Gwalior Fort

Gwalior Fort is a hill fort on the Gopachal ridge at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, covering about 3 sq km. The Tomars, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals, the Scindias and the British all held it. For Sikhs it is the fort where the Mughal emperor Jahangir confined the sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind Sahib, and where he earned the title Data Bandi Chhor, the Munificent Deliverer.

What happened

• The charge: the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, citing the Dabistan-i-Mazahib, says the Guru was held because he had not paid the fine imposed on his father, Guru Arjan.
• How long: accounts range from forty days to twelve years. The Encyclopaedia suggests a few months some time between 1617 and 1619, followed by a period under watch in the royal camp. Wikipedia gives an older dating, with the Guru jailed in 1609 and freed in 1611 or 1612, and notes that Persian sources point to 1617 to 1619.
• The release: Sikh tradition says the Guru refused to leave alone, and that fifty-two other captives, chiefs and princes, were held in the fort. The emperor allowed as many as could hold the Guru’s robe to go out with him, and the Guru had a cloak made with 52 strings. Mian Mir, the Encyclopaedia says, “was instrumental in securing” the release. Wikipedia says no Mughal or Rajput record supports a story of fifty-two kings.
• After 1947: a shrine at the Guru’s place of confinement, looked after by Muslim faqirs, passes to the Sikhs. On 6 January 1968 work starts on a new gurdwara under Sant Jhanda Singh and Uttam Singh Mauni of Khadur Sahib. The original shrine, a marble platform with a carved canopy and two marble lions, survives.

What it means today. Bandi Chhor Divas falls on the new moon of Kartik, often with Diwali, and in 2026 on 8 November. It is kept at Sri Harmandir Sahib with lights and fireworks, and at Gurdwara Data Bandi Chhor Sahib in the fort. The sources opened do not say who manages the Gwalior gurdwara now.