India GOGuru Har Krishan: the child Guru of Delhi
ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਿਕ੍ਰਿਸ਼ਨ
The child Guru: enthroned at five, he tended Delhi's smallpox sick at seven and died of the disease; Bangla Sahib stands on the spot.
Guru Har Krishan was the eighth of the ten Sikh Gurus and the youngest: he succeeded his father at five and died in Delhi at seven and a half, in 1664, of smallpox, which Sikh tradition says he caught while tending the sick. His guruship lasted two years and five months, the shortest of any Guru, and the house where he stayed is now Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, Delhi's best-known Sikh shrine.
Story
Summoned to Delhi by Aurangzeb, the boy stayed in the bungalow of Raja Jai Singh while smallpox and cholera swept the city, and went out each day to the sick; the water of the well he blessed was given as medicine. He caught the disease himself and, dying, said only “Baba Bakala”, naming his successor, the great-uncle who became Guru Tegh Bahadur. The bungalow became Bangla Sahib, and its pool is still where the sick come; his elder brother Ram Rai, passed over for the succession, founded his own darbar in the Doon valley.
ਸ੍ਰੀ ਹਰਿਕ੍ਰਿਸ਼ਨ ਧਿਆਈਐ ਜਿਸ ਡਿਠੇ ਸਭਿ ਦੁਖਿ ਜਾਇ
“Remember Sri Har Krishan, at whose sight all sorrows depart.”
Ardas
Places linked to them
Gurudwara Bangla Sahib · DelhiA Guru at five
Har Krishan was born on 7 July 1656 at Kiratpur Sahib, in today's Punjab, the younger son of the seventh Guru, Har Rai, and, by most accounts, Mata Krishen Devi. The succession passed over his elder brother, Ram Rai, who at thirteen had been sent to represent his father at the Mughal court, was kept there as a hostage and changed a verse of the Adi Granth that Aurangzeb said disparaged Muslims; his father would not forgive it. On 7 October 1661 the five-year-old became Guru, the Bal Guru, the child Guru.
Ram Rai did not accept the decision and looked to Delhi for support. Aurangzeb summoned the boy through Raja Jai Singh of Amber, who lodged him in his own house. Some accounts say the child Guru refused to meet the emperor at all, so as not to be asked for miracles, which Sikhism forbids.
Delhi, 1664
The months in Delhi are the part of his life that the city still keeps. With smallpox and cholera in the streets, the boy, by Sikh tradition, went out to the sick and caught the disease himself and died on 30 March 1664. His last words, “Baba Bakale”, were read as pointing to an elder in the village of Bakala, and the search ended with his great-uncle, who became the ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur.
His name stays in the daily Ardas, the set prayer recited standing in Sikh services and daily worship, in the line shown above: remember Sri Har Krishan, at whose sight all sorrows depart.
Bangla Sahib: where to remember him
Raja Jai Singh's bungalow, the bangla, became Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, and the Guru's months in Delhi are the reason it exists. By Sikh tradition, the water of the well he blessed was given to the sick as medicine. Raja Jai Singh later built a small tank over the well; today the sarovar, the sacred pool, is there, and people still carry its water home for its healing power. Timings, langar and the rules of the visit are on the gurudwara's own page.
❓ FAQ
What is Guru Har Krishan famous for?
For becoming Guru at five, for caring for the sick of Delhi during the 1664 smallpox epidemic, and for naming his successor with his last words. Bangla Sahib stands where he stayed.
How did Guru Har Krishan die?
Of smallpox, caught while tending the sick in Delhi. He died on 30 March 1664, aged seven and a half.
Which Sikh Guru died at the age of eight?
Guru Har Krishan, the eighth Guru, who died before his eighth birthday, at seven and a half.
Did Guru Har Krishan have a wife?
No. He died as a child, at seven.
Who came after Guru Har Krishan?
His great-uncle Tegh Bahadur of Bakala, the ninth Guru, found after his dying words “Baba Bakale”.