Meat seller of Sehwan in Sindh; one hymn in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
Bhagat Sadhna
A devotee who is said to have made his living selling meat at Sehwan in Sindh. His one hymn in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, in Raag Bilaval at ang 858, appeals to God to protect a servant who has no merit of his own. No other work of his survives, and his life is known only through tradition.
Life, as tradition tells it
The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism and Macauliffe both place his birth at Sehwan, by belief and not by record, and make him a butcher by trade. Both say that he did not kill animals himself but sold meat from animals killed by others. Both consider him a contemporary of Bhagat Namdev, and neither gives a date.
Macauliffe tells a story about a sacred ammonite stone, the salagram, which Bhagat Sadhna used as a weight for his meat. A sadhu took it from him out of concern for its sanctity, and later returned it. The Encyclopaedia says that he worshipped this stone, then left home and travelled, teaching love of God. Sirhind in the Punjab keeps a memorial to him.[EoS][Macauliffe]
In Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
BaniDB gives his one hymn in Raag Bilaval at ang 858. Its opening image is of a man who disguised himself for love of a king's daughter. As the Encyclopaedia reads the hymn, it asks what credit there would be in God's protection if a devotee's faults were left standing, and it pleads for God to save a servant's honour.
Bhagat Ravidas names him with Bhagat Namdev, Bhagat Kabir, Bhagat Trilochan and Bhagat Sain at ang 1106, among those who crossed over. The Encyclopaedia says that none of his other songs has survived.[DB][EoS]
What the sources disagree on
- The memorial at Sirhind
The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says he was cremated at Sirhind, yet both it and Macauliffe speak of a grave monument there. The two statements sit uneasily together. Macauliffe adds that the sadhu in charge could tell him nothing about Bhagat Sadhna.[EoS][Macauliffe]