page_title: Guru Nanak
section_title: Final years
hierarchical_section_title: Guru Nanak / Biography / Final years
caption_attribution_description: English: Obverse: Guru Nanak Sahib seated under a tree with his two disciples, Bhai Mardana playing the rebab and Bhai Bala waving a chaur (fly-whisk) as a mark of respect.
context_page_description: Guru Nanak, also referred to as Baba Nanak, was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated worldwide as Guru Nanak Gurpurab on Katak Pooranmashi, i.e. October–November.
  Nanak is said to have travelled far and wide across Asia teaching people the message of ik onkar, who dwells in every one of his creations and constitutes the eternal Truth. With this concept, he would set up a unique spiritual, social, and political platform based on equality, fraternal love, goodness, and virtue.
  Nanak's words are registered in the form of 974 poetic hymns, or shabda, in the holy text of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, with some of the major prayers being the Japji Sahib; the Asa di Var; and the Sidh Gohst. It is part of Sikh religious belief that the spirit of Nanak's sanctity, divinity, and religious authority had descended upon each of the nine subsequent Gurus when the Guruship was devolved on to them.
context_section_description: Around the age of 55, Nanak settled in Kartarpur, living there until his death in September 1539. During this period, he went on short journeys to the Nath yogi centre of Achal, and the Sufi centres of Pakpattan and Multan. By the time of his death, Nanak had acquired several followers in the Punjab region, although it is hard to estimate their number based on the extant historical evidence.
  
  Guru Nanak appointed Bhai Lehna as the successor Guru, renaming him as Guru Angad, meaning "one's very own" or "part of you". Shortly after proclaiming his successor, Guru Nanak died on 22 September 1539 in Kartarpur, at the age of 70.
caption: Coin from 1747 CE depicting Guru Nanak with his two disciples, Bhai Mardana and Bhai Bala waving a chaur (fly-whisk) as a mark of respect.
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