Lehal Library

28 The Punjab and the Birth of Sikhism hordes. The tumult of hate and falsehood had made the songs of love of the Sufis and the Bhaktas almost inaudible. Gum Nanak Nanak was born on 15 April 1469. 10 His father, Mehta Kalian Das Bedi, was an accountant in the village Talwandi Rai Bhoe, now named Nankana Sahib, about forty miles from Lahore. It is likely that Nanak, like his elder sister, Nanaki, was born in the home of his mother, Tripta, and like her, named after his maternal home, Nanake. 11 Nanak was a precocious child; at the age of five he started asking questions about the purpose of life. At seven he was sent to a pandit to learn the alphabet and numerals, and two years later to a Muslim mullah to learn Persian and Arabic. He took little interest in his studies and began to spend his time discoursing with holy men or in solitude, 'without confiding the secrets of his heart in any one'. 1~ 10 The guru's birthday is celebrated on Lhe full moon night of the month of November. This is based on the janamsakhi (biography) by Bala Sandhu, which is considered by most scholars to be spurious. But for the sake of continuity of a tradition, no change has been made in the date of the celebration. There is no doubt that the correct date is 15 April 1469. The more reliable janamsakhis agree that 'in Sambat 1526 in the month of Baisakh on the third day of the first quarter of the moon, in the early hours of the dawn, three hours before sunrise, was born Baba Nanak.' This is confirmed by the Mnlumii Prakii.s and all other accounts, which are agreed on the exact span of his life and the date of his death-which, worked backwards, fixes the date of his birth as 15 April 1469. 11 The janamsakhis and the Ml'lhimii Pmkii.s state the place of birth to be •in the house of Mehta Kalu Bedi ofTalwandi Rai Bhoe'. This statement need not be taken literally. The custom of returning to the maternal home for confmemenl was well established in Hindu families. The choice of the name confirms the fact of the birth taking place in the mother's parental home, which was in the village ofKahna Katcha. Cunningham suppons this view and bases it on an old manuscript, but without giving its reference. Mehervan's janamsakhi mentions Cbahleval near Lahore as Nanak's place of birth. 12 The janamsakhi quotations in this chapter are taken from the Puriilan Jana,nsilkhi edited by Dr Bhai Vir Singh and published by the