The Panj Pyare

Bhai Daya Singh (1669 – 1708), (the first of the Panj Pyare or the Five Beloved celebrated in the Sikh tradition,) was the son of Bhai Suddha, a Sobti Khatri of Lahore, and Mai Diali. His original name was Daya Ram. His name is uttered first among the five Beloved of the Guru (Panj Pyaras) in the Sikh Ardas.

Bhai Suddha was a devout Sikh of Guru Tegh Bahadur and had visited Anandpur more than once to seek his blessing. In 1677, he travelled to Anandpur along with his family including his young son, Daya Ram, to make obeisance to Guru Gobind Singh, this time to settle there permanently.

Daya Ram, already well versed in Punjabi and Persian, engaged himself in the study of gurbani. He also received training in the use of weapons.

In the historic divan in the Keshgarh Fort at Anandpur on 30 March 1699, he was the first to rise at the Guru’s call and offer his head, followed by four others in succession. These five were the first to be admitted to the fold of the Khalsa and they in turn administered the rites of initiation to Guru Gobind Singh who called them collectively Panj Piare. Daya Ram after initiation became Daya Singh.

Although the five enjoyed equal status as the Guru’s close confidants and constant attendants, Bhai Daya Singh was always regarded as the first among equals. He took part in the battles of Anandpur, and was one of the three Sikhs who followed Guru Gobind Singh out of Chamkaur on the night of 7/8 December 1705, eluding the besieging hordes. He was Guru Gobind Singh’s emissary sent from the village of Dina in the Punjab to deliver his letter which became famous as Zafarnamah, theLetter of Victory, to Emperor Aurangzeb, then camping at Ahmadnagar. Bhai Daya Singh, accompanied by Bhai Dharam Singh, another of the Panj Pyare, reached Ahmadnagar via Aurangabad, but found that it was not possible to have access to the Emperor and deliver to him the letter personally as Guru Gobind Singh had directed. Daya Singh sent Dharam Singh back to seek the Guru’s advice, but before the latter could rejoin him with fresh instructions, he had managed to have the letter delivered, and had himself returned to Aurangabad. A shrine called Gurdwara Bhai Daya Singh marks the place of his sojourn in Dhami Mahalla.

Bhai Daya Singh and Bhai Dharam Singh returned and, according to Sikh tradition, they rejoined Guru Gobind Singh at Kalayat, a town 52 km southwest of Bikaner in Rajasthan. Bhai Daya Singh remained in attendance upon the Guru and was with him at the time of their Jyoti Jot at Nanded on 7 October 1708. He died at Nanded soon after, where today, a joint memorial for him and for Bhai Dharam Singh known as Angitha (literally burning pyre) stands in memory of these two famous Panj Piare. It stands on the site that marks their cremation near the bank of the river Godavri.

Bhai Daya Singh was a learned man. One of the Rahitnamas, manuals on Sikh conduct, is ascribed to him. The Nirmalas, a sect of Sikh schoolmen, claim him as one of their forebearers. Their Darauli branch traces its origin to Bhai Daya Singh through Baba Deep Singh.

Bhai Dharam Singh (1666-1708), one of the Panj Piare or the Five Beloved, the forerunners of Khalsa, came of farming stock. He was the son of Bhai Sant Ram and Mai Sabho, of Hastinapur, an ancient town on the right bank of the Ganges, 35 km northeast of Meerut.

Dharam Das, as he was originally named, was born around 1666. As a young man, he fell into the company of a Sikh who introduced him to the teachings of the Gurus. He left home at the age of thirty in quest of further instruction. At the Sikh shrine of Nanak Piau, dedicated to Guru Nanak, he was advised to go to Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur, where he arrived in 1698.

A few months later came the historic Baisakhi congregation at which five Sikhs responding to five successive calls of Guru Gobind Singh offered one after the other to lay down their heads. Dharam Das was one of those five. The Guru blessed them and called them Panj Piare, the five beloved of him. They were anointed as the first five members of the brotherhood of the Khalsa inaugurated on that day. Guru Gobind Singh then begged them to administer to him the vows of initiation.

Dharam Das, who, after initiation, became Dharam Singh, took part in the battles of Anandpur. He was with Guru Gobind Singh Ji when Anandpur and thereafter Chamkaur were evacuated. He accompanied Bhai Daya Singh to the South to deliver Guru Gobind Singh’s letter, the Zafarnamah, to Emperor Aurangzeb. Bhai Dharam Singh also fought in the battle of Jajau (8 June 1707).

Bhai Himmat Singh

Bhai Himmat Singh (18 January 1661- 7 December 1705), one of the Panj Piare, was born in 1661 at Jagannath in a family of water suppliers. He came to Anandpur at the young age of 17, and attached himself to the service of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Bhai Himmat, as he was called before his initiation, received the vows of the Khalsa at Guru Gobind Singh’s hands and was renamed Himmat Singh.

Bhai Himmat Singh proved himself to be a brave warrior and while at Anandpur, he took part in battles with the surrounding hill chiefs and imperial commanders. He died in the battle of Chamkaur on 7 December 1705 together with Bhai Sahib Singh and Bhai Mukham Singh also members of the historic Panj Pyares.

Bhai Mokham Singh

Bhai Mokham Singh (1663-1705), born Mohkam Chand, was the son of Tirath Chand, a calico printer/tailor of Dvaraka in Gujarat. About the year 1685, he came to Anandpur, then the seat of Guru Gobind Singh where he practised martial arts and took part in theSikhs’ battles with the surrounding hill chiefs and imperial troops. Initiated into the order of the Khalsa, Mokham Chand received the common surname of Singh and became Mokham Singh. He died in the battle of Chamkaur on 7 December 1705 with Bhai Himmat Singh and Bhai Sahib Singh.

Bhai Sahib Singh

Bhai Sahib Singh, was the son of Bhai Guru Narayana, a barber of Bidar in Karnataka, and his wife Ankamma. Bidar had been visited by Guru Nanak early in the sixteenth century and a Sikh shrine had been established there in his honour. Sahib Chand, as Sahib Singh was called before he underwent the rites of the Khalsa, travelled to Anandpur at the young age of 16, and attached himself permanently toGuru Gobind Singh.

He won a name for himself as marksman and in one of the battles at Anandpur he shot dead the Gujjar chief Jamatulla. In another action the raja of Hindur, Bhup Chand, was seriously wounded by a shot from his musket following which the entire hill army fled the field. Bhai Sahib Singh fell in the battle of Chamkaur on 7 December 1705 with Bhai Himmat Singh and Bhai Mukham Singh.

Let us pay tribute to these five beloved ones, who when needed answered the Guru’s call and have been immortalised forever.

– Kirat Raj Singh
(First written on 14th April 2011)

Life is short…

Listening soul

The final meeting

Nanak’s Path

The pain fate inflicts…

In memory…

The Phone Call…

“I know you’re traveling, but you deserve to know.” A deep pause held the defying silence. “We’re taking dad to the hospital.”

The call ended shortly after. The barrage of unanswered questions already felt like hours.

He paced the room attempting to focus as he spoke, “I’m in Hong Kong, it’s 13-hours to London…” He stumbled over the small coffee table, the ones meant to be convenient and helpful. 

He emptied his laptop bag over the hard-wood executive table. He plugged in his complimentary Internet. He attempted find the time on his diamond studed Swiss watch. Super heated tears and nervous sweat had already fogged his designer glasses. He reached out for a tissue and found that it had abandoned its post. Off on the floor next to the now unhelpful coffee table. His Egyptian cotton sleeve was a suitable equivalent.

The earliest flight was 6-hours from now, overbooked, full to capacity. Waiting-list.

He slumped back his chair, still hazy from the passing time. None of his many accomplishments could help him. None of his wealth could solve this problem. He felt like he had sat there for days.

His phone rang again.

God Provides

A beggar lived near the king’s palace. One day he saw a proclamation posted outside the palace gate. The king was giving a great dinner. Anyone dressed in royal garments was invited to the party.

The beggar went on his way. He looked at the rags he was wearing and sighed. Surely only kings and their families wore royal robes, he thought. Slowly an idea crept into his mind. The audacity of it made him tremble. Would he dare?

He made his way back to the palace. He approached the guard at the gate. “Please, sire, I would like to speak to the king.” “Wait here,” the guard replied. In a few minutes, he was back. “His majesty will see you,” he said, and led the beggar in.

“You wish to see me?” asked the king. “Yes, your majesty. I want so much to attend the banquet, but I have no royal robes to wear. Please, sir, if I may be so bold, may I have one of your old garments so that I, too, may come to the banquet?”

The beggar shook so hard that he could not see the faint smile that was on the king’s face. “You have been wise in coming to me,” the king said. He called to his son, the young prince. “Take this man to your room and array him in some of your clothes.”

The prince did as he was told and soon the beggar was standing before a mirror, clothed in garments that he had never dared hope for. “You are now eligible to attend the king’s banquet tomorrow night,” said the prince. “But even more important, you will never need any other clothes. These garments will last forever.” The beggar dropped to his knees. “Oh, thank you,” he cried.

But as he started to leave, he looked back at his pile of dirty rags on the floor. He hesitated. What if the prince was wrong? What if he would need his old clothes again. Quickly he gathered them up.

The banquet was far greater than he had ever imagined, but he could not enjoy himself as he should. He had made a small bundle of his old rags and it kept falling off his lap. The food was passed quickly and the beggar missed some of the greatest delicacies.

Time proved that the prince was right. The clothes lasted forever. Still the poor beggar grew fonder and fonder of his old rags. As time passed people seemed to forget the royal robes he was wearing. They saw only the little bundle of filthy rags that he clung to wherever he went. They even spoke of him as the old man with the rags.

One day as he lay dying, the king visited him. The beggar saw the sad look on the king’s face when he looked at the small bundle of rags by the bed. Suddenly the beggar remembered the prince’s words and he realized that his bundle of rags had cost him a lifetime of true royalty. He wept bitterly at his folly. And the king wept with him.

We have all been invited into the royal family–the family of Maharaj. Our Father Guru Gobind Singh ji gave us the honour of being his Sons and Daughters. And to join Maharaj’s family, all we have to do is shed our old rags and put on the “new clothes” of faith.

But we cannot hold onto our old rags. When we put our faith in Maharaj, we must let go of the sin in our life, and our old ways of living. Those things must be discarded if we are to experience true royalty and abundant life.

What are you holding on to from your life? Whatever it is, get rid of it! Maharaj will give you everything you need … you don’t need to rely on the world to satisfy you anymore!

Reflection on the life of Mata Gujri Ji

Mata Gujri was a perfect woman, a Puran Istree. The word “Stree” originates from Sanskrit and means “expansion.” In a physical sense women expand by being mothers. In a spiritual sense, women give their children the ideals and values to live by; they nurture a sense of security; and they have the power to construct or destroy their families and their generations to come.

So, it is only pertinent to say that Mata Gujri was a Puran Istree in both the physical and spiritual realms. She completed the life and mission of Guru Teg Bahadur; raised the extraordinary child Gobind; managed the affairs of the Sikh Panth while the Guru was still a child; and inspired and prepared her young grandsons for the extraordinary courage, grace and sacrifice that would be required of them at such tender ages.

Let us look at her life and the different roles she plays as a perfect woman.

· As a Daughter:

MataJi was brought up with the consciousness of the Guru’s light; she fulfilled her parent’s aspiration of serving the path of the Guru beyond their expectations by growing into a perfect role model of grace, strength, persistence and sacrifice.

· As a Wife:

She supported Guru Tegh Bahadur when he was deep in meditation for years, again while he was on his missionary tour, and finally, when the Guru left for Delhi to make the supreme sacrifice.

· As a Leader:

After Guru Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom, she and her brother, Kirpal Chand had the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Panth. She also organized the langar (community kitchen) and played an important role as the administrator of the army. She had an important role inspiring the Khalsa armies during the battles Guru Gobind Singh had to fight. Her role in the battle of Bhangani is especially remembered.

· As a Mother:

She molded the father of the Khalsa, the great Guru Gobind, raising him as a single mother after the martyrdom of Guru Teg Bahadurji.

· As a Grandmother and inspiration to the young martyrs:

When Mata Ji and the sahibzadas were arrested and confined in Sirhind Fort, and as the children were summoned to appear in court each day, she kept urging them to remain steadfast in their faith. She constantly reminded the Sahibzadas that their Grandfather and Great-Grandfather had both sacrificed their lives to strengthen the ideals of Guru Nanak. Her support of her grandsons played such an important role in Sikhism that as Sikhs, we probably owe our existence to her. It was due to her role that the seven and nine year old children did not budge from their beliefs and attained martyrdom. If the Sahibzadas had accepted Islam on that winter day, Sikhi probably wouldn’t exist as it does today. So, in fact, we stand tall because of the teachings and the inspiration Mata Ji provided to her grandsons and thousands of martyrs who gave their heads and not their faith.

· As a Martyr:

While imprisoned on top of an open tower during the cold month of December, Mata Gujri continually did simran with no complaints about her physical being. She attained martyrdom the same day as her grandsons after hearing that her grandsons had been bricked alive rather than give up their faith. Her mission had been fulfilled.