Sikh Gurus with Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana

Bhai Bala (; 1466–1544) was a companion of

Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also known as ('Father Nanak'), was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is t ...

. Born in Talwandi into a Sandhu Jat family, Bala was also a close associate of Bhai Mardana.

Biography

According to the , he traveled with Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana on all of their great journeys around the world including

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

, and around

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He supposedly died in Khadur Sahib, in his late 70s, in 1544.McLeod, W.H., Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. Oxford, 1968.Max Arthur Macauliffe, 1909

Historicity

There has been considerable discussion as regards to Bhai Bala's existence, particularly within the Sikh academic field. Bhai Gurdas, who has listed all Guru Nanak's prominent disciples (in his 11th Var), does not mention the name of Bhai Bala (this may be an oversight, for he does not mention Rai Bular either). However Bhai Mani Singh's Bhagat Ratanwali, which contains essentially the same list as that by Bhai Gurdas, but with more detail, also does not mention Bhai Bala. There are a number of other anomalies, which Dr. Kirpal Singh has explicated in his Punjabi work tradition.Singh, Dr Kirpal, Janamsakhi Tradition (An Analytical Study). Singh Brothers, 2004.(page 10) Trilochan Singh counters some of the points raised by stating that Mehma Parkash and Mani Singh both mention Bhai Bala. Bala is further mentioned in Suchak Prasang Guru Ka by Bhai Behlo written during Guru Arjan Dev’s time. Bhai Behlo says, “Bala discarded his body there, At the holy city of Khadaur, Angad, the master, performed the rites, Graciously with his own two hands.” He also raises the point that Bhai Bala’s family is still living in

Nankana Sahib Nankana Sahib (; ) is a city and capital of Nankana Sahib District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is named after the first Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak, who was born in the city and first began preaching here. Nankana Sahib is among ...

and that Bala’s

samadhi Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...

exists in Khadaur. According to H.S. Singha, some scholars argue that Bhai Bala was a genuine person, however his ' hagiographies had been corrupted by heretical

sects A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...

such as the Minas, Handaliyas, and others. The earliest extant ''Bala'' version rendition of the itself claims to date to 1525 but this has been rejected by New Zealand historian W.H. McLeod.

References

External links

Sikh history
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bala, Bhai 1466 births 1544 deaths 16th-century Indian people Guru Nanak Dev Asian people whose existence is disputed Sikh saints Converts to Sikhism from Hinduism