All Namdev's compositions bear convincing testi mony to the love he bore his favourite deity. Accordingly, the local tradition that he spent his old age at Pandharpur in the immediate vicinity of Vishoba' s temple, and that he was buried there must be implicitly accepted.
The Sikhs and Panjabi followers of Namdev say that he was cremated at Ghuman in the Gurdaspur district of the Panjab. This belief is founded on legends current in the north of India and the records at a shrine bearing the saint's name in Ghuman, but it is resolutely denied by his followers in Pandharpur, who assert that, owing to the fame of his sanctity, possession of his remains was claimed by many
D 2
provinces of India in the same way as the god Ram was claimed by the Budhists as one of their gurus.
The following account of Namdev in Nabhaji's Bhagat Mai is accepted by his followers in the Panjab, though it probably refers to a different person who assumed his name. Bamdev was a calico-printer of Gopalpura near Pandharpur. He had a daughter, a virgin widow, whom he very much loved. Bamdev was himself a God-fearing man. When his daughter attained the age of twelve years, he instructed her to serve and worship God under the name of Vit- thalnath, informing her at the same time that, by hearty love and devotion to Him, all her wishes should be fulfilled. She then applied herself with such zeal to the worship of God that in a short time, it is said, He even gratified her desire for a son, and she became pregnant. This became known all over the city, and to the whole tribe wherever dispersed. Evil persons rejoiced at the opportunity afforded them of defaming Bamdev. The matter eventually came to his ears, and he asked his daughter to explain her lapse of virtue. She replied, ' Thou toldest me that by hearty love and devotion to God, He would satisfy all my wishes and desires. Whatever hath occurred hath been the work of God/ Bamdev on hearing this was so overjoyed that he could hardly contain himself. When in due time a son was born to his daughter, he gave all he had in alms as a thanksgiving for the happy event. He called the child Namdev, and loved him more than his own life.
To remove the objections of evil and slanderous people to the child's birth the Purans and other sacred books were consulted, and the words of God in the second chapter of the Bhagawat were explained to the people. There God says, that if a man worship Him with constant love He will fulfil his desires whether for temporal or spiritual
NAMDEV 37
objects. In the eleventh chapter of the Bhagawat it is written, that God bestoweth even salvation on His saints, so why not the fulfilment of their worldly desires ? It would be nothing strange if He fulfilled the desires of a saint of His who prayed to Him with love.
There used to be a vigil held in Namdev' s house on the eleventh night of the light and dark halves of the month. On one occasion on a dark night the assembled saints were thirsty, but there was no water for them to drink. No one would go to draw from the adjacent well, which was haunted. Namdev himself took a pitcher and proceeded thither with the object of satisfying his guests. A terrible and frightful ghost appeared to him. For the object of exorcism Namdev extemporized a stanza which he sang to the accompaniment of cymbals. The first lines of the stanza are as follows : —
My long-legg'd Sir, I see thy form arise,
Thy feet on earth, thy forehead in the skies.
Thine arms are long as jojans l to mine eyes.
It is said that God revealed Himself in the ghost, and the latter through the favour of Namdev was translated to heaven.2
The following parable is given by some of Namdev' s biographers. There was a banker whose riches were so great that he had himself weighed with gold which he distributed among his poor fellow citizens. He sent for Namdev at somebody's suggestion. Nam dev twice sent him word that he wanted nothing, but on the third invitation decided on going to meet him. The banker said that he had distributed a large amount of money through the city, and asked Namdev also to take some, so that he him-
self might reap some advantage from the bene faction. Namdev replied, ' Why should I refuse anything that would be for thy benefit ? ' At the same time he reflected that when the banker aban doned the pride of wealth, it would be well for him. He therefore wrote the letter R, being half of God's name,1 on a sprig of sweet basil, and told the banker to weigh gold against it. The banker asked if he were laughing at him, and said, 'Having regard for thy holiness and kindness in visiting me, ask for what thou desirest.' Namdev replied that laughter and pleasantry were out of place. He only required gold of the weight of the sprig of basil. Upon this the banker sent for small scales, and began to weigh the basil with a little gold. The gold was not sufficient to weigh down the sprig. The banker sent for larger scales, and finding the sprig weighed more than five or seven sers, put in six or seven mans of gold, but still the scale with the basil remained on the ground, while the scale with the gold kicked the beam. He then borrowed more gold from his tribesmen, but all would not suffice to lift the basil. At this the banker and his de pendants were sore distressed. Namdev then saw that the banker had parted with his pride of wealth, but that he was still proud of the good acts he had done during his life, and it was necessary to dispel that pride also. Namdev told him to add the offering of the good acts of his life, and perhaps the scale with the sprig of basil would rise. The banker did so, but still the scale refused to move. The banker's good acts possessed no weight. Upon this he told Namdev to take away all the gold. Namdev inquired what use it would be to him. He wanted the wealth of God's service, to whom all the deities and the powers of both worlds were subservient. The banker grew ashamed and in spired with faith became a saint of God.
NAMDEV'S SHRINE AT GHUMAN
NAMDEV 39
The following are given as specimens of the preaching of Namdev. If a man greet another outwardly, and inwardly remember his demerits, he doeth not well. It is like eating a fly in sweets. The mind is made steady by the knowledge that God is all-pervading. That is the true form of meditation. As loose women, though in the arms of their husbands, think of their lovers, as the chatrik while resting on the earth thinketh of the clouds which will give it acceptable rain-drops, as the lotuses in the lake think of the sun, as a cow while grazing in the field thinketh of her calf, as a miser while walking in the streets thinketh of his wealth, as a goldsmith while making ornaments thinketh of stealing the gold given him for the purpose, as the chakor thinketh of the moonlight, as a woman returning from a well thinketh of her pitcher while conversing with her friends, as the bee while flitting in the glade thinketh of the flower, so should man while following the ways of the world think of God in his heart.
Namdev visited the present district of Gurdaspur in the Panjab when fifty-five years of age. He first went to Bhattewal and dwelt beside a tank there, which is called Namiana in memory of him. He had two disciples — Ladha and Jalla, a carpenter — who settled down with followers of their own in the villages of Sukhowal and Dhariwal respectively. Namdev removed from Bhattewal, and took up his abode near another tank in a lonely forest, where he hoped for more leisure for prayer and meditation on God. His presence there soon attracted culti vators, and the village of Ghuman gradually sprang up over the spot where he is supposed to have been cremated. A fine domed building was erected to his memory by Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia ; and the tank was repaired by Mai Sada Kaur, the mother- in-law of Maharaja Ran jit Singh. Since then the yearly religious fair at the saint's shrine on the
2nd of Magh — about the I3th of January — has assumed considerable proportions. His followers in the Gurdaspur district are of the same caste and occupation as himself, reverence the Granth Sahib, and in many respects resemble the Sikhs in their usages.1
The following hymns of Namdev are found in the Granth Sahib. They belong to three periods of his life — boyhood when he was an idolater, manhood when he was emancipating himself from Hindu superstitions, and old age when his hymns became conformable to the ideas of religious reformers at the time, and to the subsequent teaching of the Sikh Gurus. It is on account of his later and more matured opinions that his writings have been in corporated in the sacred book of the Sikhs.
NAMDEV'S HYMNS
GAURI The saving influence of God's name.
Why should not man float over by repeating Thy name ? Thou didst save the courtesan, the shapeless hunchback, the hunstman, and Ajamal.
NAMDEV'S HYMNS 41
Even the murderer who shot Krishan in the foot was saved —
I am a sacrifice to those who utter God's name —
Bidur, the son of a handmaiden, Sudama, and Ugarsen,1 who obtained regal state ;
Men without devotion, without penance, without family and without good works, were saved by Nama's Lord.
ASA
The omnipresence of God. In the Hindu system there is no teleological purpose assigned for the creation of the world. It is the sport of Maya who proceeded from God. Maya still practises every art to bewitch and deceive mankind. Namdev's creed is the unity of God, who is contained in everything and fills all creation.
There is one God of various manifestations contained in and filling everything ; whithersoever I look there is He.
Maya's variegated picture hath so bewitched the world, that few know God.
Everything is God, everything is God, there is nothing but God.
One string holdeth hundreds and thousands of beads ; God is the warp and woof.
Waves and foam and bubbles cannot be distinct from water.
This illusion, the world, is the play of the Supreme God ; on reflection thou shall not find it different from Him.
Fleeting phantoms, illusions of dreams man deemeth real advantages.
My guru instilled into me right ideas, and when I awoke to reason my mind accepted them.
Saith Namdev, behold the creation of God, and reflect on it in thy mind ;
In every heart and in all things uninterruptedly there is only the one God.
The futility of idolatry.
If I bring a pitcher and fill it with water to bathe the idol,
Forty-two lakhs l of animal species are in the water ; God is contained in them ; why should I bathe Him ?
Wherever I go there God is contained ;
God supremely happy ever sporteth.
If I bring flowers and weave a garland to worship the idol,
The bee hath first smelled the flowers ; God is contained in the bee ; why should I weave Him a garland ?
If I bring milk and cook it with khir 2 to feed the idol,
The calf hath first defiled the milk by tasting it ; God is contained in the calf ; why should I feed Him ?
In this world is God ; in the next world is God ; there is no part of the world without Him.
Thou art, O God, in every place ; Nama representeth, Thou fillest the whole earth.
Namdev had renounced his secular duties, and it was represented to him that he ought to embrace them again. He here gives substitutes for the tools of his trade : —
My heart is a yard measure ; my tongue a shears. With it I measure and cut off Death's noose.3 What care I for caste ? What care I for lineage ? I repeat the name of God day and night ;
' The god of death is supposed to throw nooses to ensnare mortals. He does not mow them down like Death in European mythology.
NAMDEV'S HYMNS 43
I dye what ought to be dyed,1 and I sew what ought to be sewed.2
I cannot live for a ghari without God's name :
I perform worship and sing God's praises ;
During the eight watches of the day I meditate on my Lord.
My needle is of gold, my thread of silver 3 —
Nama's soul is attached to God.
The following hymn was addressed to a reputed holy man who had stolen a merchant's money, and falsely imputed the offence to Namdev. The mer chant had gone to bathe, and while doing so the hypocrite seated in a religious attitude stole his purse. The merchant missed it on returning. He could not think of attributing the theft to the man in the religious garb, so he charged Namdev with it. The merchant would not accept Namdev' s denial, and had him flogged. While Namdev was being punished a storm arose which lifted the cloth on which the reputed holy man sat. The missing purse was then found under the cloth. Upon that Namdev addressed the following verses to the hypocrite : —
The serpent casteth its slough, but not its poison : Since thy heart is not pure,
Why perform mock meditation and repetition of God's name ?
Thou art as the crane watching for fish in the water. The man who eateth the food of lions,4 Is called the god of thieves.
Kama's Lord hath settled the quarrel ; Drink God's elixir,1 O double-faced one.
Devotion to God is sufficient for human happiness.
If thou see the Supreme God, thou shalt have no other desire ;
If thou think of the worship of God, thou shalt keep thy mind free from care.
O my soul, how shalt thou cross over the world's ocean filled with the water of evil passions ?
O my soul, thou hast been led astray on seeing the deceit ful world.
A calico-printer's2 house gave me birth, yet I became saturated with the guru's instruction,
Through the favour of holy men Nama hath met God.
GUJARI
Namdev worships the true God and is prepared to accept whatever He sends.
If Thou give me an empire, what glory shall it be to me ? If Thou cause me to beg, how shall it degrade me ? Worship God, O my soul, and thou shalt obtain the dignity of salvation,
And no more transmigration shall await thee.
He to whom Thou givest understanding knoweth Thee. When I meet the true guru, my doubts shall depart. Whom shall I then worship ? none other would be seen but Thee.
One stone is adored,
NAMDEV'S HYMNS 45
Another 1 is trodden under foot :
If one is a god, the other is also a god —
Saith Namdev, I worship the true God.
God's presence is felt though He cannot be described.
He who hath no trace of impurity, who is beyond im purity, and who is perfumed as with sandal hath taken His seat in my heart.
No one saw Him coming ; who knoweth Him, O sister ? Who can describe, who can understand the All-pervading and Unknowable ?
As the trace of a bird is not perceived in the sky, As the path of a fish is not seen in the water, As a vessel is not filled with the mirage-water of the sky, Such is God, Nama's Lord, in whom these three qualities are blended ; 2 His coming or going is not seen.
SORATH
Namdev advises to accept divine instruction so that man may be contented and happy.
When I sing of God, then I behold Him ; Then I, His slave, obtain contentment. Accept divine instruction, O man ; the true guru shall cause thee to meet God.
Where the heavenly light shineth, There playeth spontaneous music. ' God's 3 light is all-pervading ' —
! That is, God exists though no trace of Him is seen.
By the guru's favour I know that.
In the chamber of the heart are jewels 1
Which glitter there like lightning.
God is near, not distant,
And His Spirit completely filleth mine.
Where the inextinguishable sun of God's word shineth,
There earthly lamps grow pale :
Through the guru's favour I have known this.
God's slave Nama hath been easily absorbed in Him.
The whole of the following hymn relates to the Jog philosophy and the exaltation of mind pro duced by its practice : —
III2
Without covering it with leather the drum of the brain playeth ;
Without waiting for the month of Sawan the thunder roareth,
And it raineth without clouds.
If any one consider the real state of things,
I have met my dear Lord.
By meeting Him my body hath become perfect ; 3
Having touched the philosopher's stone I have become gold.
In word and thought I have strung the gems of God's name.
I feel real love for God, my doubts are dispelled :
On questioning the guru my mind is satisfied.
As the pitcher is filled with water,
I know that the world is filled with the one God.
When the disciple's mind accepted the guru,
The slave Nama recognized God.
However great man may be, he should reflect that death is his fate at last.
NAMDEV'S HYMNS 47