Heritage has no religion
According to Sikh history, Bhai Mani Singh acted as scribe when at the age of 14 Guru Gobind Singh the then Guru of the Sikhs — dictated Sri Guru Granth Sahib. He also transcribed many copies of the sacred Sikh scriptures which were sent to different preaching centers in India
By 1737, the Mughal government of Lahore had strictly prohibited Sikhs from visiting Amritsar and bathe in the holy tank. To overcome this restriction, Bhai Mani Singh appealed to Governor Zakariya Khan for permission to hold the Diwali festival at the Golden Temple. The permission was granted against a payment of Rs5000 to the governor. Bhai Mani Singh was sure that he would be able to pay the sum out of the offerings that would be made by the Sikhs who were invited to come. The Sikhs came in large numbers, but Zakariya Khan, under the excuse of keeping order, sent a force under Diwan Lakhpat Rae to Amritsar. It marched towards the city on the day of the festival in order to intimidate and disperse the Sikhs and the festival broke up at the approach of the Mughal army.
Bhai Mani Singh was arrested for not paying the stipulated sum. As a punishment the Qazi asked him to embrace Islam or death. Bhai Mani Singh stalwartly refused to trade his faith and courageously choose death. By orders of Zakariya Khan, Bhai Mani Singh was executed at Nakhas, Lahore in December, 1737 AD. The Nakhas has since been known as Shaheed Ganj — the place of martyrdom. The place Nakhas is located in Landa Bazaar opposite Delhi Gate of Lahore.
Let me first take you through a short description of who Bhai Mani Singh was and then I will return to the story of Samadhi. According to Sikh history, Bhai Mani Singh (1670-1737), a great Sikh personality of the eighteenth century, occupies a very esteemed position, because he assumed control and steered the course of the Sikhs’ destiny at a very critical stage. He was a great scholar, a devoted Sikh, and a courageous leader. He compiled Dasam Granth which includes Banis of Guru Gobind Singh. Bhai Mani Singh is said to have been brought in the early years of his childhood to the presence of Guru Tegh Bahadur at Anandpur. He was not the same age as the Guru’s own son, Gobind Rai. Mani Singh remained in his company even after he had ascended the religious seat as Guru. Mani Singh accompanied the Guru to the seclusion of Paonta where Guru Gobind Singh spent some three years in large part given to literary work.
Bhai Mani Singh took Amrit at the hands of Guru Gobind Singh on the day of the creation of Khalsa. When Guru Gobind Singh left Anandpur on the night of December 20, 1704, his family got separated at river Sirsa during the confusion created by the Mughal attack. Bhai Mani Singh took Mata Sundri and Mata Sahib Devan to Delhi via Ambala.
As per Sikh history, in 1706, Bhai Mani Singh escorted Mata Sundri the wife of Guru Gobind Singh to Talwandi Sabo where the Guru was staying. It was there that she learned of the martyrdom of her four sons and their grandmother. When Guru left Agra with Emperor Bahadur Shah for Nanded in 1707, Mata Sahib Devan and Bhai Mani Singh accompanied him. Afterwards Bhai Mani Singh escorted Mata Sahib Devan back to Delhi where she lived with Mata Sundri Ji for the rest of her life.
Mata Sundri came to know of the trouble that was brewing between the Tat Khalsa and Bandai Khalsa military factions of the Sikhs. She appointed Bhai Mani Singh as the Granthi of Harimandir Sahib and sent him to Amritsar with Mama Kirpal Singh (Chand), the maternal uncle of Guru Gobind Singh. On his arrival at Amritsar in 1721, Bhai Mani Singh restored peace among the Khalsa and put the affairs of Harimandir Sahib in order.
As I wrote in the beginning of this piece, the Mughals demanded some money for letting the Sikhs to visit Amritsar, which Bhai Mani Singh could not pay. This resulted in a gruesome execution in which Bhai Mani Singh’s executioner was ordered to chop Bhai Mani Singh’s body to pieces joint by joint starting from the extremities. The irony of the execution was that Bhai Mani Singh had the last word. When the executioner started to cut into Bhai Mani Singh’s wrist, Bhai Mani Singh gestured to his fingers telling the executioner that he should follow the orders of his commander with strictness, like a true Muslim. Very puzzled by the interruption, the executioner and guards asked the Great Shaheed what he meant. Bhai Mani Singh replied, ” you have been ordered to execute me by chopping my joints, have you forgotten that my joints start with my fingers”.
According to Sikh history, Bhai Mani Singh acted as scribe when at the age of 14 Guru Gobind Singh the then Guru of the Sikhs — dictated Sri Guru Granth Sahib. He also transcribed many copies of the sacred Sikh scriptures which were sent to different preaching centers in India. He also taught the reading of Gurbani and its philosophy to the Sikhs. Bhai Mani Singh was responsible for collecting the Gurbani of Guru Gobind Singh and compiling it in the form of Dasam Granth (Book of the Tenth Guru). Besides this he also authored Jap ji Sahib Da Garb Ganjni Teeka (teeka means translation and explanation of a work). He expanded the first of Bhai GurDas’s Vaars into a life of Guru Nanak which is called Gyan Ratanawali. Mani Singh wrote another work, the Bhagat Ralanawali, an expansion of Bhai GurDas’s eleventh Vaar, which contains a list of famous Sikhs up to the time of Guru Har Gobind. In his capacity as a Granthi of the Darbar Sahib at Harmandar Sahib, Bhai Singh is also stated to have composed the Ardaas (Supplication) in its current format; he also started the tradition of mentioning deeds of various Gursikhs with the supplication.
This is the history of Bhai Mani Singh and the Samadhi of this great Sikh leader came inside the borders of Pakistan after partition. Though he was punished to death at Chowk Nakhas near Delhi Gate, his disciples built the Samadhi nearby, inside Masti Gate, just next to Mariam Zamani Mosque opposite the Akbari Gate of Lahore Fort. The Samadhi has not been preserved or declared as a protected monument. At present there are encroachments hiding the Samadhi and the structure itself is corroding. I guess soon it will disappear if protective measures are not taken by the concerned authorities. Heritage has no religion, whatever came to Pakistan is now ours and we need to protect it somehow. We need to restore these places to promote religious tourism which somehow is not picking up in Pakistan. This is a big source economic uplift but I guess the higher authorities are failing to understand this. I hope my voice reaches out to the concerned and this place regains its lost shape and importance.