A portrait of Rai Bular Bhatti will be installed at the Central Sikh Museum in the Golden Temple complex. Image Courtesy: Facebook/Rai Bular Bhatti (Representational Image)
The Central Sikh Museum at the Golden Temple complex in Punjab’s Amritsar will soon get a portrait of Guru Nanak Dev’s second disciple.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) will install the portrait of Rai Bular Bhatti, a 15th Century Muslim landlord of undivided Punjab, on 15 October, reports The Tribune.
The unveiling of the portrait was earlier supposed to take place on 11 October on the occasion of Parkash Purb of Guru Ramdas. However, it had to be shifted as the descendants of Rai Bular Bhatti could not secure a visa from the Indian authorities, as per The Tribune.
Who was Rai Bular Bhatti, the Muslim disciple of Guru Nanak Dev? What have his descendants said about the installation of his portrait at the Central Sikh Museum? Let’s take a closer look.
Who was Rai Bular Bhatti?
Rai Bular Bhatti, the grandson of a wealthy landlord Rai Bhoi, was a Rajput Muslim of the Bhatti clan, as per SikhiWiki.
He became the second devotee of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, the first being the latter’s sister, Bebe Nanki.
There are many stories relating to how Bhatti, who was the landlord of Rai-Bhoi-Di-Talwandi, saw the spiritual divinity of Guru Nanak. One legend states that he once came across Mehta Kalu, Guru Nanak’s father, who was searching for his son.
Bhatti saw a cobra with its hood spread wide blocking the sun and moved to see why the serpent was motionless. He saw that the cobra’s hood was protecting Guru Nanak, who was resting on the ground, from the sun’s rays, as per Daily Sikh Updates.
Rai Bular Bhatti was the second disciple of Guru Nanak Dev. Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
As per another tale, Bhatti realised the Guru is a divine being when once a young Nanak was brought before him after his cattle ruined a farmer’s crops.
He sent his footmen to assess the damage to the farmer which he said would be paid for by Nanak’s father. However, when his men reached the fields, they saw the crops were unharmed, as per SikhiWiki.
Both Bhatti and the farmer were left surprised by this incident.
Notably, it was Bhatti who renamed Talwandi to Nankana Sahib as a form of tribute to Guru Nanak, as per Indian Express.
Nankana Sahib, located in Pakistan’s Punjab province, houses many prominent shrines including Gurdwara Janam Asthan, also known as Nankana Sahib Gurdwara.
The gurdwara is located at the site where it is believed Guru Nanak was born in 1469.
Legend has it that Bhatti donated a vast stretch of his lands to Guru Nanak as a token of respect.
As per SBS Punjabi, Bhatti, who owned 36,000 acres of land, gifted around 757 murabbas of land (18,925 acres approximately) to the Guru.
Rai Haroon Bhatti, the 16th generation descendant of Rai Bular Bhatti, told SBS Punjabi in 2018, “Rai Bular sahib and Baba Guru Nanak had such a mutually respectfully relationship that whenever they met, both would stand up to greet each other despite the fact that Babaji was the son of his munshi (accountant), Mehta Kalu.”
Guru Nanak is revered as ‘Babaji’ across Nankana Sahib.
The many generations of the Bhatti family, who are devout Muslims, have continued to conserve their ancestral links with Sikhism, as per The Tribune.
Rai Bular Bhatti’s portrait
Despite not getting a visa, Rai Bular Bhatti’s descendants are excited about the portrait of their ancestor being installed at the museum in the Golden Temple premises.
The portrait of 15th Century Muslim landlord Rai Bular Bhatti will be installed in the Golden temple museum on 15 October. PTI File Photo
Rai Saleem Bhatti (44), belonging to the 19th generation of Bular Bhatti, told The Tribune that they had received an invitation from the SGPC in April only but could not attend the event as their visa was not cleared by the Indian authorities.
“We were all keen to attend this programme, but in vain. Yet, we are overwhelmed that the SGPC is going ahead with its plan to enshrine the portrait of Rai Bular saheb in the Golden Temple museum,” said Rai Saleem, who is a lawyer at Pakistan’s Lahore High Court.
He added that his family is ecstatic that devotees visiting the Golden Temple will now get to know of his ancestor’s “close association with Guru Nanak Dev and his contribution to promoting Guru’s teachings and Sikhism”, reports The Tribune.
In April 2022, former Punjab Assembly deputy speaker, Bir Devinder Singh, had requested the SGPC to install the portrait of Rai Bular Bhatti at the Central Sikh Museum.
He claimed that he had raised the issue with former SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur several times but to no avail, reports Times of India.
With inputs from agencies
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