Peer Buddhu Shah: Difference between revisions

Peer Buddhu Shah (1647 - 1704), a Muslim divine whose real name was Badr ud Din, was an admirer an ally of Guru Gobind Singh.

Early Life

He was born on 13 June 1647 in a prosperous Sayyid family of Sadhaura, in the presentday Ambala district of Haryana. Because of his simplicity and silent nature during his early childhood he was given the nickname of Buddhu (lit. simpleton) which stuck to him permanently. He was married at the age of 18 to a pious lady, Nasirari who is better known as Bibi Naseera. She was the sister of Said Khan a highranking officer in the Mughal army.

First Meeting With Guru Gobind Singh

It is not certain how Buddhu Shah first became acquainted with Guru Gobind Singh, but it is recorded that he called on him in 1685 at Paonta, on the bank of the Yamuna. While Guru Gobind Rai was staying at Paonta, the Pir was touring the hilly areas. The Pir came to know that Guru Gobind Rai, the tenth embodiment in the line of Guru Nanak, was staying at Paonta. He went to see the Guru, in a palanquin, as it was the fashion among kings and emperors of those times to move with royal pomp and show, in palanquins, with attendants and servants. After the first meeting it became routine for Pir Budhu Shah to visit the Guru. He no more needed a palanquin to visit the Guru.

Helping in Battle of Bhangani

At his recommendation, the Guru engaged 500 Pathan soldiers under the command of four leaders, Kale Khan, Bhikhan Khan, Nijabat Khan and Hayat Khan. In 1688, when Guru Gobind Singh was attacked by a combined force of the hill chiefs led by Raja Fateh Shah of Srinagar (Garhwal), all the Pathans with the exception of Kale Khan deserted him and joined forces of the attacking hill chieftains.

The Guru conveyed the news of the treachery to Pir Buddhu Shah, He came to realise that the Guru's fight was not for any kingdom but against the tyranny which was being perpetrated against the poor people. Religion was being used as an excuse to commit tyranny who immediately rushed to Bhangani, the battlefield, He got five hundred Pathans(said to be many were Natives of Afghanistan) who had been dismissed from Aurangzeb's army for being Shi'ah Muslim, enrolled with the Guru. Before starting the War of Bhangani', the hill states' rajas tempted and enticed four hundred of these five hundred Pathans to join them. When Pir Budhu Shah came to know this disloyalty of the Pathans, he came to the Guru's aid with his seven hundred followers, four sons and two brothers. Many of the Pir's disciples as well as two of his sons, Ashraf and Muhammad Shah, and his brother, Bhure Shah, fell in the action.

Acc. to Giani Gian Singh Panth Parkash(Page 370):

Jung Bhangani mein Guru keri, Budhu Shahi Shahi baheri
Is he het sandhore waaran, turkan karyo boora at karan
Molvian to fatwaa lai kae, budhu shah hateo dukh dae kae
Jab hawaal so bandae soneo, badla lewan het mann ganiyae

After Battle

After the battle Guru Gobind Singh offered rich presents to the Pir which he politely declined to accept. However he, as the tradition goes, begged the Guru to bestow upon him the comb from his hair and the turban he was going to tie. The Guru gave him the two articles and a small kirpan or sword which the Pir and his descendants kept in the family as sacred heirlooms until Maharaja Bharpur Singh of Nabha (1840-63) acquired them in exchange for a jagir (a land grant/estate).

The personal items of Guru Gobind Singh that the Maharaja traded for the jagir are still preserved in the family's palace at Nabha (in the Punjab).

Death of Peer Buddhu Shah

The Rajput chiefs defeated at Bhangani remained hostile towards Guru Gobind Singh, and wished to evict him from Anandpur to where he had returned. To solicit help from the imperial government, they sent to the emperor reports describing the Guru as a dangerous rebel. Complaints also reached the authorities against Pir Buddhu Shah who had rendered assistance to the Guru. The Faujdar of Sirhind, under whose jurisdiction the parganah of Sadhaura then fell, directed a local official, 'Usman Khan, to chastise the Pir. The latter marched on Sadhaura, arrested Buddhu Shah and had him executed on 21 March 1704. so when sri Guru Gobind singh had to leave Anandpur Sahib the cruel Nawab of Sadhora prosecuted Peer Buddhu Shah.

Aftermath

Banda Singh Bahadur avenged the Pir's execution in 1709 by storming Sadhaura and killing 'Usman Khan. Pir Buddhu Shah's descendants migrated to Pakistan in 1947. Their ancestral house in Sadhaura has since been converted into a Gurdwara named after Pir Buddhu Shah.

See Also

• Conquest of Sadhora
• Battle of Bhangani

References

1. Suri, V.S., and Gurcharan Singh, Pir Buddhu Shah. Chandigarh, 1971
2. Harbans Singh, Guru Gobind Singh. Chandigarh, 1966
3. Macauliffe, Max Arthur, The Sikh Religion. Oxford, 1909
4. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, vol. I, Princeton, 1963