Life and times
Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji was the ninth Sikh Guru, the youngest son of Sri Guru Hargobind Ji and Mata Nanaki. Born at Amritsar on 1 April 1621, Guru Ji became Guru in 1664, founded the settlement that became Anandpur, travelled through the east as far as Assam, and was martyred in Delhi on 11 November 1675. Guru Ji's 59 hymns and 57 saloks are in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
The firmest evidence is small but strong: Guru Ji's own compositions, letters to eastern congregations, and a short passage by Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji in the Bachitra Natak on why Guru Ji gave up life. That passage speaks of protecting the tilak and the sacred thread and of giving a head without giving up a principle. The delegation of Kashmiri Pandits, the child's remark, the cage, the refused miracle and much else come from later writers.
Dates are a particular problem. Many precise dates in modern accounts come from Bhatt Vahi registers, which became known to scholars only in the twentieth century and which the Encyclopaedia itself says need caution. Where they conflict with older stories, such as the place of arrest in 1675, this page shows both.
After Shah Jahan's accession in 1628, relations with the Sikhs broke down. There was fighting at Amritsar, at Mehraj on 16 December 1634 and at Kartarpur on 26 April 1635. Sri Guru Hargobind Ji then retired to Kiratpur. Guru Ji's boyhood therefore ran from a household under arms to a quiet base in the hills.[EoS][EoS]
Aurangzeb defeated his brothers and took the throne in July 1658. Guru Ji is said to have been away in the east through most of this period. The family quarrels of the Sodhis then played out under the new emperor: Ram Rai was kept in favour at court, and Dhir Mall also approached the emperor.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS]
The Encyclopaedia dates a rescript against schools and temples to 1669 and the imposition of the jizya on non-Muslims to 1679. It names Iftikhar Khan, governor of Kashmir from 1671 to 1675, as forcing conversions there. The modern writers it follows see the events of 1675 against this background, though the jizya came four years later.
Macauliffe names a different governor, Sher Afghan Khan. Neither name has been checked here against a Mughal list of governors.[EoS][EoS][Macauliffe]
Kiratpur and Makhoval both lay in Kahlur, or Bilaspur. Its ruler Dip Chand had passed away by 1665, and the Encyclopaedia dates his son Bhim Chand's rule from that year. Dip Chand's widow, Rani Champa, offered Guru Ji land, and relations were friendly. Under Bhim Chand they would later turn sour, which is part of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji's story.[EoS][EoS][EoS]
1621-1644
Guru Ji's birth at Amritsar fell on Vaisakh vadi 5, 1678 Bikrami, 1 April 1621, the youngest of five sons. Bhai Buddha taught riding and archery, and Bhai Gurdas taught the sacred texts, according to the Encyclopaedia. Guru Ji also learned music.
After the battle of Kartarpur the family moved to Kiratpur, where Guru Ji spent nine years close to the father, until 1644.[EoS][EoS]
At about twelve, Guru Ji married Gujri, whose parents Lal Chand and Bishan Kaur were a Subhikkhi family settled at Kartarpur.
Note. Both are entries of one encyclopaedia. The site's person page gives 1632, which differs from these entries.
Sikh texts say the fourteen-year-old fought in this battle and praise his skill.
Note. The battle is secure, but Guru Ji's personal part is known only from later Sikh writing. The site's person page gives 1634, while this entry gives 1635.
1644-1664
After 1644 Guru Ji moved with Mata Nanaki and Mata Gujri to Bakala, the home of Mata Nanaki's father. The tradition remembers strict living and long meditation in a basement room, the bhora still shown there. The Encyclopaedia adds that this was no hermit's life: Guru Ji went riding and hunting.[EoS][EoS][EoS]
One entry describes two decades of retirement at Bakala, while another gives a long tour east from 1656.
Note. The two pictures can be partly reconciled, but eight years away is a large exception to twenty years of retirement. The 1656 dates appear to depend on the Bhatt Vahi chronology, though the entry does not say so directly. The much-told account of a long hidden life should be read with this in mind.
1664
Sri Guru Har Krishan Ji's last words, Baba Bakale, brought a crowd of claimants to the village. Guru Ji is said to have stayed in seclusion and made no claim. The Encyclopaedia cites the Bhatt Vahi Talauda for a formal anointing on Bhadon Amavas 1721 Bikrami, 11 August 1664.
There were three visits to Kiratpur that year and the next, for mourning and after a tour of the Majha, the Malwa and the Bangar.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS]
A trader who had vowed five hundred gold coins offered two to each claimant, until one man asked about the rest.
According to the tradition, Makkhan Shah was a wealthy Lubana trader whose cargo was in danger at sea. He vowed that if it reached port he would give five hundred gold mohars to whoever was then Guru. The boat came through, and he set out to keep his word.
At Bakala he found twenty-two men each claiming to be Guru. He decided on a test. Visiting them one by one, he offered each just two coins, as a devotee might, and said nothing of his vow. Macauliffe says each one praised himself and ran down the others, and none knew of the promise.
Then he heard, one telling says from a young boy, of a holy man living quietly in the village who made no claim. He found Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji in a secluded room and placed two coins before him. Guru Ji blessed him and remarked that this fell well short of the five hundred promised.
Makkhan Shah gave the rest with delight, ran up to the roof and shouted that he had found Guru Ji. Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth says the strings of his cloak burst with joy.
Note. The Encyclopaedia's Makkhan Shah comes from Tanda in the Muzaffarabad area, while Macauliffe has him from Gujarat in the Deccan. The Encyclopaedia also says he had a boat that went aground in one entry and one caught in a storm in another. If Guru Ji was anointed on 11 August, the October date means the story cannot be what first settled the matter, although that is its usual role. Of the claimants, only Dhir Mall is named in the sources consulted for this page, and no list of all twenty-two has been found. Two Encyclopaedia entries say only that there were several.
Men of Dhir Mall attacked Guru Ji's house, and when Makkhan Shah retaliated, Guru Ji had everything returned, including the old scripture volume.
As Bhai Santokh Singh tells it in Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, Dhir Mall's envy did not end with Makkhan Shah's shout. His masand Shihan, with a band of men, raided Guru Ji's house and carried off what they could. In other tellings Shihan also fired a shot.
Makkhan Shah retaliated and plundered Dhir Mall's home, bringing back the goods and also the great volume of the scripture that Dhir Mall kept. Guru Ji would have none of it. Everything was sent back, even what had been stolen from Guru Ji's own house, and the Sikhs were told that no austerity, gift or pilgrimage is worth more than forgiving.
Note. The return of the goods is common ground. Whether the shot missed or wounded is where the entries differ. The Encyclopaedia's entry on Dhir Mall also records that his descendants still hold the original volume.
The custodians of the Harmandir Sahib would not let Guru Ji enter, and Guru Ji forbade forcing a way in.
Note. The people holding the Harmandir Sahib are not named in these entries.
1665
On 13 May 1665 Guru Ji went to Bilaspur to mourn Raja Dip Chand. The widowed Rani Champa offered land, and Guru Ji paid 500 rupees for the old mound of Makhoval, near Kiratpur. The new settlement was named Chakk Nanaki after Guru Ji's mother. The name Anandpur came later, under Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
The settlement was barely begun when Guru Ji left for the east. It did not grow until after the return.[EoS][EoS][EoS]
Guru Ji bought the mound from the Kahlur state and laid the foundation of Chakk Nanaki.
Note. The Encyclopaedia's entry on Anandpur speaks of purchase from the state and its entry on Guru Ji of the rani's offer. These fit together. No deed of sale was read for this page.
Some entries say Guru Ji and companions were arrested at Dhamtan and freed through Kanwar Ram Singh, while the main entry reports no arrest.
Note. If the Dhamtan arrest happened, it is the first sign of Mughal interest in Guru Ji, ten years before the end.
1665-1671
The road went through Mathura, Agra, Etawah, Kanpur, Allahabad, Mirzapur and Varanasi, then Sasaram and Bodh Gaya to Patna. Guru Ji left the family at Patna and went further to meet distant congregations. Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji was born at Patna on 22 December 1666, and the news reached Guru Ji at Monghyr. With Dhaka as a base, the Encyclopaedia says, Guru Ji visited Chittagong, Comilla, Sondip and Sylhet.
A later return journey ran through Patna to Delhi, reached on 20 June 1670 according to the main entry, and then to the Malwa. Many gurdwaras mark the route, though a gurdwara shows memory rather than proof of a visit.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS]
Guru Ji's letters and gurdwaras in the east show that a real Sikh network existed there.
Note. The letters establish connections with these places better than they establish exact itineraries.
Guru Ji travelled with Raja Ram Singh, and Sikh chronicles say Guru Ji brought the two sides to a truce.
According to Sikh chronicles, Raja Ram Singh's mother told him to seek Guru Ji's blessing before going to Assam, a region feared for its sorcery. He met Guru Ji in the east and asked for company on the expedition, and Guru Ji agreed.
The fighting with the Ahoms was hard and indecisive. The chronicles say Guru Ji then brought the two sides to terms. To mark the peace, soldiers each carried five shields of earth to build a high mound by the Brahmaputra at Dhubri. A gurdwara called Damdama Sahib stands on it today.
Note. The sources differ on dates. The role in the peace is claimed only by Sikh chroniclers, and the Encyclopaedia's Ram Singh entry makes clear the fighting resumed.
The Encyclopaedia's entries give different dates for the family's return and for Guru Ji's.
Note. A difference of a year in these entries affects how the travels are timed.
1671-1675
Guru Ji travelled widely in the Malwa, where many gurdwaras remember the visits. The Encyclopaedia says the place later called Damdama Sahib was among those visited in the early 1670s, and says a tank was dug there. Chakk Nanaki grew into a real town, drawing visitors from the Punjab and elsewhere.[EoS][EoS][EoS]
1675
Everything the tradition most values about Guru Ji comes together in 1675. The Bhatt Vahi Multani Sindhi, as cited in the Encyclopaedia, says Guru Ji gave the marks of Guruship to the son on 8 July 1675, three days before leaving. Two layers need to be kept apart. The first is the Bachitra Natak, written by the son: the sacrifice protected the tilak and the sacred thread, Guru Ji gave a head and held to a principle, and no miracle was shown. The second is the later narrative, from Kuir Singh onward, which supplies the Pandits, the child's remark, the companions' deaths and the recovery of the body.
Modern writers, including the Encyclopaedia's, read this as a stand for freedom of conscience. That reading is theirs. The Bachitra Natak's own terms are dharma and the marks of Hindu faith, in a poem that treats God's purpose in history.
The site's person page notes that later Persian writers offered a different account of Guru Ji's activities. That material was not read for this page.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS]
A group led by Kirpa Ram brought news of forced conversions, and the child is said to have told Guru Ji that no one was worthier to give a head.
According to Kuir Singh's Gurbilas Patshahi 10, as quoted in the Encyclopaedia, a group of Kashmiri Pandits came to Chakk Nanaki in despair at the governor's forced conversions. Guru Ji heard them and sat lost in thought.
Young Gobind Das, later Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, came up and asked why Guru Ji looked so troubled. The earth carries a heavy load, came the reply, and only the sacrifice of someone truly worthy will lift it. The son answered that no one could be worthier than Guru Ji.
Guru Ji was pleased. The Pandits were told to send word to the emperor that if Guru Ji could be converted, all of them would accept Islam of their own will. Kirpa Ram and his companions, the Encyclopaedia says, sent that petition through the governor of Lahore, and the summons followed.
Note. The Encyclopaedia's entry on Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji says early in 1675, its entry on Guru Ji says 25 May. The governor is Iftikhar Khan in the Encyclopaedia and Sher Afghan Khan in Macauliffe. The heart of this story has no early witness beyond the son's general statement.
Older narrative places the arrest at Agra, while the Bhatt Vahi chronology has it near Ropar, a day after leaving home.
The older story, told by Macauliffe, has Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji camp in a garden outside Agra. Guru Ji called a shepherd boy, gave him a costly diamond ring to pawn for two rupees of sweets, and handed over a valuable shawl to carry them in. The boy told Guru Ji to look after his flock and off he went.
When Mati Das protested, Guru Ji said it was God's will. The sweet-seller, astonished at the ring and shawl, took the boy for a thief and marched him to the police. In this way, the account suggests, Guru Ji chose how to be found and brought in.
The Encyclopaedia's entry prefers the Bhatt Vahi dates, with arrest at Malikpur Ranghran on 12 July 1675, a day after setting out from Chakk Nanaki. On that account there is no Agra journey at all.
Note. The Encyclopaedia calls Agra the common belief, now challenged by recent research on the Bhatt Vahis. Muhammad Ehsan Ijad, quoted in Irvine, is also cited for Malikpur, but was not read directly.
Mati Das, Sati Das and Dayal Das were martyred before Guru Ji.
Note. Detail differs in how each death is told, and no Persian account was read for it. The site's person page gives the boiling of Dayala, which is not in the entries read here.
Guru Ji refused both conversion and a miracle and was publicly martyred.
The sources tell this plainly. Guru Ji was brought to Delhi, the Encyclopaedia says in an iron cage, and put in chains, with torture ordered until Guru Ji accepted Islam. Neither pain nor reward had any effect. Then came a demand for a miracle to prove the mission. Guru Ji refused, holding that no one should try to interfere with the Will of God.
On 11 November 1675 Guru Ji was publicly martyred in Chandni Chowk. The Bachitra Natak, in the words of the son, says Guru Ji gave a head but no cry of pain, and gave a head but would not put on a display of powers.
Note. The Bachitra Natak confirms the fact and its meaning for the son. The specific date, iron cage and exchange with the emperor come from later accounts. Mughal records were not read for this page.
Macauliffe reports that Guru Ji, charged with looking towards the emperor's private rooms, said he was looking towards the Europeans who would overthrow the empire.
Macauliffe tells that the emperor believed he had seen Guru Ji, on the top storey of the prison, looking south towards the imperial women's quarters. Summoned and accused of this serious breach of manners, Guru Ji denied it. The gaze, Guru Ji replied, was towards the Europeans who would come over the seas to tear down the emperor's curtains and end his rule.
Macauliffe adds that a Sikh writer claimed these words became a battle-cry during the storming of Delhi in 1857.
Note. This story appears to be late and is shaped by colonial-era politics. It fits a writer's wish to link Sikhs and British rule. It is included because it is well known, not because it is good evidence.
Bhai Jaita carried the head to Anandpur, and Lakkhi Shah burned his own house to cremate the body.
The sources say the body was left lying in Chandni Chowk, and no one dared claim it. Then a dust storm blew up. Bhai Jaita, who had come to Delhi for news of a family friend, seized the moment, lifted the head and escaped, walking as fast as he could to Anandpur. There the young Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji performed the rites on 16 November and honoured him with words still remembered: the Ranghreta is Guru Ji's own son.
At nightfall, or under cover of the same storm by another telling, Lakkhi Shah passed by with his carts, a trader's convoy, and with his son and Bhai Dhuma lifted the body into one. An open cremation would have drawn attention, so at his home in Raisina he set fire to the house with the body inside. Gurdwara Rakab Ganj stands there now.
Note. The Encyclopaedia's Chamkaur entry says Bhai Jaita reached Kiratpur, while other entries say Anandpur. Its Jiwan Singh and Chamkaur entries also describe his later death differently. Gurdwara Sis Ganj at Delhi and Sis Ganj at Anandpur mark the beheading and the cremation of the head.
Guru Ji's hymns are in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, with the saloks at its close, added by the son.
Note. The addition itself is firm. The story of how and when it was done, at Damdama in 1706, is treated in the life of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
A later artist's imagining of the ten Gurus, from Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji to Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, from the workshop of Purkhu of Kangra. No portrait from any Guru's lifetime is established.
Purkhu of Kangra, Early 19th century. Kapany Collection (as credited on Commons). Public domain. Source
A later fresco at Gurdwara Baba Bakala showing the martyrdom of Bhai Dayala and Bhai Mati Das in the presence of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. Credited on Commons to Jaimal Singh Naqqash and Mehtab Singh.
Jaimal Singh Naqqash and Mehtab Singh, Late 19th or early 20th century. Gurdwara Baba Bakala. Public domain. Source
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A later artist's imagining of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, from a set of the first nine Gurus painted about 1800-1840. No portrait from Guru Ji's lifetime is established.
Unknown, c. 1800-1840. Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 925210 (as credited on Commons). Public domain. Source
A hukamnama of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji said to have been sent to Patna when Guru Ji's son was born, and kept at Takht Harmandir Sahib. The source is a Flickr post.
Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji and his scribe, c. 1666-1667. Takht Harmandir Sahib, Patna (as stated on Commons). Public domain. Source
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A later fresco at Gurdwara Baba Bakala of Bhai Makkhan Shah Lubana finding Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, taken from film footage. The uploader doubts that the original fresco survives.
Jaimal Singh Naqqash and Mehtab Singh, Late 19th or early 20th century. Public domain. Source
Guru Ji's own words, largely in Braj, dwelling on the shortness of life and the need to remember the divine. They say almost nothing about events, but they are the only direct voice.[DB][EoS]
Letters to congregations, some believed to be in Guru Ji's own hand, addressed to places such as Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. They confirm the eastern network, though the earlier letters bear no dates. Known here through the Encyclopaedia's description, not the published editions.[EoS]
An autobiographical poem commonly attributed to Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. It is the nearest evidence for the meaning of the martyrdom, written by the son. It is brief, gives no date or story, and is theological in purpose. It does not, in the parts quoted by the Encyclopaedia, mention a Kashmiri delegation. Read here through quotations.[EoS][EoS]
Source of the exact dates for 1664 and 1675 and of the arrest at Malikpur. The Encyclopaedia says they were often written after the event and sometimes second hand. Much is unpublished, and they reach us through a modern researcher's transcripts of a family script. They are valuable, but their rise has changed accepted chronology, and this page treats them as evidence rather than as final.[EoS]
A Persian source quoted by William Irvine that the Encyclopaedia cites as supporting the arrest at Malikpur. It was not read directly, and its date and standing were not checked, so treat this classification as provisional.[EoS]
The source of the exchange between the child and the father. Kuir Singh had access to the Bachitra Natak and Sri Gur Sobha and to oral information from Bhai Mani Singh, but the Encyclopaedia warns that his dates are often wrong and his figures exaggerated.[EoS]
Written by a descendant of the family of dewans who served the Gurus, so close to family memory, and rich in dates. The Encyclopaedia warns those dates are not established and that the author has a Brahmanical bias. His family included Mati Das and Sati Das. It supports the Malikpur arrest.[EoS][EoS]
The classic narrative tradition, which fills out Makkhan Shah, the forgiving of Dhir Mall and the eastern journey. Not plain history. Known here through the Encyclopaedia.[EoS][EoS]
Follows the older chronicles, placing the arrest at Agra and naming Sher Afghan Khan as governor of Kashmir. Valuable for the older narrative that the Bhatt Vahi chronology has since challenged, and also for its own colonial framing, which is visible in the story about Europeans.[Macauliffe]
The main reference. Its long entry on Guru Ji follows the Bhatt Vahi chronology, while its other entries sometimes differ. Its interpretation of the martyrdom as a defence of freedom of belief is a modern reading.[EoS][EoS][EoS]
"Life and times of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji". Sikh History: lives of the Gurus. https://sikh-history.co.uk/lives/guru-tegh-bahadur/