The Kartarpur settlement
The debate at Achal Batala
At a Shivratri fair the Nath yogis confronted Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji about giving up the ascetic life, and Guru Ji replied that they lived off householders.
In Bhai Gurdas's first Var, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji hears of the Shivratri fair and goes from Kartarpur to Achal. The crowd leaves the yogis to see him, and the offerings follow. Angered, the yogis hide the devotees' pot, and Guru Ji finds it for them.
Their leader Bangar Nath then challenges him. Why, he asks, have you curdled the milk by adding vinegar? Why take off the ascetic's robe and go back to living as a householder? Guru Ji answers that the fault is in Bangar Nath's teacher, who never cleaned the vessel. You renounce the home, Guru Ji says, and then you go to the doors of householders for your food.
The yogis then show their powers. They turn into lions, fly like birds, hiss like snakes and pour out fire. When they ask him for a miracle, Guru Ji says he has nothing to show but the holy fellowship and the Word, and without the true Name all else passes like the shadow of a cloud. The Var ends with the yogis at peace.
How do we know?
A close source supports this story, and a second independent source agrees.
The debate is treated as historical. The details of the contest of powers belong to the poem.
- Early sourceGives a full account of the fair, the hidden pot, Bangar Nath's charge about vinegar in milk, Guru Ji's reply, the yogis' magic and the answer that the true Name was the only miracle. (pauris 39-44)[Src]
- ScholarshipSummarises the event and quotes Miharban's picture of the crowds rushing to see Guru Ji.[EoS]
- ScholarshipAccepts this debate as well founded because all the sources record it, Achal is close to Kartarpur, and Guru Ji's works show frequent contact with Naths. (pp. 140-141)[McLeod]
- ScholarshipNotes that the Bala has the meeting in a mountain retreat, where Bhai Gurdas has it at Achal.[EoS]
