Haqiqat Rai Puri was born into a Hindu family, in Sialkot, Punjab, Mughal India with his caste being a Puri Khatri. His father's name was Bagh Mal Rai, a Hindu trader. At the age of 14, Rai was sent to a Maulvi to learn Persian. One day some of his Muslim classmates were making fun of various Hindu deities, ridiculing his religion. In return he asked them how they would feel if anyone insulted Muhammad or Ayesha. For this, his classmates reported this to the Maulvi as it was taken as an insult of Islam. As a result, he was taken to Lahore, where he was given the option to convert to Islam to save his life, but he refused. As a result he was beheaded at the age of 14, during the governorship of Zakariya Khan. Quasi Abdul Haq, who was responsible for the Fatwa, was also beheaded later by Sardar Dal Singh and Saradar Mana Singh and shown around the city ofBatala Different sources give different dates of his death, including 1732, or 1735.
Legacy
In 1782, a poet named Aggra wrote a Punjabivar titled Haqiqat Rai di Var. Maharaja Ranjit Singh particularly revered Haqiqat Rai as a Hindu martyr. In the first decade of the twentieth century, three Bengali writers popularized the legend of Haqiqat Rai's martyrdom through their essays. The three accounts differ greatly. The Arya Samaj organized a play Dharmaveer Haqiqat Rai, advocating deep loyalty to Hinduism. It also printed copies of the legend, and distributed them free of cost or at a nominal price of 2 paisa. Before the partition of India in 1947, Hindus and Sikhs used to gather at his samadhi in Lahore, during the Basant Panchami Festival. His samadhi in Sialkot was also a place of worship. In 2004, Nawa-i-Waqt, a Pakistani daily opposed Basant Panchami celebrations in Pakistan, arguing that the festival celebrated Haqiqat Rai's insult of Muhammad. Another samadhi dedicated to Haqiqat Rai is located in Boeli of Baba Bhandari, where people gather and pay obeisance to Haqiqat Rai during Basant Panchami. In Gurdaspur district, a shrine dedicated to him is located at Batala. The town also has a samadhi dedicated to Sati Lakshmi Devi, said to be the wife of Haqiqat Rai. Many cities in India have localities named after Haqiqat Rai, mostly the ones where the partition refugees settled; for example, Haqiqat Nagar in Delhi. An ISBT located in Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi, India is also named after him.
