The land of five waters gave the world its first cities, its saints and its songs. Broken by every empire that crossed it, it is still ours to remember, and to make whole again.

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Batala
Unknown · Wikimedia
Temple, mosque or gurdwara

Batala

ਬਟਾਲਾبٹالا

Where Guru Nanak married Mata Sulakhni; the wedding is remembered every year at Gurdwara Kandh Sahib.

Batala is a town in Gurdaspur district. Here in 1487 Guru Nanak married Mata Sulakhni, daughter of Mool Chand. Gurdwara Kandh Sahib preserves a mud wall against which the Guru is said to have sat during the wedding; it is said that the wall was about to fall and he told the people it would not.

The wedding is celebrated every year at a great fair. Nearby is Achal Sahib, where Guru Nanak debated the Nath yogis.

Batala was also the town of the poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi, and is an industrial centre.

Batala, Gurdaspur, Punjab, India

People

Shiv Kumar Batalvi
Shiv Kumar Batalvi1936 – 1973

Romantic poet of pain, the youngest winner of India's Sahitya Akademi award, for his verse play Loona.

Mata Sulakhni
Mata Sulakhnic. 1473 – 1545

Wife of Guru Nanak, married at Batala, and mother of Sri Chand and Lakhmi Das.

On the timeline

1487 · Guru Nanak marries1889 · The Ahmadiyya at Qadian

In the world's museums

1 objects
Guru Nanak meets Nath Sidhas at the village of Achal BatalaGuru Nanak meets Nath Sidhas at the village of Achal BatalaAsian Art Museum, San Francisco · photo Wikimedia Commons (Wikimedia Commons) ↗

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