Dera Baba Nanak is a town and a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

Gurdaspur district Gurdaspur district is a district in the Majha region of the state of Punjab, India. Gurdaspur is the district headquarters. It internationally borders Narowal District of Pakistani Punjab, and the districts of Amritsar, Pathankot, Kapurthala ...

, in the state of

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, India. It is the sub-district headquarters of Dera Baba Nanak tehsil. It is 36 km away from Gurdaspur city, the capital of the district. In November 2019, a corridor between India and Pakistan was established at its shrine.

Demographics

India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Dera Baba Nanak city had a population of 6,394. Of which the number of males were 3,331 and the number of females were 3,063. Dera Baba Nanak has an average literacy rate of 87.42%, higher than the state average of 75.84%: male literacy is 90.36%, and female literacy is 84.27%. In Dera Baba Nanak 9.34% of the population is under 6 years of age. In 2011, the

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of Dera Baba Nanak city was 920, compared to the state average of 895. The

child sex ratio The human sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population in the context of anthropology and demography. In humans, the natural sex ratio at birth is slightly biased towards the male sex. It is estimated to be about 1.05 worldwide or ...

was around 843, compared to the state average of 846. The scheduled caste population comprises the 25.95% of the total population of the municipal council. The table below shows the percentage of different religious groups in Dera Baba Nanak city, according to the 2011 census. The table below shows the population of different religious groups in Dera Baba Nanak city and their gender ratio, as of 2011 census.

History

Dera Baba Nanak, one of the most sacred places of the Sikhs, is situated on the banks of river

Ravi Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (rapper) (born 1993), a Sou ...

. Three famous

Gurudwara A gurdwara or gurudwara () is a place of assembly and worship in Sikhism, but its normal meaning is "place of guru" or "home of guru". Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths and religions are welcomed in gurd ...

s at Dera Baba Nanak are Sri Darbar Sahib, Sri Chola Sahib and Tahli Sahib (Gurudwara of BaBa Sri Chand ji) eldest son of

Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also known as ('Father Nanak'), was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is t ...

, the first

Sikh Guru The Sikh gurus (Punjabi language, Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰੂ; Hindi: सिख गुरु) are the spiritual masters of Sikhism, who established the religion over the course of about two and a half centuries, beginning in 1469. The year ...

. Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru settled and is believed to have "mingled with the Almighty" near the village

Pakhoke Mehmaran Pakhoke Mehmaran is a village in Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from Gurdaspur, district headquarter and from Dera Baba Nanak, sub district headquarter. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an e ...

, opposite to the present town and named it Kartarpur - a town which lies over the border in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The Bedis (

Khatri Khatri () is a caste system in India, caste originating from the Malwa (Punjab), Malwa and Majha areas of Punjab region of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Khatris claim they are war ...

s), descendants of Guru Nanak built a new town and named it Dera Baba Nanak after their ancestor. The town has a number of Gurdwaras. Pilgrims come to this town in large numbers. Dera Baba Nanak was made the headquarters of the newly created

Tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...

of Dera Baba Nanak. Gurudwara Sri Darbar Sahib was built in commemoration of Guru Nanak. He came here after his first ''Udasi'' (tour) during December 1515 AD to see members of his family. His wife Mata Sulakkhani and his two sons Sri Chand and Lakhmi Chand had come to stay here in their maternal home at Pakho-Ke-Randhawa near Dera Baba Nanak, where Lala Mool Raj, father–in–law of Guru Nanak, was working as a

Patwari A village accountant or karanam (Andhra Pradesh), patwari (Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana, West Bengal), patowary (Assam), talati (Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra), lekhpal (Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand) is a government role in rural areas of t ...

Gallery

Garments Of Guru Nanak preserved at Gurudwara Sri Chola Sahib, Dera Baba Nanak 01.jpg, Garments Of Guru Nanak preserved at Gurudwara Sri Chola Sahib Gurudwara Sri Chola Sahib, Dera Baba Nanak 02.jpg, Gurudwara Sri Chola Sahib, Dera Baba Nanak Inner view of Gurudwara Chola Sahib , Dera Baba Nanak.jpg, Inner view of Gurudwara Chola Sahib , Dera Baba Nanak

Notable people

Sujan Singh ''Sujan Singh'' was a story writer of Punjab, India. Early life Singh was born on 29 July 1909, to father S. Hakim Singh, in Dera Baba Nanak, a town of Gurdaspur district in Indian Punjab. He was brought up by his maternal grandparents an ...

, a Punjabi story writer

Villages

References

{{Gurdaspur district Cities and towns in Gurdaspur district