The martyrs who strengthened the foundations of the palace of Sikhi
The tenth guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh sahib ji, whom poets and historians praise throughout history, made abundant sacrifices just to pursue an honest, justified and equal empire. Guru ji sent his father, Guru Teg Bahadur ji, to Delhi in the very name of fairness, that one should have the right to choose their religion and no should be forced in any manner. He created the Khalsa in 1699, Khalsa is the army of the Akaal Purakh. Guru Gobind Singh Ji made all these efforts for the sake of all people, just so their lifestyles would not be delegated by the Mugal empire.
However, all of this did not sit well with the chiefs of the Sivalik hills, otherwise known as ‘pahari raje’. They joined forces, despite their own differences, with Aurangjeb. And, with the aid of the Mugol empire, led an attempt to seige the fort of Anandpur. The food in the city of Anandpur become from scarce to none during the time that Anandpur Sahib was surrounded. So on an unfortunate night in December 1705, after the hill monarchs’ and Mugols’ countless promises and oaths on Quran, Guru ji and his Sikhs agreed to leave Anandpur. All promises were broken as soon as Guru ji and the Sikhs emptied Anandpur, as the Mugols raided the Sikhs. And near the Sirsa river, there was a huge battle, during which Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s family was also separated. The older sahibzade, Baba Ajit Singh and Baba Jujhar Singh, crossed the Sirsa waters and entered Chamkaur along with Guru Gobind Singh ji. While the younger sahibzade, Baba Jorawar Singh Ji and Baba Fateh Singh Ji, with their grandmother Mata Gujri Ji, were lost in the jungle alongside the Sirsa river.
In Chamkaur, the Sikhs set camp and as they had expected the Mugols had within hours surrounded Chamkaur sahib. At that time, there were only about 40 Sikhs in Chamkaur with Guru ji. So, Guru Ji began sending out fighters in the form of a group of 5. After about two jathas had been sent out, Baba Ajit Singh Ji volunteered to join the the battlefield. Guru Gobind Singh Ji maharaj sent Baba Ajit Singh into battle without any hesitation, giving his blessings just like he had to all his Sikhs. Baba Ajit Singh ji fought like a professional warrior and fell only after killing many enemies. After, Ajit Singh’s martydom, Sahibzada Jujhar Singh also wanted to join the battle. Guru Ji sent him out, just the same as others. When the Sikhs tried to protest, Guru ji said that all the Sikhs are just like his sons and that he sees no difference in the two. Baba Jujhar Singh, thus, went to battlefield and despite being only of age 15, he fought his best and became the death of more than 40 enemy. Guru ji was standing atop a high area in the campsite so as to watch the battle, and after both the sahibzada’s martyrdom he let out a jaikara. Instead of weeping the death of his sons like any ordinary father would, Guru ji remained calm and continued sending out groups of Sikhs to this unbalanced yet grim battle.
The younger sajibzade and Mata Gujri ji, who were roaming through the lush jungle, met Gangu brahmin. Gangu had worked as a kitchen hand for the guru family for about 30 years so Mata Gujri ji instantly trusted him when he offered to help them. Gangu took Mata ji and the sahibzade to his village Saheri, where they stayed the night. Mata Gujri ji had some money with her and when Gangu saw this, his loyalties disintegrated. During the night, when the sahibzadas were asleep and Gangu thought that Mata Ji was also asleep, he stole the money from Mata Gujri Ji’s bedside. When morning came, Mata Ji called Gangu to her side and asked him whether he had taken her money for safekeeping. Hearing this, Gangu got nervous and started saying that even though I gave you refuge in my house, you are accusing me of theft. He went to the nearest police station and filed that the younger sons and mother of Guru Gobind Singh Ji were in his house. The sahibzadas and Mata ji were soon arrested and brought to Sirhind. They were kept in the thanda burj, the coldest of the forts in the painfully cold nights of December and the sahibzadas were to face trial the next morning. The governer of Sirhind, Wazir Khan was very cruel and cold-hearted. The next morning, the sahibzadas were called to the governer’s court, where they greeted everyone with Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh. This shocked everyone and the governer tried to get them to greet him his way but the sahibzadas did not budge. As the trial continued, the sahibzadas were given two choices to either embrace Islam or risk their lives. The sahibzadas chose death even though all the people tried to scare them and tried to make them think of the luxurious lives they would lead after converting to Islam.
The sahibzadas, however, did not care about what all these men of Wazir Khan said and thus chose to rather die than giving up Sikhi. The Qazi, thus passed a sentence that the sahibzadas were to be bricked alive. Baba Zorawar Singh and Baba Fateh Singh were bricked alive at the age 8 and 6. Their death arose great unrest among the people of sirhind. Mata Gujri Ji received the news of the sahibzadas martyrdom and soon left for heavenly abode herself. After the sahibzadas had martyred, a Sikh named Todar Mal, wanted to arrange for the cremation of the sahibzade and was thus required by was Wazir Khan to lay gold coins over the mass of ground that he would use cremation.
Upon hearing the news of the younger sahibzade’s martyrdom, Guru Gobind Singh ji, pulled a plant with the tip of his arrow and announced that this tragedy shall be end of the Mogul tyranny over India. When asked by his wives on the whereabouts of his sons, Guru ji answered that:
'In putran ke sees par, vaar diye sut chaar,
Chaar mooye to kiya hua, jevaat kayi hazaar.'
"I have sacrificed my four sons. So what if my four sons are dead, when thousands are alive."
Guru Ji had proudly declared that the whole Khalsa panth are his children. So here is is a question for all of you, If Guru Gobind Singh Ji came here today, right now, would he be able to see his Fateh Singh and Ajit Singh in us??
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on Dec. 18th 2015
