A Sikh guru disinherited his elder son for changing one verse for Aurangzeb, and rival claimants sat at Bakala waiting to be named

Guru Har Rai, seventh guru of the Sikhs, sent his elder son Ram Rai to Aurangzeb's court. When the emperor objected to a verse in the Adi Granth, Ram Rai changed its wording to please him. Guru Har Rai excommunicated him and named his younger son, Har Krishan, as successor. Har Krishan was five. Har Rai died in October 1661. Aurangzeb kept Ram Rai at court, hoping the guruship would pass to him. Har Krishan was summoned to Delhi and died there of smallpox in 1664, aged seven. His last words were "Baba Bakale," understood to mean the next guru was at Bakala. Sikh tradition records that many claimants set up seats there. Makhan Shah, a trader, had vowed 500 gold coins to the guru when his ships were caught in a storm. At Bakala he gave two coins to each claimant, and each accepted. A recluse in an underground cell asked why he offered two when he had pledged 500. Makhan Shah climbed a roof and shouted "Guru Ladho Re" ("I have found the Guru"). The recluse was Tegh Bahadur, the ninth guru. A rival claimant, Dhir Mal, and his agent Shihan later attacked him^†. Ram Rai founded a seat at Dehradun on village lands granted by the Raja of Garhwal and was burned to death in 1687^†. His Darbar Sahib stands in Dehradun.