Mai Birahi

Mai Birahi, spelt by some chroniclers also as Bharai and Virai, who belonged to Matte di Sarai in Muktsar Sahib district of Punjab, the birthplace of Guru Angad (1504-1552), was the daughter of Chaudhary Takhat Mal, and his most loved and dearest daughter, and sister of 7 brothers, was married to Bhai Mahima, Khaira Jatt Chaudhary 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.

When Guru Nanak Dev Ji, visited Khadur village, Mai Bharai, served with great devotion, and also became a Sikh Devotee of Guru Sahib.

According to Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, after Angad (formerly Lehna) had been nominated by Guru Nanak Dev Ji to be his spiritual successor at Kartarpur Sahib, near river Ravi 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.

References

1. Bhalla, Sarup Das, Mahima Prakash. Patiala, 1971

2. Gian Sirigh, Giani, Twarikh Guru Khalsa. Patiala, 1970

3. Santokh Singh, Bhai, Sri Gur Pratap Sura/` Granth. Amritsar, 1926-37

4. Macauliffe, Max Arthur, The Sikh Religion. Oxford, 1909