Nanak, the First Teacher

As Sikh leaders consolidated political power in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century, they commissioned portraits of themselves that mimicked the style of Mughal painting. It was within that new political context that depictions of Guru Nanak (1469-1539), Sikhism’s first spiritual master, were reworked to highlight his leadership qualities. This early nineteenth-century, three-quarter-view gouache shows a young Guru Nanak with a neatly tied turban and all-white attire, placing him as the forefather of a new generation of Sikh authorities. In the nineteenth century, the cosmopolitan Sikh capital of Lahore was the richest city in South Asia; there, some of the greatest painters of the Rajput and Mughal traditions continued to be given commissions. The visual expression of Sikhism was transformed during this era, as increasingly specific Sikh themes were interpreted by such painters. Born near Lahore, Guru Nanak defined the ideal of gurmukh (“being directed towards the guru”), which could be achieved through the practice of the threefold discipline of the meditation on the divine Name (Nam), alms giving (dan) and pure living (ishnan).