Bhai Jivan Singh
Bhai Jivan Singh(1649-1705), was the name given to Bhai Jaita after he had received the rites of initiation at the hands of Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, was a Sikh belonging to the scavenger caste who was given by Guru Gobind Singh the epithet of ‘Ranghareta Guru Ka Beta (the young man of the Ranghar caste is the Guru’s own son. Ranghar caste was the people whose one of the ancestors was born out of mixed parentage of couple following Hindu and Muslim religion, and thus were outcasted out of Hindu religion)., when he brought the severed head of Guru Tegh Bahadur from Delhi where he was executed under the orders of the emperor.
Bhai Jaita was born on 30 November 1649 to mother Kanno and father Sada Chand At the time of his birth, he was named Jag Chand, shortened to Jagu or Jota . He and his younger brother Bhag Chand, also Called Bhagu, were the disciples of Guru Har Rai, Nanak VII from kiratput, in the Sivalik hills, Where the Guru then resided, they shifted along with their parents, to the village of Jhanda Ramdas where they stayed with Bhai Gurditta (1625-1675), the great-greatgrandson of Bhai Buddha As Bhat Gurditta was detained in Delhi following the arrest of Guru Tegh Bahadur, Jaita was sent by the family to bring news of him. He was in Delhi when Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded in a public thoroughfare (11 November 1675), and as no one came forward to claim the bodily remains for fear of reprisals, he succeeded in evading the guards and escaping with the severed head to Anandpur where he was received with much honour by Guru Gobind Singh. He thereafter lived at Anandpur, becoming the first nagarchi or beater of drum when the Guru set up the Raniit Nagara.
In 1691, he was married to Raj Kaur daughter of Sujan Singh of the viliage of Riar, near Amritsar, and had four sons born of him. He received the rites of initiation When Guru Gobind Singh inauguarated the Khalsa on 30 March 1699. Jaita was now renamed Jivan Singh. He became famous as a marksman and trained the two elder sons of Guru Gobind Singh in the art of warfare. He himself took part in all of Guru Cobind Singh’s battles against the hill chiefs and the Mughals.
Bhai Jivan Singh fell a martyr in the battle of Chamkaur on 7 December 1705. A burj or a tower stands on the site as a monument to his memory.
Article taken from these books.
Encyclopedia of Sikhism edited by Harbans Singh ji.