Bhai Bala recites the life story of Guru Nanak to Guru Angad and onlookers, from a manuscript of the Janam Sakhi (Life Stories)

The life of Guru Nanak (1469-1539), founder of the Sikh faith, was memorialized and embellished in several biographical texts known as janam sakhis (life stories). This painting comes from a complete and thus, rare, nineteenth-century manuscript that illustrates Nanak's life according to the textual tradition associated with his disciple Bhai Bala. A
The Bhai Bala janam sakhis are the most popular of the life stories because of the claim that they come from firsthand accounts of Nanak's life. Bhai Bala is said to have recited the original stories to Guru Angad (1504-1552), Nanak's successor as the spiritual leader of the Sikhs. Here, Bhai Bala faces Guru Angad, who sits on a low chair. A woman observes the scene from a doorway while nearby a man pays his respects to the guru.
The style of this painting, with its Mughal-inspired architecture and outlined figures with distinctive facial features, can be traced to Murshidabad (in what is now West Bengal state). The tenth guru, Gobind Singh (1666-1708), was born in the region, which became home to several Sikh communities.