Chamkaur and Sirhind
The younger sons at Sirhind
Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh refused to convert and were martyred. Mata Gujri passed away the same day. The Encyclopaedia gives both 12 and 13 December.
According to the Encyclopaedia's account, drawn from Sikh chronicles, Mata Gujri and the two boys became separated at the Sarsa. Their cook Gangu took them to his village of Kheri near Morinda. Seeing money in the saddlebag, he stole it in the night and betrayed them to the local officials, who sent them on to Sirhind. They were held in the Cold Tower of the fort.
On 9 December the boys were brought before Wazir Khan. He offered riches and honours if they accepted Islam, then threatened death, and they refused. When Sher Muhammad Khan of Malerkotla pleaded for the children, they were given more time. They spent two more winter days in the tower with their grandmother, who urged them to stand firm.
An order came on 11 December to seal them alive in a wall. Tradition says the masonry fell away when it reached their chests. The next day, as this account has it, they refused again and were put to death. Mata Gujri, nearby, passed away when she heard the news. Macauliffe has the merchant Todar Mal bring it to her, and the Encyclopaedia says he cremated all three the following day.
In the Zafarnamah, Guru Ji wrote of the four children as gone but said that the coiled cobra still held up its head.
How do we know?
The sources conflict on this story, or scholars doubt it.
The site does not choose between 12 and 13 December. The late-December commemoration follows the Bikrami month of Poh, which is why it falls later than either Common Era date. The entries also differ on detail: Fateh Singh's age is given as seven, or six from his birth date of 25 February 1699, Gangu is a cook or an old servant, and the arrest is dated 7 or 8 December. The imperial letter speaks of one son captured, while Sikh sources speak of two.
- ScholarshipGives the sentence of walling up on 11 December, execution on 12 December, cremation the next day, and a fair from 25 to 28 December.[EoS]
- ScholarshipSays Fateh Singh was martyred on 12 December 1705.[EoS]
- ScholarshipGives the same 12 December and a fair on 11-13 Poh, falling in the last week of December.[EoS]
- ScholarshipSays the children were executed on 13 December 1705 and that their grandmother passed away the same day.[EoS]
- From the timeQuotes the imperial letter on the capture of Guru Ji's mother and another son.[EoS]
- From the timeMentions the younger sons only briefly, in lines that also mix up their names. (ch. XII, couplets 73-75; translator's introduction)[Src]
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