[428] This passage seems to allude to the Hindu creed about the souls’ journey from the earth to the uppermost heaven. According to this, a hundred and one arteries issue from the heart, one of which passes to the crown of the head. By that passage, the soul of the wise issues and meets a solar ray, by which it proceeds to the realm of fire, and by several other stages to the _moon_; thence to the region of lightning, and higher up, through Varuna’s watery region, to the realm of Indra, so as to reach at last the abode of Brahma.――(Transact. R. A. Soc., vol. II. pp. 31. 32.) [429] अग्नि प्रमाणाः [430] पवन भक्ताः [431] जल भक्ताः [432] पृथ्वी भक्ताः [433] त्रि पूजाः [434] मनुष्य भक्ताः [435] Nânac was born A. D. 1469, in a small village called _Talwandi_, now _Raya-pur_, on the banks of the _Béyah_, the ancient _Hyphasis_, in the district of _Bhatti_, in the province of _Lahore_. He was the only son of _Kalu_, of the Kshatriya caste, and the _Vedi_ tribe of the Hindus――See vol. XI. of the _As. Res._, pp. 197-292, edit. Calc. _a Sketch of the Sikhs_, by Brigadier-General Malcolm. The learned author, whilst with the British army in the Penjab, in 1805, collected materials that would throw light upon the history, manners, and religion of the Sikhs. He succeeded in obtaining a copy of the _Adi granth_, the sacred book of the Sikhs, and of some historical tracts, the most essential parts of which were explained to him in Calcutta, by an intelligent Sikh priest of the _Nirmala_ order. Dr. Leyden enriched this stock of materials by supplying the general with a translation of several tracts written by Sikh authors in the Penjabi and Duggar dialects, upon the history and religion of their nation. We may therefore believe we possess quite satisfactory information about the Sikhs in General Malcolm’s _Sketch_. I shall mark the references to this work in my notes by G. M. The Dabistán, never quoted in the said _Sketch_, furnishes some additional, and corroborates the principal, information derived from other sources. [436] Zehir-ed-din Muhammed Baber, the son of Umer Shaigh Mirza, descended on the father’s side from the great Tâimur Beg, and on the mother’s, from Gengis Khan. He was born A. D. 1483, and succeeded, in the 12th year of his age to his father, as king of Ferghana, a small country between Samarkand and Kashgar. Driven by his enemies from his paternal kingdom, he became the founder of one of the greatest empires in the world.――(See _Memoirs of Zehir-ed-din Muhammed Baber, emperor of Hindustan_, written by himself in the Jaghatai Turki, and translated partly by the late John Leyden, Esq., M.D., partly by William Erskine, Esq. London, 1826.)