A trader's son and a devotee of the goddess
How Bhai Lehna came to the faith
Two versions: he overhears a Sikh singing at Khadur, or he meets Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji on the way to a goddess shrine.
In the Puratan janamsakhi, as the Encyclopaedia summarises it, Bhai Lehna is the priest of the goddess at Khadur. Only one villager is a Sikh, and he sings the hymns of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji each day. Bhai Lehna hears a hymn, asks who made it, talks further with the man, and throws off the emblems of his goddess worship. This version never describes a first meeting with Guru Ji.
The Adi Sakhian, the B-40 and the Miharban janamsakhi tell it differently. Here Bhai Lehna leads his neighbours from Harike on their yearly pilgrimage to the goddess. Passing Kartarpur, the party stops to see the famous teacher. A short conversation changes everything for him. Despite the protests of his fellow pilgrims, he declares that the journey has reached its end and refuses to go on.
Macauliffe combines elements of both. He has the singing of a Sikh stir Bhai Lehna at Khadur, and then has him leave the pilgrims at Kartarpur.
How do we know?
The sources conflict on this story, or scholars doubt it.
The Mahima Prakash supplies the name Jwalamukhi for the shrine. The earlier versions speak only of a shrine of Durga.
- ScholarshipSets out the Puratan version against that of the Adi Sakhian, B-40 and Miharban.[EoS]
- ScholarshipCredits the example of Bhai Jodha, a Khadur Sikh, with leading Bhai Lehna to Guru Ji.[EoS]
- Later traditionRetells a conversion that passes through Khadur and a halted pilgrimage to Jwalamukhi.[Macauliffe]
