Janamsakhis
The Janamsakhis, are popular hagiographies of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. Considered by scholars as semi-legendary biographies, they were based on a Sikh oral tradition of historical fact, homily, and legend, with the first janamsakhi were composed between 50 and 80 years after his death. Many more were written in the 17th and 18th century. The largest Guru Nanak Prakash, with about 9,700 verses, was written in the early 19th century by Kavi Santokh Singh.
The four janamsakhi traditions that have survived into the modern era include the Bala, Miharban, Adi and Puratan versions. While each tradition offering their own perspectives, interpretations, and points of emphasis on the stories they report, they generally present Guru Nanak's life in three parts: the first part covering his childhood and early adulthood, the second part as an itinerant missionary after receiving the call from Akal Purakh, and the last part presents him as settled in Kartarpur, founding his community of believers.
Over 40 significant manuscript editions of the janamsakhis are known, all composed between the 17th and early-19th centuries, with most of these in the Puratan and Bala collections. The expanded version containing the hagiographies of all ten Sikh Gurus is the popular Suraj Prakash by Santokh Singh. This poetic janamsakhi is recited on festive occasions in Sikh Gurdwaras, Sikh ceremonies and festivals.
Overview
The janamsakhis present accounts of the life of Guru Nanak and his early companions, with varying degrees of supernatural elements among them, typical for hagiographic biographies; more important was his message of equality before God, regardless of social classifications, also emphasizing friendships with those of other religions and the welfare of women. As stories were told and retold, the ways they were combined crystallized into a small number of specific traditions.Origin
The janamsakhi stories likely began through family and friends close to Guru Nanak, spreading to others. The earliest layer of what was to become the written tradition later was, according to McLeod, "authentic memories concerning actual incidents from the life of Nanak," in conjunction with the verses left by him in what would become the Adi Granth.The first janamsakhis were oral in nature and began spreading across the Punjab when news on Guru Nanak's exploits and fame started being passed around. They were first put to writing likely around the early 17th century. However, according to Pyar Singh the earliest dated extant janamsakhi manuscript is from 1588.
Sikh tradition
The janamsakhi have been historically popular in the Sikh community and broadly believed as true, historical biography of the founder of their religion. They have been recited at religious gatherings, shared as reverential fables with the young generation, and embedded in the cultural folklore over the centuries. Guru Nanak is deeply revered by the devout Sikhs, the stories in the janamsakhi are a part of their understanding of his divine nature and the many wonders he is believed to have performed.Didactic texts
The early editions of the janamsakhi manuscripts are more than Guru Nanak's life story. They relate each story with a teaching in the hymn of the Sikh scripture and illustrate a fundamental moral or teaching. The earliest janamsakhi collections were structured to lucidly expound on Guru Nanak's teachings to the audience, relating accounts to the specific hymns of the Adi Granth. The early oral tradition reached remote areas away further from Kartarpur, presenting his life and teachings to those who had never met the Guru, and for following generations.The dominant motif of the janamsakhi is not chronological or geographical accuracy, as history was not their concern, but the depiction of various themes of "the divine dispensation of Nanak, his concern for kindness, social cohesiveness, and his stress on divine unity and the consequent unity of humanity," revealing the beliefs, attitudes, and needs valued by the Sikh community of the age. Incorporating verses from Guru Nanak's works to illuminate his theological and ethical teachings in a biographical framework and in the idiom and style of myth and allegory, their quick, vigorous style would lend them to a popular oral tradition of moral instruction. Along with Indic mythologizing traditions of itihasa, which incorporated mythology, history, philosophy, and geography, the Janamsakhi tradition was also contemporary with the Sufi allegorical traditions about Muhammad and Muslim saints, during influence in the period of Islamic domination. In this milieu where spiritual figures were understood and remembered, the janamsakhis commemorated and expounded upon the teachings of Guru Nanak.
The janamsakhi may have been the early didactic texts in the Sikh tradition, including a teaching, a moral instruction along with an associated hymn found in the Sikh scripture, serving as pedagogical texts, sustaining Guru Nanak's message through time for the community that valued it. In order to convey Guru Nanak's teachings, the janamsakhis make extensive use of allegory, often with mythic elements to imbue meaning. Though the birth narrative of Nanak shares similarities with that of Christ, Buddha, and Krishna, he is depicted as having a normal birth, with a Muslim midwife, Daultan, beside Guru Nanak's mother Mata Tripta, implying interfaith harmony. Typically dangerous natural phenomena either protect Nanak or are mastered by him, as a cobra shades child Nanak as he sleeps, or a rolling boulder being stopped by his hand. In a parable placed in Mecca, during Guru Nanak's travels he fell with his feet towards the Kaaba, to which a Qadi objected, but when he tried to rotate his feet away from it, the Kaaba reorients in the direction of Guru Nanak's feet, attesting to the omnipresence of God and the internality of faith as opposed to the external. A parable also relays Guru Nanak's body vanishing after his death and left behind fragrant flowers, which Hindus and Muslims then divided, one to cremate and other to bury.
''Janamsakhi'' traditions
Main traditions
''Sakhi Mahal Pehle Ki''
Sakhi Mahal Pehle Ki was discovered by Piar Singh and McLeod, but remained unexamined and published until 2014 when Dr. S.S. Padam found multiple different manuscripts of the text across Punjabi universities and published them with examination. The text is now considered the oldest of the Janamsakhi tradition and the root source for the other Janamsakhis.Sakhi Mahal Pehle Ki claims to be written by Seeha Upal of Sultanpur, a Sikh of Guru Amar Das. It is also written in prose contrary to other Janamsakhis and is written in an archaic form of the Majhi dialect. It does not follow a set chronological order and no sakhis are numbered nor appear with a heading. The text appears to be an incomplete draft. Sakhi Mahal Pehle Ki has been dated to 1570-1574, during the last few years of Guru Amar Das's guruship.
Scholars consider this Janamsakhi to have been used by authors of other traditions. Padam believes that Bhai Gurdas wrote his first Vaar to fill the believed gaps in Sakhi Mahal Pehle Ki. Dr. Kirpal Singh disagrees with this point believing Gurdas's tradition to be independent. Both do agree on other Janamsakhi traditions being based on Sakhi Mahal Pehle Ki.
Sakhi Mahal Pehle Ki puts the Guru's birth in Vaisakh 1469. The text goes into very little detail on Guru Nanak's travels outside of Sultanpur. He mostly accounts the Guru travelling around Sultanpur in great detail. Other travels are not described in much detail, and the author seems to be unaware of the geography outside of the general Punjab and rarely names places. Famous stories such as Guru Nanak's travels to Mecca, Medina, Baghdad, and conversations with Sidhs are missing and raises doubts on those events historicity.
''Puratan'' ''janamsakhi''
This janamsakhi tradition is one of the oldest, with the earliest extant manuscript of this tradition dating back to 1640. It is believed to have first been put pen to paper around 80 years after the passing of Nanak. Presenting a more concise, less fantastical account of Guru Nanak's life, its realistic account of Guru Nanak's life and lack of fantasy elements led to its prominence among the Singh Sabha.The term Puratan janamsakhis means ancient janamsakhis and is generally used with reference to the composite work which was compiled by Bhai Vir Singh and first published in 1926. Of the still existing copies of the Puratan janamsakhis the two most important were the Colebrooke and Hafizabad versions. The first of these was discovered in 1872, the manuscript had been donated to the library of the east India company by H.T. Colebrooke and is accordingly known as the Colebrooke or Vailaitwali janamsakhi. Although there is no date on it the manuscript points to around 1635.
In the year 1883 a copy of a janamsakhi was dispatched by the India Office Library in London for the use of Dr. Trumpp and the Sikh scholars assisting him. This janamsakhi was the basis of the accounts written by Trumpp, Macauliffe, and most Sikh scholars. Gurmukh Singh of the Oriental College, Lahore, found another janamsakhi at Hafizabad which was very similar to that found by Colebrook. Gurmukh Singh who was collaborating with Mr. Macauliffe in his research on Sikh religion, made it available to the Englishman, who had it published in November 1885.
According to the Puratan janamsakhi, Guru Nanak Dev Ji was born in the month of Vaisakh, 1469. The date is given as the third day of the light half of the month and the birth is said to have taken place during the last watch before dawn. His father Kalu was a khatri of the Bedi sub-cast and lived in a village Rai Bhoi di Talwandi; his mother's name is not given. When Guru Ji turned seven he was taken to a pundit to learn how to read. After only one day he gave up reading and when the pundit asked him why Guru Ji lapsed into silence and instructed him at length on the vanity of worldly learning and the contrasting value of the Divine Name of God. The child began to show disturbing signs of withdrawal from the world. He was sent to learn Persian at the age of nine but returned home and continued to sit in silence. Locals advised his father that Nanak should be married. This advice was taken and at the age of twelve a betrothal was arranged at the house of Mula of the Chona sub-caste. Sometime later Nanak moved to Sultanpur where his sister Nanaki was married. Here he took up employment with Daulat Khan. One day Nanak went to the river and while bathing messengers of God came and he was transported to the divine court. There he was given a cup of nectar and with it came the command Nanak, this is the cup of My Name. Drink it. This he did and was charged to go into the world and preach the divine Name.