ਚਾਰ ਸਾਹਿਬਜ਼ਾਦੇ

The Story

The four Sahibzaade, the sons of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, and the week in December 1705 that the Sikh world has never forgotten.

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History at a Glance

The four Sahibzaade, ‘The Khalsa warriors’, were the sons of Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), the leader of the Sikhs in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal empire (1526–1857).

In 1699, Sikhs, born out of Mughal tyranny (yet most tolerant towards Muslims), Gobind Singh created the Khalsa, an elite warrior army of initiated devout orthodox Sikhs to protect the innocent from religious persecution. There would not have been any organised faith called Sikhism if the Mughals were not tyrants and their forced conversion to Islam had not forced some people with guts to stand up and be counted against this barbaric way of bringing people under their umbrella of faith.

Guru Gobind Singh had four sons: Ajit, Jujhar, Zorawar, Fateh. All four of his sons were initiated into the Khalsa and all were executed by Mughal forces under the age of 20. There is a stellar example of toleration in history: the Nawab of a tiny state, Malerkotla, spoke against the orders given by Wazir Khan, the Subedar of Sirhind, to cast the young sons in the wall. This act is called “haa da naara” (speaking against a wrong act). Sikhs always respected the Malerkotla Nawab and they returned the favour after 250 years: during Partition, when the demography of India was being changed by killing each other, not one Muslim of Malerkotla was hurt by the Sikhs. Sikhism honours the illustrious martyred sons of Guru Gobind Singh in the prayer of Ardas for their valour and sacrifice as “Char Sahibzade”, the four princes of the Khalsa warrior order.

Char Sahibzaade

Four sons, four ages: 18, 14, 9 and 6

ਸਾਹਿਬਜ਼ਾਦਾ ਅਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ

Sahibzada Ajit Singh Ji

1687–1705 · Martyred at 18, Chamkaur Sahib, 7 December 1705

Ajit Singh was born on January 26, 1687 CE, according to the Sikh calendar called the Vikram Samvat (SV) on the fourth day of the waxing moon in the month of Magh, SV year 1743. Guru Gobind Singh’s eldest son was born at Paonta, and named Ajit at birth, meaning “Invincible”. Baba Ajit Singh was given the name Singh when he was initiated into the Khalsa at the age of 12 and drank of the immortal nectar along with his family on the first Vaisakhi Day, April 13, 1699, at Anandpur Sahib, where his father took the name Tenth Guru Gobind Singh. Baba Ajit Singh was martyred at the age of 18, on December 7, 1705 CE at Chamkaur, after he volunteered to leave the besieged fortress with five Singhs and face the enemy on the battlefield.

ਸਾਹਿਬਜ਼ਾਦਾ ਜੁਝਾਰ ਸਿੰਘ

Sahibzada Jujhar Singh Ji

1691–1705 · Martyred at 14, Chamkaur Sahib, 7 December 1705

Jujhar Singh was born on Sunday, March 14, 1691 CE, on the seventh of the month of Chet, SV year 1747. The second eldest son of Guru Gobind Singh was born at Anandpur, and at birth named Jujhar, meaning “Warrior”. Baba Jujhar Singh was initiated at the age of eight years along with his family and given the name Singh at Anandpur Sahib on Vaisakhi, April 13, 1699, when his father Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa order of warrior saints. Jujhar Singh was martyred at the age of 14, on December 7, 1705 CE at Chamkaur, where he earned the reputation of being likened to a crocodile for his fierceness in battle, when he volunteered to leave the besieged fortress with five of the last Singhs standing, and all achieved immortality on the battlefield.

ਸਾਹਿਬਜ਼ਾਦਾ ਜ਼ੋਰਾਵਰ ਸਿੰਘ

Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji

1696–1705 · Martyred at 9, Sirhind, 12 December 1705

Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji was born on Wednesday, November 17, 1696, on the first day of the waning moon in the month of Maghar, SV year 1753. The third son of Guru Gobind Singh was born at Anandpur, and at birth named Zorawar, meaning ‘Brave’. Baba Zorawar Singh was given the name Singh at the age of five and was initiated along with his family members at Anandpur Sahib in the first Amrit Sanchar ceremony held on Vaisakhi Day, April 13, 1699. Sahibzada Zorawar Singh was martyred at the age of nine, at Sirhind Fatehgarh, December 12, 1705 CE, on the 13th day of the month of Poh, SV year 1762. Zorawar Singh and his younger brother Fateh Singh were captured with their grandmother Gujri, the mother of Guru Gobind Singh. The Sahibzaade were imprisoned with their grandmother and put to death by cruel Mughal rulers who attempted to suffocate them inside a brick enclosure.

ਸਾਹਿਬਜ਼ਾਦਾ ਫ਼ਤਿਹ ਸਿੰਘ

Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji

1699–1705 · Martyred at 6, Sirhind, 12 December 1705

Born on Wednesday, February 25, 1699 CE, the 11th day of the month of Phagan, SV year 1755, the youngest son of Guru Gobind Singh was born at Anandpur, and at birth named Fateh, meaning ‘Victory’. Baba Fateh Singh was given the name Singh when initiated at the age of three along with his family members on Vaisakhi Day, April 13, 1699, at Anandpur Sahib, where he partook of baptism by the sword, created by his father, and his mother took the name Ajit Kaur, and brought sugar to sweeten the immortal Amrit nectar. Fateh Singh was martyred at the age of six at Sirhind Fatehgarh, December 12, 1705 CE, the 13th day of the month of Poh, SV year 1762. Fateh Singh and his brother survived being bricked up alive, but then the order was given for them to be beheaded. Their grandmother Mata Gujri died of shock in the prison tower.

December 1705

From Anandpur Sahib to Fatehgarh Sahib

Vaisakhi, 13 April 1699
Anandpur Sahib
The Khalsa is created. All four Sahibzaade take Amrit with their family.
5 to 6 December 1705
Anandpur Sahib to Sirsa river
Guru Gobind Singh Ji leaves Anandpur. The family is separated at the flooded Sirsa (Pariwar Vichora).
7 December 1705
Chamkaur Sahib
Sahibzada Ajit Singh, 18, and Sahibzada Jujhar Singh, 14, attain martyrdom in the battle of Chamkaur.
8 to 11 December 1705
Morinda and Sirhind
Mata Gujri Ji and the Chhote Sahibzaade are betrayed and held in the Thanda Burj, the cold tower.
12 December 1705
Sirhind (Fatehgarh Sahib)
Sahibzada Zorawar Singh, 9, and Sahibzada Fateh Singh, 6, refuse to convert and attain martyrdom. Mata Gujri Ji passes away.
Every 22 to 27 December
Wherever you are
Shaheedi Hafta. We walk, remember and share with #Walk4Sahibzaade.

Mata Gujri Ji and the Thanda Burj

Mata Gujri Ji, the mother of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, was with the two younger Sahibzaade when the family was separated after leaving Anandpur Sahib in December 1705. Betrayed and handed to the authorities at Sirhind, she and her grandsons, Zorawar Singh aged about nine and Fateh Singh aged about six, were held in the Thanda Burj, the "cold tower", an open tower of the fort exposed to the winter wind. Tradition remembers her keeping the boys warm through the nights and preparing them, with stories of their grandfather Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji and their father, for what they would face in court each morning. When the Sahibzaade were put to death, Mata Gujri Ji passed away in the tower the same day.

Today the site is Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib, in the town of Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab. The spot where the Sahibzaade were bricked up is marked within the complex, and Gurdwara Jyoti Sarup nearby stands where the three were cremated, on land bought at great price by Diwan Todar Mal. Each December the Shaheedi Jor Mela draws hundreds of thousands of people to walk there, which is where this walk takes its inspiration.

The Nawab of Malerkotla and the haa da naara

When Wazir Khan, the governor of Sirhind, ordered the two children to be executed, Sher Mohammad Khan, the Nawab of the small nearby state of Malerkotla, is remembered for objecting openly in the court. He said that the quarrel was with the father, not the children, and that punishing them was against justice and against the teachings of Islam. His protest, known in Punjabi as the haa da naara, "the cry of justice", did not save the Sahibzaade, but it was not forgotten. Guru Gobind Singh Ji is said to have blessed Malerkotla on hearing of it, and in 1947, when Punjab was torn apart by partition, Malerkotla was spared the violence that struck the towns around it. It remains, to this day, a town where Sikhs and Muslims live side by side.

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