Bhagat Sain was a disciple of Bhagat Ramanand and consequently lived in the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century of the Christian era. He was a barber at the court of Raja Ram, king of Rewa, then called Bandhavgarh. The tendency of the age was towards devotion and religious composition, and Sain found leisure in the midst of duties to study the hymns of Ramanand, shape his life on the principles inculcated in them, and successfully imitate their spirit and devotional fervour. Bhagat Ramanand is considered a pioneer of the Bhakti movement in the Indian subcontinent. ...

The accomplishments and duties of an Indian court barber at the time of Sain were and are still of a miscellaneous character. He is something of a surgeon and ordinarily a marriage or match-maker, he oils the king’s body, shampoos his limbs, pares his nails, shaves his face and head, if he be a Hindu, and clips his moustaches, if he be a Musalman; amuses him with gossip and tales; often plays the rebeck and sings his own compositions, which deftly combine flattery of his master with social satire or pleasentry.

God is said by the Hindu chronicler to have cherished Sian as a cow her calf. He frequented the society of holy men and was very happy in their company. He performed for them all menial officies, for he believed that serving saints was equivalent to serving God himself.

The Bhagat Mal contains a legend which at once illustrates Sain’s devotion to saints and the estimation in which he was held for his piety. When going one day to perform his usual ministrations for King Raja Ram, he met some holy men on the way. He thought it was his first duty to attend to them, He took them with him, and began to render them with the customary services. With the greatest mental satisfaction to himself he gave them consecrated and secular food to relieve their souls and bodies. In thus acting Sain disregarded his duty to the king and braved his displeasure.

The legend states that a holy man, by God’s favour, in order to avert the king’s wrath and save Sain from punishment, assumed his appearance, and having gone and performed the customary duties for the king, took his departure. Soon after Sain arrived and began to apologise for the delay. The king said, “Thou hast only just gone after the usual services to me; why apologise?” Sain replied, “ I have not been here. Perhaps thy majesty sayest so to excuse my absence.” The Raja then knew that a special providence had intervened and performed for him the usual tonsorial duties. He was at once converted, fell at Sain’s feet, worshipped him as his guru, and thus sought an asylum in God. It had at any rate at the time of the composition of the Bhagat Mal become an established custom that the successive kings of the house of Bandhavgarh should always be disciples of the descendants of Sain. They are now said to be followers of Bhagat Kabir. Kabir (कबीर) (1440 - Indian Mystic who preached an ideal of seeing all of humanity as one. ...

The following hymn of Sain is found in the Guru Granth Sahib:

Raag Dhanasari, Sri Sain, p.695 SGGS Read at SikhiToTheMax Guru Granth Sahib (Granth is Punjabi for book, Sahib is Hindi meaning master, from Arabic, meaning companion, friend, owner, or master) or Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji or SGGS for short, is more than a holy book of the Sikhs. ...

Having made an oblation of incense, lamp, and clarified butter,

I go to offer to Thee, O God.

Hail to Thee, O God, hail!

Ever hail to Thee, O Sovereign God!

Thy name is the best lamp, meditation theron the purest wick;

Thou art alone the Bright One, O God.

It is the saints of God who feel divine pleasure;

They describe Thee as all-pervading and the Supreme Joy.

Thou, of fasniating form, O God, float us over the ocean of terror.

Sain saith, worship the Supreme Joy.

References

• Macauliffe, M.A The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus Sacred Writings and Authors, Low Price Publications,1909, ISBN 8175361328