KIRPĀ RĀM, PAṆḌIT or Kripā Rām (d. 1705), was the son of Bhāī Aṛū Rām, a Sārasvat Brāhmaṇ of Maṭan, 65 km east of Srīnagar, in Kashmīr. Aṛū Rām had met Gurū Har Rāi and sought his blessing at the time of the latter's visit to Kashmīr in 1660. In May 1675, Kirpā Rām led to Anandpur a group of Kashmīrī Paṇḍits driven to dire straits by State persecution. Iftikhār Khān, governor of Kashmīr (1671-75), was a harsh man and was making forcible conversions to Islam. Gurū Tegh Bahādur whose help the visitors sought asked them to go and have it communicated to the Emperor that, if he (Gurū Tegh Bahādur) was converted, they would all voluntarily accept conversion. Kirpā Rām and his companions sent to Emperor Auraṅgzīb a petition to that effect through Zālim Khān, governor of Lahore. Then followed the imperial summons, and Gurū Tegh Bahādur's arrest and his martyrdom in Delhi. Kirpā Rām returned to Anandpur. According to some chronicles, he helped Gurū Gobind Siṅgh in his Sanskrit studies. In 1699, he received the holy amrit and entered the fold of the Khālsā. He fell a martyr in the battle of Chamkaur on 7 December 1705.