Bhai Jetha

Bhai Jetha was a devoted Sikh who served Guru Arjan Dev Ji and then Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism's index sends readers who look up Bhai Jetha in general to Guru Ram Das Ji, who was known by that name before he became Guru. This Bhai Jetha is a different Sikh, who died in 1634.

Key moments

• He took part in the sewa of excavating the sacred pool at Amritsar and in building the Harimandar.
• 1606: he was one of five Sikhs who went with Guru Arjan Dev Ji on his last journey to Lahore, where the Guru was martyred. The other four were Bhai Bidhi Chand, Bhai Langah, Bhai Paira and Bhai Pirana. They saw the events that led to the martyrdom, cremated the Guru's body, and returned to Amritsar to tell Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji and the Sikhs what had happened.
• Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji had Bhai Jetha and the other four trained in fighting skills and appointed each of them to lead a troop of one hundred horsemen.
• He went with the Guru to Delhi and attended on him during his detention in the fort of Gwalior.
• He fought in the battles against the imperial troops and fell at Mehraj on 16 December 1634. In Bhai Santokh Singh's Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth he is shown fighting his last battle as an old man with a grey beard.

The date of Mehraj. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism gives 16 December 1634 for his death. Wikipedia's article on the battle (also called Lahira or Gurusar) names Bhai Jetha among the Sikhs killed. It gives 16 December 1634 in its account of the fighting, but its summary box lists 15 October 1634 and 1631 as dates found in other sources, so the year of the battle itself is not settled.

What he is remembered for: he stands at the turning point of the early seventeenth century. He was beside Guru Arjan Dev Ji at Lahore in 1606, and he then held command under the Guru's son, when the Sikhs took up arms. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism records little else about him.