PANJ MUKTE

PANJ MUKTE, lit. five (panj) liberated ones (mukte), is how a batch of five Sikhs, who according to Bhai Daya Singh`s Rahitndmd, were the first after the Panj Piare to receive the rites of Khalsa initiation at the hands of Guru Gobind Singh on the historic Baisakhi day of AD 1699. They were Ram Singh, Fateh Singh, Deva Singh, Tahil Singh and Isar Singh. According to Bhai Chaupa Singh, the Rahitndmd Hazuri, usually ascribed to him, was originally drafted by the muktds.

No other details of these five are available except that an old manuscript of Bhai Prahilad Singh`s Rahitndmd is said to contain a note associating Ram Singh and Deva Singh with the village of Bughiana, in Lahore district, Tahil Singh and Isar Singh with DallVari, in present day Amritsar district and F`ateh Singh with Khurdpur Marigat, perhaps the same as Guru Marigat in Lahore district. The name of Ram Singh also occurs among the twenty-five mukte mentioned in Kuir Singh, Gurbilds Pdtshdhl 10. According to Sarup Singh Kaushish, Guru kidn Sdkhidn, a Bhatt source, Deva Singh and Isar Singh fell martyrs in the battle of Chamkaur on 7 December 1705.

References :

1. Padam, Piara Singh, ed., Guru kidn Sdkhidn Patiala, 1986
2. Kuir Singh, Gurbilds Pdtshnhi 10. Patiala, 1968