PIR BUDDHÛ SHÂH (1647-1704), a Muslim divine whose real name was Badr ud-Dîn and who was an admirer of Gurû Gobind Siṅgh, was born on 13 June 1647 in a prosperous Sayyid family of Saḍhaurâ, in present - day Ambâlâ district of Haryâṇâ.
Because of his simplicity and silent nature during his early childhood he was given the nickname of Buddhû (lit. simpleton) which stuck to him permanently. He was married at the age of 18 to a pious lady, Nasîrâṅ, who was the sister of Said Khân, later a high-ranking officer in the Mughal army. It is not certain how Buddhû Shâh first became acquainted with Gurû Gobind Siṅgh, but it is recorded that he called on him in 1685 at Pâoṇṭâ, on the bank of the Yamunâ.
At his recommendation, the Gurû engaged 500 Paṭhân soldiers under the command of four leaders, Kâle Khân, Bhîkhan Khân, Nijâbat Khân and Hayât Khân. In 1688, when Gurû Gobind Siṅgh was attacked by a combined force of the hill chiefs led by Râjâ Fateh Shâh of Srînagar (Gaṛhvâl), all the Paṭhâns with the exception of Kâle Khân deserted him and joined the hill monarch. The Gurû conveyed the news of the treachery to Pîr Buddhû Shâh, who immediately rushed to Bhaṅgâṇî, the battlefield, with 700 of his followers, including his brother and four sons. Many of the Pîr's disciples as well as two of his sons, Ashraf and Muhammad Shâh, and his brother, Bhûre Shâh, fell in the action.
After the battle Gurû Gobind Siṅgh offered rich presents to the Pîr which the latter politely declined to accept. However he, as the tradition goes, begged the Gurû to bestow upon him the comb from his hair and the turban he was going to tie. The Gurû gave him the two articles and a small kirpân or sword which the Pîr and his descendants kept in the family as sacred heirlooms until Mahârâjâ Bharpûr Siṅgh of Nâbhâ (1840-63) acquired them in exchange for a jâgîr or land grant. The relics are still preserved in the family's palace at Nâbhâ (in the Punjab).
The Râjpût chiefs defeated at Bhaṅgâṇî remained hostile towards Gurû Gobind Siṅgh, and wished to evict him from Anandpur to where he had returned. To solicit help from the imperial government, they sent to the emperor reports describing the Gurû as a dangerous rebel. Complaints also reached the authority against Pîr Buddhû Shâh who had rendered assistance to the Gurû. The faujdâr of Sirhind, under whose jurisdiction the parganah of Saḍhaurâ then fell, directed a local official, 'Usmân Khân, to chastise the Pîr. The latter marched on Saḍhaurâ, arrested Buddhû Shâh and had him executed on 21 March 1704.
Bandâ Siṅgh Bahâdur avenged the Pîr's execution in 1709 by storming Saḍhaurâ and killing 'Usmân Khân. Pîr Buddhû Shâh's descendants migrated to Pakistan in 1947. Their ancestral house in Sâḍhaurâ has since been converted into a Gurdwârâ named after Pîr Buddhû Shâh.
