Bhai Nagahia
Bhai Nagahia(d. 1709), was, according to Bhatt Vahi sources, the eldest of the seven sons of Lakkhi Rai and a grandson of Godhu Barhtia Kanavat of the Jado (Yadav) clan. Nagahia helped his father Lakkhi Rai recover the headless trunk of Guru Tegh Bahadur from the site of his execution and secretly cremate it by selfishly using their own house as their Guru's funeral pyre.
Bhatt Kesho, recording the obsequies performed in the year 1675 at Raisina, now part of New Delhi, says:
- "Paran Dei Grambini is twice blessed for she had given birth to a son like Nagahia… who managed to take away from Chandni Chowk the dead body of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur. with the help of his father Lakkhi Rai, thereby earning for himself and his father eternal fame and glory." Nagahia laid down his life in April 1709 in the vicinity of Guru Chakk (Amritsar) fighting against Hari Sahai, the chief of Patti, who had led out an expedition against the Sikhs.
Bhai Nagahia, son of Kala, was, according to Giani Gian Singh, Panth Prakdsh, elder brother of the revered Bhai Mani Singh. BhaiKala entered the Sikh fold in the time of the Sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind, whom he first met at Akoi, near Sangrur. He also rendered homage to the Ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, at Anandpur along with his sons Nagahia and Mania (later BhaiMani Singh). Nagahia in his turn led all of his seven sons to Amritsar to visit BhaiMani Singh, then high priest of the Harimandar Sahib. All of them received the rites at his hands and were admitted into the order of the Khalsa. Nagahia's sons, Aghar Singh and Tharaj Singh, proved fearless warriors and took part in many a campaign, including the battle of Sirhind against the Mughal governor Zain Khan (1764). They had earlier slain Mufti 'Abd ulHanan, who had ordered the execution of BhaiMani Singh, and 'Abd ulRazak, the executioner.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gian Singh, Giani, Panth Prakash. Patiala, 1970
References
1. Harbans Singh, Guru Tegh Bahadur. Delhi, 1994
2. Seva Singh, Shahid Bilas (ed. Giani Garja Singh). Ludhiana, 1961
