As per the orders of the cruel Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb to destroy the rising power and influence of Khalsa Panth, Wazir Khan, the nawab of Sirhind was desperate to eliminate the tenth Guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, his family, and his followers. Khalsa was not only unbearable to the Mughals but also to the jealous hill Rajas, who, in mutual alliance, had laid siege over the Anandpur fort for seven months since May 1704 with their armies to capture the Guru.
They treacherously attacked Guru Gobind Singh and his soldiers after winning his faith by taking a false oath of the holy Quran, with the promise of giving a safe passage to Guru ji and Sikh soldiers on vacating the Anandpur fort. Just as Guru Gobind came out of the fort with his family and Sikh soldiers, the Mughal army, almost one lakh in number, attacked them deceitfully.
The river Sarsa was flooded at that time due to heavy rains. While crossing the river, the family of Guru ji got separated in this unexpected war turbulence. The elder sons of Guru ji Sahibzada Ajit Singh and Sahibzada Jujhaar Singh attained martyrdom along with their forty Sikh soldiers while bravely fighting back the huge enemy forces and killing many before breathing their last.
The younger Sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh, 9-year-old Sahibzada Zorawar Singh, and 7-year-old Sahibzada Fateh Singh, along with their grandmother Mata Gujri ji were held captives by nawab Suba Sirhind Wazir Khan because of the deceptive informer Gangu, at whose house in village Saheri, Mata Gujri had taken refuge, reposing her trust in him as he was employed in Guru ji’s service.
Mata Gujri and the two Sahibzadas were kept for three consecutive nights in the “Thanda Burj,” a cold tower in the chilly winter, without food, water, or any warm clothing, blanket, or mattress. Moti Ram Mehra, who was one of the cooks in the kitchen of nawab Wazir Khan, stealthily served hot milk to them at night, risking his job and life. Later, he and his entire family were squeezed to death in a Kohlu (oil press) at Aurangzeb’s orders as a punishment for showing kindness to Guru Gobind Singh’s family.
When the Sahibzadas were produced in the court of Wazir Khan for hearing on the first day, they were asked to say salaam to Wazir with a bowed head, but when they refused to do so, Wazir Khan was stung to the quick. Nawab Sher Mohammad Khan of Malerkotla, whose brother had been killed in a fight by Guru Gobind Singh, was also present in the court.
Wazir Khan persuaded him to avenge his brother’s killing by eliminating Guru Gobind Singh’s Chote Sahibzaade. Sher Mohammad Khan left the court after telling Wazir Khan that killing innocent children was against the tenets of Islam.
However, it was Diwan Sucha Nand who made a provocative speech to Wazir Khan to treat the Sahibzadas as his rebels. He cunningly asked the Sahibzadas what they would do if they were released, to which the Sahibzaadas replied bravely that they would go back to the forests, gather and mobilise Sikh warriors, and continue to attack the nawab of Sirhind till they were defeated. At this, Sucha Nand asked Wazir to treat the Sahibzadas as snakelets.
Tracing Sahibzada’s pre – martyrdom ordeals, Guru Gobind Singh’s contemporary Sikh historian, Doona Singh Handooriya, writes in his historical text ‘Katha Guru ji ke Sutan ki’ that they were beaten brutally with khamchis (the stems of the Mulberry tree) till the time they became unconscious.
In between, whenever they gained consciousness, they were asked by the Mughal officials if they would still not accept Islam. Sahibzadas’ refusal to do so ensued more rounds of thrashing till their bodies became full of inflamed scars.
Further, their fingertips were burnt and they were threatened to be set ablaze for not accepting Islam. However, this unabated torture didn’t cool the fire of Sahibzada’s insurmountable resolve. Later, they were tied to a peepal tree with their hands tied at the back. In this unmovable physical condition, they were shot in the eyes with a catapult. When a stone hit the eye of little Sahibzada Fateh Singh, blood started oozing out of it.
Wazir Khan asked them one last time if they were ready to get converted or not, to which they shook their heads once again in negation. At this point, frustrated and angry beyond measure, Wazir Khan ordered the Sahibzadas to be bricked alive. Three attempts had to be made to erect the wall while bricking the Sahibzadas alive, but every time the wall fell. Wazir khan was so exasperated that he ordered the Sahibzadas to be beheaded.
The executioners, Shashal Beg and Bashal Beg, who were lying imprisoned under Wazir Khan’s orders, were called for this purpose on the promise of being granted release from prison if they executed the Sahibzadas, to which both readily agreed.
A historian, Kesar Singh Chibbar, in his text ‘Bansavlinama Dasan Patshahiyan Ka’ gives an account of the heart wrenching execution scene when the blade of the dagger was run over the throat of Sahibzada Zorawar Singh. Life left his little body instantly, but when Sahibzada Fateh Singh’s throat was slit, he kept on tossing his little legs for ‘adhi ghadi’ before breathing his last. ‘Adhi Ghadi’ in those days was equal to a period of 12 and a half minutes. Just after their martyrdom, Mata Gujri also breathed her last at ‘Thanda Burj’.
Diwan Todar Mal, a devotee of Guru Gobind Singh, pleaded with Wazir Khan for an allowance to perform the last rites of the Sahibzadas and Mata Gujri with due respect. However, he earned this right on the condition of stacking gold coins standing on their edge over a piece of land required to do their cremation. It is called the most expensive piece of land ever bought in history.
Thus, the Chote Sahibzade remained unshaken in their resolve to oppose and resist all sorts of oppression, to safeguard their right to follow Khalsa Panth, and they preferred to embrace martyrdom rather than bow down before the callous Mughal rulers, who had passed all limits of barbarity in their treatment of the Hindus and the Sikhs in those times, to establish the supremacy of their religion and power through forcible conversions.
There is no other example in world history of such bravery and resolve as that of the Chote Sahibzadas to fight for justice at a tender age while boldly bearing unimaginable sufferings. The honorific ‹Baba› is accorded to their names as a mark of great respect for their unparalleled and remarkable sacrifices that they made in their childhood.
Harpreet Kaur Baweja is an Associate Professor at Govt P.G.College, Panchkula
