Bhai Dayala

Bhai Dyala ji (variously spelt as Bhai Dayala, Bhai Diala, Punjabi: ਭਾਈ ਦਿਆਲਾ ਜੀ, Hindi: भाई दयाला जी)(died 1675) was one of the earliest and great Martyrs to the Sikh faith. Along with his companions Bhai Mati Das and Bhai Sati Das as well as Ninth Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur ji, Bhai Dayala was martyred at Chandni Chowk at Delhi in November 1675 on account of his refusal to barter his faith.

Ethnicity of Bhai Dayala Ji

Dullat Jat

According to one version, Bhai Dayala belonged to Dullat family of Chaudhury Bika Dullat (Jatt). He is said to have been a real brother of Bhai Mani Singh Dullat from village Kambowal (now Longowal) in the Sangrur District of Punjab whom Giani Gian Singh Dullat has connected with Bhai Mani Singh Shaheed.^[1]

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Punwar Rajput

According to another claim which is solely based on the Bhat Vahis , the authenticity and trustworthiness of which is yet to be ascertained, examined and accepted by the Historians and Scholars,^[2] Bhai Dayala was son of Mai Das and an elder brother of Bhai Mani Ram of Punwar) Rajput lineage from village Alipore, Multan, now in Pakistan.^[3][4]

Kamboj

According to Principal Satbir Singh, Bhai Dayala was real brother of Bhai Mani Singh Shaheed and belonged to village Kakaru in District Ambala, now in Haryana. The village is commonly called "Theh".^[5] But according to Harbans Singh Thind, Bhai Dayala was born in village Kalhe in Majha-des, District Amritsar, Tehsil Tarn Taran in a family of Kamboh farmers. The village Kalha adjoins village Kang and is located few miles east of Tarn Taran. His father Lall Chand was from Mutti clan of the Kamboj. His mother’s name was Chandika.^[6] Sher Singh Sher (a non-Kamboj researcher) writes that Bhai Dayala ji belonged to the Kambo or Kamboh caste and was a real paternal uncle (Chacha ji) of Bhai Mani Singh Shaheed.^[7] Another well known research scholar S Kirpal Singh states that Bhai Dayala was Kamboj but does not give any further information about his family or his village.^[8] A more likely scenario is that Bhai Dayala belonged to those famiilies of Kambohs which had earlier moved from Kambohwal (now Longowal) and had settled at Anandpur in the service of the Gurughar during the times of ninth Guru ji.^[9]

Martyrdom

Bhai Dayala was one of the Sikhs who accompanied Guru Tegh Bahadur when the latter left Anandpur on 11 July 1675 to court martyrdom at Delhi, the other two were brothers---Bhai Mati Das, a Dewan and Bhai Sati Das, a Scribe at Guru’s court. Along with Ninth Guru ji, they were arrested under orders from Emperor Aurangzeb at Agra. On 9 November 1675 A.D, the Qazi pronounced his religious order that Bhai Dayala must either accept Islam or be prepared to embrace death by being boiled in a cauldron. Bhai Dayala heroically accepted the latter alternative and asked leave of the Guru. The Guru graced Bhai Dayala for his lifelong devotion as a true and dedicated Sikh and blessed him with glory and success. Bhai Dayala was put into a big cauldron full of water which was later heated to the boiling point. Bhai Dayala continued to his last breath to recite the Japji of Guru Nanak and the Sukhmani of Guru Arjan.

See also

• Bhai Mati Das
• Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadar
• Sikhism
• Sikh Gurus
• Guru Granth Sahib

References

1. ^ This clue about Bhai Dayala was arbitrarily drawn by someone from Longowal based on the erroneous information provided by Giani Gian Singh in the first edition of his Panth Parkash (published 1874 AD) where Giani ji erroneously stated that Bhai Mani Singh Dullat was son of Chaudhury BIKA DULLAT and had four brothers including one named Nagahya (whom he states as a noted Daku or Brigand i.e bidit dakait). But Giani Gian Singh nowhere stated that Bhai Dayala was one of the FIVE sons of Chaudhury Bika Dullat or that he (Bhai Dayala) was a brother of Bhai Mani Singh Dullat (See: Panth Parkash, First Edition, Bisram 43, Gian Singh Longowal). In later editions of his Panth Parkash, Giani Gian Singh however, writes that Bhai Mani Singh Dullat had only ONE elder brother Bhai Nagahya Dullat (whom he now states as a Bhagat or a religious person i.e subhat udaar bhagat) and that the name of their father was Chaudhury KALA DULLAT (Panth Parkash, Vibhag, 1987, p 1317, Giani Gian Singh). Thus, the claim that Bhai Dayala was real brother of Bhai Mani Singh Dullat and hailed from Kambowal (now Longowal) automatically gets negated by Giani Gian Singh’s own writings of his later editions. Hence, there is no truth in the claim that Bhai Dayala was a Dullat Jatt and elder (or younger) brother of so-called Bhai Mani Singh Dullat. It is also important to make a note as how Giani Gian Singh ji goes on changing his own statements about the basic parameters of his own ancestors. And there are numerous inconsistencies in his writings about his own ancestral family. It goes to prove that Giani Gian Singh ji is not sure of what he is saying. This adds enough elements of doubt to his professed claim.
2. ^ Dr Harbans Singh (Ed), The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, Vol IV, Punjabi University, Patiala, 1998, pp 95-96; Identity of Bhai Mani Singh Shahid, Article Published in Punjab History Conference, 22nd Session, March 25–27, 1988, Part I, Proceedings, Punjabi University Patiala, 1989, p 80-81, Prof Gurmukh Singh; Bhai Mani Singh Shaheed, 2004, pp 57 sqq., Kirpal Singh Dardi; The Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, pp 255-267
3. ^ Shaheed Bilaas, Bhai Mani Singh, 1961, 25, 26, 105, Giani Garja Singh
4. ^ Giani Garja Singh's claim on Bhai Dayala as a Punwar Rajput is allegedly based on Bhat Vahi Multani Sindh and Panda Vahis of Hardwar (See: Shaheed Bilaas, Bhai Mani Singh, 1961, Garja Singh). S. Kirpal Singh especially visited Hardwar and spent several days to personally review, examine and verify the contents of the Panda Vahis relating to Giani Garja Singh's family. S. Kirpal Singh reports that there are dubious entries as well as discrepancies in chronology, as also there are indications of tempering-with the "Panda Vahis" at Hardwar in respect of Giani Garja Singh's family (See: Bhai Mani Singh Shaheed, 2005, pp 61-64, Kirpal Singh). S. Kirpal Singh has further found that the Panda Vahis at Haridwar can very easily be got manipulated or tempered with, through these Haridwar Pandas, by any one at any time, and are therefore, by no means, a trustworthy and scientific source of reliable information. Similar arguments may also apply to the Bhat Vahi Multani Sindhi and others Vahis which Garja Singh or his supporters like Piara Singh Padam, Dr Piar Singh or Rattan Singh Jaggi etc depend on, to prove their case. According to S Kirpal Singh, like the controversial letter supposedly written by Bhai Mani Singh Shaheed to Mata Sundri ji, the poetic composition "Shaheed Bilaas" (supposedly authored by Kavi Sewa Singh Bhat in 1802 and edited by Giani Garja Singh in 1961), is also a clear-cut case of forged documentation, fabricated during the first half of 20th century by some interested party with ulterior motives to transmutate Bhai Mani Ram Rajput into Bhai Mani Singh Shaheed. The new research & information furnished by S Kirpal Singh very much negates the claims of Giani Garja Singh and his supporters on Bhai Mani Singh Shaheed and Bhai Dayala ji Shaheed.
5. ^ Saada Itihaas, Bhaag 2, p 154
6. ^ Kamboj Itihaas, 1973, p 122-123, Harbans Singh Thind
7. ^ Glimpses of Sikhism and Sikhs, 1982, p 207, Sher Singh Sher
8. ^ The Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, p 248, Kirpal Singh; Also see: These Kamboj People, 1979, p 218
9. ^ According to Karam Singh Historian, in the wake of Anandpur disaster when Bhai Mani Singh had escorted the wife (Mehil) of Tenth Guru ji to Delhi, they were also accompanied by some Kamboh families including that of Bhai Shihan Singh Kambo of Sunam (See: Shaheed Bhai Mani Singh, (a rsearch book), 2004, p 143 fn 34, p 141, fn 9, p 100, fn 23, S. Kirpal Singh). It appears highly likely that these Kamboh families originally belonged to Kambohwal and had moved to Anandpur in the service of Gurughar and permanently stayed with ninth Guru ji. Bhai Dayala Ji and Bhai Mani Singh, to all probability, also belonged to these families of the Kamboh lineage. Karam Singh Historian had recommended further research on these Kamboh families