In news– The Prime Minister of India declared that December 26 shall be marked as “Veer Baal Diwas”, as it was the day on which Sahibzadas Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh, sons of 10th Sikh guru Gobind Singh, were killed at the tender age of six and nine in Sirhind by Mughal forces on 26 December, 1705.
About Zorawar singh and Fateh Singh-
- Born in 1696 in Anadpur Sahib, Zorawar Singh was the third of Guru Gobind Singh’s four sons.
- Born in 1699 in Anandpur Sahib, Fateh Singh was the fourth and youngest son of Guru Gobind Singh.
- Sahibzada Fateh Singh & Zorawar Singh are among the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism.
- These two greats preferred death instead of deviating from the noble principles of Dharma.
- The place where the two children of Guru Gobind Singh were bricked alive is today known as Fatehgarh Sahib-Sirhind, a city based in central Punjab named after Baba Fateh Singh ji.
- After Guru Gobind Singh’s death, Banda Singh Bahadur, born Lachman Dev, also known as Madho Das and Banda Bairagi, took revenge on those who had taken part in the deaths of the children.
About Guru Gobind Singh-
- He was born Gobind Rai at Patna Sahib in Bihar in 1666.
- He was the 10th and last of Sikh gurus in human form.
- He was enthroned at the ‘Guru Gaddi’ at the age of nine, following the martyrdom of his father, the ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, at the hands of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
- He is known chiefly for his creation of the Khalsa (Punjabi: “the Pure”) in 1699, the military brotherhood of the Sikhs.
- With the Khalsa as the guiding spirit of the reconstituted Sikh army, Gobind Singh moved against the Sikhs’ enemies on two fronts: one army against the Mughals and the other against the hill tribes.
- He had five men called panc-piara (the five beloved), they formed the nucleus of the Khālsā.
- He also announced a code of discipline for Khalsa warriors.
- Tobacco, eating ‘halal’ meat (a way of slaughtering in which the animal’s throat is slit open and it is left to bleed before being slaughtered), fornication and adultery were forbidden.
- The Khalsas also agreed to never interact with those who followed rivals or their successors.
- The co-initiation of men and women from different castes into the ranks of Khalsa also institutionalized the principle of equality in Sikhism regardless of one’s caste or gender.
- He institutionalized the Khalsa, resisted the ongoing persecution by the Mughal Empire, and continued “the defence of Sikhism and Hinduism against the Muslim assault of Aurangzeb”.
- He introduced the five ‘K’s that the Sikhs abide by:
- Kesh: Uncut hair.
- Kangha: A wooden comb.
- Kara: An iron or steel bracelet worn on the wrist.
- Kirpan: A dagger.
- Kachera: Short breeches.
- He further codified Sikh law, wrote martial poetry and music, and was the reputed author of the Sikh work called the Dasam Granth (“Tenth Volume”).
- The hymns of Dasam Granth are a sacred part of Sikh prayers and Khalsa rituals.
- He is also credited as the one who finalized and enshrined the Guru Granth Sahib as Sikhism’s primary scripture and eternal Guru.
- He had proclaimed that he was the last of the personal Gurūs and from that point forward, the Sikh Gurū was to be the holy book, the Ādi Granth.
Source: The Hindu
