Char Sahibzadeਚਾਰ ਸਾਹਿਬਜ਼ਾਦੇ

The Char Sahibzade, the four princes, are the four sons of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth Guru of the Sikhs. The elder two, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Ji and Sahibzada Jujhar Singh Ji, are called the Vadde Sahibzade, the elder princes. The younger two, Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji and Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji, are the Chhote Sahibzade, the younger princes. All four were martyred within a few days of each other in December 1704, and together they stand at the heart of the Sikh memory of sacrifice.

Who were the Char Sahibzade?

Ajit Singh, the eldest, was born at Paonta Sahib in 1687 to Mata Sundari Ji. Jujhar Singh, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh were born at Anandpur Sahib to Mata Jito Ji in 1691, 1696 and 1699. The boys were raised in their father's court at Anandpur, taught the scriptures and trained in riding, archery and the sword, and the elder two received the amrit of the Khalsa at its founding on Vaisakhi 1699. Their grandmother, Mata Gujri Ji, mother of the Guru, looked after the younger children, and it was with her that the youngest pair spent their last days.

They were children of a court that knew it was heading for war. Guru Gobind Singh Ji had founded the Khalsa in 1699 to make a people who would not bend, and his own household lived by the standard first: the Sahibzade took amrit, kept the discipline, and, in the elder boys' case, held ranks in their father's army while still in their teens. That is why the Sikh tradition does not treat their deaths as accidents of a siege. It treats them as the founding family's own payment of the price the Guru asked of everyone else.

The December of 1704

Through 1704 the Mughal forces and the hill chiefs besieged Anandpur Sahib, and by December the town was starved out. The Guru accepted an offer of safe passage, sworn on oath by the enemy, and the Sikhs left Anandpur on the night of 20 to 21 December. The oath was broken at once: the column was attacked, and in the chaos at the flooded Sarsa river the Guru's family was scattered. The Guru reached Chamkaur with about forty Sikhs, among them Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh. Mata Gujri Ji and the two youngest boys, separated from the column, were sheltered by Gangu, a former servant of the household, and then betrayed by him to the officials of Sirhind.

Sahibzada Ajit Singh Ji

The eldest Sahibzada was already a commander: at twelve he had led a hundred Sikhs to recover a looted congregation, and at thirteen he held Taragarh fort against the hill chiefs. At Chamkaur, when the besieged Sikhs began going out in sallies of five, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Ji led one of them and was killed fighting, aged seventeen.

Sahibzada Jujhar Singh Ji

Sahibzada Jujhar Singh Ji, the second son, was about fourteen at Chamkaur. He watched his elder brother fall, then led the next sally out of the little fortress and died the same day. The Sikh historian Ratan Singh Bhangu compared his stand to that of Abhimanyu in the Mahabharata: a boy fighting grown warriors in defence of his father.

Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji

Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji, the third son, was eight years old. Betrayed by Gangu and held with his grandmother and little brother in the freezing Thanda Burj tower at Sirhind, he was brought twice before the court of Wazir Khan and refused every offer of wealth and life in exchange for his faith.

Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji

The youngest of the four, Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji, was about six. He stood through the same court beside his brother, unmoved, and shared his fate. He is often described as the youngest martyr in recorded history: a child who understood the choice before him and made it knowingly.

What happened at Sirhind in December 1704?

At Sirhind, the governor Wazir Khan, furious at having failed to capture the Guru, turned on his youngest sons. Over two days of public court the boys were threatened and tempted by turns. Tradition remembers that they answered that their grandfather, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, had given his life rather than abandon his faith, and they would do the same. The Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan of Malerkotla, himself an enemy of the Guru in battle, protested against harming children. Wazir Khan ordered the sentence all the same: in the popular account the boys were bricked alive into a wall; the earliest accounts say they were executed when the wall fell. Their martyrdom is commemorated on 26 December. Mata Gujri Ji died in the Thanda Burj on hearing the news, and a wealthy banker, Diwan Todar Mal, bought the ground for their cremation with gold coins, at a place now marked by Gurdwara Jyoti Sarup at Fatehgarh Sahib.

How are the Char Sahibzade remembered?

Every December, lakhs of Sikhs gather at Fatehgarh Sahib for the three day Shaheedi Jor Mela, walking between the shrines of the martyrdom: the Thanda Burj, Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib and Gurdwara Jyoti Sarup. A parallel gathering is held at Chamkaur Sahib for the elder pair. Since 2022 the Government of India has marked 26 December as Veer Bal Diwas, the day of brave children, in their honour. The city and district of Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, still widely called Mohali, carry the eldest Sahibzada's name, and the story of the four brothers is retold each year in kirtan, dhadi ballads, schoolbooks and film.

A note on dates and ages

The events are certain; some of their dates are not. Most modern references place the evacuation of Anandpur, the battle of Chamkaur and the Sirhind martyrdom in December 1704, while many traditional Sikh accounts give December 1705, and the exact days and the youngest boys' ages (eight or nine; five, six or seven) also vary between accounts. Jugti follows the modern dating and gives the traditional one alongside, so readers meeting either form elsewhere will recognise the same events.