Bhai Nihang Khan (

Gurmukhi Gurmukhī ( pa, ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ, , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). It is used by Punjabi Sikhs to write the language, commonly ...

: ਨਿਹੰਗ ਖ਼ਾਨ,

Shahmukhi Shahmukhi (, ) is a Perso-Arabic alphabet script used historically by Punjabi Muslims (primarily in present-day Pakistani Punjab) to write the Punjabi language. It is generally written in the Nastaʿlīq calligraphic hand, which is also used ...

: نهنگ خاں) was the ''

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

'' ruler of a small feudal estate called

Kotla Nihang Khan Kotla Nihang Khan is a town located about 3 kilometers southeast of Ropar city in Punjab, India. It is famed as the erstwhile principality of the seventeenth-century Pathan ''zamindar'' ruler, Nihang Khan, who was an associate of the tenth Sikh ...

near

Ropar Rupnagar (; formerly known as Ropar is a city and a municipal council in Rupnagar district in the Indian state of Punjab. Rupnagar is a newly created fifth Divisional Headquarters of Punjab comprising Rupnagar, Mohali, and its adjoining dist ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

Lahore Subah Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

(Today located in

Punjab, India Punjab (; ) is a state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and ...

). He was a friend and follower of the tenth

Sikh Guru The Sikh gurus ( Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰੂ) are the spiritual masters of Sikhism, who established this religion over the course of about two and a half centuries, beginning in 1469. The year 1469 marks the birth of Guru Nanak, the found ...

, Guru Gobind Singh. The Guru and his associates frequently stayed with Nihang Khan, who often sheltered and provided succor to them in the period when they were facing persecution by Mughal forces. By way of faith and ethnicity, Nihang Khan was a Muslim

Pathan Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

. Guru Gobind Singh and Nihang Khan first met on the Amavas of the month of Maghar in

Vikram Samvat Vikram Samvat (IAST: ''Vikrama Samvat''; abbreviated VS) or Bikram Sambat B.S. and also known as the Vikrami calendar, is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent. Vikram Samvat is generally 57 years ahead of Gregorian Calend ...

year 1745 (corresponding to 1688 CE). Nihang Khan was so impressed that he declared that he would "''dedicate his all in the cause of the Guru''." To honor him, Sikh religious literature often refers to him as ''Bhai'' Nihang Khan. One of Nihang Khan's sons was ''Bhai'' Alam Khan, whose wedding the Guru also attended on May 3, 1694.

References

Mughal Empire History of Sikhism Medieval India Indian Sikhs {{Sikh-bio-stub

See also

References