B ibi
Nanaki ji were elder sister of Guru Nanak and the daughter of Kalian Chand
(Baba Kalu) and Mata Tripta, was born in 1464 in her mother's home at
village of Chahal, now in Lahore district of1 Pakistan Punjab. The Guru's
love for his sister is referred to in most touching terms in some of the
Sakhis. A sister's love for her brother is a perennial theme of Punjabi
folklore. There are many stories of Nanaki's deep and devoted affection for
her brother, Nanak. Five years older then Guru Nanak, she was the first to
recognize his spiritual eminence and to become his devotee. She protected
Nanak from their father's wrath, when repeatedly he disappointed and angered
him. She was with him throughout the early years of his childhood.
When Guru Nanak Dev was only Six
years old in 1475, Nanaki was married to Jai Ram, a revenue official of very
good reputation, at Sultanpur, which is in the present native state of
Kapurthala, and was then the capital of the Jalandhar Doab. Nanak continued
to live at home. He rebelled against any norms that were imposed without
reason. He loved to be in the company of saints who were The wise men of the
day, and gave money away to the poor and the hungry. His father despaired of
never being able to make him behave and take on a respectable position in
the village. And so it was that his father gave up, and so, at the age of
fifteen, Nanak was sent to live with his sister, and to work for her
husband. It was Jai Ram who arranged the wedding of Nanak to Sulakhani,
daughter of Moolchand Chand Khatri and Mata Chando of the village Pakhoke,
District Gurdaspur. Herself Childless, Bibi Nanaki adored her brother,
Nanak, and felt herself blessed when he came to join the Nawab's service and
put up with her at Sultanpur.
She
arranged Guru Nanak's marriage and she loved his sons, Sri Chand and Lakhmi
das, as her own. Guru Nanak reciprocated her affection and after he had quit
the Nawab's service to go out to preach his message, he did not fail to
visit Sultanpur and meet his sister between whiles. Once as he visited her
in 1518, Bibi Nanaki seeing her end near, detained him a short while. As she
had wished, she departed this likfe in the presence of her brother- Guru
Nanak Dev ji. Three days later, her husband, Jai Ram, also expired. Guru
Nanak himself performed their obsequies. There is no doubt that perhaps
first Gur Sikh was none other than Bebe Nanaki and second Gursikh was
Mata Sullakhni ji, Guru Nanak Dev's Wife.
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