Dulla Bhatti

[6][7][8] Abdullah Bhatti lived at Pindi Bhattian in Punjab,[9] and came from a family of hereditary local rural chiefs of the zamindar class.

Both his father, Farid, and his grandfather, variously called Bijli or Sandal,[b][5] were executed for opposing the new and centralised land revenue collection scheme imposed by the Mughal emperor Akbar.

Advised by his courtiers that Shaikhu's future bravery and success would be ensured if the child was fed by a woman whose own son was born on same day (which happens to be Dhulla Bhatti), Akbar gave that responsibility to Ladhi despite her connection to a man who had rebelled against the Mughal throne.

Although, at that time, unaware of the fate of his ancestors, he refused to accept the strictures that were intended to mould him into a good citizen and objected to being a part of an establishment that was designed to produce elites.

Akbar had hoped to make an example of him at the public execution, expecting that he would quake with fear, but Bhatti was steadfast in his resistance to the end.

[18][19] A fragments of the vars (medieval poetry put to music) concerning Dulla Bhatti have survived to the present day.

[18] Among the significant modern literature inspired by the life is Takht-e-Lahore, a 1973 play written by Najam Hussein Syed.