Around the year 1485, a 16-year-old boy named Nanak moved to Sultanpur Lodhi in Punjab, where he lived for the next 14 years. Each day before sunrise, he would go for ablutions by the Kali Bein, a seasonal rivulet, accompanied by Mardana, the minstrel boy and his to-be lifelong companion. One day, to Mardana’s surprise, Nanak plunged into the river but didn’t surface. Mardana waited and waited and then rushed to the town to seek assistance. Everyone thought that either Nanak had drowned or had been washed away in the river, which was in spate.

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To remember Guru Nanak is to necessarily remember Bhai Mardana, long extolled as the first Sikh

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Devotees offer prayers at Golden Temple on Guru Nanak Jayanti

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