The road to Delhi

The water-carrier and the Gita

Challenged by a learned Pandit, Guru Ji had an illiterate water-carrier explain the Bhagavad Gita.

Single accountEarly 1664Panjokhara, near Ambala1 min read

Painting of Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji, the eighth Guru — A later artist's imagining of Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji, from a set of the first nine Gurus painted about 1800-1840. No portrait from Guru Ji's lifetime is established.Unknown, c. 1800-1840, Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 925209 (as credited on Commons). Public domain. Source

According to Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth by Bhai Santokh Singh, as the Encyclopaedia reports it, Guru Ji's party halted at Panjokhara because a Sikh asked for a day's stop so that congregations from Peshawar, Kabul and Kashmir could arrive. A learned local Pandit named Lal Chand came to mock: this child sits on the seat of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, he said, but what does he know of the old texts?

At that moment Chhajju Ram, the village water-carrier, who could not read, happened to walk by. Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji had him called over and asked him to explain the meaning of the Gita to the Pandit. The poem says the man gave a clear commentary that amazed everyone there.

Lal Chand's pride gave way. Both men, the poem says, became followers and went with Guru Ji as far as Kurukshetra.

How do we know?

Only one account tells this story.

The story rests on one nineteenth-century epic. The site reports what it says and takes no position on the miracle. The Encyclopaedia adds that Lal Chand, as Lal Singh, later fell at Chamkaur in 1705, a claim not checked elsewhere.

Later traditionCredits this to Bhai Santokh Singh, naming the Pandit as Lal Chand and the villager as Chhajju Ram.[EoS]
Later traditionMarks Panjokhara as the place where Guru Ji stayed on the way to Delhi in early 1664.[EoS]

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