Sri Chand

Sri Chand (8 September 1494 – 13 January 1629, Gurmukhi: ਸ੍ਰੀ ਚੰਦ), also referred to as Baba Sri Chandra or Bhagwan Sri Chandra, was the founder of the Udasi sect of ascetic Sadhus.[8]

Baba

Sri Chand

Ji
ਸ੍ਰੀ ਚੰਦ
Sri Chand, son of Guru Nanak, seated reading scriptures to devotees in a forest hermitage. Pahari School, ca.1850-70.
Head of Udasi sect
Preceded byPosition established (founder)
Succeeded byBaba Gurditta
Personal
Born
Sri Chand Bedi

8 September 1494[1][2][3][4]
Sultanpur Lodhi
Died13 January 1629 (134 years old)[5][6][7]
ReligionSikhism
Parents
SectUdasi
RelativesLakhmi Das (brother)

Early life

He was the eldest son of Guru Nanak, the first Guru and founder of Sikhism. He was born to Mata Sulakhani on Bhadra sudi 9, 1551 Bikrami (i.e. 8 September 1494). Sikh sources give his life the impressive dates of 8 September 1494 – 13 January 1629, which would have made him 134 years old upon his death.[9]

Relationship with Sikh Gurus

It is believed that Sri Chand rejected Angad as the successor to his father.[10] When the Sikh guruship passed from Nanak to Angad, the sons of Nanak, Sri Chand and Lakhmi Das, made a legal claim to their father's properties in Kartarpur, forcing Guru Angad to reestablish the early Sikh community's centre at his native village of Khadur instead.[11]

Guru Amardas declared active and domestic Sikhs to be separate from passive and recluse Udasins.

However the Sikh Gurus, Guru Amardas, Guru Ramdas, Guru Arjan and Guru Hargobind who were contemporaries of Sri Chand held him in high esteem due to his descent, old age and piety.[12]

Guru Hargobind's eldest son, Baba Gurditta, was given to the Udasins at the behest of Baba Sri Chand and Baba Gurditta eventually replaced Baba Sri Chand as head of the Udasins after his death. Baba Gurditta was the father of Guru Hari Rai, the grandfather of Guru Hari Krishan, and the elder half-brother of Guru Tegh Bahadur.[13]

Ram Rai, son of Guru Har Rai joined the Udasin sect after a failed attempt of being an official eighth Guru of the Sikhs.[14]

Influence

Composing Aarta

Sri Chand wrote Aarta, his most important writing, in praise of his father, Guru Nanak, and presented it to him after one of the Udasins. This writing had a major influence on people of that time who did not know about Guru Nanak yet.

Akharas

Sri Chand established many akharas, some of them being Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad and Shree Panchayati Akhada Bada Udasin.[15]

Possible contribution to the Adi Granth
See also: Writers of the Guru Granth Sahib

According to a sakhi, when Guru Arjan had finished composing sixteen astpadis (cantos) of the Gauri Sukhmani composition, popularly known as Sukhmani Sahib, Sri Chand visited him. During this visit, it is said that Guru Arjan requested him to continue the composition he was compiling and complete the seventeenth canto of the Sukhmani Sahib. Sri Chand humbly recited the verse of his father following the Mul Mantar in the Japji Sahib. Thus, it became the seventeenth canto of the Sukhmani Sahib.[16][17]

  • Memorials to Udasin mahants of Sadh Belo with an invocation to Sri Chand, the founder of Udasins.
    Memorials to Udasin mahants of Sadh Belo with an invocation to Sri Chand, the founder of Udasins.
  • Sri Chand (right) seated with his brother Lakhmi Das (left). Fresco from Gurdwara Baba Atal in Amritsar
    Sri Chand (right) seated with his brother Lakhmi Das (left). Fresco from Gurdwara Baba Atal in Amritsar
  • Fresco of Guru Nanak, Sri Chand, Bhai Mardana, Bhai Bala, and possibly Lakhmi Das from a Punjabi haveli, circa 1850's
    Fresco of Guru Nanak, Sri Chand, Bhai Mardana, Bhai Bala, and possibly Lakhmi Das from a Punjabi haveli, circa 1850's
  • Fresco of Sri Chand seated to the left of Guru Nanak, from Pothimala, Guru Harsahai, circa 18th century
    Fresco of Sri Chand seated to the left of Guru Nanak, from Pothimala, Guru Harsahai, circa 18th century

References
  1. The encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Harbans Singh. Patiala: Punjabi University. 1992–1998. p. 234. ISBN 0-8364-2883-8. OCLC 29703420.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. Gandhi, Surjit Singh (2007). History of Sikh gurus retold. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. p. 980. ISBN 81-269-0859-9. OCLC 190873070.
  3. Siṅgha, Kirapāla (2004). Janamsakhi tradition : an analytical study. Prithīpāla Siṅgha Kapūra (1st ed.). Amritsar: Singh Brothers. p. 53. ISBN 81-7205-311-8. OCLC 58631716.
  4. Singh Madra, Amandeep (2016). Sicques, Tigers or Thieves : Eyewitness Accounts of the Sikhs (1606-1810). P. Singh. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 333. ISBN 978-1-137-11998-8. OCLC 1083462581.
  5. Gandhi, Surjit Singh (2007). History of Sikh gurus retold. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. p. 980. ISBN 81-269-0859-9. OCLC 190873070.
  6. Singh Madra, Amandeep (2016). Sicques, Tigers or Thieves : Eyewitness Accounts of the Sikhs (1606-1810). P. Singh. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 333. ISBN 978-1-137-11998-8. OCLC 1083462581.
  7. The encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Harbans Singh. Patiala: Punjabi University. 1992–1998. p. 234. ISBN 0-8364-2883-8. OCLC 29703420.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. The encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Vol. 4. Harbans Singh. Patiala: Punjabi University. 1992–1998. pp. 377–379. ISBN 0-8364-2883-8. OCLC 29703420. UDASI, an ascetical sect of the Sikhs founded by Sri Chand (1494-1629), the elder son of Guru Nanak.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. "Baba Sri Chand - Gateway To Sikhism". 2 September 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  10. Khalid, Haroon. "Intrigue, manipulation, deception: How Guru Arjan's brother put up a serious challenge against him". Scroll.in. Retrieved 22 November 2022. Whereas contesting claims to Guruhood remained a feature of all successions to the title, starting from Guru Nanak's successor – his son refused to acknowledge the appointment of Guru Angad Dev, Nanak's devotee, as the next Sikh Guru – the challenge given by Prithi Chand's movement was among the most formidable.
  11. Singh, Pashaura (3 April 2021). "Ideological basis in the formation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and the Shiromani Akali Dal: exploring the concept of Guru-Panth". Sikh Formations. 17 (1–2): 16–33. doi:10.1080/17448727.2021.1873656. ISSN 1744-8727. S2CID 234146387. The second Guru, Angad (1504–1552), established a new Sikh center at his native village Khadur because Guru Nanak's sons made the legal claim as rightful heirs of their father's properties at Kartarpur.
  12. Singh, Harbans. The Encyclopedia Of Sikhism - Volume IV S-Z. p. 234.
  13. "Baba Gurditta - Gateway To Sikhism". 2 September 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  14. Singh, Bhupinder (October 2019). "Genealogy of Guru Nanak". Abstracts of Sikh Studies. Institute of Sikh Studies. XXI (4).
  15. "Shree Panchayati Akhada Bada Udasin". Hindustan Times. 13 January 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. The encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Vol. 4. Harbans Singh. Patiala: Punjabi University. 1992–1998. pp. 265–65. ISBN 0-8364-2883-8. OCLC 29703420. It is said that Baba Sri Chand, elder son of Guru Nanak and founder of the Udasi order, came to Amritsar to meet Guru Arjan, then engaged in composing the poem. The Guru who had by that time completed sixteen astpadis, or cantos, requested him to continue the composition. Baba Sri Chand, out of humility, only recited the Sloka of Guru Nanak following the Mul Mantra in the Japu- "adi sachu jugadi sachu hai bhi sach Nanak hosi bhi sachu"- In the beginning, in the primal time was He the Eternal Reality; in the present is He the Eternal Reality. To eternity shall He the Reality abide (GG, 285). This sloka was thereupon repeated by Guru Arjan at the head of the seventeenth astpadi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  17. Nayar, Kamala Elizabeth (2020). "Guru Arjan's Life, Work, and Martyrdom". The Sikh View on Happiness : Guru Arjan's Sukhmani. Jaswinder Singh Sandhu. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. pp. 38–40. ISBN 978-1-350-13988-6. OCLC 1140790571.

Bibliography
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