1 Disappoints his
2 father in trade
3 business,
4 His feeding the
5 hungry faqirs,
6 The “ Khard Soudd.”
7 The “Mal Sahib,”
8 242 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
9 ‘improved by wearing the thread, and that he thought the ceremony was
10 quite uncalled for. The guests were much disappointed at the attitude
11 assumed by the young, but talented, Nanak, and the Brahmans were without
12 an answer to his philosophical treatment of the matter, of which long
13 accounts are given in the Sikh books. He observed :—
14 wy om us®3lo usm Gul es Um mele
15 wa? sys ee shy” 933} Sr)
16 ‘*Man is dignified by repeating the name of God. His praise is the strongest thread.
17 This thread once put on, ® man can be admitted into the presence of God, and this cannot, |
18 my son, ever break down.’
19 When he was fifteen years of age, his father, with the view of training
20 him in the art of trade and shopkeeping, sent him to a village to purchase
21 salt to the amount of Rs. 40, and to sell it in another at a higher price. Bald,
22 a servant of the family, was sent with the boy. On his way to the village,
23 Ndnak met a party of faqirs who were so hungry that they had lost allt
24 power of speech, and could not make their wants known except by signs.
25 Nanak’s compassion was aroused for the destitute and hungry faqirs, and,
26 having purchased provisions worth Rs. 40, he fed the faqirs. The faqirs
27 having satiated their hunger and refreshed themselves, Nanak held a long
28 religious discourse with them, and derived particular pleasure from seeing
29 them relieved of their distress. Bala rebuked the youth for what he thought
30 a waste of money; but Ndnak observed: “I have made a bargain the profit
31 of which shall be reaped in the world tocome. A bargain with God is much
32 more profitable than any transaction with men.”
33 Nanak, on returning home, concealed himself in the branches of a tree,
34 from fear of his father, who was informed of what his son had done. The
35 father was in a great fury and began to beat little Ndnak, but Rai Bular,
36 who understood the lad, appeased his anger by the payment of Rs, 40
37 from his own purse.
38 The place where Ndnak fed the hungry fagirs is known as Khdrd
39 Soudé (or unalloyed bargain), The tree in which he is reputed to have
40 concealed himself, exists to this day, with its branches bowed down to the
41 ground on all sides, and is called “Mdél Sahib” by the people. Notwith-
42 _ standing the chastisement he had received for his liberality with his father’s
43 The “ Hat Sahib.”
44 Nanak’s marrin:
45 with Sulakhni, ne
46 His sister Nankt,
47 money, he invariably made a practice of giving the needy whatever he
48 could lay his hands upon in his father’s house, and was punished as often
49 as he was discovered in these acts. His father once provided him with a
50 shop at Sultanpdr, furnishing it with articles of merchandise, but, instead of
51 turning them to any account, he gradually ‘bestowed all in charity upon
52 faqirs to the great disappointment and disgust of his father. The spot
53 where Nanak opened his shop is called “Hat Sahib,” and the weights and
54 measures which he used exist to this day, and are objects of worship and
55 vener:tion to his disciples.
56 When Nanak reached the sixteenth year of his age, his parents, think-
57 ing that a matrimonial alliance would have the effect of turning his mind
58 to worldly affairs, got him married. He was married to Sulakhni, the
59 daughter of one Muld, a Chhatri, resident of Lakhoki, in Batdla, Zilla Gurdas-
60 pur, but the marriage had not the desired effect, and Nanak.did not re-
61 nounce his wandering habit and his love for faqirs. Nanak had a sister
62 named Ndnki, who was married to Jay Ram, a Hindu in the service of
63 Nawab Doulat Khan Lodi, a grandee and relation of the reigning emperor
64 SriSatgGfuPshesByiyecBakde). The nawdly drabharitiinsineaigaiell conbultanpur