Bebe Nanaki Ji

Bebe Nanaki ji was 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 of 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, Bebe 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, Bebe 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.