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[[File:Sikh Gurus with Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana.jpg|250px|thumb|right|A rare [[Tanjore painting|Tanjore]] style painting from the late 19th century depicting the ten Sikh Gurus with Bhai Bala and [[Bhai Mardana]].]]<br />
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'''Bhai Bala (Sandhu jat)''' ({{lang-pa|ਭਾਈ ਬਾਲਾ}} 1466–1544), born in Talvandi Rai Bhoi (now called [[Nankana Sahib]] in [[Pakistan]]),<ref name="McLeod, W.H. 1968">McLeod, W.H., Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. Oxford, 1968.</ref><ref>[http://allaboutsikhs.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17 A Gateway to Sikhism | Early Gursikhs: Bhai Bala Ji - A Gateway to Sikhism<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> was a childhood friend and lifelong companion of [[Bhai Mardana]] and [[Guru Nanak]]. According to the Bhai Bala Janam Sakhi's, he traveled with Guru Nanak and [[Bhai Mardana]] on all of their great journeys around the world including [[China]], [[Mecca]], and around [[India]]. He supposedly died in Khadur Sahib, in his late 70s, in 1544. <ref name="McLeod, W.H. 1968"/><ref name="Macauliffe">Max Arthur Macauliffe, 1909</ref><br />
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==Bhai Bala's existence==<br />
There has been considerable discussion as regards to Bhai Bala's existence, particularly within the Sikh academic field. The reasons for this are:<br />
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[[Bhai Gurdas]], who has listed all Guru Nanak's prominent disciples (in his 11th Var), does not mention the name of Bhai Bala (this may be an oversight, for he does not mention Rai Bular either). However [[Bhai Mani Singh]]'s Bhagat Ratanwali, which contains essentially the same list as that by Bhai Gurdas, but with more detail, also does not mention Bhai Bala. There are a number of other anomalies, which Dr. Kirpal Singh has explicated in his Punjabi work 'Janamsakhi Tradition.'<ref name="Singh, Dr Kirpal 2004">Singh, Dr Kirpal, Janamsakhi Tradition (An Analytical Study). Singh Brothers, 2004.(page 10)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sikhnerd.com/downloads/sikh/janamsakhi_tradition_dr_kirpal_singh.pdf |title=Janamsakhi Tradition – An Analytical Study |author=Dr. Kirpal Singh |accessdate=8 September 2012 |archive-date=1 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301121457/http://sikhnerd.com/downloads/sikh/janamsakhi_tradition_dr_kirpal_singh.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />
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Professor [[Surjit Hans]] also notes that the only role of Bhai Bala was to denigrate the name of Nanak and that Guru Nanak prophesizes about a greater bhagat (Hundal) to come.<br />
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Also in the Bhai Bala Janamsakhi are several language inconsistencies. For example, the Sikh salutation 'Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh' is used in the Bala Janamsakhi, however this term only gained currency during the reign of [[Guru Gobind Singh]].<br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Nankana Sahib]]<br />
*[[Panja Sahib]]<br />
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==References==<br />
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==External links==<br />
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080327142650/http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/gurus/bhaibala.html Sikh history]<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bala, Bhai}}<br />
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[[Category:1466 births]]<br />
[[Category:1544 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:16th-century Indian people]]<br />
[[Category:Guru Nanak Dev]]<br />
[[Category:People whose existence is disputed]]<br />
[[Category:Sikh saints]]</div>2402:8100:2060:65CC:0:0:3155:E9DB