The disciple at Kartarpur
The bundle of wet grass
Told to carry a dripping load home, Bhai Lehna ruins his new clothes without complaint.
According to the janamsakhis as the Encyclopaedia reports them, Bhai Lehna came out to the fields in fresh clothes and was told to take a bundle of sodden paddy back to the house. He put it on his head at once, and by the time he arrived the slime had run down over his garments.
Mata Sulakhni protested that this was no way to treat a guest. Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji answered that what she saw as mud was in fact saffron, the mark of a man fit for honour. Macauliffe's version has three bundles of grass and has Guru Ji say that God himself had placed them on Bhai Lehna's head.
How do we know?
Several traditional accounts tell this story, without close independent support.
- ScholarshipSummarises the janamsakhi anecdote of the paddy and the saffron reply.[EoS]
- Later traditionGives a longer version with three bundles carried in company with Guru Ji.[Macauliffe]
