ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>GAUR&#256 BH&#256&#298</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="GAUR,BH*"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279GAUR&#256, BH&#256&#298, the elder son of Bh&#257&#299 Bhagat&#363 (d. 1652), a devout and leading Sikh since the time of Gur&#363 Arjan, was a brave warrior who had carved out an extensive estate for himself around his native village Viñjh&#363, 14 km north of Ba&#7789hi&#7751&#7693&#257 (30º-14'N, 74º-59'E) . Owing to a misunderstanding, Bh&#257&#299 Bhagat&#363, while on his last visit to Kart&#257rpur to see Gur&#363 Har R&#257i in 1651, had made a young peasant girl believe that he had vowed to make her his wife. The girl considered herself the wife of the old Bh&#257&#299, who had died soon after the incident, and would not remarry. When Gaur&#257 came to know this, he brought the girl to his house and ever treated her as his mother. The following year, when Gur&#363 Har R&#257i visiting <i>sa&#7749gats</i> in the M&#257lv&#257 region, came to Viñjh&#363, Gaur&#257 served him devotedly and accompanied the Gur&#363's train through his own neighbourhood. One day, angered by an insulting remark made by Jass&#257, one of the Gur&#363's attendants, about his stepmother, Gaur&#257 had the former assassinated. Gur&#363 Har R&#257i forbade Gaur&#257's presence in <i>sa&#7749gat.</i> Gaur&#257 was repentant and wanted to tender apology but the Gur&#363 would not grant him an audience. He, with a few hundred of his men, therefore followed the Gur&#363's progress to K&#299ratpur, keeping a few kilometres behind him. A few months later as Gur&#363 Har R&#257i, on his way to Kart&#257rpur, had just crossed the River Sutlej, his family and the baggage still on the other bank, a Mu<u>gh</u>al force attacked his rear. But Bh&#257&#299 Gaur&#257, who as usual was following close behind, chased the attackers away and helped the Gur&#363's party safely cross the river. When Gur&#363 Har R&#257i came to know of this, he called Gaur&#257 to his presence, pardoned his past crime and giving him his blessing sent him back to his home in the M&#257lv&#257, where he flourished as a virtual ruler of a vast tract. One of his descendants, Bh&#257&#299 Des&#363 Si&#7749gh, founded the autonomous state of Kaithal in 1767.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Santokh Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Sr&#299 Gur Prat&#257p S&#363raj Granth.</i> Amritsar, 1927-33<BR> <li class="C1"> Macauliffe, Max Arthur, <i>The Sikh Religion.</i> Oxford, 1909<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Bhagat Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>