Choosing Bhai Lehna
How Bhai Lehna came to Kartarpur
Two versions tell how Bhai Lehna, a devotee of Durga, became a Sikh.
Disputedc. 1530sKhadur, Harike and Kartarpur1 min read
According to the Puratan tradition, Bhai Lehna served the goddess Durga at Khadur, a village where only one man was a Sikh. One day he overheard this man singing a hymn, asked who had made it, and on hearing the answer put away his old devotions.
The version in B-40, the Adi Sakhis and Miharban is different. Bhai Lehna lived at Harike and led a yearly party of pilgrims to a Durga shrine. One year they passed Kartarpur and stopped to see the famous teacher. After a short talk with Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji he told his companions that he had found what the pilgrimage was for, and he went no further.
How do we know?
The sources conflict on this story, or scholars doubt it.
- Later traditionSets out the Puratan version of a temple servant at Khadur who overheard a hymn, and the B-40, Adi Sakhis and Miharban version of a pilgrim leader who stopped at Kartarpur on his way to a Durga shrine.[EoS]
- ScholarshipAccepts that he came as a follower after Kartarpur was founded, and accepts his family details. (p. 143)[McLeod]
