Pir Buddhu Shah

Pir Buddhu Shah, whose real name was Badr ud-Din, was a Muslim divine of Sadhaura, in present-day Haryana, and an admirer of Guru Gobind Singh. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says he was born on 13 June 1647 into a prosperous Sayyid family and got the nickname Buddhu, meaning simpleton, because of his simple and silent nature as a child. It stuck for life.

With the Guru. The Encyclopaedia records that he called on Guru Gobind Singh at Paonta on the Yamuna in 1685. At his recommendation the Guru took 500 Pathan soldiers into service under four commanders. In 1688 the hill chiefs, led by the Raja of Srinagar in Garhwal, attacked the Guru. All the Pathans except Kale Khan deserted and joined the hill side. The Guru sent word to the Pir, who rushed to the battlefield at Bhangani with 700 followers, including his brother and four sons. Many of his disciples fell, among them two of his sons, Ashraf and Muhammad Shah, and his brother Bhure Shah. The battle, fought on 18 September 1688, ended in the Sikhs' favour.

The Guru offered the Pir rich presents, which he politely refused. According to tradition he asked instead for the comb from the Guru's hair and the turban the Guru was about to tie, and the Guru gave him those and a small kirpan. His family kept them as heirlooms until Maharaja Bharpur Singh of Nabha acquired them in exchange for a land grant, and the Encyclopaedia says they are preserved at Nabha.

Execution. The defeated hill chiefs sent the emperor reports calling the Guru a dangerous rebel, and complaints also reached the authorities against the Pir. The faujdar of Sirhind told a local official, Usman Khan, to chastise him. Usman Khan marched on Sadhaura, arrested the Pir and had him executed on 21 March 1704. A Baru Sahib account says he was buried alive. Banda Singh Bahadur stormed Sadhaura to avenge him, in 1709 by the Encyclopaedia's entry on the Pir and in 1710 by its entry on Sadhaura. The fortress was demolished and the faujdar hanged.

Key moments

• 13 June 1647: born at Sadhaura.
• 1685: meets Guru Gobind Singh at Paonta.
• 18 September 1688: fights beside the Guru at Bhangani; two sons and a brother fall.
• 21 March 1704: executed at Sadhaura on Usman Khan's orders.
• 1709 or 1710: Banda Singh Bahadur storms Sadhaura.

What he is remembered for. Pir Buddhu Shah is remembered as the Muslim who sent his sons into battle for the Guru and paid with his own life. His descendants migrated to Pakistan in 1947, and his ancestral house at Sadhaura has been turned into a gurdwara named after him.