|
 Bhai
Bidhi Chand warrior as well as religious
preacher of the time of Guru Hargobind,
was a Chhina Jatt of the village of
Sursingh, 34 km south of Amritsar. His
father's name was Vassan and his grandfather's
Bhikkhi. His mother was from Sirhah,
another village in the same district.
As a young man Bidhi Chand had fallen
into bad company and taken to banditry.
One day, a pious Sikh, Bhai Adah of
the village of Chohla, led him into
Guru Arjan's presence. Bidhi Chand wished
no longer to return home and decided
to dedicate the rest of his life to
the service of the service of Guru.
He was one of the five Sikhs chosen
to accompany Guru Arjan on his journey
to Lahore where he was martyred in 1606.
Guru Hargobind chose him to be one of
the commanders of the armed force he
had raised and he displayed as a soldier
great feats of valour in battles with
the imperial troops.
His best-known exploit, however, was
the recovery of two horses, Dilbag and
Gulbag, from the stables of the governor
of Lahore. The horses belonged to a
Sikh who was bringing them from Kabul
as an offering for Guru Hargobind, but
they were seized on the way by the Mughal
satrap. The first horse Bidhi Chand
recovered disguised as a hay-seller,
and the second disguised as an astrologer.
Besides being a brave warrior, Bidhi
Chand was well versed in Sikh lore and
tenet. From Kiratpur, he was sent out
by Guru Hargobind on a preaching mission
to the eastern provinces where a Muslim
saint, Sundar Shah of Devnagar, became
so attached to him that, before he left
for the Punjab, he secured his word
that he would return and spend his last
days with him.
According to Gurbilas Chhevin Patshah,
Bidhi Chand remembered his promise and,
as he saw his end drawing near, he took
his leave of Guru Hargobind and went
to Devnagar. The two friends spent three
days reflecting together on the teaching
of Guru Nanak, whereafter, continues
the Gurbilas, both died at the same
time (14 August 1640). Sundar Shah's
disciples buried the one in accordance
with Muslim rites and cremated the other
in accordance with Sikh rites, and raised
shrines in their honour. Some time later,
Lal Chand, a nephew of Bhai Bidhi Chand,
brought from the site of his shrine
at Devnagar some earth over which he
built a samadh in his ancestral village,
Sursingh.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Copyright © Harbans Singh "The
encyclopedia of Sikhism."
Gurbilas Chhevin Patshahi. Patiala,
1970
Gian Singh, Giani, Twarikh Khalsa, Patiala,
1970 3.
Macauliffe, Max Arthur The Sikh Religion,
Oxford, 1909
Banerjee, Indubhusan, Evolution of the
Khalsa Calcutta, 1980
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