ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>SR&#298 CHAND B&#256B&#256 (1494-1629)</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="SR*,CHAND,BB,Person,Person"> <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">&#65279SR&#298 CHAND, B&#256B&#256 (1494-1629), the elder son of Gur&#363 N&#257nak and the founder of the ascetic sect of Ud&#257s&#299s, was born to M&#257t&#257 Sulakkha&#7751&#299 on Bh&#257do&#7749 <i>sud&#299</i> 9,1551 Bk/8 September 1494 at Sult&#257npur Lodh&#299, now in Kap&#363rthal&#257 district of the Punjab. After Gur&#363 N&#257nak left home on his travels to distant parts, Sr&#299 Chand's mother took him and his younger brother, Lakhm&#299 D&#257s, to her parents' home at Pakkhoke Randh&#257ve on the left bank of the River R&#257v&#299. Sr&#299 Chand from the very beginning loved solitude and, as he grew up; he developed indifference to worldly affairs. At the tender age of eleven he left for Kashm&#299r where he studied Sanskrit texts under Pa&#7751&#7693it Purushottam Kaul and later studied and practised yoga under Avin&#257sha Mun&#299. When Gur&#363 N&#257nak, after his travels, had settled down at Kart&#257rpur on the right bank of R&#257v&#299 and not far from Pakkhoke, Sr&#299 Chand rejoined the family. He however retained his preference for the life of an ascetic. Gur&#363 N&#257nak having chosen one of his disciples as his spiritual successor, passed away at Kart&#257rpur on 7 September 1539 and a monument was raised over the site where his ashes were buried. As the monument was washed away by floods in the river, Sr&#299 Chand had the urn containing the ashes salvaged, reburied it at some distance close to the well of Ajitt&#257 Randh&#257v&#257, a devotee of the late Gur&#363, and built a mud hut over it. The place came to be revered as <i>dehr&#257</i> or <i>sam&#257dh</i> (mausoleum) of Gur&#363 N&#257nak around which grew up the present town of &#7692er&#257 B&#257b&#257 N&#257nak.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; B&#257b&#257 Sr&#299 Chand stayed on at Pakkhoke Randh&#257ve for some time. He gathered around him a band of his own disciples who like him shunned the householder's life and practised austerities. With his disciples he travelled throughout the length and breadth of India, initiating more converts to his Ud&#257sin or Ud&#257s&#299 (lit. indifferent, stoic) sect who functioned as itinerant preachers and established missionary centres at different places in the country and beyond. Through them Gur&#363 N&#257nak&#8217s word was also carried to far corners of the land. B&#257b&#257 Sr&#299 Chand's own main centre was at B&#257ra&#7789h, 8 km southwest of P&#257&#7789hanko&#7789 in Gurd&#257spur district of the Punjab. B&#257b&#257 Sr&#299 Chand also kept in touch with successive Gur&#363s during his long life of well over a century. The Gur&#363s held him in high esteem in view of his holy descent, old age and piety. In 1626, when at the behest of Gur&#363 Hargobind, his eldest son, B&#257b&#257 Gurditt&#257, proceeded to found the town of K&#299ratpur in the lower &#346iv&#257lik hills, he had the ground broken by B&#257b&#257 Sr&#299 Chand. According to the Bha&#7789&#7789 Vah&#299s, B&#257b&#257 Sr&#299 Chand died at K&#299ratpur on M&#257gh <i>sud&#299</i> 1, 1685 Bk/ 13 January 1629. Before that he had, with Gur&#363 Hargobind's approval, appointed B&#257b&#257 Gurditt&#257 to succeed him as head of the Ud&#257s&#299 Sect.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> N&#257r&#257, &#298shar Si&#7749gh, <i>Itih&#257s B&#257b&#257 Sr&#299 Chand J&#299 S&#257hib ate Ud&#257s&#299n Sampard&#257i</i>. Amritsar, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"> Ra&#7751dh&#299r Si&#7749gh, <i>Ud&#257s&#299 Sikh&#257&#7749 d&#299 Vithi&#257</i>. Amritsar, 1959<BR> <li class="C1"> Macauliffe, Max Arthur, <i>The Sikh Religion</i>. Oxford, 1909<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>Guru N&#257nak and Origins of the Sikh Faith</i>. Bombay, 1969<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Gurnek Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>