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{{Short description|The seventh Sikh Guru}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| religion = [[Sikhism]]
| name = Guru Har Rai
| alt = Guru Har Rai
| image = Guru Har Rai painting.jpg
| caption = Guru Har Rai, the Seventh Guru (ca.1800–1825 Pahari painting)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1630|01|16}}
| birth_place = [[Kiratpur Sahib]], [[Subah of Lahore|Lahore Subah]], [[Mughal Empire]] <br> {{small|(present-day [[Rupnagar district]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[India]])}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1661|10|06|1630|01|16}}
| death_place = [[Kiratpur Sahib]], [[Subah of Lahore|Lahore Subah]], [[Mughal Empire]] <br> {{small|(present-day [[Rupnagar district]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[India]])}}
| period = 1644–1661
| other_names = ''Seventh Master''<br>''Seventh Nanak''
| predecessor = [[Guru Hargobind]]
| successor = [[Guru Har Krishan]]
| father = [[Baba Gurditta]]
| mother = [[Mata Nihal Kaur]]
| spouse = Mata Krishen Devi (also known as Sulakhni or Kishan Kaur)
| children = [[Baba Ram Rai]]<br> [[Guru Har Krishan]]
| native_name = ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਿ ਰਾਇ
| native_name_lang = pa
| native name lang = pa
| signature = Autograph of Guru Har Rai.jpg
}}
{{Sikhism sidebar}}

'''Guru Har Rai''' ([[Gurmukhi]]: ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਿ ਰਾਇ, pronunciation: {{IPA-pa|gʊɾuː ɦəɾ ɾaːɪ|}}; 16 January 1630 – 6 October 1661)<ref name=eosghr>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/TheEncyclopediaOfSikhism-VolumeIiE-l/page/n275 |title=Har Rai, Guru (1630–1661) |author=Bhagat Singh |editor=Harbans Singh|display-editors=etal| website=Encyclopaedia of Sikhism |publisher=Punjabi University Patiala |access-date=16 January 2017}}</ref> revered as the ''seventh [[Guru Nanak|Nanak]]'', was the seventh of ten Gurus of the [[Sikh]] religion.<ref name=britharrai>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Har-Rai Har Rai: Sikh Guru], Encyclopedia Britannica (2015)</ref> 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]].<ref name="Mandair2013p50">{{cite book|author=Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair|title=Sikhism: A Guide for the Perplexed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdhLAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 |year=2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-1-4411-0231-7|pages=50–51}}</ref> He guided the Sikhs for about seventeen years, till his death at age 31.<ref name="Mandair2013p50"/><ref name="Grewal1998p67">{{cite book|author=J. S. Grewal|title=The Sikhs of the Punjab|url= https://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjab0000grew|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-63764-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjab0000grew/page/67 67]–69}}</ref>

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 Islam|Sunni]] influenced [[Aurangzeb]] as the two brothers entered into a war of succession to the Mughal Empire throne.<ref name="Mandair2013p50"/>

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 Ram Rai as hostage, questioned Ram Rai about a verse in the [[Adi Granth]] – the holy text of Sikhs at that time. Aurangzeb claimed that it disparaged the Muslims.<ref name=britharrai/><ref name="Grewal1998p67"/> Ram Rai changed the verse to appease Aurangzeb instead of standing by the Sikh scripture, an act for which Guru Har Rai is remembered for excommunicating his elder son, and nominating his younger son [[Guru Har Krishan|Har Krishan]] to succeed him.<ref>{{cite book|author1=William Owen Cole|author2=Piara Singh Sambhi|title=The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIC_MgJ5RMUC&pg=PA33 |year=1995|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-898723-13-4|pages=33–34}}</ref> Har Krishan became the eighth Guru at age five after Guru Har Rai's death in 1661.<ref name=britharrai/> Some Sikh literature spell his name as '''Hari Rai'''.<ref name="Singh2014p400">{{cite book|author1=Pashaura Singh|author2=Louis E. Fenech|title=The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8I0NAwAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-969930-8|page=400}}</ref>

==Biography==
Guru Har Rai was born to Nihal Kaur and Baba Gurditta into a Sodhi household. His father died while he was 8 years old. At age 10, in 1640, Guru Har Rai was married to Mata Kishan Kaur (sometimes also referred to as Sulakhni) the daughter of Daya Ram. They had two children, Ram Rai and Har Krishan, the latter of whom became the eighth [[Guru]].<ref>{{cite book|author=J. S. Grewal|title=The Sikhs of the Punjab|url=https://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjab0000grew|url-access=registration| year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-63764-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjab0000grew/page/62 62]–63, 67–69}}</ref>

Guru Har Rai had brothers. 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 criticised his grand father 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".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Louis E. Fenech|author2=W. H. McLeod|title= Historical Dictionary of Sikhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xajcAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 |year=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-3601-1|page=148}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Pashaura Singh|author2=Louis E. Fenech|title=The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8I0NAwAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-969930-8|page=41}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Surjit Singh Gandhi|title=History of Sikh Gurus Retold: 1606–1708 C.E |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZFBp89UInUC&pg=PA590 |year=2007|publisher=Atlantic Publishers |isbn=978-81-269-0858-5|pages=590–591 with note 2}}</ref>

===Dara Shikoh===
Guru Har Rai provided medical care to [[Dara Shikoh]], possibly when he had been poisoned by Mughal operatives.<ref name=britharrai/><ref name="Mandair2013p50"/> According to Mughal records, Guru Har Rai provided other forms of support to Dara Shikoh as he and his brother Aurangzeb battled for rights to succession. Ultimately, Aurangzeb won, arrested Dara Shikoh and executed him on charges of [[apostasy]] from Islam. In 1660, Aurangzeb summoned Guru Har Rai to appear before him to explain his relationship with Dara Shikoh.<ref name="Mandair2013p50"/>

In the Sikh tradition, Guru Har Rai was asked why he was helping the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh whose forefathers had persecuted Sikhs and Sikh Gurus. Guru Har Rai is believed to have replied that if a man plucks flowers with one hand and gives it away using his other hand, both hands get the same fragrance.<ref>{{cite book|author=Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair|title=Sikhism: A Guide for the Perplexed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdhLAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA226 |year=2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-1-4411-0231-7|pages=226 with note 7}}</ref>

===Death and succession===
He appointed his 5-year-old youngest son [[Guru Har Krishan|Har Krishan]] as the eighth Guru of the Sikhs before his death.

==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 ''[[Shabad kirtan|sabad kirtan]]'' singing tradition of Sikhs. He also added the ''[[Akhand Path|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.<ref name="Singh2014p400"/>

===Reforms===
The third Sikh leader [[Guru Amar Das]] had started the tradition of appointing ''[[Manji (Sikhism)|Manji]]'' (zones of religious administration with an appointed chief called ''sangatias''),<ref name=cole20>{{cite book|author1=William Owen Cole|author2=Piara Singh Sambhi|title=The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIC_MgJ5RMUC&pg=PA22| year=1995| publisher= Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-898723-13-4|pages=20–21}}</ref><ref name="FenechMcLeod2014p29">{{cite book|author1=Louis E. Fenech|author2=W. H. McLeod|title=Historical Dictionary of Sikhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xajcAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA29|year=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4422-3601-1|pages=29–30}}</ref> introduced the ''[[dasvandh]]'' ("the tenth" of income) system of revenue collection in the name of Guru and as pooled community religious resource,<ref name="Farhadian2015p342">{{cite book|author=Charles E. Farhadian|title=Introducing World Religions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5VV-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT342 |year=2015|publisher=Baker Academic|isbn=978-1-4412-4650-9|pages=342}}</ref> and the famed ''[[Langar (Sikhism)|langar]]'' tradition of Sikhism where anyone, without discrimination of any kind, could get a free meal in a communal seating.<ref name="FenechMcLeod2014p29"/>

The organisational structure that had helped Sikhs to grow and resist the Mughal persecution had created new problems for Guru Har Rai. The donation collectors, some of the [[Masand]]s (local congregational leaders) led by Dhir Mal – the older brother of Guru Har Rai, all of them encouraged by the support of [[Shah Jahan]], land grants and Mughal administration – had attempted to internally split the Sikhs into competing movements, start a parallel guruship, and thereby weaken the Sikh religion. Thus a part of the challenge for Guru<ref name="eosghr" /> Har Rai was to keep Sikhs united.<ref>{{cite book|author=Surjit Singh Gandhi|title=History of Sikh Gurus Retold: 1469–1606 C.E |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qw7-kUkHA_0C&pg=PA365 |year=2007|publisher=Atlantic Publishers |isbn=978-81-269-0857-8|pages=365–367}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Holy People of the World: A Cross-cultural Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5cQH17-HnMC&pg=PA345 |year=2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-355-1|page=345}}</ref>

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.

== Salok Mahalla Satvaan (7) ==
The common Sikh belief is that Guru Hargobind, Guru Har Rai and Guru Harkrishan did not contribute to any Bani at all.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Singh|first=Sardar Harjeet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fleka3YEE8sC&q=a+couplet+attributed+to+Guru+Har+Rai&pg=PA100|title=Faith & Philosophy of Sikhism|date=2009|publisher=Gyan Publishing House|isbn=978-81-7835-721-8|language=en}}</ref> This is not entirely true as Guru Har Rai is said to have wrote the Salok Mahalla Satvaan.

This mahalla is in the Kiratpuri Bir of the Guru Granth Sahib. Although it is clearly marked as a composition of Guru Har Rai the seventh Mina Guru Miharban also used the marker leaving open the possibility of mistaken attribution. The Salok does not appear in any of the texts containing the writings of Miharban. At the same time no text about the Sikh Gurus lives reference Guru Har Rai writing Bani.<ref>Faith and Philosophy of Sikhism Pg.103</ref> It cannot therefore be securely attributed to Guru Har Rai. Gurus each had their own way of starting poems or couplets.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Singh|first=Sardar Harjeet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fleka3YEE8sC&q=a+couplet+attributed+to+Guru+Har+Rai&pg=PA100|title=Faith & Philosophy of Sikhism|date=2009|publisher=Gyan Publishing House|isbn=978-81-7835-721-8|language=en}}</ref>

Guru Har Rai's was: ''Through the voice of Har Rai, the Guru.''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Singh|first=Pashaura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aiwpDwAAQBAJ&q=a+couplet+attributed+to+Guru+Har+Rai&pg=PT212|title=The Guru Granth Sahib: Canon, Meaning and Authority|date=2003-09-26|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-908773-0|language=en}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Guru Hargobind with his grandson, the young Guru Har Rai.jpg|[[Guru Hargobind]] (right) with his grandson, the young Har Rai (left).
File:Guru Har Rai, Guler-Basohli painting.jpg|Guru Har Rai, Guler-Basohli painting.
File:Guru Har Rai, Pahari painting.jpg|Guru Har Rai, Pahari painting.
File:Portrait of Guru Har Rai.jpg|Portrait of Guru Har Rai.
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book | author=Macauliffe, M.A. | title=The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus Sacred Writings and Authors| publisher=Low Price Publications | year=1909 | isbn=81-7536-132-8}}
* {{cite book | author=Singh, Khushwant | title=A History of the Sikhs: 1469-1839 Vol.1 (2nd ed.)| publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1963| isbn=0-19-567308-5}}

==External links==

* [http://www.sikhs.org/guru7.htm Guru Har Rai], Sikhs.org
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141014223945/http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/gurus/nanak7.html Guru Har Rai], Sikh-History.com
* [http://www.guruharraiji.com/ Guru Har Rai], Official Website of Gurudwara Shri Guru Har Rai Village Bhungarni

{{s-start}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Guru Hargobind]]
| title = [[Sikh gurus|Sikh Guru]]|years=3 March 1644 – 6 October 1661
| after = [[Guru Har Krishan]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Sikhism|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Guru Har}}
[[Category:Sikh warriors]]
[[Category:Sikh gurus|Har Rai]]
[[Category:1630 births]]
[[Category:1661 deaths]]
[[Category:Punjabi people]]

Guru Har Rai - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 14:19, 14 August 2023