Bhai Dharam Singh Ji: the second of the Panj Pyare

This day celebrates the birth of Bhai Dharam Singh Ji, the second of the Panj Pyare, who rose at Anandpur Sahib on Vaisakhi in 1699 when Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji asked a second time for a head.

Dharam Das of Hastinapur

He was born Dharam Das in 1666 at Hastinapur, near Meerut, in today's Uttar Pradesh, into a Jat farming family. He came to Anandpur Sahib as a young man and stayed to serve the Guru. His journey from the plains of the Ganga shows how far the Guru's message had already travelled.

The second head

After Bhai Daya Singh Ji had been taken into the tent, the Guru came out again with his sword and asked for another Sikh ready to give his head. Dharam Das stood up. With Bhai Daya Singh Ji, Bhai Himmat Singh Ji, Bhai Mohkam Singh Ji and Bhai Sahib Singh Ji, he received Khande di Pahul and became one of the first five members of the Khalsa, taking the name Dharam Singh, his name meaning righteousness. Read more about Vaisakhi and the creation of the Khalsa.

To the end

Bhai Dharam Singh Ji fought in the defence of Anandpur Sahib and was with the Guru through the hardest days that followed. He was one of the three Singhs who left the garhi at Chamkaur with the Guru in December 1704, and he travelled with him through the Malwa and on to the Deccan. Tradition holds that he passed away at Nanded, where he is remembered alongside Bhai Daya Singh Ji.

How the day is observed

Sangats remember him with kirtan and Ardas, especially at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib and at Hastinapur, where a gurdwara stands in his memory.