ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>L&#256LO 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="LLO,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">&#65279L&#256LO BH&#256&#298, was, according to <i>B&#257l&#257 Janam S&#257kh&#299</i>, a carpenter by profession who lived at Saidpur, present-day town of Emin&#257b&#257d in Gujr&#257&#7749w&#257l&#257 district of Pakistan, and with whom Gur&#363 N&#257nak put up for three days during his travel through those parts. Bh&#257&#299 L&#257lo served him with devotion. That was the time when the Hindu steward of the local Muslim chief had announced a grand feast to which all caste Hindus and saints and <i>s&#257dh&#363s</i> in town and the vicinity were invited. The <i>Janam S&#257kh&#299</i> records his name as Malik Bh&#257go. At the end of the feast, report reached him that N&#257nak, a holy man born of K&#7779atr&#299ya parents, had ignored his invitation and had instead chosen to dine with a low caste carpenter. Messengers were immediately despatched to bring Gur&#363 N&#257nak to his house. As he arrived, Malik Bh&#257go spoke to him in resentful tones : "How is it that you ignored my invitation to the <i>brahm bhoj</i> (lit. feast in honour of Br&#257hma&#7751s and other holymen) ? Or, is it that the food your casteless host serves you is better than mine?" Gur&#363 N&#257nak said, "I eat what God sends. There are no castes in God's sight." "Then, you should eat whatever is offered in this house." Sumptuous victuals were thereupon summoned from his kitchen. At the same time, Gur&#363 N&#257nak asked Bh&#257&#299 L&#257lo, who had followed him to the Malik's mansion, to bring food from his house. In the words of <i>B&#257l&#257 Janam S&#257kh&#299</i>, "Gur&#363 N&#257nak took L&#257lo's coarse bread in his right hand and Malik Bh&#257go's delicacies in the left. As he pressed both, milk dripped from L&#257lo's coarse bread and blood from Malik Bh&#257go's delicacies. The entire assembly was lost in amazement."</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bh&#257&#299 L&#257lo is counted among the earliest emissaries of the Sikh faith. The word L&#257lo occurs several times in one of Gur&#363 N&#257nak hymns in the measure Tila&#7749g describing in moving accents the suffering caused by B&#257bar's invasion. The conjecture is that those lines were addressed to Bh&#257&#299 L&#257lo, his disciple.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Kohl&#299, Surindar Si&#7749gh, ed., <i>Janams&#257kh&#299 Bh&#257&#299 B&#257l&#257</i>. Chandigarh, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"> V&#299r Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, ed., <i>Pur&#257tan Janam S&#257kh&#299</i>. Amritsar, 1982<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>Guru Nanak and Origin of the Sikh Faith</i>. Bombay, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> McLeod, W.H., <i>Early Sikh Tradition</i>. Oxford, 1980<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Gurnek Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>