KALIĀN CHAND, BĀBĀ (1440-1522), variously mentioned by chroniclers as Mahitā Kālū, Kālū Rāi, Kālū Chand, Kaliān Rāi and Kaliān Chand, was the father of Gurū Nānak, founder of Sikh faith. He was the elder of the two sons of Bābā Shiv Rām, a Bedī Khatrī, and Mātā Banārasī of the village of Paṭṭheviṇḍ (no longer in existence). The village fell in what is now the Amritsar district of the Punjab. The family later shifted to Talvaṇḍī Rāi Bhoi Kī, now known as Nankāṇā Sāhib, in present-day Sheikhūpurā district of Pakistan, where Shiv Rām became the village paṭvārī or keeper of revenue records, a post occupied by Bābā Kaliān Chand after his father's death. Bābā Kaliān Chand was married to Triptā, daughter of Rāmā of Chāhal, a village near Lahore. A daughter, Nānakī, and a son, (Gurū) Nānak, were born to the couple --- the former in 1464 and the latter in 1469. Bābā Kaliān Chand died in 1522 at Kartārpur, founded by Gurū Nānak on the right bank of the River Rāvī.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Santokh Siṅgh Bhāī, Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granth. Amritsar, 1927-33
  2. Vīr Siṅgh, Bhāī, ed., Purātan Janam Sākhī. Amritsar, 1971
  3. Kohlī, Surindar Siṅgh, ed., Janamsākhī Bhāī Bālā. Chandigarh, 1975
  4. McLeod, W.H., Early Sikh Tradition. Oxford, 1980
  5. Harbans Singh, Guru Nanak and Origins of the Sikh Faith. Bombay, 1969
  6. Macauliffe, Max Arthur, The Sikh Religion. Oxford, 1909

Gurnek Siṅgh