The valour of the Chhote Sahibzaade

The valour of the Chhote Sahibzaade

Subject – Art and Culture

Context – The nation would henceforth observe December 26 as ‘Veer Baal Diwas’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Sunday (December 9), the ParkashPurab (birth anniversary) of the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.

Concept –

• Veer Baal Diwas — a tribute to the bravery of children — is dedicated to the ChhoteSahibzaade, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh, the two youngest sons of Guru Gobind Singh, who were bricked alive on the orders of Wazir Khan, the Mughal faujdar of Sirhind, for refusing to renounce their faith and become Muslim.
• Zorawar Singh was 9 years old at the time, and Fateh Singh only 7. Soon after they were walled up alive, their grandmother Mata Gujri (Guru Gobind Singh’s mother) died of shock.
• Today, Gurdwara Sri Fatehgarh Sahib stands on the site where the two Sahibzaadas were executed on December 12, 1705, which translates to December 26 as per the current calendar.
• It is believed that after no one in Sirhind town agreed to spare land to cremate them, a rich Hindu trader named DiwanTodar Mal purchased a small piece of land by covering it with at least 7,800 gold coins, and performed the last rites after getting the Sahibzaadas’ bodies released from the Mughals. Later, Gurdwara JyotiSarup was built on this site in Fatehgarh Sahib.
• Guru Gobind Singh had four sons, the ChaarSahibzaade, all of whom four sacrificed their lives to uphold the identity and dignity of KhalsaPanth against the Mughals. The two elder ones, Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh, died in the battle of Chamkaur Sahib.
• But the bravery and sacrifice of Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh is considered unparalleled not just because of the tender age at which they chose death, but also for the cruel and barbaric conditions that the Mughals had created for the children and their grandmother before their execution.
• JorMela, a religious fair, is organised from December 25-28 every year in memory of the children and their grandmother at Sri Fatehgarh Sahib, which is attended by lakhs of devotees, not just from Punjab but also from other states.