01The garhi
In December 1704 the hill rajas and the Mughal governors, after a long siege of Anandpur, swore on the Quran and on the cow that the Guru could leave in safety. As soon as he left the oaths were broken and his party was attacked at the swollen Sarsa river; the family was scattered. With his two elder sons and about forty Sikhs the Guru reached Chamkaur and took shelter in a walled house, a garhi, belonging to a local landholder. Next day the pursuing army surrounded it. The Sikhs went out in small parties of five to fight and die. Sahibzada Ajit Singh, aged about eighteen, asked his father’s leave and went out; then Jujhar Singh, about fourteen, followed him. Both fell on the field.
02The Guru’s departure
By nightfall only a handful were left. The Sikh tradition says the five who remained, speaking as the Khalsa, ordered the Guru to leave so that the Panth would live; Bhai Sangat Singh, who resembled him, put on his plume and stayed in his place. The Guru slipped out in the dark, clapping and calling as he went so that no one could say he had fled in secret. In the Zafarnama, the Persian letter he later sent to Aurangzeb, he asks what forty hungry men could do when a numberless host fell on them. Gurdwara Garhi Sahib marks the fortress, Gurdwara Katalgarh Sahib the place where the sahibzadas and the Sikhs fell and were cremated, and the Shaheedi Jor Mela is held every December.
The life of this place
- December 1704Battle of Chamkaur; Sahibzadas Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh fall; the Guru leaves by night.
- 1705The Guru writes the Zafarnama to Aurangzeb, recalling the broken oaths and Chamkaur.
Chamkaur Sahib is about 15 km south of Rupnagar (Ropar). The Shaheedi Jor Mela falls in December, at the same time as the one at Fatehgarh Sahib.
