Mehta Kalu

Bhai Kalu Mehta (1440-1522) who was also known as Kalian Chand, Kalu Rai, Mahita Kalu was a Patwari by profession - an accountant of land revenue in the government. Kalu Mehta was the father of Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism. Kalu ji was married to Mata Tripta who was the daughter of Baba Rama and Mata Banarasi of Chahal, a village near Lahore. They had two children - a daughter called Bibi Nanaki born in 1464 and a son called Nanak, who was born in 1469.
Mehta Kalu was born in a village called Patthevind, now the site of Gurdwara Dera Sahib, 10 km east of Naushahra Pannuan in present-day Amritsar district of Punjab. Before the birth of Nanak, the family moved to Talvandi Rai Bhoi Ki, now known as Nankana Sahib, in presentday Sheikliupura district of Pakistan. Here Baba Shiv Ram became the village patwari or keeper of revenue records, a post occupied by Mehta Kalu after his father's death.
Kalu Mehta is the tree from which the seeds of sikhism emanated in the form of the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Mehta Kalu was a Hindu Bedi, a caste that is supposed to be well versed in the Vedas. Baba Kalian Chand died in 1522 at Kartarpur, a town founded by Guru Nanak on the right bank of the River Ravi.
Like most other religions, Sikhism teaches universal brotherhood and initially taught noble principles of equality of man and equal right of women in a society which was riddled with caste barriers and low standard of living for women.
==References==
*1. Sanlokh Sirigh, Bhai, Sn Cur Praia? Suraj Grrint/i. Amritsar, 1927-33
*2. Vn- Sirigh, Bhai, ed., Purdtan fanniii. Sdklu. Anii-iisar, 1971
*3. Kohli, Surindar Sirigh, cd., Jannmsdklu Bhm Bald. Chandigarh, 1975
*4. McLt-od, W.I I., Enrly Sikh Tradition. Oxfoid, 1980
*5. Harhans Singli, Guru Nanak and Ongins of the Sikh Faith. Bombay, 1969
*6. Macaiiliffe, Max Arllinr, The Sikh Religion. Oxford, 1909
Category:Guru's Family Members