Guru Har Rai

Guru Har Rai (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਿ ਰਾਇ, pronunciation: ; 16 January 1630 – 6 October 1661) revered as the seventh Nanak, was the seventh of ten Gurus of the Sikh religion. He became the Sikh leader at age 14, on 3 March 1644, after the death of his grandfather and the sixth Sikh leader Guru Hargobind. He guided the Sikhs for about seventeen years, till his death at age 31.

Guru Har Rai is notable for maintaining the large army of Sikh soldiers that the sixth Sikh Guru had amassed, yet avoiding military conflict. He supported the moderate Sufi influenced Dara Shikoh instead of conservative Sunni influenced Aurangzeb as the two brothers entered into a war of succession to the Mughal Empire throne. Har Krishan became the eighth Guru at age five after Guru Har Rai's death in 1661. Some modern Sikhs refer to him as the Green Guru due to the sensitivity he displayed to the natural world.

Biography Guru Har Rai was born to Ananti (also known as Nihal) and Baba Gurditta into a Sodhi Khatri household. His father died when he was 8 years old. At age 10, in 1640, Guru Har Rai was married to Mata Kishan Devi (sometimes also referred to as Sulakhni) the daughter of Daya Ram. They had one daughter Rup Kaur and two sons, Ram Rai and Har Krishan (the latter of whom became the eighth Guru). Shortly after his succession to guruship, the Mughals under the command of Najabat Khan invaded the territory of Tara Chand of Hindur, capturing the ruler himself. Thus, Har Rai left Kiratpur and travelled to Thapal in Sirmur (Nahan, ruled by Raja Karam Prakash) to give his first teaching, in the form of a vak (commandment). This account of the guru travelling to Thapal can be found both in the Dabestan-e Mazaheb and it is also recorded in a note within Jograj's Ād Granth manuscript. Guru Hargobind had advised to not get involved in military conflict with the Mughals and rather focus on religious teaching, therefore Guru Har Rai did not interfere in the conflict between Hindur and the Mughals.

Guru Har Rai had a brother. His elder brother Dhir Mal had gained encouragement and support from Shah Jahan, with free land grants and Mughal sponsorship. Dhir Mal attempted to form a parallel Sikh tradition and criticized his grandfather and sixth Guru, Hargobind. The sixth Guru disagreed with Dhir Mal, and designated the younger Har Rai as the successor.

Authentic literature about Guru Har Rai life and times are scarce, he left no texts of his own and some Sikh texts composed later spell his name as "Hari Rai". Some of the biographies of Guru Har Rai written in the 18th century such as by Kesar Singh Chhibber, and the 19th-century Sikh literature are highly inconsistent.

Dara Shikoh Guru Har Rai provided medical care to Dara Shikoh, possibly when he had been poisoned by Mughal operatives.

After Aurangzeb won the succession war in 1658, he summoned Guru Har Rai in 1660 to explain his support for the executed Dara Shikoh. Guru Har Rai sent his elder son Ram Rai to represent him. Aurangzeb kept the 13 year old Ram Rai as hostage, questioned Ram Rai about a verse in the Adi Granth – the holy text of Sikhs. Aurangzeb claimed that it disparaged the Muslims. Ram Rai changed the meanings of the verse to appease Aurangzeb instead of standing by the Sikh scripture, an act for which Guru Har Rai excommunicated his elder son, and nominated the younger Har Krishan to succeed as the next Guru of Sikhism.

Influence He started several public singing and scripture recital traditions in Sikhism. The katha or discourse style recitals were added by Guru Har Rai to the sabad kirtan singing tradition of Sikhs. He also added the akhand kirtan or continuous scripture singing tradition of Sikhism, as well as the tradition of jotian da kirtan or collective folk choral singing of scriptures. introduced the dasvandh ("the tenth" of income) system of revenue collection in the name of Guru and as pooled community religious resource, and the famed langar tradition of Sikhism where anyone, without discrimination of any kind, could get a free meal in a communal seating.

He appointed new masands such as Bhai Jodh, Bhai Gonda, Bhai Nattha, Bhagat Bhagwan (for eastern India), Bhai Pheru (for Rajathan), Bhai Bhagat (also known as Bairagi), as the heads of Manjis.

Death and succession

He appointed his 5-year-old youngest son Har Krishan as the eighth Guru of the Sikhs before his death.

Environmental stewardship Guru Har Rai is associated in the Sikh tradition for his interest in the natural world. with the number of wives ranging from seven to eight, namely Sulakhani or Kishan Kaur, Kalyani, Toki, Anokhi, Ladiki, Chand Kaur, Prem Kaur, and Ram Kaur, have been rejected by later historians as unreliable. Historian Ganda Singh stated that the story of Guru Har Rai marrying seven wives “is found only in one MS of Suraj Prakash, and is written on unpaged leaves which are clearly an interpolation”. He further noted that other manuscripts of the Suraj Prakash mention only one marriage and that the older Mahima Prakash likewise records only one wife for Guru Har Rai. The Bhatt Vahis, the Panda Vahis of Haridwar, and the writings of Kavi Saundh also mention only Kishan Kaur or Sulakhani as the sole wife of Guru Har Rai. However, it is claimed that Guru Har Rai is said to have written a composition known as the Salok Mahalla Satvaan. It cannot therefore be securely attributed to Guru Har Rai. Gurus each had their own way of starting poems or couplets. Guru Har Rai's was: Through the voice of Har Rai, the Guru. A sentence attributed to Guru Har Rai in the form of a vak (commandment) can be found in a manuscript of the Ād Granth dating to 1667 associated with Jograj (died 1671).

Legacy In 2011, 14 March was the date selected to celebrate Sikh Environment Day because it was the anniversary date of Guru Har Rai's gurgaddi (ascension to the guruship).

In 2013, the president of EcoSikh described Guru Har Rai as the "green guru", emphasizing the Sikh guru's close-bond with nature, in a press-release statement.

Popular culture In 2013, a painting by Rahi Mohinder Singh was gifted to EcoSikh which depicts Guru Har Rai giving a tree to a petitioner to plant, however the tree species portrayed in the painting is an eucalyptus, a non-native species that was not found during the lifetime of Guru Har Rai, making the painting anachronistic.

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