Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
282that his c ontemporaries c ould envision a different type of ‘thread’, a different ritual,
a whole different ideal. There are many suc h vignettes in whic h Nanak vividly
dismant les t he prevailing soc iet al hegemonies of c ast e and c lass and reinforc es an
egalitarian human dimension.
T he Janamsakhis are part ic ularly signific ant in int roduc ing t he earliest women
mentioned in Sikhism. T hey may not fully develop t heir individual c harac t ers, and
reveal them only in so far as they are related to the Guru. Yet even in their
rudimentary presentations, the authors highlight the subtle awareness that the
women possess. Mata Tripta is a wise woman who understand her son and c an see
into his unique personality – muc h more so than his father. T he midwife Dault an is
st ruc k by t he ext raordinary qualit ies of t he c hild she delivers. Like Mary Magdalene,
who was the first woman to have witnessed the resurrection of Christ, sister Nanaki
is the first person to rec ognize Nanak’s enlightenment. Only Sulakhni’s role is
ambiguous, as if the authors did not quite know how to deal with her. As the wife of
the founder of the Sikh religion, where was she? What was her relationship with her
husband? How did she feel when he left her with their two sons and went on his
long journeys?
.... T he Janamsakhi lit erat ure depic t s a pluralist ic Nanak, who engages
meaningfully wit h people of different fait hs. Full of respec t and with no ac rimony,
he discusses and discourses with them. There is the urge in him to know and get
c loser t o ‘ot hers’, so wit h his Muslim c ompanion, he t ravels ext ensively. Nanak is
seen in Hardwar, he is seen in Mecca, he is seen in the upper ranges of the
Himalayas. He visits temples, mosques, viharas and khanaqahs; he attends a
mu lt itude of fairs and fest ivals. The basic c ommonness of humanity is what he
carries to people of every faith. He invit es all t o be aut hent ic ally t hemselves, and
thus creates space for real and different religious commitments. When he meets
Muslims, he adjures them to be faithful to the teac hing of their faith; and when he
meets Hindus, he urges them to abide by the tenets of their own tradition. Wit h
t heir prac t ic al sensibility and inherent wit, the Janamsakhi authors relay the
pluralist ic dynamism wit h whic h Nanak engages wit h t he religious and c ult ural
diversit y of his t imes, and suc c eeds in est ablishing his own dist inc t fait h.
Guru Nanak’s Revelation
A profoundly simple yet highly nuanc ed narrative from the Puratan Janamsakhi
celebrates Guru Nanak’s revelatory experience of the singular Divine, configured as
Ikk Oan Kar. On a c loser analysis it highlight s some unique aspec t s of Sikh origins,
as well as t he universal struc tures found in myths ac ross c ultures. This major event
in Guru Nanak’s life takes plac e in Sultanpur, where he was employed in a store
owned by a loc al Muslim landlord. One day, Nanak did not return home after his
usual morning bath in the River Bein. A wide search was made but there was no
sign of him. His clothes were found by the river. Everyone thought he had drowned.
The town was plunged into gloom. But Nanak reappeared on the third day. During
this interval, the Janamsakhi rec ounts his direc t c ommunion with the Divine. T his
was his personal rite of passage, a symbolic birth that redefined Guru Nanak’s
soc ial and spirit ual ident it y. Having rejected the Upanayana, he goes through an
entirely different rite of passage – c onforming to the arc hetypal tripartite pattern of
separat ion, liminalit y and reinc orporat ion.