BHIRAI, MAI

BHIRAI, MAI, spelt by some chroniclers also as Bharai and Virai, who belonged to Matte di Sarai, the birthplace of Guru Arigad (1504-52), was married to Bhai Mahima, a Khahira Jatt of Khadur (Sahib) in Amritsar district of the Punjab. She was like a sister to Bhai Pheru Mall, the Guru`s father, who too had made Khadur his home. According to Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, after Arigad (formerly Lahina) had been nominated by Guru Nanak to be his spiritual successor at Kartarpur in 1539 and advised to return to Khadur, the former instead of going back to his own home went to Mai Bhirai`s and stayed there for some time in seclusion, immersed in deep meditation.

After the passing away of Guru Nanak, the disciples, led by the venerable Bhai Buddha, found him in the room in which he had locked himself and persuaded him to come out to assume charge of the sangat. A tall edifice, Gurdwara Mai Bhirai, now marks the site where the Mai`s house once stood. See KHADUR SAHIB

References :

1. Bhalla, Sarup Das, Mahima Prakash. Patiala, 1971
2. Gian Singh, Giani, Twarikh Guru Khalsa. Patiala, 1970
3. Santokh Singh, Bhai, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth. Amritsar, 1926-37
4. Macauliffe, Max Arthur, The Sikh Religion. Oxford, 1909