CHANDU SHAH, a wealthy banker and revenue official at the Mughal court at Lahore. He earned the annoyance of Sikhs by uttering disparaging words when his family priest proposed Guru Arjan`s son, Hargobind, for his daughter who was of marriageable age. Chandu Shah accepted the suggestion but with reluctance and made the conceited remark that the Guru`s house was too low for his status and wealth. Report of what he had said reached the local sangat, who felt injured and sent request to Guru Arjan to reject the proposal. The, Guru, honouring Sikhs` wishes, broke off the match.
GURDITTA BHATHIARA was, according to tradition, engaged by Chandu Shah to torture Guru Arjan to death. Death by torture had been ordered by Emperor Jaharigir himself and Chandu Shah had, out of personal rancour, taken upon himself the responsibility of carrying out the imperial fiat. Gurditta, a poor bhathidrd or gramparcher by trade, was told to heal up an iron plate placed over a big hearth. Guru Arjan was made to sit on the redhot plate and Gurditta was ordered to pour hot sand over his body. The torture ended in Guru Arjan`s death. Years later, when Jaharigir was reconciled to Guru Arjan`s son and successor, Guru Hargobind, he had Chandu Shah handed over to the Guru to be dealt with according to his deserts.
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SRI GOBINDPUR. or SRI HARGOBINDPUR (30"41`N, 75°29`E), a small town in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab, located on the bank of the River Beas, was originally a ruined mound of a village called Ruhela, which formed part of the estates of Chandu Shah, diwan of the Mughal times. Guru Hargobind came here from Kartarpur during the rainy season probably of 1629 and, pleased at the attractive view the site commanded, he rehabilitated it and named it Sri Gobindpur. But because of his own association with it, the place came to be known as Sri Hargobindpur, a name still commonly used.
