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Guru Tegh Bahadur, the Ninth Sikh Guru – Asian Art Museum

Guru Tegh Bahadur, the Ninth Sikh Guru,
approx. 1670 Northern India or Pakistan
Opaque watercolors on paper
Gift of the Kapany Collection, 1998.94

Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675), whose name literally means “brave swordsman”, spent his early life in his birthplace Ramdaspur (built 1577; modern Amritsar), considered a divine town in the Sikh belief system, which even today remains an important center of Sikh faith and pilgrimage. Guru Tegh Bahadur was an accomplished poet whose compositions were added to the existing body of sacred texts. He was also the most widely traveled leader after Guru Nanak, which enabled him to strengthen ties between Sikh congregations in distant places. In 1675, the Guru was arrested and publicly executed in Delhi.

Guru Tegh Bahadur is here depicted in the conventions of portraiture developed under the Mughal rulers of north India (1526–1857) and which continued at royal courts elsewhere. He is shown standing in profile, dressed simply yet elegantly, against a plain background. The halo around his head indicates his position as a spiritual leader; it is a device used also for indicating a ruler’s status. With the hunting falcon in his hand, Guru Tegh Bahadur is presented in this painting more as a cultured and cosmopolitan ruler than as the ninth Sikh guru.

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Honorific parasol depicting Guru Nanak and companions – Asian Art Museum

Honorific parasol depicting Guru Nanak and companions
approx. 1800-1900 India or Pakistan;
Punjab state or Punjab province Silver Museum purchase, 2007.19

This miniature silver parasol (chattri) once hung over a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. Honorific parasols such as this one often mark a place where one of the ten Sikh gurus once preached. Parasols have a long history in Indian culture where they serve as symbols of royalty and divinity. This parasol depicts Guru Nanak, the first of the ten gurus and founder of Sikhism, with his two companions, Mardana and Bhai Bala.

LIFE STORIES (JANAM SAKHI) OF GURU NANAK

The Sikh religion was founded in the sixteenth century by the religious teacher and philosopher Guru Nanak (1469–1539), who was born in the Punjab (near Lahore, in modern Pakistan). Guru Nanak, a recluse and mystic, synthesized existing religious ideas to create an original doctrine that emphasizes monotheism, equality, brotherhood, and tolerance.

After his death Guru Nanak’s life story was memorialized and embellished. This Sikh body of literature that emerges in the early 1600s is called the Life Stories (janam sakhi). At least four versions of them are known. The most popular—though the most unreliable historically—is called the Bala janam sakhi, named after an alleged disciple of Guru Nanak, Bhai Bala. These stories communicate Guru Nanak’s message and illustrate the close relationship between his actions and teachings.

A selection of paintings from two nineteenth-century sets of illustrated Bala janam sakhis are on view here. The paintings depict typical events of the young guru’s life, such as his education, his marriage, and the many encounters that he experienced once he took up his philosophical quest. Guru Nanak met ordinary people from different walks of life and was able to impress them with his teachings; he encountered formidable and fearsome characters such as cannibals and demons, which he subdued through his beatific presence and saintly ideals. According to legend, he traveled to important religious sites such as Mecca and Mount Kailasha, the abode of the Hindu gods. The main theme of the text and paintings of the Life Stories is that the guru was able to impress whomever he met through the wisdom of his ideas and examples rather than through conflict.

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Guru Nanak’s wedding procession – Asian Art Museum

“Guru Nanak’s wedding procession, from a manuscript of the Janam Sakhi (Life Stories)”, 1800–1900
Pakistan; Lahore
Opaque watercolors and gold on paper
Gift of the Kapany Collection, 1998.58.8

“Guru Nanak’s wedding procession, from a manuscript of the Janam Sakhi (Life Stories)”, 1800–1900
Pakistan; Lahore
Opaque watercolors and gold on paper
Gift of the Kapany Collection, 1998.58.9

The beginning sections of the janam sakhi manuscripts describe events from Guru Nanak’s early life. They highlight episodes that do not directly relate to his teachings or his role as a religious leader but instead present him as a youth, a student and as a family man. Through a view of this personal journey and social responsibilities, Guru Nanak becomes a model for his followers.

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Guru Nanak’s wedding procession – Asian Art Museum

At age sixteen, the guru was married to Sulakhani, the daughter of a pious merchant, with whom he had two sons. This event is of importance in the narrative of Guru Nanak’s life as it shows him following the established social order, while also reflecting the Sikh emphasis on family and community life. The paintings here depict two moments from Guru Nanak’s marriage celebrations.

The painting on the left shows the arrival of the bridal party amidst much festivity as indicated by the presence of musicians and attendants lighting fireworks. The Guru, seen on horseback and dressed in the luxurious robes of a bridegroom, also has a gold halo around his head, a symbol of enlightened and important status frequently used in depictions of kings or saints from the sixteenth century onwards.
The actual wedding ceremony is depicted in the painting on the right. The couple is seated before the sacred fire (agni) and a priest conducts the religious rites. The ceremony is a typical Hindu marriage as Guru Nanak was born into a Hindu family.

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Guru Nanak’s discourse with Dattatreya on Mount Byar – Asian Art Museum

“Guru Nanak’s discourse with Dattatreya on Mount Byar, from a manuscript of the Janam Sakhi (Life Stories)”, 1800–1900
Pakistan; Lahore
Opaque watercolors and gold on paper
Gift of the Kapany Collection, 1998.58.25

“Guru Nanak’s meeting with Dhru Bhagat on Mount Kailasha, from a manuscript of the Janam Sakhi (Life Stories)”, 1800–1900
Pakistan; Lahore
Opaque watercolors and gold on paper
Gift of the Kapany Collection, 1998.58.27

When he was thirty years old, Guru Nanak began his extensive travels for teaching purposes. He was accompanied by his companion Mardana, a Muslim musician who played the rabab (lute). In the course of these travels, the Guru visited places of religious significance in Hindu and Muslim traditions and engaged in philosophical discussions with leading sages.

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Guru Nanak’s meeting with Dhru Bhagat on Mount Kailasha – Asian Art Museum

One can imagine the challenge for an artist who is tasked with illustrating a manuscript whose text is largely composed of philosophical discussion or parables rather than action. In what ways can abstract concepts be visually conveyed; how can the artist represent the key elements of the text while keeping the painting meaningful and simultaneously maintaining the viewer’s interest?

In the two works here and also those to the far right, the artist(s) has used the framing event of the narrative—Guru Nanak in conversation—as the basis for composing the painting. In each example, the Guru is shown seated or standing before a sage, with one hand raised in a gesture of conversation. One recognizes the figure of Guru Nanak because of a general consistency of costume and headgear, the gold halo around his head, and the nearby figure of his musician companion. The specific identities of the sages are more difficult to pinpoint but again, costume details provide some information, and the halos around their heads also signify their status as learned and important figures.

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Guru Nanak meets the poet Kabir – Asian Art Museum

“Guru Nanak meets the poet Kabir, from a manuscript of the Janam Sakhi (Life Stories)”, 1800–1900
Pakistan; Lahore
Opaque watercolors and gold on paper
Gift of the Kapany Collection, 1998.58.28

“Guru Nanak meets with Bal Nath yogi’s disciples, from a manuscript of the Janam Sakhi (Life Stories)”, 1800–1900
Pakistan; Lahore
Opaque watercolors and gold on paper
Gift of the Kapany Collection, 1998.58.36

Lahore, Friday, December 21, 1838. “[Today] Heera Singh, Runjeet’s favorite, came to my tent to sit for his picture but there was some difficulty about his coming, so he arrived late, and it was too dark to draw him well. Runjeet sent word that he considered him ‘his best-beloved son, ’ and hoped that somebody of consideration would be sent to fetch him.

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Guru Nanak meets with Bal Nath yogi’s disciples – Asian Art Museum

Dhian Singh, the prime minister and ruler of one-third of the Punjab … is Heera Singh’s father, but Runjeet sent the ‘best-beloved son’ with quantities of elephants, and two regiments, to take care of him, while Dhian Singh came on horseback, with only four soldiers behind him. He [Dhian Singh] is a very striking-looking man and his manners are much more pleasing than his son’s.”

–Excerpt from Emily Eden, Up the Country: Letters Written to Her Sister from the Upper Provinces of India, 1866 Elsewhere Emily Eden comments on Heera Singh’s arrogance. She also mentions that he had learned a little English and came up with good conversation topics. Heera Singh became prime minister after the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839. Politically ambitious and unpopular, Heera Singh was assassinated in 1844 by members of the Sikh army loyal to Maharani Jindan, wife of Ranjit Singh.