Battle of Chamkaur Saheb             The Guru and the Sikhs continued on to Ropar where they spent a night outside the village. The next day, a Hindu by the name of Rup Chand came and met the Guru. He said, “When my Hindu religion was in trouble, your father, Guru Teg Buhadur Ji gave his life to save us. Today I wish to help you. I know that the Mughal army is probably after you and you need a place to stay. You can come and stay and my house.”             Guru Gobind Singh Ji was very pleased to hear this offer. He took the 40 Sikhs that he had left with him to Rup Chand’s house. The Sikhs spent the night there and while the Sikhs slept, Guru Gobind Singh Ji himself stayed up all night on guard duty.              During the night, Wazir Khan, the governor of Sirhand found out that the Guru was here, so he decided to attack the Guru. But he knew that the Guru’s army is very brave and very skilled and difficult to defeat. He decided to take a lot of reinforcements with him. By morning, his army had reached Rup Chand’s house and surrounded it.               It was an amazing scene, according to Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s Zafarnama, there were only 40 Sikhs with the Guru and on the other side was 1 million enemy soldiers. Wazir Khan was very confident. He thought that he was going to win. He had only one goal – to either capture Guru Gobind Singh Ji alive or to kill him and present his head to King Aurangzeb and receive a reward.             The battle started, the Guru quickly deployed eight Singhs to defend each side of the house, two  to defend the front gate and the remainder went to the top of the fort and shot rifles and bow and arrows.             The first enemy soldier to attack was Nahar Khan, when the Guru saw him coming, he pulled an arrow took aim and hit Nahar Khan right in the chest. Next came Guni Khan who tried to climb up the side of the building. The Guru grabbed his Gurj (ancient weapon) and threw it at Guni Khan, smashing his head.             The Guru started to send out groups of five Singhs to battle with the army. When the first group came out, the enemy soldiers ran at them, but the Sikhs did not get scared. They fought with courage and killed many of the enemy soldiers. However, there were too many of them and eventually all five fell to their deaths on the battle field, becoming martyrs.             The Guru then sent another group of five Sikhs, Bhai Daya Singh saw that they were outnumbered too greatly so he asked the Guru to leave the house. He said that if something was to happen to the Guru, then it would be too great a loss for the Sikh religion. However, the Guru refused to leave the fort.             As the day went on, many of the Sikhs had died on the battle field. The Guru’s eldest son, Baba Ajit Singh came and asked the Guru for permission to go and fight. The Guru gave his son permission. Baba Ajit Singh, who was only 18 years of age entered the battle field. When the army saw that it was the Guru’s son, they started to rush at him, but he stood his ground, killing many of the soldiers. He swung his spear left and right slicing the enemy, but he stabbed one of the enemy soldiers with such force that the spear was stuck in his chest. He tried to pull it out, but to no avail.             The soldiers thought that this was a  good opportunity, so they surrounded the Guru’s son and started to attack him. Baba Ajit Singh then drew his sword and fought, but eventually he too became a martyr.             Seeing this, The Guru’s other son, Baba Jujhar Singh requested permission to go and fight like his elder brother. The Guru granted his 14 year old son permission to fight. Baba Jujhar Singh went out of the fortress and fought with great courage just like his older brother, but he too fell on the battle field.             As evening approached, the Guru recited the Sacred Reheras Saheb and then took his armor and started to march towards the front gate. The Sikhs saw the Guru and stopped him. They asked, “Where are you going.”             The Guru answered, “I am going on the battle field. I will give my life fighting for the truth!”             The Sikhs tried to stop the Guru but he would not listen. Finally, Bhai Daya Singh said, “When you created the Khalsa, you said that the five beloved ones are the Guru. The five of us Sikhs are not asking you, we are ordering you to leave the fortress.             This left the Guru with no choice. Even he had to follow what the five Singhs order. The Guru decided to leave during the night. He was to take  three Sikhs:             Bhai Daya Singh, Bhai Dharm Singh, and Bhai Maan Singh             There was one Sikh named Bhai Sangat Singh whose face resembled that of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, so he dressed up in the Guru’s clothing. During the night, the Guru along with his three Sikhs left the fort and escaped. The army did not realize that the Guru was gone, they attacked the fort and entered it. When they entered the fort, there were only two Sikhs in there, Bhai Sant Singh and Sangat Singh who both became martyrs.             When the army saw Bhai Sangat Singh dressed in the Guru’s clothes, they thought that they had killed the Guru. They only realized later that it was not the Guru, this gave enough time for the Guru to get away.   Back to Main Page   | Gurmat Studies Foundation | Guru Nanak Academy | Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Gatka Akhara | Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!