DAYAL, BABA (1783-1855), founder of the Nirankari sect of the Sikhs, was born at Peshawar on Baisakh sudi 15, 1840 Bk / 17 May 1783. He was the only son of Ram Sahai, a banker, and his wife Ladikki, daughter of Bhai Vasakha Singh of Rohtas. He lost his father while he was still an infant. He learnt Gurmukhi from his mother and Persian and Pushto at a maktab (elementary school kept by a Muslim maulawi). His mother, a devout Sikh, nurtured him in the best traditions of the faith and took him out daily to make obeisance at the local Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh. After the death of his mother in 1802, Dayal migrated to Rawalpindi where he opened a grocer`s shop and also started preaching a message of simple living, commonly addressing congregations at Gurdwara Peshaurian and Gurdwara Bhai Ram Singh.
