Sirhind

Sirhind is an old town on the Grand Trunk Road between Ludhiana and Ambala. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says that under the Mughals it was the second largest city of the Punjab and the strongest fortified town between Delhi and Lahore. For Sikhs it is the place where Guru Gobind Singh’s two younger sons were put to death at the order of its faujdar, Wazir Khan, which is why they came to regard it as an accursed city.

Key moments

• December 1705: the Guru left Anandpur on the night of 5 to 6 December. His mother, Mata Gujri, and his sons Zorawar Singh, aged nine, and Fateh Singh, aged seven, were betrayed by their cook Gangu and held in the Cold Tower at Sirhind. By the Encyclopaedia’s dating, Wazir Khan had the boys brought before him on 9 December; when they refused to give up their faith he ordered them walled up alive, the wall gave way, and on 12 December they were put to the sword. Mata Gujri died as the news reached her. Some accounts, among them Wikipedia, date these events to December 1704.
• 12 and 14 May 1710: Banda Singh Bahadur’s Sikhs killed Wazir Khan at Chappar Chiri, occupied Sirhind two days later and razed it, fort included.
• 14 January 1764: the Dal Khalsa under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia killed the Afghan governor Zain Khan and destroyed Sirhind, and gave the booty to repair the Amritsar shrines Ahmad Shah had demolished. No sardar wanted the town; it passed to Ala Singh of Patiala in August.
• 1813 to 1845: Maharaja Karam Singh of Patiala built gurdwaras here, among them Fatehgarh Sahib, 5 km north of Sirhind, and renamed the district Fatehgarh Sahib. After PEPSU merged into Punjab the shrines passed to the SGPC.
• 25 to 27 December each year: the Shaheedi Jor Mela at Fatehgarh Sahib, with a nagar kirtan on 27 December (The Tribune).
• 26 December 2022: the first official Veer Bal Diwas, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Sahibzade. The SGPC asked Sikhs to observe the day as Sahibzade Shahadat Diwas instead, saying a day for children’s bravery does not match how tradition honours the Sahibzade, as warriors (ThePrint).

What it means today. Fatehgarh Sahib is where the Panth marks the Sahibzade’s martyrdom every December. The Veer Bal Diwas dispute shows how closely Sikh institutions guard the way it is named and remembered.