Bhai Nand Lal
Once considered to be one of the wisest scholars of the Mughal empire of India during the 17th century, he later became known as ‘the crown jewel’ of Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s court.
His in-depth and wide array of knowledge pertaining Hindu, Sanskrit, and Persian teachings, religious texts, and poetries and his devotion towards the teachings of the 10th Sikh Guru earned him the rank of ‘Court Poet Par Excellence’ among the 52 scholarly poets of Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s court.
The divine bliss he found at the feet of Guru Gobind Singh Ji is poetically documented by him in his works — many of which were written in Persian.
Dara Shikoh returned to India while Chajju Mal stayed in Ghazni, Afghanistan, where Bhai Nand Lal was born.
Despite being of Hindu origin, Bhai Nand Lal was a remarkable scholar even on the topic of Islam, which he had spent many years studying upon being requested to personally teach the emperor’s son Muazzam.
The emperor's son Muazzam personally asked his teacher, Bhai Nand Lal, to pen a response with an interpretation.
The 10th Sikh Guru, wanting to humble the wisest man in the entire Mughal empire, suggested Bhai Nand Lal to wash the dishes, stating, “that is the only present need to be fulfilled at the time.” It was initially quite a shock for the wisest man in the entire Mughal empire to have to wash dishes in a rural shrine.
Bhai Nand Lal had stated that in those years spent as a selfless servant of the 10th Sikh Guru he gained more knowledge than he had ever obtained over the course of his entire life.
In December of 1695, Bhai Nand Lal Ji wrote Rehatnama as narrated by Guru Gobind Singh on the banks of the River Sutlej.
Upon hearing of his troubles, Prince Muazzam, asked Lal if he could put together an interpretation and response to the King’s Letter for the emperor.
Upon hearing of this, Prince Muazzam summoned an imperial horse and asked a close friend, Ghyaz Uddin, to help escort his teacher, Nand Lal, to safety.
In 1687, Bhai Nand Lal was forced to flee to Anandpur Sahib, the only place in the entire Mughal Empire that was out of the emperor's reach.
But soon he joined Bhai Mani Singh and the women of the Guru Ji's household: the Guru Ji's wife Mata Sundari along with the mother of the Khalsa, Mata Sahib Kaur, whom Bhai Mani Singh had taken to the safety of Delhi which was beyond Panipat — the limit of Wazir Khan's reach.
Guru Gobind Singh Ji got Anandpur back from the Mughal Empire and remained close to the imperial camp for nearly a year.
The translation of Diwan-e-Goya, titled The Pilgrim’s Way[6] by B.P.L Bedi into English has a foreword from Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and was published by Punjabi University Patiala.
