Guru Nanak's Udasis

Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, undertook four extensive journeys known as Udasis, meaning "travels" or "wanderings," between 1500 and 1524 CE. These travels covered thousands of miles, taking him through present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, and even as far as Mecca in Arabia. His purpose was not to conquer or convert, but to engage with people of all faiths and backgrounds, share his vision of one God, and challenge social injustices such as caste discrimination and empty ritualism. Alongside him traveled his lifelong companion, Bhai Mardana, a Muslim musician who played the rabab, a stringed instrument, while Guru Nanak sang his hymns. Their partnership symbolized the harmony Guru Nanak preached, and the core episodes from all four journeys are preserved in the Puratan Janamsakhi, the oldest surviving traditional biography of the Guru's life.

The first Udasi, from 1500 to 1506 CE, took Guru Nanak eastward through Delhi and Banaras to Bengal and Assam. In one well-known episode recorded in the Puratan Janamsakhi, he arrived at the pilgrimage city of Kurukshetra on the night of a solar eclipse, when a great fair had gathered at the holy tank in the belief that ritual bathing at that moment would wash away sin. Guru Nanak had Bhai Mardana cook a meal of venison, meat considered by the gathered Brahmins to be an especially grave sin to prepare during an eclipse at a pilgrimage site.

When the priests objected in outrage, Guru Nanak answered them directly: if cooking the flesh of a deer is counted a sin, how can killing a man ever be counted a virtue? If killing an animal is wrong, he asked, how can killing a man be right? The rebuke exposed the priests' selective outrage, condemning a meal while remaining silent about far graver violence, and it captured a theme Guru Nanak returned to throughout his travels: that ritual purity divorced from genuine compassion is no purity at all.

The second Udasi, from 1506 to 1513 CE, took him south through the Deccan and eventually by sea to the island of Sri Lanka, where he visited the court of King Shivnabh. The king was impressed by Guru Nanak's teachings and asked him to stay. Guru Nanak gave discourses on the equality of all humans and the futility of caste pride. A well-known story from this Udasi says that the king's courtiers tried to test Guru Nanak by serving him food on a golden plate while placing a common laborer's meal in a plain clay bowl. Guru Nanak refused to eat from the gold and instead sat down with the laborer, saying that God's love is found in humility, not in wealth or status.

The third Udasi, from 1514 to 1518 CE, took him north into Kashmir, Nepal, and Tibet. In these rugged regions, he encountered ascetics and yogis who practiced severe physical austerities in pursuit of liberation. Guru Nanak debated with them, teaching that true yoga is not about torturing the body but about keeping the mind focused on God while living honestly in the world. In one exchange remembered in the Janamsakhi tradition, he told the assembled yogis that one need not renounce family or wander the mountains to reach God; living at home, working honestly, sharing with others, and remembering the Divine Name was, he said, the highest yoga of all.

The fourth and final Udasi, from 1519 to 1524 CE, carried him west into the Middle East. The most famous episode from this journey is Guru Nanak's visit to the holy city of Mecca, Islam's most sacred site. According to Janamsakhi tradition, he lay down to rest with his feet pointing toward the Kaaba, the holiest shrine. A Muslim custodian angrily told him to move his feet, since they were pointing toward God's house. Guru Nanak calmly replied: then turn my feet to where God is not. The custodian was struck by the point the Guru had made: that the Divine is everywhere, not confined to one direction or building. This encounter, like so many others across the four Udasis, distilled Guru Nanak's core message, that the Divine is beyond all place, ritual, and creed, and that true faith is expressed through love and service to all people.

Throughout his Udasis, Guru Nanak composed many hymns that were later collected in the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. He taught a simple path: remember God, earn an honest living, and share with others, the same threefold discipline later generations of Sikhs would know as Naam Japo, Kirat Karo, and Vand Chakko. His journeys were not about making converts but about awakening people to the unity that underlies all existence. Later generations of Sikhs would trace the founding of Sikh institutions, the Gurdwara (place of worship), the Langar, and the practice of Kirtan, directly back to patterns Guru Nanak first modeled during these very travels, long before any of these institutions carried a formal name. Bhai Mardana remained with him until his own death, and their travels together, a Hindu-born Guru and his Muslim companion singing the same hymns across four faiths' holiest sites, remain one of Sikh tradition's most enduring symbols of shared humanity across religious lines.