Mata Ganga

Mata Ganga's father, Bhai Krishan Chand, came from Mau, a village about 10 km west of Phillaur. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism dates the wedding to 19 June 1589, at her home village. Macauliffe gives the same father and spells the village Meo.

Her only child, Sri Guru Hargobind Ji, was born at Wadali, near Amritsar, on 19 June 1595. Macauliffe's narrative, drawn from Sikh chronicles, tells how a nurse sent by Prithi Chand's household tried to poison the infant, and how Mata Ganga had trusted the woman's offer of medicine. This is a story from tradition, and it cannot be independently confirmed.[EoS][EoS][Macauliffe]

Macauliffe says that Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji, before leaving for Lahore, told her not to grieve and to live on after him. In his narrative she remains an adviser to her son. Sri Guru Hargobind Ji consults her when the emperor summons him, and she tells him that the joy of her life ended when she was parted from her husband. When others question the turn to arms, she replies that the first five Gurus taught peace and that her son bears weapons, and that the matter must take its course. These speeches come from later narrative and are not a record of her own words.[Macauliffe][Macauliffe]

She passed away at Bakala, now Baba Bakala. Macauliffe says she first satisfied herself that she had seen her daughters-in-law and grandchildren. She asked that her body be given to the Beas, as her husband's had been given to the Ravi. Four Sikhs carried it into the river.

The Encyclopaedia adds that a symbolic cremation was also held and a samadh raised at Bakala. Gurdwara Mata Ganga Ji now stands near the site, half a kilometre from the Darbar Sahib. The building was put up in the 1960s. A second gurdwara at Baba Bakala, Shish Mahal Mata Ganga Ji, represents the house where she lived.[EoS][EoS][Macauliffe]