NANAKI, MATA (d. 1678), mother of Guru Tegh Bahadur, was born to Hari Chand and Hardei, a well to do Khatri couple of Bakala, in the present district of Amritsar. She was married to Guru Hargobind in April 1613. Tegh Bahadur, the youngest of the five sons of Guru Hargobind, was born to her on 1 April 1621. It is said that the Guru on seeing the newborn babe predicted auspiciously: "Of my five sons, he shall take the office of Guru."
NISHAN SAHIB is the name for the tall Sikh flag which marks all gurudwaras and other religious premises of the Sikhs. Nishdn is a Persian word with multiple meanings, one of these being a flag or standard. Sahib, an Arabic word with the applied meaning of lord or master, is here used as an honorific. Thus Nishan Sahib in the Sikh tradition means the holy flag or exalted ensign. A synonymous term is Jhanda Sahib (jhandd also meaning a flag or banner). The Sikh pennant, made out of saffron coloured, occasionally out of blue coloured, mainly in the case of Nihangs, cloth is triangular in shape, normally each of the two equal sides being double of the shorter one.