The first journey: the east, as tradition tells it
Varanasi: Pandit Chatur Das
A leading pandit asked about Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji's lack of the marks of devotion, and was answered with a hymn.
According to the Puratan Janamsakhi and the tradition at Varanasi, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji took a seat in an open public place in the holy city. A learned pandit, Chatur Das, stopped to look at this oddly dressed visitor. He asked what sort of devotee went about with no sacred stone, no basil necklace, no rosary and no mark on his brow.
Guru Ji had Mardana play, and sang of making the Name the sacred stone and good deeds the necklace, and of the waste of watering barren soil. Chatur Das offered to teach him the many branches of learning. Guru Ji said that one subject was enough, and that the truly learned person was the one who remembered God and served others.
How do we know?
Several traditional accounts tell this story, without close independent support.
The February 1507 date comes only from the Encyclopaedia's entry on the site, and it should be treated as local tradition.
- Later traditionGives the Puratan scene in which Chatur Das notices the missing salagram, rosary and sect mark, and the discourse ends with the Oankar composition and his conversion. (p. 39)[McLeod]
- ScholarshipRecords the same scene at Gurdwara Guru Bagh and gives the date of Shivratri 1563 Bk, February 1507.[EoS]
- ScholarshipLists Miharban's Varanasi discourses too, and classes the visit as possible but unproved. (p. 89)[McLeod]
