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{{Short description|Wife of Guru Nanak (1473–1545)}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| name = Sulakhni
| honorific_prefix = Mata
| image = An Imaginary Meeting between Guru Nanak and Gobind Singh LACMA M.75.114.2.jpg
| caption = Sulakhni seated beside Guru Nanak in a circa 1780 painting from Mandi
| native_name = ਮਾਤਾ ਸੁਲਖਨੀ
| native_name_lang = pa
| birth_name = Ghummi Chona
| birth_date = 1473
| birth_place = Pakhoke
| death_date = 1545
| death_place = Kartarpur
| spouse = [[Guru Nanak]]
| children = [[Sri Chand]] (born 1494)<br>[[Lakhmi Das]] (born 1497)
| parents = Mūl Chand Chona (father)<br>Chando Rani (mother)
| religion = [[Sikhism]]
| birthname =
}}

'''Sulakhni''' (1473–1545), also known as '''Choni''' and often referred as '''Mata Sulakhni''' ("Mother Sulakhni"), was the wife of [[Guru Nanak]], the founder of [[Sikhism]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Nikky-Guninder Kaur |title=Sikhism |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=9781438117799 |editor-last=O'Brien |editor-first=Joanne |edition=3rd |series=World Religions |pages=120–121 |editor-last2=Palmer |editor-first2=Martin}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Bhajan |title=The Guru Consorts |last2=Gill |first2=M.K. |publisher=Radha Publications |year=1992 |isbn=9788185484112 |pages=38–49 |chapter=5. Mata Sulakhni}}</ref>

== Name ==
In certain [[Janamsakhis|Janamsakhi]] traditions, such as the ''Merharban Wali Janamsakhi'', Mata Sulakhni is known as Ghummi.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Gandhi |first=Surjit Singh |title=History of Sikh Gurus Retold: 1469-1606 C.E |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist. |year=2007 |isbn=9788126908578 |series=History of Sikh Gurus Retold |volume=1 |pages=84, 195}}</ref> In the ''Bala Janamsakhi'', her name is given as Sulakhni.<ref name=":1" /> Surjit Singh Gandhi theorized that Gummi is a corrupted form of Choni, the name of her [[Gotra|clan]] (Chona).<ref name=":1" /> He further speculates that she was known as Ghummi in her birth house but went by the name Sulakhni at her in-laws house.<ref name=":1" /> She is also known by the name of Kulamai.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Greenlees |first=Duncan |title=The Gospel of the Guru-Granth Sahib |publisher=Theosophical Publishing House |year=1960 |pages=xxxvi, xlvi}}</ref> According to [[Kahn Singh Nabha]] in his ''[[Mahan Kosh]]'', only girls with super characteristics were given the name of Sulakhni.<ref name=":5" />

== Biography ==

=== Family background ===
The father of Sulakhni was Mūl Chand, a Chona [[Khatri]], whilst her mother was Chando Rani.{{Efn|Her mother is also referred to as 'Mata Chando'.|group=note}}<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Singh |first=Bhupinder |date=October–December 2019 |title=Genealogy of Guru Nanak |url=https://sikhinstitute.org/oc_2019/colbhupindersingh.html |journal=Abstracts of Sikh Studies |publisher=Institute of Sikh Studies, Chandigarh |volume=21 |issue=4}}</ref> Her father held a minor revenue office in the village of Pakkhoke Randhave (Pakhokhi village) in what is today the [[Gurdaspur district|Gurdaspur]] district of the Punjab.{{Efn|The name of the village is alternatively spelt as 'Pakkhoke Randhawa'.|group=note}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Harbans |url= |title=The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism |date=2004 |publisher=Punjabi University, Patiala |others= |isbn=0-8364-2883-8 |edition=2nd |volume=4: S-Z |location=Patiala |pages=268–269 |oclc=29703420}}</ref> She was born into a [[Hindus|Hindu]] family in the village of Pakkhoke.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hawkins |first=John |title=The Story of Religion: The rich history of the world's major faiths |publisher=Arcturus Publishing |year=2016 |isbn=9781784287368 |quote=Sultanpur: When he was about 16 years old, Nanak left the village of Talwandi and set off for Sultanpur, a small town close to the Sutlej River. Nanak's married sister lived there and she helped her brother get a job as a tax collector for a local Muslim ruler. Over the next eight years, he combined his work with religious studies, and began to attract a group of followers. During this time, Nanak also married a Hindu girl, Sulakhni, and had two sons. Meanwhile, his fame was spreading. A large group of followers arrived in Sultanpur to join with Nanak in his hymns, prayers and contemplation.}}</ref>

=== Marriage ===
[[File:Wedding of Guru Nanak and Sulakhni.jpg|thumb|Wedding of Guru Nanak and Sulakhni. From the Unbound set of Janamsakhi paintings, ca.1755–1800]]
The marriage of Sulakhni to Nanak was arranged by Jai Ram, the brother-in-law of Nanak.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Patwant |title=The Sikhs |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |year=2007 |isbn=9780307429339 |quote=An increasing number of men and women were beginning to gravitate towards him. In a rented house near his place of work, where he lived with two boyhood companions, people congregated for recitations, prayers and contemplation. To Nanaki, an ardent admirer of her gifted brother, this was, however, only one side of his life. The other side, she felt, was incomplete without a wife and children. And since Nanak too believed that "the secret of religion lay in living in the world without being overcome by it," he was persuaded. Through Jairam's initiative a match was arranged with Sulakhni, the daughter of a Kshatriya named Mulchand, from the village of Pakhoke near Batala, and Nanak was married at the age of nineteen.}}</ref> She was selected by Nanak's father partly due to her apparently "comely" appearance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bal |first=Sarjit Singh |title=Guru Nanak in the Eyes of Non-Sikhs |publisher=Publication Bureau, Panjab University |year=1969 |pages=x}}</ref> She was wedded to Guru Nanak on 24 September 1487.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> In that time period, it was custom for girls to be four to five years younger than the boy their marriage was arranged to.<ref name=":5" /> Nanak would have been around eighteen years old at the time of their marriage.<ref name=":5" /> The location the wedding itself occurred is disputed and given various locations amid Sikh sources but more likely took place in Batala.{{Efn|The ''Bhai Bala Janamsakhi'' states the wedding took place in Sultanpur (which is unlikely as per Khatri marriage customs of the time). The ''Nanak Bans Prakash'' states the wedding took place in Talwandi. The ''Meharban Janamsakhi'' and ''Gyan Ratnavali'' states the wedding took place in Batala.<ref name=":1" />|group=note}}<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

It is noted in Sikh lore that Mata Sulakhni's family had conflicts with Nanak, with an example of such regarding the manner of which the marriage ceremony would be performed.<ref name=":02" /> Sulakhni's father, Mul Chand Chona, was unwavering about his desire to have a traditional marriage ceremony for his daughter and was opposed to Nanak's innovations.<ref name=":02" /> He taunted Nanak to convince the [[Brahmins]] to agree to his proposals.<ref name=":02" /> Whilst talking with the Brahmins, Nanak is said to have been seated beside an frail mud wall (''kandh'') on a rainy day, which was dangerous as the wall could have collapsed as a result.<ref name=":02" /> Sulakhni warned Nanak through a courier about this but Nanak retorted that the wall will never fall down for centuries.<ref name=":02" /> A surviving portion of the wall is believed to be preserved within the Kandh Sahib Gurdwara encased in a glass shield.<ref name=":02" /> Nanak is said to have bested the Brahmins in the discourse and thus the marriage ceremony went along as per his design.<ref name=":02" />

When Nanak left for Sultanpur Lodhi for employment, Sulakhni remained at Talwandi until he earned enough and invited her to join him at Sultanpur in around the year 1488.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Mandair |first=Arvind-Pal Singh |title=Sikh Philosophy: Exploring gurmat Concepts in a Decolonizing World |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2022 |isbn=9781350202283 |series=Bloomsbury Introductions to World Philosophies |quote=Shortly after this episode Nanak left his ancestral village to find work at Sultanpur, where his brother-in-law procured a post for him as a village accountant. As Nanak began to earn his keep, he sent for his wife, Sulakhni, to join him. He was nineteen at the time. ... Twelve years passed in this way. Nanak and his wife settled into the comfortable life of the trading classes and had two sons. However, the regularity of this life was interrupted at around the age of thirty-three when Nanak failed to return from his morning ablutions near the river Bein. For three days no trace of Nanak could be found. The villagers believed that he had drowned. Then, on the fourth day Nanak reappeared as dramatically as he had disappeared, but his demeanour had changed. He had once again become silent and reclusive. When questioned about the state of his health, he responded with a perplexing statement: 'There is no Hindu; there is no Muslim', leading people to suspect he was possessed or had gone mad.}}</ref> After she came to Sultanpur, her and her husband moved into a new house in the locality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dogra |first=R. C. |title=Encyclopaedia of Sikh Religion and Culture |last2=Mansukhani |first2=Gobind Singh |publisher=Vikas Publishing House |year=1995 |isbn=9780706994995 |pages=338}}</ref>

=== Life as a mother ===
[[File:Guru Nanak with wife and sons.jpg|thumb|Janamsakhi painting depicting Guru Nanak visiting Mata Sulakhni and his two sons]]
Sulakhni gave birth to two sons, [[Sri Chand]], in 1494 and [[Lakhmi Das]], in 1497.{{Efn|Other sources give Sri Chand's birth date as 1491 and Lakhmi Das' as 1496.<ref>{{cite book |title=Journal of Comparative Sociology, Issues 4-5 |date=1977 |publisher=Canada Sociological Research Centre |page=34}}</ref>|group=note}}<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> According to [[Udasi]] lore, it is said she had an envisage of [[Shiva]] whilst giving birth to Sri Chand.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ahuja |first=Jasbir Kaur |title=Prabuddha Bharata: Or Awakened India |publisher=Swami Smaranananda |year=1995 |volume=100 |pages=933–935 |chapter=Udasi Sampradaya}}</ref> Her son, Sri Chand, would later go on to become a renowned spiritual leader himself.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Prithi Pal |title=The History of Sikh Gurus |publisher=Lotus Press |year=2006 |isbn=9788183820752 |pages=6}}</ref> At some point, Nanak's father, [[Mehta Kalu]], tried to tempt his son with the possibility of taking on a second wife but Nanak purportedly refused to entertain the idea as he thought Sulakhni was the most suitable wife for him, having been chosen by God to be his partner, and wanted to stay with her until death.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Panjab Past and Present |publisher=Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University |year=1969 |volume=3 |pages=288}}</ref> She lived an ordinary life of a trading-class housewife at Sultanpur until the year 1499 or 1502, when her husband's religious preaching began after the [[Kali Bein|River Bein]] episode.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jain |first=Pankaj |title=Science and Socio-Religious Revolution in India: Moving the Mountains |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2017 |isbn=9781317690108 |pages=69}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> After one of Guru Nanak's ''udasis'' (travels), it is said he met-up with Sulakhni, their sons, and his father-in-law in Pakhokhi village.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johar |first=Surinder Singh |title=Holy Sikh Shrines |publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. |year=1998 |isbn=9788175330733 |pages=61}}</ref> Sulakhni had expressed her desire to accompany Nanak but remained at home to tend to and raise their sons.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Trilochan |title=Guru Nanak - Founder of Sikhism: A Biography |publisher=Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee |year=1969 |pages=53}}</ref> She was reportedly a devouted wife and mother, who fully supported her husband's spiritual path and partook in it full-heatedly as a devotee herself.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Arneja |first=Simran Kaur |title=Ik Onkar One God |isbn=9788184650938 |pages=95 |chapter=Sikhism and Women}}</ref>

=== Kartarpur chapter ===
After the founding of [[Kartarpur, Pakistan|Kartarpur]] by Nanak, Sulakhni moved there with him and was responsible for providing food and ensuring a comfortable stay for the visitors who came to see her husband and those who decided to remain there to live with him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Mahinder Kaur |title=Guru Granth Sahib: The Literary Perspective |publisher=National Book Shop |year=2007 |isbn=9788171164646 |pages=154 |quote=Guru Nanak Dev came to Kartarpur and started the tradition of singing in the company of saints and Mata Sulakhni started looking after the arrangement of supplying food to people who stayed there.}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> Besides this, she also worked the farmland with her husband, was a cook, and served in the ''[[Langar (Sikhism)|langar]]'' (community kitchen).<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopaedia of Social Work in India |publisher=Director, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India |year=1987 |edition=2nd |volume=2 |pages=71}}</ref> When Nanak chose [[Guru Angad|Lehna]] as his successor rather than one of their sons, she was apparently displeased with the decision.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Duggal |first=Kartar Singh |title=Sikh Gurus: Their Lives and Teachings |publisher=Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the U.S.A. |year=1987 |isbn=9780893891060 |pages=68–69}}</ref> She survived her husband for a few years and died in 1545 at Kartarpur.<ref name=":0" />

== Legacy ==
Nanak himself shared a close bond with his wife, which may have impacted his [[Women in the Guru Granth Sahib|egalitarian and progressive]] views [[Women in Sikhism|towards women]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Pashaura |title=The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies |last2=Fenech |first2=Louis E. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=9780191004117 |edition=1st |pages=615}}</ref>

[[Amrita Pritam]], a Punjabi poet, wrote the following poem about Sulakhni, specifically regarding her spiritual life as a wife of a religious man and raising of two sons alone when her husband was travelling:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Urubshurow |first=Victoria Kennick |title=Introducing World Religions |publisher=Journal of Buddhist Ethics |year=2009 |isbn=9780980163308 |pages=436–437}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=I was a shadow and am one still

I've travelled with the Sun on His course:

Have drunk of His glory

And bathed in a stream full of His light.|author=Amrita Pritam (1989; 116–117)|title=''Introducing World Religions'' (2009) by Victoria Kennick Urubshurow|source=pages 436–437}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Sikhism}}

[[Category:1473 births]]
[[Category:1545 deaths]]
[[Category:Family members of the Sikh gurus]]
[[Category:16th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:16th-century Indian women]]

Mata Sulakhni - Revision history

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