Sahibzada Jujhar Singh Ji

Sahibzada Jujhar Singh Ji was the second son of Guru Gobind Singh and Mata Jito. He was born at Anandpur on 14 March 1691. Like his elder brother Ajit Singh, he began training in the fighting skills as soon as he began on the religious texts, and in 1699, at eight years old, he received the rites of Khalsa initiation.

Key moments

• 5 to 6 December: Anandpur had to be left under the pressure of the besieging host. Jujhar Singh, nearing the end of his fifteenth year in the Encyclopaedia's count, was an experienced young warrior. He was one of the band that waded the flooded Sarsa on horseback and reached Chamkaur by nightfall on 6 December, with the enemy in pursuit.
• 7 December: after little rest he helped beat back assault after assault on the garhi, the fortified house in which Guru Gobind Singh had taken shelter with some forty Sikhs and his two elder sons. When the ammunition and arrows ran out the Sikhs went out in batches of five. Towards the end of the day Jujhar Singh led the last sally and was killed near the place where he had seen his elder brother fall. Gurdwara Qatalgarh in Chamkaur Sahib marks the site.

He is remembered with Ajit Singh at the fair held every year at Chamkaur on the 8th of Poh, and with his three brothers as one of the four Sahibzade.

The year: the Encyclopaedia dates the battle to 1705, so Jujhar Singh was 14 when he fell. Other modern works place Chamkaur in December 1704. The year is still debated; the entry on the battle follows the Encyclopaedia.