1 He is believed to
2 have inherited the
3 spirit of Nanak,
4 Nanak founds an
5 apostolic successorship.
6 Fis motives in so
7 acting.
8 Early occupation
9 and religious belief of
10 Angad.
11 He upholds the
12 principles of Nanak,
13 Collects the sayings
14 of his predecessor.
15 Dies, 1552,
16 Amar Das succeeds.
17 His parentage and
18 early occupation,
19 250 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
20 “my own- body.” The belief common among the Sikhs is that the spirit of
21 Ndnak is inherited by each successive Guru.
22 2—GURU ANGAD.
23 Lahna, on succeeding to the Guruship, assumed the title of “ Angad,”
24 an epithet applied to him by his illustrious predecessor, in consideration
25 of his proved loyalty and devotion. Angad was born in 1504 (1561
26 Samvat) in the village of Khadir, his residence on the river Bids, near
27 Gowindwal, in the Tirhua subdivision of the Chhatris. The Sikh religion,
28 would, in all probability, have gradually completely died out and sunk
29 into oblivion, as has been the lot of many others, had it not been for the
30 foresight and wisdom of its founder, in establishing an apostolic successor:
31 ship, and thereby creating a spirit of aspiration and ambition in his
32 followers which insured, to a great extent, its perpetuation.
33 Nanak devoted his life to the instruction of man in the path of virtue
34 and righteousness. His motives were quite unselfish, and he had at his heart
35 the good of the nation and the prosperity of the people among whom he lived.
36 He, therefore, delegated his office neither to any of his sons, nor to any of his
37 early followers, who were probably not with him at the close of his life, but
38 to Angad, who had joined him not long before his death, and whom he
39 considered the most fit. Angad gained his livelihood by the work of his own
40 hands, twisting van, or coarse twine made of munj.
41 He had great reverence for the Devé at Jawdla Mukhi, near Kangra, and
42 used to pay her homage every year, travelling on foot. On becoming a disciple '
43 of Ndnak, he gave up his periodical pilgrimages to the Devi, being convin-
44 ced that service to the Guru was more beneficial to him, both here and
45 hereafter, than the performing of pilgrimages to the Devi and the worshipping
46 of her effigy. . ;
47 Angad was strongly attached to Nénak and was his most fervent server
48 and staunch ally. He was hardly possessed of any merits of his own, but
49 he spread the religion of his Guru by following studiously in the path which
50 Nanak had paved out for his successors.
51 He committed to writing * much about his great predecessor, both that
52 which he himself remembered, and that which was narrated to him by Bald,
53 the old companion of Nanak.
54 He also recorded the results of his own devotional observations which
55 have been incorporated in the Granth.
56 Angad had two sons, both of whom became men of the world. He re-
57 moved his head-quarters from Derdé B&ébd Nénak to his own village of Khadiir.
58 His feet were afflicted with a severe complaint, to which he fell a victim in
59 1552, the thirteenth year of the reign of Akber, having reigned as a Guru
60 for fifteen years. His tomb was erected in his native village,
61 3.-GURU AMAR DAS.
62 A cultivated mind, or scientific attainments, do not seem to have been
63 the qualifications which rendered a man eligible for occupying the masnad
64 of a Guru. What was looked for in a successor, was moral courage and
65 devotion to the reigning Guru. Amar Dds, on whom, the choice of succes-
66 sorship fell, was the most faithful follower of Guru Angad, and a constant at-
67 tendant on his person. He was a Chhatri of the Bhalla clan, and was born at
68 Vasarki, a village in the Amritsar district, in 1509. He was, like his pre-
69 decessor, a man of humble parentage, and supported himself by the proceeds
70 Srl cent tag Tee ee ee ee eee ee Dene ee
71 * Angad had the Janam Pairi of Nanak translated from Shastri to Gurmukhi by Paira,
72 caste Mokha, of Sultinpur.
73 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh J! eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com