Baba Lakhmi Das

Baba Lakhmi Das, also called Lakhmi Chand, was the younger son of Guru Nanak Sahib and Mata Sulakkhani. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism gives his birth at Sultanpur Lodhi, now in Kapurthala district, on 12 February 1497. Unlike his elder brother, Baba Sri Chand, who took the ascetic path and became the founder of the Udasi order, Lakhmi Das married and led a householder's life. The Bedi families of the Punjab claim descent from him. He died at Kartarpur on the Ravi on 9 April 1555.

Passed over for the Guruship. The Encyclopaedia's entry on Guru Angad says that Guru Nanak bypassed his own sons and named Lahina, renamed Angad, as his successor on 13 June 1539, transferring his own light to him so that Angad became Nanak II. It tells of tests of devotion that Angad passed. Wikipedia, in its article on Lakhmi Das, adds a traditional story: that he and Sri Chand at first rejected Bhai Lehna's succession and asked for their father's cloak, a symbol of the Guruship, which they could not lift. That is a story from the sakhis, not a dated record.

Key moments

• 12 February 1497: born at Sultanpur Lodhi.
• 13 June 1539: Guru Nanak names Guru Angad as his successor, passing over his sons.
• 9 April 1555: dies at Kartarpur on the Ravi.

What he is remembered for. Lakhmi Das is remembered as the householder son who did not inherit the Guruship, and as the ancestor from whom the Bedi families trace their line. Beyond his dates, his marriage and his death at Kartarpur, the published record on him is thin, and the Encyclopaedia itself says little more.