Guru Nanak

Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh-panth and the first of the Sikh Gurus, was born in A.D. 1469 at Rai-Bhoe-Ki-Talwandi, now known as Nankana Sahib, about 65 km. west of Lahore (Pakistan). The pandit who cast his horoscope declared after examining the planetary positions at his birth: 'both Hindus and Turka will revere him, and his name shall reverberate on earth and in heaven. The ocean will yield him the right way, so too the earth and the sky. He will worship and acknowledge only the supreme formless soul and teach others to do so (Baba Janam Sakhi).'

His father Mehta Kallu Chand belonged to Bedi branch of orthodox Kshatriyas. Nanak learnt arithmetic and accountancy from a Brahmin, and Persian and Arabic from a Maulvi.