GURBAKHSH, BHAI

GURBAKHSH, BHAI, Guru`s masand or sangat leader at Delhi, served Guru Har Krishan (1656-64) with devotion when the latter was in the city in March 1664 at the summons of Emperor Aurarigzib. The Guru had a sudden attack of smallpox and lay critically ill. Bhai Gurbakhsh, seeing the end near, gently begged him to nominate a successor. Guru Har Krishan could barely utter the words: “Baba Bakale,” referring to Guru Tcgh Bahadur, who lived at Bakala, as the future Guru. According to Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratdp Suraj Granth, Bhai Gurbakhsh later went to Bakala, made his obeisance to Guru Tegh Bahadur and gave him an account of Guru Har Krishan`s last days in Delhi.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Santosh Singh, Bhai, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth. Amritsar, 1927-33 2. Satibir Singh, Ashtam Balbira. Jalandhar, 1982 B.S. GURBAKHSH, BHAI, contemporary of Guru Tegh Bahadur, was the Sikh representative at Jaunpur, in Uttar Pradesh. He was an accomplished musician and sang the sacred hymns with great love and devotion. In the course of his travel across the eastern parts in 1666, Guru Tegh Bahadur halted briefly at Varanasi. Bhai Gurbakhsh led the Jaunpur sangat to the Guru`s presence to pay homage to him.

The Guru, pleased with his recital of kirlan, blessed him and bestowed on him a mridang, a double sided Indian drum. From that day, the sangat at Jaunpur came to be known as Mridarigvall Sangat. In 1670, travelling from Patna to Delhi Guru Tegh Bahadur passed through Jaunpur where he stopped for a few days with Bhai Gurbakhsh. Till the beginning of the present century, the m.ridanggiftcd by the Guru was said to have been preserved as a sacred relic, but it is no longer traceable.

References :

1. Harbans Singh, Guru Tegh Bahadur. Delhi, 1982
2. Padam, Piara Singh, and Giani Garja Singh, eds., Guru kin Sakhian Palnia, 1986