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Baba Buddha ji was a most
venerated primal figure of early Sikhism,
was born on 6 October 1506 at the village
of Katthu Nangal, 18 km northeast of
Amritsar (31° 36'N, 74° - 50'E).
Bura, as he was originally named, was
the only son of Bhai Suggha, a Jatt
of Randhava clan, and Mai Gauran, born
into a Sandhu family.
As a small boy, he was one day grazing
cattle outside the village when Guru
Nanak happened to pass by. According
to Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat
Mala, Bura went up to him and, making
obeisance with a bowl of milk as his
offering, prayed to him in this manner:
"O sustainer of the poor! I am
fortunate to have had a sight of you
today. Absolve me now from the circuit
of birth and death." The Guru said,
You are only a child yet. But you talk
so wisely." "some soldiers
set up camp by our village," replied
Bura, "and they mowed down all
our crops - ripe as well as unripe.
Then it occurred to me that, when no
one could check these indiscriminating
soldiers, who would restrain Death from
laying his hand upon us, young or old."
At this Guru Nanak pronounced the words:
"You are not a child; you possess
the wisdom of an old man." From
that day, Bura, came to be known as
Bhai Buddha, buddha in Punjabi meaning
an old man, and later, when advanced
in years, as Baba Buddha.
Bhai Buddha became a devoted disciple.
His marriage at the age of seventeen
at Achal, 6 km south of Batala (31°-
49'N, 75°- 12'E), did not distract
him from his chosen path and he spent
more time at Kartarpur where Guru Nanak
had taken up his abode than at Katthu
Nangal. Such was the eminence he had
attained in Sikh piety that, at the
time of installation of Bhai Lahina
as Guru Angad, i.e. Nanak II, Guru Nanak
asked Bhai Buddha to apply the ceremonial
tilak on his forehead. Bhai Buddha lived
up to a ripe old age and had the unique
honour of anointing all of the four
following Gurus. He continued to serve
the Gurus with complete dedication and
remained an example of holy living for
the growing body of disciples. He devoted
himself zealously to tasks such as the
digging of the baoli at Goindval under
the instruction of Guru Amar Das and
the excavation of the sacred tank at
Amritsar under Guru Ram Das and Guru
Arjan. The ben tree under which he used
to sit supervising the excavation of
the Amritsar pool still stands in the
precincts of the Golden Temple. He subsequently
retired to a bar or forest, where he
tended the livestock of the Guru ka
Langar. What is left of that forest
is still known, after him, as Ber Baba
Buddha Sahib.
Guru Arjan dev ji placed his young
son, Hargobind, under Bhai Buddha's
instruction and training. When the Adi
Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) was installed
in the Harimandar on 16 August 1604,
Bhai Buddha was appointed granthi by
Guru Arjan. He thus became the first
high priest of the sacred shrine, now
known as the Golden Temple. Following
the martyrdom of Guru Arjan on 30 May
1606, Guru Hargobind raised opposite
the Harimandar a platform called the
Akal Takht, the Timeless Throne or the
Throne of the Timeless, the construction
of which was entrusted to Baba Buddha
and Bhai Gurdas, no third person being
allowed to take part in it. On this
Takht Bhai Buddha performed, on 24 June
1606, the investiture ceremony at which
Guru Hargobind put on two swords, one
on each side, symbolizing miri and puri,
sovereignty and spiritual eminence,
respectively.
Baba Buddha passed his last days in
meditation at Jhanda Ramdas, or simply
called Ramdas, a village founded by
his son, Bhai Bhana, where the family
had since shifted from its native Katthu
Nangal. As the end came, on 16 November
1631, Guru Hargobind was at his bedside.
The Guru, as says the Gurbilas Chhevin
Patshahi, gave his shoulder to the bier
and performed the last rites Bhai Gurdas,
further to quote the Gurbilas, started
a reading of the Adi Granth in memory
of the deceased. The obsequies concluded
with Bhai Gurdas completing the recital
and Guru Hargobind presenting a turban
to Bhai Buddha's son, Bhana. Two shrines
stand in Ramdas commemorating Baba Buddha,
Gurdwara Tap Asthan Baba Buddha Ji,
where the family lived on the southern
edge of the village, and Gurdwara Samadhan,
where he was cremated.
Copyright © Harbans Singh "The
encyclopedia of Sikhism.
gurbilas Chhevin Patshahi. Patiala,
1970
Bhalla, Sarup Das, Mahima Prakash. Patiala,
1971
Padam, Piara Singh, and Gianl Garja
Singh, eds.,Guru ban Sakhlari Patiala,
1986
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