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Rh Nának with kindness and courtesy, which is likely enough from all we know of that genial and illustrious monarch. Towards the close of his life Nának returned to his family at Kartárpur in Jálandhar, where he died in 1538. His life had been uneventful, much resembling that of any other Hindu fakír, and the influence he left behind him was enshrined in his writings which were subsequently collected. He named as his successor, passing over his two sons, his disciple Angad. The word Sikhs, literally learners, disciples, was given to his followers by Nának, and as the creed spread, became the descriptive title of the whole people; but it must be remembered that the term Sikh is a religious and not a racial designation, and belongs only to those of the faith of the Khálsa.

Arjun, the fifth Guru, collected the writings of Nának, together with extracts from the works of popular saints and poets, into one volume, recorded, not in Sanskrit, like the Vedas and Puránas of Hinduism, and consequently not understood by the people, but in the Punjábi dialect, which was the popular tongue. Not that the whole of the Ádi Granth is written in the same style. Its idiom varies according to the time and place of the contributions. Its value as a treasury of old Hindi dialects is immense. The idiom of Bábá Nának and his successors is not the pure Punjábi as then spoken, which is found in the Janam Sákhi of Nának, but contains a large admixture of old Hindi forms and words, the intention being to raise the dialect into something more stately