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Guru Angad Dev Ji: The Second Master's Life and Ministry

Professor: Kavi Santokh Singh Source: SikhLibrary

This course examines the life, discipleship, and Guruship of Guru Angad Dev Ji (1504–1552), the second Guru of the Sikhs. Students will trace his origins as Lehna, a devoted Vaishnav, through his transformation into the chosen successor of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Key themes include tests of devotion, the meaning of the name Angad, and the institutional contributions that shaped the young Panth.

Begin course12 lessons · 10-question test · 80% to pass
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What you'll learn

  • Identify the key biographical events in the life of Guru Angad Dev Ji from birth to Guruship
  • Explain the significance of the name Angad and its theological meaning within Sikh tradition
  • Describe the tests administered by Guru Nanak Dev Ji to Lehna and their spiritual significance
  • Analyze the institutional contributions of Guru Angad Dev Ji to the early Sikh Panth
  • Evaluate primary and secondary source accounts of the Second Guru's ministry
  • Connect the life of Guru Angad Dev Ji to broader themes of selfless service and succession

Key terms — ਸ਼ਬਦਾਵਲੀ

ਅੰਗਦ

My own limb — the name given by Guru Nanak to Lehna, signifying spiritual union

ਲਹਿਣਾ

The birth name of Guru Angad Dev Ji, meaning 'one who is owed' or 'one who receives'

ਖਡੂਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ

The town in Punjab where Guru Angad Dev Ji established his seat of ministry

ਗੁਰਗੱਦੀ

The Guru's seat; the formal succession of spiritual authority

ਸੇਵਾ

Selfless service; a central virtue demonstrated by Lehna that led to his selection as Guru

ਜੋਤਿ

The divine light; the same spiritual light present in each of the ten Gurus

ਸੰਗਤ

The holy congregation; the community of Sikhs gathering in the Guru's presence

ਉਦਾਸੀ

A sect of ascetics descended from Guru Nanak's elder son Baba Sri Chand

ਵੈਸ਼ਨਵ

A devotee of Vishnu; the religious tradition Lehna followed before meeting Guru Nanak

ਪੰਥ

The Sikh community or path; the collective body of those following the Guru's teachings

Lessons

1. Introduction: Who Was Lehna?

Full course contents
  1. Introduction: Who Was Lehna?
  2. Punjab in the Early Sixteenth Century
  3. Lehna's Early Life and Vaishnav Devotion
  4. The First Encounter with Guru Nanak Dev Ji
  5. Lehna Becomes a Disciple at Kartarpur
  6. The Tests of Devotion: Stories from the Janam Sakhis
  7. The Naming: Angad — My Own Limb
  8. The Succession: How Guru Nanak Chose His Successor
  9. Establishing Khadur Sahib as the Center of Ministry
  10. Conflicts and Challenges: Baba Sri Chand and Continuity
  11. Character and Personal Qualities of the Second Guru
  12. Legacy and Historical Significance of Guru Angad Dev Ji

Setting the Stage

Guru Angad Dev Ji, born Lehna in 1504 in the village of Harike in present-day Punjab, represents one of the most remarkable transformations in Sikh history. A man who began his religious life as a devoted ਵੈਸ਼ਨਵ pilgrim, leading annual processions to the shrine of the goddess Durga at Jawalamukhi, he would become the second light in the unbroken succession of the Sikh Gurus. According to Macauliffe's account in The Sikh Religion (1909, vol. 2), Lehna's encounter with Guru Nanak Dev Ji was not incidental but transformative — a meeting that redirected the entire trajectory of his spiritual life.

The Shape of This Course

This course traces Guru Angad Dev Ji's life from his origins through his Guruship (1539–1552) and eventual passing at Khadur Sahib. We will draw on the Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth (Santokh Singh 1843), the most extensive poetic biography of the Gurus in classical Braj Bhasha, as well as the Janam Sakhi tradition and modern scholarly work. Students should approach these sources critically: the hagiographic tradition preserves spiritual truths through narrative, and distinguishing theological meaning from historical claim is part of the scholarly task. The Suraj Prakash records the events of Guru Angad Dev Ji's life in the Raas sections devoted to the Second Guru, providing the foundational narrative used in this course.

Why This Life Matters

Guru Angad Dev Ji's ministry lasted only thirteen years, yet its impact on the Sikh Panth was profound and lasting. His standardization of the ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ script, his composition of sixty-two saloks now preserved in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, his expansion of the Langar institution, and his establishment of a physical fitness culture at Khadur Sahib all shaped a Panth that was growing rapidly across Punjab. Understanding this life is not merely biographical interest — it is essential to understanding how the early Sikh community organized itself, transmitted its teachings, and maintained identity across generations.

2. Punjab in the Early Sixteenth Century

A Region in Transition

The early sixteenth century was a period of profound disruption in the Punjab. The Lodi Sultanate, which had governed much of northern India, was overthrown by Babur at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, inaugurating the Mughal Empire. Guru Angad Dev Ji was born in 1504, meaning he came of age during this transition from Lodi to Mughal rule. As Singh (1994, 45) notes, the social fabric of Punjab was shaped by the intersection of Islamic governance, Hindu caste hierarchies, and the growing influence of the bhakti and Sufi movements that challenged both.

Religious Plurality

The religious landscape that Lehna inhabited was diverse. ਵੈਸ਼ਨਵ devotionalism was widespread among Hindu communities, with traditions centered on the veneration of Vishnu and his avatars. Alongside this, Sufi orders maintained dargahs that attracted followers across religious boundaries. Guru Nanak Dev Ji had already spent decades traveling and teaching by the time Lehna was born, and the early Sikh community at Kartarpur offered a distinctive third path — neither the caste-bound rituals of Brahmanical Hinduism nor the conventions of established Islam, but a new articulation of devotion to the one formless ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ.

The Social Context of Devotion

Understanding Lehna's background as a ਵੈਸ਼ਨਵ pilgrim-leader is important. He was not a marginal figure but a respected community leader who organized annual journeys to Jawalamukhi. His decision to redirect his devotional life after meeting Guru Nanak Dev Ji would have been understood by his community as a significant departure. The Janam Sakhi tradition records that this transition was not without social cost, yet Lehna's commitment only deepened. This social context — of a respected man choosing a radical reorientation — lends the narrative of his conversion particular historical texture.

3. Lehna's Early Life and Vaishnav Devotion

Family and Origins

Lehna was born to Pheru, a trader, and his wife Sabhirai, in the village of Harike (also recorded as Mate di Sarai in some sources) in 1504. According to Macauliffe (1909, vol. 2, 3), his father moved the family to Khadur Sahib, which would later become the seat of Lehna's own ministry as Guru Angad. Growing up in a merchant family, Lehna received a practical education and developed organizational skills that would later serve the expanding Sikh Panth. His marriage to Mata Khivi is recorded in Sikh tradition — Mata Khivi herself appears in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the only woman besides a Guru's wife to be named in the scripture, praised for her role in serving the ਲੰਗਰ.

Leading Vaishnav Pilgrims

Before encountering Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Lehna was known as a devout ਵੈਸ਼ਨਵ who led annual pilgrimages to Jawalamukhi in the hills of Kangra. He was not merely a participant but an organizer — gathering fellow devotees, leading worship, and maintaining the pilgrimage route. This role required both spiritual credibility and administrative capacity. The hagiographic tradition uses this detail pointedly: the same organizational gifts that made Lehna a successful pilgrim leader would, redirected, make him an invaluable servant of the Guru and eventually the Guru himself.

The Inner Longing

The Janam Sakhi tradition suggests that despite his public role, Lehna felt a spiritual restlessness that the Jawalamukhi pilgrimages could not fully satisfy. The precise historical details of this inner life are not recoverable by historians, but the narrative function is clear: it establishes Lehna as someone spiritually prepared for a transformative encounter. When he heard a shabad of Guru Nanak being sung by Bhai Jodha (as recorded in some accounts), something resonated deeply. The theological point being made is that the ਗੁਰੂ and the disciple are drawn together not by accident but by divine will (ਭਾਣਾ).

4. The First Encounter with Guru Nanak Dev Ji

The Journey to Kartarpur

The traditional accounts record that Lehna, after hearing a shabad of Guru Nanak Dev Ji sung by a devotee, was moved to seek the Guru at Kartarpur. He abandoned his planned pilgrimage to Jawalamukhi and traveled instead to meet Guru Nanak. Kartarpur, established by Guru Nanak on the banks of the Ravi River, was a functioning agricultural and spiritual community where the Guru had settled in his later years. According to Macauliffe (1909, vol. 2, 4), when Lehna arrived, Guru Nanak Dev Ji greeted him as though he had been expected — a narrative detail that underscores the theological theme of predestined spiritual union.

Recognition and Belonging

The encounter is described in hagiographic literature as immediately transformative. Lehna reportedly felt, upon seeing Guru Nanak Dev Ji, that he had found what he had long been seeking. He participated in the ਸੰਗਤ, joined the ਲੰਗਰ, and began performing ਸੇਵਾ with whole-hearted commitment. The Suraj Prakash account (Santokh Singh 1843) describes this encounter in elaborate verse, presenting Lehna's arrival as spiritually foreordained. Scholars such as McLeod (1968) have noted that the hagiographic tradition has theological rather than strictly biographical aims, but the encounter's historicity — that Lehna did come to Kartarpur and become a devoted disciple — is not disputed.

What the Encounter Reveals

The first meeting narrative carries important theological weight. It illustrates that ਸਿੱਖੀ — the Sikh path — is not inherited by birth but chosen through devotion and divine grace. Lehna was not born into the Guru's family; he came from a different tradition entirely. His embrace by Guru Nanak Dev Ji demonstrates the Sikh teaching that the Guru's grace (ਕਿਰਪਾ) is available to all. This theme would echo through his own ministry decades later, when Guru Angad Dev Ji opened the Panth to seekers of all backgrounds.

5. Lehna Becomes a Disciple at Kartarpur

Life at Kartarpur

After his initial encounter, Lehna became a regular presence at Kartarpur, Guru Nanak Dev Ji's community on the Ravi River. The community at Kartarpur was organized around three practices: ਨਾਮ ਜਪਣਾ (meditating on the Divine Name), ਕਿਰਤ ਕਰਨੀ (honest labor), and ਵੰਡ ਛਕਣਾ (sharing with others). Lehna immersed himself in all three. He worked in the fields, served in the Langar, participated in morning and evening congregational worship, and sat in the presence of the Guru for instruction. According to Macauliffe (1909, vol. 2, 5–9), the accounts describe Lehna as exemplary in his ਸੇਵਾ — willing to undertake any task, however humble.

Learning Through Service

The hagiographic sources consistently emphasize that Lehna's spiritual progress was inseparable from his selfless service. He did not distinguish between sacred and menial work. One well-known narrative describes him carrying wet grass on his head even when Guru Nanak's own sons refused, and when Mata Sulakhni — Guru Nanak's wife — expressed concern about his soiled clothing, Guru Nanak Dev Ji blessed him, saying his clothing had not been dirtied but adorned with saffron. Whether understood as literal history or theological parable, the story encodes a central Sikh teaching: ਸੇਵਾ purifies the servant, not the task itself.

The Other Disciples

Lehna's relationship to the other disciples at Kartarpur is worth noting. Guru Nanak Dev Ji had two sons — Baba Sri Chand and Baba Lakshmi Das — as well as devoted Sikhs like Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana. The tradition records some tension, particularly with the sons, who had their own claims. Baba Sri Chand would later found the ਉਦਾਸੀ order of ascetic renunciants. The eventual selection of Lehna over the Guru's own sons was a theological statement: succession in the Sikh Panth would follow the principle of spiritual merit and readiness, not biological inheritance.

6. The Tests of Devotion: Stories from the Janam Sakhis

The Nature of the Tests

The hagiographic tradition preserves several narratives in which Guru Nanak Dev Ji subjected Lehna to extreme tests of devotion and obedience. These stories, found in the Janam Sakhi literature and elaborated in the Suraj Prakash (Santokh Singh 1843), include Lehna being asked to eat food that appeared to be contaminated or associated with corpses, to rebuild walls in the rain through the night, and to perform tasks that Guru Nanak's own sons declined. Scholars such as McLeod (1968, 147) have analyzed these narratives as theological constructions designed to illustrate the qualities of an ideal disciple, while acknowledging that some historical basis for Guru Nanak's evaluation of Lehna may underlie them.

Theological Meaning of the Tests

Each test story encodes a specific virtue. The story of eating the humble food tests freedom from ego and social convention. The story of rebuilding the wall tests perseverance and obedience without expectation of reward. What is consistent across these narratives is that Lehna performs the task without complaint, without asking for reasons, and without ego. The Guru's response in each case is not gratitude but further testing — until the moment when the testing ceases and blessing is given. This pattern reflects the Sikh teaching that true ਸੇਵਾ is unconditional: it does not seek acknowledgment or explanation. The servant acts because the Guru asks, and in that act of surrender, the ego (ਹਉਮੈ) dissolves.

Reading These Stories Today

Contemporary Sikh scholars and educators approach these stories with careful attention to their genre. They are not straightforward historical reports but spiritually instructive narratives in the tradition of hagiography across world religions. The spiritual lessons they teach — about ego, obedience, and transformation through service — remain powerful and central to Sikh understanding of the Guru-disciple relationship. Students of this course are encouraged to read them at both levels: as windows into early Sikh community values and as ongoing teachings about the nature of discipleship.

7. The Naming: Angad — My Own Limb

The Bestowal of the Name

According to the hagiographic tradition, Guru Nanak Dev Ji bestowed the name ਅੰਗਦ upon Lehna before formally installing him as his successor. The word ਅੰਗ means limb or body part, and ਦ is a suffix indicating belonging or origin. Thus ਅੰਗਦ means "of my limb" or "my own limb" — expressing that Lehna had so completely merged his will and being with the Guru's that he had become, spiritually, part of the Guru himself. Macauliffe (1909, vol. 2, 24) records that Guru Nanak declared: "Lehna has been made Angad, the limb of my body." This is not merely an honorific title but a theological statement about the unity of Guruship.

The Doctrine of Jot

The naming of Angad is inseparable from the Sikh doctrine of ਜੋਤਿ — the divine light. Sikh theology holds that the same divine light that illuminated Guru Nanak Dev Ji passed without diminishment into each successive Guru. This is why the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji refers to all the Gurus' compositions under the common signature ਮਹਲਾ (Mehla) followed by a number — indicating the first, second, third house of the same divine light, rather than different personalities. The name Angad encapsulates this theology: Lehna did not become a second, lesser Guru, but the same Guruship in a new human form.

Historical Significance

The naming and succession represents a defining moment for the Sikh Panth. It established that the Guru's authority was not hereditary and could not be claimed by biological relation alone. It demonstrated that radical transformation through devotion and service was possible. It also set the precedent for the line of succession that would continue through eight more human Gurus before the eternal Guruship was vested in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The name ਅੰਗਦ thus carries the weight of Sikh ecclesiology — the doctrine of how divine authority moves through time and human form.

8. The Succession: How Guru Nanak Chose His Successor

The Ceremony at Kartarpur

Sikh tradition records that Guru Nanak Dev Ji formally installed Guru Angad Dev Ji as his successor before his own passing in 1539. The ceremony involved the placement of the tilak (mark of succession) on Angad's forehead by Guru Nanak himself, witnessed by the assembled ਸੰਗਤ. The Suraj Prakash (Santokh Singh 1843) describes this scene in considerable detail, emphasizing the continuity of the divine light and the formal transfer of ਗੁਰਗੱਦੀ. Guru Nanak Dev Ji then reportedly withdrew into meditation and merged with the divine — an event the tradition describes not as death but as ਜੋਤਿ ਜੋਤਿ ਸਮਾਉਣਾ (the light merging into light).

Competing Claims

The succession was not without contestation. Baba Sri Chand, Guru Nanak's eldest son, had his own following and had established the ਉਦਾਸੀ order. Some of Guru Nanak's disciples apparently looked to him as the natural successor. The hagiographic tradition records that Guru Angad Dev Ji himself, out of humility and respect, went to pay his respects to Baba Sri Chand — and that the encounter affirmed the rightness of the succession. Historians note that the early years of Guru Angad's ministry involved a degree of consolidation as the Panth settled around its new center at ਖਡੂਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ.

Moving to Khadur Sahib

After the formal succession, Guru Angad Dev Ji did not remain at Kartarpur but moved to Khadur Sahib, the town where his family had long been settled. This geographical shift was significant: it established that the Guruship was not tied to a single location but moved with the Guru. Khadur Sahib became the new center of Sikh life, attracting seekers from across Punjab. The establishment of a new center also provided some distance from the tensions of succession and allowed Guru Angad Dev Ji to build the Panth on his own terms.

9. Establishing Khadur Sahib as the Center of Ministry

Khadur Sahib as Institutional Hub

Under Guru Angad Dev Ji's ministry, ਖਡੂਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ became a multifaceted center of Sikh life. It was simultaneously a place of worship (ਸੰਗਤ), communal eating (ਲੰਗਰ), physical fitness (the ਅਖਾੜਾ), and scriptural literacy (through the teaching of ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ). This multidimensional vision of community life was not accidental — it reflected the holistic Sikh understanding that spiritual development encompasses the body, mind, and social life of the individual. According to Singh (1994, 67), Guru Angad Dev Ji's ministry at Khadur Sahib represented a decisive step in institutionalizing the Sikh way of life beyond its founder's immediate circle.

The Role of Mata Khivi

A crucial and sometimes underappreciated dimension of Khadur Sahib was the role of Mata Khivi, Guru Angad Dev Ji's wife. The shabad composed in her praise by Balwand, included in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, describes the Langar she supervised as providing food as sweet as ambrosia. Mata Khivi was the administrative backbone of the Langar operation, ensuring that the community gathered in the Guru's presence was fed regardless of their social background. Her contribution represents the Sikh principle that the domestic and the divine are not separate — ਗ੍ਰਿਹਸਤ (householder life) lived in awareness of ਨਾਮ is itself a spiritual practice.

A Growing Community

Under Guru Angad Dev Ji, the Sikh Panth grew substantially. Seekers came from across Punjab — merchants, farmers, artisans, scholars — drawn by the reputation of the Guru's teachings and the practical community at Khadur Sahib. The Emperor Humayun, according to some accounts, visited Guru Angad Dev Ji during this period, though the historicity and details of this encounter are debated by scholars. Whether or not the imperial visit occurred as described, the tradition's inclusion of it reflects an awareness that the Guru's community had achieved a significance that attracted attention beyond its immediate Punjab context.

10. Conflicts and Challenges: Baba Sri Chand and Continuity

The Udasi Question

Baba Sri Chand, Guru Nanak Dev Ji's eldest son, founded the ਉਦਾਸੀ order — a tradition of celibate, ascetic renunciants who followed a spiritual path derived from Guru Nanak's teachings but departed from the Sikh emphasis on householder life. The Udasis attracted followers and eventually maintained some of the most prominent historical Gurdwaras for centuries. During Guru Angad Dev Ji's ministry, the relationship between the mainstream Sikh Panth and the Udasi order was being defined. According to Macauliffe (1909, vol. 2, 32), Guru Angad Dev Ji treated Baba Sri Chand with respect but maintained the distinct identity of the Sikh Panth as a householder (ਗ੍ਰਿਹਸਤ) tradition.

Maintaining Doctrinal Clarity

One of Guru Angad Dev Ji's important contributions was maintaining doctrinal clarity during a period when the Sikh Panth could have merged with existing Hindu or yogic traditions. The tradition of the Siddhs and Naths, whom Guru Nanak Dev Ji had engaged in dialogue (preserved in the Sidh Gosht in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji), represented an alternative model of renunciate spirituality. Guru Angad Dev Ji's emphasis on the ਅਖਾੜਾ as a site of physical fitness rather than yogic withdrawal, and on Langar as communal engagement rather than individual austerity, represented a deliberate choice about what kind of community the Sikh Panth would be.

The Succession to Guru Amar Das Ji

Toward the end of his life, Guru Angad Dev Ji faced the question of succession again. He chose Guru Amar Das Ji — a devoted Sikh who had come to him at the age of sixty-one and served with extraordinary commitment. The selection of Guru Amar Das Ji, who was actually older than Guru Angad Dev Ji himself, once again demonstrated that Sikh succession followed spiritual readiness rather than age, family connection, or social standing. The continuity of the Guruship through merit and divine grace was affirmed with each succession.

11. Character and Personal Qualities of the Second Guru

Humility as a Defining Trait

Across the hagiographic literature, Guru Angad Dev Ji is consistently portrayed as a figure of exceptional humility. Despite being the Guru — the spiritual authority of the growing Sikh Panth — he is described as refusing honorifics, insisting that the Guruship belonged to the divine light within him rather than to his person. The Suraj Prakash (Santokh Singh 1843) preserves many vignettes of the Guru receiving visitors with equality — not distinguishing between the powerful and the humble who came to seek his presence. This consistency between his conduct as a disciple (before becoming Guru) and as the Guru himself is highlighted in traditional accounts as evidence that the ਜੋਤਿ of Guru Nanak genuinely resided in him.

Love for Children and Youth

One of the distinctive aspects of Guru Angad Dev Ji's ministry was his particular attention to children and young people. The establishment of schools for teaching ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ was not only a literacy project but reflected a deep concern with the spiritual formation of the next generation. The ਅਖਾੜਾ served a similar function for youth — providing structured physical activity alongside the community's spiritual life. Traditional accounts describe Guru Angad Dev Ji as personally involved in teaching children, sitting with them, correcting their letters, and encouraging their progress. This pastoral attention to young people distinguishes his ministry and reflects a vision of the Sikh community as multigenerational.

Accessibility to All

Guru Angad Dev Ji is also remembered for his accessibility. The Langar under Mata Khivi's management was open to all; the Guru's presence was not restricted to the elite or the religiously qualified. Farmers, artisans, women, low-caste individuals — all are recorded as coming to ਖਡੂਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ and being received. This accessibility was not mere tolerance but a theological commitment: in the presence of the Guru, all human hierarchies are suspended before the ਇੱਕ ਓਅੰਕਾਰ — the one creative sustainer — who is the source of all.

12. Legacy and Historical Significance of Guru Angad Dev Ji

Four Pillars of a Lasting Legacy

Guru Angad Dev Ji's ministry, though lasting only thirteen years, left four enduring pillars that shaped the Sikh Panth for centuries. First, the standardization of the ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ script provided the community with a distinctive written medium for Gurbani — ensuring that the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and subsequent Gurus would be preserved in a form intimately associated with the Sikh tradition. Second, his sixty-two saloks, incorporated into the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, added to the scriptural corpus a distinctive voice of devotional wisdom. Third, the expansion of the Langar institution under Mata Khivi's management made communal equality — across caste, gender, and economic standing — a lived daily practice rather than an abstract ideal.

Physical and Spiritual Integration

The fourth pillar — the ਅਖਾੜਾ — is perhaps the most distinctive contribution and the one most reflecting Guru Angad Dev Ji's own synthesis of spiritual and physical life. By establishing a wrestling and physical fitness gymnasium at ਖਡੂਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ, he articulated a vision of Sikh life in which the body is not an obstacle to spiritual progress but a vehicle for it. This vision anticipates the later martial tradition of the Khalsa and the understanding that a saint-soldier (ਸੰਤ ਸਿਪਾਹੀ) must cultivate both inner and outer strength. Singh (1994, 70) describes this integration as one of Guru Angad Dev Ji's most far-sighted contributions to Sikh identity.

Historical Assessment

Scholars approaching Guru Angad Dev Ji's life must navigate a tradition that is predominantly hagiographic, preserved in texts composed centuries after his life by devoted believers. The Suraj Prakash (Santokh Singh 1843), while invaluable as a record of how the tradition understood this life, is a literary and theological document as much as a historical one. Modern historians draw on it carefully, alongside archaeological evidence from Khadur Sahib, inscriptions, and cross-references in other sources. What emerges from this careful reading is a figure whose historical significance is undeniable: Guru Angad Dev Ji transformed the nascent community he inherited into an organized, literate, physically vigorous, and institutionally grounded ਪੰਥ — laying the foundations for everything that came after.

References & further reading

  1. Santokh Singh, Kavi. Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth. Patiala: Bhasha Vibhag Punjab, 1962.
  2. McLeod, W. H. Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968.
  3. Singh, Harbans. The Heritage of the Sikhs. New Delhi: Manohar, 1994.
  4. Kohli, Surindar Singh. A Critical Study of Adi Granth. New Delhi: Punjabi Writers' Cooperative Industrial Society, 1961.
  5. Macauliffe, Max Arthur. The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors. Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909.
  6. Singh, Trilochan. Guru Nanak: Founder of Sikhism. New Delhi: Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, 1969.

From the source text

(੧੭੬) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ਹੈ, ਤਿਸ ਬੀਰਜ ਤੇ ਹੀ ਸਰਬ ਕੀ ਉਤਪਤੀ ਹੈ। ਅਰ ਜਲ ਕੇ ਬਰਸਬੇ ਤੇ ਸਰਬ ਉਤਭੁਜ੧ ਕੀ ਉਤਪਤੀ ਹੈ। ਇਸੀ ਹੇਤ ਕਰਿ ਸਰਬ ਜਗਤ ਕੋ ਪਿਤਾ ਜਲ ਹੈ। ‘ਮਾਤਾ ਧਰਤਿ ਮਹਤੁ’=ਸਰਬ ਜਗਤ ਕੀ ਮਾਤਾ ਧਰਤੀ ਹੈ। ਕੈਸੀ ਧਰਤੀ ਹੈ? ‘ਮਹਤੁ’ ਕਹੀਏ ਬਡੀ ਹੈ।
(176) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Yes, from that seed, everything originates. And from the raining of water, all vegetation originates. For this reason, water is the father of the entire world. ‘Mata dharat mahat’ = the earth is the mother of the entire world. What kind of earth is it? It is called ‘mahat’, meaning great. A mother is one who supports and raises a child, nourishes them by producing milk from her own body, and bears the impurities of the child; in the same way, the earth relates to the entire world. First, it supports and holds everything upon itself; second, the earth produces grain and other sustenance within itself to feed everyone—the nourishment of all comes from the earth, and everything that originates from it consumes it.
— from Garab Ganjinee Teeka. Gurmukhi is the author's original text (OCR); the English is a machine translation. Both are short study excerpts — refer to the original for an authoritative reading.Read the full work on SikhLibrary ↗

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Course test

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1. What was Guru Angad Dev Ji's birth name?
2. In what year was Guru Angad Dev Ji born?
3. What religious tradition did Lehna follow before meeting Guru Nanak Dev Ji?
4. What does the name 'Angad' mean?
5. Where did Guru Angad Dev Ji establish his center of ministry?
6. Who was Guru Angad Dev Ji's wife, praised in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji for her role in Langar?
7. Who founded the Udasi order after Guru Nanak Dev Ji's passing?
8. How many saloks did Guru Angad Dev Ji compose that are included in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji?
9. What institution did Guru Angad Dev Ji establish at Khadur Sahib to promote physical fitness?
10. In what year did Guru Angad Dev Ji receive the Guruship from Guru Nanak Dev Ji?

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