After leaving Chamkaur, Guru Gobind Singh Ji crossed country alone or nearly alone and reached the forest at Machhiwara. He had lost two sons two nights earlier and did not yet know about the other two.
The shabad Mitar pyare nu haal muridan da kehna, tell the beloved friend the condition of his disciples, is placed here by the tradition. It is addressed to God and it is a report from a man with nothing left.
He was found by Gulaba, a masand of the town, and sheltered. Two Pathan brothers of Machhiwara, Nabi Khan and Ghani Khan, horse traders who had dealt with him at Anandpur, then carried him out of the district in a palanquin, telling the imperial patrols that they were escorting Uch da Pir, a Muslim holy man of Uch.
The party was stopped and questioned and let through on the word of a qazi who knew the brothers.
Gurdwara Charan Kanwal at Machhiwara marks the shelter. Two Muslim horse dealers carried the tenth Guru through a cordon set to catch him, and that is not a footnote.
Chamkaur is about twenty five kilometres away and the country between is open. He crossed it in December, on foot, in the days after the fort was abandoned on the order of the five, and the accounts have him sleeping in a field with thorns under him.
The route on from here through Hehar, Lallon, Rampur and Alamgir toward Raikot is marked by a small gurdwara at each stop. It is one of very few historical routes in Punjab that can still be followed on the ground by the buildings along it.
The hymn Mitar pyare nu is placed at Machhiwara in the tradition. It is a message sent, not a lament, and it is the most personal thing in the whole corpus.