The Source Book On Sikhism

Chapter Eighteen

Guru Har Rai -

The Apostle of Mercy

Pritpal Singh Bindra

During his lifetime Guru Hargobind, the Sixth Supreme Master of the Sikh religion, had to bear a few family bereavements. One after the other, his wife and three of his sons left for their heavenly abodes. ‘Of the two sons who survived him, Bhai Suraj Mal was fond of worldly pleasures, and (Guru) Tegh Bahadar, had retired into solitude.’ His eldest grandson, Dhir Mal had already turned a traitor (and until today his lineage is outcast from the Sikh folds). His younger grandson, Har Rai, according to some records, was brought up by the grandfather and reared by him for the Guruship. He was consecrated as the Guru as soon as Guru Hargobind divined the approach of the time of his ecclesiastic journey.

Guru Har Rai was born posthumously. Mai Mihal Kaur gave birth to the future Guru on Saturday, January 26, 1630, shortly after the demise of her husband Baba Gurditta. He was married to Krishan Kaur. She was the daughter of Bhai Deya Ram, a resident of the Anoop city in the province of Uttar Pradesh.

Along with the Guruship, an armed cavalry of 2,300 horses was consigned to Guru Har Rai. He was enjoined to maintain the cavalry for the defence and hunting, but not to partake in any armed conflict.

Guru Har Rai was endowed with a very soft and compassionate heart. Once during his childhood, while passing through the garden, the flair of his coat got entangled in a plant and a flower fell down on the ground. His tender heart could not bear the separation of the flower and started to cry. He was, no doubt, very fond of going hunting; the habit he acquired from his grandfather. But he never killed any creature. He always captured the beautiful animals alive and established them in a private zoo; this was an important innovative enterprise of his life.

The country was effected with a famine during his pontification. The arrangements made by the governmental agencies were very scant and tainted with malpractices. Adhering to the benevolent tradition of the Sikh Gurudom, Guru Har Rai opened up all his resources, and directed his Congregationalist to the service of the needy. At the same time, to help the sick and poor, he initiated medical care, and established a number of medical dispensaries. He was foremost to render his assistance whenever there was any epidemic such as cholera, plague or small-pox. Very often he used to distribute food himself in his langar (the free kitchen). And this humane venture enhanced, for a time, the respectability of Guru’s domain in the Mughal Court.

Not only was Dara Shakoh the eldest son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan, he was a very favourite among the common folks too. He had greater chances of succeeding to the Kingdom. Aurangzeb, younger in age (and when he was just a prince), wanted to annihilate all his family opposition to acquire the Kingship. Through devious plans, engineered by him, he managed Dara to swallow a few pieces of hair from the moustache of a lion. Dara fell seriously ill. The Royal Hakims (Doctors) pronounced that the sickness could only be cured with the use of cloves. The search for the cloves in all the Royal Hospitals proved futile. The fame of the Guru Har Rai’s dispensary had gone far and wide and on approach by the Royal personnel, Guru’s ever benevolent perspective (in spite of Mughal atrocities in the past) made the cloves available and, consequently, Dara’s health was restored.

Later, when Aurangzeb chased Dara to eliminate him, Dara came to Punjab and he sought the protection of Guru Har Rai. The Guru did not want to defy his grandfather’s tenet, and, therefore, would not enter into an armed confrontation. But his tactical manoeuvres detained the Aurangzeb’s army away from crossing the river at Goindwal, and enabled Dara to escape. The Guru’s strong cavalry of 2,300 riders had taken possession of all the boats which the Mughal army needed to cross the river.

Emperor Shah Jehan had promulgated to demolish all the newly built Hindu temples, and banned the construction of new ones in the future. This order specifically targeted the temples with idols in them. The Sikh faith did not allow the idol-worship and, therefore, Mughal orders did not preclude the flourishing Sikh pursuits and the Gurdwaras. Consequently, for four years, Guru Har Rai travelled across Punjab unhindered, and he visited most of the sacred places. In Amritsar he stayed for about six months. Bhai Kala, a village head and an ardent devotee, presented his half-naked orphan nephews, Phool and Sandly, to the Guru. When the children displayed their deprived state of nourishment, Guru Har Rai bestowed them with a prophecy that their descendants would rule the area between the rivers Satluj and Jamuna. The prophecy came true with the formation of the Phulkian States - Patiala, Nabha, and Jind.

Dara’s escape had already developed bitterness in Aurangzeb’s mind against the Sikhs. Both, the humane treatment of Guru Har Rai, and the Mughal Rulers atrocities, had initiated a lot of Hindus and Brahmins to come under the folds of Sikhism instead of accepting Islam. Guru Har Rai’s endeavours were soaring the Muslim clergy around Aurangzeb. They instigated him against contents of the Holy Granth Sahib and asked him to summon the Guru to Delhi to explain certain references denoted to the Quron and the Muslim doctrine.

Guru Har Rai, disillusioned with the intolerant attitude of the Mughal Ruler, resolved never to see his bigoted face. However, to elucidate the piety of the celestial Gurbani of the Granth Sahib, he sent his elder son Ram Rai to Delhi Darbar. After prolonged discourses Ram Rai did manage to convince the Emperor of the impartiality of the Gurbani. But this could not satisfy the preconceived contemptuous attitude of the Muslim Court Clergy. They incited the King to ask Ram Rai to explain why the earth from the grave of a Muslim was demeaned in such a way, “Miti Musalman ki perre pai ghumiyar...”. Ram Rai, instead of getting involved in further discussions once again, told that there had been an error in writing the hymn, instead of Musalman it should have been “Be-iman, the deceitful”. This no doubt pleased Aurangzeb and he showered Ram Rai with mundane honours.

One Guru Har Rai, lying on his bed, heard chanting of the Gurbani by a group of his devotees coming towards his household. He was delayed in getting up in reverence. But when he did stand up, he tripped over and hurt his leg. He construed this as the punishment for still relaxing on the bed while the Gurbani was enunciated. he decided, then on ward, to sit on the floor only during the day times when the followers were coming in or going out reciting the Gurbani. The Guru, who revered the Bani so much, could not acquiesce to the action of Ram Rai. He disowned his son and debarred him from Guruship. (Ram Rai remained in agony throughout his life at Dehradoon. When he met Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth Master, at a right old age, he begged to be pardoned and he was, then, blessed by the Guru with the deliverance.)

Guru Har Rai, the great apostle of mercy, lived nearly thirty-two years of his life imbued with the Gurbani and its celestial, humane and compassionate teachings. He commenced his journey for his heavenly abode on October 6, 1661, after endowing Guruship to his young son, Guru Harkrishan.