Hymns of . Guru Nanak Other books in this series The- Mahabharata In Worship of Shiva The Ramayana -~ Q *Oh~-"'f""""-\"~~ .-..-..-t{ ~~t~'S-;'}'~'€" Hymns of Guru Nanak Translated by Khushwant Singh Illustrations by Arpita Singh ~ Orient Longman ORIENT LONGMAN UMITED Registned Offia 3-6-272 Himayamagar, Hyderabad 500 029 Other Offias . Kamani Marg, Ballard Estate, Bombay 400 038 l.7 CbittarailjanAven\le, Calc\ltta 700 072 . 160 Anna SaIat, Madras 600 002 1/24 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi 110 002 BOil Mahauna Gandhi Road, Bangalore 560 001 3-6-272 Himayamagar, Hyderabad 500 029 Birla Mandir Road, Pama 800 001 'Patiala House' 16-A Ashok Marg, lucknow 226 001 S.c. Goswami Road, Panbazar, Guwahati 781 001 UNESCO COLLECTION OF REPRESENTATIVE WQRKS: INDIAN SERIES English Translation C UNESCO 1969 First publish~ Orient Longman 1969 by arrangement with UNESCO Design, illustrations and cover C Orient Longman 1991 This edition 1991 lSBN 0 86311 1556 Book Design: Orient Longman Typeset in Berkdey by Swapna Printets, Calcutta and The Typesetters: Bombay Processed at Jasra Graphics, Bombay, and Prinlai in IndJa .at Conway Printets, Bombay Published by Orient Longman Umilai Kamani Mug, Ballard Estate, Bombay 400 038 Table of Contents • Chapter Page Preface VII 1 life of Guru Nanak 1 2 ]apji, the Morning Prayer 13 3 Hymns from Sri Raga 24 4 Hymns from Var Majh 46 5 Hymns from Raga Gaudi 51 6 Hymns from Raga Asa 58 7 Hymns from Asa-di-Var 72 8 Hymns from Raga Gujri 78 9 Hymns from Raga Vadhans 80 10 Hymns from Raga Sorath 83 11 Hymns from Raga Dhanasari 85 12 Hymns from Raga Tilang 90 13 Hymns from Raga Suhi 92 14 Hymns from Raga Bilaval 94 15 Hymns from Siddha Goshta 96 16 Hymns of the Bara Mah 104 . Appendix 1: Religious Inheritance III Appendix 2: The Message 114 Glossary of Terms 118 Notes on the Colour Plates 120 Acknowledgements 122 Colour .. Plates Number Facing Page 1 'One evening in July .... ' 2 ·2 'He blessed the swans and bade them godspeed ..... ' 8 3 'As a beggar goes a-begging ' 20 4 'Come my sister let us embrace ' 26 5 A fish. in the "deep and salty sea .. "' 36 6 'Love thy Lord as the Chakvi loves the sun .... ' 42 7 'As Krishna sporting in the hands of Yashodhara .... ' 46 8 'like birds at dusk settling on trees ' 52 9 'He first conquered Khorasan '. 64 10 'Black buck listen to me ' 70 11 '1 plaited my tresses ' 80 12 'The firmament is Thy salver ' 86 13 'The yogiS took their seats ' 96 14 'It is spri~g.' 104 15 'Without the Lord I alone am bereft of joy.... ' 106 16 'The bough remainethever green .... ' 108 Preface 'Use your intelligence in serving God and in hymns as he composed them. It is also likely gaining merit; use your brain to read and that the ragas in which they were to be sung understand what you read and how you give were chosen by Nanak and his companion, itn charity. This is the only way; the rest is the the Muslim rebeck-player, Mardana. Guru Ar­ doing of the devil,' writes Nanak. Those who jun scrutinized all the writings ascribed to the do not use their brains and intelligence to un­ guru that he could obtain and on the basis of ravel the secrets of the divine word, Nanak either handwriting or the thought-content or castigates as 'real donkeys' braying with unde­ some other evidence, accepted 985 hymns as served pride. genuine. No manuscript in Guru Nanak's own It is not easy to 'unravel the secrets' of handwriting is known to be extant. Nanak's words. The Adi Granth contains I had hoped very much to be able to put the almost a thousand hymns of Nanak under hymns I have translated captioned under eighteen different ragas. (The Granth is di­ different themes with whkh they dealt. This vided into thirty-one ragas or melodies in has not been possible as most hymns do in fact which the hymns are sung.) The arrangement touch upon a variety of themes. 1have, conse­ is therefore not according to subject-matter quently, accepted the traditional pattern of the but dictated by musical considerations and the Adi Granth. The Morning Prayer,Japji and ~he chronological order of the gurus and the saint­ hymn to the seasons - Bara Mah (the twelve poets whose compositions are included in the months) - have been translated in full. In the sacred anthology. Besides this fact there are .case of the dawn hymns, Asa-di-var and the other difficulties. There is no reliable evidence dialogue with Yogis, Siddha Goshta, I have regarding the time or circumstance in which selected a few verses for translation and given the hymns were composed. Diction, dialect a synopsis in prose of the others. The remain­ and style vary enormously. All we can accept ing hymns appear in the order -of ragas of the with certainty is the version of the Life History sacred scripture. which says that Nanak always carried a bag strung on his shoulder into which he put KHUSHWANT SINGH 1 Life of Guru Nanak ,0 n .the night of the full moon in At the age of seven Nariak was taken to the month ofVaisakh in Samvat a pandit to be taught. Nanak apparendy 1526,' says the more authentic turned the tables on his teacher and his version-Mehervan'sJanam Sakhi--on the discourse with his teacher is the subject of life of Guru Nanak, 'Tripta, the wife of a beautiful hymn in Sri Raga. Mehta Kallan Das Bedi of Talwandi Rae Bhoe, was in labour. Three-quattersofthe The only rcalleaming (says Nanak) is the wor­ night had passed. The morning star shone ship ofGod; the rest is ofno avail, andwisdom bright in the eastern sky; it was the hour devoid of the knowledge of the creator is but of early dawn when she was delivered of the noose of ignorance about one's neck. He her second child, a son.' that repeats the name ofthe Lord in this world, will reap his reward in the world to come. Nanak's birthwas thus on 15 April 1469. Do you know (says Nanak) how and why However, in order to continue an old trad­ men come into thisworldandwhythey depan? ition, the event is celebrated on the full Why some become rich and others poor? Why moon night in the month of November. some hold coun while others go begging door As to the place of his birth, it is thought to door-and even of the beggars why some that the name Nanak was given to the child receive alms while others do not? Take it from because he was born in the house of his me, 0 pandit, that those who have enjoyed maternal grandparents or nankey which power and ease in this life and not given praise was either in Kahna Kacha or Chalewal, to the Lord will surely be punished-just as two villages in the district of Lahore. the dhobi (washerman) beats dirty clothes on Nanak was a precocious child; smiling slabs of stones, so will they be beaten; just as and Sitting up in early infancy. When he an oilman grinds oilseeds to extract oil will was only five years old, people noticed that they beground; justas the miller crushes grain between his millstones will they be crushed. he did not play with other boys but spoke On the other hand, those that are poor and words of wisdom well beyond his years. those that have to beg for their living, who The people's reactions were interesting. spend their lives in prayer will receive their Whosoever heard him, Hindu or Muslim, honour and reward in the divine coun ofjus­ was certain that God spoke through the tice. litde boy-and this belief grew stronger as He that has fear of God (says Nanak) is free Nanak grew older. from all fears. But monarch or commoner, he 1 that feats not God \Vill be reduced to6St and _janeau: 'Do the Brahmins ~dKshatriyas :00 reborn to suffer the. panss ofhel1. that lose their faith if they lose their sacred whl~ isgained by ~hood~unclean. thread? Is their faith maintained by their The only truth is God. OUf only love should thread or by their deeds?' be for God who is ili'imQrtal; why love those Nanak was the despair of his parents. that will- perish-son, wife, ~~ -wealth, He refused to do any kind of work. If he youth--all- are subject to decay and· death. was sent to graze cattle, he let them stray [Mehervan:]anam Salehi]. into people's fields; if he was given money to do trade, he would give it away to the Ayear later Nanakwas sentt() theVillage poor and the hungry. He was saved from o~r mosque to learn Arabic and SUDjects. the wrath ofhis father by his mother and Here, -too, -Nanak astounded his teacher: siSter-and by the village-folk who bore wimess to the many miracles they had seen The mullah wrote down the Arabic alphabet emana~e from Nanak. from a1i£ to·yea. Nanak at once mastered the writing .00 the pronunciation of. ~ lettas,. At the age ofsixteen Nanak was married and within a few days had learnt artdunetic, to Sulakhni, daughter ofMulChand Chona accounting, and everything -else. die muUah of.Batala. They had two sons, Sri Chand could teach. Themullahmarvelled, 'GftatGod! and Lakhm:i Das, and perhaps a daughter Other children have been struggling for ten or daughters who died in infancy.