Baba Buddha Ji performs Tilak ceremony on Guru Arjan. This fresco was formerly located on the walls of Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib in Amritsar but is no longer extant due to Kar Seva renovation work. Source: Vimalkanda (Wikimedia Commons).

Baba Buddha was the great Sikh saint who had the pleasure of serving under the first six Sikh Gurus. Baba Buddha was born in 1506 in the village of Kathu Nangal. When he was a young boy herding cattle in the fields when he met Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, who was visiting the village. The boy served the Guru milk and Guru Nanak exclaimed that though young in age, he was a Buddha (old man) in terms of his understanding and wisdom.

Baba Buddha converted to the path of Sikhism and became an exemplary disciple of the Gurus. Baba Buddha was responsible for the guruship ceremony of the next five Gurus from Guru Angad to Guru Hargobind.

Under Guru Arjan Dev, Baba Buddha was appointed the first custodian (granthi) of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib in the Golden Temple in 1604. Baba Buddha was also responsible for the early education of Guru Hargobind, the Sixth Sikh Guru, as a child and helped to personally construct the Akal Takht.

Baba Buddha passed away in 1631 at village Ramdas and had his last rites personally performed by Guru Hargobind.

~ This information was originally published by Sikhs.org, “Sikh Saints.” Sikhs.org was launched in 1994, and is one of the world’s first Sikh websites. You can read more about them here.

*Note: additional information will be shared about the Golden Temple and the Akal Takht in an upcoming Sikh Dharma 101 lesson.