The succession of 1539
Installation as Guru
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji bows to his disciple and installs him as successor, passing over his sons.
The Var of Balvand and Satta tells it as a royal enthronement. The founder raises the canopy over Lehna's head, bows to his own disciple while still alive, and marks his forehead. Satta likens this to making the Ganges run backwards, so strange did it seem for a master to bow to a follower.
The poets are blunt about the sons, who would not obey and turned their backs. The test, they say, was open for all to see, and Lehna alone came through it.
How do we know?
A close source supports this story, and a second independent source agrees.
The Var is the strongest evidence, but its finished form dates from the time of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji at the earliest. Its praise language may also be aimed at later rivals. The Dabistan is a mid-17th-century outsider's account, contemporary with the sixth and seventh Gurus rather than with 1539.
- ScriptureDescribes the canopy, the bow and the forehead mark, and condemns the sons' disobedience. (Angs 966-967, Ramkali ki Var, pauris 1-4)[DB]
- ScholarshipGives the nomination and installation dates and the bypassing of the sons.[EoS]
- From the timeThe Dabistan names Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji as occupying the founder's place by his order, and records the Sikh belief that the spirit passed from one to the next.[Src]
