli sodhi (GG 1407).
16
Bhaṭṭ Kall: gur parchai parvaṇu, GG 1408.
17
These sources are not considered here. Though a critical edition has not yet been established for
these sources, Bhai Vir Singh has done a yeoman’s job in publishing his findings on this topic. See
his Puratan Janam Sakhi. Puratan Janam Sakhi Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, ed. Bhai Vir Singh (New
Delhi: Bhai Vir SIngh Sahitya Sadan, 2004).

57
must have evolved from oral form in the late 1500s.18 Future endeavors in the

textual history of these accounts will provide materials for comparison with

Gurdas’s works, particularly Vār 1 containing his account of Guru Nanak’s life and

mission.

It is clear that Gurdas is the inheritor of a century-long Sikh literary tradition,

on which he consciously expands, voluminously. Gurdas knew the writings of his

Sikh predecessors well, read them carefully, and was trying to build on their work.

He picks up where the bhaṭṭs left off: hagiographical writings of the Gurus and

verses praising the Sikh community lend prestige to the tradition. Specific language

and use of writing are shared over the years, and Gurdas’s writings are an extension

of the use of the written word to help Sikhs lay out the issues of the day.

When Gurdas Wrote

The importance of Gurdas’s works is clearly established in Sikh tradition;

they are unparalleled in their explanations of the Sikh way of life. However, the

designation of Gurdas’s works as kūnjī, or key to Sikh scripture, has interfered with

the proper dating of the works. Below, I revisit the history of this designation and

clarify its chronology.

The prevalent view. Most scholars negotiate the works’ dating by noting

18
Singh, The Janamsakhi Tradition: An Analytical Study.

58
accepted Sikh tradition, adding datable stanzas of the vārs, and conceding the

difficulty of the process. 19 A typical dating of the vārs follows:

There is no internal or external evidence available to determine the exact

time of the composition of these vārs, but it can be assumed that vārs
(Nos. 3, 11, 13, 24, 26, 38, 39) which have references to Guru
Hargobind who came into spiritual inheritance in 1606 after the death of
Guru Arjan, his predecessor, might have been composed sometime after
that year, and the others implicitly prior to that date. The Vār 36 on
the mīṇās probably was written before the compilation of the Sikh
Scripture in 1603-4. 20

Similarly, the kabitts are dated in various ways, but most scholars say they were

written after the vārs:

As regards [sic] the time and place of these compositions, opinion

varies. It is generally believed that a major part of this work was
completed after the poet’s more popular work, the Vārs, had been
written. The more likely venue was Kashi and Agra where the Bhai had
lived for some time. The conjecture is strengthened by several factors.
One, the theme of the poetry belongs to the poet’s maturer [sic] years.
Second, the language of these compositions is akin to the contemporary
religious and literary genius of Kashi and Agra. A pang of separation
from the Guru is the running theme of this poetry. 21

Whereas, the majority of scholars date the vārs to the earlier portion of Gurdas’s

career, a substantial minority of scholars has argued that Gurdas must have written

the kabitts before the vārs. The most prominent voice in this debate is that of Sita

19
For example, See Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Sikhī De Pahile Viākhiākār, 39.
20
“Kabitt-Savaiyye,” Darshan Singh, Singh, ed., The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, 407.

Emphases added.
21
Ibid. Emphasis added.

59
Ram Bahri, who argues that Gurdas wrote the kabitts in his youth, influencing his

later composition of the vārs.22

The majority of scholars agree that Gurdas wrote all of his works sometime

between the late 1500s and 1630 or so. Scholars point to this wide range perhaps

one of 60 years, despite an abundance of data from all of Gurdas’s works relating to

the period of the sixth Guru’s reign (discussed below), which begins in 1606.

Scholars who hold firm to this wide range, believe that Gurdas wrote many, if not

most, of his works before 1606, and then peppered in a few of the dateable stanzas

after that date.23

Opposing Views. If at least some of Gurdas’s works were written during the

late 1500s, why are they not available in the scriptural text prepared in 1604? This

text included the writings of the Sikh Gurus as well as others: writings of Sikh bards

and poets were included in the scriptural text up until the early seventeenth

century. 24 It seems likely that if Gurdas’s compositions were available during the

22
Sita Ram Bahri, "Bhai Gurdas Di Boli Te Shaili," in Bhai Gurdas: Jivan Te Rachna, ed. Kapur
Singh Ghuman (Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag, 1983).
23
The above mentioned encyclopedia entry bases its pre-1603 dating of Vār 36 on evidence from
Kesar Singh Chhibbar’s Bansāvalīnāmā.
24
Manuscript evidence shows that the writings of Sikhs, which finally made their way into the Guru
Granth, were still developing in the late sixteenth century and first four years of the seventeenth
century. There is evidence between the two scriptural manuscripts, the MS 1245 and the Kartarpur
Pothi, to show that the bhaṭṭs’ writings were still developing between 1595 (the birth of Guru
Hargobind mentioned in MS 1245) and 1604 (the compilation of the Kartarpur Pothi). Piar Singh
says that the MS 1245 does not contain Satta and Balvand’s var, and only 32 of the 122 savaiyyās of
the bhaṭṭs are there (all written by Kalya). Incidentally, neither does the MS 1245 include the text of
the ragmālā. All of these compositions make their first appearance in the dated, 1604 Kartarpur

60
compilation processes of the early scriptural texts, they would have been included.

Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that the schismatic agents, whose spurious

writings some sources say forced Guru Arjan to compile the Kartarpur Pothi, were

writing as early as 1604. In his re-visioning of the history of Sikh scripture,

Gurinder Singh Mann says that Miharban probably did not begin writing his

compositions, which were authoritative for his followers, until well after the

compilation of the Kartarpur Pothi.25 This interpretation of the historical data calls

into question the notion that Gurdas would have dedicated entire vārs to denigrating

the schismatic groups before Guru Arjan’s death. J. S. Grewal and Jeevan Deol

agree that Prithi Chand tried to succeed his younger brother, Arjan, as sixth Guru. 26

It would make much more sense that the issue of schism was more salient after

1606, and it was the legitimacy of Guru Hargobind that the schismatics actively

rejected.

Unlike other treatments of Gurdas’s works, Gurbilās and the Mani Singh

Janam-Sākhī portray them as having been written after the compilation of the

Kartarpur Pothi.27 This lack of the sources’ consensus on when Gurdas wrote is

Pothi. Piar Singh reports that the MS 1245 does include Sundar’s Sadd, as well as the above-
mentioned 32 poems from the bhaṭṭs. Piar Singh, Gatha Sri Adi Granth and the Controversy
(Michigan: Anant Education and Rural Development Foundation, 1996).
25
Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture, 36.
26
Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab, 62, 64-6. Deol, "The Minas and Their Literature."
27
Gurbilās Pātshāhī Chevīn, 145. Puratan Janam Sakhi Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, 9.

61
important to register. Unfortunately, without much questioning, selective

treatment of these stories led to the unquestioned acceptance, in twentieth century

scholarship, of the position that Gurdas’s works were written during Guru Arjan’s

lifetime.

Kirpal Singh dates Gurdas’s First Vār “beyond doubt” between 1630 and

1637.28 In his biography of the fifth Sikh Guru, Pashaura Singh says that Gurdas’s

account of the death of Guru Arjan was a contemporary one.29 Brahmjagdish Singh

points to a handful of distinct scholarly arguments about the dating of Gurdas’s

vārs: one states that the First Vār shows evidence of being written after Akbar’s

reign (d. 1605); another indicates that there is no mention of Guru Hargobind’s

battle with Mughals, which is dated to 1628.30

J. S. Grewal’s work firmly dates all of the vārs to the early seventeenth

century, which he says was “a phase of Sikh history that was marked by crisis and

transition”.31 However he makes no mention of the dating of the kabitts. Another

Sikh historian, Sukhdial Singh, argues that Gurdas wrote his vārs during the years

28
Furthermore, Kirpal Singh cites Mani Singh’s Janam-Sakhi, which says that Gurdas was asked to
write the first var after 1604. Kirpal Singh notes that the Miharban Janam Sakhi, the Puratan Janam
Sakhi, and the first vār of Bhai Gurdas “resemble with one another very much” and that “Many
sakhis are quite similar in these two Janamsakhis and at places their language is also the same.”
Singh, The Janamsakhi Tradition: An Analytical Study, 32-8.
29
Singh, Life and Work of Guru Arjan, 39-40.
30
Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Rachana Sansar, 21.
31
Grewal, "The Sikh Panth in the Vars of Bhai Gurdas," 26.

62
1610-1628, and is also certain that they were written after the compilation of the

Adi Granth, during a period of schismatic rivalry. He clarifies that it is not possible

that Guru Arjan compiled the Granth in order to protect the scripture from

spurious additions from his brother’s faction because Miharban was the first writer

in that genre, and his life dates preclude his having written before Guru Arjan’s

death. 32

Building on these last two arguments, I recognize the kabitts in my analysis,

and argue that they were largely written after the vārs. 33 The composition period of

some of the kabitts may have overlapped with the end of Gurdas’s vār-writing.34

In the future, deep inspection of a broad range of data will help to give greater

certainty to the composition order and chronology.

Data from Gurdas’s works. The most important pieces of internal data to

underscore this are the early seventeenth century events in Gurdas’s vār: the

compilation of Sikh scripture (1604), the death of Guru Arjan (1606), the

ascendance of Guru Hargobind (r. 1606-1644), his imprisonment in Gwalior jail (c.

32
Sukhdial Singh, Guru Kaal: 1469-1708, vol. 5, Punjab Da Itihas (Patiala: Punjabi University,
2000), 40.
33
Moreover, evidence from an albeit limited number of manuscripts indicates that Gurdas may have
written the vārs out of the order in which we receive them today. Please see Gursharan Kaur Jaggi’s
treatment of manuscripts: Gurdas Bhalla, Varān Bhai Gurdās (Sampadan Ate Path-Nirdharanh), ed.
Gursharan Kaur Jaggi, Second ed. (Patiala: Punjabi University Publications Bureau, 1999), 54-58.
34
That vārs were written out of their final order, when seen in light of the 20th-century discovery of
the final 119 kabitts by Bhai Vir Singh, indicates that Gurdas may have stopped and recommenced
his writings several times in his career.

63
1610), and his fashioning himself as a bellicose prince. Moreover, Vār 4 prescribes

an ethical Sikh response to suffering. Gurdas says in this vār that Sikhs should

arrive at the Sikh center, cry together and heal together (v4.18). This would have

been timely in light of Guru Arjan’s 1606 death at the hands of the Mughal state in

assuaging the fears of anxious Sikhs. Gurdas echoes these statements of suffering

often elsewhere in the vārs. In light of the threat of schism posed by the group led

by Guru Arjan’s brother, Gurdas has much to say about the detractors from what

he perceives as the rightful Sikh community.35

Furthermore, the themes of many of the kabitts follow the vārs. Although

they have been portrayed as related only to belief, kabitts are not without historical

significance. Kabitts 221, 368, and 402 mirrors the language of the “svāng” verses

from the 35th Vār, which extol Sikhs to stay close to the Guru amidst the sectarian

confusions. Kabitt 387 parallels the language of the polemical Vārs 31-37. In

Kabitt 570, Gurdas claims that other gurus’ are writing bāṇī (the word of the Sikh

Gurus, the scriptural form of revelation) and Gurdas says a true Sikh knows the

difference between Guru’s bāṇī and those of others. This would have been most

salient in the first three decades of the seventeenth century when a rival claimaint to

Guru Arjan’s office was writing.36

35
For example Vārs 30-37 line up as a group of anti-schism polemics.
36
If Gurdas is referring to Miharban, the son of the rival group’s leader and author of many
interpretive and commentarial compositions called goshṭs, then Kabitt 254 is also illuminating

64
 The poet’s play with his own name in the Brajbhāshā poetry implies that he

was well known to his audience.37 Furthermore, the poet’s reflective mood in some

kabitts befits their composition by a senior poet.38 As such, the indication that he

was well renowned at the time of writing of the Brajbhāshā works to employ self-

referential strategies indicates that the Brajbhāshā works are from a slightly later

time in Gurdas’s career than the vārs.

Thus, in light of historical evidence, we must abandon the argument that

Gurdas’s works were written during Guru Arjan’s lifetime as untenable. The

internal evidence shows they were from between 1606 and 1630. This was a time

of political upheaval, and sectarian schism. It was an unprecedented period in Sikh

history when the Sikh Guru himself did not write.

What Gurdas Wrote

Gurdas wrote in two distinct literary genres, each with very different styles

and in distinct languages: the Punjabi vār and the Brajbhāshā kabitt. Bhai Santokh

Singh, writing in the mid-nineteenth century, also attributes six Sanskrit shaloks to

where he says that goshṭs are nothing special, many people may write them, and they do not
compare with the unmediated experience of the Guru’s word. It is possible that Gurdas refers here
to the compositions of the Nath Yogis, which are also referred to as bāṇī.
37
For examples, see Kabitts 106-8, 551.
38
For example, see the poet’s despondence at his reflection on his life trajectory in Kabitt 578,
which is translated as the epigraph to Chapter One. See also Kabitt 571.

65
Gurdas.39 However, these verses are to few, too short, and their authorship too

uncertain to have figured into this dissertation’s considerations. There is strong

tradition that Gurdas wrote yet other, non-extant pieces of poetry. Piara Singh

Padam, Rattan Singh Jaggi, and Amritpal Kaur allude to the possibility that there

exist hitherto undiscovered poems of Bhai Gurdas.40

Gurdas’s works are typically considered to be scriptural “commentary,” and

even the earliest sources, like Bhagatmālā, refer to them as ṭīkā, a secondary

interpretation of a primary text. The works are interpretive poems that organize

teachings found in the Guru Granth, prevalent practices and ethics. They quote

from scripture and answer challenges of that day. Gurdas frequently utilizes inter-

textual allusions, which should not be confused with scriptural commentary. For

example, in Vār 6 Gurdas takes a number of near-quotations from Guru Nanak’s

foundational hymn, Jap. In the first stanza, he uses Guru Nanak’s words for the

divine realm, sach khanḍ, to refer to the Sikh congregation. In the third stanza, he

refers to the first few compositions in Sikh scripture when describing the normative

liturgical schedule. In the fifth stanza, he echoes the text of Guru Nanak’s final

stanza in Jap to embody the point that the holy word is to be at the center of Sikh

worship. In these, rather than “commenting” in prose, Gurdas weaves in some of

39
Singh, Sri Gurpratap Suraj Granth, 3057-61.
40
Padam, "Bhai Gurdas Di Hindi Rachna," 220. Jaggi, Bhai Gurdas: Jīvan Te Rachna, 149. Kaur,
Shabad Anukraminika Te Kosh - Kabit Savaiyye Bhai Gurdas, viii.

66
the well-known verses from the scripture and while leaning on its authority.41

The Vārs

Organization. Each of Gurdas’s forty vārs, comprising 913 total stanzas,

is organized according to rhythm of stanzas and around a set of themes. On

average, each vār has about 23 stanzas; most have either 20 or 21. There is no vār

with less than twenty stanzas, and Vār 1 has, by far, the most with 49. The

number of lines in each stanza varies considerably (between five and ten), but all

lines in each stanza rhyme with each other.42 The last line of the stanza is usually

shorter than all others, and no one rhythm scheme that runs throughout the vārs,

amplifying the genre’s rustic flavor.

Due to various confusions, scholars have sometimes counted the number of

vārs at 39, but evidence from early manuscripts clearly establishes the number at

40.43 Nripinder Singh explains that the reason some scholars count only 39 vārs is

41
This weaving in of scriptural verses is not unique to the vārs, though the practice in the kabitts is
completely overlooked by scholars. Please see the first line of Kabitt 54, and compare it to āpīṇai
āp sājio āpīṇai rachio nāo (GG 463).
42
Some stanzas even have double rhymes where they rhyme at the halfway point of the verse.
43
In particular, a manuscript in Khalsa College’s (Amritsar) possession with an earlier ordering of
vārs and Manuscript number 562 in Patiala’s Central Public Library clearly attributes 40 vārs to
Gurdas’s authorship. For a detailed treatment of the manuscript evidence of Gurdas’s vārs, please
see Bhalla, Varān Bhai Gurdās (Sampadan Ate Path-Nirdharanh), 54-58. Some editions have
printed as many as 41 vārs, one reason for the inconsistencies in number is that a 41st vār is
sometimes included in Gurdas Bhalla’s corpus, but was clearly written by another poet calling
himself “Gurdas,” as it covers the life of tenth Sikh leader, Guru Gobind Singh. For more on the
history of the numbering of the vārs, see Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Sikhī De Pahile Viākhiākār, 34-6.

67
that, in the early twentieth century, fringe elements in the community who were on

heightened alert against heterodox elements in the tradition, dropped the Tenth Vār

because of its Hindu mythological content. 44 The vār includes a series of Sikh re-

appropriations of Vaishnava myths, has been quite controversial for its inclusion of

what some consider heterodox materials. Whereas Nripinder Singh makes Teja

Singh of Bhasaur to be the culprit of opposition to this vār, Pritam Singh sees Giani

Lal Singh Sangrur the “one fundamentalist … who led the campaign against the

10th Vār being retained in [Gurdas’s corpus].” 45 Sant Singh Sekhon blames Sikh

scholar Sahib Singh.46 Mindful of such stances against the Tenth Vār, literary

scholars have come to its defense, providing scriptural basis for its use of

mythology and arguing for its utilitarian use of Puranic materials.47 Another reason,

however, for the confusion is that the 40th Vār is simply absent in some

manuscripts, perhaps due to its late comoposition.

The very existence of 40 vārs in Gurdas’s corpus speaks to his understanding

44
Singh, The Sikh Moral Tradition: Ethical Perceptions of the Sikhs in the Late Nineteenth / Early
Twentieth Century, 75 fn 8.
45
Singh, Bhai Gurdas, 36.
46
“Some scholars like Sahib Singh are unwilling to accept the tenth Vār in which legends and tales
mentioned above, are told, as the works of Bhai Gurdas. But their echoes being heard even in the
Gurubāṇī, it should not cause much doubt about its authenticity.” Sant Singh Sekhon and Kartar
Singh Duggal, A History of Punjabi Literature (New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1992), 158.
47
Sekhon, Bhai Gurdas: Ik Adhiain, 96, 104-6. Bhalla, Varān Bhai Gurdās (Sampadan Ate Path-
Nirdharanh), 35.

68
of himself in Sikh tradition. There are 40 stanzas in the first composition of the

Adi Granth, Guru Nanak’s Jap,48 as well as in Guru Amardas’s Anand.49 Both of

these compositions are part of Sikh daily prayers, and Gurdas may have followed

the number to 40. Scholars have noted that Guru Amardas’s compositions are

often close to Guru Nanak's and appear to be commentarial.50 Gurdas’s

compositions often utilize Guru Nanak’s phrases,51 and as well as those of his

uncle, Guru Amardas.52

Language and genre. According to Sant Singh Sekhon, the whole of the

vārs are written in unadulterated Punjabi idiom, the mother tongue of the common

folk of Punjab and utilize the dialect of central Punjab (Majha), which is not utilized

even by the Gurus. 53 The literature of the Sikh canon before Gurdas used a Punjabi

infused with more universal, pan-North-Indian language, making Gurdas one of the

Punjabi language’s pioneering writers.54

48
The 40 stanzas include the prologue (ik oankar, satinam…) and epilogue (salok: pavan guru…),
GG 1-8.
49
GG 917-922.
50
Singh, Gurbani Dian Viakhia Paranalian, 23-36. Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture, 18.
51
For example, compare Gurdas’s v2.19, with Guru Nanak’s “shalok” on GG 8. Compare,
Gurdas’s use of “hathu dei” (v6.12, v8.24) with Guru Nanak’s (GG 1245).
52
For example, compare Gurdas’s contention that the Sikh path is sharper than a double-edge sword
(khanda, v9.2, v11.5) with that of Guru Amardas (GG 918).
53
Sekhon, Bhai Gurdas: Ik Adhiain, 5, 111-2.
54
Ibid., 107-10, 13.

69
 Not only is Gurdas one of the few writers to use the vār for religious writings,

he is the most prolific poet in the vār genre. According to Piara Singh Padam, vārs

constitute a genre of poetry unique to the Punjabi language. Vār literature seems to

have a rich, particularly oral, tradition before the Gurus take it up as a literary genre

in Sikh scripture.55 Nine vārs are alluded to in the Sikh scripture, which must have

been popular in the sixteenth century, but which are no longer extant.56

A vār is defined by two characteristics, the first of which is the stanza form

known as pauṛī, in which all lines rhyme. There are as many as 30 or 40 types of

pauṛīs in the old literature: with various rhythmic configurations and no limitations

for line numbering, leaving the genre open for poets to innovate with regard metrical

scheme.57 The secondary characteristic of vārs is that they describe war, and

include stories about bravery, or the accounts of battle. However, this condition is

not necessary for religious vārs. Gurbaksh Singh Shant makes the important point

that Gurdas probably consciously chose the vār genre in order to evoke zeal and

enthusiasm in his audience. The bellicose tempo of Gurdas’s vārs underscores their

message of battle in the spiritual realm: he portrays Nanak as a world conqueror,

55
Piara Singh Padam, ed., Punjābī Varān (Patiala: Kalam Mandir, 1980), 90. Padam points to a
seventeenth century reference to the thirteenth or fourteenth century vār of Amir Khusro, describing
an important battle of pre-Mughal India. Most other references to vārs, however, refer to oral
literature singing of the valor of great warriors and rulers.
56
Please Padam’s examples: Ibid., 19-24.
57
Ibid., 11-16. Padam says that the pauṛī is the body of the vār, and the tale of bravery is its spirit.

70
and elsewhere uses a number of war-like metaphors. 58

The organization of Gurdas’s vārs shows that he cared greatly about their

order, and how each vār was structured. The clearest case to understand Gurdas’s

stanza organization is Vār 15, in which the first three stanzas lay out what the next

sixteen expand upon in greater detail. Gurdas unpacks an argument through

stanzas: the Guru has everything the Sikh needs, human life is a waste without him,

and thereby Sikhs should never consider turning their back on the Guru; moreover

there are a myriad of reasons why Sikhs should re-dedicate themselves to the Sikh

cause.

Most of Gurdas’s vārs begin with an invocation, or what commentators have

called a mangalācharaṇ.59 In Gurdas’s vārs this means a short appeal to, or

mention of, God or the Guru. For example:

The divine, taking form, manifested as wind, water, and fire

Splitting land from sky, He lit the moon and stars
Fixing four forms of sustenance, He turned them over to 8,400,000 life
forms
In each type of life exist uncountable, unparalleled beings
Human birth is difficult to achieve; The Guru’s protection assures
liberation
Engrossed in the holy congregation and word, with loving devotion:
contemplate holy wisdom!
58
Shant, Bhai Gurdās Diān Varān Da Alochanatmak Adhiain, 221-5.
59
I have found there to be 20 mangalācharaṇ amongst Gurdas’s vārs, these are the opening stanzas
for vārs 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 37, and 39. It may be that the
other twenty vārs do not have mangalācharaṇs because they were meant to be read with continuity
to the previous vār. Therfore, Vārs 1 and 2 would be considered continuous; Vār 3 would be
considered independent; and Vārs 4 and 5 would be considered continous, etc.

71
 The benevolent are the Guru’s beloved (v4.1)

The stanza opens with the epithet for God, Oankar, which is the first word

(following the numeral 1) in the Guru Granth. This mangalācharaṇ posits an

understanding of cosmology from creation to its culmination in the Sikh tradition’s

basic beliefs: participation in the holy congregation, contemplation of divine

wisdom, and its enactment through acts of altruistic benevolence. In invoking such

concepts, the mangalācharaṇ puts the divine first and acts as a marker for a

beginning. The mangalācharaṇ is positive in its attitude and thereby distinct from

the theme of the rest of the vār: which, in this case, focuses on the historical and

soteriological value of suffering.

The Kabitts

Gurdas wrote over 600 four-line poems in Brajbhāshā. Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā

poems are of high literary quality, and their focus is on expounding Sikh ideology

and conceptualizations of religious experience, and explain Sikh and non-Sikh

practices.60 The poet packs each stanza semantically tight, while adhering to the

rhythmic requirements of his genre. These factors, along with his use of alliteration

and complex internal rhyming, complicate the task of translation of the Brajbhāshā

pieces.

60
For an excellent essay on Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā works, please see Padam, "Bhai Gurdas Di Hindi
Rachna," 215-24. According to Padam, Gurdas is one of Punjab’s most important Brajbhāshā writers
during the Mughal period, even though he is known more extensively for his Punjabi poetry.

72
 Perhaps because of the difficulty of their language, the kabitts have been less

popular, recently, in Sikh circles than the more vernacular Punjabi vārs. Like the

vārs, the kabitts also expound Sikh religious concepts and experiences. Unlike the

vārs, the kabitts do not include systematic accounts of the Sikh Gurus and non-Sikh

religious figures, mention by name individual members of the Sikh community, and

provide the geographical locations and social backgrounds of those Sikhs.

Language and genres. Scholars of Hindi languages have yet to take up

Gurdas’s works, and the study of Gurdas’s career could benefit from their linguistic

assessment of the kabitts.61 Future scholarly attention in this direction could help

clarify Gurdas’s tendencies, and possibly provide insight into his training and

influence as a poet of non-Punjabi languages. However, compared to any of his

predecessors in the Sikh canon, Gurdas’s poetry is the most prolific in its use of

proto-Hindi languages.

During Gurdas’s life, this language, along with its closely related dialect

Avadhi, dominated high literary culture in Hindi-speaking areas of North India and

outside the borders of where they were spoken. 62 Allison Busch, a scholar of

Mughal-era Hindi and Urdu literatures, argues that the 1600s were an important

61
Take, for example, Kabitt 205. In the first line, Gurdas uses the Punjabi pronoun “mere” instead
of a more Brajbhāshā-like choice, such as “more”. In the fourth line, he uses the Punjabi word for
eyes, “akhīān” in lieu of a Hindi word for the same.
62
Avadhi works, like Tulsidas’ Rāmcharitmānas and works of Sufi poets from “parallel literatures”
to Brajbhāshā. Rupert Snell, The Hindi Classical Tradition: A Braj Bhasha Reader (London: SOAS,
1991), ix, 30, 33.

73
time for spread of Brajbhāshā literature. The vernacular language of the region

associated with the Vaishnava incarnation Krishan, Brajbhāshā had been reserved

for devotional songs. However, in the early seventeenth century it saw a vast

expansion into secular spheres and courtly, elite discourse, where it replaced

Sanskrit through innovation and imitation.63 Paralleling Brajbhāshā’s use in

Krishan-worship, the language Avadhi was spoken in the nearby area associated

with the divine incarnation of Ram, and is the language of Tulsidas’s masterpiece

Rāmcharitmānas. Muslim mystics also composed literature in this language.

Finally, Sādhūkārī (“what holy men speak”) was a composite language in which a

variety of religious literatures were written. Composers of Sikh scripture used

Sādhūkārī in the holy text, along with Punjabi. Gurdas’s appropriation of

Brajbhāshā followed an increased use of proto-Hindi dialects in the poetry of his

literary predecessor, the fifth Guru (Arjan), and set off the widespread use of

Brajbhāshā for Sikh literature that lasted until the twentieth century.

Although, Gurdas’ Brajbhāshā compositions are known by the title “kabitt-

savaiyye”, the poems themselves are made up of a number of different distinct sub-

genres, overwhelmingly dominated by the four-line kabitt style. According to

Rupert Snell, a leading scholar of Brajbhāshā literature, kabitts and savaiyyas both

63
Allison Busch, "The Anxiety of Innovation: The Practice of Literary Science in the Hindi/ Riti
Tradition," Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 24, no. 2 (2004).

74
belong to the same category of Indian poetic meter.64 The first eight stanzas of

Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā corpus are not actually quatrains, but composites of twenty-

four smaller poems. 65 Other than a handful of savaiyyās, the few remaining poems

are other types of metered quatrains, or chhands.66

Until the early twentieth century, most manuscripts and published editions of

Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā poems contained only 556 of them. In the 1930s, Bhai Vir

Singh uncovered two rare manuscripts, together containing over 100 distinct,

previously unknown Brajbhāshā poems under headings attributing them to Bhai

Gurdas Bhalla. In his 1940 publication of these poems, Vir Singh argues that

consistency between the two parts (the first 556 and the second 119 that he

discovered) are in terms of themes, language, and phraseology point to the identity

64
Moreover, Each line of kabitt quatrains “has 31 or 32 syllables, whose value is not proscribed:
counting is simply by the number of syllables, regardless of length. A caesura usually follows the
16th syllable, where the line is usually split graphically on the printed page; secondary caesuras may
appear after the 8th and/or 24th syllables is immaterial, and the main caesuras are shown by line-
breaks…” Snell refers here to the category of Varnik meters, which “are measured according to the
number and arrangement of syllables (varna) to the line.” All lines rhyme in both kabitts and
savaiyyās and they share “a characteristic rhythm of single long syllables alternating with paired
short syllables”. [Snell, The Hindi Classical Tradition: A Braj Bhasha Reader, 26-28.]
65
Doharās, soraṭhās, and chhappās.
66
Savaiyyā literally means “larger by one quarter” and in literature, this term refers to “a Hindi
quatrain of dactylic structure: each line includes seven feet, together with one or more prefixed or
suffixed syllables (the number and arrangement of these being the same throughout the verse).” [R.
S. McGregor, ed., Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 996.].
Jhulna chandis a style of poetry that is frequently used in the later Dasam Granth: “also known as
Manidhar Savaiyya. It has been freely used by the poets of medieval period and one kind of it is
also included in matrik metres.” (“Dasam Granth,” C.H. Loehlin and Rattan Singh Jaggi, Singh, ed.,
The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, 514-31.)

75
of their author.67

Oankar Singh, editor of the recent edition of Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā works, says

his search for the original manuscript source of these later kabitts was not a fruitful

endeavor and these manuscripts may have been destroyed in a 1947 fire.68 Recent

editions of Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā poems have incorporated Vir Singh’s findings,

bringing the total to 675. Because nine of the poems in the second batch published

by Vir Singh are nearly identical to ones from the first batch, Darshan Singh,

accounting for this overlap, argues that the actual number of stanzas of Brajbhāshā

poetry attributable to Gurdas is 666.69

Distinctions From Vārs. Whereas the vārs are 40 long poems with a

discernible structure, a clear system in the organization of the Brajbhāshā quatrains

is difficult to more difficult to find.70 Many kabitts are painted with the emotions

of shingār ras, in which the poet takes on the persona of a young bride preparing

to meet her beloved. There are dozens of kabitts in which Gurdas chastises the

practices of the Vaishnavas. The remainder of the kabitts is more positive in scope.

67
Bhalla, Kabitt Bhai Gurdas: Dusra Skand Saṭīk.
68
For details see: Singh, ed., Kabitt Savaiyye Bhai Gurdas, Anukramanika Te Kosh, xli-xlii. Oankar
Singh mistakenly thinks there was only one manuscript, when Vir Singh himself says he used two.
69
Singh, Bhai Gurdas: Sikhī De Pahile Viākhiākār, 36-7.
70
In lieu of finding a structure to the kabitts, Bhai Sewa Singh has limited a number of themes that
run through the kabitts: stanzas in praise of the true guru, stanzas in praise of the Gurmukh, the
divine’s perfection, praise of the true Guru, definition of what it means to be his disciple, etc (Please
see: Singh, Kabitt Savaiyye Bhai Gurdas Ji Saṭīk, 13-38.

76
Some discuss the equation of the Guru with the Supreme Being, or the importance

of the divine word and congregational worship. Others expound ethical stances, and

still others testify to the bliss of religious achievement on the Sikh path.71 Some of

the kabitts numbered in the 570s read like secular love poetry: one would not be

aware of religious meaning loaded in them, had they not been penned by a religious

writer like Gurdas. Kabitts 623 and 624 provide rare, contemplative stanzas

amongst Gurdas’s compositions.

Another way that the kabitts are distinct from the vārs is that they are more

methodical in extrapolating a sophisticated, philosophical method of how the Sikh

practitioner ought to approach his or her spirituality. For example, Kabitt 228

describes the mind: it is like a husband in a house, but has eight wives, each of

whom have five sons. Each of those sons has wives and sons, so on and so forth.

The idea conveyed is that the one mind is subdivided into a number of minor

faculties, explaining the difficulty in controlling it and establishing the necessity of

the Guru’s help in getting past this fundamental problem, which is laid out in later

kabitts of this section, like 234. In Kabitt 235, Gurdas states why implementing

particular ethical prohibitions are important for the re-integration of the

practitioner, and how they can be pursued. Kabitt 236 and 237 signal a typical

“self-deprecating” conclusion to a section, indicating that the last dozen or so

71
Such stanzas are grouped close together as in the following kabitts: 203-4, 207-12, 345-8, 471-6,
479, 493-4, 626-7, 650-6, 663-70.

77
kabitts were consciously bunched together to explain how to understand Sikh

spirituality.

Kabitts between 441 and 492 are polemics against Hindu practices,

particularly those of Vaishnavas. Gurdas is concerned with three types of rivals to

his community: those who believe in Guru Nanak, but not Hargobind; those who

patronize the Jogis; and those who follow the Vaishnavas. It is interesting that the

harshest polemics against the Vaishnavas come in Brajbhāshā. The Sikhs confront

their rivals head on, in their territories, and in their own sacred language.

It is hard to support the idea that the kabitts were written during Gurdas’s

travels to the east of Punjab. However, internal evidence indicates that they may

have been written for Sikh congregations in those areas. As argued above, they are

unique in their polemics against Vaishnavism. Moreover, they utilize an eastern

dialect, and mention trade and travel in abundance.72 They articulate a desire to

return to the homeland.73 Gurdas writes about bidesh, the far away land: like the

migratory bird that will return to her nest, the Sikh lives in the desire to live under

the Guru’s graces (k515). He is ebullient that there are countless Sikhs in countless

congregations (k193). In my readings, these texts reveal that the poet was

consciously speaking to the important Sikh congregations engaged in commerce and

72
See k118, 454, 455, 474.
73
See k400, 401, 500, 520, 578.

78
bureaucratic employment in the Ganga-Jamna river basins.74

Conclusion

As a scribe of the Sikh scripture, Gurdas would have internalized its contents,

and his writings underscore his own understanding as extending the Sikh literary

tradition. Traditional explanations for Gurdas’s absence from Sikh scriptural canon

require re-evaluation. Closer reading of internal and external evidence suggest his

compositions came after the compilation of the Kartarpur Pothi in 1604, and likely

began after Guru Arjan’s 1606 demise. Gurdas’s corpus legitimates the authority

of Guru Hargobind as supreme Sikh leader and undermines all other claimants in no

uncertain terms. While responding to to sectarian crisis, his primary goal is to

articulate a positive vision of Sikh religious life in two distinct genres of poetry.

The remainder of this dissertation builds a description of Sikh life in Gurdas’s time

from a close reading of both genres of poetry.

74
That Khatris traded and worked in the Mughal bureaucracy during this time and in this place has
been well documented. Please see: C. A. Bayly, Rulers, Townsmen, and Bazaars: North Indian
Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770-1870, 1st ed., Cambridge South Asian Studies
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 140, John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire, ed.
Gordon Johson, The New Cambridge History of India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1993), 71. Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab, 6.

79
 Chapter Three

Three Shelters: Early Sikh Beliefs

Belief in Gurdas’s Works

Gurdas’s elucidation of Sikh beliefs is a testament to how Sikhs set

themselves as a unified community in distinction to other communities in the early

seventeenth century.1 For one, Gurdas does this via negativa, by strictly

proscribing belief in non-Sikh entities.2 For example, Gurdas says, a real Sikh does

not believe in signs and omens, the zodiac, incantations, magic, auspicious and

inauspicious moments, and astrology (v5.8). Gurdas writes of how the schismatic

Sikh group that rivals his own practices a “false faith,” and says that belief in

shrines and filial piety is also “false”.3 Sikhs place none of this kind of false belief

in other religions’ notions of hells or in the negative outcomes of their actions

(k409.1).

More fervently, he requires from co-religionists a faithful “acceptance” of the

1
The words used for belief here are bharosā, visvās or bisvās, and manṇā. See also his use of
shardhā in k180.3 and k507.3.
2
As a positive action, Gurdas rather weakly implores his co-religionists to believe. For example, he
says that we ought believe that the Perfect Being exists in all people (k108.1). We ought to believe
that teaching a Sikh one word of the revelation is equivalent in merit to undertaking a pilgrimage
(k560.4).
3
See v36.7.1; v27.9.5, v8.15.4, v5.10.5.

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divine will—a faith that whatever unfolds is in accordance with that will. A proper

Sikh accepts, or follows, his Guru’s words and no one else’s.4 One puts the Guru’s

words, or faith in the Guru, in one’s heart (k21.4, k138.3). A true Sikh accepts the

Sikh way (k149.1), and belief is also the effect of living that life (k181.1, k227.1).

The one who accepts and enacts the Guru’s teachings (gurmati sati kari) is released

from the grip of false beliefs and doubts (bharam) and finds a deep faith (bisvās) in

his heart (k26). The bee is intoxicated by hovering around lotus flowers, engrossed

in a state of peace with a wondrous faith in its heart (k294). Similarly, the Sikhs

who practice in the congregation find the same state of peace (k125). The

Gurmukh enjoys love’s liquor and experiences a wondrous faith (k322). Drinking

the feet-wash of pious saints provides the antidote to time’s venom, and allows the

drinker to overcome false belief of “otherness”.5

The strong faith an initiated Sikh derives from practice becomes a sign of his

or her religiosity. Walking the path of the Gurmukhs brings spiritual success:

doubts are left behind, and a wondrous faith (bisam bisvās) springs up in the heart

of the one who unites his or her thoughts, speech, and action (k89). The pious find

themselves in a state of perfect certainty (pūran pratīt), and faith.6 This faith is one

4
Divine will is an important part of Gurdas’s belief system and will be covered in Chapter Six (Sikh
ascendence): v.9.13.5, v1.13.3, v7.1.6, v14.6.6, v20.13, v29.13.5. Accepting the Guru’s words is
covered in the following excerpts: v11.23.7, v27.17.4, v28.9.5, v29.20.3, v32.1.3, k87.2, k374.4.
5
Gurdas says, kul akulin bhei dubidha nivariai (k127). See the chapter on Early Sikh Practices for
more about this ritual.
6
See k42. See also k62, k92.

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of the ineffable effects of being absorbed in the divine word amidst the

congregation of Sikhs (k251). Without the readiness to surrender himself to Guru

and community, one is not a Sikh:

If on seeing the flame you seek not to be merged like the moth,
then call yourself not the “Guru’s Sikh”
If on hearing the hunter’s horn you seek it not,
without the Guru’s word you waste this life
If you crave not feet-nectar like the rain bird needs a drop,
then consider your faithless heart not that of the Guru’s slave…
(gur dās, k551)

That is to say, a Sikh cannot simply call himself a Sikh by “attesting” to believe.

He must put his Gurus’ teachings into practice and then abandon the self in

preparation for total surrender.

Three shelters. In the remainder of this chapter we probe the major beliefs

of the tradition that emerge from Gurdas’s writings. These are organized according

to four distinct, yet overlapping, themes. First, we discuss how Gurdas conceives

of the Deity. Second, third, and fourth, we investigate Gurdas’s “three shelters”:

Guru, sangat (congregation), and bāṇī (holy word).7 Each of these three “shelters”

is at the fore of Gurdas’s theorization of religious experience:

The Guru is the face of the Perfect Being — Unfathomable,

Indestructible
The Guru’s word, residing in the holy congregation, manifests the
Transcendent One
The saints’ society is the Realm of Truth, proceeding in love and
devotion
The Guru reveals his teachings to all four castes… (from v9.1, themes
7
The term “shelter” comes from Gurdas’s hagiography of Guru Nanak. While conversing with and
castigating a band of Jogis in an episode of Gurdas’s hagiography, Guru Nanak proclaims that there
is no shelter (ot) other than the guru, the congregation (sangat), and the divine word (bāṇī, v1.42).

82
 emphasized)

We will investigate the beliefs Gurdas posits about the Guru, the first shelter,

exploring the Sikh Gurus’ relationship with the divine, and amongst themselves.

The second shelter is the scriptural form of revelation, and the third is the divine’s

revelation in history in the form of the Sikh community. In this investigation we

will inquire as to how these core beliefs function in the construction of communal

boundaries.

We will conclude the chapter with an analysis of the three shelters (Guru,

word, and community) and their conflation in Gurdas’s understanding of revelation

in history. That is, congregation and word share in the Guru’s divinely derived

authority. A particular constellation of the concepts of God, Guru, congregation,

and word provide the definitional structure to Sikh tradition. In a later chapter on

Gurdas’s vision of Sikh ascendance, we will investigate the implications this has

for Sikh self-perception and the role of the community in its context and in history.

Divinity

Oankar is Gurdas’s favorite epithet for the divine, and was the epithet from

Guru Nanak’s own compositions’ invocation.8 Oankar, more commonly referred to

in Sikh tradition as Kartar (or Karta Purakh, both meaning “creator”), is active in

the history of the universe:

8
See Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture, 37. Though Oankar is the most common epithet, we will
use Kartar in this dissertation.

83
 Oankar, taking form, manifested as wind, water, and fire
Splitting land from sky, He lit the moon and stars
Fixing four forms of sustenance, He turned them over to 8,400,000 life
forms
In each type of life exist uncountable, unparalleled beings … 9

Kartar intervenes in human affairs, and protects His saints.10 He is the source of all

time, history, and human developments. All religions, even if they are today

misguided, actually derive from Kartar (v40.9).

The paradox of the divine’s absolute transcendence and immanence looms

large in Sikh thinking, and its persistence is welcome in the tradition: several early

Sikh writers are blissfully content with the conclusion that the divine’s ways are

mysteries.11 Gurdas builds on this notion of paradox. He underscores Kartar’s all-

pervading nature in Vār 2: He is the permeating substance, closest to all things, its

essence, and yet so subtle as to be completely removed. This mystery is known

only to the Gurmukhs, who are delighted by the permeation. Kartar Himself is the

mirror, as well as the viewer (v2.1), He is musical performer and audience (v2.2),

Himself the cook as well as the tasty meal (v2.3).

Such ideas, steeped in esotericism and mystery, echo similar notions in the

kabitts describing Kartar:

9
From v4.1. I choose to use male pronouns for Kartar as a matter of convention, though divinity is
clearly beyond gender in Sikh conception.
10
See especially Vārs 1 and 10 for divine intervention in human affairs. Later in the dissertation we
will treat this aspect of divinity in greater detail.
11
For more on earlier Sikh ideas about the divine paradoxes, see Singh, The Name of My Beloved:
Verses of the Sikh Gurus, 2-17. Shackle and Mandair, eds., Teachings of the Sikh Gurus: Selections
from the Sikh Scriptures, xxvi-xxxiv.

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 Beginningless beginning, and endless end
shoreless limit, bottomless
Measureless measure, and moreover innumerable reckoning
inestimable count, weightless
Uncontainable limit, inaccessible
unperceivable, invaluable
Highest awe, astonishment
beyond wonder: the Guru’s ways are the ways of the Supreme
(k71, see also k98)

Kartar’s compassion is a common theme in Gurdas’s poems: He is like water to

earth, and like water to wood; water nourishes a tree and even when the tree

becomes boat-wood, the water does not let it sink (k381). He provides support to

the unsupported, and is a compassionate being providing pleasure to those who

seek His Name (k387).

Underscoring Kartar’s absolute transcendence is one of Gurdas’s special

poetic skills. He expresses astonishment at the wonder of creation, its unity, and its

infinity:

The picture of creation is most wondrous! Most strange!

Unity! Yet multifaceted diversity!
Sight placed in eyes, hearing in ears
smell in nostrils, tongues taste and talk
Within each sense and yet totally distinct from each
one sense knows not the other, all are difficult to fathom
This painting is fathomless, how can we know the Artist?
He’s not this, not that, nor the other; I bow, I bow, I bow! (k232)

The unknowable nature of Kartar provides a sublime opportunity for devotional

praise. Something as small as a sesame seed, or an ant, can take a myriad of

different forms: if the story of a tiny part of creation is difficult to describe, then

how can one begin to describe the infinitude of the Creator (k273, k274)?

85
Ultimately Kartar cannot be understood. He is manifest and unmanifest,

mysterious to the utmost (k36, k81). Kartar’s play is wondrous: sometimes He

manifests as Sarvan, obedient son of lore, and sometimes He slays the enemies of

His devotees as a roaring man-lion.12 The uniqueness of each divinely created

being is beyond human comprehension (k342).

A strict monotheism. Gurdas repudiates the Vaishnava concept of divine

descent: Kartar does not incarnate.13 The ten avtārs (“descents,” or “incarnations”)

of Vishnu have no knowledge of the Perfect Lord, and themselves are not liberated

beings (k21.4). It is better to stay quiet than to attribute human incarnation to the

Transcendent Being, which constitutes blasphemy (nindā, k555, k671).

In the kabitts, particularly, Gurdas sets his monotheistic theology in

contradistinction to those of polytheists. Gurdas lays out a well-developed

argument against the worship of what he considers to be minor deities. He writes

that the water from one well is difficult to extract and it waters only one field;

neither bird nor traveler can access the water without cups. In the same way, the

gods can only provide the limited boons of which they are capable, whereas the

Guru’s fruits are unlimited as he is the face of the Transcendent Lord (k451). In

12
These refer to stories from the Indian tradition about Sarvan and Harnakash, an avtar of Vishnu
(k436). A one-to-one translation for “monotheism” is difficult to extract from Gurdas’s works, but
the oneness of divinity is a constant theme. For example, Gurdas’s writes that the divine is Himself
the slate, Himself the pen, and Himself the writer (1.22). However, in one instance, Gurdas does
use the Muslim term wajud to refer to the divine unity (v39.11).
13
In the Vaishnava conception, “Vishnu is the supreme Lord who manifests himself in the world in
times of darkness when dharma [“ethical behavior”] has disappeared from view.” (Gavin Flood, An
Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 2006; reprint, Tenth),
115-7.)

86
another biting polemic, Gurdas argues that the One True God has no day of the

week named after him, no month, or week. People say “this is the birth day of

Krishan,” and “this is the birth day of Ram,” but the One-from-no-womb has no

day, so what good are such birthdays?14 The next kabitt adds that only fools

worship the Transcendent Lord in the form of stone (k485).

God and Guru. In Sikh ideology, the relationship between the Sikh Guru(s)

and Kartar, and amongst the Gurus themselves, provide a rich complex of beliefs.

These beliefs are bound up in the demand of exclusivity of allegiance that the

community places on its practitioners. Kartar is the ultimate paradox, understood

by humans with great difficulty and only through the grace of the Guru; intellectual

understanding is limited, the real understanding is experienced and enacted. As

such, the Guru is an extension of Kartar, and reveals scripture and history

according to the divine plan. The true understanding of this mystery is available

only to the loyal practitioner.

For Gurdas, part of Kartar’s mysterious play is that He is wrapped up in the

identity of the Sikh Guru. The Primal One has called himself “Gobind,” a

reference to the short form of Guru Hargobind’s name (k7). “Gobind" and Guru

are like warp and woof—inseparable, yet distinct and interlinked (k54). Guru and

Kartar are like tree and seed, the Sikhs are the fruits of this tree (k55). The Guru-

God relationship is one like son and father, warp and woof, and ultimately

14
The phrase used is janam din (k484). Gurdas would see no contradiction between this critique
and his support for the celebration of the Gurus’ holy days (gurupurabs). The thrust of his critique
is the non-incarnating nature of Kartar.

87
mysterious.15

The first stanza of the kabitts asserts that Kartar is both Primal Being and

primal Guru; the two are identical and yet paradoxically distinct (k1).16 In Vār 1,

Gurdas uses the word avtar as part of his descriptions of the processes of history’s

unfolding and Kartar’s hand in it. In each age, the true Guru incarnates to save the

world and propel history (v1.48). Avtars descended in the previous ages, but they

were caught up in egotism, and their own worship (v1.5, v1.15). Moreover, the

true Guru’s descent is necessary for teaching Kartar’s righteous message (v1.17).

The spiritual beings that came in contact with Guru Nanak understood him to be

the avtar to redeem this fourth cosmic, Dark Age (v1.29).17

A fruitful paradox. How do we resolve the paradox of Gurdas being

vehemently against avtars and yet stating that the Guru is the divine form?

Gurdas’s notion of divine incarnation parallels his concept of divine revelation in

the Guru and in the congregation. Kartar participates in history, but, for Gurdas,

His participation is distinct from the way that other religious traditions—
15
See k56. In his clarification of Gurdas’s beliefs, J. S. Grewal has also noticed that Gurdas sees
each Sikh guru and Kartar as one, and all the Gurus as ultimate spiritual and worldly leaders:
slander of the Gurus is the lowest of actions; Nanak is the “world teacher” (jagat guru) who has
brought his superior lessons to rescue the world in the Age of Darkness; the sixth Guru may be
different from his predecessors, but is “bearing an unbearable burden” for the sake of the world. J.
S. Grewal, Sikh Ideology, Polity, and Social Order (New Delhi: Manohar, 1996), 32, 33-4, 36, 37-8.
16
Gurdas is very conscious of how rivals may misinterpret this. In the same stanza, Gurdas attacks
Vaishnava mythology, which focuses on divine incarnation, saying that even Seshnag (Vishnu’s
eternal serpent) cannot comprehend Kartar, who is known only through the true Guru.
17
The perfected beings (siddhs), to which Gurdas refers, are creatures of Nath Yogi lore, residing in
mountain caves, mountain tops, or in the upper atmosophere. For more on these concepts see:
David Gordon White, The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India ([S.l.]: Univ of
Chicago Pr, 1996), 327-34.

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particularly Vaishnavas—conceive of incarnation.

For example, Gurdas does not make the case that Kartar literally embodies

Himself into any person. Rather, light, vision, and illumination are key concepts in

Gurdas’s exposition of the Guru’s nature. The Guru illuminates the way by

bestowing divine knowledge.18 Moreover, sound is also important: in Gurdas’s

concept of the holy word, sound converges with light. The Guru shows the vision

and sounds the word (k35). The manifest form of Kartar is the unstruck tune of the

word (k36). The Guru’s revelation is sound and Veda, and the means by which the

mysteries of God’s play and incarnation are understood (k54).

Gurdas further develops his ideas about the Guru in Vār 3. The shabad

(word) is the Guru’s form, and the spirit of one Guru is infused in his disciple (who

is the next Guru, v3.4). The Guru and Sikh are one (v3.11). All the six Sikh Gurus

are one; they are of the same light (v3.12). They take away Sikhs’ fears and, as

kings of kings, establish the divine command on earth.

The Sikh Guru is not Kartar’s first or only messenger, but is distinct.

According to Gurdas, there have been many Gurus and many forms of revelation,

but their messages have been jumbled, they have been lost in their own worship,

and gotten off track. Guru Nanak’s distinct characteristics in relation to these are

his own humility and his insistence on his disciples’ humility. This humility is a

18
Vār 1 utilizes several examples of illumination: Guru Nanak came to redeem the Age of
Darkness, he was the moon illuminated and the dispeller of darkness (v1.26). Knowledge abounds
in the Age of Darkness, but we are unable to see (drishṭī) the differences between knowledge and
ignorance (v1.18). Nanak tells a Jogi, “Hey Sir, Nath, truth is the moon and falsehood is the
darkness” (v1.29). The Guru’s speech spreads light and darkness disappears (v1.38).

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marker of the Guru’s deference to Kartar’s authority, and thus his authenticity as a

selfless teacher, as opposed to his own self-interest.

Gurdas acknowledges that Guru Nanak clearly enunciated the revelatory

aspect of Kartar in the form of the Guru.19 He did not reject other forms of

revelation,20 but privileged his own “special relationship” with the Primal Being,

and taught his own disciples with the authority and knowledge that came with the

relationship.21 His actions in the world are revelatory as well. God’s intercession

in human affairs was an accepted part of the Sikh beliefs by Gurdas’s time.22 His

successors continue that revelation and share the divine revelatory aspect in their

nature. This is why to slander them or to rival them would be the most offensive of

actions, deserving the harshest punishment in the hereafter.

The Guru

Thus, the Sikh Guru is Kartar’s knowledge-giving, revelatory, world

redeeming and guiding aspect. Calling the Guru a form of Kartar, or saying that

the congregation contains Kartar’s presence is not to reduce the divine to those

entities, but rather elevate those entities via the literary trope of “incarnation”. Vār

19
I refer here to Guru Nanak’s statement in the Jap: Gurmukh nādang Gurmukh vedang (GG 2).
Gurdas repeats this idea in k54.
20
Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture, 4,141.
21
Mann, Sikhism, 15.
22
For example, see the fourth guru’s hymn: hari jug jug bhagat upāyā (M4 GG 454)

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1’s employment of the idea of avtar is thus better explained as a literary device to

portray the Gurus’ greatness and connection to Kartar.23

Gurdas uses incarnation as metaphor for emphasizing the Guru’s power. In

this metaphor, the Guru is a human veneer of the divine. By meeting the Guru, the

deeper and profound formless Kartar can be found. The Guru’s protection is better

than all other religious practices combined. The true Guru transforms Sikhs, and

Sikhs transform other Sikhs.

The Guru is an expression of Kartar’s compassion. The Compassionate Lord

(dātār prabh) sent Guru Nanak to help soothe the suffering world (v1.23). Kartar

is the honor of the honorless: Himself the field, and Himself its watchman (v26.8).

Kartar entered the perfect Guru into human history out of compassion for suffering

in the Age of Darkness. The perfect Guru is patient, righteous, and his

congregation is the place where true religion is practiced (sachi dharamsāl).

Throughout his works, Gurdas upholds both the Guru’s divine mission and a

strict interpretation of monotheism. The Primal Being had His holy Name

worshipped through the true Guru. Uniting all four castes, the Guru created the

divine realm (sach khanḍ) in the holy congregation (v29.1). Amidst his critique of

the worship of Hindu deities, Gurdas clarifies the Sikh position of divine

manifestation:

If the Perfect Being is complete in Himself and there is no one like

Him, then how can there be many icons of Him?

23
See specifically stanzas v1.17, 1.29, 1.38, 1.48.

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 In each heart, the Perfect Being sees, hears, and speaks;
why does He not manifest in the icon and talk to us?
House to house, pots are made of the same clay;
but why then are icons, made of that, venerated?
The true Guru is the Perfect Being manifest, there is one light
but two forms that inspire each others’ worship (k462)

The Guru is a lamp enlightened by the divine light, and his mission is to spread that

light in the world. Worship of the minor deities promises only earthly boons,

whereas service of the Guru grants both those and immortality: others are seasonal

plants, the Guru is the evergreen tree; others are like water wells, the Guru is the

River Ganga; others are clay lamps, the Guru is the moon (k456, see also k459).

Most of Gurdas’s poetry is devoted to the Guru’s mediating role in the

relationship between divine and human realms. At the Guru’s feet, under the

Guru’s tutelage, with the Guru’s protection, achieving the highest forms of spiritual

attainment, and even knowledge of Kartar, are possible. Without the Guru, no

spiritual practices are worth anything.

Characteristics. Gurdas’s kabitts sing of having audience with the Guru, the

experience of which eludes description:

At first glance—my awareness went to oblivion

My intelligence went dumb, and my mind was no longer mindful
My memories were forgotten and my focus was lost
Knowledge had no meaning, nothing was of worth
Patience and anger were both lost
There was no love in love, no honor in honor
Strange, strange happening! Wondrous wonder!
Most awe-some, greatest of all! (k9)

This awe speaks to the highest of spiritual experiences, available “at the Guru’s

feet,” referring to the shelter of his teachings. Understanding these teachings, all

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senses undergo a wondrous experience:

The Guru’s gaze emits an astonishing radiance

A drop of his grace awes a million meditations
The glow from his grin is most wondrous
His sweet words silence a million philosophies
There is no limit to the extent of his one favor
So what is the measure of his endless grace?
Treasurehouse of compassion, mercy, and peace
Storehouse of splendor, no other is like him (k142)

These teachings are the products of love and compassion. The Guru loves his

Sikhs like parents love their children; as a child cannot possibly return all his

parents’ love, a Sikh cannot return the Guru’s infinite favor and affection (k101-2).

The true Guru is a storehouse of compassion and mercy: take one step towards him,

and he will return the favor a thousand fold (k111). The whole world talks of

seeing the Guru, and hearing his word, so the Sikhs have a unique opportunity.

The compassionate Guru is capable of making even fools understand his message

(k541). Like a caring mother, the Guru keeps Sikhs protected from greed and

sexual desire (k369).

The Guru explains the way to divine realization, which liberates the Sikh.

This liberation is not possible by any other means (k30). Like the sun shines and

dispels the stars at twilight, so is the Guru’s liberating radiance (v16.7). The Guru

is the redemptive force, and has ordained liberation for his pious followers (v20.3).

Like the bee that does not waver from the pursuit of nectar, Gurdas says we should

know that all peace, knowledge, and the highest spiritual achievements are

available if we give ourselves over to the Guru’s lotus feet (k222).

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 In return for liberation, the Guru-Sikh relationship requires commitment. The

Guru makes obsolete all the boons offered by the experiences of other religions

(k72). Gurdas compares religious conversion to warriors taking refuge under a

king: the Guru welcomes others and gives shelter, but no other is capable of

providing adequate shelter to the Guru’s Sikh (k464). Some may think that taking

shelter with another will redeem them, but the truth is that only the true Guru can

deliver liberation in the form of the highest spiritual state (k634-5). Without the

Guru, one wanders in this life and hereafter; with the Guru one is immersed in his

teachings and protection (k156). Without the divine Name, the highest spiritual

state is unattainable, and without the Guru, the Name is out of reach (k516). The

poet has wandered through many lives, seen many heavens and hells, and now falls

at the Guru’s door (k422).

Compared with other sources of knowledge, the Guru’s way is efficient

(k405-6). Gurdas offers the metaphor of a shop: though there may be many shops

in a neighborhood, selling many things, one particular shop may provide everything

one needs. The true Guru is the true shopkeeper; all treasures are in his

possession.24 The worship of others cannot eradicate transmigrational suffering,

without the Guru, liberation is not attained (k471-3). Double-commitment is not

acceptable; it is like looking in two mirrors, like putting a foot in two boats, like

two kings in one land (k467).

Vār 15 provides the most systematically organized praise of the Guru, and

24
Gurdas uses this metaphor often, see: k454, k455, k461.

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argues for his absolute necessity—no facet of life is without him; what kind of fool

would leave him? The Guru is the true emperor (pātshāh), true master of jog25

(nāth), true benevolent being (dātār), true creator (kartā purakh), true banker

(sāhu) and true doctor (vaid, v15.4-9). The Guru is the place of pilgrimage (tirath),

the touchstone (pāras), and wish-fulfiller (chintamaṇ, v15.10-14).

Kingship. Gurdas portrays the Guru as the true emperor, and describes

religio-political elements of his court: he lives in the palace of truth, his command

and standard are true, he possesses the true mint in the divine word, which is the

storehouse of truth. Through his grace his subjects, the Sikhs, rule over their

bodies (v26.1). The true Guru is the true king who has put the Sikhs on the royal

road (gāḍḍi rāh, v5.13). The Guru is the protector of the community, an emperor

in his own right. He is like a benevolent boat that brings us to the other shore, the

sole leader of the army, the night watchman who allows the neighborhood to sleep

peacefully. The true word is his standard (nisāṇ) and the poet’s life breath belongs

to him (v5.21).

The divine court is embodied in the Guru’s congregation in this world, but is

also Gurdas’s favorite metaphor for the afterlife: the mystical place where the pious

will ascend and be forever in Kartar’s presence. Gurdas describes the unshakeable

reign (abichal rāji) of the Guru’s palace of truth, where the true emperor-Guru

imparts true commands. The saints’ society is the true throne. The word is the

divine mint: it fuses all elements with the gold touchstone (v18.20). Vār 21 praises
25
Sanskrit: yoga.

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the true Guru as king of kings, master of a fearless court (laubāli dargāh), and

himself carefree (vaḍā beparvāh, v21.1). All rivals are in for a thrashing at the

divine court, even the great sultans (v21.5, 21.14). The true Guru is a fearless

treasurehouse, compassionate to even his enemies, a physician and true leader of

the meek (v26.19). The succession of Gurus is like the royal coronations of

temporal kings. Each Guru acts exactly in line with his predecessors’ mission, all

share the same mint, the same decree (qutabā), throne, and court (v26.31).

The Gurus. Gurdas builds on the established tradition about the Gurus’

relationship with one another. In the Guru Granth, Satta and Balvand had stressed

that Nanak tested his sons as well as Lehna, but only Lehna (the future Guru

Angad) passed the test. This was the “reversal of the Ganga”: the Guru selected his

own successor in his lifetime.26 Gurdas borrows this metaphor as well as others

from the bhaṭṭs: the Gurus relate to each other like father, son, and grandfather.

The bhaṭṭs agree that only the best candidate inherits the office of the Guru (though

they do not mention any heir by name). The bhaṭṭs were the first to write about the

“house of the Sodhis” and the “clan of the Sodhis.” 27 Gurdas, however, is the first

to articulate the belief that the Sodhi lineage will dominate the office perpetually

(v1.46), which it did until the tenth Guru’s death in 1708.

Guru Nanak, though sent by the compassionate Lord to redeem the world was

26
See GG 966-7.
27
See GG 1407, 1406, 1407.

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not only divinely blessed, but worked very hard: living an austere lifestyle,

engaging in deep meditation, and traveling widely (v1.23-4). Gurdas depicts

Nanak has sharp-witted and outspoken (v1.40). He was charismatic, winning over

hearts around the world, and becoming the object of worship all around. He was a

conscious teacher, and a community leader, leading a worldly life at Kartarpur

(v1.38).

Guru Nanak chose his own successor, and passed his light on to him (v1.45).

Gurdas compares the Guru-succession to that of a temporal king to underscore the

continuation of one Guru’s reign in the other.28 The first successor, Guru Angad,

retained his Guru’s temporal authority, but left Kartarpur for his own town,

Khadur. The immortal Amardas then earned his way to the Guru’s office, and

established the Sikh center in town of Goindval. Guru Ramdas was the emperor of

the Sodhis, who lit the lamps in the city around the sacred pool, Amritsar. When he

chose his son, Arjan, as Guru, he made the statement that the office of the Guru

belonged to the Sodhis and they would not release it to anyone who is not capable

of bearing its burden (v1.46-7).

Vār 24 is an ode to all six Gurus, and builds the argument for the office’s

legitimate succession from Guru Nanak to Guru Hargobind. Guru Nanak was the

original, true emperor: carefree master, protector of the poor, striker of fear in his

enemies’ hearts (v24.3). Like a father passes his heritage to his son, Guru Nanak

passed on his office to Guru Angad, who was master of things temporal and
28
See v26.31, as well as Singh and Singh, Varān Bhai Gurdās Satīk, 424.

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spiritual (v24.5, v24.7). Guru Amardas’s throne was unshakeable and true, his rule

was immovable, and he opened the treasure-house of the divine word (v24.8,

24.12). Guru Ramdas combined governance and austerity (rāj, jog) reigning over

this world and the next (v24.14, 24.15). He is the boat to cross the world-ocean;

whosoever bathes in his tank is never defiled (v24.14). Guru Arjan filled a treasury

with the Gurus’ compositions (gurbāṇī bhanḍār), his standard was true and his true

throne was unshakeable (v24.19). Guru Arjan was Guru Hargobind’s father who

passed on his legacy like fruit from a tree. Gurdas plays on divine epithets and the

sixth Guru’s name: the Guru is “Gobind” and “Gobind” is the Guru, no one can

understand this mystery (v24.24). The form of the Guru is the holy word, manifest

in the congregation (v24.25).

Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā works begin with poetic invocations of the divine and

each of the six Gurus. They add that Guru Nanak is the Perfect and Transcendent

Being, worshipped by all deities (k2). Guru Angad was an extension of Guru

Nanak’s own body (a play on his name, meaning “limb”) and the two were

enlightened by the same light (k3). Meeting the immortal Guru Amardas (also a

play on his name, meaning “immortal” or “nectar”), one finds the nectar of the

divine word and attains the state of perfection (k4). The pious understand the

divine mystery by chanting “Ram, Ram,” and this is how Guru Ramdas merged

with his teacher (k5). The son of a king is also a king, and this is how Guru Arjan

received his father’s legacy (k6).

After Guru Nanak, Gurdas focuses largely on Guru Hargobind. He is the

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“heavy Guru” (gur bhārī), the army-crushing warrior-Guru, and the sixth holy man.

Guru Arjan has changed bodies and presents himself as Guru Hargobind. He is a

great warrior, and most benevolent (v1.48). In the kabitts, the Guru is said to be

the Perfect Being, “Guru” and “Gobind” are one and the same, like warp and woof

(k7). As before, Gurdas refers here to the sixth Guru’s short name.29 The Lord has

two names, Guru or Gobind, but he is one. In the same way, Guru Hargobind

appears distinct from the divine, but they are one and the same. The One Lord

manifested in human form and had Himself be called “Guru Gobind” (v25.1).

Nearly the entire 39th Vār is dedicated to Guru Hargobind and his style of

leadership. It begins with an invocation to Kartar, and then Guru Hargobind’s five

predecessors: Guru Nanak was the True Guru, who bore Guru Angad from his own

limb. From Guru Angad, Guru Amardas attained the immortal state. Guru Arjan is

a reflection of Guru Ramdas (v39.2). In the next stanza Gurdas reintroduces the

sixth Guru:

The first five Masters were adept penmen, Guru Hargobind is

incomparable
He is emperor of the two worlds (dīn dunī), unshakeable king of kings
… The Knower-Of-Hearts is but an innocent boy (v39.3).

Gurdas continues: Guru Hargobind is the divinely-blessed preceptor (khudai pīr),

and over his head is a royal canopy (chhatar chandoā, v39.4). He is the benevolent

true Guru, a carefree, but wise, emperor who employs non-Sikhs in his courtly

service (v39.6-9). People say, “the Guru is deceased,” but the Indestructible One,

29
See k54, as well as v24.21 and v24.24.

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in the form of the sixth-generation Guru, sits amongst the Sikhs, laughing (v39.12).

Contemporary issues. With proper dating of the texts in mind, it is clear

that Gurdas feels the need to defend some aspects of Guru Hargobind’s leadership

(1606-1644). Gurdas concedes that he is different from the first five Gurus, but

adds that his loyal Sikhs do not see it that way, and continue to hover around his

lotus feet like bees (v26.24). In the same stanza, he adds that Guru Hargobind

bears an unbearable burden. In the next stanza, Gurdas says that the Guru has built

a protective fence around the community, thus explaining his overt political and

military stances. Gurdas says that the Emperor-Guru (Hargobind) once himself a

Sikh of the Guru (Arjan) accepted his Guru’s teachings. Now Guru Hargobind

teaches all the holy Sikhs himself, imparting knowledge to members of all four

castes while enacting the principle of detachment amidst desire (māiā vich udās,

v7.1). Similar metaphors abound in the kabitts, although Guru Hargobind is not

named specifically.30

Contemporary problems that the community was undergoing provided the

basis for Gurdas to posit new beliefs. For example, embezzlement of communal

funds seems to have been a problem during the schismatic times in which Gurdas

was writing, and Gurdas treats such embezzlement with the seriousness of stealing

from a king’s treasury. He also underscores the mystical power of the Guru by

explicating the effects of stealing from him. That Guru Hargobind is going to take

30
This issue will be treated in greater detail in the next chapter, but see for examples: k36, k221-4,
k614.

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what is his (authority of the Guru) is underscored in Vār 1 (1.47: ditā leiye āpṇā,

aṇiditā kachhu hathi nā āvai). In the kabitts, Gurdas provides a number of stern

warnings to would-be embezzlers. For example, those who steal from the Guru’s

treasury are easily tracked by their stench, like the garlic-eater, and will enter hell.31

However those who sacrifice mind, body, and wealth to the Guru will realize

immortality (k584).

The Word

Gurdas says that we ought to treat the Guru as the Transcendent One; his

writing is Kartar’s manifest form (v26.2). Gurdas refers to the Sikh scripture as

bāṇī (“speech” or “words”) and shabad (“word”): bāṇī is the material form, and

shabad is the deeper experience that one can obtain by becoming engrossed in that

form.32 Kartar descends in the congregation for the enjoyment of His devotees, and

can be accessed via the word (v29.19-21). The divine nature is mysterious and

ineffable, and the only way to experience it is through the holy word (v9.13).

Kartar and Guru revealed. Singing the Guru’s bāṇī reveals divine

knowledge, keeps one from erring in deed, and delivers spiritual achievement

(v3.7). The holy word transports us to the divine court, where our minds are

washed clean and our pride is burned. Singing the word in the congregation, we

31
This is stated in k517; see also k505, 518, 544-5.
32
See k590. Also, pothī is the book that contains bāṇī, updes is the Guru’s words or teachings as
well.

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find liberation (v3.8). Like a husk to rice, the Guru’s teachings are the protective

element that keeps the Sikh free from sin, allowing him to remain detached while

living a householder’s life. Even by renouncing society for ascetic life in the

forest, one cannot find the sure liberation that the word decrees (k121).

Gurdas insists that the practitioner must interact with the word in order to

experience its effects, and here we examine those effects. The experience is

likened to a rainstorm that waters trees with nectar. The body of the pious one is

able, through the word, to help others and reform the world:

Just like: suddenly, a cloud manifests,

and a collection of clouds spreads in the sky
From that, the sound of the word thunders loudly,
and the ephemeral lightning creates a splendid sight
From the rain of immortal nectar come pearls and camphor,
from it, many varieties of medicines are acquired
The holy one’s body becomes divine, and beyond birth-and-death
in this world, he is manifest for the help of others (k325)

Divine light is hidden inside each of our bodies, and the Guru’s teachings help

unveil the spark (k363). An ant’s speed verses a bird’s; an ox-cart or a horse;

traveling on-foot versus traveling in-mind: Gurdas makes the case that the Guru’s

knowledge is much more efficient than any other (k404).

The deep experience of the word is noetic. The Guru imparts the totality of

ineffable knowledge: the word contains all mysteries (k430). The Guru’s teachings

bring about knowledge of the Most Transcendent, and as well impart a state of

fearlessness (anbhau pad, v9.5). Drinking from love’s cup, in the form of

performing kirtan, helps us stay engrossed in the word, transforming us to

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benevolent beings (v6.14).

The deeper meaning manifest in the holy word is revealed by extreme effort

coupled with effortless grace. The Guru’s Sikh is to actively seek immersion in the

word, quoting from it more than speaking (v4.17). Engrossed in hearing the word,

Gurdas tells the practitioner, lose yourself; you will thus get through difficult days.

Be like the grass: others may trample over you, but worry only about the holy word

(v9.22). Or be like the poppy seed: it is crushed in a press, mixed with water and

poured in a cup. It sacrifices itself for the sake of others’ drunkenness (v25.16).

Hearing the continuous, blissful tune of the divine word, we are intoxicated (k284).

Actively engage the word: write it, read it, sing it. It takes great effort, but only the

rare one is delivered and drunk (k530). We can attain a state of seeing Kartar in all

by repeatedly churning the holy word, like milk to butter (k535). Literal meaning,

contemplation, and focus are obliterated when one tastes the word’s deeper

meaning by distilling love’s liquor (k531).

Audience with each of the Gurus is available in the holy word.33 The Guru is

in the word, and the word is in the Guru, like a tree and seed, manifest and

unmanifest (k534, k608). Gurdas elevates the true Guru to the form of Primal

Being, we know the Guru through his teachings, which deliver us to the far shore of

liberation (v3.1). Without the word, the human is just another animal (k202).

Word as marker. If the true Guru is the true emperor, and his throne sits in

the saints’ society, then the holy word, in the form of the Guru’s scripture, is the
33
See v39.12, v39.17, k50-1.

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holy mint of the Sikh spiritual empire. It combines eight elements, and touching

them with the touchstone, turns them to gold. The foundations of such an empire

are unshakeable (v18.20). Sikhs are praise-singing minstrels (ḍhāḍī), who chant

the Guru’s word in this court of true justice. The word is the community’s standard

(nisāṇ, v3.3).

How one responds to the Guru’s word marks one’s position in the

community: fools come to the saints’ assembly, hear the Guru’s word, but do not

love it. Thus, they are cast as outsiders (v17.6). These insincere friends,

unaffected by the Guru’s teachings, will find no place in the divine court hereafter

(v17.8). However, true Sikhs are attached to the word and reap its rewards:

Just as a diamond seems slight in hand

but, when valued, its glittering can fill coffers
Just as a cheque does not weigh much
but returns loads of wealth when cashed
Just as a seed’s apparent form is most subtle
but yields a massive, expansive tree
So do the Sikhs delight with the Guru’s word
when they are known as holy men in Hari’s house! 34

In these comparisons with jewels, currency, and seed, Gurdas argues that there is a

symbolic or transcendent value to the word that is not available in its apparent

form, but which requires active engagement and exclusive commitment in order to

be redeemed.

The Guru’s word is in the same category as the other religious texts, but

34
See k373. Hari is an epithet for Kartar.

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surpasses them: Smritis, Vedas, epics, the Gita, the Bhagavad, etc.35 Gurdas

defiantly claims the uniqueness of the Sikh tradition: the perfect, true Guru gave

the community the perfect formula (mantar), and his divine words. One-half of a

word from the Guru surpasses the existing scriptures (k540). Hearing the Guru’s

word is more efficacious than a million readings of the Hindu scriptures (v3.10).

The Perfect Being is the source of revelation; He meditates on Himself, and reveals

His mystery to the pious (k54). Gurdas hints that the writings of rivals were a

cause of concern for his sectarian group, but adds that true Sikhs distinguish the

true Guru’s word from spurious writings.36 The Guru’s words are priceless gems

and immersion in the Guru’s knowledge yields the perfect treasure, which is more

than what the ascetic traditions offer (k61). All other religious paths desire what

the Gurmukh Panth has, and all other forms of philosophy are subordinate to it.

The holy river Ganga seeks the Guru’s feet; Brahma—revealer of Vedas—desires

the Sikh shabad (k58, see also k72).

Word as heritage. The tradition of the word is long, deep, and has great

meaning for the Sikhs. Gurdas depicts Guru Nanak as laying down the basics of

Sikh practices at the town in which he lived and taught, Kartarpur. Guru Nanak

said, according to Gurdas, that speaking his words illuminates life’s darkness.

Discussing the Guru’s teachings effects the “sounding of the unstruck sound,” a

35
Typically, Gurdas uses the term bed to refer to the Indic scriptures, and kateb to refer to the
Semitic ones. He never refers to the Qur’an more specifically than that.

36
The term used is ān bāṇi (k570). See also Gurdas’s mention of giāṇ goshṭ in k254.

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characteristic reference to the experience of shabad. The three daily prayers were

set in the founder’s own lifetime (v1.38).

The Guru’s bāṇī was a core aspect of the Sikh educational heritage, as each

Sikh was appointed to read, understand, and teach the word (v1.3). Teaching

others one word from the bāṇī was as meritorious as bestowing one hundred gold

temples (k673). Copying manuscripts is an important service that leads to

liberation (k91). Gurdas depicts goings-on in the congregation: one person writes,

and another reads and explains; one person performs music, and another listens and

explains it. Like jewelers appraising a diamond, Sikhs come together to tell the

“untold tale,” the secret discourse revealed to the Guru’s Sikhs (k275).

The amrit vela, the ambrosial hour of the early morning, has special

importance as it allows peace for deep reflection at the start of each day. The

shabad is beyond description, and the object of enthusiastic references, reciting it

the pious enjoy the “fruit of peace” early in the morning (v16.20). Whosoever

enjoys the communion (prasād) of the word at this time will attain liberation

(k361). Gurdas implores his fellow Sikhs to learn the divine word, hear it,

understand it, copy it, and quote it (v28.5). All of these are important parts of

“meditation” on the word, but most important of all are to speak of it, and walk its

path (v28.6). Embedded in this practice is the very important belief that individual

Sikhs and congregations may be spread out over great geographical distances, but

can commune in the early morning hour by participating in the recitation of the

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liturgy.37

The Saints’ Society (sādh sangat)

Even though Kartar and Guru rank higher in the hierarchy of holy entities,

Gurdas’s core concerns are with the community, as evidenced by the

disproportionate amount of writing he dedicates to it. More than a commentator on

the scriptural revelation, he reads like an interpreter of communal growth. Sangat

is the most important concept in Gurdas’s ideology; it is the central institution in

Sikh life. Gurdas writes, that without the congregation, human life is worthless: at

the least animals produce things that are useful (milk for yogurt and butter, feces

and urine to be worshipped by the Hindus, v14.11). He implores his fellow Sikhs

to arrive in the congregation: if they go for even one-sixtieth of their days (one

ghaṛī, a unit of time), they will find deliverance (nijh ghar, k310).

Guru-Disciple.38 Just as Gurdas establishes equivalence with Guru and

revealed word, the Sikh and Guru share a special relationship as well. The Sikh

congregations, and the community as a whole, share in the Guru’s holy nature.

Consecutive stanzas in Vār 3 depict the word and entire community as sharing the

qualities of the Guru: they are pure, unpolluted, and unique (v3.4-5). The true

Guru has made his place in the saints’ society; he has made his throne there and

made people salute it (salām karāiā, v20.9). The Guru is fully present in the saints’

37
This is also true of the sunset (rahirās) and late night (sohilā) prayers.
38
Pīr-murīd (terms from Sufi vocabulary) or guru-chelā (terms from Indian religions).

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society; the two are like warp and woof (k195).

This special relationship between Guru and congregation stems from the

lineage of Sikh Gurus sharing one essence. Not only was each Guru himself once a

disciple (v7.1), but also there is equivalence between each Sikh and the Guru, and

certainly between a group of Sikhs and the Guru. If the Guru shares Kartar’s

qualities, then so does the congregation, Gurdas writes: wherever there are two

Sikhs there is the saints’ society; a collectivity of five brings the presence of the

Transcendent; it is thing of wonder when ten, twenty or thirty congregate.39

The relationship of the master (pīr) and disciple (murīd) is secretive, and

must be experienced:

How difficult is the pīr-murīdī relationship? Rare is he who knows.

He would be the pīr of pīrs, call him Guru of gurus
By turning the Guru-disciple to the disciple-Guru, a wonder was
accomplished
He is the Guru, the same is the Sikh—light has fused into light
There is one Guru, one Sikh; he recognizes the Guru’s shabad
By uniting love and mercy, love and fear are realized (v13.1)

The intimacy between the two effects a unique experience, and a wondrous

equivalence: “The Guru is the disciple, the disciple is the Guru, like a diamond

piercing a diamond” (v9.8, 9.9). The Sikh initiation ceremony, treated in the

chapter on Sikh practices below, treats newcomers in the community on level par

with the Guru (v10.9). Elsewhere, Gurdas adds, “The pious Sikh becomes the

Guru, the Guru is his disciple” (v18.20). The greatness of each of the Sikhs is a

point of pride for Gurdas; each Sikh is worthy of infinite praise, therefore, how

39
See k122. See also v13.18-9.

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majestic must their Guru be (k73)? The Sikhs are a community of secret bearers,

unified in their experience of the majesty of Sikh life (k173).

Unity. The congregation is one, independent social unit; just like there are

trade guilds and castes, the saints’ society is equivalent to one of them (v5.3-4).

Grewal has registered the diversity present in Gurdas’s discussion of the Sikh

community, whose members belonged to various castes: peasants, priests, smiths,

barbers, tailors, washermen, potters, oil men, masons, and sweepers.40 Gurdas’s

belief system underscores this: the saints’ society is special because in it, all are

equal. As an extension, the entire community (Gurmukh panth) is one cohesive

unit, irrespective of social castes, unitary like the Supreme Being (v5.9). Gurdas is

proud of how Sikhs have combined the four castes into one. The Sikhs form one

jātī (“sub-caste”), though outsiders may not accept this new reality (v11.9, v14.2).

The uplifting power of the congregation replaces that of the holy Ganga river:

Sikhs who come and mix in the assembly are like the liquor poured into the Ganga,

which turns to pure water. The congregation is a river flowing into the Guru-sea

(k88). The sweet sacrament, made up of five elements (panchamrit) that Sikhs

enjoy after religious services is itself a metaphor for the sweetness of the

congregation’s caste confluence.41

Not only are the Sikhs one social unit, but a family as well. Depicting the

congregation as a family would have had great implications for the casteless unity

40
Grewal, Sikh Ideology, Polity, and Social Order, 30-1.
41
See k123-4. See also v3.16.

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of the community (chār varan ik varan hoi), and for encouraging Sikhs to cut their

ties with their non-Sikh brethren. Gurdas argues for the central role of the feet-

nectar ceremony in reducing the caste distinctions and ego, making practitioners

ready for life in the saints’ society, and strengthening communal ties.42 Sikhs find

new family relations in the saints’ society.43 The Sikh family celebrates the Guru’s

holy days together (v20.7). At these events, multiple generations of Sikhs come

together (dāde pote, v29.5). The Guru is the father of all Sikhs, and loves them all

like a parent (k101-3).

Divinity. Not only is the congregation an extension of the Guru, but the

congregation exists in the divine reality as well (v9.1). Gurdas makes no qualms

about equating God with Sikh society: Kartar and Guru are immersed in the

congregation, which is the “realm of Truth” (sachkhanḍ), about which Guru Nanak

wrote (k125). The presence of the congregation in the divine realm is one of Guru

Nanak’s own special gifts to the community (v6.1). Kartar is Himself the mirror

and Himself the viewer, omni-present, but especially so in the saints’ society. As

such the community’s members share a special, mysterious knowledge of the

divine (v2.1). Service in the congregation is the path to reaching the divine.44

Kartar addresses Narad Muni (an important figure in Vaishnava lore and practice)

42
See v16.21. See also v16.18. This ceremony is described in depth in the chapter on Sikh
practices.
43
See v5.2, v6.2, v6.5.
44
See k143, k656, v20.10.

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about His divine presence in the sangat:

O Sage Narad, the saints’ society is my own abode

Audience with the saints’ society reveals my own form
The saints’ society is my mother, father, family, and friends
The saints’ society is my peerless, most noble son
The saints’ society is the source of all life’s treasures and energies
The saints’ society is the place to worship and the way to
liberation
The saints’ society enjoys love’s liquor, elation and ease
The saints’ society’s eminence is beyond comparison (k303)

God is most present in the Sikh congregation, which has the supreme privilege of

dictating its will to God (k302). Gurdas exclaims his wonder at the following truth:

the saints’ society is eternal, like a tree and its fruits, and is the Realm of Truth

(v39.13). Through the congregation, the Sikh tradition has resolved the tensions of

all the other religious traditions:

The Formless One has come to earth in the form of “Guru”

He has combined the four castes into the Sikhs, and made the saints’
society into the Realm of Truth
He is beyond the holy books: the untellable story was told through the
Guru-word
He is present in twenty, he made Gurmukh reach twenty-one 45
He made him an ascetic amidst the illusory world, he held him fast to
the core of: nām dān isnān 46
He combined the twelve ascetic orders, and initiated the Gurmukh’s
straight path
They climbed the stairs of honor (pat pauṛī chaṛke) and came home (nij
ghar āiā, v18.14)

Thus, the community is a central part of the divine plan, revealed in history.

Community. The community, which Gurdas calls the Gurmukh Mārag or

45
The references to “twenty” and “twenty-one,” are rooted in land-surveying terminology and, as
metaphors, denote this world and the next, respectively.
46
Meditation, charity, and purity.

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Gurmukh Panth (v9.3) is unified in reverence for a particular lineage of divinely

inspired leaders and an evolving scriptural canon. For Gurdas, there is no

difference between sangat (congregation) and panth (community). Not only are

individual congregations smaller units of the larger, singular community, but also

each congregation participates in Kartar’s own revelation in human history.

In parts of his writing, Gurdas uses the word “Gurmukh” for persons who

would have lived before the Sikh period, as a testament to continuity of Kartar’s

unfolding plan. For example, the Rig Veda addressed Gurmukhs in its time (v1.9),

and in the pre-Nanak era, Gurmukhs stayed away from pilgrimage places (v1.26).

In the Dark Age, the Gurmukh is revealed because of Guru Nanak’s efforts (v1.27).

In Vār 10, concerned with the mythologies of pre-Sikh mythological and saintly

figures, the word Gurmukh is used in reference to the lives of Raja Janak, Bhagat

Beni, and Kabir.47

The difference between previous ages and this one, however, is that Nanak

has forged the Community of Gurmukhs, which is the true Panth (v26.1). Human

birth is fortunate, and the highest form of life is that of the Gurmukh. Without

being a Gurmukh, life is a waste (v15.3). Being a Gurmukh is better than

achieving liberation (k154).

A deep confidence about the Gurmukh Panth dominates Gurdas’s language.

We ought to see this overwhelmingly positive attitude about community success in

47
See specifically v10.5, 10.14, 10.15. The relative prominence of the pre-Sikh saints and the
Guru’s Sikhs will be more specifically addressed in the chapter on Sikh ascendence.

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light of the extremely difficult times his sectarian group was undergoing at the time

of his writing. He tells the Sikhs not to lose faith in these trying times. He tells

them to focus on their mind, words, and actions and then when these three are in

unison, anything is possible. The true Guru’s house is altruistic, but successful in

worldly matters: food, clothes, and tax (zakāt) come raining over us (k629).

Blessed are the community’s institutions: the Guru, Sikh, and the Primal Being.

Blessed are the Guru’s audience, his word, and his lotus feet. Blessed are his

teachings and the Sikhs who bear the unbearable (v12.19).

Gurdas boasts a certain prestige to belonging to the Sikh community; the

Sikhs have supplanted the other traditions and risen to the top of the hierarchy of

religions. Gurdas asks: would the son of the king of the forest be subservient to a

jackal? Would the son of an eagle salute a crow? According to Gurdas, if the son

of a Sikh becomes a worshipper of another god, his life is a waste and he is a

bastard (k477).

Conclusion

It seems Gurdas had good reason to feel confident. Scholars are clear on the

success of the Sikh community during Gurdas’s lifetime, especially during the

reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar (1556-1605).48 Most compelling is Guru Arjan’s

48
According to Grewal, the early 1600s Sikh community was spread out across North India, and
quite prosperous. It looked from the outside like a state within the larger Mughal state, and from the
inside like “a parallel dispensation” to the Mughals’. (Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab, 42. J. S.
Grewal, A Study of Guru Granth Sahib: Doctrine, Social Content, History, Structure and Status
(Amritsar: Singh Brothers, 2009), 156.) Pashaura Singh adds that Guru Arjan’s city of Amritsar, or

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own testimony: he speak’s of the material success of the Guru’s unshakeable town

(abichal nagarī), his own rule (halemī rāj), his own army, and high walls of his

own houses.49 From history we know this town was an important place of trade,

and Sikhs here and across North India experienced great material success. At the

center of the town sat the Guru’s physical court, the central place of worship known

today as the Darbar Sahib; its architecture and structure itself evidence of authority

and success. This success, however, also made the community vulnerable to rivals

and visible to the ire of the state, especially after Akbar’s death in 1605. Guru

Arjan’s 1606 execution is evidence for this, and Gurdas’s exuberance in the

community’s future after the Guru’s death is a testament to the community’s own

intention to continue its growth and success, and its quiet defiance of repression.50

Gurdas’s core beliefs. Kartar, Creator and Master of this world and the

entire universe, is ultimately unknowable—with one exception. Understanding of

Kartar and His ways is available in the holy congregation, the society of saints.

Nanak is its Guru, Kartar’s own extension, His own messenger, and world

reformer. Guru Nanak forged a community of pious ones, the Gurmukhs who bear

a secret knowledge of Kartar, which they have gained by their own experiences.

Guru Nanak has revealed teachings about Kartar and how to live according to His

Ramdaspur, was an important town: “The administration of [Ramdaspur] was evidently in the
hands of Guru Arjan, and in a certain sense Ramdaspur was an autonomous town in the context and
framework of the Mughal rule of Emperor Akbar”. (Singh, Life and Work of Guru Arjan, 34.)
49
GG 74, 430, 622, 1141.
50
This defiance is taken up in greater detail in Chapter Six.

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ways that are enshrined in the scripture his community reveres.

The Guru is the Primal Spirit of the all-pervading Lord, accessible to all but

most present in Guru Nanak and his successors. The Guru is Kartar’s path-

showing light. Nanak was Kartar’s instrument in self-revelation and his scripture is

Kartar’s manifest form. Nanak’s actions in the world are acts for its redemption,

and examples of Kartar’s revelation as well. Nanak established a succession of

teachers, on par with himself, who continue Kartar’s revelation, through word and

action, in history.

The presence of the all-powerful Creator Being exists in the bond between

members of the Sikh congregation. The Guru is Kartar’s manifest form and the

Guru’s word is His aural form. Kartar is available and present in the kirtan, and

His functionaries stand and obey the congregation’s orders when it is immersed in

kirtan. The congregation is Kartar’s abode. Wherever the Sikhs go, Kartar watches

over them. Some of this can be described, but the reality of it is beyond

description, can only be experienced and lived. Only those who participate in the

community understand this true aspect of divinity, and only they understand the

true nature of the Guru.

According to Gurdas, bāṇī makes the Vedas obsolete, surpasses the writings

of the Jogis, and is the divine revelation for the Sikhs as the Qur’an is for the

Muslims.51 It has a secret inner meaning that can only be known to the one who

hears it, sings it, writes it, and enacts it in his or her life. In interacting with the
51
Although the Qur’an is not mentioned specifically, it is implied in the term kateb, referring to the
Semitic scriptures.

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bāṇī in the saints’ society one is closer to the Guru and can feel the Guru’s

presence. The revealed word is the community’s rallying point, its rallying

standard, and the source of its uniqueness. The Guru is absolutely necessary for

knowledge of Kartar, and through his knowledge, liberation from the oppressive

cycles of worldly existence. This knowledge, and related to this, audience with the

Guru himself, is available through the holy word. How a practitioner responds to

the Guru’s word marks his or her position within the community. Most

importantly, the practitioner reveres the Sikh Guru’s word, to the exclusion of all

other religions’ teachings. Moreover, she takes the apparent content of the word

(bāṇī) and interacts with it in order to access its deeper, mystical content (shabad),

which is in the tune with Kartar’s own reality. The practices of the community

associated with this interaction, bring about a deep, unshakeable faith in the

practitioner. This faith strengthens his or her attachment to the Guru, and his

community, providing a source of self-sacrifice on their behalf.

The Gurmukh Panth continues that revelation, as it is an extension of the

Guru’s essence, which is mystically present in its collectivity. The chief means for

the pouring out of the Guru’s holy nature into the collectivity of his worshippers is

through reverence for, performance of, and accordance with the holy word. Sangat

is the location where one can begin the fight against darkness of the world, a place

to worship and to be worshipped, and a refuge where one can meet like-minded

individuals, where one’s place in society does not matter. The Guru’s presence is

available here, even if the Guru’s body is not present. The congregation possesses

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many of the qualities of the Guru: its actions are ethical, beautiful and righteous;

thereby its renown is widespread like the fragrance of the sandal tree.

The congregation is a self-sustaining system, serving the larger world because

it is an extension of the Guru’s mission. Sikhs are constantly helping others, and in

helping others they are reforming the world. The sangat makes it unnecessary to

pursue pilgrimage and other religious practices because the performance of

sustaining acts for the congregation is the most meritorious: tending to the fire,

bringing water to worshippers, fanning them, cooking, cleaning, advancing Sikh

tradition by teaching Sikhs how to read, copying the words of Sikh scripture so that

the tradition may spread and others can understand the divine word. Sikh

community invites outsiders to participate in it through interacting with the

scriptural revelation and supporting the community, which is part of the continual

revelation of God to reform the world through righteous acts. Spreading the

community is the most important way to participate in that revelation.

A community of believers. To know Gurdas’s beliefs is to know 1600s

orthodox Sikh self-conception. Through Gurdas, we see how Sikhs considered

their non-Sikh neighbors, and built their boundaries relative to the other

communities around them. Unified in their strict, anti-iconic monotheism, Sikhs

set themselves in distinction to ideologies of incarnation, be they Vaishnava,

Shakta, Shaiva, or otherwise. This monotheism did not set them within the Muslim

fold, however. They held no specific reverence for the Abrahamic prophecies,

though they did respect other religions as divinely inspired. For Guras, only the

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most pious of the previous saints and messengers of lore equaled the status of the

Sikhs of Guru Nanak’s community. Sikhs’ sense of belonging, what keeps them

together, and what ultimately defines each of them as Sikhs are derived from

actions, practices, and their enactment of specific ethical codes, considered in the

next chapter.

The practitioner’s willingness for self-surrender on the community’s behalf is

a point of pride for Gurdas. Sikhs place no faith in the promises of other religions.

For Gurdas, they are uniquely and exclusively allegiant with the community of

Gurmukhs, initiated by Nanak and led by his successors. The community has

supplanted other traditions and risen to the top of the hierarchy of paths to Kartar.

Through their revealed word, their adherents form a congregation and community

that share in their Gurus’ holy nature. This community is eternal, growing and

spreading like trees and fruits. It is a central part of the divine plan, part of Kartar’s

revelation in history.

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 Chapter Four

Walking the Straight Path: Early Sikh Ethics

Contemplating the word brings a benevolent attitude

Destroying self-pride brings austerity’s fruits
The one who has heard the word is liberated-in-life
Right conduct brings true peace
— Guru Nanak (GG 1343)

Ethics and Sikh Community

In this dissertation, when I refer to Gurdas’s ethics, I mean those parts of his

corpus dedicated to proper conduct for Sikh religious practitioners. Broadly

speaking, the term rahit also connotes the idea of conduct-oriented injunctions.

Rahit is a term that, today, is associated with the Sikh tradition from the eighteenth

century onwards.1

Close readings of Gurdas’s works, however, significantly challenge this

understanding of Sikh self-perception in the early seventeenth century, and show

that rahit was part and parcel of Gurdas’s discussion of the good life. For one, we

1
According to McLeod, Gurdas’ statements about rahit (conduct) inform us about seventeenth
century Sikh norms “more in terms of general principal than specific precept”. Though they echo
the Guru’s writings and offer normative doctrinal positions about the rahit, they lack the injunctions
and prohibitions of the later codes of conduct, are not concerned with markers of community
membership, and thus ought to be relegated to the status of “proto-rahit”. McLeod uses these
premises to underscore his thesis of the late development of a fixed Sikh identity in the eighteenth
and, especially, nineteenth centuries. See W. H. McLeod, Exploring Sikhism : Aspects of Sikh
Identity, Culture and Thought (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000), 107. See also McLeod,
Sikhs of the Khalsa: A History of the Khalsa Rahit, 3.

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see that Gurdas is quite concerned with the importance of ethical living, and very

specific in his injunctions. Gurdas’s works are important sources for Sikh conduct

and ethics before the eighteenth century rahitnāmās (codes of conduct), and provide

the foundation on which the later texts were built. Second, we will expand our

notion of what Gurdas’s rahit entails. Gurdas’s discussions of rahit are (a)

interspersed in fragments throughout his works, and (b) concentrated in major

conduct-oriented sections in very specific locations throughout the texts. His

ethical injunctions are specific and general, prescriptive and proscriptive, negative

and positive. We will consider them all. Third, we will show that Gurdas’s ethical

injunctions require exclusive allegiance from Sikh practitioners to the rightful Guru,

and define membership in the community according to this clear line that he draws.

Fourth, this chapter culminates in a description of the Gurmukh, Gurdas’s ideal,

pious Sikh. In the chapter’s concluding section, we will consider Sikh communal

self-perception in Gurdas’s period and how it changed in the decades after his life.

A close reading for rahit in Gurdas’s works reveals a deep concern with

ethical living in the seventeenth century Sikh tradition. In the kabitts, Gurdas states

that only the Sikh who takes in the Guru’s word, and lives by it (rahat rahiṇī) is

true, all others are insincere (kapaṭ sanehī, k440). Elsewhere, Gurdas states that in

order to reap the full benefits of the divine revelation, one must enact it and live

within the confines of the conduct it prescribes. Those who achieve this discipline

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(rahat rahande) are like the lotus above the pond water, and those who do not

enact this kind of discipline are like frogs in the muck (v17.2). Thus, for Gurdas,

rahit, the conduct and ethics by which a Sikh lives, demarcate one’s commitment to

the tradition. Gurdas’s writings provide early examples of Sikh conduct codes,

adherence to the ideals of which mold its practitioners into a singular, exclusive

religious community.

Roots

Gurdas argues that Sikhs get their ethical drive from their founder. Guru

Nanak taught that caste-less living, humility, and hard physical labor had to be

accomplished before spiritual achievement was possible (v1.25). Gurdas not only

depicts Guru Nanak as divinely blessed, but a man on an arduous mission rooted in

the ethical imperative to help a suffering world (v.1.24). Nanak’s simple ethical

message is so powerful that he uses it to shame even the world-renouncing Nath

Jogis at their mythical home on Mount Meru (v1.29). When religious lawgivers ask

Guru Nanak to flip through his book to tell them what it says about the relative

virtues of the religions, the Guru replies that without right conduct both Hindus and

Muslims suffer (bābā ākhe ‘hājiā, shubi amalān bājhahu dono roī’, v1.33). In this

key ethical statement, Gurdas places hopes for religious reconciliation in ethical

living. Guru Hargobind, questioned by curious Sikhs about the future of the

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Guruship, provides a reply that shows the heavy ethical responsibilities he bears to

be the world’s Guru, and this is the source of his divinely legitimated rule (v1.47-8).

Thus, the community’s ethical imperative comes from the burdens its

founders bore, and ethical living is the hallmark of communal membership. All

religions proclaim that they have the truth, but more important than truth, Gurdas

says, is conduct (āchār, v18.19). Disputations of knowledge (giān goshṭ) do not

lead to liberation; ethical living is the chief mode for that (karnī pradhān, k437).

Compared with the many practices of the many religions, truth is the highest form

of religiosity. But higher above even that is the true conduct of the Gurmukhs

(Gurmukhi sachu āchārā, v39.6). Pious Sikhs see the world with a special clarity

because they reside in it like guests in a house: they remember their duties with

every breath, no matter where they are (19.7). In describing the practices in which

Sikhs engage, Gurdas says that the hands of the pious are hardened by doing the

Guru’s works in the congregation, which allows them to erase their obstructive egos

(v6.12). Piety and impiety are not revealed by physical characteristics or caste;

actions alone expose true virtue (v35.17). Gurdas is so deeply positive about ethics

that he sees the “Dark Age” of Hindu cosmology as a fundamentally just period

when every individual is responsible for his or her own actions. The best actions,

of course, are those associated with the Sikh community: treating others with love

and devotion (bhau bhagatī), celebrating gurpurabs, and worshipping in the

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dharamsāl (“house of worship,” v26.7). In the kabitts, Gurdas introduces the

theme of gurmat sat kar, enacting the teachings of the Guru (k24-27). Gurdas

postulates karnī (doing, action, or ethics) as the third part of the acquisition of the

“nectar of love” (prem ras, k43, 45). This is like the importance Gurdas gives to

knowledge, meditation and ethical action (man bach karam) elsewhere, from which

the feeling of love springs up.

Forms

Ethics here and there. Gurdas’s ethical statements come in a variety of

forms. Most commonly, information about how Sikhs should conduct themselves

appear in a line or two in a broader stanza about a non-ethical subject. That is to

say, Gurdas is always dropping hints for Sikhs in bits and pieces. He repeatedly

includes single, pithy verses about the virtue of humility. The Guru loves he who

walks humbly (v4.5). Ego is the biggest cause for distance from the divine

(v1.11.3). Do good and consider yourself lowly: this is the way to the divine’s

good graces (v1.16.7). Speak sweet words and eschew your ego (v3.13.3). This life

is precious, do not waste a moment. Do kirtan in the Sangat, with music and

instruments. Hear the tune of the word and sing it (k500). The Guru’s Sikh wakes

up and meditates in the early morning, tastes the nectar and enjoys it (k568). Sleep

little, eat little: this is the path to earning merit from the word (k569). The

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Gurmukh redeems his human birth by reading, understanding, and communicating

the meaning of bāṇī to his loved ones (v1.3.5). The Gurmukh does not follow any

other deities, demons, or demigods and is not afraid of death (v5.6). The oneness of

Kartar parallels the lack of social divisions in the holy congregation: the Gurmukh

Panth loses its sense of binaries by focusing on the oneness of the Supreme Being

(v5.9).

In small, pithy sayings, some of which would have been familiar to the Sikhs

of the time, Gurdas captures a great deal of ethical meaning while breathing

familiarity. Vār stanza 26.4 is loaded with these, many of which are borrowed from

the Gurus’ own hymns: loving devotion (bhau bhagatī), meditation, charity, and

purity; being detached in the world (māiā vich udās); speaking sweetly, walking

humbly, and giving from one’s share (miṭhā bolaṇa, niv calaṇa, hathahu dei). The

Gurmukh stays away from the wealth and bodies of others (par tan, par dhan,

v25.2). He who looks at another’s woman (par-dārā) with lust should seek the

Guru’s sight instead. Rather than slandering others (par nindā), speak the Guru’s

words. Rather than coveting another’s wealth (par darab), sing kirtan in the holy

congregation (k508). The ones without virtue engage in lust, greed, and slander.2

The Gurmukh knows he is a guest in this world (jag mahimāṇ, v3.3). The

Gurmukh understands that, living in this world, he is a guest at a party: he eats

2
The original is: par nārī, par darb, par nindā (v37.16).

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what is fed to him, he drinks what he is given to drink (v19.3).

Concentrated ethical stanzas. A great number of Gurdas’s ethical

injunctions come in concentrated chunks of continuous poetry. The very existence

of lists of conduct in Gurdas’s works indicates his intention to compile

concentrated codes of conduct within confined poetic spaces. This further shows

that clarifying and explicating the Sikh way of life was a very significant part.

Vār Five and Six provide a series of ethical injunctions that comprise the

earliest, concentrated forms of the Sikh rahit. In Vār Five Gurdas provides core

ethical statements regarding absolute loyalty to the Guru, as exclusivity is the

hallmark of the Sikh and distinctiveness is the hallmark of the whole Gurmukh

Panth (v5.1). Gurdas promotes liturgy and congregational worship in Sikh life

(v6.3). His verse resonates with a famous composition from Guru Nanak to

establish that “Vahiguru” is the Guru’s mantar (Sanskrit: mantra, “formula” for

repitition and focus), feet-nectar is the water of purity that makes us humble, and

that an ethical life leads the Gurmukh to liberation (v6.5).3 Focusing on how Sikhs

should worship the dust at each others’ feet, Gurdas offers proscriptions against

polygamy, lust, and greed, as well as against the practices of sacred threads (v6.7-

8). The Gurmukhs’ hands are hardened by earning good acts (and merit) in the holy

congregation: they transcribe the Guru’s words in volumes, play musical

3
Gurdas mimics Guru Nanak’s shalok beginning pavan guru… (GG 8).

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instruments (tāl, mardang, rabāb), and wash the feet of the pious. They live

according to high ethical standards, work hard and give charitably (Guru Nanak’s

“hathu dei,” v6.12). Gurdas says that they understand that the Gurmukh’s feet are

special because they walk the Guru’s path: go to the Guru’s house, attend

congregational worship, and run to altruistic acts. He adds that upon finding other

Sikhs, Gurmukhs circumambulate (pardakhaṇā) them (perhaps this means they

bring newcomers into the fold) and do not go to any other community (v6.13). The

Gurmukh should speak sweetly; see the divine and all, and in himself too; hear the

shabad; do good works, and use his hands to salute; walk the path (v6.18).

The first six stanzas of the Twelfth Vār are more refined than the codes of

vars five and six, indicating that Gurdas refined his ethical injunctions as his career

progressed.4 Written in first person, Gurdas repeatedly offers himself as a sacrifice

to the pious Sikhs who perform the following: physically go to see the Guru, fall at

other Sikhs’ feet and sit in religious assembly, speak of the Guru’s teachings, treat

others Sikhs as family, serve the Guru (abhiriṭhā), and help others cross the ocean

of life (v12.1). Gurdas holds up the ideals of waking at the end of the night, bathing

in the sacred pool (referring to Amritsar’s sacred tank) in the morning’s early hours,

performing Guru Nanak’s Jap with focused mind, attending congregational worship,

singing kirtan, and celebrating the Guru’s holy days with one’s brothers-in-Guru
4
For a translation of these, see: McLeod, Sikhs of the Khalsa: A History of the Khalsa Rahit,
McLeod, Sikhs of the Khalsa: A History of the Khalsa Rahit, 261-63.

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(v12.2). Other than proscribing adultery, polygamy, coveting, and slander, the

remaining four stanzas offer less concrete advice about how to live, and focus more

on the attitude a Sikh should maintain: consider yourself meek though you may be

mighty; be wise but proceed with a child’s innocence; perform benevolent acts

(parupkārī); keep one’s heart at the Guru’s feet and the Guru’s teachings in one’s

mind (v12.3-6).

Some of the later vars also discuss the ideal Sikh’s life:

Waking at night’s end, hold steadfast to nām dān isnān

Speak sweetly, tread softly, give from your hands, give thanks
Sleep little, eat little, speak little, and receive the Guru’s teachings
Eat of your labor, perform good deeds, be great but remain unnamed
Day and night, congregate with the holy, sing
Acquaint yourself with the sound of the word, thus know the true Guru
and satisfy your heart
Amidst temptation, remain untempted (v28.15).

Vār 29 articulates three major precepts: sweet speech (miṭhā bolaṇ), humility (niv

calaṇu), and giving from one’s share (hathu de, v29.4). The Guru’s Sikhs are Jogis,

they keep spiritual restraints while living in māiā; their earrings are the Guru’s

mantar, the saints’ dust is their staff; forgiveness is their blanket and love is their

source of sustenance; the holy congregation is the cave in which they meditate

(v29.11-5). The first three stanzas of Vār 32 underscore the Sikh ideals: innocence,

love, discipleship, learning, acceptance, understanding of the Guru’s teachings,

worshipping of other Sikhs, and hard work (v32.1-3). One of the final stanzas of

the vārs also underscores the ethical precepts that are outlined throughout, offering

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a pithy conclusion. Sikh ethical living is identified with the highway path (gāḍḍī

rāh) established by the founder himself.

Waking at the ambrosial hour, the Guru’s Sikh bathes at the tank
Repeating the Guru’s words, he arrives at the dharamsāl
Arriving at the holy congregation, he listens lovingly to the holy word
Dispelling doubts from his heart, he serves the Guru’s Sikhs
Earning from his hard work, he takes sacrament and distributes it
Serving the Guru’s Sikhs, he eats from what’s left
Lighting the way in this Dark Age, the Guru is the disciple, and the
disciple meets the Guru
Gurmukhs travel the straight path (v40.11)

The second kind of litany of ethical norms are less explicit and less specific,

but nonetheless were meant to guide Sikhs and inspire normative action. These are

stanza containing “oughts”: how ought a Gurmukh carry himself? Gurdas’s

guidance to the Sikh answers the questions, “what do we do?” and “how ought we

live?” For example, at the end of his vār expounding the virtue of steadfast

suffering, Gurdas offers his advice about how to practice the religion:

O! Hear how to be a Guru’s Sikh: inside wise, outside a novice

Alert, immersed in the word, he is mute
He takes audience with the True Guru, away from the congregation is
blind and homeless
He takes the Guru’s word, Vahiguru, quietly quaffing from the cup of
love
Falling at feet, he becomes dust, washes feet, and drinks feet-nectar
Like a bumble bee around lotus feet, he is distinct from the water of the
world
His mortal frame and life are saved (jīvan mukat, v4.17)

Gurdas attempts to inspire his fellow Sikhs to a state of deep ethical concern: we

ought wash our reputation at the Guru’s court, and burn our ego there; fetching

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water and grinding grain, we ought to toil in service (v3.8). We ought to be

subservient, meet our brothers lovingly, serve, and recite the prayers daily (v3.9).

Gurdas inspires Sikhs to give themselves over in discipleship like martyrs (shahīd,

v3.18). We divorce ourselves from the ten senses and aim for a state humble

acceptance of the divine will (v3.19-20). Sikhs are to act as if they are guests in

someone’s house, and walk according to the divine will (hukam razāi chalaṇā,

v9.3). In this way, the Gurmukh Panth continues its ways established by the

founder (v9.14). Accepting the divine plan is repeated often, and in Vār 18 it is

linked with fulfilling one’s faith, which water cannot drown and fire cannot burn

(v18.21-2).

Kabitts. Gurdas’s kabitts also provide a rich resource for understanding his

ethical stances: according the the Guru’s teachings, the Sikh wakes up in the early

hours and bathes, while his tongue recites the Guru’s mantar. He focuses on the

Guru’s ideas (gurmat) and renounces those of others (durmat), and professes the

Sikh Panth to be the highest of all. Seeing, hearing, and speaking well of all, he lives

(rahit) in his internal being as the one who believes in the Guru (k613).

Many of the conduct-oriented kabitts are distinct from their counterparts in

the vārs in at least three ways. One, they are concerned with directing ethical living

towards the goal of sublime and liberating religious experiences. For example, one

declares that only by enacting the Guru’s word can we obtain the highest state

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(parampad), while another promises a wondrous experience (bismai bisam, adbhut

parmadbhut) to the practitioner who enacts the Guru’s ideas (satguru mat, k439

and k138). Second, the kabitts express a heightened concern for caste equality in

the holy congregation, and implore the reader to see all members of the community

as equals. The Sikhs who would have lived in the predominantly Braj-speaking

areas would have been members of the trading classes, and there is evidence from

Sikh history that they saw themselves as superior to the rustic classes of the

agrarian Sikh homeland.5 Finally, the kabitts are uniquely concerned with

proscribing Hindu polytheism, particularly Vaishnava worship.

I will briefly summarize three sets of ethically oriented kabitts, those

numbered in the 130s to 140s, 380s to 390s, and 430s to 490s. In the first batch,

Gurdas implores his co-religionists to see the transcendent Lord in all, enact divine

love, and speak sweet words. In the Sikh congregation kirtan and discussion brings

the four castes into one, and in this oneness the practitioner achieves a state of

focus where his mind does not wander elsewhere.6 In the second batch, Gurdas

tells us that high and low status are not socially determined, but like righteousness,

revealed according to one’s actions. The Guru’s pious Sikhs put wealth to use for

5
For one example, see the dialogue between a Jatt and Khatri from the Dabistan mentioned in the
previous chapter: J. S. Grewal and Irfan Habib, Sikh History from Persian Sources : Translations of
Major Texts (New Delhi: Tulika, 2001), 78. For more on the social divisions in Sikh society, please
see: Mann, Sikhism, 94-99.
6
See k137, 138, 144, 145.

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benevolent acts (parupkārī), but in the hands of the impious (asādhs), it amounts

to no good. Beware of the impious one when he comes to the congregation, where

he is like a crow sitting amongst an assembly of Mansarovar’s swans. Befriending

or villainizing such dangerous people results in detriment.7 In the third set of

kabitts considered here Gurdas follows a statement about the primacy of conduct

(karnī pradhān) with a set of polemics against the worshippers of many gods (dev

sevak). On the one hand Gurdas promises the Guru’s compassion to the one who

has returned to the community from the worship of others, but elsewhere calls for

the immediate removal of the polytheists from Sikh congregation. Not only does

Gurdas expect exclusive religious allegiance, he likens worshipping another god to

adultery.8

Content

The Gurmukh way. The ideal of the Gurmukh is itself a discursive

technique to clarify Sikh identity via writings about conduct. The Gurmukh’s

defining characteristic is his undying, exclusive allegiance to the Guru and the Panth.

For Gurdas, the Gurmukh is the committed one, literally the one who only turns to

the Guru. The Gurmukh is committed in spite of all difficulties, suffers and attains

7
See k382, 384-6, 388, 390.
8
The word is vibhchārī. See k439, k441-2, k444, k452, k490.

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the highest state, remains committed (through the drinking of feet nectar, apīou pī)

and bears the unbearable without shirking (ajar jar). The Gurmukh’s life is fruitful

and leads to liberation, he finds a new family in the holy congregation (v6.5). Along

with fetching water, grinding wheat, and stoking wood in the kitchen, taking care of

the poor, singing the bāṇī, feeding charity, washing feet, and feeding the Gurmukhs

are meritorious acts (v14.18-20).

Householding. At the core of the Gurmukh community’s ethics are strong

proscriptions against the coveting of others’ bodies and wealth (v25.2). The

Gurmukh’s entire body is involved in his religiosity, but he must put it to

discipline. He ought to speak sweetly, and do what seems right to him; see the

divine and all, and see himself too; hear the shabad; use his hands to do good works,

and to salute others; and walk the path with is feet. In this way, the Gurmukh

finds liberation-in-life (jīvan muktī) and vices like desire do not challenge him

(v6.18).

In this kind of discipline, the Gurmukh achieves all of the spiritual

experiences that are typically reserved for ascetics. The Gurmukh is detached

amidst the illusions of the ephemeral world (māiā vich udāsi, v26.4). Householder-

ship (grahastī) is the highest of disciplines (dharam, k376).

Gurdas is clearly aware of how slippery a slope the issue of desire is in a

householder religious tradition, and promises the Guru’s assistance for the Sikh to

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stay away from chasing wealth and lust (k369). Wealth and the illusions of the

ephemeral world, which are deemed adverse to spiritual pursuits, can be cultivated

for the benefit of others. This ethical approach fits well in the context of early Sikh

prosperity, which helped to spread Sikh institutions and towns. For the Sikhs,

wealth is pure (pavitar) and auspicious, but in the hands of the rest of the world it

burns (k384). Continuing with the last kabitt’s theme: wealth, which lays waste to

the rest of the world, is used for benevolence by Sikhs—just like there is no

essential difference between the iron that is present in handcuffs or the one that the

pāras (“touchstone”) turns to stone (k385).

Key to the anti-ascetical ethics is marriage. Polygamy is forbidden,

monogamy is all but required. A male Sikh can have only one wife and renounces

the desire for other women as a Hindu does beef, and a Muslim, pork (v6.8).

Gurdas implores Sikhs to see all women as mothers and sisters, see the Lord like

warp and woof in all bodies, and control their minds with the Guru’s word (k547).

Gurdas assumed the patriarchal modes of his day, as men seem to be his

assumed audience.9 Another way to see the issue, however, is that Gurdas assumes

a oneness of the sexes. There is no separate identity or rituals articulated for

9
Feminist scholars who have censured the Sikh tradition’s silencing and negation of gender issues
will not find much accommodation of women’s liberation in Gurdas’s writings. Unlike what can
be said for the aims of the Sikh founder, women’s empowerment does not seem to be high on
Gurdas’s agenda. For a treatment of Guru Nanak’s opinion on women, as well as the role of women
in Sikh history, please see: Mann, Sikhism, 102-6.

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women. This points to an equality of men, women, and children in the community

as the spiritual “brides” of the Guru.10 The pregnant woman provides the ideal

parallel for spiritual constraint: she sleeps little, and eats in moderation. This is the

way to earning the benefits from the word (k569).

In the kabitts, the householder motif provides a double metaphor. For one,

the disciple should live an aware life while holding a family. Second, the Sikh

community is itself a family, of which the Guru is the father.11 A woman’s

devotion to her husband is a metaphor for the disciple’s relationship to the Guru

and God. The Gurmukh is like the perfect woman (v5.16).

Exclusive allegiance. As in monogamy, where husband and wife practice

mutual and singular devotion, the Sikh is to be uniquely devoted to his Guru. When

Guru Arjan’s execution opened the door to schism along previous intra-communal

fault lines, Gurdas used the concept of the Gurmukh to define the ideal of Sikh

conduct. Gurdas’s polemics against intra- and extra-communal agents (like the

mīṇā schismatics, and the Vaishnava believers) are juxtaposed with Gurdas’s

conception of the ideal Sikh, or Gurmukh. Playing foil to the Gurmukhs are the

non-Sikhs, as well as the community’s detractors, who are together generally

10
For more about the principle of femininity in early Sikh writings, please see: Nikky-Guninder
Kaur Singh, The Feminine Principle in the Sikh Vision of the Transcendent (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1993).
11
See k480, 481, 483.

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designated by the term manmukh: “the one who follows himself”. The impious

(asādh), the apostate (bemukh), and the insincere friend (kapaṭ sanehī) are specific

examples of the manmukh. In this way, the Gurmukh-manmukh duality provides

markers for Sikh identity to show “in” versus “out,” in terms of community

membership.

The Gurmukh worships only in the holy congregation, and does not mix with

other companies, good or bad. His pious community (Gurmukh Panth) is unique,

he earns the word and does not falter from the feet-falling tradition (v5.1). The

Gurmukh does not follow any other deities, demons, or demigods, and is not afraid

of death (v5.6). Drinking of Sikhs’ feet nectar brings about a deep peace in the

Gurmukhs, and make piligrimage to the religious places of others unnecessary

(v.23.2). Hindu pilgrimages are like the blind pushing the blind into a well,

Gurmukhs are not seen at such places (v1.26). The Gurmukh does not just

renounce the ways of other religions, but the conduct of the common people more

generally (lokāchārī, k39-41).

The key characteristic of the manmukh is that he is not a Gurmukh. He is

lost in the twelve paths (of Jog), drowns in the ocean of existence, dies fruitlessly,

bears the fruit of pain, and burns in the fire of ego (v5.15). Like a prostitute’s

many lovers, the manmukh visits too many places of worship, and even goes to

worship in the enemy-congregation (dushṭan-sangat, v5.17). The manmukh is

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caught up in the love of the other, and is suffers in that confounded state (v5.20,

v15.10, v15.11). Manmukh is that one who follows a human guru, as opposed to

the True Guru of the Sikhs (v15.4). Human birth is the highest, but it is better to

be an animal or ghost than a manmukh (v15.3, v15.19). Manmukh is on the wrong

path and incurs the ultimate loss (v17.4). The manmukh comes to the Sangat,

hears the word, but does not put it in his heart, and thereby his attendance is of no

soteriological benefit (v17.6). Because of his ego, the manmukh wanders from place

to place (v5.19). The manmukh’s love of the other leads him to ruin, but the

Gurmukh is on the Guru’s high road (gāḍḍī rāh, v5.20). The insincere ones are

impermanent in this world, like the color of maddor, but those who undergo

hardship enjoy an ultimate and lasting victory (v4.6).

A taxonomy of otherness. Gurdas goes to great lengths to underscore the

importance of exclusive allegiance to the Guru, as evidenced by the vārs’ systematic

taxonomy of the manmukhs. Vār 30 declares that the Gurmukh is on the side of

truth, permanence, and beauty (v.30.5), and this begins a series of vārs marking a

great divide in Gurdas’s ethical norms—the clear distinction between the

community and the other. Gurmukhs represent truth and manmukhs represent all

that is false (v30.5). The manmukh is the bastard son of a prostitute (v30.2.7 and

v.30.3.5). Whereas the Gurmukh remains anonymous, the manmukhs get

themselves publicized (āp gaṇāvaṇā) as the adherent of another religious system,

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moving him away from the Guru’s teachings.

Gurdas’s ethics of allegiance provide key markers for communal identity: the

practitioner is either with us or with the agents of darkness and falsehood. Being

true, Gurmukhs are distinct and impenetrable (v30.17). In the scheme of divine

justice, truth will eventually triumph over falsehood (v30.6). Truth and falsehood

are both litigants in the halls of justice; he who is robbed will eventually triumph,

and who he robs will eventually get robbed (30.12). Like the sugar cane, it is in the

nature of the good beings to suffer quietly (v30.15). But Kartar’s justice is

ultimately true and accurate (v31.17).

More than just a simple notion of in-and-out, Gurdas creates a taxonomy of

the other by specifying the various kinds of manmukhs. Vār-by-vār, Gurdas begins

to expound on the characteristics of the various types of manmukhs. There is the

fool (Vār 32), the two-timer (Vār 33), the apostate (Vār 34), the slanderer (Vār 35),

and, worst of all, the scoundrels who pay tribute to the rival Sikh sect (Vār 36).

The fool (mūrakh) is a humorous character who stands out in the community

less out of his own agency than his ignorance (Vār 32). Whereas Vār 17 names

manmukhs, insincere friends, and apostates, Vār 33 talks of two-timers

(dubājarās). He is either a Hindu or Muslim, but he thinks he can still be part of

the Sikh community. Gurdas spends twenty stanzas explaining why serving two

masters is not a good idea.

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 As opposed to the manmukhs who come to the Sangat, the apostate

(bemukh) is a special breed: he has turned his back on the Guru and his plight is

taken up in Vār 34. An apostate is one who has left the Guru to worship another

(v34.19). In this world, one reaps what one sows. He is unable to recognize the

worth of what he is turning away from (v34.4), and like the conch who remains dry

in the ocean or the plants that remain dry in the rainy season, the apostate never

soaked in (v34.5). The next type to meet Gurdas’s ire are those who calculate

against the Guru, or have calculating intentions about the Guru’s funds. Looking at

the dharmsala’s funds is forbidden for Sikhs as beef is for Hindus and pork for

Muslims, and disastrous in its effects as eating sugar-coated poison (v35.12).

Gurdas calls out the enemies of his tradition with two other names in Vār 35: the

ingrate (akritghaṇ) and the disloyal sinner (lūṇ harāmī guṇāhagār). So terrible is

the ingrate’s gaze that an outcaste sweeper lady shades a piece of dog meat cooked

in liquor from his sight in order to protect it (35.9). Gurdas invokes the power of

ultimate divine justice when he states that the disloyal sinner will be beaten like a

drum in the Lord’s Court (v35.10).

Gurdas uses the term mīṇā (“scoundrel”) in Vār 26 to refer to Guru

Hargobind’s uncle, Prithi Chand. Vārs 26 and 36 are both parallel in that one

underscores primarily Guru Hargobind’s authority while the other undermines his

rivals. Both declare the true Guru to be the true monarch (satiguru sachā pātshāh),

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showing that Gurdas’s most virulent critiques are not for the state, but for the

schismatics. The mīṇās are cunning like the cranes at pilgrimage centers, whiners

like the rain bird who cannot drink water, unable to take in the fragrance of the Guru

like bamboo is unaffected by sandalwood. The true Guru is the true emperor and

the scoundrels’ faces are blackened in shame (36.1).

In the kabitts, the Vaishnavas and polytheists get the worst of Gurdas’s ire.

The worshippers of other gods are comparable to a eunuch, a prostitute, a barren

woman, and a blind man who cannot enjoy the beauty of the visible world (k443).

Trying to get knowledge from a source other than the True Guru is like the blind-

leading-the-blind (k474). The Vaishnava worshippers are hypocrites: they say

they are dedicated to their one god, yet fear the sight of bad omens as dictated by

folk traditions. The same person who is fully devoted to Vishnu, serves Brahmans,

the holy stone, and hears the Gita and Bhagavat, embarks on righteous (dharam)

pilgrimages to various sites after consulting with pandits, betrays his deity when he

sees a bad omen and runs back to his house (k447). A son of the jungle king (the

lion) would never be subservient to a jackal, nor would the son of the lord-of-wings

(garūṛ, the eagle) salute a crow. Similarly, Gurdas points out, it is ludicrous to

imagine that the son of a Sikh could worship another god, his life is a waste and he

is a bastard (k477).

The worship of other deities does not obliterate one’s misdeeds, whereas

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serving the Guru is redeeming (k489). In a polemic against the Jogis, Gurdas ask

what good is walking on water, not getting burned in fire, or flying? The magical

feats of the Jogis (ridhīs and sidhīs) are the result of the manipulation of the

elements, whereas attaining the Gurmukh’s state of peace is a real accomplishment

(k478).

Not only is the power of the Gurmukhs contagious, but the power of the

disloyal is as well, which is why Gurdas seems suspicious of their presence in the

community. He says that those who go to other places for worship degrade the

holy congregation and ought to leave, as they would not appreciate or understand

Sikh life (k452-3). The pious simply cannot win when it comes to contact with the

impious: befriending them leads to detriment, but so does villainizing them (k388).

An impious person sitting in the congregation is a like a crow sitting in the fabled

assembly swans at Mansarovar: he is not there for the pearls, but the dirt (k386).

Religious tolerance. Though Gurdas shows little tolerance for the

manmukhs, particularly those who show dual loyalties, he does not preach

intolerance. He reports that Guru Hargobind employed non-Sikhs at his court,

distinguished from the ecstatic Sikhs in the following stanza by their “sobriety”:

The emperor’s attendants, both drunk and sober, arrive at his throne
Those present at the court are acknowledged, and the absent are noted
as well
The few he considers capable receive invitations to his assembly
The emperor, in his intelligence, employs both the enamored and the
indifferent

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 The sober are put to work serving drinks to the drunks
The drunks are inebriated, quaffing — they attain the state of equipose
The sober butt heads, worshipping (pūjā nivāz) and bowing
Constrained by their holy books (ved kateb), they fight amongst
themselves
Only the rare attain the Gurmukh’s peace (v39.8)

Gurdas allows for the simultaneous superiority of the Sikh community and

possibility of truth in other religions: just as there is one sun, but many divisions of

time, so can their be an inherent unity of religions, but superiority of Sikhs in

accessing the true nature of the divine (v2.14). All religions are traders from the

store of truth, but the Sikh Guru is the source of capital as the central banker. The

Guru is beyond care (beparvāh), and his treasure house is unlimited (40.7). In

parts of his writings, Gurdas points to a golden rule of religious tolerance: see the

good in others, and do good to others; know that everyone loves their son like you

love yours; everyone enjoys wealth like you do; everyone likes to hear themselves

praised and not slandered, like you; everyone loves their religion (karam dharam)

as much as you do (k398). Gurdas implores Sikh followers to discuss issues of

knowledge (giān) with all people, focus on the positive aspects of people, and

ignore the negatives (k399). All people contain divinity (“Ek Oankar”) in them like

all trees, though vastly different, are full of the same fire (k49). Gurdas reminds his

co-religionists that all people hold their son, trade, and deity-of-choice (ishṭ) in high

regard (k552).

Altruism and benevolence. The practice of benevolence (parupkārī) is the

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highest of conducts (āchār), surpassing all the wisdom of the world, and it is for

this reason that the holy congregation is redemptive (patit udhāraṇ, v25.9). The

benevolent Gurmukhs have come into this world for the very reason to help others

and their community redeems even the sinners (v28.11). Like a doctor treating a

sick patient, the wise person (bibekī jan) is a helper-of-others: the benevolent make

the world a better place by spreading their religion, a source of healing (k113).

Gurdas sings the praises of the benevolent Sikh (parupkār sādh) who acts only for

the sake of others (k564). The Sikh community is a benevolent tree that provides

shade (liberation, udhār) to the world. The Guru is the root of the tree, and the

soure of its fragrance and Sikhs are the branches.12

Deep suffering increases piety and, as a result, the benevolent spirit (k580-1).

Cotton is in the ground, then ginned, then made into rolls and spun into thread, then

woven and dyed in boiling water, it is cut with scissors and stitched with needles.

But this suffering leads to its usefulness for others when produces clothes and

covers the naked (v4.10). The sugarcane is crushed to produce a sweet juice (k326).

In this sense, the ethic of benevolence, and the belief that the Sikh community

is a growing tree, becomes a technique to grow the Panth and survive difficult times.

The community is a shade-providing tree, planted by Kartar Himself, from seed to

12
See k37-8, v12.13.

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root to branch to root, it goes on providing shade to the world.13 In one fruit there

are many seeds, this is the secret of the Sikh way (v13.18). Focusing on the

community’s growth in this way, drives the attention outward from the community

to others, and in the meanwhile it serves the communities needs by giving it good

publicity and new-comers. The metaphor of tree provides a theodicy: even when ill

is done to it, the Sikhs, like a fruit tree, bear good results (v14.7). Suffering leads to

success, but at the doors of the holy, even evil acts are returned with kindness: the

tree drops fruit when stoned, is killed to make a boat, which does not hesitate to

bring an iron saw to shore. He says that the benevolent one might earn evil from

the evil-doer, perhaps explaining why the Sikhs are suffering at the hands of others,

and that ultimate justice will be divinely delivered (v31.16-7).

Gurdas uses the earth as a metaphor for patience, humility; that these are the

keys to future reward. The earth is lowest of all, steadfast in compassion,

righteousness, and contentment, it is patiently trampled underfoot. It touches the

feet of the holy, the worthless thing becomes worth-a-million. The poor thing

receives honor, and it drinks from the cup of love. As one reaps, so one sows: the

Gurmukh’s stay meek (v4.2). Sikhs can cultivate a state of fearlessness through

love. It is the means by which divine justice works: he who seems to win now will

lose in the divine court, and the loser now will be exalted later (v26.9).

13
The kind of tree being referred to here is the banyan, famous for its complex structure of roots and
branches, and for its ability to provide deep shade.

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 Gurdas expresses an ethic of welcoming newcomers and embracing other

Sikhs that is important to this community, which is understandable because it is a

minority community. Sikhs find other Sikhs, and worship each others’ feet.

Gurmukh’s feet are special because they walk the Guru’s path, and not on others’

(v6.13). Like water and dust—which, perhaps not so coincidentally, would have

been the main ingredients of the initiatory feet-nectar—the Sikhs are focused on

benevolence and thus are neither burned by fire nor destroyed by freezing, they feel

neither suffering nor ecstasy (v28.13-4).

Rightful attitude. More important than rule-following is the intention and

attitude that one brings to one’s actions. The idea that someone would participate

in the Sikh way of life out of some kind of compulsion is ludicrous to Gurdas. He

scorns the notion that religiosity can be mandated. The true Sikh is the one who

acts out of the force of his own love for the Guru (v17.14). These insincere ones

are simply talkers, but talking alone cannot replace the hard work that is necessary

(v17.17). The two-timer (dubājarā) bows to religious authority, not out of love or

respect, but out of compulsion—which is of no use (v33.16).

Gurdas’s depicts ethics as the realm of the deepest religion, which is

consistent with his portrayal of the human body as the site where the religious

experience reverberates: the eyes have a glimpse of the divine, and divine grace

enters through the ears, plays on the tongue, makes hands and feet fragrant, and a

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feeling of wonder soaks up every limb. Only then does the mind’s desire tire and

yield to focus on the Ultimate (k18, see also k499). In a series of kabitts, Gurdas

describes the problems of the mind, and how to control it and the senses. 14 By

unifying his thoughts, words, and actions, the Sikh becomes a king who rules over

his body (k46, 246). Gurmukhs take part in constant worship, with every breath,

and though they may live in a dozen foreign lands (das vadesiā; no matter what

country) they are unified in this moment-to-moment devotion (v19.7).

Words in the mouth are like an arrow in a bow: once released they do not

return. For that reason, we ought to speak cautiously and according to the Guru’s

teachings (gurmat, k630). But not by mere talk, or talk alone, can we give up our

vices: ethics requires action (k539). The efficacy of Sikh practice is not made

apparent until one gives oneself over to the Guru (gur darsi jai … samāye): talking

is not enough (k539). In the holy congregation, there is a feedback mechanism that

heightens experience: the singer in the congregation, performing the word, watches

other Sikhs worship and participates in their devotion, and this inspires a love and

peace within the singer (k566-7). This love, in the singer, probably then would

manifest in an even more heightened experience had by the listeners.

The word is earned. The divine word possesses a deep, inner content that is

only made known to the one who hears it, allows it to enter his being, and enacts it.

14
See k225-37, k581.

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The above-discussed attitude that Gurdas requires of Sikhs allows them to interact

with the Guru’s word and reap its positive effects on their lives. Gurdas frequently

matches the divine word (shabad) with the verb “to earn” (kamāuṇā), which

implies that a Sikh earns the benefits of the word like merit (see v14.10, v20.4). It

is not just the word that can be earned, but others earn whatever they want to earn

in their religious practices also: thus, Hindus “earn” tantar and mantar (v13.23, as

we will see later, Gurdas is speaking mockingly). The holy congregation, where the

word is heard, is the land of ethical action (sukrit bhūmī) and the fruits of those

labor actions beget liberation (udhār, k126). Like friends sit around a kitchen,

eating and talking, so do the Guru’s Sikhs meet in the dharamsāl and enjoy the bliss

of the nectar-word (k559). Talk alone will not deliver us to the land of the beloved,

we must walk the path; and “putting into practice” is a second connotation of the

above-discussed verb kamāuṇā. Merely discussing treatment with the doctor does

not lead to a cure (k439). Only by repetitive writing can one become a writer. As

such, the inner meaning of the word, and the state of understanding it deeply, only

comes with relentless study (khojat khojat, k588).

The fruits of right action. Our past actions have directed us to today’s

experience as an aimed bow shoots arrows where they are directed (k610). A

number of boons are granted to the Sikh based on his actions. As discussed above,

one of these is wealth (māiā). But the Sikh need not ask for wealth: food, clothes,

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and tax (jugāt, from zakāt, the Muslim notion of tithe) are poured onto the true

Guru’s house like rain (k629).

A second, and more consequential, effect than material wealth is knowledge,

to which the Gurmukh has special access. The Guru’s word is the initial source of

divine wisdom (giān), but living the life of the Gurmukh reveals even deeper levels

of knowledge. Only the Gurmukh understands Kartar’s omni-presence (v9.6).

Gurdas compares Kartar’s omnipresence to the ability of a musician to play many

instruments, enjoying his own music, while engrossed in it. Only the Gurmukh

reaps the benefit of Kartar’s omnipresence (v2.2, v2.7), his knowledge of divine

unity amongst a multiplicity of forms is salvific (v2.9).

Third, the Gurmukh achieves ineffable, pleasurable experiences as a result of

his conduct. For Gurdas, the Sikh community is an expanding banyan tree, which

produces a fruit that stands for the most sublime of religious experiences, which he

calls Gurmukh sukh phal (v6.4). Whereas all other experiences are rooted in the

ego, all virtues are found with the Gurmukh sukh phal, and in the holy

congregation, this nectar destroys the ego’s ill effects (v38.19). This experience is

ineffable, beyond all description (v38.18). Only those who walk the path know the

experience, but the only way to access it is to commit to the community by

becoming a Gurmukh. The Gurmukh’s is the true community (sachā panth), they

partake in the fruit of peace and attain a state of fearlessness (v28.9-10). The

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Gurmukh earns victory over his body, he is not of two minds, he finds family in the

community (mā piu bhai mita, v5.2). Gurdas proclaims that by renouncing un-

Sikh practices, the Gurmukh finds an experience more valuable than a garland of

diamonds (v5.10). Whether through audience with the Guru, or by hearing the

word, or by service and action, the Guru and Gurmukh become one and the

Gurmukh achieves the easy state (sahaj, k50-1). As opposed to the parlor tricks of

the so-called perfected siddhs (walking on water, not getting burned in fire, flying),

attaining a Gurmukh’s peace is a substantive accomplishment (k478, see also k42).

The ultimate effects of living the Gurmukh way of life are liberation from the

universe of cause-and-effect and liberation in the divine court of the afterlife.

Gurdas seems to portray two parallel opinions about how liberation is achieved.

For one, he says the Gurmukh’s liberation is divinely guaranteed (v19.1-4). The

Gurmukhs need not worry about their liberation: the Guru has ordained it.15

Elsewhere, Gurdas depicts liberation as something to be achieved by work. It

is like a tradeoff: a bride surrenders dowry to her in-laws, which she retrieves at the

eventual marriage of her son. Similarly, we sacrifice mind, body, and wealth to the

Guru and we eventually realize immortality (k584). The Gurmukh’s life is fruitful

and leads to liberation, he finds a new family in the holy congregation (v6.5). Still

elsewhere Gurdas says that being constrained in the life of a Gurmukh is better than

15
See v20.3, k87, k486, k488.

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achieving liberation (k154).

The straight path. The first chapter of the Qur’an, Sura al-Fatiha,

articulates an appeal to the divine for assistance in traveling “the road straight”.

According to Qur’an scholar Michael Sells, “the term rendered here as road, sirat,

would have connoted something grand to the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula.”

The value of a paved, Roman road, buttressed on both sides by brick walls, would

have been registered by travelers, nomads, and tradesmen.16

Similarly, the image of the cart road was well burned into the psyche of the

well-traveled Gurdas, and the term gāḍḍī rāh takes an important place in his

poetry. The True Guru is the True King who has put the Gurmukh on the gāḍḍī

rāh (v5.13). The manmukh wanders from place to place because of his ego, while

the Gurmukh is on the Guru’s high road (v5.19-20). Like grass is trampled

underfoot but remains resurgent, the Sikh community will overcome its hard times.

As the highway cart travels on beaten tracks, so should Sikhs follow the established

traditions (miriād) of worship (dharamsāl, kirtan) and thus find transcendence

(v9.14).

When not referred to as the high cart road, the Sikh way of life is depicted by

other metaphors, like the path of the pious (Gurmukh mārag). Vār 28 highlights

the difficulty of the Sikh way of life (gur sikhī), promising that path of the
16
Michael Anthony Sells, Approaching the Quran: The Early Revelation (Oregon: White Cloud Pr,
1999), 42-3.

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Gurmukhs is not traveled by a single step. Discipleship is like a labyrinth, and

deliverance depends on divine grace. Still, the fearless Sikhs bear evil with patience,

and earn their way assiduously. The way of the Gurmukh Panth is a difficult and

subtle one. It is thinner than a hair, sharper than a sword; ineffable, beyond

description. It is not walked by a single step, but by pleasing the True Guru and

by living according to his teachings (gurmat, v28.1).

Sikh piety is transformative. Like coming in contact with sandal’s fragrance is

transformative, like touching fire enflames, so is the contagion of the pious (sādh,

k625). The Gurmukh considers himself the lowest of the low; falling at the feet of

others, he becomes feet-dust and loses his sense of self. He speaks sweetly, walks

humbly, and gives of what he earns. One with the word, he understands that life is

temporary, and finds peace amongst this world of desire (v8.24). The oneness of

divinity parallels the lack of social divisions in the holy congregation: the Gurmukh

Panth has lost its sense of binaries by focusing on the oneness of the Supreme

Being (v5.9). Gurdas traces the prevalent Sikh ethics of his time to the Sikh

founder. Guru Nanak taught that losing one’s sense of self and attaining humility

were prior in necessity to ritual observance to pilgrimage rules. Thereby,

Gurmukhs lose their caste identities, and walk the Sikh path with humility. Only

by their ethical living does their hard work earn them merit in the divine court

(v1.25).

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 A large amount of data from Gurdas’s works reveals a deep concern for using

this well-established tradition of piety to overcome suffering. The established Sikh

traditions are part and parcel of the continuation of the Gurmukh way of life. Vār

14, loaded with metaphors about the importance of suffering, ends on a positive by

telling Sikhs what they can actually do: fetch water, grind wheat, stoke wood, take

care of the poor, sing the word, wash feet, and feed the Gurmukhs (v14.18-20). As

we saw in the previous section on codes of conduct, Vār 19 details the qualities of

the Gurmukh. The most important of these is that the Gurmukh recognizes life’s

transience, and labors in the way of brotherly love (bhau bhagatī) to obtain a

peaceful state (sukh phal). He helps to bring new members into the community

(sākhī shabad sikhi suṇāiā), and the entire community will attain liberation (dar

parvāṇiā, janam savārī dargāh chaliā). Though they may bear suffering, the pious

do not give up their benevolent ways (v11.2). The true Guru (Nanak) has left his

Sikhs a number of true things: congregation, mantar, community (panth),

philosophy, word, and throne. The holy congregation is the Realm of Truth (sach

khanḍ, a term borrowed from Guru Nanak), and what is practiced here has currency

in the hereafter (v6.1).

Gurdas is making a powerful statement: God’s own abode, the most difficult

place to reach and the highest of states, is available in the congregation of Sikhs by

living an ethical life. He is making a powerful connection between his poetry and

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Guru Nanak’s, one that Sikhs who read their daily prayers would understand very

clearly. The Gurmukh knows that the world is temporary, and “to go” (chalaṇ jāṇ)

is part of the natural processes of life. He lives in the world like a guest, and the

poet is a sacrifice to that one who loses his sense of self (v30.15). The Gurmukh is

faithful to the end (Gurmukhi nibahe nāli, gur sikh pāliai, v3.14). As opposed to

falsehood, truth is a gallant warrior in battle. To die while fighting and attain

righteousness in battle is the Gurmukh community’s highest glory (v30.14).

Conclusion

In Gurdas’s writings, the Sikh mission of bringing in new members is at a high

point. A major part of Gurdas’s project is to bring in new members to the

community while consolidating their exclusive allegiance to Guru Hargobind. That

his sectarian group’s funds were re-directed to their rivals may have had something

to do with Gurdas’s desire to expand his group’s members among previously

unconverted peoples. Whatever the reason, and we will see this, Gurdas is

extremely excited about the continual growth of the community.

A community concerned with controlling every aspect of a practitioner’s life,

that was highly concerned with rules, does not fit Gurdas’s notion of the kind of

community that would expand in huge numbers in his South Asian context. Gurdas

wants Sikhs to be driven by the spirit of the Guru’s word, more than by the letters

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of his laws. This distancing of the tradition from a reliance on rules and emphasis

on a simple code of ethics seems to be a “selling point” for Gurdas. A major

section of Vār 39 portrays the Sikh tradition as a drunken party amongst, and

opposed to, the rule-oriented religions. The rules of this religion are simple, the

members revel in an internal experience of bliss, the leader (Guru Hargobind) is both

a king and a holy man, emperor and cup-bearing mystic:

Sitting in the upper window, the emperor opens the shutter and holds
court
Inside is the throne of the palace, outside, the people wait for audience
The emperor drinks from the cup, and inside the palace he serves the
chosen elite
He serves both the drunks and the sober, showing every other how to
drink
But the sober refuse, don’t drink, and only serve
The exalted cup of compassion is offered to only a few
But if they are incapable, the offenders are forgiven
Only those know of love’s liquor to whom He makes it known
The rare Gurmukh grasps the Ungraspable

Pouring over holy books are the sober — Hindus and Muslims
Muslims belong to “Khuda,” Hindus follow “Hari’s” orders
One puts faith in the kalimāh and circumcision, the other is happy
tying threads and smearing sacred marks
Mecca belongs to the Muslims, Hindus have their Ganga and Benaras
Keeping roza fasts, having read nimāz; keeping vrat fasts, having
performed pūjā
Each with four schools and castes, six houses with six creeds
Muslims call it Pīr-Murīdī, Hindus call it Guru-Sikhī
Hindus hold fast to ten descents, Muslims look to One for mercy
Thus they pull and they push

Only choice drunkards go to the assembly, grasping love’s cup they

attain the Ungraspable
Breaking mālā and tasbī, they care not for 100 or 108

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 Mixing beads from each, the don’t consider “Ram” or “Rahim”
The two are the same one reality (vājūd), the game is the same
They surpass Shiva and Shakti, love’s cup brings them home
Surpassing three elements, they obtain the fourth state
“Guru Govind” is the divine preceptor, Sikhs know “pīr murīdī”
Revealing the true word, they immerse in hearing it
In truth, they love the true emperor (v39.9-11)

Thus, in Gurdas’s vision, the major share of rules enforcement was left to

individuals, rather than the group. He hoped to create for his tradition the

reputation of a free flowing, welcoming community rather than an iron-fisted one.

This strategy makes sense in the context of a young, growing religious community.

Furthermore, with the community expanding into areas well beyond the Sikh

center in the Majha region of Punjab, the center had not yet developed techniques

to regulate conduct in distant or peripheral areas. The center’s chief concerns were

for exclusivity and the flow of material and personal resources, which they

negotiated through the system of representatives of the Guru known as masands.

Furthermore, the Sikh community encouraged visits to the Sikh center, having

personal audience with the Guru. A loosely organized, spiritually energized group

of followers stretching from Kashmir to Kabul in the north and west, to the Deccan

and Bengal in the south and east, was deemed the most adept at ensuring communal

growth.

Ethical living was a central part of the Sikh religious message from the time

of the community’s founding, and Gurdas provides Sikhs with advice on how to

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pursue their spiritual goals amidst the distractions of an active, worldly life. For

Gurdas, ethical contribution to Sikh society is the hallmark of religious life, and at

the core of his ethics is the concept that one will be known by one’s actions.

Gurdas’s moral directives were intended to help Sikhs navigate turbulent times, and

have continued to influence Sikh life and identity over the centuries. As Nripinder

Singh attests, Gurdas's ethics strongly influenced Sikh intellectuals of the early

twentieth century as they addressed the challenges that modernity posed to their

religion.17

17
Singh, The Sikh Moral Tradition: Ethical Perceptions of the Sikhs in the Late Nineteenth / Early
Twentieth Century.

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 Chapter Five

Bodies in Bliss: Early Sikh Practices

Pure inside, pure outside

Pure outside, and pure inside
They act in the Guru’s way.
— Guru Amardas (GG 919)

In this dissertation, I argue that Gurdas’s works are crucial to understanding

Sikh religious life: its practices, ethics, and definition of identity around 1600. His

writings reveal the anxieties of a growing religious community, and how it sought to

overcome historical challenges. When Gurdas’s compositions are seen alongside

other contemporary writings—epistles from the Gurus, emerging hagiographical

literature, travelers’ accounts, and writings of rival sectarian groups—a much clearer

picture of Sikh religious life in the seventeenth century begins to emerge. From Sikh

scripture, we know what Sikhs believed; Gurdas can help us better understand how

Sikhs practiced as a distinct religious group, treated newcomers, and demanded

exclusive allegiance.

This chapter explores how Gurdas’s works serve as an important source for

ritual life within the early Sikh community, and fulfills five ends. First we excavate

Gurdas’s theories about the role of collective religious practices and their results—

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particularly his articulations about the importance of the body in Sikh life. Second,

we use Gurdas’s compositions to assert the primary importance of the baṇi

(Guru’s word) in Sikh practices: kirtan, daily prayer, and enactment of its

teachings. Third, we use the same method to understand collective Sikh practices:

the importance of service, the celebration of Sikh holy days, and how members

participated in running their community. Fourth, we turn our attention to a set of

community-building rituals of greeting, welcoming, and initiation. Finally, we look

at Gurdas’s view of other religions and how these opinions help to articulate Sikh

self-conception and a sophisticated, “second order” understanding of religious

practice.

By Sikh practices, I mean those activities whose performance either fulfills

the disciple’s obligations, or demonstrates the disciple’s allegiance, to the Sikh Guru

and the community. Conversely, un-Sikh practices position the Sikh further from

the Guru or community, and mark a deviation from the Sikh’s dedication to those

entities. Gurdas promises soteriological and experiential boons and merit for the

proper enactment of practices. Such benefits, however, remain an afterthought for

Gurdas. His main concern is to solidify the boundaries of the community in a time

of peril, and his writings dictate to members of the community which actions will

be beneficial to the disciple’s religious quest, and to the community’s existence and

growth.

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Gurdas as Theorist

A century after the community’s inception, Gurdas’s interpretation of Sikh

life provides the first textual reflection on basic Sikh practices outside of the Sikh

scripture. In his writings, Sikh practices are theorized and legitimated, and their

logic supported. These practices had been key to the spread of the Sikh tradition:

performance of the scriptural compositions in the congregation, sharing of the

communal meal in the free kitchen, and daily liturgical readings of the Guru’s

writings. Understanding the interactions of the bodies of the community’s

members provides another lens to understanding communal growth, in addition to

knowledge of Sikh ideas. Gurdas is very clear about the importance of physicality

in these interactions: seeing, hearing, singing, tasting, walking, and touching.

For Gurdas, the body is the means and the locus of the experience of Sikh

religiosity. This experience entails a supra-ordinary, intimate, and ineffable

engagement with the Guru. Sikh religious experiences earn merit and good favors

for the practitioner, and wipe away the ill effects of past actions. Most

importantly, the experiences involved in Sikh practices develop the practitioner

towards the ideal of piety: the Gurmukh.

Bodily bliss. In numerous kabitts, and with much more emphasis than in the

vārs, Gurdas lays out a tripartite schema of Sikh worship, which incorporates the

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bodily faculties of eyes, ears, and tongue (which relate to sight, sound, and either

taste or singing, see Kabitts 431-2, translated below). The metaphors standing in

for each of these faculties are the moth (which sees the flame and gives itself over),

the deer (which hears the hunters’ horn and is transfixed), and the bee (which seeks

the nectar of flowers). On the physical level, these metaphors represent the Guru,

his writings, and the sweetness of participation in the congregation. On the

spiritual level, they represent the experience of the divine, of the divine word, and

of the immortal nectar (amrit). This tripartite scheme corresponds to another: the

visible form of the Guru is the object of focus (dhiān), the aural form is the divine

word revealed (giān), and most important is how these are enacted (karnī).

mind (man) words (bach) actions (karam)

focus (dhiān) knowledge (giān) doing (karnī)
guru bāṇī sangat
eyes ears tongue

In the vārs, Gurdas declares that the Guru, the congregation, and the holy word are

the three exclusive places of shelter for the Sikh.18 In the kabitts he presents

another tri-fold structure: the function of the eyes (seeing), ears (hearing), and

tongue (singing and tasting).19

Eyes of the moth, once set on a flame

are incapable of turning away

18
This is: guru sangat bāṇī binā dujī oṭ nahīn hai raī (v1.42).
19
The functions of the tongue, singing and tasting are also related to the rain bird (chatrik) that sings
after he has tasted nectar.

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 Deer’s ears, lured by the hunter’s horn
let it be still nevermore
Tongue-tied, tasting the sap of lotus(-feet)
the bee(-mind) is trapped by pleasure
Love’s liquor (prem ras) is perfect, and delivers perfection
all other tricks and potions only confuse (k431)

Though physical audience with the Guru can only happen at the Sikh center,

the Guru’s words can be performed and enjoyed remotely, as can ethical action and

service be performed anywhere. The Sikh can participate in the Guru’s presence

through the Guru’s word (shabad): not only is it the object of focus (dhiān), but

leads to knowledge (giān) as well. Experiences with the word compare to physical

audience with the Guru. Finally, one can participate with the Guru through serving

him, and become his servant (sevak) through self-less service (nihkām karnī, k50).

When thoughts, words, and actions come together,20 the practitioner’s body

undergoes a wondrous experience:

When creed, speech, and deeds converge, the Gurmukh’s

every limb immerses in the body divine (srabang)
Drunk on love’s liquor, the ambrosial treasure,
The stilled tongue can speak no more
The luster of love’s light astonishes so!
Leaving eyes in perplexed gaze
Love’s song strikes awe
and echoes in ears bewildered (k52)

Drinking the subtle nectar of the Guru’s love, the practitioner becomes drunk, a

wondrous light dawns in the eyes, and an awesome sound resounds in the ears.

20
Gurdas says man-bach-karam, but it also corresponds to giān-dhiān-karnī.

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Gurdas expands on the reason why action is efficacious: the microcosm of the body

(pinḍ prān) replicates the universe’s macrocosm (khanḍ brahmanḍ). The entire

universe is bound up in every touch, taste, sound, sight, and smell (k53). There are

other important correspondences between the human world and the divine: the

congregation (sangat) lies in the divine dimension, or Realm of Truth (sachkhanḍ);

the Guru is immersed in the sangat; the Guru’s bodily form is a manifestation of

divine form (k125).

Understanding of the Guru’s word is what delivers a Sikh, and is the key to

Sikh spiritual achievement. The Guru’s grace grants understanding, but it also

requires cultivation of the self by righteous living. Whereas Gurdas sometimes

emphasizes spiritual understanding being the result of spontaneous grace, he

elsewhere says it requires a life of good conduct (rahit, k437).

Regardless, understanding is not only an intellectual process, but one of total

mental and physical knowledge that brings bliss and perfected states. Though he

upholds the established notion of “liberation in life” (jivanmuktī) as a spiritual

stage, Gurdas does not claim one definitive end to religious achievement. The point

of the religious practices is to continue to enact one’s daily existence in full

consciousness of the Guru, and his teachings, and complete dedication to the

community. Gurdas’s theorization culminates in the declaration of the ineffability

of the religious experience:

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 Only he knows the splendor of love’s liquor who has experienced it,
booze-drunk imbeciles are known the world over (from k173)

The Sikh path is secret and mysterious. Only the Guru and his Sikh know the

experience:

A dream’s images are only known by the dreamer

how could another see them?
Words spoken into a tube are heard by the one at the other end
other than speaker and listener, who can guess?
The flower sucks water from its roots
drinking to its heart’s content
Guru and Sikh converge, taking delight in secrets
knowledge and focus, the ways of love’s liquor astonish (k305)

Gurdas is very conscious of how advertising his tradition’s “secrets” will help

undermine the claims of its rivals. The very first stanza of the vārs as we receive

them today lists the important practices that lead the Sikhs to deliverance—taking

shelter at the Guru’s feet, engaging the divine word, living in loving devotion,

celebrating the Guru’s holidays—immediately after making a dig at the cynics and

detractors who are opposed to the community (sākat durjan):

Salutations! To my dear Guru, who imparted the holy word to me —

“satinām”
He lifted me out of the ocean of fear, and delivered me to liberation
Eradicating the fear of births and deaths, anxiety, pain, and separation
Anxiety is the world’s way, pain is ever-increasing
Death’s club waves overhead, the villains (sākat, durjan) fall victim
When I arrived at Guru-dev’s feet, he liberated me with the true word
Celebrating the Guru’s days in love and devotion, I hold fast to nām
dān isnān
We reap as we sow (v1.1)

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Two stanzas after that, Gurdas claims that Sikh life is the best amongst the millions

of forms of life in God’s creation and lists even more actions that Sikhs take:

understanding the Guru’s word, pleasing other Sikhs, drinking feet nectar, and

falling at the feet of other Sikhs:

Among the myriad forms of life, highest is the human’s

Eyes to see, ears to hear, speak and hear good words
Hands to do good works, Feet to meet the true congregation
Work hard in righteousness, earn and feed, do good acts
The Gurmukh’s life is salvific, he reads, understands and hears the
bāṇī
Satisfying his brothers-in-the-Guru, he drinks their feet-nectar
He never leaves the feet-falling tradition; it is the only way in the
Dark Age
He crosses and brings others across (v1.3).

A primary concern of Gurdas’s writings is to navigate the tumultuous times in

which Sikhs are living, and clarifying the benefits of the community’s religious

practices figures prominently within this project.

Interacting with the Revelation

For Gurdas, interacting with the divine word, as revealed to the first five Sikh

Gurus, is at the core of Sikh religious practice.21 This interaction takes a number of

21
Gurdas refers to these revelations by a handful of names. Typically, bāṇī, or updes refer to the
words of the Gurus, and pothī, or kitāb to refer to the coda that contain those words. Most
commonly, Gurdas uses the word shabad to refer to the divine revelation, not only in its form, but in
the deep experience of divine knowledge (giān) that it makes possible. For a discussion of the
foundational uses of the term shabad in Indian traditions, please see Charlotte Vaudeville, "Tantric
Concepts and Language in Kabir's Verses," in Kabir. Volume 1 (London: Oxford University Press,
1974).

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forms, the most important of which is singing—kirtan. Daily repetition of the

liturgy is also highly important. These two are followed in importance by

discussing the meaning of the divine revelations with others, contemplating through

the Guru’s formulas (mantar), and propagating the reproduction of the word

through writing and copying manuscripts.

Singing the word. Using powerful metaphors from Guru Nanak’s own

compositions and from the writings of the Sikh bards, Gurdas says that in the true

Guru’s court, Sikhs are the minstrels (ḍhāḍī) who sing the bāṇī, which is the

community’s royal standard (nisāṇ, v3.3). Gurdas is clear that Sikh practice of

kirtan dates back to the time of Guru Nanak, who himself actively presided over the

performance of his compositions, and who inspired collective singing of his own

hymns, “from house to house”.22 Not only did the founder listen to kirtan, but his

successors did as well, and may have even performed it (v24.19, v26.24). Gurdas

himself reports being a leader of the devotional singing of the Guru’s hymns (k501,

k611). Sikh kirtan in Gurdas’s day is the continuation of the ways of the Gurmukh

Panth as founded by Guru Nanak.23

Gurdas describes kirtan performance in aural terms. Kirtan seems to have

been led by a few singers, but the entire congregation was expected to sing along.

22
See v.1.38, 1.27. See also v24.1-2.
23
See v9.14. Here Gurdas refers to the “cart road,” or gāḍḍī rāh, which was discussed in depth in
the chapter on ethics and conduct.

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The performative relationship between members of the congregation drives the

ascending enjoyment of the kirtan, and the deliverance of the performer to a state of

perfect love (puran prem), what some translators have called “the easy state”

(sahaj, k566-7). Gurdas reports that the chorus singers’ depth of devotion has a

profound impact on the lead performers, which in turn resonates in the height of

experience for the entire congregation.

The opportunity to hear kirtan is a special one; the tradition of Sikh music

(sangīt rīt) is well established and utilizes the Hindustani classical structure, vocals,

and instruments (rāg nād bād, k500). In the hands of the adroit, music effects a

truer reflection on the divine word. The pious are accomplished and intelligent

connoisseurs (sugaṛ sujān) who sing various musical measures,24 which allows

them to reflect on the word (shabad vichār) and allows the truth to be revealed to

them (sach sijhāṇiai, v19.4).

Gurdas describes a sophisticated conception of musical performance within

the Sikh congregation. It is not just the music that is important, but the

transcendent meaning brought to high relief by the setting of the word to music

(v.6.10). The sound of the congregation’s kirtan is like “the thundering of dark

storm clouds”; “divine light flashes like lightning,” and the “nectar of immortality

showers over the congregation” (k128). Innumerable conversations or disputations

24
The musical measures referred to are mājh and malhār, interestingly both rainy season rāgs. See
k128 which talks about the rain of the divine word.

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about the word (giān goshṭ) are contained within the transcendent enjoyment of the

musically performed word, which has the ineffable and unique power of pulling the

practicioner into a deeper level of meaning (k254).

The enjoyment of the divine word is not just an aspect of aural experience,

but one of the tongue’s taste as well. Gurdas says that the Guru’s Sikhs, gathering

in the dharamsāl to enjoy the pleasure of the shabad, are like friends sitting in a

kitchen enjoying a meal (k559). Members of all segments of society (chār varan)

meet in the congregation and enjoy the five sounds of music like the connoisseur of

betel enjoys its five tastes (v3.16).

The sensual experience discussed above is efficacious: the tasting of the

divine, immortal, ambrosial word brings the practitioner’s the fickle mind under

control (v20.6). However, listening to kirtan has an efficacy that goes well beyond

a sensual enjoyment. The Sikh who divorces himself from his sense organs and

does not allow his mind to wander while listening consciously to the bāṇī will be

absorbed into a higher state and be delivered to the shores of immortality (v3.19).

In consecutive stanzas in the kabitts, Gurdas drives home the point that the divine

is present in the congregation, and that the congregation dictates to Kartar. Kartar,

who can destroy galaxies with one glimpse, lives in the love between members of

the Sādh Sangat during kirtan time (k302-3). For this reason then, divine grace is

immanent in the congregation and kirtan’s efficacy has replaced that of the Hindu

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books, Vedas and Purāṇs, though they may be read a million more times (v3.10).

Gurdas promises that those who go to the congregation, take shelter with the

Guru, and hear the word will be entered by the word (v14.1). However,

consecutive stanzas in Vār 28 underscore the point that learning the Guru’s words

and understanding them are part of the responsibility of the disciple. Not only is

passive listening not an efficacious part of the formula: the Sikh must work hard to

live by the Guru’s words (v28.5-6).

Daily prayer. Rising in the last part of the night, bathing, and in the

morning sitting in Sangat after putting a red mark (tilak, or tikkā) on the forehead

were important parts of early Sikh worship (v6.3, k613). Gurdas underscores the

established Sikh belief, dating back to the community’s founding, that there is a

special religious importance to the early morning: whoever enjoys the communion

(prasād) of the word at this time will reach liberation (k361). Core to the morning

worship was recitation of Guru Nanak’s Jap, which unifies the Sikh community in

worship.25 Along with the Jap in the morning, Gurdas says Sikhs sing the hymns

called Sodar and Ārtī in the evening (v1.38). Elsewhere, Gurdas adds Kirtan Sohela

to this, which is also included the beginning-portion of the Guru Granth, commonly

known as the liturgical core of the Sikh tradition (v6.3).

Discussing the word. The teaching and understanding of bāṇī are a

25
The text is: ik man hoi jap japande (v6.3, v12.2).

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substantial part of Gurdas’s idea of Sikh piety and must have been instrumental to

the transmission of Sikh heritage, the community’s education, and its growth.

Gurdas reveals information about a practice in which the Sikh Guru called his

disciples to come together in a meeting known as the sākhā for the purpose of

bestowing knowledge.26 Discussions about Guru Nanak’s compositions were

commonplace in the first Sikh community in Kartarpur (v1.38). Gurdas says that

the pious Sikh reads the Guru’s word, understands it, and conveys that

understanding to his fellows (v1.3). The inner meaning of the word is revealed only

after relentless study (khojat khojat, k588). Divine knowledge from the bāṇī are the

Sikhs’ “weapons” versus the five vices. Sikhs attain a state of fearlessness by,

among other things, engaging in discussions about the knowledge in the congregation

(k135, see also k254). Not only must one participate in the congregation, but one

should speak to others of the Guru’s teachings: this will help others find the shores

of immortality (v12.2). One should spread the Guru’s teachings and bring new

Sikhs into the fold (v12.6).

The Guru-mantar. Although Gurdas posits the repetition of the Guru-

mantar (a particular formula for repittion) as a central aspect of Sikh practices, he is

clear about his disdain for the use of mantars by others. Typically, when Gurdas

26
Sākhā seems to come from Sanskrit shākhā for “sect” or “school” and has been interpreted by
commentators on this stanza to mean a collection of Sikhs assembled for the purposes of instruction
on Sikh beliefs (k415). Gurdas adds that it is not the Guru’s fault if some participants fail to learn
anything from it.

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uses the word mantar, he does so as part of a pejorative phrase—tantar-mantar—

to describe a number of miscellaneous practices, a sort of “this and that” of

practices relating to charms and incantations performed in his Indian context.27

Mantar also means to him a magical formula intended to help cure snake bites, as

well as a method used by snake charmers to control snakes.28 Indeed, it is the

magical, miraculous nature of tantar-mantar that Gurdas derides (v1.19).

For Gurdas, the true Guru’s word is the authentic mantar, and Sikhs hold no

belief or faith (pratīt) in others’ tantar-mantar (k183). Mantar is one of the basic,

perfect things that the Guru (I believe here he specifically means Guru Nanak) gave

to the Sikhs along with sangat, Panth, philosophy, divine word, and a throne (v6.1).

The pious Sikh practices repetition of the mantar early in the morning, immediately

before reciting Guru Nanak’s Jap, the most important composition in Sikh liturgy.29

Interestingly, in one passage, Gurdas says Sikhs are to handle, or collect, the

mantar (samhāl, v20.5). So perhaps he sees the repetition of mantar as a tool to

collect the mind to prepare it for the real work of reciting the Guru Nanak’s

liturgical composition. But repetition of the mantar is not something to be done

mindlessly; one must feel the effects in one’s heart (v20.14).

There is no singular Sikh mantar. Sometimes Gurdas calls satinām (“Name is

27
See v1.41, v13.23, v36.15, v39.16.
28
See v38.3, k494, k557. See also k231.
29
See v20.5, v26.4, k613.

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Truth”) the Guru mantar (v1.1 and v1.23). In other places, it seems that Gurdas

identifies the preamble to Guru Nanak’s Jap (today called mūl mantar, or mukh

updes) to be the mantar and offers extensive line-by-line commentary on it,

something he very rarely does with the Guru’s words. 30 Most commonly, Gurdas

uses the term gur-mantar for the word Vahiguru (“praised be the Guru”), which

was entered into the Sikh textual record by one of the bards whose compositions

are recorded in the Guru Granth.31 As in vār stanza 11.3, Gurdas later says that not

only is “Vahiguru” the gur-mantar, but its recitation facilitates the ego’s

disintegration (v13.2). The ways of the divine are mysterious and ineffable; we can

only offer praise by saying “Vahiguru” and by singing the shabad (v9.13). There

are hints that the word Vahiguru may have had ritual significance for Sikhs.32

Elsewhere, Gurdas equates “Vahiguru” with the shabad.33 Moreover in the final

stanza to the vārs, the mantar is three-fold: Gurdas tells Sikhs to put the words

“Satnam, Kartapurakh, Vahiguru” in their hearts (v40.22). It cannot be

distinguished from certain uses of “shabad” like in Kabitt 284, in which he says:

when we hear the shabad continuously we become intoxicated and lose our minds.

30
See v3.15. In v6.19 Gurdas calls the preamble the “mūl mantar”. For information about how
this pre-amble developed in over the history of early Sikh manuscripts, please see: Mann, The
Making of Sikh Scripture, 53-4.
31
GG 1402.
32
See v4.17, v7.11, v11.3.
33
v6.5, v12.17, v1.49

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Furthermore, Gurdas’s mantars are derived from Sikh scripture, and thereby are an

extension of the word. Stripped of magical and curative aspects, Gurdas’s notion of

mantar seems to parallel dhikr, the Sufi practice of remembering God.34

Inscribing the word. As we have seen from the above treatments of shabad

and mantar, Gurdas tells us that just hearing the word is not enough—one must

sing it as well. Daily repetition of the liturgy is important. However, no

interaction with the word can be done just ceremonially—grappling with its

meaning is key. This is how Gurdas feels about all practice. That is to say, one

must enact the word.

The divine word being so central to Sikh life, what could have been of greater

service to the community—and more fulfilling to the servant—than perpetuating

the existence of the coda that contained it? We know from manuscript evidence

that from the early seventeenth century onward, the Kartarpur Pothi was copied

repeatedly, which coincides with the time of Gurdas’s writing about this process.35

Part of Gurdas’s depiction of Guru Arjan as a great king is highlighting the fifth

Guru’s great success at implementing the mint of truth and compiling a “storehouse

34
See: Arthur Buehler, Sufi Heirs of the Prophet: The Indian Naqshbandiyya and the Rise of the
Mediating Sufi Shaykh (Columbia: University of South Carolina, 1998), 125-30.
35
“On the basis of the information available in the seventeenth-century manuscripts, we now know
that the Kartarpur Pothi began to be copied soon after its compilation and that these texts
proliferated as the times passed by” (Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture, 16.) See also page 71:
Extant manuscripts that were copies of the Kartarpur Pothi record colophons from Common Era
years 1605, 1610, 1637, 1640, and 1641.

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of the divine word” (gurbāṇī bhanḍār), a subtle reference to the Kartarpur Pothi.36

Gurdas himself was the scribe of this manuscript, and this form of participation in

the community’s growth was one that he knew well, and would have been well

known for. Gurdas both beckons Sikhs to do the copying, and describes the merit

gained by those who undertake this task. It seems that Gurdas was trying to

inspire capable volunteers to do the copying, whereas there is also evidence in Sikh

history of paid scribes copying scriptural manuscripts as well.

We are told of the great sacrifice of the sesame seed, and the process by which

it is made most useful. The seed is crushed to make oil, which burns in lamps. The

burnt soot from these lamps is turned into ink, with which disciples write the

divine word. The process of writing itself is a form of praise of that divinity which

cannot be written or described (alekh). Gurdas implores Sikhs to give themselves

over, like the sesame seed, thereby making their lives useful and finding peace

(v14.10). Just as walking the path of the Guru earns merit for the feet, and sight of

the Guru earns merit for the eyes, those hands that write the Guru’s word are

meritorious.37 Gurdas reveals how important pothīs, individual manuscripts, are to

the community: Bāṇī is written and bound in the pothīs for keeping, when the

Guru’s Sikhs read and hear it they are immediately engrossed (k562). Transcribing

36
See v24.19. See also bhagatī bhanḍār in v26.1.
37
Transliteration: hast saphal nām satgur bāṇī likhai (k91).

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the word is in line with understanding it (v28.5).

Imbibing the word. A major emphasis of Gurdas’s works, in addition to his

descriptions about what Sikhs do or ought to do, is his contention that formulaic

performance is not nearly enough. Gurdas insists that there are deep and mind-

orienting experiences to be had by the engaged Sikh practitioner, which are only

possible if he or she surrenders agency and accepts the Guru’s gift of love. For

example, in the eighth stanza of the Third Vār, Gurdas explains how the word

makes liberative states possible. Listening to it transports us to the divine court,

where our hearts are washed and our egos burned. Though they are householders,

as a result of worshipping in the dharamsāl Sikhs attain states known to ascetic

meditators, and are guaranteed immortality (v3.8).

By putting “Vahiguru” and the Guru’s words on his tongue, the Guru’s Sikh

drinks from the cup of love (piram piālā), which renders him blissfully mute

(v4.17). Drinking from the cup of love, Sikhs are able to bear the unbearable and

become benevolent beings (parupkārī). The relationship between Guru and Sikh

manifests itself in prem, love. Those who continuously listen to the word lose their

minds and achieve a state inspired by divine knowledge (k284). Just as the power

of wine is not known until the point of intoxication, the splendor of the Guru’s

immortal words is revealed when the Sikh is delivered to the ocean of peace (after

enacting the words, suni manai sikh, k374).

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 Gurdas implores his co-religionists to go even deeper than the inspired states,

and use the divine word to change their lives. A container can hold liquor, but

remain unchanged by it. A distiller does not get drunk by simply coming into

contact with his product. Similarly, many people interact with the word (likh paṛ

gāvat), but the person who gains intimate knowledge of the immortal state is rare

(k530). The establishment (pragaṭ) of perfect love (puran prem) supersedes all

other forms of devotion:

Built straw by straw, a thatched hut

is reduced to ash by a spark of fire
Children build castles on the ocean shore
but one swelling wave brings them crashing down
Countless deer congregate in the forest
and, at the lion’s roar, all flee
Sight and sound, knowledge and focus
are left behind at the onset of perfect love (k531)

Gurdas is very conscious of the idea that there is “something more,” an experience

that is paramount to the means that one approaches to get at it. Those means, even

though some of them are employed to demarcate the Sikh community’s

boundaries—probably the primary goal of Gurdas’s writings—are not the ends in

themselves. Simply acting is not enough; one must translate one’s actions into

benevolence for the good of the world.

Congregational Life

The importance of the Sikhs coming together in congregation is a chief concern

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in early Sikh writings. The mid-seventeenth century treatise of South Asian

religions, Dabistan, registers this importance, and adds information about Sikhs

collectively gathering in assembly to make supplications to the divine, and Guru

consulting the congregation about his wishes.38 As discussed above, Gurdas

emphasizes the divine presence in the kirtan-performing congregation (k302-4). He

uses another powerful idea from Guru Nanak’s compositions, the Realm of Truth

(sach khanḍ) to emphasize not only the presence of God in the Sangat, but the

location of the congregation in the divine presence (for example, k125, v6.1). For

Gurdas, this means, among other things, that what Sikhs practice in the

congregation has currency and merit for their lives in the hereafter. Appearing in

the congregation for even a tiny fraction of one’s day is meritorious (k310).

Service. How can one participate in the congregation? The most important

way is though service (sevā) for members of the congregation and any newcomers

— because there are no constraints on who can arrive there. Sikhs can fetch water,

grind wheat for bread, stoke wood for the kitchen, take care of the poor, wash the

feet of newcomers, and take care of the pious (v14.18-20). By Gurdas’s time, the

free kitchen, or langar, was a long-established Sikh institution that the community

38
See Grewal and Habib, Sikh History from Persian Sources : Translations of Major Texts, 76, 78.
As we know from the discussion of sākhā earlier in this chapter, Sikhs routinely came together for
interaction with the Guru. Gurdas also mentions the supplication (ardās) that curious Sikhs make in
front of Guru Hargobind, asking him about the future of the office of the Guru (v1.48).

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was proud of advertising.39 One can beat the dust out of the blankets used by the

community, and being covered in the holy dust of the community’s members is a

treat (v20.10). One can fill water jugs for the good people to drink, bring sweets

and distribute them (see also k309). Through his poetry Gurdas inspires Sikhs to

cultivate a love for service (k656). Indeed, service is the most efficient way for

Sikhs to reach the transcendent Guru, god amongst gods (k143). As such, the Sikh

congregation is, like a tree, a source of support and shade in the world.

Gurdas repeatedly portrays the congregation as the Guru’s true court. Those

devoted to him have already achieved liberation. The Sikh community can

overcome any burden by keeping its focus on the congregation (v11.8). One of the

reasons why the Sikh congregation is so special is because it is a unique

combination of people from the highest to lowest segments of society: an

enactment of the most basic Sikh principle of egalitarianism. Members of all four

castes arrive in the congregation and are to be considered equal.40 All members fall

at each other’s feet, and worship one another (v9.1). Gurdas provides a recipe for

panchamrit (“five-faceted ambrosia”), elsewhere known as māhāprasād (“great

blessing”), known to Sikhs today as kaṛāh prasād (“blessing from the cauldron”).

The combination of butter, sugar, flour, and water turning into a sweet dish enjoyed

39
See v24.20. Langar was a central aspect of practice at Sufi lodges, known as khanqahs, well
before the Sikh tradition’s establishment.

40
See v14.2, k144-5.

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by the congregation is a metaphor for sweetness of the community’s social

diversity (k123).

Celebrating. Gurdas is not only excited to report that the congregation is

made up of diverse populations—various castes, age groups and people from four

regions of the world—but that they came together to celebrate gurupurabs, holy

days associated with the lives of the Gurus (v29.5). Celebrating these days

together helps bring Sikhs together as a family (v20.7) and forms a part of Gurdas’s

conduct code (v12.2). Gurdas is clear about the equivalence of festival days that

other religions boasted with those associated with the Gurus. The Guru’s festival

days, of course, far surpass others’ holidays, be they lunar festivals of the Hindus,

or the Shi’i Muharram (v7.10).

One of the core practices for the community that we know from outside

sources associated with Sikh celebrations has been charity—individual Sikhs

contributing to the success of the community. 41 In general, various forms of service

contribute to the community’s growth (v3.8). But Gurdas is clear that Sikhs collect

the equivalent of the Muslim zakāt, or tithe, for the betterment of the community

and steady inflow of contributions is a point of pride (k629).

Contributing: cash and kind. Particularly in the kabitts, though, Gurdas

expresses an anxiety about māiā, which is not only the “veil over reality” in Indian
41
For example, see the several official epistles dealing with this issue: Singh, ed., Hukamnāme Guru
Sāhibān, Mata Sāhibān, Bandā Singh Ate Khālsa Jī De.

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philosophies, but also a euphemism for money or wealth. In two consecutive

kabitts, Gurdas expresses confidence about money. For the Sikhs, māiā is pure and

auspicious (k384). The Guru’s Sikhs use it for benevolent acts, and the good of the

world (k385).

Satellite congregations’ collection of funds for the central Sikh treasury is a

documented aspect of early Sikh culture.42 In the early part of the century, this

was a celebrated part of Sikh life, as Gurdas refers to a number of leaders of

disparate communities in his Eleventh Vār indexing important Sikhs. The

embezzlement of these funds by middlemen seems to have been a problem during

Gurdas’s time.

At this point in the work it will be sufficient to say that the issue of

embezzlement of funds underscores the challenge in Gurdas’s day of developing

and maintaining linkages between the satellite communities, the Sikh center, and the

Guru. That a handful of important stanzas in Gurdas’s Brajbhāshā works highlight

this point indicates the existence of a problem in the central Indian congregations,

which these works targeted. Gurdas says that the uninitiated should keep their

eyes off the Guru’s coffers, and that one goes to a religious place to escape veil of

illusion—if one falls victim to it there, where can one go for liberation?43

42
The issue was contentious enough to lead to the tenth Guru’s elimination of the office of the
satellite representative (manji, or masand) in the late seventeenth century.
43
See k505, k517, k518, k544, k545.

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 One way that Gurdas tries to resolve the tension between the geographical

center and peripheral communities—and preclude the embezzlement of funds by

corrupt middlemen—is by raising the importance of visiting the center for Sikh

practice. Gurdas calls all Sikhs to make a pilgrimage (tīrath) to the Guru’s tank

(gur-sar, which was at the center of the Amritsar community, v4.18). In a number

of places in the vārs, Gurdas underscores the importance of physically going to

have audience (darshan) with the Guru (for example v12.1). Those who have never

met the Holy, True Guru, but take audience with other impious impostors cultivate

evil habits (k634). A number of Gurdas’s kabitts voice the pain of separation of a

young bride whose lover lives in a distant land (videsh). Most afflicted is the bride

who does not attempt to see the beloved with her own eyes (k642).

Rituals of Greeting, Devotion, and Initiation

Gurdas displays a predilection for the symbolic value of feet, which connote

humility in several religious traditions. He says on numerous occasions that the

feet are the most blessed part of the body, that the water from washing the feet of

the Gurmukhs is sought after, universally, and provides a means to liberation (see

for one example v25.12). Feet cannot see, hear, or taste: yet they are elevated in

worship precisely because they are low, and thereby humble (k289).

Feet-falling. Gurdas repeatedly identifies “falling at feet” (pairi paiṇā) as a

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chief form of the Gurmukh Panth’s customs (rahirās, v9.1). Gurdas says that

when the Guru’s Sikhs meet each other in the congregation, their love is so great as

to inspire them to coil up with each other’s feet.44 Belonging to the community of

pious Sikhs is the highest form of human life, and the holy congregation, adheres to

the custom (again, rahirās) of falling at each other’s feet (pairī pāiā, v19.2).

Gurdas implores Sikhs to practice feet-falling, because it inspires the most

important Sikh sentiment: humility, which in turn opens the possibilities of great

spiritual achievement (v4.3). Indeed, this practice is just as important in Sikh

conduct as listening to the divine word, taking audience with the Guru, and

contemplating “Vahiguru”.45 Humankind’s lack of mutual respect (koī nā kissai

pūjdā, v1.7) was one of the great problems in the pre-Sikh world, and a major

aspect of Guru Nanak’s divinely commissioned mission was to spread strict

egalitarianism (rāṇā rank barābarī) throughout the world by the ritual of feet-

falling (v1.23). Gurdas promises that by Sikhs succumbing to other Sikhs as part of

the feet-falling practice, the community will be able to conquer the world (v11.3).

The broad implications of this kind of statement for Sikh self-perception and

evangelism will be explored later in this chapter.

Welcoming. How did Sikhs bring new members into the fold? Typically,

44
Gurdas uses a strong verb here: lipaṭaṇā (“to cling to,” “to wrap,” or “to embrace,” k309).
45
See v4.17. See also v5.1, v23.1.

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scholars have held that the Sikh ceremony (charaṇamrit, or charaṇ-odak) was no

dfferent from various Hindu ceremonies in which the feet of a religious master were

dipped in liquid that was drunk by new initiates.46 Recently, Gurinder Singh Mann

has touched on the possibility that the early Sikh initiation ceremony at Kartarpur

reversed the roles from the Hindu ceremony. Instead of the initiate drinking water

in which the master’s foot had been dipped, the Sikh ceremony entailed established

Sikhs drinking water in which the new initiate’s toe had been dipped.47

Indeed, Gurdas’s writings seem to indicate that early Sikhs initiated members

into the community through the imbibement of their feet-wash by practicing Sikhs.

Drinking charaṇamrit (feet-nectar) is one of the many service-oriented practices in

which Sikhs engage in the Sangat, on par with drawing water for worshippers to

drink, fanning the congregation, and grinding wheat for the communal meal. Gurdas

writes about “obtaining feet-nectar” (charanamrit pāvai) as if it were a rank of

merit, or a special designation that Sikhs should seek out (v6.12). Sikhs should also

seek out and find others of the Guru’s Sikhs and worship their feet as they walk the

46
The current understanding of the ceremony can be summarized thus: “In early Sikhism, the
neophytes sipped water poured over the Guru’s toe to be initiated into the fold” (“Pahul,” Taran
Singh in Harbans Singh, ed., The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, Fourth ed., 4 vols., vol. 3 (Patiala:
Punjabi University, 2002), 263.). See also: McLeod, Sikhs of the Khalsa: A History of the Khalsa
Rahit, 201-2.
47
See: Mann, Sikhism, 27., Gurinder Singh Mann, "Rise and Demise of Sikh Initiation Ceremony,"
(Lund University, Sweden: 2004). I am indebted to personal conversations with Dr. Mann, and
inspired by his paper on the Sikh charaṇamrit ceremony. I hope to advance beyond the issue of
“reversal” that we have discussed by investigating (1) the embattled nature of this ritual and
Gurdas’s defense of it, and (2) how closely it was related to Bhai Gurdas’s vision of the
community’s growth in the face of its unbearable burden (apīu pī, ajar jarnā).

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Guru’s path, travel the distance to the gurdwara, and rest in the congregation

(v6.13). The ethic of welcoming and embracing non-Sikhs as well as other Sikhs is

important to this community, which is understandable as its numbers were so few

and the anxiety about growth was so great. In a highly vivid reinterpretation of the

Puranic story of Krishan and his poor friend Sudama, Gurdas drives home the high

level of respect that ought be granted to the visitor. In Gurdas’s version, Sudama

visits his old friend, the prince Krishan, who leaves his throne to welcome Sudama

at his gate. Krishan circumambulates his friend, touches his feet, and embraces him.

He then places Sudama on the throne, washes his feet, and drinks the water (v10.9).

As in the charaṇamrit ceremony, the visitor takes the place of the Guru as the

object of veneration, and the agent whose feet are to be washed and foot-water

drunk.

The charaṇamrit is transformative.48 Touching the feet of one who has come

48
By ritually drinking feet-nectar (charaṇodak achman) one finds liberation (khalāsī) from all
ills and ailments (v25.18). Applying the dust of feet to one’s forehead erases the writ of past deeds,
ritually drinking feet-nectar (charaṇodak lai achman) erases the diseases of ego and dual-nature
(v16.19). The dust from the feet of holy people delivers liberation, erases the writ of past lives, and
feet nectar helps bring the mind under control (v23.3, se also k38). Feet nectar is pure, erases all
impurities, and negates the ill effects of past actions (v40.22). The drinking of charaṇamrit offers
liberation for the whole world (k38). Gurdas argues for the central role of charaṇamrit in reducing
the caste distinctions, which makes one ready for congregational life and strengthens ties in the
community. Furthermore, it helps earn merit for the hereafter (v16.21). According to Gurdas, the
above-discussed practice of pairi-painā, Sikhs touching each other’s feet, has a similar set of effects.
The feet-toucher wipes away the disease of self-ness, and the perfect true Guru himself performs the
cure (v4.3). Even the Hindu gods and goddesses seek the dust of the Sikhs’ feet (v23.5).

For Gurdas, it seems that these powers are related to humility, equality, and service. Gurdas
says the devotee can cultivate humility and faith (bisvās) by desiring charaṇamrit (k290). The
Sikh community, Gurmukh Panth, remains astute in its focus on the divine word. Charaṇamrit is
a treasure, which, when quaffed, delivers an unusual faith (bisam bisvās) to the pious (k322). A

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to the community, despite his or her caste status or social place, deepens the

commitment of one to the tradition. The Sikh practice of falling at other Sikhs’ feet

underscores the equality of all, from regent to mendicant (rājā rank barābarī,

v23.20). The new Sikhs are like the magical touchstone (pāras), signifying the

importance of communal growth. The transformative, contagious power lies in the

same processes that contribute to the community’s expansion and growth.49 Hemp

can be mis-employed if it is used as a noose, but when used to make mats for the

congregation, it is purified because it is touched by the feet-dust of the holy people

there (v25.19). Gurdas tells Sikhs to fall at one another’s feet, and get their feet

washed (pairī pai gursikh pair dhuāiā, v20.6).

Putting the feet of Sikhs, as opposed to the community leader, or an icon of a

powerful experience of faith, very much related to the humility it instills in the practitioner because
of the egalitarianism it stands for, is the conduit for this ritual’s efficacy. Because the feet are the
lowest, this practice kills one’s ego, and the world falls at the feet of that one who falls at his peer’s
feet (k288).

Gurdas says that Sikhs in the congregation enjoy the scent of the lotus feet, and drink an
unparalleled, incomparable, and unique nectar (nijhar apār dhār… paramadabhut gati ān nahi
sansārī hai, k285). In Vār 25, he tells us that the feet are the most blessed part of the body; even
the water from a head wash is impure compared to the Gurmukh’s feet water, which is sought after
by the whole world: it is the means to deliverance (v25.12).
49
The feet nectar of the saintly in hand, we are transformed as if by contact with the magical
touchstone (pāras, k226). In the Kabitt previous to the one just mentioned, Gurdas had talked
about how members of all the four castes of society come together to form a casteless group, and
their accomplishment is made known throughout the world like the delicate fragrance of the most
sublime grove of sandalwood (k225). In a stanza of the Vār that catalogues the locations of
important members of the community, Gurdas writes of how the Sikhs have combined the four
castes into one via the charaṇamrit ritual (v11.7). In this stanza he writes of how Sikhs are
transformed like iron is transformed to gold by alchemical processes, and how a jungle is
transformed to a garden by the fragrant presence of sandal.

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deity, in such a central position in ritual practices would have been transgressive

acts. Gurdas is conscious of this transgression and dedicates Vārs 16 and 23 to

underscoring the importance and legitimacy of the Sikh rituals. This transgressive

quality of the reversed rituals is the reasons for their power and efficacy.

Vār 23 makes a complex argument about the greatness of the charaṇamrit

ceremony. In the second stanza of this vār, Gurdas argues against the relevance of

pilgrimage (tīrath) to sacred centers of Hindu lore:

They call them “redeeming,” saying pilgrimages wash away our sins
Pilgrimages are of no use without an audience with the holy
Holiness comes from a holy heart: where the Guru’s lotus feet reside
Praise of the holy is wondrous and lofty, they are one-in-a-million
But the holy Sikhs are countless! With dharamsāls all around
Falling at feet, washing them, they take feet nectar and worship feet
The fruit of the Gurmukhs is ineffable (v23.2)

We can glean from this stanza’s content that Sikhs have a clear concept of us-and-

them: non-Sikhs go to pilgrimages, but can get the same effect from Sikh worship.

For Sikhs, the practice of washing Sikhs’ feet is the ritual equivalent of going on

pilgrimage. By arguing that the Sikhs replace the sādhs, or holy people, Gurdas

justifies the drinking of their feet-water. Furthermore, Gurdas makes a clear ploy to

attract those who would put a stake in worship at tiraths to participate in the Sikh

community. 50

50
Curiously, there seems to be another twist to the Sikh conception of the charaṇamrit ceremony as
evidenced by Gurdas’s works. Sikhs seem to have retained the pre-existing idea of the worship of
the Guru’s feet in another ceremony, also referred to as charaṇamrit. Gurdas mentions at various
points that the Guru’s feet are objects of veneration (See: v7.11, v11.3, v11.6, v12.19, v13.19,

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Others’ Religious Practices

This equivalence of the Sikh practice of charaṇamrit with the worship at

tiraths underscores the confidence with which Gurdas views the Sikh tradition’s

status as a distinct religious tradition with practices comparable, and superior to,

other religions of the time. Gurdas also linked charaṇamrit with Sikh

distinctiveness in the kabitts, where drinking the feet-nectar of the pious holy

people of the Guru (Gurmukh sādh) speaks to the unique, or peculiar nature (niārī)

of the Gurmukh Panth (k127). But in Vār 23, Gurdas’s project is to show how the

Sikh charaṇamrit ceremony makes others obsolete, and in addition to the polemic

against tiraths in the second stanza, Gurdas reinterprets various Puranic stories to

make his point. Seshnag, the mythical serpent associated with Lord Vishnu, does

not know the splendor of the feet-nectar from the saintly people’s feet (v23.3).

For this feet-nectar, the goddess Sarasvati left the heavens and descended to the

earth to take shelter with the holy congregation (sādh sangat, v.23.4). Parasram,

Ram, Krishan, Vishnu were all happy to touch and wash the feet of the

v23.10, v39.4, v40.22. See also: k66, k69, k72, k122, k249). Taking audience with the Guru, and
taking the feet nectar of the Guru seems to have been something that showed a heightened
commitment to the community to make the trip all the way to the Sikh center. Requiring Sikhs to
travel to the center to achieve the audience with the Guru and the drinking of his feet nectar (1)
underscored the center’s authority and affirmed the ideal of exclusive allegiance to that authority, and
(2) provided the community with tangible resources from visitors.

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congregation.51

Second-order thinking. As we have seen from the discussion of mantar

and miracles in a previous section of this chapter, Gurdas does not hold in high

esteem many of the practices of the religious peoples around him. The clear sense

of Sikh identity that Gurdas espouses in his works effects a denunciation of others’

practices. However, Gurdas is not concerned with the evaluation of others’

practices for its own sake. If the Sikh community is bringing in new members,

those new members need to be told that the old practices to which they ascribed

authority can no longer hold value in their lives. Gurdas does this by pointing out

that since the inception of the Sikh tradition in history, other religions can no longer

boast the power and authority that they once did.

Expansion of the Sikh community via conversion brought with it the problem

that new members bore residual allegiances to other communities or forms of

practice. Gurdas is clear: membership in the Sikh community requires exclusive

commitment. It is this tension between growth and stability that effects Gurdas’s

expressed disdain of others’ religious practices.

Gurdas denounces a litany of family-oriented rituals and practices; including

the ritual announcement of births, shaving of heads, betrothal, worshipping of

deceased co-wives. Gurdas proclaims that by renouncing these practices, like the

51
See v23.7, v23.8, v23.9, v23.10.

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wearing of sacred threads, the Gurmukh finds something more valuable than a

garland of diamonds (v5.10). In the same vār, he lists non-Sikh practices that lead

to darkness. Without the Guru’s shabad in the congregation, there is no other place

for the good people.52 Gurdas prohibits putting faith (bisvās) in signs and omens,

zodiac, incantations, magic, animal-signs, and auspicious moments (v5.8). Hindu

traditions are portrayed as a series of hypocrisies (v1.19). Hindu practices are like

the blind pushing the blind into a well (v1.26). He criticizes Islam as well: not for

its devotional content, but for its practitioners’ unethical actions (v1.20). Non-Sikh

religious practices are false, and in this Dark Age, too many of them persist. To

overcome this problem, one must discern the difference between knowledge and

ignorance (v1.18). The insincere friends of the Sikh community (kapaṭ sanehī)

engage in a number of Hindu practices, which Gurdas lists, and as a result of their

inability to walk the Sikh path exclusively, earn no merit for the time they spend in

the Sikh congregation (v17.3).

The religious practices of others are like stars in the dark night, and the Guru

is the sun making the stars vanish, a roaring lion making the deer take cover, and a

royal hawk challenging little birds of duality and polytheism (v5.12). The practices

of other religions are rooted in egoism (v38.7), but the experience of worshipping

with the Gurmukhs is the antidote to this poison (v38.16). Sikh devotions,
52
The practices are: jat sat sanjam / hom jag, jap tap dān pāun / ridhi sidhi nidhi, pakhand bahu
… tantar mantar nāṭak. See v5.7.

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recitation of the divine name, and celebrations supplant the sacrificial rituals of the

Hindus (v1.16, see also k255). The gods of the polytheists are functionaries of the

infinite divine being and of the Sikh congregation worshipping through kirtan

(k302). Gurdas lists many of the important Hindu practices of the time and says it

is only through the Sādh Sangat that the Transcendent Lord can be found (k304).

The real boons promised by the books, gods, and penances of other religions can be

bestowed to the Sikhs, for whom the divine manifests as Guru (k543).

Gurdas articulates a second-order, comparative thinking about what we today

call “ritual”.53 As we saw above, Gurdas compares Sikhs’ contributions to the

community with the Muslim concepts of tithing, and he sees Sikh celebrations of

the Gurus’ holy days as akin to other community’s festivals. Gurdas’s sense of

comparative religious identity and the equivalence of Sikh religious practices with

non-Sikh ones is further clarified in a stanza of Vār 23. Gurdas compares the Sikh

practice of pairī-painā, Sikhs greeting each other by touching each others’ feet to

Muslims’ salām, the ādes of the Jogis, the onamo and namaskār greetings of

renunciates and Brahmins, respectively (v23.20). In another equivalence, Gurdas

compares the charaṇamrit ritual to the Hindu fire sacrifice, or yajna. Millions of
53
Although for J. Z. Smith, a “second-order” category is constructed in scholars’ own explications
on a particular set of phenomena, I think it is just as interesting to see the implicit comparison going
on in Gurdas’s texts between the practices of his own religious group, and the others (who he names
as other: Hindu and Muslim). Please see: Jonathan Z. Smith, To Take Place: Toward Theory in
Ritual (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987).; and Jonathan Z. Smith, "Religion, Religions,
Religious," in Critical Terms for Religious Studies, ed. Mark C. Taylor (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1998), 269.

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recitations of the Hindu scriptures (bed purān) compare to a tiny fraction of

kirtan’s value (v3.10). All the traditions of religious literature, all the gods, all the

practices put together do not equal the power of one syllable of the Guru’s word

(k540). One of the final kabitts in Gurdas’s corpus offers a powerful, poetic

reminder of the importance Gurdas gives to replacing non-Sikh practices with Sikh

ones. He says that visiting the River Ganga five times and bathing at the tirath at

Prayag five times equals the merit from bathing a Sikh one time. He implores

people to lovingly feed a Sikh water , an act equal in merit to making a pilgrimage to

Kuru-kshetra. Feeding a Sikh is as good as the renowned Asva-medha horse

sacrifice. Bestowing 100 gold temples earns the same merit as teaching a Sikh to

read one word. Visiting a holy man twenty times yields the same fruit as massaging

a Sikh’s feet (k673).

Practices as identity-markers. Gurdas heralds Sikh practices and

denounces the practices of others. Only Sikh practices fully utilize one’s potential

for the highest spiritual experiences, and the practitioner must renounce other

modes of worship. In this way, practices—in Gurdas’s writing about them, and in

the Sikh practitioner’s consciousness of them—become a major means for

communal boundary construction. Only through the Sikh Guru, and through Sikh

practices, can any of these things be accomplished, and the practices of others must

be eschewed in order to do this.

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 On what does Gurdas base this belief? He articulates the idea that the Sikh

tradition’s advanced and simplified religiosity has replaced the potpourri of diverse

practices and is a part of the unfolding progression of the cosmos in Gurdas’s

mytho-history. The Sikh tradition has replaced all others in its efficacy. Members

of all other traditions are welcome to participate, so long as they renounce practices

that fall outside the Sikh framework. There is no room for asceticism, as Sikhs live

a productive life with social relations as part of their religious obligations. Practices

like communal worship and liturgical recitation are set apart for particular times of

the day so that Sikhs can fulfill the obligations to their work, their families, and

their productivity.

When participating in the practices, however, which are all congregational, the

Sikh can only achieve the true efficacy of the practice by surrendering himself to the

practice, and this is achieved by completely surrendering the senses. Early Sikhs in

general, and Gurdas in particular, were highly conscious of the power of ritual to

modify social structures, particularly those of caste. Sikh congregational worship

flattens caste hierarchy and legitimates the casteless ideal of Sikh society. Gurdas

uses the discussion about the sense experiences of congregational worship to inspire

Sikhs to deepen their religious allegiance and enhance their religious experience.

These issues centered around performance are as important as beliefs and ethics to

Gurdas’s project of constructing a Sikh community and identity.

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Conclusion: Early Sikh Practices

When Gurdas wrote, a trans-local Sikh religious community could not be

assumed: he was instrumental in the early processes of its imagination. Gurdas’s

great emphases on the modes of communal growth and consolidation need to be

understood in this context: conversion, spreading the message of the Guru, and

committing to exclusive religious allegiance. In emphasizing these, Gurdas was not

writing about intellectual exercises. Practices, like successful religious communities,

require bodies, and the early Sikh community required an increase in the number of

bodies in its domain.

Gurdas’s injunctions are the most extensive descriptions of what the early

Sikhs did. At the time he was writing, Gurdas could not take for granted that his

expositions would form the basis of Sikh codes of conduct to come. His goals in

writing about practices were to publicize the greatness and welcoming nature of the

community’s activities to neophytes and potential converts, as well as legitimate

the more controversial Sikh practices, like the reversed form charaṇamrit that they

practiced. Later in history, codes of conduct reflect modification of some Sikh

practices, like the initiation ceremony, but they did not diverge from the trajectory

laid out in Gurdas’s work. By the early seventeenth century, the foundations of

Sikh practices had been firmly established.

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 This helps to explain why the early Sikh charaṇamrit ceremony has not

received the attention of modern scholars. For hundreds of years now, probably

since the early eighteenth century, the Sikh tradition has not been a religion

concerned with gaining converts. The late 1600s shift in the initiation ritual from

charaṇamrit to khande dī pahul reflected a concern for boundary consolidation

rather than expansion. In the 1500s and 1600s, the Sikh community saw great

growth, which cannot be explained solely by the charisma of its leadership. Sikh

practices played a great role in Sikh growth. The charaṇamrit ceremony served as

one conduit for this growth. From Gurdas’s vantage point, that ceremony looks

very different than has been assumed.

By writing about Sikh practices, Gurdas does not only leave historians a

record of how Sikhs of his time performed their religion, he accomplishes a

strengthening of communal boundaries and fortification of Sikh understanding about

how to be, and not to be, Sikh. He offered commentaries on important aspects of

Sikh life that could be a resource for Sikhs to understand what they did and why,

and to advertise to potential converts what the community stood for.

Related to this, some of the community’s practices, like the charaṇamrit

initiation, were so contrarian, yet so valuable to the community’s growth, that an

explanation for why they existed was necessary. Gurdas’s explanation and

theorization of Sikh practices came much later than commencement of the practices

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themselves. That is, beliefs about the practices are subsequent to the practice.

Religious practices have a logic to them that is verbalized well after they have been

performed over an extended period of time.

The performance of bodies in particular, sacred ways is what makes those

bodies “religious.” Simultaneously, bodily performance negotiates communal

membership. That membership into the early 1600s Sikh community was

determined by adherence to the performance of particular practices and the

eschewing of others is not trivial. Gurdas articulates that Sikhs professed their

membership not by words but by actions. For example, that he understood and

articulated how the Sikh charaṇamrit ritual made Sikhs distinct from other groups

assumes that communal membership and performance were intimately related.

The charaṇamrit ceremony helped to resolve the physical distance between

the geographical center and peripheries of the Sikh community, and also made

intellectual room for the idea of community-as-Guru—in the eighteenth century this

is articulated as Guru-Panth. Similarly, Gurdas tells us that the performance of the

holy word holds the power to bring about the Guru’s presence in the congregation.

This idea also obliterates the geographical distance between satellite communities

and the Sikh center and predates the concept of revelation-as-Guru, articulated as

Guru-Granth.

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 Chapter Six

A Banyan Orchard: Gurdas's Vision of Sikh Redemption and Ascendance

Falsehood is like a deceitful dagger

Truth is a protective, iron shield
Falsehood is a perpetual enemy
Truth is a good, supportive ally
Truth is a brave warrior
Falsehood seeks false opportunity
Truth stands unwavering
Falsehood, fickle, trembles
Truth grabs and thrashes Falsehood
We look on from four directions, in all three worlds…
— Bhai Gurdas Bhalla, from v30.10

Thus far in this dissertation, we have considered Gurdas’s life, the structure

of his works, and his statements on his contemporary community’s beliefs, ethics,

and practices. He writes with clarity of a distinct religious community. He is

energized by its growth and is eminently hopeful about its future. He writes with

an awareness of the Sikh tradition’s place amongst other religious groups in

society, and takes note of the political context as well. We have argued that Gurdas

is an indispensable source for early seventeenth century Sikh life, because he lived

through a crucial transitional period in Sikh history, marked especially by the

pivotal 1606 execution of Guru Arjan under ther orders of the Mughal Emperor

Jahangir. In this chapter we consider what he has to say about adhering to tradition

during difficult times, and the future he believes awaits his community.

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Suffering and Success

Gurdas’s writings express concern for overcoming tragedy, and speak of the

difficulties of walking the Sikh path. In particular, this chapter opens new lines of

inquiry into Gurdas’s understanding of suffering and its relationship with justice.

We revisit Gurdas’s works with new lenses for such concerns in order to explore

the possibility that the period in which he lived was a catalyst for his writing.1

Data from Vār 4. A close reading of his compositions, particularly Vār 4,

reveals his profound concern for the proper response to despondence and

suffering.2 For example, in a touching stanza, which has evaded scholarly

attention, Gurdas calls to Sikhs from far and wide to congregate at the Sikh center

and commiserate:

If you have even small hairs on your head,

wave them at the feet of the saints
Take a pilgrimage to bathe in the Guru’s tank,
and wash feet with your tears
From black, hair will turn to grey,
know this as a sign that all must go
Falling at feet, becoming feet dust,
the true Guru’s grace is merciful
Transformed from black crows to majestic swans,

1
Gurdas is extremely discreet about the issue of Guru Arjan’s death, and understandably so—the
very assassination of a religious leader of Guru Arjan’s stature was an event designed to repress.
Salient to this issue is James C. Scott’s notion of “hidden transcripts,” which helps explain how
dominated groups keep resistance a private matter. See: James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of
Resistance: Hidden Transcripts (New Haven: 1990).
2
In several important manuscripts, this vār is in the first position, and what are today Vārs 1, 2, and
3 are not available in those manuscripts, or come at the very end of those collections. For more
about early manuscripts of Gurdas’s works, see Gursharan Kaur Jaggi’s treatment: Bhalla, Varān
Bhai Gurdās (Sampadan Ate Path-Nirdharanh), 54-58.

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 we feed on pearls 3
They call it “thinner than a hair”: learn the Sikh Way
and teach it to others
Sikhs pass with the cup of love (v4.18)

Gurdas provides a jubilant balance to the stanza’s subdued opening by comparing

the Sikh congregation to majestic swans of lore. By underscoring the tradition’s

perpetuation through mutual education of its members, Gurdas inspires his co-

religionists to look to the future. A deeper look at the Vār from which this stanza

was taken reveals an extended meditation on finding inspiration amidst troubles.

Several other metaphors and parables in this Vār betray Gurdas’s sentiments

about the difficulty of Sikh life, and hint at the community’s designs on sovereign

power. Gurdas says that things that are small, seemingly insignificant, and humble

will have their day of triumph: the pinky finger can be crowned with a ring, a drop

of rain can become a pearl in a shell, a piece of saffron can achieve great dignity

when it is worn as a holy (and royal) forehead mark (v4.4). The ant, a drop of

mercury, a pearl; they are all small but can accomplish great things. For example,

the pearl can find its way onto the emperor’s necklace (v4.7). Gold, which is found

amongst dust, suffers but then is turned into coins at the mint.4 The poppy seed

undergoes great torture (sūlī upari khelaṇā), but then earns the royal canopy

3
This is a reference to the mythical swans at Mount Meru’s Mansarovar lake.
4
See v4.12. The mint is a very important metaphor for Gurdas. In Vār 1, Guru Nanak strikes a coin
in the world and “mints” the Sikh community (v1.45). Also, the divine word is the true mint
(v18.20, v24.8).

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overhead (pichho de siri chhatu dharāvai, v4.13). 5

The impact of even the smallest things can be far beyond their scope, says

Gurdas, hinting at the eventual triumph of the Sikh community. Ultimate and

lasting victory will belong to those who undergo hardship: “The low (referring to

the powerless, perhaps the Sikhs) win, and the high (referring to the powerful,

perhaps the Mughals) lose” (v4.6). Grass is trampled underfoot, but provides

fodder for cows, which in turn provide milk and other products for ritual sacrifice.

The mythical bull holding up the globe bears the world’s burdens patiently and

upholds the celestial order (dharam, v4.8).6

Elsewhere, Vār 4 teaches that suffering leads to eventual success: the sesame

seed is first thrust into the ground, then put through the presser, made into oil, then

burned and made into eyeliner. Never complaining, it takes on very important roles

(v4.9). Cotton also grows in the ground, is ginned, then made into rolls and spun

into thread, then finally woven and dyed in boiling water. It is cut with scissors

and stitched with needles, but it produces clothes to cover up nakedness (v4.10).

Similarly, the sugarcane can boast of bravery (sudhiṭhā) amidst torture and

suffering. It is shredded and ground in a press to produce the sweetest of saps. We

ought to strive to steel our minds like the cane (v4.14).

Multiple times in Vār 4, Gurdas links the experience of suffering with future

5
Like the mint above, the poppy and its intoxicating effect, being drunk in royal circles, is also a
core metaphor to which Gurdas returns to stand for Guru Hargobind’s method of ruling. He is
emperor and mystic, his writ is for this world, and the next. See Vārs 11 and 39.
6
In Puranic mythology, a cow, rather than a bull, upholds the celestial order. In Gurdas’s writings,
and in later Punjabi writings, the gender of the animal is always male.

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reward. For example, immediately after expounding upon the virtues of remaining

steadfast in agony, Gurdas instructs Sikhs about the rewards of Guru’s way: a true

Sikh remains mute, drinks from the cup of love, and attains liberation (v4.17). The

earth is Gurdas’s primary metaphor for patience, humility, and forbearance; these

are the keys to future reward:

Lowest of all is the earth, losing itself, it remains meek

Steadfast in compassion, righteousness, and contentment underfoot
It touches the feet of the holy, the worthless thing becomes worth-a-
million 7
Drops of nectar fall and dust is satiated
The poor thing receives honor, and it drinks from love’s cup
As one reaps, so one sows…
The Gurmukh’s fruit-of-peace is found in meekness (v4.2)

Metaphors of earth and trees are also linked to accepting the will of the Master,

which is a key ethical point made towards the end of Vār 4 (v4.19). Dust, water,

and nectar are part of the feet-nectar ceremony that is linked to Sikh communal

solidarity and growth, and the implications of suffering’s relationship to this is also

discussed later in the chapter.

Sacrifice. Vār 4 is not the only one of Gurdas’s poems to touch the issue of

guaranteed future reward. In Vār 30, from which the epigraph for this chapter was

taken, Gurdas makes the analogy between the pious man and the martyred soldier:

both sacrifice themselves for their masters, both are praised for generations after.

To fight and die for truth is the way of the Gurmukh Panth (pūraṇ pratāp).

7
This is highly reminiscent of a line from one of Guru Arjan’s later hymns that discusses the
suffering and subsequent ascendence of various poet-saints, or bhagats (GG 487). Stories of the
bhagats play an important role in Gurdas’s conception of suffering, as discussed later in this chapter.

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Gurmukhs ought to maintain faith in their Guru.8 The poet repeatedly offers

himself to the Sikh community, asking that his skin be used for Sikhs’ shoes

(v9.18). Gurdas’s code of conduct in Vār 12 repeats phrases of self-sacrifice and

devotion, for example: balihārī (v12.1), qurbānī (v12.2), viṭahu vāriā (v12.3).

Vār 14 contains a number of double meanings. Like Vār 4, it touches on the

ethic of humility, though with less focus on suffering. Gurdas portrays the

congregation and community as self-propagating systems that require care and

charity. Cotton, madder, iron, trees, sandalwood, and sugarcane teach us that

sacrifice and suffering bring good things (v14.12-17). Service and charity help us

through tough times (v14.18-20). Drinking feet-nectar brings a deep humility,

which helps us to accept the Master’s will (v14.6).

The kabitts have not at all been tapped for their ideas about such subjects, but

have much to say. The poet sacrifices his body, mind, and soul for the growth of

the Sikh tradition and appeals to the community’s members thus:

Cut every piece of my body: little nails on my feet to every limb

I give over my entire self to the Sikhs
Take every piece of me and burn it in a fire, grind it in a mill,
and let the ash fly in the wind, in every direction
Wherever the Sikhs’ feet walk the Guru’s path,
lay out my remains under them
Touching their feet, I will be forever engrossed
O! Compassionate and merciful ones, save this sinner thus!
(k672)

8
He says, laṛ marṇā … sachi sidak, sach piru pachapai (v30.14). Certainly, Kabir and others have
made similar comparisons between spirituality and death-in-battle, but in the Sikh case the context
is different, especially when Gurdas is clearly talking about Sikhs as a minority tradition living
among “falsehood”.

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Just as a warrior readying himself for battle dons weapons and armor, but leaves

behind his attachments and pride, so does the walker of the spiritual path ready

himself to die for the Master (k617). Like a king abandons worry about who he

kills or on whom he bestows great boons, the divine sage lives his life with a sense

of renunciation for the world’s tribulations (k618). Like the moth to the flame, the

Sikh’s readiness for self-sacrifice is the marker of his dedication, without which he

ought not call himself the Guru’s man (k551). The vārs’ treatment of the

impending inversion of high and low is a theme echoed in the kabitts as well,

where Gurdas says that victory is defeat, and defeat is ultimately victory (k136).

Gurdas is certain that suffering and self-sacrifice lead to success, and he

implores Sikhs to bear evil graciously: “At the doors of the holy, even evil acts are

returned with kindness” (avguṇ kīe guṇ, sādhan kai duār hai, k326). As in Vār 4,

Gurdas provides evidence of this principle from nature: the tree drops fruit when

stoned and as a boat, brings across the saw that cut it down. The shell, when

cracked, surrenders a pearl; mined stone reveals diamonds; sugarcane is crushed to

reveal the sweetest juice (k326). Like a washermen beats clothes against a rock to

clean them, or like a merchant cuts stone for diamonds, difficult times separate us

from the grips of illusion (māiā, k614). When treated in the kabitts, the theme of

suffering does not carry the same heavy tone as in the early vārs. Gurdas sings of

the sesame seed that is pressed to make oil for a lamp, and a baby goat’s sinews

being turned into string for music. Likewise, a man is made holy only through

hunger and pain, only then can he transcend the world (k580). Cotton sacrifices

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itself without letting out a groan and is turned into a lamp wick and cloth.

Similarly those holy men who gain spiritual control through their own effort are a

source of liberation for the whole world (k581).

Vār 9 seems to voice a quiet defiance. Though trampled underfoot like the

grass, the Sikhs stay on the straight path of tradition (v9.14).9 Gurdas exhorts Sikhs

not to include themselves in any count. The Way of the Gurmukhs (Gurmukh

mārag) is the true way, and the truth will deliver the pious Sikhs (v9.15). Earth

(v9.19), water (v9.20), and tree (v9.21) all exemplify ways to tolerate suffering, lay

low, and persevere. The Sikh should be like a dead man (murdā hoi murīd), remain

engrossed in the word, and continue to reflect on the word even if trampled

underfoot; the heavens will shower grace on him (v9.22). Elsewhere, we are

reminded that one of the characteristics of the Guru’s Sikhs is fearlessness

(v28.10). The Gurmukh’s love for his Guru is irrepressible (k410). Like the din of

a war drum, the love between Guru and Sikh cannot be hidden (v411).

Building on tradition. In separate hymns in the Guru Granth, Guru Nanak

and Guru Arjan make frequent use of the metaphor of the sugarcane’s crushing.10

Gurdas takes the issue of its suffering to another level, going to great lengths to

describe the process of sugarcane’s transformation at various occasions. Along

with the virtues of the suffering tree, the extended metaphor of sugarcane’s plight is

9
According to Gurdas, the Sikh tradition’s path may be straight, but it is not necessarily easy.
10
See GG 142-3, 1098.

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a central part of Vār 26.11 The wondrous sugarcane is made useful only after it is

crushed: first its skin is peeled off and its stalks are cut and smashed. It is crushed

in the press, and its essence is extracted, but it patiently bears its suffering and is

thus celebrated throughout the world in forms such as molasses, sugar, and other

sweets. Having drunk from love’s cup (piram piālā pīvaṇā), it dies to life and finds

a new life (v26.12).

Courts of Justice

From Guru Nanak’s time, Sikh tradition has taken keen notice of imperial

matters. Guru Nanak writes about the transition from the Delhi Sultanate (1206-

1526) to the Mughal Empire (1526-1800s), and lambastes kings and their nobles.

Kartar is the Supreme Emperor, and the favorite Sikh vision of the afterlife is

acceptance into the divine court. Guru Arjan speaks of his own army, his

mansions, and his own “kingdom of humility.” The Sikh bards write of the Gurus’

empire, its royal flag, and other political dispensations of their court. Gurdas’s

writings are no different in this regard, and offer a host of statements about the

Mughal court, Guru Hargobind’s court, and the divine court hereafter. Whether in

debunking the legitimacy of the worldly rulers, or in legitimating the kingship of

God and Guru, courtly images are employed to articulate the Sikhs’ claims for

religious and political autonomy.

11
The broader themes of Vār 26 include singing of Guru Hargobind’s royal attributes and singular
legitimacy as spiritual and temporal sovereign. This indicates that Gurdas is writing about issues
concerning the contemporary situation of the community, which makes sense in light of his
dicussion of suffering in the same poem.

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 Courts of this world. Gurdas makes a few, mostly subdued, reproofs of the

ruling elite. Above, we have above discussed Gurdas’s metaphors relating to

royalty in Vār 4: the defiant Sikh mint, the royal canopy over the poppy seed, and

the tiny pearl on the royal necklace.12 In his hagiography of Guru Nanak, however,

Gurdas is more direct and echoes the Guru’s own polemic: the world’s emperors

are unjust; their ministers are butchers (v1.7). The Fifteenth Vār is also clear about

this: the emperors of this world are false (v15.1, v15.4).

The progression of Vār 25, which is about the spread of the community and

the inversion of “low” and “high,” takes a fascinating detour for three stanzas.

Gurdas says that in the netherworld burns a cauldron in which the waters of the

earth boil on the heads of emperors. These foolish emperors stake their claims,

fighting and dying (v25.15). He continues: in one sheath there cannot be two

swords, and so in one country there cannot be two emperors, but holy men can live

in God’s house under one quilt. He again mentions the poppy seed, which obtains

the royal canopy overhead when it is crushed in the press and poured in a cup.

Gurdas adds, in the court of the Fearless One, the egoists are at fault, and power is

with the powerless (v25.16). Gurdas relates the story of an innocent goat, which,

on being caught for slaughter by a lion, laughs and wonders about the fate of those

who cut throats and feed on others (v25.17).

Guru Hargobind’s court. Gurdas’s writings build on the royal depiction of

the Guru’s court commenced by Sikh writers in the Guru Granth. Vār 21 is
12
See v4.12, v4.13, and v4.7, respectively.

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instrumental to the articulation of this idea. The divine court has dual, parallel

branches: here and hereafter.13

The true Guru is Kartar’s earthly representative; anyone who opposes him

will be thrashed in the hereafter. The true Guru is the king of kings, free from care

(beparvāh) and free from fear (laubālī, v21.1). Using this trope, Gurdas questions

members of competing religions, as well as the existing imperial hierarchy.14

Millions of chiefs, rulers of great courts, treasurers are here one day and gone the

next (v21.9) and, “No sultan who opposes the Guru’s house will be found in the

divine mansion” (gair mahali sultān mahalu nā pāvahī, v21.5). The egoistic

owners of great palaces, fort-holding kings, overloards who patronize their own

laudation, and holders of royal office (mansabdār) will all be frightened at the

divine court (v21.14). In the eleventh stanza, Gurdas lists all of those who will

suffer at the “fearless court”: the so-called brave warriors, those who listen to the

teachings of others, so-called scholars, the ascetics, and the so-called wise ones

(v21.11).

This fearless court (laubālī dargāh) is one of Gurdas’s favorite themes, and

further demonstrates Sikh confidence and the tradition’s sovereign claims. In Vār

13
Only the Sikh guru is the true ruler of this world and the next (dīn dunī: 12.3.7, 21.4.5, 21.8.3,
23.13.2, 24.7.3, 24.15.3, 26.21.4). Curiously, the divine court is simply not a topic that Gurdas
takes up in the kabitts, nor does he take up divine justice there. The closest is a reference to the
Guru’s house being a spiritual court. Only he is accepted there (parvān) who remembers, listens,
and acts righteously while sleeping and awake; whoever wants can optain the treasure of the Name
(k619). The devotee can establish lasting dominion (abichal rāj) over his self (k246, see also k46).
In the kabitts, Gurdas prefers to portray his message about the realization of the Sikh community in
human history via the metaphor of the tree (k55-6).
14
v21.2, v21.3, v21.13, v21.14, and v21.15.

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5, he depicts the Guru as the king, the congregation as his court, and the Gurmukhs

as princes and attendants. By serving the Guru, the Gurmukh himself becomes the

king of kings with the Guru’s grace. Unlike the treacherous nobles, the Gurmukhs

are God’s own princes and the fakes are revealed in the court (v5.11). The Guru is

like a royal hawk challenging little birds, and the true king who destroys

“otherness” (dubidā, v5.12). The true court administers true justice, and the poet

sacrifices himself to that One who is the honor of the honorless (v14.1). In the

divine court (dargāh) the world’s meek will be honored (v21.3). The kirtan-singing

Sikhs are the minstrels of God’s own court (v3.3). The Guru’ s treasury is never

lacking (v3.6).

In Vār 7, the metaphor of the emperor’s property symbolizes the Guru’s

Sikhs. Selecting the best trees from forests all around, Kartar has placed them in

the city of Amritsar, the sweet-smelling royal orchard. He Himself is in each tree,

He cares for the lot of them, and the Gurmukhs are the fruits of this royal orchard.15

Related to this, Gurdas’s description of Guru Hargobind erecting a thorny hedge

around the orchard that is the Sikh community (v26.25) has been called “the most

appropriate metaphor for the smooth transition from the peaceful development of

the Sikh Panth to what is generally referred to as its militarization”.16

The court hereafter. The congregation is a parallel court, Gurdas tells his

15
See v7.17, see also 7.18-20.
16
See J. S. Grewal, "The Sikh Movement During the Reign of Akbar," in Akbar and His India, ed.
Irfan Habib (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005; reprint, Fifth), 254.

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co-religionists, which transports us to the divine court. There, we are all sovereigns

under one canopy, and simultaneously all servants contributing to its well being

(v3.8). The earth is a righteous place where true worship happens; the loyalists are

triumphant at the court, and the Sikh apostates (vemukh) are humiliated (v34.1).

Like the legendary devotee, Dhruv, the low will become high in the course of

divine justice; the meek will be honored.17 Elsewhere, Gurdas writes that Sikhs are

especially confident because the Age of Darkness is the time of true justice (sachu

niāu); this seems to undercut the pessimism, which Gurdas attributes to the Hindu

mythological system (v12.16).

Only those who have served in the Guru’s court will find a place in the court

beyond (v5.11). The Gurmukh understands that life is temporary. He is a guest at

a party, a wayfarer at an inn; he knows he is impermanent like spring’s colors. But

he also knows that he is on a divine mission, and part of a group whose identity is

permanent. The Gurmukh Panth is unique and cannot be led astray.18 After a

sojourn in this world, the liberation of the entire Gurmukh Panth is divinely

guaranteed. Thus, as part of the divine will, Kartar guarantees justice for Sikhs.

Each individual, faithful Sikh will find a place in the glorious divine court in the

afterlife, and the entire Sikh community will find redemption according to divinely

administered justice as well. Gurdas reminds Sikhs that God sanctions their

17
According to the Puranic legend, Dhruv was the child heir to a contested throne whose devotion
and penance amidst hardship earned him divine favor (v22.2, see also v25.10).
18
See v3.5.4, v19.20.5, v22.14.6.

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mission, and their liberation is guaranteed, so long as they live righteous and pious

lives. The pious were created by God Himself (v19.1). The entire Gurmukh Panth

will be accepted into the divine court (v19.9), and possesses a divine gift (v19.19).

The divine, active in human history, is the true administrator of justice

(v1.22). He turns the pauper into a king, and makes regents go begging (v2.4).

Gurdas appeals to the Master’s true justice (niāu sachu), which applies to each and

every being (v31.17). In the court of truth, true justice is available, and God’s writ

prevails; ego is erased, and the unbearable is borne; for these reasons, the poet is a

sacrifice to the divine will (v22.10).

Gurdas also writes of the court in the future tense, signifying either an

establishment of divine rule on earth later in time, ascension to Kartar’s celestial

court, or both. In the context of the dichotomy between the Sikhs (Gurmukh) and

the non-Sikhs (manmukh), Gurdas makes clear that truth will shackle falsehood

(v30.6). This is reminiscent of the “winners lose, losers win” type of prediction

that Gurdas makes elsewhere. Truth is a roaring lion, falsehood is a deer fleeing in

fear; truth is the shining sun, falsehood is the darkness; truth is a stone thrown at a

fragile earthen pitcher (v30.7). Falsehood is not acknowledged in the court, but

truth is always certified there, and forever in attendance (v30.19-20).

The scoundrel followers of the rival Sikh sectarian group will receive the

punishment reserved for thieves, adulterers, and losing gamblers; they are

equivalent to carrion-eating dogs (v36.3). The imposter jackals will be beaten in

the court of the Lord (v36.2). They are surely on the path to hell (v36.4). Like

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rebels against a king are slaughtered in shame, the counterfeiters will be caught,

persons forging courtly epistles will suffer, the jackal who pretends to be a lion will

be revealed by his howl, and the slanderers will be seated on donkeys with their

faces blackened (v26.32).

The promise of the divine court for all Sikhs buttresses Gurdas’s claim that

Sikhs ought to accept the divine command (hukam, from the Persian for royal

decree). In Vār 4, while writing of suffering, Gurdas declares that accepting the

will of the Master is a key ethical point (v4.19). This statement comes immediately

after the stanza in which Gurdas calls on Sikhs to wash feet with their tears and

learn the lessons of impermanence (v4.18). Elsewhere, immediately after extolling

the virtues of the Guru-emperor (v18.20), Gurdas implores Sikhs to agree to the

Master’s will, and to live in the present: Kartar will take care of the future; we

know not why He does what He does; be content with what happens, you are a

guest in this world (v18.21). Moreover, immersed in the Master’s command; water

cannot drown you, nor can fire burn.19

Guaranteed Sikh Ascendance

Though proud about the community’s contemporary success, and confident

about its future, Gurdas betrays an awareness of his tradition’s minority status, and

19
See v18.22. The language Gurdas uses here and in other related verses is comparable to the Sadd
written by Sundar, a section in the Guru Granth containing verses about the third guru’s passing and
the fourth guru’s ascension (GG 923). See also vār 19’s discussion of impermanence, as well as
v12.1, v22.11, v22.16, v30.15.

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the paucity of its numbers amidst the Hindu and Muslim masses. Many of his

stanzas contain an inspirational message of reassurance. That a thing is small does

not limit its potential importance: the pinky finger can wear a precious ring; a

raindrop can turn into a pearl; each blade of grass provides sustenance for milk-

bestowing cows; a massive tree expands from a single seed. As an extension of

these metaphors, Gurdas believes that the Gurmukh Panth’s humble beginnings can

lead to a glorious future.

Quite distinct from the ethic of humility that he requires individual Sikhs to

follow, Gurdas elsewhere expresses the clear confidence of Sikh superiority over

Hindus and Muslims. For example, Vār 7 refers to aspects of other traditions that

the Sikhs surpass (e.g., v7.2). The Sikh path is a distinct path, and the best path.

The Sikh Guru is the only righteous religious power, drawing his authority from

Kartar. This authority was bestowed upon Guru Nanak and continues in an

unbroken chain to Guru Hargobind. Guru Nanak was the world preceptor (jagat

guru). He initiated the tradition that would reform the world and is the tree that

provides universal shade.

Sikh uniqueness. The Sikh tradition’s exclusive identity is beyond doubt in

Gurdas’s writings. Whereas in Vār 10 (treated below) Gurdas extracts moral

lessons out of Vaishnava lore, and appropriates them in terms of Sikh teachings, in

Vār 12 he completely detaches Sikh tradition from all things “Hindu.” This is as if

to make clear that there is no connection between the Sikhs and the previous

religious traditions of India.

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 Similarly, Vār 5 stakes out Sikh independence and commences the polemics

against the outsiders: manmukhs. The Gurmukh does not mix with other groups,

good or bad; his community is unique (v5.1). The Gurmukh does not place any

faith in demigods or demons, nor does he believe in omens, zodiac, or magic (v5.6-

8). In contrast, the egotistical manmukh wanders (v5.15-20).

Guru-Sikhī is the way of the Gurmukh Panth: thinner than a hair, sharper than

a sword, and ultimately ineffable. It cannot be walked with a single step, but its

long path provides us with all we need, and more enjoyment than we have known

(v28.1). It is a heavy burden, which only the Guru’s Sikhs, who walk the path, can

describe. Outsiders know not its worth.

Guru-Sikhī requires a pledge of exclusivity: those who take shelter in the true

Guru do not worship any other god (k183). For the false friends of the community

(kapaṭ sanehī), the Sikh congregation is just one of the many that they visit. They

show up in the saints’ society, hear the bāṇī, but walk not the path. Gurdas lists the

other practices in which they participate, which he abhors (v17.3). He who sees

from the perspective of Guru-Sikhī, seeks no other perspective (v28.7-8):

The one who crosses, drowns; the one who drowns, crosses by drinking
from love’s cup
The victor loses, and the loser wins: this is the Gurmukh’s way
This way is like a double-edge sword and filled with scary waters
This unique Gurmukh Panth is finer than a hair
Ego is a heavy weight, the reason for evil diversion
The disciple loses his self through the Guru’s teachings and crosses
peacefully (v13.17)

Only the Sikh congregation is spoken about in all the three worlds (k188).

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 Guru Nanak’s universal redemption. Gurdas’s vision of Sikh ascendancy

is perhaps most clearly laid out in Vār 1, where the Sikh community’s necessity

and success is portrayed as a natural extension of the history of the cosmos.

Gurdas re-shapes the Sikh past by taking control of Nanak's life story in a way that

shows Nanak’s mission was divinely sanctioned, and with the ethical imperative to

steer right the deluded world. He writes that before creation there was neither

breath nor flesh, darkness nor fog. Egg, sperm, body, nor elements existed (v1.2).

Human existence seems to have happened quite late in the existence of the

universe, but is its culminating point. Human faculties were created for devotional

purposes. Sikh life is the highest form of human life.20

Before the Sikh tradition, there were others; and to explain the pre-Sikh

world, Gurdas delves into Hindu mytho-history (v1.4). Gurdas depicts the extreme

depravity of the times via the Puranic myth of the bull that holds up the global

order (v1.22). Though the Dark Age is an ultimately just period in terms of human

ethics (we reap what we sow), emperors in this age are unjust and tyrannical. This

was true even before Guru Nanak’s arrival on earth, and sets up his cause of justice

(v1.7). Hindu ritual sacrifices are to be replaced with Sikh ethics and practices

(v1.16). Despite previous divine revelations, social strife dominated (v1.17). Both

Hindu and Muslim ways of being have left truth behind (v1.21).

Guru Nanak’s mission is the divine answer to the suffering bull’s calls.

Nanak’s solution to the world’s problems centers around egalitarianism (rānā rank
20
Gurdas echoes this several times (e.g., v1.3, v26.3).

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birābarī), showing God to be one in the world (ik dikhāiā), and the unification of

all castes (ik varan karāiā) for the re-establishment of social order (each

representing the legs of the bull). Nanak is the savior of the Dark Age (v1.23).

The Dark Age is a time of extreme religious intolerance, and Guru Nanak’s mission

is a divine one: to clear up the confusion and set things right again. Guru Nanak,

divinely supported, realized that losing one’s sense of self and attaining humility

were prior in necessity to ritual observance to pilgrimage rules (v1.25). Nanak set

the world right with new institutions (v1.27). Both Hindus and Muslims revered

him, like a roaring lion gets the attention of all deer (v1.34).21

Nanak was a world-conqueror, causing all of Baghdad to submit to him, and

Mecca and Medina as well (v1.37). Like a king, he minted a new coin—the

community of the pure (nirmal panth, v1.44-5). Furthermore, he crowned his

successor in his own lifetime. Each successive Guru since then has been crowned a

king (v1.46). It is in this context of the description of the Sikh founder’s mission

that Gurdas has him proclaim the supreme importance of the three forms of

revelation: Guru, scripture, and community (v1.42).

Furthermore, Gurdas tells us that curious Sikhs ask Guru Hargobind about the

21
This statement is important to register, as Gurdas uses similar metaphors elsewhere to signify the
community’s impact on pre-existing religions. The kabitts’ anti-Vaishnava polemics make an
astounding historical claim: the rise of the Sikh community is like the sun coming out to hide the
stars (which represent the worship of other gods and goddesses, k486-8, v13.23). The Sikh tradition
is the latest of religions, it is the sun hiding the stars, a lion chasing deer, a hawk amongst sparrows,
the day to the night of other religions (v40.5). These metaphors are extended to Guru Hargobind:
the truth cannot hide, though others may try to deny it (v26.24). Divine grace is the sun, and all
other efforts to reach God are stars; every morning the sun shines and the stars disappear; the Sikh
tradition makes the other traditions of history obsolete (v405).

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future succession of his office. Guru Hargobind answers that the Dark Age

represents his clan’s turn to reign, and they have established an unshakeable

foundation to do so. The Guru descends to reform each age (v1.48). Gurdas adds

that the completion of the current age, kaliyug, will bring on the dawn of a new,

fifth era in which the divine will re-immerse Himself into the world (chāre jāge

chāhu jugī panchāiṇ vich jāe samāvai, v1.49). At the end of that, the entire cycle

will start up again.

This end of Vār 1 provides a segue to Vār 2, where Gurdas tackles the theme

of how the divine is the beginning and end of all things. What has begun with

Kartar will re-converge back into Kartar. The sub-text is that the historical period

we are living in is the period of the Sodhis (Guru Hargobind’s clan) who will bring

the world to its historical culmination. The Sikh community represents the

perfection of the divine plan.

Examples from lore. Gurdas buttresses his claims for the ultimate and

guaranteed victory of Sikhs with tales of redemption from literature that would

have been familiar to his audience. All of Vār 10, which has been maligned as a

spurious composition because of its heavily Vaishnava content, is actually a central

part of Gurdas’s appropriation of non-Sikh stories of redemption. How could a vār

about Vaishnava mythical heroes and non-Sikh poet-saints speak to Sikh

confidence? Gurdas “believes that the Sikhs attained the same bliss received by”

the pre-Sikh poet saints known as bhagats, and that “only the most prominent

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saints of the other traditions were on equal level with the Sikhs of the Guru”.22

This view is consistent with the descriptions, in this dissertation’s chapter on belief,

of the Sikh concept of divine revelation: throughout history Kartar has been

generous with knowledge about how to worship Him, but correct performance of

this worship has been rare.

As such, Vār 10 can be seen as a Sikh appropriation of popular, non-Sikh

myths for Sikh ends.23 Vār 10’s message is in line with that of Vār 9, which ends

with examples of suffering (and which echoes Vār 4’s themes).24 Muslim saints

Farid and Bhikhan are not mentioned here, and Kabir (also of Muslim heritage) is

only mentioned in the passage dedicated to saint Ramanand. Vaishnava myths

provided Gurdas with a useful lingua franca to underscore familiar themes, as well

as a medium to bury anti-establishment sub-texts against the Mughal imperial

persecutors. The first nine stanzas of Vār 10 are dedicated to Vaishnava saints and

descents; the final six stanzas relay stories about the power of evil in its

relationship with good.25 A core message is that even when appearing to lose, the

Gurmukhs conquer the world (v10.1). The Lord, who forever assists His saints,

22
For this discussion, see Mann, The Making of Sikh Scripture, 118.
23
That some Sikh thinkers have tried to crop Vār 10 out of Gurdas’s corpus or questioned its
authorship is ironic in light of the articulation of exclusive identity for which he employs it.
24
See also Guru Arjan’s discussion of the saints (GG 487).
25
The stories treated in the first half of the Vār are those of Dhruv (who is in discussion with
Narad), Prahlad, Bali, Ambri, Janak, Harish-Chandar, Krishan (with Duryodhan), Drapuadi, and
Krishan (with Sudam). The next eight stanzas refer, respectively, to Jaidev, Namdev, Trilocan,
Dhanna, Beni, Ramanand, Sain, and Ravidas.

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destroyed the apostate (bemukh, v10.2). The moral of the third stanza is to keep

faith in the divine, who intervenes in the affairs of righteous humans (v10.3). The

fourth stanza also reminds us to remain faithful to the divine, though we may be ill

treated (v10.4).

Gurdas also uses similar themes elsewhere. Gurdas’s discussion of the

utimate and lasting victory of those who undergo hardship is close in theme to

Gurdas’s mention of devotee Dhruv’s ascension to the position of the North Star as

a metaphor of deliverance (v4.21). There are other examples of inspirational

messages: Sikhs are raw diamonds; they are the rare ones who attain a place in the

court hereafter (v13.16). Gurdas relates the story of Namdev, the devotee who was

abused by other worshippers and banished from the temple. He remained loyal to

God and a miracle turned the temple in his direction (see more stories in v25.4-11).

Examples from the Hindu epic, Ramāyan, showcase the point of how good can be

returned with evil, but suffering is impermanent and glory is final (v31.18). This

message is in the kabitts as well: the low-caste devotees Ravidas, Namdev, Vidur,

and Kabir are examples of how the lowest can become God’s favorites (k632).

Communal expansion as revelation. Vār 11 is the most clear testimony to,

and documentation of, Sikh growth.26 Before listing the names of Sikhs all through

South Asia, Gurdas declares that the Sikh process of revelation is complete: the

26
The importance of this Vār was registered from early on: it is the only Vār in the important
Lambha Manuscript’s table of contents to have been given a title. In that relatively early
manuscript, it is in the eighth place. For more about the manuscript, see: Bhalla, Varān Bhai
Gurdās (Sampadan Ate Path-Nirdharanh), 56-7.

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Sikh community has everything it needs. Guru Hargobind is the true Guru, and as

such he is the true emperor. The congregation is his true court, and spiritually, this

means those devoted to him have already achieved liberation. As emperor, Guru

Hargobind is bearing an unbearable burden. The Sikh community can overcome its

burdens by turning its attention to its own rituals, its heart to the saints’ society, and

its mind inward.

Gurdas is deeply enthusiastic about the community’s expansion, both as a

process occurring in his time, and as a future goal. Two Sikhs make up the

congregation, five represent divine embodiment; there are not words to explain

when dozens come together (k122). Two Sikhs are the saints’ society, and five are

the embodiment of the Transcendent (v13.19). Gurdas both celebrates past Sikh

success, and sounds the call to continue bringing people into the fold and spreading

the community (v13.18).

For Gurdas, each Guru had contributed to the community’s growth in his own

way and Guru Hargobind’s contribution is unique and perhaps the most difficult of

all. Gurdas asks for Sikhs’ patience, even though they may not understand the

Guru’s actions. He asks them to focus on themselves, and their community.

Gurdas demonstrates particular concern with two issues related to the

community’s expansion: gaining converts and the geographical spread of

congregations. Gurdas says, blessed is he who hears of the Guru’s teachings and

becomes a Sikh of the Guru (k149). Spreading the word, teaching, and

missionizing is part of the Sikhs’ agenda and this is how they will conquer the

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world (v20.18). Another metaphor for the spread of the community is that of trader

and banker: the Guru is true banker, in whom all can trust; he spreads his wares in

all the lands though other merchants sell false goods (v13.20). Gurdas tells us that

there are different kinds of Sikhs, some are old but many are new; the Guru treats

them all the same (k371). Gurdas offers his salutations to the Guru and to the

Gurmukhs, because of whom Sikhs and congregations are countless.27 The

Gurmukhs worship with every breath, no matter what country they live in (v19.7).

In the kabitts, Gurdas even writes from the perspective of Sikhs who live at a

distance from the Sikh homeland, and saying that it is possible to be a devout Sikh,

even if one does not live close to where the Guru is (k507, k639). He expresses

Sikhs’ desires to live under the Guru’s graces and return to their homeland (k515).

Gurdas’s metaphors are richly textured. The earth provides Gurdas with

some of his favorite images. A telling treatment of its virtues comes in the second

stanza of Vār 4: earth is lowest of all, steadfast in the virtues of compassion,

righteousness, and contentment. When rain falls from the sky, earth’s dust is

satiated with this nectar. The contents of this stanza deeply resemble Gurdas’s

statements about feet-nectar. The feet-nectar ceremony, discussed above, gives

even the outcastes a place in Sikh society, providing a very real redemption to those

who have suffered. In decoding Gurdas’s language, one finds that the mention of

the feet-nectar ritual goes hand-in-hand with the themes of suffering and

redemption, liberation and caste-less society. Consider the following three,

27
See k192-3, see also k366, v35.15. See Guru Arjan’s description of the Sikh town (GG 430).

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consecutive stanzas:

The tree’s head is upside-down 28

Unwavering, it constantly bows
It bears stones but yields fruit
Chopped, it is made into a boat
Water carries it on its head
It takes across even the saw that cut it

Iron cuts it and is nailed to it

But taking iron overhead, wood crosses it
Water does not let the tree drown
By dunking sandalwood its value is increased
By doing good, good happens, the world knows this
But I am a sacrifice to those who return evil with good

Who accepts the Guru’s will gets his command followed

The Guru decrees that we accept the divine will
Drinking from love’s cup, the inexplicable is understood
Knowing the Unknowable, they do not divulge the mystery
The pious lose themselves and do not get counted
The pious attain the fruit of peace and spread fruits and seeds (v20.11-
13)

The tree excels in its ability to tolerate pain and suffering: its head thrust into the

ground, it stands upside-down and bears the suffering of wind and weather.

Growing, it provides shade to the world, and fruit even when it is stoned. It is cut

down to make a boat but does not hold grievance against even the woodcutter.

Read in light of the community’s growth, the Sikh community’s suffering and

its benevolence are intimately linked with its guaranteed success, just as earth and

water are instrumental to the tree’s success. Gurdas sees the growth of the
28
For an explanation, see Hazara Singh and Vir Singh’s commentary. They say: the tree’s head is
its roots and it is upside down (mudha); its feet are its branches. (Singh and Singh, Varān Bhai
Gurdās Satīk, 636-50.) Consistent with this explanation is that of Narain Singh (Singh, Ṭīkā Giān
Ratanāvalī Varān Bhai Gurdās. 380.) as well as that of Jodh Singh, (Bhai Gurdas: Text,
Translation, and Translation, trans. Jodh Singh, 2 vols. (Patiala, India: Vision & Venture, 1998),
Vol. 1, page 484).

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community and its spread as an important political response to persecution. Vār

26, which contains the famous verses in support of Guru Hargobind, discusses love,

fearlessness, and divine justice as well. Those who love (bhau) fear not (nāhī

bhou); the mango tree bears heavy fruit and is loved by many a bird. Those who

seem to lose eventually win; by falling-at-feet, we bring the world to our feet

(v26.9). Only Kartar knows the reasons for His writ, according to which all

unfolds; cultivate a child’s innocence and see not the difference between curse and

boon; we will reap according to how we love (v26.10). The tree, ever patient, takes

even crimes against it as boons; it is benevolent to even the woodcutter; the

apostates (bemukh) do not recognize the fruit that belongs to the Guru’s loyal

servants (v26.11). Gurdas writes:

The tree’s head is inverted, but it yields a thousand fruits

Water is called pure because it heads downward
The head is high, feet are low, and the pious bow to feet
Lowest of all is the earth, bearing food for all the world
Blessed is the earth of that place where the Guru and Sikh walk
Feet dust is paramount, even the Veda sings its glory
Blessed is his fate who attains feet dust (v26.15)

Moreover, the true Guru sits on the true throne and weighs justice on a scale of

truth (v26.16). Offenders are always brought to justice (v26.32). Again, Gurdas

says, this Dark Age is ultimately just: we sow as we reap (v26.7).

Vār 16 is loaded with such metaphors, and it is interesting that the first two

stanzas are dedicated to dust and water. The earth is praised because it is trampled

and urinated on, but made useful in various ways. Water heads downwards (a sign

of humility), and is purifying (v16.1-3). Later in the same vār, Gurdas proclaims

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that God does the bidding of the saints’ assembly; and by drinking the feet-nectar,

Sikhs gain the power to bear the unbearable (v16.15).

In Vār 9, the beginning of which discusses the mystical presence of the Guru

in the congregation, several stanzas reveal more about Gurdas’s ideas about the

feet-nectar ceremony. Adding water to the dust of Sikhs’ feet helps to grow the

Sikh tree. The implication is that, in the long term, being “trampled” will not be as

painful as it seems in the moment, as earth and water will always prevail (v9.18-

22). It is in this context that the poet makes the following statement of self-

sacrifice: make Sikhs’ shoes out of my skin, he exclaims (v9.18). Indeed, every

Sikh’s body is implicated in total religious devotion. The disciple should be a

corpse, and bury himself in the Guru. Gurdas compares Sikhs’ bodies to earth, out

of which he asks that they construct a house of worship (tan dhartī karu

dharamsāl). The eternal, ecstatic drip will pour over the practitioner when he

participates in the congregation (v9.22).

The “Sikh tree” yields the sweet, peaceful fruits that are the Gurmukhs. The

fragrance of trees like the sandalwood spread sweet scent all around; the

unmanifest’s ways are the subject of an ineffable story.29 In other sections of the

vārs, the characteristics of the suffering but benevolent tree provide teachings on

how to understand the divine will, even when it is difficult to bear (v20.11-13).

The issue is not limited to the vārs: tasting the fruit of peace from the Gurmukh’s

tree causes a reversal and expunging of evil. Its drinkers go from worldly beings to
29
See v12.13 as well as v28.12-14.

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divine ones (k181-3).

Communal deliverance through ritual. In Gurdas’s use of metaphors, the

waters of the feet-nectar ritual must irrigate the growing tree that is the Sikh

community. Drinking the feet-wash of the newcomers and of their Guru, Sikhs

touch both the outer fringes of their community’s growth, and the core spirit of the

Guru, which informs it. This idea is at the core of Gurdas’s message and

culminates an on-going discussion in this dissertation. The chapter on beliefs

discussed Gurdas’s ideas about Kartar’s sure presence in the congregation, and the

community’s equivalence with the Guru’s authority. In the chapter on ethics,

translations from Gurdas’s 39th Vār detailed how Guru Hargobind, emperor and

cup-bearing mystic, serves from “love’s cup.” In the chapter on Sikh practices, we

discussed how “love’s liquor” is distilled in the deep experiences related with the

bāṇī and how interaction with the word brings about an incomparable intoxication.

Vār 23 is an extensive legitimation of the feet-nectar rituals, and helps to reify Sikh

boundary-constructing practices. Other mentions of feet, feet-nectar, and initiation,

I have argued, ought to be seen in light of the data about how Sikhs inverted the

prevalent initiation ceremony.

Benevolence (parupkārī) is one of Gurdas’s core ethics. Embodied in the

feet-nectar ceremony, in which established members of the community wash the

feet of newcomers, benevolence becomes a technique to grow the community and

survive difficult times. The enactment of this principle drives the attention outward

from the community to others, and in the meanwhile it serves the community’s

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needs by providing it with a sort of “marketing tool” for publicity and access to

newcomers. In one set of stanzas, Gurdas portrays the community as an ever

growing, benevolent creeper (k38-40). In others he portrays the saints’ society as a

grove of banyan trees, from one seed grow many trees, and thousands more seeds,

ever expanding (visthār, v25.3). The metaphor of the pomegranate shows how a

little seed can yield a fruit-and-pleasure giving tree, the enjoyment of which causes

the pomegranate fruit to spread and grow into more trees, perpetually (v4.11). The

Guru and community are the trees that provide shade (liberation, udhār) to the

world, and scent the world with sublime fragrance (k37). The community is both

one and many, both the seed and the tree, and ever growing (v2.9).

We have touched on the link between drinking feet-nectar and “bearing” an

“unbearable burden.” That drinking from love’s cup prepares practitioners for

bearing unbearable burdens requires deeper investigation in light of the beliefs

already discussed in this chapter. The “cup of love” refers both to the intoxicating

effects of the divine word, as well as to the transformative effects of the feet-nectar

ceremony.30 Gurdas links this “drinking,” as well as the metaphors related to

humility, with bearing burdens (ajar jarnā) repeatedly. Drinking dust bestows

honor on the honorless (v4.2). The Guru’s Sikhs hearts swell when they drink from

love’s cup and bear burdens otherwise unbearable (v6.14). Grass trampled

30
Interestingly, J. S. Grewal notes: “The preoccupation of Bhai Gurdas with ‘the cup of love’ is
quite remarkable. In later Sikh literature, it would come to mean ‘martyrdom’.” J. S. Grewal,
"Martyrdom in Sikh History and Literature," in The Sikhs: Ideology, Institutions, and Identity, ed. J.
S. Grewal (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009), 56.

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underfoot bears what others cannot (v9.14). The spiritual person bears what others

cannot (v10.14). Moreover:

Love’s cup merges the saints’ society with the unstruck word
Focused like the nightingale on the moon, nectar pours over all creation
Like the rainbirds and peacock, they dance to the unstruck melody
Like the bee, they are engrossed peacefully at the Lotus Feet
Like a fish in the ocean of peace, the ways of the pious are mysterious
Drinking the undrinkable, they bear the unbearable and understand the
inexplicable… (from v11.8)

There are many more examples.31 The kabitts speak of a deep, mysterious faith

(bisvās) that comes with the drinking of feet-nectar (e.g., k290-1).

The Unseen Lord is ever-present as He is present in a seed; the seed grows

and expands, and like the Guru, from the tree come innumerable fruits (k55).

Those fruits (Sikhs) contain the seed, and have the potential of the tree: from fruit

to seed to tree, the Sikh community is spreading. Ever present are the Guru and

God. Sometimes, Gurdas portrays the Guru as the trunk and the Sikhs as the

branches (k37, k38); together they provide necessary shade, support, and respite for

the rest of the world. Elsewhere, the sacred scripture is revealed in the tree. From

the tree come fruits, flowers, and roots, which again cycle to root, fruit, and

flowers. In the same way, from the father comes the son and from the son the

father, the two are connected like warp and woof.32

The initiatory feet-nectar ceremony provides an invitation to outsiders to be

31
Please see v11.4.4, v12.19.7, v13.14.4, v14.5.5, v14.19.1, v16.11.9, v16.15.6, v16.21.7, v20.4.5,
v22.10.7, v24.6.5, v26.13.6, v26.24.8, v27.20.5, v28.10.3, v1.47.7, v3.4.4, v39.3.1-3, v40.14.6.
32
Here Gurdas adds that the Perfect Being is Guru Gobind, and Guru Gobind is the Perfect Being
(k56).

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part of the community whose members are on a divine mission to redeem the

world, and by extension of Gurdas’s logic, to establish a new kingdom of justice.

Washing the dust off of the feet of the holy person with water and drinking it is not

only a powerful curative (as the Dabistan evidence attests), but furthers one’s

spiritual progress while furthering the community’s progression and growth by

increasing its numbers. Gurdas is arguing that insofar as the community can stand

in for the Guru, and insofar as the revealed word already does, the practices

surrounding the community (initiation) and the word (kirtan) give Sikhs the

spiritual confidence to see themselves as a self-sustaining community that bows to

no outside authority and whose day will come in the divine court.33

Conclusion

This is how Gurdas tells the Sikh story in its abridged form: the Guru is

God’s form; he started the Gurmukh Panth and made it steadfast to the ideals of

meditation, charity, and purity (nām dān isnān). The Guru taught the Sikh way of

life, transformed the congregation into the realm of truth, and established a

tradition of humility, making Sikhs “fall at feet,” the Guru’s and each others’

(v23.1). Sages and holy men before Guru Nanak employed the same values that

inform the Sikh tradition, but there is a distinction between Guru Nanak and others:

Guru Nanak’s was a divine mission to create a distinct religious path in the world.

33
Scholars concerned with theoretical issues regarding the body, self, and society will find this
interesting, especially how the imbibing of the feet-nectar in the body of one practitioner has
implications for the social body of the group.

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It is not just Guru Nanak’s writings that are divine revelation, but his whole life is

divinely inspired.

The Sikh concept of revelation, or God’s agency through history and His

presence in the congregation, is again located in the “three shelters” taken up at the

outset of the chapter on Sikh beliefs. The chapter on ethics described Gurdas’s

understanding of humility, accepting the divine will, and drinking from love’s

cup—ideas on which this chapter builds. In the chapter on practices, we discussed

how “love’s liquor” is found both in the feet-nectar initiation ceremony as well as

in a deep understanding of the bāṇī. The suffering and related success of the tree,

and this metaphor relations to Gurdas’s vision of Sikh growth, have further been

developed in this chapter. Beginning with the epigraph from Vār 30 about the

cosmic struggle between truth and falsehood, we have discussed Gurdas’s tacit and

discreet presentation of Sikh suffering under tyranny as a means to future

ascendance when divine justice vindicates the community.

Thereby, this dissertation comes full circle by moving from a basic

extrapolation of Gurdas’s fundamental concepts through ethics and practices, and

back to how these three fundamental concepts are the trans-historical notions on

which Gurdas paints the picture of Sikh ascendancy and confidence. The central

message is adherence to a Sikh orthodoxy and orthopraxy:

The Guru’s form is revealed to the Sikh who contemplates his word
From one fruit, a thousand Sikhs and congregations spread like Kartar
Seeing, hearing, believing—the Guru’s own are rare in this world
They merge with feet dust and the whole world seeks their feet
The Gurmukh Mārag is established, trading in truth they transcend

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 Their wares are beyond appraisal, indescribable
The Guru’s word is beloved in the saints’ society (v29.20)

Thus, for Gurdas, the bāṇī itself contains the seed that results in the community’s

full bloom. The community continues divine revelation: the Guru is the

manifestation of an invisible seed (nirankār ekankār), and the Sikhs are the fruits

from that tree (k55). Each of the three is a form of divine revelation. Furthermore,

Gurdas’s “commentary” is as much on Sikh scriptural revelation as on the

revelatory unfolding of Sikh community in world history. Vārs 10 (on the pre-

Sikh “Gurmukhs” who are also Vaishnava subjects), 11 (on the Sikhs of the Guru

who are the heroes of the ballad), and 12 (which is a commentary on the conduct of

the Sikhs, their conduct) are cases in point to this insight.

Gurdas is not writing in a vacuum, but in direct response to the hardships

his community faces. Gurdas speaks of these hardships, albeit cautiously (perhaps

so as not to attract undue state attention). For Gurdas, the suffering that the

community is undergoing is part of the unfolding process by which divine rule will

be established on earth through the Sikh Guru and community. The community’s

success and growth already testifies to that impending reality. Its members’

suffering is temporary, and will be redressed as part of Kartar’s plan for His

community.

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 Conclusion

Bhai Gurdas Bhalla in Context and Legacy

How does a bourgeoning religious tradition, suddenly faced with state

persecution, the assassination of its leader, and the imprisonment of his successor,

survive to become the fifth largest religion in the world? Gurdas’s writings not only

tell us how the religion survived, but themselves constitute one of the mechanisms

that effected its success. Gurdas, himself a major Sikh leader and scribe for a

watershed Sikh manuscript, outlines the basic beliefs of the tradition, underscores

its key practices, and speaks of a Sikh confidence in the face of the anxiety of the

times in 1500 stanzas of his own poetry.

Perhaps not unlike the writings of religious virtuosos from other traditions

like Nagarjuna, Augustine, or al-Ghazali, Gurdas’s works are an example of the

process by which a tradition builds on the bedrock of foundational ideas, ethics, and

rituals in order to sharpen its self-perception and position itself amidst competing

traditions.1 In Gurdas’s works, Guru, community, and divine word provide the

fundamental institutions for the Sikh community. Guru Nanak minted a new coin,

the Gurmukh Panth, and his mission was divinely sanctioned. All of his
1
I hope the comparison of great religious writers will include Gurdas in the future. I am grateful to
Dr. Richard Hecht of UCSB for the concept of religious virtuoso, which we explored in a seminar
he led.

227
successors, through Guru Hargobind, continued the founder’s mission, completing

the process of divine revelation on earth. Guru Hargobind is an emperor, not only

of this world, but as well of the spiritual world hereafter.

Guru Nanak initiated the tradition of Sikh scripture, and he set the Sikh

liturgy. Bāṇī is a core aspect of Sikh educational heritage, the source of Sikh beliefs

and ethics, and each Sikh is responsible to read, understand, and teach it. Gurdas

asks Sikhs to build their lives around the bāṇī, but wants Sikhs to be driven more

by the spirit of the Guru's words than by the letters of his laws, a fitting

perspective amidst the context of communal growth.

For Gurdas, the Sikh community is an expanding banyan tree. He

articulates the need for Sikhs to take care of other Sikhs, and posits newcomers as

objects of worship. The self-sufficient community is also a continuation of the

divine revelation, and a congregation of five Sikhs embodies the divine presence.

Gaining converts and expanding the community is one of Gurdas’s loftiest goals, to

which he dedicates much of his writings.

His audience is not the political elite of the time; it is the core and fringes of

the Sikh community. He attempts to solidify the core’s adherence to the Sikh

center and to Guru Hargobind, as well as the adherence of those on the fringes.

Perhaps this is one reason why Gurdas writes in several languages: to create

literatures by which Sikhs can expand their base, reach out to larger constituencies,

228
and establish a strong, monotheistic community across northern India.

Gurdas refers to other religious traditions as well. His writings set Sikhs in

contrast to Vaishnava, Shakta, and Shaiva traditions via their strict, anti-iconic

monotheism. He speaks of various Indian religious practices pejoratively, calling

them “tantar-mantar". Coveting and greed are forbidden for Sikhs as beef is for

Hindus and pork for Muslims. In his later vars, and as well in the kabitts, Gurdas

asserts an ethic of gentle tolerance of other religious traditions. But he is also clear

about his opinion of his group’s dominance: since the Sikh tradition's inception,

other religions cannot boast the power and authority that they used to.

Gurdas’s articulation of early Sikh identity ranks among the highest of his

contributions to Sikh tradition. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the clearest

exponent of Sikh philosophy and practice wrote during one of the most tumultuous

periods in Sikh history. The early 1600s were a crucible that forged the Sikh

community into a more finished state. Gurdas’s poetry articulates a level of Sikh

self-understanding that had never before been achieved.

Gurdas’s contributions are the most important of any Sikh to this day. No

other interpretor of Sikh tradition has had the widespread impact that Gurdas has

had.2 Gurdas clarifies for Sikhs their obligations to the larger community and they

2
The important codes of conduct that some scholars hold up as important look to Gurdas’s
writings as a source of intellectual and moral authority. Evidence from the eighteenth century
indicates that Gurdas’s writings were held in much higher regard and more often in Sikh circles the
text known today as the Dasam Granth. Gurdas’s ideas had great impact on Sikh life from the time

229
should treat their bodies, their families, and other Sikhs; as well as how they should

regard themselves in relation to the state. His writings attempt to arouse a

consciousness of the Sikh community, its widespread nature, and its certain,

impending ascendency. With an unprecedented clarity, he exhorts Sikhs to adhere

to orthodoxy and orthopraxy. He reminds them of the nearness of the divine in

their every action, and their ethical obligations to their religion. He articulates how

newcomers should be welcomed into the community and clarifies the meaning of

Sikh initiation rituals. He places the burgeoning Sikh community at the crest of

Indian religious history, riding an ascending wave of tradition, transcending religious

differences through its message, and achieving a pan-Indian presence that is part of

the community’s mission from God.

Gurdas’s writings represent an attempt by an important Sikh to help the

community steady its course while enduring tragedies. He writes of finding

inspiration amdist troubles. He compares Guru Hargobind's increased politicization

of the community to building a protective fence of thorny bushes around an

exposed field. Gurdas promises that the entire Gurmukh Panth will be liberated in

the hereafter, accepted into the divine court. By bolstering the Sikh Guru as the

true king and berating the “false rulers” of the world, Gurdas underscores Sikh

of their composition to today. They often echo the Guru Granth, and offer clear enunciations of its
messages. Gurdas’s conceptions provide early forms of the concept of "Guru Panth,” and are
underscored in Chaupa Singh's (1700) and Kesar Singh Chhibbar's (1769) emphases of Guru
Granth.

230
sovereignty, and the notion that the community does not recognize any other

authority. Problems with Mughal authority would have further required

legitimation within the Sikh fold. Gurdas reminds Sikhs what their religious

persecutions meant, and why the stakes were cosmically high. Sikhs were to

continue their founder’s divine mission in spite of the challenges they faced.

Underscoring the bourgeoning community’s beliefs would have been

important in the face of rival religious and sectarian splinter groups. By controlling

the interpretation of Sikh scripture, practices, and history, Gurdas helped Sikhs

delimit their boundaries. In his polemics against Vaishnava groups, Gurdas berates

Sikhs, whose parents had converted to the tradition, beginning to worship outside

of the Sikh fold and reverting to the pre-Sikh practices of their ancestors and peers.

Although the leaders of Sikh splinter groups and their followers are the subjects of

Gurdas’s most virulent polemics, the author advises that the mainstream

community’s strategy towards those groups should be to let them believe as they

do and to act graciously towards them. Comparison between Gurdas’s

compositions and the writings of his counterpart in a rival group, Miharban Sodhi

(d. 1640), would teach us much about how rival groups within the Sikh fold sought

to position themselves in relation to one another. Perhaps future works on Gurdas

will also position his writings in the context of early Sikh success and seventeenth

century turbulence.

231
Towards a Life Sketch

Let us combine the lessons about Gurdas’s life that emerge from his own

works with some of the more verifiable data from Chapter One to build a brief

biography. Gurdas’s birth date varies but most scholars today place it in the

middle of the sixteenth century. Although an exact birth year seems impossible to

ascertain, Gurdas may have been born as late as the 1560s or 1570s. Gurdas’s

father Ishardas Bhalla, was a cousin of the third Sikh Guru, Amardas (d. 1574).

Growing up in the town of Goindval—the center of the Sikh tradition during Guru

Amardas’s time, and located in the vicinity of Sultanpur Lodhi, and on the Delhi-

Lahore trade route—Gurdas would have had abundant exposure to extensive

learning opportunities.3

Gurdas’s name reveals a great deal about his place in his contemporary

society. “Bhalla” indicates his family’s Khatri identity, which may help to explain

his comfort with the use of trade metaphors, his knowledge of trading communities,

and, in part, his erudition. Furthermore, as a relative of the Gurus, Gurdas certainly

enjoyed a position of prestige within the community—to say nothing of his own

grand accomplishments. Gurdas’s role of scriptural scribe, together with the large

number of his writings, demonstrates his devotion to the cause of advancing the
3
Sultanpur Lodhi was an important trading center in the late medieval period, and place of Hindu
and Islamic education. Please see Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab.

232
Sikh traditions’ institutions: scriptural, ritual, doctrinal, devotional, and

commentarial.

His given name is not a trivial detail. Meaning, “slave of the Guru,” it is a

characteristically Sikh name. This is profound as it is a religious name (perhaps

indicative of his loyalty to his Guru), but not a strictly Vaishnava name as taken by

many of his contemporaries. Though it is common for South Asian poets to

include their name in the last line of compositions, Gurdas rarely follows this trend

in his writings, except in a few instances in the Brajbhāshā compositions that are

discussed below.4

From early on (by 1700), he is referred to with the honorific “Bhai,” and may

have even refered to himself in this way. 5 In later Sikh texts, Gurdas is one of the

first and most important Sikhs depicted. He is first portrayed as the scribe of the

Guru Granth, and then as the author of interpretive poetry. By the late eighteenth

century, he is also depicted as amanuensis, and as a community leader who held the

utmost confidence of the fifth and sixth Sikh Gurus.

Despite the lack of data about Gurdas having married or having offspring, his

poems extol the virtues of the householder’s life (grahastī jīvan), saying in no

uncertain terms that it is the best religious lifestyle (dharam… pradhān), and that

4
The phrase gur-dāsī, “service of the Guru,” does appear in the vārs four times, but it is
unconnected with the persona of the poet. See v11.13.2, v25.10.5, v25.18.6, v29.15.4.
5
I refer here to the savaiyya numbered 555 in some collections, and 556 in others.

233
even the ascetic depends on the householder.6 Narrativized details of his supposed

celibacy do not emerge until late in the eighteenth century. More likely than not,

Gurdas himself prescribed to the tradition of marriage that he speaks so highly of in

his works.

Gurdas traveled widely, and Sikh traditional sources register his presence in

Agra, the center of the Mughal imperial administration, and Benares, a major center

for Indian religious learning. The traditional depiction of Gurdas as a traveling

preacher also seems to have some basis in his writings. For one, he reports that he

makes the Guru’s word heard in Sikh communities.7 His knowledge of the Indian

rāg system of music indicates that he may have had some musical training.8

Second, he provides an extensive list of Sikh communities from Kabul, in the west,

to Bengal, in the east.9 It is likely that he visited the established Sikh families

through northern India about whom he writes. Gurdas bemoans the pangs of

separation of traveling far from the Guru, and laments about how his life has passed

him by in distant lands. 10

The primary occupations among Gurdas’s Khatri clansmen would have been

6
See k375, k376, k480, k548.
7
See k501, k611.
8
See v19.4.5, v34.6.3.
9
See Vār 11.
10
See k400, k401, k500, k520, k578.

234
trade, followed by work in the imperial bureaucracy. Gurdas reports knowledge of

Persian, in which he may have been trained as part of his Khatri upbringing.11 He

frequently uses metaphors of trade,12 yet is equally as comfortable employing

agricultural metaphors, which fit well with the largely agrarian base of the society in

which he lived.13

His first major contribution to the Sikh tradition was the inscription of the

Kartarpur Pothi, by 1604. This task required access to the four-volume scriptural

manuscripts in his hometown of Goindval. We do not know where Gurdas lived

during the period of upheaval in the Sikh tradition after 1606. In his writings,

Gurdas pities himself for having lived close to the Sikh center for so long, but yet

not achieving the same religious prowess as some Sikhs who live at a distance.14

His works discuss the execution of Guru Arjan, Guru Hargobind’s political reaction

to that event, and to Hargobind’s subsequent imprisonment in the royal fort at

Gwalior, probably in the 1610s. There is strong tradition that Gurdas was one of

the Sikhs who traveled with the Guru to Gwalior, or at least visited him there.

The period after Guru Arjan’s death was one in which Gurdas wrote

prolifically. The volume of Gurdas’s writings attests to their having been an

11
See v11.2.
12
See k118, k454, k455, k475.
13
See k121, k238.
14
See k507, k639.

235
important part of his life’s work. That he wrote in at least two distinct languages

and literary genres is also significant. Gurdas’s use of Punjabi has earned him

critical acclaim and a place among Punjab’s great writers.15 His mastery of vārs,

kabitts, savaiyyās, and chhands points to the level of literary ability he held. 16 Not

only do Gurdas’s writings reveal an author versed in Sikh tradition, but a

cosmopolitan poet who was also knowledgeable about Hindu,17 Muslim,18 and folk

traditions.19 He was equally comfortable with engaging Vaishnava theology in its

own devotional language as he was using the Punjabi vār in a characteristically Sikh

adaption of a Sufi wine ode.20

There probably was a significant overlap betwen genres during Gurdas’s

career as a writer. Still, the increased self-reference and self-awareness of the poet

apparent in the kabitts opens the possibility that some of these compositions were

written later than the vārs, which give an air of anonymity. Also, certain aspects of

Gurdas’s vārs express more urgently the threat of schism, and more forcefully

15
Sekhon, Bhai Gurdas: Ik Adhiain.
16
Piara Singh Padam argues that the only factor keeping Gurdas from being considered among the
great Brajbhāshā poets is that his works are preserved in the Gurmukhi script, rather than Nāgarī.
Please see Padam, "Bhai Gurdas Di Hindi Rachna."
17
For examples, see his Vār 10, which provides succinct retellings of stories from Vaishnava lore,
and kabitts 16, 18, 24, 31, and 461, which provide a view of his comfort with Yoga terminology.
18
Please see Vārs 1, 26, and 39.
19
Vār 5, 21.2-4, and kabitts 154 and 436.
20
See Vār 39.

236
denounce the schismatic groups. As such, they seem to respond more clearly to

what would have been the immediate concerns of Gurdas’s sectarian group after the

death of Guru Arjan. The kabitts respond to those issues as well, but are more

muted.

In the rare instances where he refers to himself in his writings, he does so in a

characteristically self-deprecating style. He confesses looking at women in the

congregation, and says that he is a crow among a congregation of swans.21 He

compares his plight to that of the blind, deaf, and mute.22 He reports that though

he sings the word of the Guru, he is internally corrupt and Sikhs of the

congregations he visits only accept him because he looks the part of a religious

man.23 Whereas such instances of the poet’s confessional tone are much more

common in the Brajbhāshā quatrains, he does use this tone in the vars at the ends of

long, polemical diatribes. The confessional stanzas seem to function as an apology

for the harshness of the polemics, painting the polemicist has the worst offender of

all.24 At the end of one such polemic, he calls himself murīd, an Arabic and Persian

synonym for his name.25 In the kabitts, Gurdas plays on the semantic meaning of

21
See k236, k237, k501, k522.
22
See k314.
23
See k611, k622.
24
See v17.21, v36.21, and v37.29.
25
See v37.29.

237
his name, “slave of the Guru,” as if it were an ironic title, or a joke that means the

opposite of what it seems to when it refers to him.26 Some examples of Gurdas

mocking himself follow:

I insult the Guru with my ego, pride and foolishness.

I slander the servants of the Guru (gur-dāsan), though my own
name is Gurdas.27

He does not sip the Guru’s feet-nectar like a rain bird, he does not
put the Guru in his heart.
How ridiculous that he calls himself Gurdas.28

These and other instances show his comfort with his status as a writer and indicate

that he was renowned enough in his time to have employed such strategies.29

As for his self-conception as a literary figure, Gurdas fashions himself as a minstrel

or bard at the service of the Sikh community. The two categories, ḍhaḍī and bhaṭṭ,

are key to understand. Gurdas calls himself a ḍhaḍī, of that category of performers

whose domain is the vār. 30 But he also registers the fact that bhaṭṭs are the

composers of kabitts.31 Both categories were important in the early Sikh literary

26
See k189-91.
27
See k191.1.
28
See k551.
29
See also k106, k107, k108, k216. See Gurdas’s use of “Bhai” in stanza k556, maybe this is
another kind of poetic signature as it occurs in the last line of the final poem of the first known
collection of his works.
30
See k36.21.
31
See v15.2.

238
tradition because (1) Guru Nanak and his successors described themselves as

minstrels of the divine court, and (2) Gurdas’s work has been depicted as a

continuation of the work of the Sikh bards, whose poetry is enshrined in Sikh

scripture.32

Likely dates for his death range between 1629 and 1637, with 1636 being

attested to in multiple sources. All sources point to his having died in Goindval at a

site later sanctified by the Sikh Gurdwara regulatory board (Shiromani Gurdwara

Prabandak Committee, or S.G.P.C.). Some sources report that Guru Hargobind

oversaw Gurdas’s last rites, but the Guru would have left the Goindval area at the

time, having been driven to eastern portions of Punjab by his imperial enemies.

32
See Hans, A Reconstruction of Sikh History from Sikh Literature.

239
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