Lehal Library

32 The Punjab and the Birth of Sikhism The Guru's last long journey was his pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. He went fanher westwards to Baghdad, where be spent some time with the Local fakirs. 20 On his way back home he passed through Saidpur when the town was sacked by Babar.21 He went around preaching in different towns of the Punjab, and then settled down with his family in a new township that he had built earlier on the banks of the Ravi and named Kartarpur (the abode of the Creator). Although there is some uncenainty about the ex.act itinerary, the janamsakhis are agreed about the incidents that took place during the travels. They go into great detail about the outlandish garb that Nanak wore on his journeys. It was always a combination of styles worn by Hindu sadhus and Muslim fakirs. The people were constantly asking him: 'Art thou a Hindu or a Mussalman?' On two of his Jong journeys, he took the Muslim Mardana as his companion. On the others he was accompanied hymns. This is fairly conclusive evidence that he had litt..le or no contact with Buddhism in practice. There is also absolute!) no mention of Christ or Christianity in any of Nana.k's hymns or in the janamsakhis. ll is hardly likely that chis would have happened if Nanak had visited Malabar, where there was a thriving Christian community at the time. Tt must, however, be admitted that there are some aspects of Sik11ism which bear close resemblance to ChristiarriLy, for example, the doetrinc of Grace (pariM). Rev. C. H. Loehlin has pointed ouL how some of the poetry of the Adi Granth resembles the Psalms, Proverbs, Job and especially the Song of Solomon ( Tht Sikhs and Their Book) . Hew McLeod in Guru Nanak and th, Sikh Religion (Princeton & Oxford) questions the authenticity of the janamsakhis and maintains thaL the evidence in support of Nanak's travels is not reliable. 20 A tablet with the following inscription was discovered in Baghdad in 1916: 'ln memory of the Guru, the holy Baba Nanak, King of holy men, this monument has been rebuilt with the help of seven saints.' The date on the tablet is 927 Hijri, i.e., AD 1520-21 (L<rjal G<»:.ette, Lahore, January 1918). 21 In the Ba/Jar Vam, the Guru speaks of the Mughal invasion: 'They who had beautiful locks and with vermilion dyed the parting of their hair, have their tresses shorn with scissors and dust thrown on their heads. They who dwelt in palaces cannot find a place in the streets.· (Asa) According to the janamsakhis, the Gum was imprisoned by the Mughals and released on the personal intervenlion of Bahar. There is no reference to this in the Bahar Nama.