Bhai Dayala

Bhai Dayala, called Dial Das in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, was one of the Sikhs who went with Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji to Delhi in 1675 and gave their lives there. With Bhai Mati Das and Bhai Sati Das he is remembered among the companion Shaheeds of the Guru's martyrdom.

The Encyclopaedia says he was the son of Mai Das and, according to the Shahid Bilas of Bhai Mani Singh, the elder brother of Bhai Mani Ram. Mani Ram was the name by which Bhai Mani Singh was known before the Khalsa. It describes him as a prominent Sikh who travelled with the Guru through the eastern lands from 1665 to 1670, was detained by the Mughal authorities in 1665 and later released, and stayed at Patna to look after the Guru's family when the Guru went further east. Wikipedia adds that he was head of the sangat at Patna and that he sent the Guru word of the birth of Gobind Rai, but these details rest on later tradition, and his village and family background are not established in the sources opened here.

Key moments

• 11 July 1675: he left Anandpur with the Guru, who was setting out to give his life in defence of the right to follow one's religion.
• He was arrested with the Guru and taken to Delhi. The Encyclopaedia says that when he refused to renounce his faith he was boiled to death in a heated cauldron of water on 11 November 1675.
• The Tribune, reporting the 350th anniversary observance at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, says all three companions were tortured to death the day before the Guru was beheaded, to break his resolve: Bhai Mati Das sawn in two, Bhai Dayala boiled alive, and Bhai Sati Das wrapped in cotton and set on fire. The two sources therefore differ by a day.
• Wikipedia's account, drawn from Sikh histories, says he was bound with an iron chain in a cauldron with only his head and shoulders visible, recited Japji Sahib as the water heated, and had called Aurangzeb a tyrant after Bhai Mati Das was killed. Treat these as tradition, since the Encyclopaedia records no words of his beyond his refusal.

What he is remembered for: steadfastness, with his companions, at the foot of the Guru's own martyrdom. The Tribune says Matidas Chowk, just outside Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Chandni Chowk, marks the place where the executions took place.