ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>LADDH&#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="LADDH,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">&#65279LADDH&#256, BH&#256&#298, a Sikh widely respected for his piety, compassion and selfless service, lived in Lahore during the time of Gur&#363 Arjan. When Bh&#257&#299 Buddh&#363, as says Bh&#257&#299 Man&#299 Si&#7749gh, <i>Sikh&#257&#7749 d&#299 Bhagat M&#257l&#257</i>, solicited Gur&#363 Arjan's blessing to cancel Bh&#257&#299 Lakh&#363's curse upon his brick-kiln, the Gur&#363 deputed Bh&#257&#299 Laddh&#257 to intercede on his behalf. Bh&#257&#299 Laddh&#257 succeeded in softening Bh&#257&#299 Lakkh&#363.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Once, records Bh&#257&#299 Santokh Si&#7749gh, <i>Sr&#299 Gur Prat&#257p S&#363r&#257j Granth</i>, the musicians, Satt&#257 and Balva&#7751&#7693, by their greed and vanity and by their disparagement of the earlier Gur&#363s, had so annoyed Gur&#363 Arjan that he not only banished them from his presence but also declared that anyone pleading pardon for them would face punishment which would amount to blackening the intercessor's face and a ride through town astride a donkey, with a garland of old shoes hung around his neck. Satt&#257 and Balva&#7751&#7693 were penitent, but found no one who would be willing to escort them back to the Gur&#363. They, continues Bh&#257&#299 Santokh Si&#7749gh, at last approached Bh&#257&#299 Laddh&#257, who forthwith agreed to help even at the risk of earning the Gur&#363's displeasure. He blackened his face, put a string of old shoes around his neck, and riding a donkey, went to the Gur&#363's presence, leaving Satt&#257 and Balva&#7751&#7693 at the entrance. Gur&#363 Arjan, seeing that Bh&#257&#299 Laddh&#257 had voluntarily undergone the proclaimed punishment for having Satt&#257 and Balva&#7751&#7693 pardoned, agreed to readmit the bards to the <i>sa&#7749gat</i>, provided they indemnified the sacrilege committed by composing verses in honour of the Gur&#363s they had spoken ill of earlier. Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s, in one of his stanzas, praises Bh&#257&#299 Laddh&#257 calling him <i>parupk&#257r&#299</i> --- one ready to do a good turn to others even at personal risk.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Man&#299 Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Sikh&#257&#7749 d&#299 Bhagat M&#257l&#257</i>. Amritsar, 1955<BR> <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"> Macauliff'e, Max Arthur, <i>The Sikh Religion</i>. Oxford, 1909<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">T&#257ran Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>