The Source Book On Sikhism

NANAK AND THE KING OF SANGLADIP

The Master went to the city of the King Shivnabh. Shivnabh had been pining to see the Master. A disciple Mansukh had already gone there from Guru Nanak’s Panjab, and his personality had stirred the surrounding country. The whole royal family, after the King’s years of sadness, entered the path by the kindness of the Master. The mystic words once uttered by the Master, here, are not fully understood as the chronicles put them but they are clear and most significant. Shivnabh said: “Sir! What do you eat?” “I eat of men.” Shivnabh brought a man to him. “No, I eat of the son of a king, not of a poor man.” The king brought his own son. The family collected together; the Master would verily eat the prince - such was the wild thought they had of the Master. The wife of the prince was addressed by the Master, “He is yours, not of the king who gives him to me. Do you agree to give him up?: “Yes,” said the princess; “With all my heart if the Master wants him for his service.” Nanak closed his eyes, and all sat together in the sweetest rapture of Nam. All were there and remained there, but when they opened their eyes Nanak had gone! He had “eaten” of the prince; who was thenceforward a Disciple, and not a king.