The term janamsākhī (life story) is traditionally used for a set of narratives that include a sequence of chronologically recorded anecdotes about the life and activities of Bābā Nānak (1469-1539), the founder of the Sikh panth (community). Selections from his poetic compositions make up a large part of these texts and serve as the thread along which the short anecdotes in prose are neatly arranged. A shared subject, namely the life of Bābā Nānak, a loose episodic st…