Guru Nanak Born

Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism and the first of its ten Gurus, was born in 1469 in the village of Rai Bhoi di Talvandi in the Punjab region, in what is now Pakistan. The village was later renamed Nankana Sahib in his honor. His birth matters because his teachings gave rise to a distinct faith that today has roughly 25 to 30 million followers worldwide, and because his emphasis on equality, honest work and devotion to one God shaped a new religious and social tradition in South Asia.

Nanak was born into a Hindu Khatri family during a period of political upheaval. Punjab lay under the declining Delhi Sultanate, and the region was a meeting ground of Hindu, Muslim and Sufi traditions. Later Sikh accounts, known as the janamsakhis, say that his father was a village revenue official and that Nanak showed an early interest in spiritual questions. These accounts were written down well after his death and blend history with devotional legend, so historians treat their details with caution. Even the exact birth date is debated: traditional sources point to the full moon of the month of Kartik in November, and many Sikhs celebrate it then, while some scholars favor a date in April.

According to tradition, Nanak worked as an accountant and married, and had two sons. Around the age of thirty he disappeared while bathing in a river and returned after three days, declaring, in the familiar tradition, that "there is no Hindu, no Muslim." He then began to teach. Sikh tradition describes long journeys, called udasis, across South Asia and possibly beyond, though the extent and routes of these travels are uncertain. His hymns, composed in Punjabi, praise a single formless Creator and reject ritual hierarchy, caste distinctions and empty piety.

In his later years Nanak settled at Kartarpur on the Ravi River, where a community formed around shared meals, communal worship and farming. The practice of langar, a free communal kitchen where all sit together regardless of background, is traditionally linked to this community and remains central to Sikh life. Before his death, around 1539, he chose a devoted follower, Angad, as his successor, establishing the line of Gurus.

Nanak's hymns were gathered into what became the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture, which later Gurus expanded and which is treated as the eternal living Guru. His birth anniversary, Gurpurab, is among the most important Sikh festivals, marked with processions, hymn singing and shared meals. His legacy lies in a faith built on remembering God, earning an honest living and sharing with others.