DIĀL DĀS, BHĀĪ or Bhāī Diālā (d. 1675), martyr to the Sikh faith, was, according to Shahīd Bilās Bhāī Manī Siṅgh, the son of Māī Dās and an elder brother of Bhāī Manī Rām. He was a prominent Sikh of his time and was in the train of Gurū Tegh Bahādur during his journey across the eastern parts in 1665-70. He was one of the Sikhs detained and later released by the Mughal rulers in 1665. As the Gurū proceeded further east from Paṭnā, Diāl Dās was left behind to look after the Gurū's family. Several epistles addressed by Gurū Tegh Bahādur to saṅgats in Vārāṇasī-Paṭnā area adjured them to abide by Bhāī Diāl Dās's directions. Bhāī Diāl Dās accompanied Gurū Tegh Bahādur when the latter left Anandpur on 11 July 1675 to court martyrdom. He was arrested along with Gurū Tegh Bahādur and was, on his refusal to abjure his faith, boiled to death in a heated cauldron of water on 11 November 1675.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Giān Siṅgh, Giānī, Panth Prakāsh [Reprint]. Patiala, 1970
  2. Garjā Siṅgh, Giānī, ed. , Shahīd Bilās. Ludhiana, 1961
  3. Padam, Piārā Siṅgh, and Giānī Garjā Siṅgh, eds. , Gurū kīāṅ Sākhīāṅ. Patiala, 1986
  4. Trilochan Singh, Guru Tegh Bahadur. Delhi, 1967

A. C. Banerjee