Love & Justice: Week 4 - The Janamsakhis

Biographical accounts of Guru Nanak Sahib’s life depend largely on the janamsakhis (Witnessed-Narratives) which are devotional accounts told in a poetic style of the Guru’s life, written by various authors, decades after his death.

The janamsakhis profess to be biographies of the Guru, but in reverence to him, they imbued these tellings of his life with supernatural powers. These powers are meant to indicate an awe or reverence and are typical to hagiographic (writings intended to exalt saints) poetry common in the time period. They are not written in a chronological “fact-based” manner, but they are extremely rich, detailed, and indicate to us what his early followers deemed important, by using stories to highlight key messages.

This course is an immersive introduction into the principles of the Sikh faith told through the primary source of the Guru Granth Sahib and secondary historic texts on the life of Guru Nanak Sahib.