Chamkaur Sahibਚਮਕੌਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ

History

Chamkaur lies on the banks of the Sirhind Canal, 16 kilometres from Rupnagar and 15 from Morinda. After leaving Anandpur Sahib on the night of 5–6 December 1704 and crossing the rain-swollen Sarsa rivulet under Mughal attack, Guru Gobind Singh reached Chamkaur with his two elder sons, the Panj Piare and forty Sikhs. They took shelter in the haveli — the garhi — of a local zamindar, and there, on 6 December 1704, a Mughal force surrounded them.

What followed is remembered as the Second Battle of Chamkaur, one of the most celebrated last stands in Sikh history. The forty Sikhs fought in waves against overwhelming numbers. The Guru's elder sons, Sahibzada Ajit Singh (aged 18) and Sahibzada Jujhar Singh (aged 14), fell fighting at the garhi's gate. Only a handful survived; at the Sikhs' insistence the Guru himself left that night for Machhiwara, where the survivors rejoined him. An earlier clash, the First Battle of Chamkaur, had been fought here in 1702. The town's shrines were raised over the following centuries to mark the battlefield.

Geography & people

The town is a sub-divisional headquarters in Rupnagar district, set in the canal-irrigated plains between Rupnagar and Morinda. The 2011 census recorded 13,920 residents. Punjabi is the main language, and the town's calendar is dominated by the Shaheedi Jor Mela each December, when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims converge on the gurdwaras to remember the martyrs.

Places of interest

Gurdwara Katalgarh Sahib stands where the forty Sikhs were cremated — katal means a pile, for the funeral pyre of the fallen. Gurdwara Damdama Sahib marks where the Guru rested, Gurdwara Garhi Sahib the fortified haveli itself, and Gurdwaras Tari Sahib and Ranjitgarh Sahib other halts of the Guru. Together they form one of Sikhism's great pilgrimage circuits, second in emotional weight only to Fatehgarh Sahib's commemoration of the younger Sahibzadas.

Notable people

Guru Gobind Singh is Chamkaur's eternal presence — it was here he wrote the Zafarnama spirit in action, refusing to surrender against impossible odds. Sahibzada Ajit Singh and Sahibzada Jujhar Singh, the elder Sahibzadas, gave their lives at the garhi and are remembered among the Chaar Sahibzaade. The forty Singhs who fought beside them are honoured collectively as the martyrs of Chamkaur.