Pir Buddhu Shah (1647 - 1705)

- 01
Pir Buddhu Shah was born in 1647 and was a Muslim. From a young age Pir Ji was always religious and had full faith in Vaheguru.
He was not into worldly affairs and spoke very little, this is why he was named “Buddhu”.
At 18, Pir Buddhu Shah was married to Bibi Naseera Ji and had four sons.
- 02
Pir Ji had heard of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji’s Shaheedi and was sad that Guru Ji had left their physical body. Pir Ji decided to go see Guru Gobind Singh Ji at Poanta Sahib.
Guru Gobind Singh Ji was full of joy to see Pir Ji. Pir Ji saw that Guru Ji had a high level of spirituality and so asked him “How do you meet Allah?”. Guru Ji replied “Just like the darkness meets the light”.
Pir Ji was confused and said “When darkness meets light, then there is only light”. Guru Ji said “Yes exactly, you must become the one light and see everything as the one light (Vaheguru), only then will you meet Allah”.
Pir Ji was fascinated by Guru Ji and decided to serve Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Pir Buddhu Shah would regularly visit Guru Ji and began to realise that the only truth in this world is Vaheguru and Guru Ji, everything else is false.
- 03
Pir Buddhu Shah was staying at Sadhaura when he was visited by 500 soldiers of Aurangzeb’s army who had been fired from his army because they were Shia Muslims. Aurengzeb had ordered that no one should employ them in any army.
They told Pir Buddhu Shah that they have sold all their belongings for the sake of food and that they will have to sell their weapons too to survive. They wanted to enter into the army of someone who was not scared of Aurangzeb.
Pir Buddhu Shah took the Pathaans to Guru Gobind Singh Ji and asked Guru sahib to let them in his army.
Guru ji had a lot of love for Pir Buddhu Shah so accepted his request. Guru Ji employed all 500 Pathaan soldiers under the command of four leaders. The Pathaans were given the training of the Khalsa.
- 04
In 1686, the Hill Rajas were getting really scared and angry that Guru Ji’s army was growing so quickly. They didn’t like the fact that Guru Ji had so many followers so they decided to attack Guru Ji.
The Hill Rajas found out about the 500 well-trained Pathaans that had been employed by Guru Sahib.
The Hill Rajas knew these soldiers were well trained and so decided to pay them a higher wage. Out of the 500 men, 400 of them had too much greed for money and so joined the Hill Rajas and betrayed Guru Ji.
Guru Ji wrote a letter to Pir Buddhu Shah telling him that the Pathaans he had brought had joined the enemy.
After reading this letter, Pir Buddhu Shah was really disappointed. Pir Ji sent a message to his 2 brothers, 4 sons and all of his followers to gather at Sadhaura.
As many as 700 of Pir Buddhu Shah’s men gathered and they grabbed any weapon they could from their homes. These men were not as well trained as the Pathaans as they were ordinary men and not soldiers.
Pir Buddhu Shah marched to Poanta Sahib along with his 2 brothers, 4 sons and 700 followers to join Guru Ji in the Battle of Bhangani.
When Pir Buddhu Shah reached Poanta, the battle had started. Pir Ji and his men charged towards the Hill Rajas’ armies. Guru Ji was pleased to see Pir Buddhu Shah and his men join the battle.
Guru Ji had also asked the Udhasis to help in the battle. Most of the Udhasis also ran away like cowards. However, the leader of the Udhasis, Mahant Kirpal Das, stayed to fight. Mahant Kirpal Das had absolutely no training but still wanted to fight in the battle.
During the battle, Mahant Kirpal Das came face-to-face with the leader of the Pathaans, Hayaat Khan. Hayaat Khan was a well-trained warrior and thought that he would easily kill Mahant Kirpal Das.
Then, suddenly, Mahant Kirpal Das ran towards Hayaat Khan and smashed his mace in Hayaat Khan’s head. Hayaat Khan’s head burst like a water melon. Blood gushed out of his head and Hayaat Khan fell to the ground. The 400 Pathaans were shocked.
Guru Ji’s army fought bravely and defeated the Hill Rajas.
During the battle, Pir Buddhu Shah’s 2 brothers and 2 sons obtained Shaheedi.
Note: The battle was fought between 4000 Sikhs and 30,000 Hill Raja soldiers. The Hill Raja army was over 7 times the size of Guru Ji’s army.
Note: Guru Gobind Singh Ji killed a Hill Raja called Hari Chand during the battle.
Question: How did Guru Gobind Singh Ji kill Hari Chand?
- 05
Guru Ji was touched that Pir Buddhu Shah gave up so much just to help the Guru.
After the battle, Guru Gobind Singh Ji said to Pir Ji “ask for anything you want and I will give it you”.
Pir Ji saw that Guru Ji was combing his Kes (uncut hair) and so asked Guru Ji if he could have the comb.
Guru Ji agreed and gave Pir Ji his comb, which still had kes in.
- 06
Almost 20 years after the battle, In 1705, Wazir Khan wanted all the Sikhs dead. He couldn’t capture Guru Gobind Singh Ji after many attempts.
Wazir Khan found out about Pir Buddhu Shah who had helped Guru Ji in the Battle of Bhangani so ordered Usman Khan to arrest and kill Pir Ji and his family.
Usman Khan arrested Pir Buddhu Shah in Sadhaura. He then tortured Pir Ji and executed him and his family in 1705.
In 1709, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur attacked Sadhaura and killed Usman Khan for killing Pir Buddhu Shah.
- 07
Guru Ji loves everyone from every religion and judges people by their actions.
Never leave Guru Ji’s side. Those that betray Guru Ji will always lose.
Guru Ji prefers a loyal soldier over a strong soldier.
As Sikhs, we should be prepared to sacrifice ourselves and our family for Guru Ji.
Guru Ji’s army never loses, even if the odds are against it.
Guru Ji gives his followers gifts.
People will always be punished for their sins unless they wipe them away by doing Paat.
