Martyrdom of the younger Sahibzade at Sirhind

Who: Sahibzada Zorawar Singh (9) and Sahibzada Fateh Singh (6), the younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh, and their grandmother Mata Gujri, against Wazir Khan, the faujdar of Sirhind.

What: The boys and Mata Gujri were separated from the Guru at the Sarsa on the night of the Anandpur evacuation. Their cook, Gangu, took them to his home near Morinda, and on 7 December Jani Khan and Mani Khan Ranghar, officials at Morinda, took them into custody. They were sent to Sirhind and held in the Thanda Burj, the Cold Tower of the fort. On 9 December Wazir Khan tried to win the boys to Islam with promises of riches and honours. They refused, and a death sentence was pronounced. Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan of Malerkotla, who had himself fought at Chamkaur, protested that the boys were too young. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism records that Suchchanand, a Khatri official, answered that the offspring of a serpent grows into a serpent, and Wazir Khan renewed the order. On 11 December the boys were ordered sealed alive in a wall, which, by tradition, crumbled at chest height (Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, Zorawar Singh entry), before it covered their heads (Gujari entry). They were returned to the tower. On 12 December, after refusing once more, they were put to death. Mata Gujri died in the tower on hearing the news. Seth Todar Mall arranged the cremation; tradition says he bought the plot by covering it with gold coins.

Where: Sirhind, now Fatehgarh Sahib. Gurdwara Bhora Sahib holds the wall, Gurdwara Mata Gujri marks the Thanda Burj, and Gurdwara Joti Sarup, about a kilometre south-east, marks the cremation.

Why it mattered: With Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh lost at Chamkaur, all four of Guru Gobind Singh's sons died within days of each other. Wazir Khan was killed at Chappar Chiri on 12 May 1710, and the Sikhs occupied Sirhind two days later. Maharaja Karam Singh of Patiala (1813 to 1845) had gurdwaras built here and renamed the district Fatehgarh Sahib, and the district created in 1992 carries the name of Sahibzada Fateh Singh. The Shaheedi Jor Mela is held here every December, and the Tribune reports it running from 25 to 27 December.

Dating: Sources disagree on the year and the day. This entry follows the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, which gives 12 December 1705 in most of its entries and 13 December in its entry on Guru Gobind Singh, as do the entries on the evacuation of Anandpur, Chamkaur and Muktsar. Wikipedia's article on the Saka Sirhind places the whole sequence in December 1704, with the execution on 26 or 27 December.