Haqiqat Rai

Haqiqat Rai (1720–1734) was an 18th-century boy from Sialkot, who was executed in Lahore during the time of Zakariya Khan.

Accounts

Haqiqat Rai di Var According to Akkra's ballad, Haqiqat Rai was born into a Hindu Khatri family of Sialkot; his father was Baghmal. Some of his Muslim classmates had ridiculed Hindu deities to which a fifteen-year old Haqiqat retorted by insulting Islam — this was reported to the Maulvi.

Char Bagh-i Punjab Ganesh Das (in Char Bagh-i Punjab) agrees with Akkra about Haqiqat's antecedents. Irate Muslim inhabitants of the city refused to accept apology of their Hindu brethren (including Haqiqat's parents) in the town and insisted that he either convert or be put to death. In 1782/84, a Sikh poet named Aggra (aka Agra or Aggar Singh) wrote a Punjabi vaar (ballad) titled Haqiqat Rai di Var espousing him as a Hindu martyr.

In the first decade of the twentieth century (1905–10), three Bengali writers popularized the legend of Haqiqat Rai's martyrdom through their essays. The three accounts differ greatly. The Arya Samaj organized a play Dharmaveer Haqiqat Rai, advocating deep loyalty to Hinduism. It also printed copies of the legend, and distributed them free of cost or at a nominal price of 2 paisa.

Before the partition of India in 1947, Hindus and Sikhs used to gather at his samadhi in Lahore, during the Basant Panchami Festival. His samadhi in Sialkot was also a place of worship. In 2004, Nawa-i-Waqt, a Pakistani daily opposed Basant Panchami celebrations in Pakistan, arguing that the festival celebrated Haqiqat Rai's insult of Muhammad.

Another samadhi dedicated to Haqiqat Rai is located in Boeli of Baba Bhandari (Hoshiarpur district), where people gather and pay obeisance to Haqiqat Rai during Basant Panchami. In Gurdaspur district, a shrine dedicated to him is located at Batala. The town also has a samadhi dedicated to Sati Lakshmi Devi, said to be the wife of Haqiqat Rai.

Many cities in India have localities named after Haqiqat Rai, mostly the ones where the partition refugees settled; for example, Haqiqat Nagar in Delhi. An ISBT located in Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi, India is also named after him.

Sikhs today still view him as a Sikh martyr and his story is told while casting him as a Sikh in their tellings of it.