The Vein river
No Hindu and no Muslim, and the prayer with the Nawab
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji's first words were reported as 'There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim', and the qazi challenged him before the Nawab.
According to the Puratan and related accounts, after a day of silence Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji spoke one sentence: there is no Hindu and no Muslim. People carried it to the Nawab, who waved it away as the sort of thing a faqir says. The qazi was not so easy, and Guru Ji was brought to court.
The tradition recorded at Sultanpur adds a scene at prayer. The Nawab invited him to join the namaz. Guru Ji stood by, and afterwards was asked why. He told them what each of them had really been thinking of during the prayer. Both, the Janamsakhis say, fell at his feet. The Nawab told the qazi that Guru Ji had reached the truth, and that was the end of the matter.
How do we know?
Several traditional accounts tell this story, without close independent support.
The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism quotes hymns that treat Hindus and Muslims as having one Master, so the sense of the saying can stand even if the scene is doubted.
- Later traditionSummarises the Puratan account in which he kept silent a day and then spoke this saying, the qazi took offence, and the Nawab questioned him and found no fault. (p. 38)[McLeod]
- Later traditionPreserves the saying and the discourse with the qazi in the B-40 text. (ff. 19b, 22b-23b, as cited in EST p. 255)[(tr.)]
- ScholarshipReports the Puratan's closing words from the Nawab that Guru Ji had arrived at the truth.[EoS]
- ScholarshipRecords the story that Guru Ji stood aside from the namaz and told the Nawab and the qazi what they had really been thinking about.[EoS]
- ScholarshipAccepts that the famous saying can fit Guru Ji's own views, while setting the qazi scene in a later Sikh theme of triumph over Muslim opponents. (p. 255)[McLeod]
