MARDANA

Mardana was Guru Nanak's Muslim follower and friend, who accompanied him through his missionary tours in India and abroad.

He was born in 1459 in the village of Rae Bhoe of Talwandi, now in Pakistan. He was ten years older than Guru Nanak.

He was the son of a Mirasi couple. Mirasis were ministels who recorded a family's history in the form of long poems.

His father's name was Badra and his mother's name was Lakhi. Mardana's mother had six children, all of whom died during birth. She named the seventh child Marjana, meaning the in who dies.

But Guru Nanak starting calling him Mardana, meaning the one who wouldn't die.

Wherever they went, Guru Nanak would sing devotional songs and Mardana would accompany him by playing on his musical instrunment, rubab.

Mardana was not only an exceptionally good rubab player, but also a poet of some merit. One of his Slokas appears in the guru Granth Sahib.

There two versions of his death. One says that he died in 1534, in Kartarpur when he seriously feels ill with no hope of recovery. He was born in a Muslim household, but he left it to Guru Nanak's will to dispose his body.

Guru Nanak asked him if he wished a tomb to be made for him to make him famous in th world.

He replied, "If the Sat Kartar is freeing me from this bodily prison why would want to entomb myself in stone."

When Mardana gave up his body to return to his heavenly home, Guru Nanak consigned his body to the River Ravi.

The other version of his death says that he died in Baghdad. After making a pilgrimage to the holy shrines of Mecca and Medina, Mardana felt increasingly tired and exhausted. He considered himself to be lucky to die at this holy place.