Puran Bhagat (later became Sri Chauranginatha) is a mythical prince of

Sialkot Sialkot (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 12th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined ...

from

Punjabi folklore Punjabi folklore (more particularly its folksongs) is a core part of the Punjabi culture. Other important components of Punjabi folklore are farces, anecdotes, idioms, folktales, and sayings. Research Origin Richard Carnac Temple argued in ...

. According to the story, he was son of King Salban of Sialkot and an elder brother of prince Rasalu.

Background

Puran was born to Queen Ichhira, the first wife of king

Raja Sálbán Raja Sálbán (also known as Salivahan) was a legendary Indian monarch who is said to have lived in the first century CE, and is said to have founded the city of Sialkot and the Sialkot Fort in Punjab. He is said to have also conquered territ ...

. Upon the suggestion of the astrologers, Puran was sent away from the King for the first 12 years of his life. It was said that King could not see the face of his son. While Puran was away, the King married a young girl named Luna, who came from a low caste family. After 12 years of isolation, Puran returned to the royal palace. There, Luna became romantically attracted toward Puran, who was of the same age. Being the step-son of Luna, Puran disapproved of her advances. A hurt Luna accused Puran of violating her honor. Puran was ordered to be amputated and killed. The soldiers cutoff his hands and legs and threw him in a well in the forest. One day

Guru Gorakhnath Gorakhnath (also known as Gorakshanath (Sanskrit: ''Gorakṣanātha'') (Devanagari : गोरक्षनाथ / गोरखनाथ), c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, mahasiddha and saint who was the founder of the Nath Hindu monas ...

were passing by with his followers and heard voice from the well. He took him out using a single thread and unbaked earthen pot. He was later adopted by Baba Gorkhnath. Puran himself became a

yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297–299, 331 ...

Worship

Puran also known as Baba Sahaj Nath Ji, is the supreme head of the Jandiyals, a Hindu

caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

. The Jandiyals gather twice a year on

Guru Purnima Guru Purnima () is a religious festival dedicated to offering respect to all the spiritual and academic gurus. It is celebrated as a festival in India, Nepal and Bhutan by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists. This festival is traditionally observed t ...

and worship Puran Bhagat. The temple of Bawa Sahaj Nath Ji is located in Pakistan, but after partition, the Jandiyals constructed a temple in Jandi near Heeranagar,

Jammu Jammu () is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

, and in Talab tillo (Jammu), another temple is in Taragarh near

Dinanagar Dinanagar is a town and a municipal council in Gurdaspur district in the Majha region of the state of Punjab, India. It takes its name after Adina Beg, who served as the subahdar of Punjab for the Mughals and Marathas. He built up his residence ...

where

Sharma Sharma‌ is a Hindu Brahmin surname. ‌The Sanskrit stem‌ ( nom. ) ‌can ‌mean '‌joyfulness', 'comfort‌', 'happiness'. Sarma and Sarmah are alternative English spellings of the name, commonly used by Assamese Brahmins. Origin Acco ...

's including Khajuria's gather twice year and a fourth one is in Dorangla. Jandiyal families who came from Pakistan bought that temple's sand and used it to construct a small temple in Taragarh. People from all over India come here on Guru Purnima for Darshan. In addition to the Targarh temple, Jandiyals (

Mahajan Mahajan is an Indian surname and caste that belongs to the Hindu Deshastha Brahmin of the deccan or Vaishya Baniya , Aggarwal community of Punjab. It signifies the profession of a merchants, bankers, and moneylenders. The word ''mahajan'' general ...

) have built temples at

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

, and

Udhampur Udhampur (ˌʊd̪ʱəmpur) is a city and a municipal council in Udhampur district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters of Udhampur District. Named after Raja Udham Singh, it serves as the district capit ...

( J&K). Udhampur city is also known as Devika Nagri. The temple is located at Bypass Road, Fangyal. Jandiyal biradari celebrates and worships Baba Sehaj Nath ji twice a year on Budh Purnima and

Kartik Purnima Kartika Purnima (), also known as Kartika Pournami, is a Hindu, Sikh, and Jain cultural festival that is celebrated on ''purnima'' (full moon day), the 15th day of the lunar month Kartika. It falls on November or December of the Gregorian ...

In popular culture

A number of

Indian films The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on pr ...

have been made on the legend of Puran Bhagat. These include: ''Puran Bhagat'' (1928) by Pesi Karani, ''

Puran Bhagat Puran Bhagat (later became Sri Chauranginatha) is a mythical prince of Sialkot from Punjabi folklore. According to the story, he was son of King Salban of Sialkot and an elder brother of prince Rasalu. Background Puran was born to Queen Ich ...

'' (1933) by

Debaki Bose Debaki Bose (1898–1971), also known as Debaki Kumar Bose, was an Indian director, writer, and actor who is recognized for his contribution in Hindi as well as Bengali cinema. He was born on 25 November 1898 in Akalposh, (now East Burdwan), Bu ...

, ''Bhakta Puran'' (1949) by

Chaturbhuj Doshi Chaturbhuj Doshi (1894–1969) was a Hindi and Gujarati language, Gujarati writer-director of Indian cinema. He was one of the top Gujarati screenplay writers, who helped script stories for the Punatar productions. He is stated to be one of the ...

, ''Bhakta Puran'' (1952) by Dhirubhai Desai. ''

Loona Loona (stylized in all caps or as LOOΠΔ; ; , ) is a South Korean girl group created by Blockberry Creative. The group is composed of eleven members: Heejin, Hyunjin, Haseul, Vivi, Yeojin, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, Choerry, Yves (singer), Yves, Go Won ...

'' (1965),List of Punjabi language awardees

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

Official listings. is an epic verse play based on the legend of Puran Bhagat by

Shiv Kumar Batalvi Shiv Kumar Batalvi (23 July 1936 – 6 May 1973) was a Punjabi poet, writer and playwright of the Punjabi language. He was most known for his romantic poetry, noted for its heightened passion, pathos, separation and lover's agony, due to that ...

, now considered a masterpiece in modern

Punjabi literature Punjabi literature, specifically literary works written in the Punjabi language, is characteristic of the historical Punjab of present-day Pakistan and India and the Punjabi diaspora. The Punjabi language is written in several scripts, of which th ...

, and which also created a new genre, of modern Punjabi kissa. Though Loona is portrayed as a villain in the legend, Batalvi created the epic around her agony which caused her to become a villain. Batalvi became the youngest recipient of the

in 1967 for ''Loona.'' Punjabi writer

Puran Singh Professor Puran Singh (; 17 February 1881 – 31 March 1931) was a Punjabi poet, scientist and mystic. Born in Abbottabad, now in Pakistan, in a Sikh family, he is one of the founders of modern Punjabi poetry. He passed his matriculation examin ...

wrote a poem about Puran Bhagat.

References

{{Punjabi folk religion Punjabi folklore Indian folklore Legendary Indian people Indian legends

Background

Worship

In popular culture

See also

References