The Kartarpur settlement
Bhai Mardana's passing
Bhai Mardana passed away before Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, in 1534 by tradition, and the sources disagree about where.
The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, drawing on later tradition, says that when Bhai Mardana was failing at Kartarpur, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji asked how he wished his body to be treated, and whether he would like a memorial to make him famous. Mardana answered that Guru Ji was freeing him from one body's prison, so why shut him in a stone one? He passed away before dawn. His body was given to the Ravi, and Guru Ji had hymns sung and prasad shared, and asked his son Shahzada not to weep.
How do we know?
The sources conflict on this story, or scholars doubt it.
The Encyclopaedia takes the Bihagra slok as Mardana's own. The heading could also mean it was addressed to him; the question is not settled here.
- Later traditionSets his passing at Kartarpur in 1534 with a dialogue about whether he wanted a tomb and his body given to the Ravi, and notes his son Shahzada.[EoS]
- ScholarshipCompares that account in the Gyan Ratnavali with the claim of Kurram in Afghanistan, finding the second highly improbable and the first merely possible. (pp. 91-92)[McLeod]
- ScriptureHas sloks headed Mardana in the Var of Raag Bihagra, using images of wine and virtue. (ang 553)[Src]
