01Chakk Nanaki and the Khalsa
Guru Tegh Bahadur bought this land on the Sutlej from the raja of Kahlur (Bilaspur) in 1665 and named the settlement Chakk Nanaki, after his mother. From here he went to Delhi in 1675, and was beheaded at Chandni Chowk that November for refusing to give up his faith while defending the right of the Kashmiri Pandits to keep theirs. Bhai Jaita carried his head back to Anandpur, where the boy Gobind Rai cremated it; Gurdwara Sis Ganj marks the place. On Vaisakhi 1699 Guru Gobind Singh called for five heads before the gathered Sikhs, and five men from five corners of India stood up. He gave them amrit, then took it from them himself.
02The sieges
The Guru ringed the town with five forts, Anandgarh, Lohgarh, Holgarh, Fatehgarh and Kesgarh. The hill rajas, uneasy at an armed Sikh power on their border, attacked in 1700 and 1701 and were beaten off. In 1704 they returned with Mughal armies from Sirhind and Lahore and laid a long siege. When food ran out the besiegers swore on the Quran and on the cow that the Sikhs could leave in safety. On the winter night of December 1704 the Guru’s party left; they were attacked at the flooded Sarsa river, and the family was scattered. The elder sahibzade fell at Chamkaur and the younger two were bricked up alive at Sirhind. Holla Mohalla, begun by the Guru, still brings Nihangs here every spring.
The life of this place
- 1665Guru Tegh Bahadur founds Chakk Nanaki.
- November 1675The Guru is martyred in Delhi; Bhai Jaita brings his head to Anandpur.
- Vaisakhi 1699Guru Gobind Singh creates the Khalsa at Kesgarh.
- 1700–1701The hill rajas attack Anandpur and are driven back.
- 1704The long siege by the hill rajas and Mughal armies; the Guru leaves in December on a broken oath of safe passage.
- 2011The Virasat-e-Khalsa museum opens.
On the Nangal road, 30 km from Rupnagar. Holla Mohalla, the day after Holi, is the great festival; Virasat-e-Khalsa is across the road from Kesgarh.
