This week marks the Shaheedi Divas (Martyrdom) of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Ji and many other Sikh Soldiers along with him, including Baba Ji's 4 year old son.
Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Ji (1670 - 1716) is one of the greatest heros in Singh history who in 1710 with the Khalsa, uprooted the Mughal imperial rule in the Panjab and established the Khalsa Raaj (Rule). Baba Ji lived and died like a lion, whose faith in the Guru led to five-years of the Khalsa ruling Panjab.
Below is a small extract from a letter gives an eye-witness account of how Baba Ji was brought to Dehli and attained Shaheedi:
.....The great rebel Gooroo (Guru) who has been for these twenty years so troublesome Subaship (Subah) of Lahore is at length taken with all his family and attendants by Abd-us-Samad Cawn the Suba (Subedar that is Governor) of that province. Some days ago they entered the city laden with fetters, his sole attendants which were left alive being about 780, all severally mounted on camels which were sent out of the city for that purpose, besides about 2,000 heads struck on poles, being those who died by the sword in battle....
And then an account on Baba Ji's execution:
.......After Banda Singh had been dismounted and seated on the ground, he was offered the usual choice between Islam and death. But the 'chosen disciple of Guru Gobind Singh, as the Tarikh-i-Muzaffari calls him, chose to lay down his life like a devoted follower than to abjure his faith for the sake of enjoying a few more years of life. His young son Ajay Singh, about four years, was then placed in his arms and he was told to take the boy's life. But can a father kill his own child? He refused. The executioner then hacked to pieces joint by joint with a long knife, dragged out his quivering heart and thrust it into the mouth of his father, who stood completely resigned to God's will.......
John Surman, Edward Stephenson.
Dhan Guru Dhan Guru Pyarai, Dhan Hai Teree Sikhee!
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