[7][8] Guru Angad was born on 31 March 1504 with the birth name of Lehna (also transliterated as Lahina) in the village of Matte-di-Sarai (now Sarainaga) in Muktsar district of the Punjab region.

Before becoming a disciple of Guru Nanak and following the Sikh way of life as Angad, Lehna was a religious teacher of Khadur and a priest at a temple dedicated to the goddess Durga.

[2][14] Several stories in the Sikh tradition describe reasons why Lehna was chosen by Guru Nanak over his own sons as his choice of successor.

[15] Lehna was selected as the successor of Guru Nanak on 14 June 1539 but his formal installation ceremony occurred later that year on 7 September 1539.

[11] Nanak touched him and renamed him Angad (from Ang, or part of the body) and named him as his successor and the second Guru on 7 September 1539.

Post succession, at one point, very few Sikhs accepted Guru Angad as their leader while the sons of Nanak claimed to be the successors.

[21] In the Sikh texts written more than a century after the event, Angad is said to have blessed the emperor, and reassured him that someday he will regain the throne.

Amar Das was born into a Hindu family and had been reputed to have gone on some twenty pilgrimages into the Himalayas, to Haridwar on river Ganges.

About 1539, on one such Hindu pilgrimage, he met a sadhu, or ascetic, who asked him why he did not have a guru (teacher, spiritual counsellor) and Amar Das decided to get one.

[7] On his return, he heard Bibi Amro, the daughter of Angad who had married his brother's son, singing a hymn by Nanak.

Sikh tradition states that he woke up in the early hours to fetch water for Angad's bath, cleaned and cooked for the volunteers with the Guru, as well devoted much time to meditation and prayers in the morning and evening.

[26][27] Examples of possible forerunners of the script including at least one hymn written in acrostic form by Guru Nanak,[28] and its earlier history is yet to be fully determined.

[29] Angad also wrote 62 or 63 Saloks (compositions), which together constitute about one percent of the Guru Granth Sahib, the primary scripture of Sikhism.

[28] Guru Angad is notable for systematising the institution of langar in all Sikh gurdwara premises, where visitors from near and far could get a free simple meal in a communal seating.