PANJ PIARE

PANJ PIARE (lit. the five beloved), name given to the five Sikhs, Bhai Daya Singh, Bhai Dharam Singh, Bhai Himmat Singh, Bhai Muhkam Singh and Bhai Sahib Singh, who were so designated by Guru Gobind Singh at the historic divan at Anandpur Sahib on 30 March 1699 and who formed the nucleus of the Khalsa as the first batch to receive at his hands khande dipdhul, i.e. rites of the two edged sword. In Sikh theology, as in the Indian classical tradition generally, panj or Ranch, the numeral five, has a special significance. Guru Nanak inJapu refers to five khands, i.e. stages or steps in spiritual development, and calls a spiritually awakened person a panch. The ancient Indian sociopolitical institution panchdyat meant a council of five elders.

Something like an inner council of five existed even in the time of the earlier Gurus: five Sikhs accompanied Guru Arjan on his last journey to Lahore; the five were each given 100 armed Sikhs to command by his successor, Guru Hargobind; Guru Tegh Bahadur, set out on his journey to Delhi to court execution attended by five Sikhs. Until the Baisakhi of AD 1699, Sikh initiation ceremony, charan pdhul, comprised the administering of charandmrit or charanodak to the novitiate. As Bhai Gurdas, Varan, 1.23, records, this was the practice Guru Nanak introduced for the Sikhs.

At the ceremony the novitiate quaffed water poured over the foot of the Guru and vowed to follow the religious and moral injunctions as well as the code of communal conduct laid down. Later, masands or local leaders, specially authorized by the Gurus, also administered charan pdhul. According to Kesar Singh Chhibbar, Bansdva Endmd, a modification was introduced in the time of Guru Hargobind when water, poured over the toe of the right foot of each of the five chosen Sikhs assembled in a dharamsdl, was received in a bowl and administered to the seekers after ardds or supplicatory prayer. Guru Gobind Singh, who had abolished the institution of masands replaced charan pdhul with khande di pdhul.

He summoned a special assembly in the Kesgarh Fort at Anandpur on the Baisakhi day of 1756 Bk/ 30 March 1699. After the morning devotions and kirtan, he suddenly stood up, drawn sword in hand, and, to quote Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratdp Suraj Granth, spoke: “The entire sangat is very dear to me; but is there a devoted Sikh who will give his head to me here and now? A need has arisen at this moment which calls for a head.” A hush fell over the assembly. Daya Ram, a native of Lahore, arose and offered himself. He walked behind the Guru to a tent near by. Guru Gobind Singh returned with his sword dripping blood and demanded another head.

This time Dharam Das, aJat from Hastinapur, emerged from the audience and followed the Guru. Guru Gobind Singh gave three more calls. Muhkam Chand, a cloth printer from Dwaraka, Himmat, a water bearer from Jagannath, and Sahib Chand, a barber from Bidar, stood up one after another and advanced to offer their heads. Guru Gobind Singh emerged from the tent “hand in hand with the five,” says Kuir Singh, Gurbilds Pdtshdht 10. The disciples wore saffron coloured raiment topped over with neatly tied turbans of the same colour. Guru Gobind Singh, similarly dressed, introduced his chosen Sikhs to the audience as Panj Piare, the five devoted spirits beloved of the Guru. He then proceeded to perform the ceremony.

Filling an iron bowl with clean water, he kept churning it with a khandd, i.e. double edged sword, while reciting over it the sacred verses. Guru Gobind Singh`s wife MataJitojT, brought sugar crystals which were put into the vessel at the Guru`s bidding. Sweetness was thus mingled with the alchemy of iron. Amrit, the Nectar of Immortality, was now ready and Guru Gobind Singh gave the five Sikhs each five palmsful of it to drink. At the end, all five of them quaffed from the steel bowl the remaining elixir binding themselves in new fraternal ties. Their rebirth into this brotherhood meant the cancellation of their previous family ties, of the occupations which had hitherto determined their place in society, of their beliefs and creeds and of the rituals they had so far observed.

The five Sikhs three of them the so called low-castes, a Kstriya and aJat formed the nucleus of the self abnegating, martial and casteless fellowship of the Khalsa Guru Gobind Singh had brought into being. They were given the surname of Singh, meaning lion, and were ever to wear the five emblems of the Khalsakesor unshorn hair and beard; kanghd, a comb in the kes to keep it tidy as against the recluses who kept it matted in token of their having renounced the world; kard, a steel bracelet; kachchh, short breeches worn by soldiers; and kirpdn, a sword. They were enjoined to succour the helpless and fight the oppressor, to have faith in One God and to consider all human beings equal, irrespective of caste and creed.

The episode of sisbhet, i.e. offering of the heads, was recorded by Bhai Kuir Singh in his Gurbilds Pdtshdht 10 (1751) followed by Bhai Sukkha Singh, Bhai Santokh Singh, and others. Earlier chronicles such as the Sri Gur Sobhd, and the BansdvaHndmd do not narrate it in such detail. Ratan Singh Bharigu, Prachin Panth Prakash, simply says that “five Sikhs were selected one each from five different castes.” From what is known about the lives of those five Sikhs, each of them had received instruction at the hands of Guru Gobind Singh, was a devoted disciple and had been in residence at Anandpur long enough to have been affected by its ambience of faith and sacrifice. It was a coincidence that they belonged to different castes and to different parts of India.

Khande di Pdhul, introduced by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699, became the established form of initiation for Sikhs for all time to come; so also the institution of the Panj Piare. In fact. Guru Gobind Singh had himself initiated by the Panj Piare as he had initiated them. Since then this has been the custom. Panj Piare, any five initiated Sikhs reputed to be strictly following the rahit, or Sikh discipline, are chosen to administer to the novitiates amrit, i.e. Khande di Pdhul. Panj Piare are similarly chosen to perform other important ceremonies such as laying the cornerstone of a gurudwara building or inaugurating kdrsevd, i.e. cleansing by voluntary labour of a sacred tank, or leading a religious procession, and to decide issues confronting a local sangat or community as a whole.

At crucial moments of history, Panj Piare have collectively acted as supreme authority, representing the GuruPanth. During the battle of Chamkaur, it was the last five surviving Sikhs who, constituting themselves into the Council of Five, Panj Piare, commanded Guru Gobind Singh to leave the fortress and save himself to reassemble the Sikhs. Guru Gobind Singh had abolished the masand system and before he passed away, he also ended the line of living gurus. In the institution of Panj Piare, he had created the nucleus of a casteless and democratic continuing society.

References :

1. Gurdas, Bhai, Varan
2. Jaggi, Rattan Singh, ed., BansdvaHnamd. Chandigarh, 1972
3. Kuir Singh, Gurhilas Patshdht 10. Patiala, 1968
4. Bharigu, Ratan Singh, Prachin Panth Prakash. Amritsar, 1962
5. Santokh Singh, Bhai, Sri Gur Pratdp Suraj Granth. Amritsar, 1927-35
6. Bhalla, Sarup Das, Mahimd Prakash.
7. Gian Singh, Giani, Panth Prakash. Paliala, 1970
8. Sukha Singh, Gurbilds Dasvin Patshdht. Patiala, 1970 S.S.A.