The first journey: the east, as tradition tells it
Haridwar: watering the fields
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji threw water the other way at Haridwar, the story says, to question offerings sent to the ancestors.
DisputedEarly in the travels, by traditionHaridwar1 min read
In the Miharban Janamsakhi, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji came to the Ganga at Haridwar and saw crowds splashing water for their forebears. He stepped in and began splashing it the other way. Offended, they asked him why. He asked them where their water was going, and they said it was going to their ancestors in heaven. Then he was doing the same, he said, for his fields near Lahore. When they scoffed, he said that water able to reach heaven could surely reach Lahore, and that left them with nothing to say.
How do we know?
The sources conflict on this story, or scholars doubt it.
- Later traditionSummarises Miharban's version, in which Guru Ji says he is watering his fields near Lahore. (p. 55)[McLeod]
- ScholarshipReports that the early Bala manuscripts lack the story while modern Bala versions have it, that a similar story exists in Buddhist tradition, and that this does not rule out a visit to Haridwar. (p. 90)[McLeod]
- ScholarshipIncludes Haridwar among the pilgrimage places he visited.[EoS]
- ScholarshipThe editor objects that McLeod's rejection of the scene leaves his position on the visit itself uncertain. (introduction, pp. 19-20)[Singh]
