LAKKHĪ SHĀH or LAKKHĪ RĀI (d. 1680), son of Godhū Rām, a Yādobaṅsī Rājpūt of the Baṛhtīā clan, belonged to village of Khairpur in the present Muzaffargaṛh district of Pakistan. Also described as a bañjārā or roving trader, he was an affluent man with a permanent residence in Delhi. He was a disciple of the Gurūs. According to Shahīd Bilās Bhāī Manī Siṅgh, his daughter was married to Bhāī Manī Rām of 'Alīpur, near Multān, in 1659. As Gurū Tegh Bahādur's body lay in the Chāndnī Chowk after execution, Lakkhī Shāh, accompanied by his son Nagāhīā, passed along the site with his convoy of carts and, assisted by Bhāī Dhūmā son of Kānhā, carried off the headless trunk in one of them. Bhāī Jaitā had already escaped with the head under cover of the dust storm then raging through the city. The body was taken to Lakkhī Shāh's residence in Rāisinā village. Since open cremation would not have been practicable, the entire house along with the body was set aflame. A part of the remains of the burnt body was placed in an urn and buried. With the other part of the ashes, Lakkhī Shāh went to Anandpur. Gurū Gobind Siṅgh blessed him for his devotion and service and consigned the ashes to the River Sutlej. Sardār Baghel Siṅgh, one of the misl leaders, raised on the site in Delhi, in 1783, a shrine now known as Gurdwārā Rikābgañj.

        Lakkhī Shāh died at Delhi on Jeṭh sudī 11, 1737 Bk/28 May 1680.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Kuir Siṅgh, Gurbilās Pātshāhī 10. Patiala, 1968
  2. Santokh Siṅgh, Bhāī, Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granth. Amritsar, 1927-33
  3. Garjā Siṅgh, Giānī, ed., Shahīd Bilas. Ludhiana, 1961
  4. Macauliffe, Max Arthur, The Sikh Religion. Oxford, 1909
  5. Harbans Singh, Guru Tegh Bahadur. Delhi, 1982

Major Gurmukh Siṅgh (Retd.)