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Muslims c arry away t he fragrant flowers – t o c remat e or bury ac c ording t o t heir
respective customs.
They repeatedly portray Guru Nanak denounc ing formal ritual, often with great
wit and irony. During his t ravels, Nanak visit s Hardwar, t he anc ient sit e of
pilgrima ge on t he River Ganges. When he saw some priests sprinkling water to the
rising sun in the East, Nanak started sprinkling water to the West. The priests found
his ac t ions sac rilegious. So when they asked him who would benefit from his
splashing water to the West, he questioned them in return. The priests responded
that they were offering oblations to the spirits of their dead ancestors. Nanak then
c ontinues his proc edure with even greater vigor. Through this dramatic sequenc e
he makes the point that, if water sprinkled by priests could reach their dead
anc estors, surely his would reac h the fields down the road and help his c rops.
This pedagogic al pattern rec urs frequently in the Janamsakhi narratives. Nanak
twists and overturns the established ritual c oded in a way t hat c hallenges people’s
innate assumptions, and orients them toward a new reality. The numerous mirac les
assoc iated with him a not a means of amplifying his grandeur, but rather, they
serve as lenses through whic h his audienc e c an interrogate the inner workings of
their own minds. When Nanak goes to Mecca, for example, he falls asleep, with his
feet towards the Ka’ba. The Qazi in charge gets upset because of the irreverence
shown by the visitor. However, Nanak does not get ruffled. Rat her than c ontradic t
him, he politely asks the Qazi to turn his feet in a direction he deemed proper. But
as Nanak’s feet are turned, so does the sacred Ka’ba. There is no need for readers
t o c onsider it a hist oric al fac t ; t he mot ion of c irc ularit y simply shat t ers rigid ment al
f o rmu la s. T hat t he Divine exist s in every direc t ion and t hat int ernal religiosit y
cannot be expressed externally are effectively communicated. Narratives such as
this disloc ate c onventional habits and linear struc tures of the readers, and whirl
them into a vast interior horizon.
In an oft-quoted ac c ount, Nanak refuses to partic ipate in the upanyana
init iat ion – the important thread (janeu) ceremony reserved for ‘twice born’ Hindu
boys (from the upper three classes). The Janamsakhis point to a young Nanak
disrupt ing t his c ruc ial rit e of passage t hat had prevailed for c ent uries. His denial is
framed within an elaborate setting arranged by his parents. A large number of
relatives and friends are invited to their house. Pandit Hardyal, the revered family
priest, officiates at the ceremonies. Pandit Hardyal is seat ed on a spec ially built
platform purified by cow-dung plaster and the boy Nanak is seated across, facing
h im. Pandit Hardyal light s lamps, light s fragrant inc ense, draws beaut iful designs in
flour-c halk and rec it es melodious mant ras. When the priest proceeds to invest the
initiate with the sacred thread (janeu), Nanak interrupts the c eremonies, questions
him as to what he is doing with the yarn, and refuses to wear it. At this point, the
narrative juxtaposed Nanak’s c ritic ism of the handspun thread with his ardent
proposal for one that is emotionally and spiritually ‘woven by the cotton of
c ompassion, spun into the yarn of c ontentment, knotted by virtue, and twisted by
truth’. Rather than being draped externally; the janeu becomes an internal process.
‘Suc h a thread’, c ontinues Nanak, ‘will neither snap nor soil: neither get burnt nor
lost ’. Nanak’s biography and poetry are thus blended together by the Janamsakhi
aut hor t o illust rat e his rejection of an exclusive rite of passage. A young Nanak
interrupts a smooth c eremony in front of a large gathering in his father’s house so