Bhai Sahib Singh Ji: the barber of Bidar, the fifth of the Panj Pyare

This day celebrates the birth of Bhai Sahib Singh Ji, the fifth of the Panj Pyare, who completed the first five of the Khalsa when he rose at Anandpur Sahib on Vaisakhi in 1699.

Sahib Chand of Bidar

He was born Sahib Chand in 1662 at Bidar, in today's Karnataka, into a family of barbers. Bidar already had a Sikh connection: Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji is remembered as having visited it on his journey south, at the place now called Gurdwara Nanak Jhira Sahib, where a spring flows. Sahib Chand came north to Anandpur Sahib as a young man and served the Guru there.

The fifth head

When the Guru came out a fifth time and called for one more head, Sahib Chand stood up. With the other four he received Khande di Pahul, the Amrit prepared in an iron bowl stirred with a double-edged sword as the Guru recited the banis, and took the name Sahib Singh. A barber, of all people, now kept his own hair uncut as one of the Khalsa. Read more about Vaisakhi and the creation of the Khalsa.

Chamkaur

Bhai Sahib Singh Ji fought in the defence of Anandpur Sahib, and in December 1704 he rode with the Guru to Chamkaur. There, as the small band of Singhs went out of the garhi in groups to face the besieging army, he fell, with Bhai Himmat Singh Ji and Bhai Mohkam Singh Ji.

How the day is observed

Sangats remember him with kirtan and Ardas, especially at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib and Chamkaur Sahib, and at Gurdwara Nanak Jhira Sahib in Bidar, where his birthplace is honoured.