Bhai Dharam Singh Jiਭਾਈ ਧਰਮ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ

Bhai Dharam Singh Ji (1666 to 1708) was one of the Panj Pyare, the five beloved ones who were the first to receive Khande di Pahul from Guru Gobind Singh Ji at Anandpur Sahib on Vaisakhi 1699. Born Dharam Das, the son of a Jat farmer of Hastinapur on the banks of the Ganges, he had travelled hundreds of miles to sit at the Guru's feet, and on that day he stepped forward to offer his head.

From the fields of Hastinapur

Dharam Das was born on 3 November 1666 at Hastinapur, the ancient town on the right bank of the Ganges, about 35 kilometres north-east of Meerut in present day Uttar Pradesh. His father, Bhai Sant Ram, farmed the family land, and his mother was Mai Sabho. He grew up working the fields in a devout home, in the same year, by a coincidence the tradition loves to point out, in which Guru Gobind Singh Ji himself was born at Patna.

As a young man he fell into the company of a Sikh who opened the Gurus' teaching to him, and the pull of it grew until, at the age of thirty, he left home to seek instruction. At Nanak Piao in Delhi, the shrine raised where Guru Nanak had camped, he was advised to go on to Guru Gobind Singh Ji at Anandpur Sahib. He arrived there in 1698, a farmer of thirty-two with nothing to offer but devotion, and he stayed.

Offering his head at Anandpur

On 30 March 1699 the Guru summoned the great Vaisakhi assembly at Keshgarh fort and, sword drawn, asked for a head. After Bhai Daya Singh Ji had risen first, the second call went out, and Dharam Das came forward from the crowd and followed the Guru toward the tent. Three more followed, and the five emerged together in saffron dress to be baptised as the first Khalsa. Dharam Das received the name Dharam Singh. In the order in which the five are usually named he stands second, and his presence among them made a point the Guru intended: the new order drew its first members from a farmer's field as readily as from a scholar's house.

Through the sieges: Anandpur and Chamkaur

Dharam Singh fought in the battles of Anandpur as the hill chiefs and imperial forces closed around the town, and he was in the Guru's train when Anandpur was finally evacuated in December 1705. At the little fortress of Chamkaur, where the Guru made his stand with a handful of Sikhs against a pursuing army, Dharam Singh was among the survivors of the day. On the night of 7 to 8 December 1705, with Bhai Daya Singh Ji and Bhai Man Singh Ji, he accompanied the Guru out of the fortress under cover of darkness, after the council of five within had ordered the Guru to save himself for the sake of the Panth.

The Zafarnama mission and the battle of Jajau

When the Guru resolved to send his letter, the Zafarnama, to the emperor Aurangzeb in the Deccan, the two men he trusted with it were Daya Singh and Dharam Singh. The pair travelled south toward Ahmadnagar, where the emperor was encamped. Finding that a personal delivery as instructed would not be possible, Dharam Singh turned back to seek the Guru's further guidance, while Daya Singh pressed on and delivered the letter. It is the measure of the trust between the Guru and these two Pyare that the most sensitive letter of his life travelled in their hands.

Dharam Singh's service did not end with the mission. When Aurangzeb died in February 1707 and his sons fought for the throne, Guru Gobind Singh Ji supported the claim of Prince Muazzam, the future Bahadur Shah. At the battle of Jajau on 8 June 1707, Dharam Singh led a small band of Sikhs sent by the Guru to the prince's aid, and fought in the victory that put Muazzam on the Mughal throne. A farmer from the Ganges had become, by the Guru's trust, an envoy and a commander.

Death at Nanded

Dharam Singh accompanied the Guru on the final journey into the Deccan and was at Nanded when Guru Gobind Singh Ji passed away in October 1708. He died at Nanded in 1708, aged forty-two. The cremation ground there keeps the memory of the two companions together in a single memorial, Angitha Bhai Daya Singh ate Dharam Singh, as if the tradition refused to separate the pair who had carried the Zafarnama south.

Where was Bhai Dharam Singh Ji born?

He was born at Hastinapur, the ancient town on the right bank of the River Ganges in present day Uttar Pradesh, about 35 kilometres north-east of Meerut. He was the son of Bhai Sant Ram, a Jat farmer, and Mai Sabho, and he left home at thirty to seek the Guru, reaching Anandpur Sahib in 1698.

What part did Bhai Dharam Singh Ji play in the Zafarnama mission?

Guru Gobind Singh Ji entrusted the Zafarnama, his letter to Aurangzeb, to Dharam Singh and Bhai Daya Singh Ji jointly. The two carried it south to the emperor's camp at Ahmadnagar. When a personal delivery proved impossible, Dharam Singh returned to the Guru for guidance while Daya Singh completed the delivery, so the mission is remembered as the shared charge of both Pyare.