Nanak was an Indian guru who formed the religion of Sikhism. He was born in 1469 and died in 1539. He was born into a Hindu family at Talwandi in the Punjab (now known as Nankana Sahib, in present- day Pakistan) . Legends about his life are contained in the four janam sakhis ('evidences of his life'). As a child, Nanak learned about Islam as well as Hinduism, and he used to compose hymns together with a Muslim musician. He was a house- holder for the first part of his life, but at the age of 30 he went travelling in search of spiritual inspiration. He underwent a religious experience in which he had a vision of God. Nanak then proclaimed that he was neither a Hindu nor a Muslim; he gave away all his possessions and became a wandering preacher, hoping to bring Muslims and Hindus together by expounding his message of the oneness of God and the equality of men. He preached a new path to the orthodox Hindu goal of release from the cycle of rebirth and attainment of union with God and practised a form of inward and disciplined meditation on the name of God. He returned to the Punjab after years of travelling and set up a community of disciples, who became known as Sikhs (from Sanskrit, shishya, 'pupil'). His teachings in the form of short devotional hymns are contained in the Adi Granth. Many details of his life and travels remain uncertain, although hagiographical collections of anecdotes, called Fanam-sakhis, are in circulation among Sikhs, who revere him as the first of their ten gurus (religious teachers). Research Nanak
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