# Guru Angad Dev, the Second Guru

> Guru Angad (1504 to 1552) was the second Sikh Guru, born Bhai Lehna and renamed by Guru Nanak, who chose him as successor over his own two sons. He standardised the Gurmukhi script in which the Guru Granth Sahib is written, collected Guru Nanak's hymns into the first written record of them, established schools and a tradition of physical training, and contributed 62 saloks that stand in the Guru Granth Sahib.

- **Position in the succession:** Second Guru of ten
- **Born:** 1504 at Matte di Sarai, now Sarai Naga in Muktsar district, Punjab
- **Died:** 1552 at Khadur Sahib, Punjab
- **Guruship:** 1539 to 1552
- **Preceded by:** Guru Nanak, who renamed him from Bhai Lehna
- **Succeeded by:** Guru Amar Das, then aged 73
- **In the Guru Granth Sahib:** 62 saloks. Counts vary slightly between sources, with 61 also cited
- **Known for:** Standardising the Gurmukhi script and making the first collection of Guru Nanak's hymns
- **This page:** https://sevahey.com/gurus/guru-angad/

## What Sevahey does not do

Sevahey sells nothing connected to Guru Angad and publishes no image of him. Khadur Sahib, where he lived and died, is not among the gurudwaras on Sevahey, so no Sevak can be sent there and no seva at that gurudwara can be booked through this site. The gurudwaras Sevahey does cover are listed on each Sikh place page.

This page carries no portrait of Guru Angad. Sevahey publishes no image of any Guru: the paintings in circulation are later inventions with no claim to likeness, and much of Sikh tradition holds figurative depiction of the Gurus to be improper.

## About Guru Angad

Bhai Lehna was a devotee of the goddess Durga before he came to Kartarpur, and the accounts of his testing by Guru Nanak are among the best known in Sikh tradition. What they describe is obedience under conditions designed to be humiliating rather than devotion under favourable ones. Guru Nanak renamed him Angad, a limb of his own body, and passed him the succession in 1539.

His most consequential act was to a script. Gurmukhi existed in rudimentary forms before him; Guru Angad fixed and standardised it, and it became the script in which Sikh scripture has been written ever since. The choice mattered because it was not Sanskrit and not Persian, the two languages of religious and administrative authority in his world, both of them closed to ordinary people. Setting scripture in the everyday tongue of Punjab, in a script anyone could be taught, put the text within reach of the people it addressed. It also gave Punjabi a durable written form of its own.

He then gathered Guru Nanak's compositions. Working partly from Bhai Bala and other companions, he assembled the hymns into a written collection and added his own saloks, which is the beginning of the textual line that runs through Guru Amar Das and Guru Ram Das to the Adi Granth of 1604. Without this step the compilation Guru Arjan completed sixty-five years later would have had far less to work from.

At Khadur Sahib he ran a school teaching the new script to children, and established a mall akhara, a wrestling ground where young men trained physically. Both are of a piece with the Kartarpur pattern: a religious community that educates and keeps itself fit is one embedded in ordinary life rather than withdrawn from it. He continued the langar, which his wife Mata Khivi ran, and she is named directly in the Guru Granth Sahib for it, one of very few women so recorded.

## What Guru Angad established at Khadur Sahib

| Institution | What it did |
| --- | --- |
| The standardised Gurmukhi script | Fixed the script in which all Sikh scripture has since been written, in the everyday language of Punjab rather than Sanskrit or Persian |
| The first collection of Guru Nanak's hymns | Assembled the compositions in writing, beginning the textual line that reached the Adi Granth in 1604 |
| A school | Taught the new script to children, putting literacy in the community rather than in a priestly class |
| The mall akhara | A wrestling ground where young men trained, keeping the community physically fit |
| The langar under Mata Khivi | Continued the free kitchen, which his wife ran and for which she is named in the Guru Granth Sahib |

## Dates

- **1504** — Bhai Lehna is born at Matte di Sarai, now Sarai Naga in Muktsar district
- **c. 1532** — Bhai Lehna comes to Guru Nanak at Kartarpur
- **1539** — Guru Nanak confers the Guruship on him and renames him Angad
- **1539 to 1552** — At Khadur Sahib he standardises Gurmukhi, collects Guru Nanak's hymns, and establishes a school and the mall akhara
- **1552** — Guru Angad confers the Guruship on Guru Amar Das and dies at Khadur Sahib

## Connected pages on Sevahey

- [Japji Sahib Path](https://sevahey.com/paths/japji-sahib/): Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the first Guru

## What can be offered in your name

An ardas can be offered in your name at any of the gurudwaras Sevahey covers, where the granthi speaks your name, your gotra and your request aloud before the Guru Granth Sahib. The connection to Guru Angad is direct in a way worth noticing: the volume the granthi stands before is written in the script he fixed, and the hymns of Guru Nanak read from it survive because he wrote them down first.

- **Seva:** Ardas — https://sevahey.com/seva/ardas/
- **Performed by:** a verified, named Sevak
- **Proof:** GPS-tagged photos, the hukamnama where it applies, timing, and a handwritten note — usually same day

## Questions

### Who was Guru Angad?

Guru Angad (1504 to 1552) was the second Sikh Guru, born Bhai Lehna and renamed by Guru Nanak, who chose him as successor over his own two sons. He standardised the Gurmukhi script, made the first written collection of Guru Nanak's hymns, established a school and a wrestling ground at Khadur Sahib, and composed 62 saloks that stand in the Guru Granth Sahib.

### What did Guru Angad do for the Gurmukhi script?

Guru Angad fixed and standardised Gurmukhi, which existed only in rudimentary forms before him, and it has been the script of Sikh scripture ever since. The significance is what it displaced: not Sanskrit and not Persian, the two languages of religious and administrative authority, both closed to ordinary people. Scripture in the everyday tongue of Punjab could be read by those it addressed.

### Why was Guru Angad called Lehna before?

Bhai Lehna was his birth name, and he was a devotee of the goddess Durga before coming to Guru Nanak at Kartarpur around 1532. Guru Nanak renamed him Angad, meaning a limb of his own body, when conferring the Guruship in 1539. The renaming carries the Sikh doctrine that the Gurus were one light in succession rather than ten separate teachers.

### How many hymns did Guru Angad contribute to the Guru Granth Sahib?

62 saloks stand under his name, with 61 also cited depending on the counting convention. The figure is small beside Guru Nanak's 974 or Guru Arjan's 2,218, but his textual contribution was chiefly as a collector: he assembled Guru Nanak's compositions in writing, beginning the line that reached the Adi Granth in 1604.

### Who was Mata Khivi?

Mata Khivi was Guru Angad's wife, who ran the langar at Khadur Sahib. She is named directly in the Guru Granth Sahib for that work, making her one of very few women recorded there by name. The langar she ran continued the free kitchen Guru Nanak had established at Kartarpur.

### What was the mall akhara?

The mall akhara was a wrestling ground Guru Angad established at Khadur Sahib where young men trained physically. Together with the school he ran, it reflects the pattern set at Kartarpur: a religious community embedded in ordinary life, educating and keeping itself fit, rather than one withdrawn from the world into renunciation.

### Can Sevahey arrange a seva at Khadur Sahib?

No. Khadur Sahib, where Guru Angad lived and died, is not among the gurudwaras Sevahey covers, so no Sevak can be sent there. An ardas can be requested in your name at the gurudwaras Sevahey does cover, with the granthi speaking your name and request aloud before the Guru Granth Sahib and a verified Sevak sending same-day proof.

Sevahey is a service platform. It sells nothing connected to a Guru, and does not promise a spiritual, medical, financial, legal, or personal outcome from any prayer, seva, or ritual.