| Janamsakhi ਜਨਮਸਾਖੀ | |
|---|---|
 Illustrated folio of Guru Nanak, Bala, Mardana and devotees from a Kashmiri Janamsakhi manuscript, circa 19th century. | |
| Information | |
| Religion | Sikhism |
| Author | Various |
| Period | Late 16th century to 19th century |
| Chapters | Three sections:
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| Part ofa series on |
| Sikh literature |
|---|
_kept_at_the_village_of_Bhai_Rupa.jpg) |
Hagiographical |
Lexis |
Praxis |
Historiographical |
Rebuttals |
Letters |
| Sikh scriptures •Punjabi literature |
TheJanamsakhis (Punjabi:ਜਨਮਸਾਖੀ,IAST:Janam-sākhī,lit. 'birthstories'), are popular hagiographies ofGuru Nanak, the founder ofSikhism.[1] Considered by scholars as semi-legendary biographies, they were based on a Sikh oral tradition of historical fact, homily, and legend,[2] with the firstjanamsakhi were composed between 50 and 80 years after his death.[1] Many more were written in the 17th and 18th century. The largestGuru Nanak Prakash, with about 9,700 verses, was written in the early 19th century byKavi Santokh Singh.[2][3]
The fourjanamsakhi traditions that have survived into the modern era include theBala,Miharban,Adi andPuratan versions. While each tradition offering their own perspectives, interpretations, and points of emphasis on the stories they report, they generally present Guru Nanak's life in three parts: the first part covering his childhood and early adulthood, the second part as an itinerant missionary after receiving the call fromAkal Purakh ("Timeless Being," God), and the last part presents him as settled inKartarpur, founding his community of believers.[2]
Over 40 significant manuscript editions of thejanamsakhis are known, all composed between the 17th and early-19th centuries, with most of these in the Puratan and Bala collections.[3] The expanded version containing the hagiographies of all ten Sikh Gurus is the popularSuraj Prakash by Santokh Singh. This poeticjanamsakhi is recited on festive occasions in Sikh Gurdwaras, Sikh ceremonies and festivals.[4][5]
Thejanamsakhis present accounts of the life of Guru Nanak and his early companions, with varying degrees of supernatural elements among them, typical for hagiographic biographies; more important was his message of equality before God, regardless of social classifications, also emphasizing friendships with those of other religions and the welfare of women.[6] As stories were told and retold, the ways they were combined crystallized into a small number of specific traditions.[2]
Thejanamsakhi stories likely began through family and friends close to Guru Nanak, spreading to others. The earliest layer of what was to become the written tradition later was, according to McLeod, "authentic memories concerning actual incidents from the life of Nanak," in conjunction with the verses left by him in what would become the Adi Granth.[2]The firstjanamsakhis were oral in nature and began spreading across the Punjab when news on Guru Nanak's exploits and fame started being passed around.[7] They were first put to writing likely around the early 17th century.[7] However, according to Pyar Singh the earliest dated extantjanamsakhi manuscript is from 1588.[8]
Thejanamsakhi have been historically popular in the Sikh community and broadly believed as true, historical biography of the founder of their religion.[9] They have been recited at religious gatherings, shared as reverential fables with the young generation, and embedded in the cultural folklore over the centuries. Guru Nanak is deeply revered by the devout Sikhs, the stories in thejanamsakhi are a part of their understanding of his divine nature and the many wonders he is believed to have performed.[10]
The early editions of thejanamsakhi manuscripts are more than Guru Nanak's life story. They relate each story with a teaching in the hymn of the Sikh scripture and illustrate a fundamental moral or teaching.[2] The earliestjanamsakhi collections were structured to lucidly expound on Guru Nanak's teachings to the audience, relating accounts to the specific hymns of theAdi Granth.[2] The early oral tradition reached remote areas away further from Kartarpur, presenting his life and teachings to those who had never met the Guru, and for following generations.[2]
The dominant motif of thejanamsakhi is not chronological or geographical accuracy, as history was not their concern, but the depiction of various themes of "the divine dispensation of Nanak, his concern for kindness, social cohesiveness, and his stress on divine unity and the consequent unity of humanity," revealing the beliefs, attitudes, and needs valued by the Sikh community of the age. Incorporating verses from Guru Nanak's works to illuminate his theological and ethical teachings in a biographical framework and in the idiom and style of myth and allegory, their quick, vigorous style would lend them to a popular oral tradition of moral instruction.[11] Along with Indic mythologizing traditions ofitihasa, which incorporated mythology, history, philosophy, and geography, the Janamsakhi tradition was also contemporary with the Sufi allegorical traditions about Muhammad (mu'jizat) and Muslim saints (karamat),[11][12] during influence in the period of Islamic domination.[13] In this milieu where spiritual figures were understood and remembered, thejanamsakhis commemorated and expounded upon the teachings of Guru Nanak.[11][12]
Thejanamsakhi may have been the early didactic texts in the Sikh tradition, including a teaching, a moral instruction along with an associated hymn found in the Sikh scripture, serving as pedagogical texts, sustaining Guru Nanak's message through time for the community that valued it.[14] In order to convey Guru Nanak's teachings, thejanamsakhis make extensive use of allegory, often with mythic elements to imbue meaning. Though the birth narrative of Nanak shares similarities with that of Christ, Buddha, and Krishna, he is depicted as having a normal birth, with a Muslim midwife, Daultan, beside Guru Nanak's mother Mata Tripta, implying interfaith harmony. Typically dangerous natural phenomena either protect Nanak or are mastered by him, as a cobra shades child Nanak as he sleeps, or a rolling boulder being stopped by his hand. In a parable placed in Mecca, during Guru Nanak's travels he fell with his feet towards theKaaba, to which aQadi objected, but when he tried to rotate his feet away from it, the Kaaba reorients in the direction of Guru Nanak's feet, attesting to the omnipresence of God and the internality of faith as opposed to the external. A parable also relays Guru Nanak's body vanishing after his death and left behind fragrant flowers, which Hindus and Muslims then divided, one to cremate and other to bury.[11][12]
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Thisjanamsakhi tradition is the oldest, with the earliest extant manuscript of this tradition dating back to 1640.[15] It is believed to have first been put pen to paper around 80 years after the passing of Nanak.[15] Presenting a more concise, less fantastical account of Guru Nanak's life, its realistic account of Guru Nanak's life and lack of fantasy elements led to its prominence among the Singh Sabha.[2]
The term Puratanjanamsakhis means ancientjanamsakhis and is generally used with reference to the composite work which was compiled byBhai Vir Singh and first published in 1926. Of the still existing copies of the Puratanjanamsakhis the two most important were the Colebrooke and Hafizabad versions. The first of these was discovered in 1872, the manuscript had been donated to the library of the east India company byH.T. Colebrooke and is accordingly known as the Colebrooke or Vailaitwalijanamsakhi. Although there is no date on it the manuscript points to around 1635.
In the year 1883 a copy of ajanamsakhi was dispatched by the India Office Library in London for the use of Dr. Trumpp and the Sikh scholars assisting him. (It had been given to the library by an Englishman called Colebrook; it came to be known as the Vilayat Vali or the foreignjanamsakhi.) Thisjanamsakhi was the basis of the accounts written by Trumpp, Macauliffe, and most Sikh scholars. Gurmukh Singh of the Oriental College, Lahore, found anotherjanamsakhi at Hafizabad which was very similar to that found by Colebrook. Gurmukh Singh who was collaborating with Mr. Macauliffe in his research on Sikh religion, made it available to the Englishman, who had it published in November 1885.
According to the Puratanjanamsakhi, Guru Nanak Dev Ji was born in the month ofVaisakh, 1469. The date is given as the third day of the light half of the month and the birth is said to have taken place during the last watch before dawn. His father Kalu was akhatri of the Bedi sub-cast and lived in a village Rai Bhoi di Talwandi; his mother's name is not given. When Guru Ji turned seven he was taken to a pundit to learn how to read. After only one day he gave up reading and when the pundit asked him why Guru Ji lapsed into silence and instructed him at length on the vanity of worldly learning and the contrasting value of the Divine Name of God. The child began to show disturbing signs of withdrawal from the world. He was sent to learn Persian at the age of nine but returned home and continued to sit in silence. Locals advised his father that Nanak should be married. This advice was taken and at the age of twelve a betrothal was arranged at the house of Mula of the Chona sub-caste. Sometime later Nanak moved toSultanpur where his sister Nanaki was married. Here he took up employment withDaulat Khan. One day Nanak went to the river and while bathing messengers of God came and he was transported to the divine court. There he was given a cup of nectar (amrita) and with it came the command Nanak, this is the cup of My Name (Naam). Drink it. This he did and was charged to go into the world and preach the divine Name.
The Adi tradition ofjanamsakhi, known as theAdi Sakhian (adi, meaning "first"; sakhian, plural ofsakhi, meaning "anecdotes, stories, discourses, parables"), was first discovered byMohan Singh Diwana inLahore,pre-partition Punjab.[16] The manuscript he discovered dated to 1701 butHarbans Singh believes the tradition may date back to the mid-17th century but unlikely to originate earlier than that period.[16] More manuscripts of this tradition have been discovered since the finding of the initial manuscript.[16] It shows influence from the Puratan tradition (particularly a few anecdotes or stories and discourses) and another unknown source, that has yet come to light, that also influenced the B40janamsakhi.[16] It differs from the Puratan tradition in that it does not present Guru Nanak's travels as four separate journeys.[16] The portion covering the travels of Nanak is believed to have been sourced from the yet undiscovered manuscript.[16]
The Balajanamsakhi claims to be written byBhai Bala, an alleged contemporary of Guru Nanak, and was supposedly written at the request ofGuru Angad.[17]
There are reasons to doubt this contention as Guru Angad, who is said to have commissioned the work and was also a close companion of the Guru in his later years, was, according to Bala's own admission, ignorant of the existence of Bala.[18]
The oldest accepted manuscript of the Balajanamsakhi was written by Gorakh Das in 1658, but the actual date is believed to be earlier.[19]
It is generally believed thisjanamsakhi were written by Hindals as in a number of stories Guru Nanak praises Baba Hindal. Some are of the belief that this is a contemporary work and was later edited by the Hindals.[15] One of the people who subscribed to this belief was Santhok Singh the author of the famedSuraj Granth. Santhok Singh wrote Nanak Parkash based on the Balajanamsakhi with the goal of removing parts he believed were edited and added by the Hindals.[20]
Dr. Trilochan Singh counters some of the points raised against the Balajanamsakhi by stating thatMehma Parkash and Mani Singh'sjanamsakhi both mention Bhai Bala. Bala is further mentioned inSuchak Prasang Guru Ka by Bhai Behlo written duringGuru Arjan Dev’s time. Bhai Behlo says, “Bala discarded his body there, At the holy city ofKhadaur, Angad, the master, performed the rites, Graciously with his own two hands.” He also raises the point that Bhai Bala’s family is still living inNankana Sahib and that Bala’ssamadhi exists inKhadaur.[21] Singh claims thejanamsakhi was written by Bhai Bala and is mostly authentic but was edited and changed by anti-Sikh sects.[21]
In the first journey orudasi, Guru Nanak leftSultanpur towardseastern India and included, in the following sequence:Hakimpura →Lahore →Gobindwal →Fatehbad → Ram Tirath → Jahman →Chahal → Ghavindi →Khalra → Kanganwal → Manak Deke → Alpa →Manga →Eminabad →Sialkot →Sahowal →Ugoke →Pasrur → Deoka → Mitha Kotla →Chhanga Manga →Chuhnian →Hissar →Rohtak →Sirsa →Pehows →Thanesar →Kurushetra →Karnal →Panipat (Sheikh Sharaf) →Delhi (Sultan Ibrahim Lodi) →Hardwar →Allahabad →Banaras →Nanakmata → Kauru,Kamrup inAssam (Nur Shah) →Nagapattinam Port →Sri Lanka →Patna →Chittagong →Dibrugarh →Talvandi (twelve years after leaving Sultanpur) →Pak Pattan (Sheikh Ibrahim) →Goindval →Lahore →Kartarpur.
The second udasi was to the south of India with companion Bhai Mardana: Delhi →Ayodhya →Jagannath Puri →Rameswaram →Sri Lanka →Vindhya mountains →Narabad River →Ujjain →Saurashtra →Mathura
The third udasi was to the north:Kashmir →Mount Sumeru →Achal
The fourth udasi was to the west:Afghanistan →Persia →Baghdad →Mecca
Of all thejanamsakhi traditions this is probably the most neglected as it has acquired a disagreeable reputation. Sodhi Miharban who gives his name to thejanamsakhi was closely associated with theMina sect and the Minas were very hostile towards the Gurus around the period ofGuru Arjan.[15] The Minas were the followers ofPrithi Chand, the eldest son of Guru Ram Das. Prithi Chand's behaviour was evidently unsatisfactory as he was passed over in favour of his younger brother, (Guru) Arjan Dev, when his father chose asuccessor. The Minas were a robber tribe and in Punjabi the word has come to mean someone who conceals his true evil intent. The Minas were subsequently execrated byGuru Gobind Singh and Sikhs were instructed to have no dealings with them. The sect is now extinct. It is said that it was due to thisjanamsakhi and its hostility towards the Gurus that prompted Bhai Gurdas'Varan account and the commission of the Gyan-ratanavali by Bhai Mani Singh.[15]
TheMiharban exegesis reflected strongKhatri affiliation, as opposed to the risingJatt influence in the community at the time, leading to McLeod's assertion that the collection dated to later than its given date of 1828 CE, possibly in the late 19th century.[2]
The first threesakhis recount the greatness of Raja Janak and describes an interview with God wherein Raja Janak is instructed that he is to return to the world once again to propagate His Name. Details of Guru Nanak's birth are given in the fourth sakhi and his father was Kalu, a Bedi and his motherMata Tripta. The account of Guru Nanak learning to read from the pundit is also recounted here. After the interlude at Sultanpur Guru Nanak set out toMount Sumeru. Climbing the mountain, the Guru found all nineSiddhas seated there –Gorakhnath,Mechhendranath, Isarnath, Charapatnath, Barangnath, Ghoracholi, Balgundai, Bharathari, and Gopichand. Gorakhnath asked the identity of the visitor and his disciple replied, "This is Nanak Bedi, apir and abhagat who is a householder." What follows is a lengthy discourse with the siddhas which ends with the siddhas asking what is happening in the evil age ofKali Yuga. The Guru responds with three slogans:
Attempts to change birth places, birth and death dates, and the level of spiritual prominence of the orthodox Gurus by rival claimants of Sikh guruship have been considered to be a source of divergence from the normative tradition. Such attempts, such as modification of the historically highly regardedjanamsakhis written by Paida Mokha detailing Nanak's travels, by rival family members of Guru Arjan, who would start theMina sect and theMiharban collection, would eventually prompt authoritative written traditions in response.[22] The sectarian intent of theMiharban andBalajanamsakhis have been questioned by Sikh scholars, namely that in the case of the Hindalis, Hindal and Kabir are promoted at the expense of Nanak, who was depicted as having prophesied Hindal's arrival.[2]
The last major, and evidently the latest, tradition ofjanamsakhi is theGyan-Ratanavali (also known asBhagat Ratnavali[23]) attributed toBhai Mani Singh, who wrote it with the express intention of correcting heretical accounts of Guru Nanak when requested to do so by the Sikh congregation.[24][15]
There are some doubts about the authenticity and author of thisjanamsakhi.[15] Older manuscript of the Mani Singhjanamsakhi have different dates for the death and birth of Guru Nanak compared to popular renditions. The language from thisjanamsakhi compared to Mani Singh’s Sikhian di Bhagat Mal is noticeably different. No eighteenth century manuscript of this text exists. All of this has led some to doubt whether Mani Singh was the author and the reliability of thisjanamsakhi.[25]
The work is an expansion of the firstVaar ofVaran Bhai Gurdas.[24][26] It shows influence from the Bhai Bala tradition.[15] This janamsakhi tradition makes no mention ofBhai Bala amongst the list of Guru Nanak's close companions and associates.[23]
Various other more minor and obscurejanamsakhi traditions are known. One such tradition is that of the B40, which contains influences of both the Puratan and Miharvan traditions.[27]
Aside from literary Janamsakhis, there also exists a Janamsakhi tradition passed down orally bySikh women which provide more information about the lives of girls and women during the period of the first Sikh guru.[28] Particular emphasis and focus is placed on prominent Sikh female figures, their influences, and impact, such asMata Tripta,Bebe Nanaki, andMata Sulakhni.[28] Whilst all Janamsakhis originally began circulating as oral stories originally and only began to be written down later on, there existed a male-orientated and female-orientated oral tradition, with the male stories having later been recorded and delegated to writing, whilst the female stories remained as an oral tradition and were sidelined and neglected.[28] Whilst this women's oral tradition is in decline and is being gradually replaced with the more dominant, male-centric literary traditions, there do exist elderly Sikh women in certain villages of Jalandhar district, specifically the villages of Mahala and Bara Pind, where tellers of the women's oral janamsakhis can still be found.[28] Interestingly, these oral stories passed down by Sikh women focus more on the domestic and family life of Nanak, with women playing much more prominent roles than the literary traditions.[28] Many important figures in the literary traditions, such asRai Bhullar or Jai Ram (Nanaki's husband), barely make a mention in the women's oral janamsakhis.[28]
Max Arthur Macauliffe, a British civil servant, published his six volume translation of Sikh scripture and religious history in 1909.[29] This set has been an early influential source of Sikh Gurus and their history for writers outside of India. Macauliffe, and popular writers such as Khushwant Singh who cite him, presented the Janamsakhi stories as factual, though Macauliffe also expressed his doubts on their historicity.[29][30][31] Khushwant Singh similarly expresses his doubts, but extensively relied on the Janamsakhis in hisA History of the Sikhs.[32] Macauliffe interspersed his translation of the Sikh scripture betweenJanamsakhis-derived mythical history of the Sikh Gurus.[33][29] Post-colonial scholarship has questioned Macauliffe's reliance onjanamsakhis as "uncritical" and "dubious", though one that pleased the Sikh community.[29]
On the basis ofW. H. McLeod's critical methodology which included:
McLeod placed each narrative into five categories: the established, the probable, the possible, the improbable, and the impossible.[34] Out of 124sakhis, he classified 37 as "probable" or "established," and 28 as "possible." Specifically looking for details "of importance"[9]: 89 of Guru Nanak's life, he filled out just under one typeset page, though mostsakhis are themselves brief at three to four pages.[9]: 101 He considered theMiharban and earlier manuscripts of theBala collections, belonging to the schismatic, now-extinctMina and Hindali sects respectively, to have particularly dubious origins.[9]: 103
His approach "proved to be highly controversial,"[34][22] as it "angered many Sikhs" who saw him as "removing the vibrant life and message of their Guru from these texts," using incompatible Christian heuristic methodologies comparable to theHigher Criticism of the Gospels,[9] through which Trilochan Singh contends that he would have set out to prove that that Guru Nanak himself had never existed, though failing to do so.[22]
Throughout the early seventeenth and eighteenth century Janamsakhis, Nanak is consistently likened and considered tantamount to the Divine itself, though this has been downplayed among recent Sikh scholars.[35][failed verification]
Whilst the Janamsakhi literary genre arose to document the life of the first Sikh guru, Nanak, there also exists literature which was a later expansion of the Janamsakhi genre which details the lives of later gurus.[36] There exists a Janamsakhi tradition which covers the life ofGuru Amar Das, the third Sikh guru.[36] The earliest surviving manuscript of Amar Das' Janamsakhi tradition dates to 1683.[36] There also exists a Janamsakhi tradition covering the life ofGuru Arjan, the fifth Sikh guru.[36] The fifth guru's Janamsakhi tradition is recorded in an undated manuscript under the title ofPrichha Mahala Panjve Ka.[36] ForGuru Har Rai, a manuscript covering his life was apparently written by Rup Kaur, it is known asPothi Bibi Rup Kaur.[36]
Thejanamsakhi literature produced was often elaborately illustrated with paintings on the folios of the handwritten manuscripts, each depicting a life story of the first Guru.[37][27] It is one of the earliest sources of Sikh art.[37][27]
The earliest illustrated manuscripts are as follows:[37]
The art of illustrated Janamsakhi manuscripts declined following the introduction of the printing press in Punjab during the 1870s.[37]
Images of manuscript paintings from the oldest extant or discovered illustrated Janamsakhi manuscript, which belongs to the Bhai Bala tradition, dated to 1658:[27]
Images of manuscript paintings from the third oldest illustrated Janamsakhi manuscript known (Bhai Sangu Mal MS, published in August 1733 CE, preserved at theBritish Library):[38][27]
Janamsakhi manuscript paintings from the 19th century:
It would be useful, before proceeding further, to take a brief look at the four traditions or cycles ofjanamsakhis. Most Sikh children, certainly of the last generation, have heard sakhis or stories at their grandmother's knee, in which Guru Nanak has not one but two companions, Bala and Mardana. Bala's name attaches to the most popular and influential of the traditions–Bhai Balajanamsakhi. The reason for the popularity of this set ofjanamsakhis is the claim, not taken seriously by most scholars, that it was dictated by Bhai Bala in the presence of the second Guru, Angad Dev and forms an eyewitness account of Guru Nanak's life and travels. It is now believed that the Bhai Balajanamsakhi was grossly interpolated by the heretical sect of Hindalis.
The Puratan janamsakhi is the oldest, believed to be written about eighty years after the death of Guru Nanak. The first manuscript of the Puratan, known as theVilayat-wali janamsakhi, was discovered 'partly destroyed by white ants' in 1872, though it had been brought to London in 1815 by Henry Thomas Colebrooke, a Sanskrit scholar and member of the council of the East India Company in Calcutta. The second manuscript was discovered by Bhai Gurmukh Singh of Oriental College, Lahore in Hafizabad and handed over to M.A. Macauliffe. This came to be known as theHafizabad-wali janamsakhi. The two manuscripts were collated into a composite whole by the Sikh savant Bhai Vir Singh and published in 1926. A number of other manuscripts were found subsequently, including one dated 1640.
The thirdjanamsakhi, discovered in 1940, is ascribed to Sodhi Meherban (1581-1640), grandson of the fourth Guru, Ram Das. His father Prithi Chand disputed the succession of Guru Arjan and fell away from the Sikh tradition. The shadow of these differences put into question the legitimacy of the Sodhi Meherbanjanamsakhi, but the recent discovery of an authentic manuscript has again revived interest in thisjanamsakhi which is now known for its author's obvious learning and his developed prose form.
The fourth collection is known as the Bhai Mani Singhjanamsakhi. The prologue of this collection indicates its origins. When Bhai Mani Singh, a prominent Sikh at the time of Guru Gobind Singh, was requested to retell thejanamsakhi of Guru Nanak and thereby remove the interpolations of the heretics, in particular the Minas (associated with the Meherbanjanamsakhi), he replied that he could not better Bhai Gurdas who had already written thejanamsakhi in his first var. The Sikhs said they wanted an elaboration of the var and Bhai Mani Singh agreed to take up the job. Thejanamsakhi, as it stands today, combines an independent selection of sakhis with borrowings from the Bala tradition. In the epilogue it is mentioned that after the completion of thejanamsakhi it was presented to Guru Gobind Singh for his signature. However, scholars have questioned the actual authorship by Bhai Mani Singh, arguing that his name was used more for the purpose of providing status and authenticity.
4. Bhagat/Gyan Ratnavali by Mani Singh: This work was written around the eighteenth century (between AD 1675 and 1708) by Bhai Mani Singh, a devotee of Guru Gobind and is only an exposition of Bhai Gurdas's first canto. It does not pretend to add to the information on Guru Nanak. Historic value of Bhagat Ratnavali is immense because it is based on the first Var of Bhai Gurdas and contains no imaginary events. Also, it records all episodes in chronological order and avoids errors of otherjanamsakhis. Bhagat Ratnavali is significant, in the sense that in the list of Guru Nanak's companions and disciples, contained in this book there is no mention of Bala Sandhu.
4. Bhagat/Gyan Ratnavali by Mani Singh: This work was written around the eighteenth century (between AD 1675 and 1708) by Bhai Mani Singh, a devotee of Guru Gobind and is only an exposition of Bhai Gurdas's first canto. It does not pretend to add to the information on Guru Nanak. Historic value of Bhagat Ratnavali is immense because it is based on the first Var of Bhai Gurdas and contains no imaginary events. Also, it records all episodes in chronological order and avoids errors of otherjanamsakhis. Bhagat Ratnavali is significant, in the sense that in the list of Guru Nanak's companions and disciples, contained in this book there is no mention of Bala Sandhu.
109. The sectarian divisions within the growing Sikh community seemed to have resulted in the creation of their own versions of the Janam Sakhi of Guru Nanak. For the earliest manuscript of the version associated with the followers of Prithi Chand, see MS 2306, Khalsa College. Another version known as the Bala Janam Sakhi is associated with Baba Handal (d. 1648), a Sikh leader who left the community and created his own group. An illustrated manuscript of this text was prepared in 1658 and was extant in Faridabad until recently. The Janam Sakhi genre also expanded to include stories about Guru Nanak's successors. For the text of the stories in Pothi Bibi Rup Kaur, see Piara Singh Padam, Prachin Punjabi Gadd, 66-86. An independent tradition evolved around Guru Amardas, with the earliest manuscript being dated 1683 (MS 676, Central Public Library, Patiala). For its published edition, see Raijasbir Singh, Guru Amardas Srot Pustak (Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University, 1986), 43-207. We also see the emergence of a narrative around Guru Arjan (undated, Prichha Mahala Panjve Ka. MS 2219A, Khalsa College, ff. 1-25).
