Chamkaur and Sirhind
The battle of Chamkaur
In a walled house, some forty Sikhs held off a far larger force for a day, and the two elder sons were martyred in sallies.
Sources tell the battle this way. Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji reached Chamkaur late on 6 December 1705. The elder landowner refused entry for fear of the rulers, but his brother Rup Chand let Guru Ji in. Eight Sikhs were posted on each side, with two more at the gate, and Guru Ji went to the upper floor with the two sons.
The Mughal force, grown with reinforcements, surrounded the house at dawn. The defenders had little ammunition, and when it ran out they went out in small parties to fight hand to hand. Sahibzada Ajit Singh led one group and fell. Sahibzada Jujhar Singh, then fourteen, led another and fell near the same spot. The Encyclopaedia quotes the Zafarnamah as describing forty set against a million.
How do we know?
A close source supports this story, and a second independent source agrees.
Sainapati calls Ajit Singh by other names, and even shows a Zorawar Singh escaping, whom his translator takes to be a different person of the same name. The ages of the sons differ a little between entries.
- From the timeQuotes the imperial letter on the siege at Chamkaur and the killing of two sons.[EoS]
- From the timeDescribes the fight and the two sons' deaths at length, with confusion over their names. (ch. XII)[Src]
- ScholarshipSays the Sikhs ran out of ammunition and arrows and went out in batches of five, with this son leading the last sally.[EoS]
- ScholarshipDescribes the house, the posts and the sallies through the day.[EoS]
