NANAKI, BEBE

NANAKI, BEBE, or Bibi Nanaki (1464-1518), elder sister of Guru Nanak and the daughter of Kalian Chand (Baba Kalu) and Maia Tripta, was born in 1464 in her mother`s home at the village of Chahal, now in Lahore district of Pakistan Punjab. Five years older than her brother, she was the first to recognize his spiritual eminence and to become his devotee. She was married in 1475 to Jai Ram, an official at the court of Nawab Daulat Khan Lodhi at Sultanpur. 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 his marrigae, 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 life in the presence of her brother Guru. Three days later, her husband, Jai Ram, also expired. Guru Nanak himself performed their obsequies.

References :

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