Guru Nanak 550 Years Se­ries: Avid trav­eller, archivist and ad­ven­turer Gur­preet Singh Anand shares a lit­tle-known Ode to Guru Nanak Sahib by renowned Hindu philoso­pher Sri Ananda Acharya upon vis­it­ing the memo­r­ial of the visit at Bahlol, Bagh­dad.

Sri Ananda Acharya (1881-1945) was a great Hindu philoso­pher who dur­ing his trav­els one day reached out­side Bagh­dad where some­one men­tioned to him about Guru Nanak visit and the memo­r­ial of his visit to the shrine of Bahlol.

Sri Ananda Acharya upon see­ing a com­mem­o­ra­tive stone on Guru Nanak Sahib’s visit to Bagh­dad in 1511, com­posed an Ode to Baba Nanak.  The revered Acharya vis­ited the place in 1919 that marked one of the well-known fol­low­ers of Baba Nanak who along with his son, af­ter dis­course With Guru Nanak be­came his fol­lower.  The em­i­nent sage af­ter vis­it­ing the tomb of Bahlol, then and there com­posed a poem that is pub­lished in his book, “Snow-Birds.”

Far back then, Bagh­dad was a great cen­tre of learn­ing and Guru Nanak vis­ited such places in his var­i­ous Udas­sis -spir­i­tual jour­neys.

Bhai Gur­das Ji records Guru Nanak’s visit to Bagh­dad in his Vaars in de­tail.  Guru Nanak’s com­pan­ion Bhai Mar­dana, who was ac­com­pa­ny­ing the First Mas­ter, replied to Pir-i-Dast­gir’s ques­tion of what faith was Baba Nanak thus:

ਪੁਛਿਆ ਫਿਰਿ ਕੈ ਦਸਤਗੀਰ ਕਉਣ ਫਕੀਰ ਕਿਸ ਕਾ ਘਰਿਹਾਨਾ।
ਨਾਨਕ ਕਲਿ ਵਿਚਿ ਆਇਆ ਰਬੁ ਫਕੀਰੁ ਇਕੋ ਪਹਿਚਾਨਾ।
ਧਰਤਿ ਆਕਾਸ ਚਹੂ ਦਿਸ ਜਾਨਾ । 35

Pir Daste­gir asked him, which cat­e­gory of faquir you be­long to and what is your parent­age? (Mar­dana told) He is Nanak, who has come into kaliyug, and, recog­nises God and His faquirs as one. He is known in all the di­rec­tions be­sides earth and sky.

A stone slab marked the spot in Turk­ish lan­guage reads, “Be­hold! How a wish has been ful­filled by Holy and High Prov­i­dence. That the build­ing of Baba Nanak has been newly built with the help of seven au­tat (great valis). That the happy mu­rad of God (Baba Nanak) has started a foun­tain of grace is­su­ing new wa­ter in the land. 917 Hi­jri ” (1511 A.D.)

The leg­end goes that the Queen of Bagh­dad had no child. By the bless­ings of Guru Nanak, a son was born to the Queen and she of­fered a chola (robe) to Guru Nanak pre­pared by her­self, hav­ing the hymns of Quran on it. That chola is still ly­ing in Gur­d­wara Chola Sahib at Dera Baba Nanak, Gur­daspur dis­trict, Pun­jab.

Chron­i­clers record that this place was dis­cov­ered by a Sikh sol­dier dur­ing World War I and soon af­ter Sri Ananda Acharya im­mor­talised it in his poem.