Bhai Jaita (Baba Jiwan Singh)
A Ranghreta Sikh who carried Guru Tegh Bahadur's severed head from Delhi to Anandpur. The young Guru Gobind Singh embraced him as 'the Guru's own son'.
Jaita was born in 1649 in Patna, of a family of Ranghreta Sikhs, a community of sweepers that had become Sikh. He grew up in the Guru's household.
When Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded in Chandni Chowk on 11 November 1675, the Mughals left the body in the street as a warning. In the dust storm that followed, Jaita took the Guru's head and carried it, walking through the night, all the way to Kiratpur and Anandpur. The young Guru Gobind Rai embraced him and said 'Rangrete Guru ke bete', the Ranghretas are the Guru's own sons.
Taking amrit in 1699 as Jiwan Singh, he became a commander and a poet in the Guru's army. He died fighting at Chamkaur in December 1704, covering the Guru's escape. Every year Sikhs remember him with pride, and the Ranghreta and Mazhabi Sikhs above all.
Battles
Connected
Ninth Guru, 'Hind di Chadar', the shield of India. Founded Anandpur and was beheaded in Delhi in 1675 for defending the right of Kashmiri Pandits to keep their faith.
Tenth Guru, warrior and poet. Created the Khalsa in 1699, fought a long war with the Mughals and hill rajas, lost his four sons and mother, and named the Guru Granth Sahib as the final Guru.